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In late July 2018, a buy-side analyst at Dimensional Wealth Group (DWG), a privately owned investment management firm, needed to decide whether DWG should increase, decrease, or not change its position in Harley-Davidson Inc. (Harley-Davidson) stock. DWG had been bullish on its Harley-Davidson stock, leading DWG to increase its position in Harley-Davidson substantially over time. However, Harley-Davidson was currently facing several challenges, which suggested that the timing was appropriate for DWG to reconsider its bullish position. How should the analyst determine a suitable recommendation regarding the Harley-Davidson stock?

In June 2019, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), a leading Indian global information technology (IT) services, consulting, and business solutions provider, announced that it would increase its shareholding in Tata Consultancy Services Japan Limited (TCS Japan) from 51 per cent to 66 per cent. Established in July 2014, TCS Japan was a joint venture between TCS and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), one of Japan’s largest integrated business enterprises. This collaboration was not TCS’s first foray into Japan’s IT industry; the company had entered the Japanese market in 1987, but with a wholly owned subsidiary. Why did TCS give up a part of its full ownership and control to MC in 2014? Was such an alliance a merger of equals or more a sale of the Japanese branch to a stronger local suitor? Why did the company reclaim its ownership in 2019 through an increase in equity holding? To penetrate the Japanese IT services market and compete with local giants, should TCS have acquired another medium-sized Japanese company instead of joint venturing with MC? Or, should it have continued operating in the Japanese market alone through the wholly owned subsidiary?

In early 2019, the senior executive partners of Mosaic Home Services Ltd. (Mosaic), a home improvement and commercial property management company in Edmonton, Alberta, needed to choose from among several potential new partnership deals. When the senior executive partners had exited a family-owned commercial construction business in 2015 to start Mosaic, their major objective had been to help improve the living spaces of homeowners and the work spaces of property managers. The new business involved partnering with entrepreneurs who were keen to develop and grow their businesses beyond the initial founders. Now, Mosaic needed to develop ongoing strategies for attracting and selecting small business owners based on the personal attributes and proposed partnership deals of the entrepreneurs. They needed to determine how to assess potential partners’ strategic and organizational fit with Mosaic and to decide what marketing methods would effectively attract local entrepreneurs with potentially saleable businesses.

An estimated 640 million online gamers participated in China’s games industry in 2019. Their pursuit included earning points or tokens that they could redeem for prizes or gifts and in-game assets. A centralized platform allowed game operators to share the administration and management of tokens and rewards, but the system was not as transparent or immutable as stakeholders desired. In January 2019, a new points redemption system was launched based on blockchain technology. The new system, involving game operators, users, custodian banks, suppliers, and tax agents was credible and more transparent, and foreshadowed China’s growing interest in legal digital currency. How policy would shift toward digital currency was unclear; however, the fact that the blockchain race between countries had intensified was clear. The application of blockchain in China’s games industry was just one of the visible examples.

In June 2019, the chief executive officer of a Canadian menswear enterprise was examining his options mid-way through a five-year growth plan. The strategy involved a three-fold mandate: reinforce the company’s value proposition, rapidly scale up marketing, and transition to omnichannel retailing. What has worked well for the company and how does the strategy need to be refined so the company meets its goals?

In July 2018 Sherry Schaefer, the Director, Foundation & Community Engagement at the CapitalCare Foundation (the Foundation) was facing an organizational branding/positioning problem. The Foundation, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was responsible for raising donations to support equipment and enrichment programs in long-term care facilities that provide long-term housing and medical care for sick and elderly people. The Foundation was competing with many large and well-organized charities and was losing visibility in the crowded charity market. Schaefer had just found out that the Foundation would have to double annual donations, and she needed to decide how to overcome the market visibility problems to make that happen.

Asha Handicrafts Association (Asha) was a fair trade marketing organization, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The organization primarily marketed and sold handicrafts sourced from artisans across India to three main customer segments. The first segment consisted of fair trade importers outside of India, where Asha was a leading player. The second segment consisted of commercial importers who sold products through commercial retail stores abroad. Asha had done reasonably well in this segment in a pilot project. The third segment was the domestic retail market, where Asha ran its own retail store chain in India with the brand name of Karigar. In January 2017, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Asha deliberated the all-important decision of whether to continue with or shut down Asha’s retail business, Karigar. The CEO also examined how Asha could redefine its value proposition and determine which customer segment (or segments) to focus on while building its strategic road map for the future.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B20N012.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B20N012.

