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Evelynn by Nicole Snobelen was an e-commerce clothing company based in London, Ontario, and was owned and operated by Nicole Snobelen. Snobelen had just been informed that a retail unit had become available for immediate occupancy at The Market at the Western Fair District in London (The Market). The Market housed a farmer’s market on the main floor and an artisan’s market on the second floor that featured distinctive locally handcrafted products. Snobelen had been waiting for a space to become available at The Market for some time, but now that the opportunity was becoming a reality, she wanted to thoroughly assess the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the decision before deciding to jump in.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B19E013.

An investment manager at Glitz Investments, a firm based in the United States with a focus on the entertainment industry, wanted to identify potential blockbuster movies in the Indian film industry for the firm’s potential investment purposes. The investment manager received a report compiled by analysts at the firm indicating that Bollywood would be an attractive industry for investment. The firm’s analysts had collected data but could the manager determine a quantitative relationship between box office performance and the factors the team had identified? Could Glitz Investments choose movies based on this analysis alone? The investment manager's boss was looking for more specific data on which to base the firm’s investment decisions.

Southern Implants, a South African dental implants manufacturer, was considering how to diversify its risk. Over the last 30 years, the company had grown from a local manufacturing company and now served customers around the world through distributors and subsidiaries. The founder and managing director was particularly concerned about the final stages of production which involved cleaning, sterilizing, and packing. While Southern Implants had four machine shops across South Africa, the final stages of production involved all items coming back to Southern Implants for these final packaging steps. The managing director wanted to set up another processing cleaning plant abroad, but he wondered what location for this plant would be best. The United States was the largest market for Southern Implants but labour costs were high. Portugal was another option and had an investor-friendly economic environment with no discrimination between domestic and foreign investors. What were the organizational and managerial risks to consider before making this decision?

Yuser Inc. (Yuser) was a young Canadian start-up based in London, Ontario, and focused on developing a gamified media sharing mobile application to help connect businesses with influencers. Yuser’s co-founders had released a marketable version of their app at the end of 2019, and in 2020, the company had nearly exhausted its seed funding. Yuser’s top priority at this time was to secure outside funding to grow the company fast without breaking it. The available options for funding consisted primarily of three sources: venture capital, equity crowdfunding, and token issuance. As each funding option had its own benefits and drawbacks, Yuser’s co-founders had to determine which option or combination of options would work best for their company.

In early 2020, the co-founders of DOUGH T.O, an entrepreneurial venture launched in Toronto, Canada, were evaluating several expansion options. Since its founding in 2017, the brand had expanded its edible cookie dough business from its original pop-up model to one that included online sales and a catering business. The co-founders were considering five options: opening a permanent flagship location, offering franchise rights, distributing product through grocery stores, entering into strategic partnerships, or pursuing a unique, creative option by “thinking outside the box.” Regardless of the decision they pursued, the co-founders wanted to pave the way for their company to become a sustainable business.

Onward Technologies Limited was an engineering services outsourcing company based in India with divisions and branch offices around the world. Founded in 1991, the company was an early entrant in the services outsourcing sector and had performed moderately well. Over time, the company had moved from providing banking services support to providing engineering services. Competitors, however, showed greater growth, and new companies were commanding an increasing share of the market. In 2006, Onward Technologies Limited underwent a significant restructuring process and sharply reduced its clientele with the goal of establishing a long-term but narrow focus. Still, the company had not been growing at the rate envisioned by its founder. It had secured a significant and prestigious order from a well-known US company and was wondering which path to pursue. Should the company continue doing business in the developed economies and working with new Fortune 500 companies, or should it pursue new opportunities in the emerging Asian markets.

Robert Unanue, chief executive officer (CEO) of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic food company in the United States, came under criticism on July 9, 2020, when as an invited guest at the White House, he praised the US President. Upset community members boycotted Goya products. Supporters of the US president, on the other hand, began to buycott. Experts mentioned that weighing into political opinion before the 2020 US presidential election was a bad business decision for any corporate entity. Was Unanue wrong in sharing his opinion? What could the possible impact of the boycott be on Goya’s revenues? What should Unanue do to manage the company’s reputation?

yourtown was an Australian non-profit organization offering a variety of services to children, young people, and families, supported by a range of stakeholders including federal and state governments, corporations, and, most significantly, members of the public. It was best known for its art union initiative in which supporters bought tickets to a raffle for luxury homes and automobiles.<br>In 2016, the organization rebranded from BoysTown, which at the time had awareness levels of 60 per cent in Australia. Now, in 2017, yourtown had an awareness level of only 10 per cent. Had the rebranding been the right move? Had it been too slow? Was it possible to regain past awareness levels or even exceed them?

Juhi Warrier was a successful human resources (HR) professional with almost two decades of work experience across various industries. She had recently joined the Indian unit of Revital Pharma Inc. (Revital), a leading healthcare manufacturer based in the United States. Heading talent acquisition (TA), Warrier was hired to bring in a fresh perspective and drive change. As only the third female among the 200 leaders in senior management roles, gender diversity was among the top goals on her agenda. However, she was in for a shock, as not only did her ideas for revamping the TA process find no takers but she also had a hard time gaining acceptance as a woman who was a senior leader on the team. The case describes the challenges faced by Warrier in championing the diversity agenda at Revital, while navigating the personal battles of gaining acceptance as a leader. Various incidents described in the case reveal the gaps in the system and the ingrained biases in the company culture. As Warrier works through the system, she is often forced to compromise on her diversity goals. Warrier now faces the dilemma of whether she should re-evaluate her goals or keep striving for equal opportunities in the TA process. What can Warrier do to succeed as a leader and build an inclusive workplace?

