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In late 2015, the executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Fortis, Inc., a homegrown energy delivery company based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, was preparing to meet with the company’s leadership committee. On the agenda was whether Fortis should make an offer to acquire ITC Holdings Corporation, the largest independent transmission utility in the United States. Fortis had a proven track record of acquiring regulated utilities, and if the ITC deal went ahead, it would mark Fortis’s most significant acquisition in its history. Should Fortis move ahead with the acquisition, or was taking on ITC too big a risk?

Presentation for product 8B18M014.

In May 2013, iGATE Corporation ended its employment contract with Phaneesh Murthy, then chief executive officer, amid allegations of sexual harassment. iGATE maintained that Murthy had violated company policy; thus, it dismissed Murthy “with cause,” effectively ending all of the company’s severance obligations under the agreement. Murthy responded by suing iGATE, claiming breach of contract and defamation. In March 2014, iGATE countersued Murthy for damages the company suffered due to Murthy’s behaviour. Could iGATE justify its termination of Murthy’s contract? What were the implications of ending a senior executive’s agreement for cause?

In March 2017, the vice-president of the ice cream division at Colombina S.A. (Colombina), was in her office at the company’s headquarters in Cali, Colombia. She was reviewing the growth figures for the company’s ice cream business, for which she was accountable. The sales target set for the company in 2010 was US$1 billion by 2020, and the ice cream segment would play a fundamental role in reaching that target. The vice-president remembered what Colombina’s chief executive officer had told employees the year before at the last strategic planning meeting: “It is simple; in order to reach the sales target, we must continue to do three things: achieve organic growth of the businesses we already have, open new markets or new businesses, and acquire companies with which we can generate synergies with our ongoing businesses.” Despite having invoiced over $40 million in ice cream in 2016, a growth of 1 per cent over 2015, the vice-president was aware of the challenge this strategic guideline meant for her category, which led her to consider options for increasing sales and profits. What market opportunities should the ice cream division exploit? What channels should it grow? Should particular channels be grown more than others? Should the product portfolio be expanded?

In the summer of 2015, one of Nestlé SA (Nestlé)’s top-selling products in the Indian market, its two-minute Maggi noodles, was embroiled in a food and safety issue when lead was discovered during a test. Media pundits called for the arrest of Nestlé officials. Others took to the street to set ablaze the famous yellow-coloured Maggi packets. Nestlé treated the matter largely as a regulatory issue, managing the crisis with scientific data at hand. The narrative was quickly set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority and its various provincial partners, which led to statewide bans and expanded tests of Maggi noodles across India and beyond. Nestlé executives wondered how a simple test had landed the organization and its prized brand in hot water. How can Nestlé take control and win back consumer confidence?

Since 2000, China’s Jiuzhai Valley National Park (Jiuzhai Valley) had been experiencing a sharp increase in the volume of tourists it received. The park contributed significantly to the surrounding area’s economy: in 2015 and 2016, it contributed more than 60 per cent of the total admission income received from the four major scenic parks within the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. However, pollution and noise due to the influx of visitors presented a constant threat to Jiuzhai Valley’s ecosystem and environment. Despite Jiuzhai Valley’s fairly advanced and disciplined approach to park management, there was no easy solution to the problem it faced in trying to balance its economic success and sustainable environmental initiatives. Attempts to manage information using digital and smart technologies and “big data” were still in their early stages, and had yet to yield the expected benefits. How could the park balance conservation and development to attain sustainability?

In 2017, Gemini Edibles and Fats India Private Limited (GEF India), a Hyderabad-based company, was in the business of trading, manufacturing, and marketing edible oils and fats. In the eight years since it was founded, GEF India had become the top-selling edible oil company across South India with a 40 per cent market share. The company wanted to double its current revenues by 2021, which would place it in competition with national producers. Consumption of edible oil in India was increasing, and domestic production was not meeting demand. GEF India wanted to capitalize on the opportunity, but the revenue targets indicated no ordinary increase. What should its growth strategy be? Was there a need to revisit its marketing communication strategy in order to strengthen its brand amid increasing competition? From an organizational perspective, did the growth challenge require a shift in the company’s culture or internal communication strategy?

Since its founding in 1951, Chinese state-owned Jinjiang International (Group) Company Limited (Jinjiang) had become a leading international company in the travel and hospitality industry with business divisions in hotels, transportation, travel, realty, investments, and finance. The Jinjiang brand was well-known in China, and the group had been pursuing a conservative investment approach. However, in response to the Chinese government’s “Going Global” and “One Belt and One Road” policies, and in order to strengthen the firm’s international competitiveness, Jinjiang made a series of aggressive mergers and acquisitions between 2014 and 2016. The acquisitions—especially those of two large hotel groups—had worsened Jinjiang’s debt position, while integration was proving difficult due to the acquired firms’ different corporate cultures and values. The hospitality market was also becoming mature and highly competitive; host-country governments were increasingly wary of foreign state-owned companies acquiring domestic assets. How could Jinjiang overcome these challenges to achieve its aspiration of building a world-class brand, while fulfilling the Chinese government’s political agendas through a series of aggressive globalization efforts?