CLS Landscape Supply was an established firm facing flat sales growth and declining profitability. Founded as a student-run business by a young couple in 2009 in Cochrane, Alberta, the company had grown to 33 seasonal employees, with sales exceeding $4 million annually. It operated two locations that supplied landscape products and materials to both retail and commercial customers, as well as a landscape construction division that provided both landscape design and installation services. The local economy was highly reliant on the oil and gas sector and had been struggling for several years. Price cutting was also common in the company’s highly competitive industry. How could the co-founders address the issues of flat sales growth, declining profit margins, and the competing time commitments of running the business while starting a family? They wanted to best position the company for long-term success. How could they focus on developing a more formal human resource plan for staffing and scheduling work in addition to developing budgets and policies for managing expenses?

Before 2013, Shandong Four Seasons Minghu Hotel Co. Ltd. was a high-end restaurant and food service company. In December 2012, the Chinese government implemented the Eight-Point Regulation that prohibited government officials from indulging in luxury banquets and high-end meals. The new government policy had a negative effect on many companies across the high-end food service industry, whose customer base consisted mainly of government officials. In response to the new government policy, Shandong Four Seasons Minghu Hotel Co. Ltd. made some strategic changes that eventually led the company to recover and survive. However, fierce competition created many challenges. The company had to determine whether to explore other markets and how to better satisfy the needs of consumers.

In 2019, the co-founders of Praxis—a toothpaste that aimed to improve the health and wellness of its users by incorporating vitamins, minerals, and supplements into the toothpaste—were contemplating whether to launch their business. The mission of Praxis was to facilitate a health-conscious lifestyle and empower individuals to improve their productivity and well-being. The duo wanted to assess the business environment, evaluate their product and marketing strategy, project the venture’s financial performance for the first three years of operations, and ultimately determine whether they should pursue the idea. They had specific goals in mind since they had won a case competition at their university, been approached by many investors, and been shortlisted to star on Dragons’ Den. Could they successfully launch Praxis, differentiate Praxis from other industry players, and continue managing their existing workload in their studies at Western University?

On June 21, 2019, the human resources director at Renaissance Packaging and Manufacturing Ltd., in Nagpur, India, was feeling a considerable amount of stress. As the presiding officer of the company’s internal complaints committee, she was tasked with handling a sexual harassment complaint filed by the company’s chief engineer at the plant. In her complaint, the chief engineer accused the production manager, her superior, of sexual harassment. The internal complaints committee had to make an unbiased decision based on the specific details provided in the complaint. However, the human resources director worried that the situation raised underlying cultural issues at the plant, including a lack of awareness and sensitivity regarding interactions among male and female employees. How could the internal complaints committee resolve the complaint without creating hostility between the two co-workers and other employees? What kinds of organizational changes could help the company address sexual harassment in the workplace? What could the human resources director do to promote a positive and welcoming attitude toward female employees at the plant, especially women in leadership positions?

In August 2018, Excelco Equipment Pte. Ltd. (Excelco), based in Singapore, was facing challenges in recruiting talented young workers. The company’s senior staff would retire soon, and the majority of its workers were above the age of 40. Excelco had enjoyed a stable workforce flow for several decades, but now its employees were aging, and it needed to attract young workers. Excelco’s executive director was proud of the company’s family culture and attractive work environment, but prospective young workers seemed to have different wish lists for their dream jobs. Based on the feedback he received from young talent on what Excelco had to offer, he needed to make some important decisions on issues including how to improve the company’s current recruitment process and how to raise its employer brand awareness. Excelco’s resource constraints, as a small company in a traditional industry, meant that tackling its employment challenges would not be easy. The executive director needed to address several issues, including countering the poor image of construction jobs, promoting Excelco’s unique selling points, and finding the right recruitment channels. Ultimately, he had to recruit the right young talent into the right positions. Could he do it?

