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In June 2019, the Indian government's think tank, Niti Aayog, mandated that all new motorized two-wheelers with an engine capacity of up to 150 cubic centimetres (cc) would need to be electric-powered by 2025. The chief executive officer and co-founder of Ather Energy wholeheartedly supported this mandate, as his firm's objective was to develop India's first smart electric scooter. Despite his confidence in revolutionizing the concept of two-wheeler driving in India, the task ahead was challenging and complex. How could the company encourage consumers to purchase Ather Energy’s products? What personality types should the company cater to? What roles did Indian consumers' requirements and psychology play in motivating them to purchase Ather Energy’s products?

Jinnah Engineering Works and Foundries had been a prominent foundry and machining business in Pakistan since its inception in 1950. In early 2018, it was struggling with internal inefficiencies caused by a lack of formal workforce planning. The company hired temporary workers almost daily—with no long-term planning and a high attrition rate—and the company’s board was worried about the mounting inefficiencies and financial costs. The company had taken a positive step toward resolving the many human resources problems by partnering with human resources consultants from the business school at the National University of Sciences and Technology. These consultants undertook a thorough analysis of the company and its workforce and presented recommendations that would benefit the business but could be difficult to implement in the context of the company’s existing processes. The board had to make a decision: how could it implement changes regarding how the workers were managed without demoralizing the staff or causing delays in production?

In 2019, Netflix had 167 million subscribers globally and offered thousands of television shows and movies on its streaming application, a growing proportion of which it produced itself. Media giants, who for years had valued the relationship with Netflix because it provided an additional outlet, began to re-evaluate their own (make) versus contract (buy) distribution decision. Leveraging acquisitions, technology investments, and vast content libraries, they entered the streaming wars by going direct to consumers. Was Netflix vulnerable in head-to-head competition in an increasingly fragmented market? How should it respond to entry by its former partners?

The co-manager and partner at Escape Outdoors (EO), North Sydney, Nova Scotia had to decide if the adoption of Herschel Supply Co. (Herschel) products—as part of her outdoor store’s product mix—was a good decision for her company. Herschel had never been included in the traditional outdoor mix of brands, and EO’s market was an older clientele than Herschel’s. Marketing factors affecting her decision to adopt a new brand included buyer behaviour, marketing informatics, segmentation, differentiation, and positioning. However, Herschel was a post-millennial-focused brand, and the company’s representative believed the younger demographic was becoming more interested in outdoor recreation. EO’s co-manager and partner had concerns. Did Herschel fit EO’s values, current brand mix, and customer base? Should EO adopt the brand? Which specific lines or products would be the best fit? How much inventory should EO begin with?

The case discusses the opportunities and challenges faced by Lladró SA (Lladró), a Spanish luxury porcelain brand, when marketing itself in India in 2019. Lladró was known for its high quality, artistic, and handcrafted porcelain pieces created in its workshop in Valencia, Spain. In India, Lladró had gained popularity among high net-worth individuals and corporate executives through its “Spirit of India” series of sculptures featuring Hindu gods and goddesses in porcelain. However, with the changes in the luxury paradigm the company was striving to reorient the brand as a lifestyle luxury brand with a focus on functionality in its product offerings. The case raises questions about the future direction the brand should take in India without risking its prestige status. What strategies should Lladró adopt to target specific buyers in India? Would the company benefit from its expanding product portfolio or run the risk of diluting its exclusive luxury image with this growing product portfolio?

In January 2015, an investor bought 1,000 shares of Bank of India stock when the banking sector was expected to perform better over the medium to long term. On October 11, 2019, after holding the shares for nearly five years, the investor was surprised to see that the stock price had instead dropped by almost 80 per cent. He was disappointed in his investment’s performance to date, but the stock’s current low price seemed a bargain, so he was contemplating buying more shares for overall cost averaging of his investment. Before making any investment decisions, however, he carefully analyzed the bank’s annual reports for the previous five years and discovered an unusual change in the bank’s accounting policy for the provisioning of non-performing assets. After his review of the bank’s financial statements, the investor was unsure whether he should sell his shares, buy more shares to achieve overall cost averaging, or hold the number of shares he currently owned.

