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The owner/operator of Spruce Lawn Farms, a cash crop farm located near London, Ontario, was thinking of expanding his operation to include identity-preserved soybeans and a grain dryer. The farm had been in operation for 12 years and consisted of 650 acres of owned land with plans to increase this through renting neighbouring fields to 2,000 acres by 2015. Current crops included genetically modified winter wheat, corn and soybeans, but given the growing backlash against genetically modified foods in Europe and Asia, he was considering adding certified identity-preserved soybeans as well. His back-of-the-envelope calculations seemed to indicate that the venture would pay off. However, when he approached his financial institution for a loan, they were concerned about how the new venture would change the farm's financial structure.

Today's society is characterized by a rapid state of change, and technological innovation plays a significant part in that. So how should one approach ethics at the technological frontier? This technical note discusses the challenges of our modern, highly innovative world; the muddled ethical lines this advancement can produce; and considerations to make and conversations to have around these new norms.

Ethics, in addition to being about principles and consequences, is about character: the individual traits and qualities that define what kind of person someone is and who they hope to become. This technical note poses a series of questions to help readers produce a vision of their character that can be shaped as they grow and progress as individuals and leaders.

Waze successfully developed a free smartphone mapping application that gave consumers turn-by-turn directions and real-time traffic data. This digital map compiled driver-generated data from Waze's community of users to relay constantly updated information on conditions such as traffic accidents, speeding-camera locations, and construction zones. By October 2012, Waze had captured 10 percent of the U.S. iOS mapping market and had grown to serve over 28 million users, with an expectation of reaching 100 million "Wazers" by 2015. Noam Bardin, Waze's CEO, recognized the company's emergence as a leader in its space and understood that a fresh capital injection would be needed to lead it through the next stage of development. Waze's previous fundraising attempts had been fraught with challenges. In October 2009, just one day before Bardin anticipated accepting a Series B term sheet, Google released Google Maps Navigation. Investors felt Waze would eventually be pushed out of the market by what would now be considered the industry's 800-pound gorilla and rescinded their offers for funding. But now, in 2012, Waze's strong market position enabled Bardin to negotiate with potential investors from a position of strength. In December 2012, Bardin secured a $100 million Series D round of financing at a $700 million pre-money valuation. Prior to finalizing the terms of the agreement, however, the CEO hesitated. With the draft term sheet before him, Bardin thought, "Have I exhaustively evaluated all of the changes that might ensue by taking this money?"

The case provides an overview and history of women in venture capital. The case examines the lack of funding that female entrepreneurs have had in the past. The case focuses on 4 women at venture capital firms: Sharon Wienbar (Scale VP), Joyce Chung (Garage Technology Venture Partners), Patricia Nakache (Trinity Ventures), and Rebecca Lynn (Canvas Venture).

This practice stands in stark contrast to the kind of NGO corporate governance that is prescribed by the Hong Kong government ("HKG"). Since the HKG launched its subvention approach to NGOs in Hong Kong in 2002, it has attempted to establish a code of practices for corporate governance in NGOs that are under its subvention. The code of practices advocates that NGO boards of directors should focus on areas that would ensure NGOs' legal and regulatory compliance, sound financial management, performance monitoring, and transparency. In addition, the best practice of having a diverse set of independent board members with different backgrounds and professionalism is encouraged. As one of the HKG's subvented NGOs, HKBU received 55% of its expenditure from the HKG subvention and grants in 2011-2012. As an organization that receives government funding and grants, that is, a subvented organization, HKBU is subject to the governance and audit system and framework imposed by the government. To a great extent, this governance and audit approach and framework is derived from the business sector's corporate governance practices. However, as a self-help organization for people with visual impairment, HKBU presents a compelling case for why these control and monitoring roles and practices of NGO boards should not necessarily be universally applicable to all subvented organizations in Hong Kong. Despite the HKG's guidance on the compliance and monitoring function of NGO corporate governance, HKBU sees its board, that is, the executive committee, and the Union's operation staff work closely as a unified team to achieve the NGO's missions and to facilitate fundraising. Against the backdrop of the HKG's governance advocacy, what roles and duties do HKBU's EC and its members fulfill? What are the results? And most importantly, why did HKBU adopt such practices?

Sales of CleanSpritz all-purpose cleaning spray have been steadily declining for the past five years, and management believes the decline correlates to a growing environmental concern among U.S. consumers. CleanSpritz's management is considering several options to address the environmental concerns in hopes of reversing the decline in revenue: re-launching the current product; adding a new product that includes stronger concentrate in a recyclable pouch; adding a new stronger concentrate in a dissolvable packet; or keeping the business status-quo. Students must present their recommendations for the most effective strategy, keeping in mind the potential risks of each alternative. Students learn to demonstrate the importance of packaging in the marketing mix, analyze the costs and benefits of being a first mover, and learn about the decision-making process for a product extension that represents a creative attempt to rejuvenate a mature brand. This case can be used in courses on marketing management, product management or new product development, or marketing and social responsibility.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Product #914537

An infrastructure conglomerate is facing serious challenges following its construction of a world-class airport. The group's leader possesses unique managerial skills, coherent leadership and clear vision, but the airport must contend with an unstable political and economic environment, both nationally and internationally, as well as a number of delays and bureaucratic hurdles. As a result of these external factors, revenues have been much lower than expected, in spite of the overall success of the group's groundbreaking airport project. The company's leader knows that it will take stringent steps and corrective action to confront these issues effectively.