The director of diversity and inclusion at a community agency is trying to decide whether to update her business email signature to express her gender identity by providing preferred pronouns. The director must decide whether the benefits of adding the information exceed the potential costs.<br><br><br><br>Subsequently, in a second and third situation—each situation presented as a separate addition to the main case—the director must decide the extent to which she will formally influence her workers to update their email signatures with gender pronoun, and then whether to update her LinkedIn profile. Much of her decision rests on the cultural operating norms of the organization and the director’s role in the organization.

Shanghai Jiujia Information Technology Co., Ltd. (CaiHong) was founded in April 2015 by entrepreneur Junyuan Huang. The company has transitioned from an e-commerce platform to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to better compete in China’s Legal Service Plus Internet (LSPI) industry. While exploring some key concepts about CaiHong, such as market positioning, business model innovation, SaaS, and growth strategies, several questions are raised about the company’s growth in the LSPI industry and the company’s application of SaaS. First, what factors facilitated CaiHong’s transition from the business-to-consumer (B2C) market to the business-to-business (B2B) market? Second, what is CaiHong’s approach to business model innovation based on the SaaS platform? Third, how can it build on the success of the SaaS model through continuous innovation and further disruption of the LSPI industry?

The chief executive officer of Ambhar Global Spirits LLC joined the company in 2003, when its Tequila Ambhar brand was immersed in financial and image problems. He dedicated himself to reconfiguring the positioning of Tequila Ambhar, establishing it as a product of high quality and sophistication for knowledgeable consumers. With this conviction, he worked closely with a tequila industry consultant to modify product and marketing components and perfect the production process, to create a fully Mexican, 100 per cent agave, handmade tequila with a high-end premium positioning. By 2017, the chief executive officer believed the time was right to raise the bar on Ambhar’s positioning and distribution in the US market. With great expectations for the product, and with the support of the board of directors, he intended to develop a commercial plan to increase market share by 30 per cent. However, he and the expert consultant were at odds on the next logical step for the brand: strengthen strategic alliances to reinforce the distribution network and increase points-of-sale in the United States, or improve branding to make the tequila more authentic and bring it closer to the consumer?

Subway had been a dominant player in the submarine sandwich category since its inception in 1965. By 2011, the company had surpassed McDonald’s as the world’s largest restaurant chain. However, the emergence of strong competition and a number of issues—mostly related to its products, place, and price—had caused the company to struggle since 2014. The company’s franchise system was poorly designed and operated, product quality had slipped, the company had not kept up with industry and dietary trends, and the arrest of the company’s key spokesperson had a negative effect on the company’s profits. Revenues declined from 2014 to 2019, and 2,376 stores were closed between 2016 and 2018. Subway needed to turn itself around. How could Subway’s chief executive officer resolve the company’s product-, place-, and price-related issues to help reverse its fortunes?

The release of Tesla Inc. (Tesla)’s financial results in early 2019 made it clear that significant challenges lay ahead for the firm. While Tesla remained the market leader for electric vehicles in the global automobile industry, sales had dropped dramatically, and Tesla was once again losing money. Its recent launch of the Model 3 held great promise and added a key vehicle to its growing product portfolio, but customer complaints about late delivery were on the rise. As a leader of electric vehicles in the global automobile industry, which capabilities are most important for Tesla to further develop, and how broadly should the firm stretch its supply chain and service network? Were changes to the firm’s strategy required in order to advance its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy?

In February 2020, the board of directors of the French energy utility company, Engie SA (Engie), terminated the services of the company’s chief executive officer (CEO). Before her departure, this CEO was the only female CEO among the Cotation Assistée en Continu (CAC) 40 benchmark stock market index of firms. After becoming CEO in May 2016, she divested billions of dollars’ worth of fossil-fuel assets and reinvested the proceeds in renewable and energy efficiency services. Her goal was to restructure the loss-making energy company, but the board of directors was not satisfied with her performance. Despite an improvement in the company’s financial performance during her tenure, Engie remained one of the lowest-valued energy utility companies on European stock exchanges. With a focus on renewable energy, Engie’s relative performance continued to suffer. The chair of the company’s board of directors had to determine the cause of the company’s stock market performance and find ways to improve. He also had to consider what other factors, in addition to value creation for shareholders, should be used as a performance measure for the next CEO.