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (Panda Base), located in Chengdu, China, was the world’s most popular scenic spot for giant panda tourism. Panda Base was founded in 1987 with a mission that included the protection and breeding of the endangered giant panda, scientific research, public education, and cultural tourism. In 2002, the director of Panda Base began to build panda culture and the panda brand in an effort to resolve low brand awareness and to better protect the giant panda. In 2020, Panda Base promoted the giant panda on various digital media platforms. Based on the concept of Web 3.0, Panda Base integrated the theories of social media marketing, content marketing, and viral marketing to promote panda culture and brand value, and successfully developed its core cultural brand value: "Tell the most touching story of the giant panda." Looking to the future, Panda Base’s director wanted to develop a smart tourism project to continue protecting giant pandas and increasing their population with the help of 5G (fifth-generation) technology, while providing tourists with an immersive experience. How can the director best use technology to support and promote Panda Base?

On January 13, 2019, the Gillette Company aired the advertisement “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be.” After the airing, both the company and its chief executive officer were subjected to backlash. The advertisement, launched amid the Gillette brand’s declining market share, addressed the #MeToo movement, sexism in the boardroom, and bullying, and asked viewers, “Is this the best a man can get?” Although the advertisement was intended to challenge men to end toxic masculinity and abuse, it became both the most liked and the most disliked advertisement in YouTube’s history. Six months after the airing, The Procter & Gamble Company, reported a US$8.3 million writedown in its Shave Care business, represented by the Gillette brand, leading some observers to wonder whether the polarizing reactions to the advertisement had led to the writedown. What was The Gillette Company’s fiduciary responsibility in the era of the #MeTooMovement? Should its chief executive officer and visionary of the controversial advertisement be fired? Should he be promoted for confronting such a serious societal issue? Or should no change be made in the corporate structure?

By 2019, Facebook Inc.’s (Facebook’s), popular social media and social networking service (known as Facebook) that launched in 2004, had emerged as one of the world’s largest market capitalizations. Over its 15 years, the company had experienced public relation incidents that led to controversies regarding its social media business model. Most criticism related to the unethical ways the company had handled its users’ personal data. By 2019, the level of mistrust from users had skyrocketed alarmingly. Many analysts questioned the company's willingness to deal with data privacy concerns, with some alleging that its business model was fundamentally unethical by design. Clearly Facebook's chief executive officer and his team needed to step back and reflect on the company’s next steps.

In mid-2019, the owner of Ireland Renovations was contemplating the future of his renovation and construction company that operated in London and Middlesex County in Ontario, Canada. The owner’s youngest son was interested in working for the business, but the owner wondered whether the company could afford to hire him. His son had previously worked for the company part-time and had shown an interest in helping his father grow the business. The owner decided to project and analyze cash budgets for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to determine whether hiring his son would be a feasible option.

On September 24, 2018, two analysts were asked by the pension fund they worked for to evaluate the prospects of long-term investing in India’s banking sector. They set off to identify and select a bank stock that was fundamentally strong and should be included in an equity portfolio. For their research, the two analysts used the CAMELS analysis framework, a model that examined six factors—capital adequacy, asset quality, management quality, earning ability, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk. The two analysts narrowed their research down to HDFC Bank Ltd. stock for valuation and tried to determine the intrinsic price of the bank shares. The objective of the HDFC Bank Ltd. stock valuation was to identify a banking stock that would make a strong potential long-term investment for the pension fund’s equity portfolio.

Instructor spreadsheet to accompany product 8B20N006.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B20C006.

In 2018, Software development corporation iQmetrix Software Development Corp. (iQmetrix), headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, had experienced exponential growth and success over the past two decades. The company’s head of People and Culture, was interested in the debate over the ideal performance appraisal process. After reading a few articles in the Harvard Business Review, she was considering dropping traditional performance appraisals and replacing them with written feedback only. To make an informed decision, she conducted a quasi-experiment by assigning employees to different performance evaluation conditions and then examined employee perceptions six months later to determine which evaluation format she should adopt company-wide.