In April 2018, the two co-founders of SafeMotos, a motorcycle taxi service in Rwanda, in Central Africa, were examining their expansion plan. Their start-up had not yet become profitable, but they were already making plans to expand into the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were also driven by the larger goals of replicating their tried and tested growth model in other cities on the African continent and moving quickly into the underserved city transportation markets of Asia and the Far East. As they reviewed their four-year experience of working in Africa, they were facing a singular question: What should be the roadmap for scaling up their ride hailing service?

In early 2020, the founder and operator of Ramon Film Productions—known familiarly as Wakaliwood—needed to manage the tensions of operating as an informal movie production company in a slum in Uganda's capital of Kampala. Although Ramon Film Productions had received much international acclaim for its ultra-low-budget action movies, the company was under increasing pressure from the local authorities to formalize, by obtaining new operating licences and complying with stricter regulations. The founder needed to weigh the costs and benefits of continuing to operate informally, compared with formalizing his business.

PowerPoint presentation to accompany product 8B20A038.

Instructor spreadsheet to accompany product 8B12B025.

In February 2017, the chief executive officer of Conexus Credit Union, a local credit union headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan, was preparing to meet with the board of directors. He would be pitching his plan to build, staff, and operate a start-up venture program to be called the Cultivator. The Cultivator would create a stream of new regional high-technology businesses that would be well-placed, both for Conexus to serve and its members and the wider community to benefit from. The real question was how to operationalize this model: Should Conexus use the template of existing for-profit start-up accelerator programs to launch companies quickly and optimally to fail or scale? Or considering its community mandate, should Conexus take a different route?

<p style="color: white; background-color: rgb(3, 70, 56); font-size: 16px; display: inline-block; border: 0px solid rgb(197, 183, 131); padding: 4px 4px;"><a href="https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/01tOF000002kr3NYAQ" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"> AVAILABLE AS A DIGITAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE </a></p><br><br>In April 2018, following an in-store incident in Philadelphia that resulted in the unwarranted arrests of two Black men, Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks) faced a severe public relations crisis. A video of the incident, posted on Twitter, quickly generated widespread attention, online criticism, and in-person protests from people who accused the coffee giant of having exhibited racial bias. Within a few days, Starbucks shared press releases that featured its chief executive officer personally apologizing and taking responsibility for the incident. The chief executive officer also announced that US Starbucks stores would close for an afternoon for racial bias training and education. Although many public relations experts and customers commended Starbucks for its response, others continued to criticize Starbucks, claiming that its response wasn't genuine, but merely an attempt to protect reputation and avoid losing business. Further, while the training may have yielded positive education for employees, was it enough to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future? What could Starbucks do to demonstrate its intentions were genuine? How could it correct its mistake, address the root cause of the incident, keep customers' trust, and thrive as the world's largest coffee retailer?

In the first quarter of 2019, A.T. Kearney Inc.’s managing partner had to find a strategy that would help the company move into the top tier of the world’s management consultancy firms. The new leader was only the ninth managing partner in the firm’s history, having succeeded the previous leader one year earlier. He was a member of the firm’s board of directors and had previously led the company’s global Communications, Media & Technology practice. He had also been named one of The Top 25 Consultants by Consulting magazine. After his appointment as managing director, he announced that A.T. Kearney Inc. would continue to be committed to helping its clients with their biggest and most important challenges. However, the firm faced a major challenge of its own: how to become a US$2 billion management consultancy titan as quickly as possible and compete against the industry’s giants. A.T. Kearney Inc. had to determine what would be the best option for the future of the company.

AfreecaTV Co. Ltd. (AfreecaTV) was a pioneer in the business of live video streaming, as well as in using voluntary donations as a monetization strategy. In August 2020, AfreecaTV’s co-chief executive officer (CEO) and its largest shareholder, was facing a strategic crossroads. After battling global live-streaming giant and Amazon subsidiary Twitch to a standstill in AfreecaTV’s domestic Korean market, the co-CEO had to decide whether to pursue several risky strategic initiatives, including moving into foreign markets like the United States, further developing the company’s video-on-demand service, expanding advertising on the platform, and generating new, proprietary content (e.g., the company’s own K-pop group). He wondered which would be the best direction to take AfreecaTV in the coming years.

In Nepal, which primarily relied on the use of oral therapy for the treatment of chronic respiratory conditions, Nirparaj Joshi, country manager for Nepal at Cipla Limited (Cipla), had been successful in creating a market plan for the inhaler brand, Seroflo. After consistent efforts, Seroflo had risen to the top market position in fiscal year (FY) 2019–20. This had established the brand not only as a category leader in the respiratory segment but also as a leader in the overall Nepalese pharmaceutical market. Joshi had planned a massive outreach campaign in FY 2020–21 to further push the absolute sales, increase the prescriber base, and boost patient enrollment. However, when everything seemed to be on the right track, the entire world was gripped by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This forced Joshi to re-strategize so as to adapt the brand to the “new normal” and sustain brand leadership. He was faced with many challenges and needed a revised roadmap to navigate the crisis. He was also evaluating whether or not this was the right time to transition to an Agile marketing approach.

Ken Edwards, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tristar Hotel Group (Tristar), was reviewing the financial performance for his bustling hotel portfolio. In the spirit of the risk-taking and experimental mindset that Edwards brought to Tristar, adopting automated robotic service delivery was top of his mind. Earlier in the year, he had authorized a pilot project to evaluate the costs and benefits of using a robot named ARCHIE; now he needed to determine whether to proceed and implement ARCHIE for room service delivery on a full-scale basis at one of Tristar’s hotel properties.