The case follows the foundation and growth of Social Capital Ventures Development (SCVD), a social enterprise based in Cambodia launched by Christopher Wilson and Khov Boun Chhay in 2008. The venture aims to improve the lives and conditions of disadvantaged people in developing countries, through impact investment and dedication to sustainable and scalable projects, in the field of health, education, and farming. SCVD's first project was to provide rural areas with clean water, the absence of which resulted in high child mortality rate and overall ill health. The case follows SCVD during its first five years of its operations.

E+Co, an award-winning impact investment focused on the introduction of clean-energy technologies in developing countries, made 287 investments totaling over USD45 million since its 1994 inception. However, in 2011 new board members Dan Abbasi, Russell Diamond, and Bruce Usher had concerns about the financial health of E+Co's operations. In this case, students will be asked to review qualitative and quantitative material from the organization's business plan in order to determine whether its business model was fundamentally flawed.

The MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual puzzle-based scavenger hunt at MIT. It is run every year by a different team, and every year is slightly different as teams try new ideas and decide whether to keep or ignore new ideas from previous years. As the Mystery Hunt has grown, organizers face the challenge of balancing efficient administration while keeping it free of excessive administration.

This case examines the changes employed by YouTube to make the massively popular site more attractive to brands. Building from its base of amateur, user-generated content, YouTube had turned to experimenting with professionally-made content and organizing its videos into channels. But it still struggled when it came to capturing advertising dollars to its online video platform. The social video website wants to be a 'brand safe' platform which major marketers use to advertise their video ads. Should major brands switch a significant portion of their TV advertising budget to online ads on YouTube?

Core Curriculum Readings in Marketing cover fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks in marketing. For classroom use in higher education, this Reading is accompanied by a Teaching Note, test bank, and exhibit slides. "Brands and Brand Equity" provides a comprehensive review of the fundamental concepts and theories in branding and introduces key concepts, issues, and terminology related to creating, nurturing, managing, leveraging, and defending strong brands. Students will learn the many components that make up a brand, the value that brands provide for consumers and firms, how firms create brand equity, and the key decisions and challenges that brand managers face across the life cycle of a brand. This Reading also combines theory and practice by summarizing and integrating theories and models in branding research and illustrating them with examples from diverse industries, including success and failure of well-known brands.

This case is a sequel to Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (A), (B) and (C) cases. It focuses on the causes of recent fund-raising success and the complex resource allocation problems the School faces as it tries to deliver on its mission. In conjunction with the (A), (B) & (C) cases, it is a rich story of how mission and finance can play out over a very long period.

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to acquire controlling stake in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Satyam), a troubled Indian IT company managed since January 2009 by a six-member government-appointed caretaker board. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, saw the acquisition of Satyam as a strategic opportunity to move to the next level of growth. The acquisition would allow the Group to diversify across verticals, customers, and geographies, market a wide range of services to Satyam's strong customer base, and capitalize on common support systems in order to reduce operating costs and secure operational synergies. His brief to Vineet Nayyar-the vice chairman and managing director of Tech Mahindra and the vice chairman of Satyam-and C.P Gurnani-the CEO of Mahindra Satyam-was based on a set of clear principles: rectify the issues related to corporate governance; ensure an environment of trust where ethical conduct was valued; manage reputation risks by meeting customers and demonstrating the Mahindra Group's commitment; and restore faith within customers through newfound business models of delivery and engagements. As Nayyar reflected on Anand Mahindra's words, he wondered what series of business decisions he would have to make in order to retain the good elements, throw out the bad pieces, regain trust, and trigger change within the newly anointed Mahindra Satyam.

In his August 2012 earnings call, CEO Ron Johnson urged investors to be patient and stay the course with the revised JC Penney marketing strategy despite mounting negative financial indicators. The heart of the strategy was the "Fair and Square" approach to pricing. This was a switch from J.C. Penney's previous high-low pricing program to a new everyday low pricing policy that aimed to fit with a radical repositioning of the JC Penney business model and brand. However, with sales continuing to decline the Board fired Johnson in April 2013 and appointed Johnson's predecessor Myron E. "Mike" Ullman III as his successor. What would Ullman do to stop JC Penney's losses? Would he push forward with Johnson's "Fair and Square" vision; would he return to the former strategy; could he manage a hybrid strategy; or would he define a new path for the retailer to follow?

It is impossible to discuss national competitiveness without considering cities and the regions they anchor. Cities are transportation hubs, centers of commercial exchange, and the locus of lives. They thrive by the ways they connect to the world. Demographic changes in recent years-such as the decreasing popularity of cars and increasing urban populations-have implications for 21st century transportation and infrastructure. This is apparent in the case of Chicago, a global city in the vanguard of change. This paper focuses on five major 21st century transportation and infrastructure projects in Chicago: rail decongestion; airport modernization; mass transit modernization; a complete streets plan; and an infrastructure trust as a financing innovation. It also discusses leadership by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to create an integrated strategy that includes technology and education, and how he executes on it.