In December 2018, Boom Technology Inc., a start-up based in Colorado, United States, was hoping to enter the aviation market with a supersonic aircraft. The company’s founder and chief executive officer believed that customers would pay a premium for a flight that could get them to their destination in less than half the time compared to current options.<br><br>Developing meaningful relationships within this complex web of stakeholders, including large and powerful traditional aircraft makers, regulators, airlines, and end customers, was one of the biggest challenges. In addition, two other start-ups had similar aims and were also developing relationships and alliances with different businesses in the sector.<br><br>The company’s founder was contemplating several key business decisions. Was supersonic flight a technologically possible and economically viable form of transport? How could the company convince airlines to buy the supersonic aircraft? Was building a supersonic private business jet a safer bet?

Boston-based Project Have Hope was a non-profit social enterprise promoting financial stability for 100 women in Kampala, Uganda, who had been displaced as a result of Uganda’s civil war. Established in 2006, Project Have Hope used revenue from the sale of paper bead jewellery and other products made by the women to provide training, loans, and children’s tuition. The project faced many challenges over the years, including an unplanned expansion of its beneficiaries, staffing challenges, an oversaturated bead jewellery market, rising costs, and the founder’s unsustainable workload. In 2019, Project Have Hope was at a nexus: how could the founder sustain Project Have Hope into the future?

Blake Vince is a fifth-generation farmer who adheres to seemingly unconventional farming techniques. Most farmers in southwestern Ontario use conventional industrial farming methods such as tilling their fields, relying on pesticides and fertilizers, and monocropping (i.e., planting the same crops on the same plot of land year after year). Vince, however, embraces more regenerative agricultural practices (such as no-till farming, wherein the top layer of soil is left undisturbed), planting cover crops, and reducing his application of chemical inputs. He uses a variety of cover crops between seasons of soybean crops to help enhance soil quality. This method of farming has been demonstrated to be more ecologically aligned, sustainable, and less costly in the long run, both economically and environmentally. However, Vince estimates that the savings come at the expense of crop yields during the first four to five years. Debates over farming practices (e.g., till versus no-till) were strong in Ontario. Farmers cared passionately about their land, and they often held strong opinions of their preferred approach, passed down through generations. Vince faces the challenge of spreading the word about regenerative agricultural practices and convincing farmers of the importance of operating as long-term stewards to preserve the land for future generations. Vince wondered whether the arguments for regenerative agricultural practices would be strong enough to persuade (a) farmers to shift their practices, (b) consumers to shift their purchasing, and (c) political leaders to introduce policies to accelerate its adoption.

From 2000 to 2019, the department of corporate social responsibility and global supplier management at Huawei Technologies Company Limited had been trying to engage hundreds of Chinese suppliers on sustainability. The department’s effort included orchestrating multiple, diverse, sustainability initiatives, from auditing to contributing to the rollout of a self-assessment tool launched in 2012 by the British Telecom Group (BT). However, the auditing, even when delivered through a joint initiative established by international communications tech companies in 2013, seemed unlikely to cause pathbreaking development in Huawei’s large and fragmented supply network. Initial experiences with the self-assessment tool were proving equally unsuccessful in introducing suppliers to more sustainable products and operations and stimulating engagement among them. Why were these initiatives failing to produce improvement? What else could be done to effectively and efficiently engage hundreds of Chinese suppliers on sustainability?

On March 25, 2019, the head of business growth for SmartMoney, owned by the Indian conglomerate Smart Industries Limited, was expected by his company’s management team to propose a strategy for capturing 10 per cent of India’s digital payments market in financial year 2019–20. He knew that the market was vast and fragmented and that he was working with a platform business, where fast mobilization was a key factor. SmartMoney already had market presence, resources, and the required expertise to be competitive on the merchant side of the industry over the long term. Therefore, the immediate and considerable challenge was how to mobilize the consumer side, where the company faced various well-established and aggressive incumbents. To thoroughly asses the market, the head of business growth had to integrate a great deal of available information. He would need to select the right entry strategy and target a consumer segment, offering appropriate incentive schemes to attract business. His challenge was to devise a strategy and build a stable, substantial customer base that would deliver the desired results to sustain long-term growth for both SmartMoney and its parent company.

This technical note provides step-by-step instructions for leveraging social network analyses to understand a team’s dynamics and thereby enhance a team’s collective effectiveness. More precisely, this note explains the basic terminology of social networks, the mapping of social relationships in an adjacency matrix, and the use of an adjacency matrix to create a graph that represents social interactions. This note also explains how to derive further insights into a team’s interpersonal relations by exploring the unique characteristics and personal situations of each actor.