In December 2016, the founder of Nukkad, The Chaitastic Teafé Pvt. Ltd. (Nukkad), an organized tea café retail chain, was pleased to see that Nukkad had garnered positive reviews and ratings on numerous social media pages. He was proud of his social enterprise, which encompassed two cafés based in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. Since its inception in 2013, Nukkad had created quite a buzz for its distinctive initiative: it specifically employed youths with speech- and hearing-related disabilities. Its founder’s aim was to expand Nukkad to more locations so that more people with these disabilities could be employed and a larger customer base could be reached. What was the best way to achieve this aim? Should he continue expanding with his own outlets (traditional expansion) or through franchising? If the latter, what type of franchising model should Nukkad follow?

Laurs & Bridz Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (Laurs & Bridz) was a state-of-the-art generic pharmaceutical company that exported pharmaceutical products all over the world and specialized in providing combination drugs to the medical community. The company needed to deploy a customer relationship management (CRM) solution to strengthen its sales and marketing, and build robust systems to better track customers, strengthen customer relationships, and enhance sales-force productivity. In 2017, Laurs & Bridz was considering several CRM solutions, which had been shortlisted on the basis of features and price. Before it could invest ₹50 million in the new system, Laurs & Bridz had to answer several important questions: Which of the available CRM solutions would best suit the firm? What would be the direct and indirect effects of implementing such a CRM solution? What kind of approach should the firm use to implement the solution? What obstacles could interfere with that solution’s successful implementation?

Wild Chef Limited (Wild Chef) was a multi-cuisine restaurant operating a take-away and delivery format in Delhi’s National Capital Region. It adopted the emerging concept of cloud kitchen in July 2016, considering the promising opportunities offered by the rapidly growing food-technology market in India. Key strategic decisions helped Wild Chef achieve its operational break-even point in its third month, and after one year, the owners were considering options on how to scale-up the business further. The choice of markets to enter, and arriving at the right permutation of scale-up options were the key decision areas under focus.

Student Spreadsheet for product 9B18D002.

At the end of 2012, the chief information officer (CIO) at UCB, a global pharmaceutical company based in Brussels, started to implement analytics as a service. Between 2012 and 2016, he put this vision into practice, introducing agile sprints and proving the competence of analytics within the organization, and at the beginning of 2016, he felt the company was ready to upgrade its analytics capability. As he prepared to meet with UCB’s chief executive officer in March 2016, the CIO considered how to advise the board as the organization worked to make an impact with analytics and big data against the backdrop of digital turbulence in its strategic environment. How could UCB balance empowerment and bottom-up experimentation with enterprise focus and control? What was the best location for analytics roles and responsibilities within the organization?

In early 2016, WinnersTrend Pvt. Ltd. (WinnersTrend), which provided customized executive education and consulting services to senior business leaders in India, needed to decide whether or not to expand its operations to address a different market segment. It had been delivering value to its target market through its team of highly qualified and experienced facilitators, using a rigorous program design methodology; however, increasing competition and falling revenues compelled the founders to rethink their strategy. WinnersTrend received a large offer to provide programs for frontline executives. This market was estimated to have 50 to 100 times the end-users in the senior leadership sector, which could generate 15 to 30 times the revenue. Should the company pursue this offer? What would be the benefits and disadvantages of doing so? Could WinnersTrend use its current model to deliver programs to the frontline executive market? If not, what changes would be needed?

In May 2017, the owner and co-founder of the Sun Café & Bar (Sun Café) contemplated the future strategic direction of the restaurant, which offered both Nepalese and continental cuisine. Though Sun Café had shown growth since its opening in 2013, it had not achieved the revenue or brand reputation that the co-founders had hoped for. Facing mediocre financial performance within a fiercely competitive industry, the co-founders wondered where they should go from here, should they pursue new avenues for growth. They had six months before the fourth-year anniversary of the café to discuss strategic issues and come to a decision.

Having affirmed its place in the computer, phone, and music markets, Apple Inc. (Apple) decided to embark on a brand extension strategy, shifting its focus to wearable technologies. With this shift in mind, Apple launched the Apple Watch in April 2015 as an attempt to enter different industries. Apple Watch integrated fitness and health features with Apple’s mobile operating system (iOS) and other Apple products and services. Because Apple owned the necessary hardware, software, and services that were augmented through its ecosystem, the watch was virtually inimitable. The innovation thus appeared poised to be a true game changer.<br><br>However, in mid-2016, Apple’s chief executive officer, acknowledged that Apple Watch had not created quite the market impact Apple had expected. Apple management had limited options. Should Apple reconfigure the marketing mix to realign Apple’s marketing strategy to reduce resistance to Apple Watch?

A key contributor to the business reputation and success of Caterpillar Inc. (Caterpillar) was the company’s reliable aftermarket service. Caterpillar’s Asia Distribution Centre in Singapore processed urgent spare parts orders received from dealers located in 10 Southeast Asian countries. In 2017, the operations team was working to develop a rigorous analytical method for making daily decisions about how to ship the spare parts. Shipments were consolidated by country destination and needed to optimize the interests of three stakeholders: (1) Caterpillar, which wanted to minimize freight costs; (2) dealers, who wanted to receive the spare parts in the shortest time possible; and (3) freight forwarders, who wanted to be rewarded for their on-time delivery performance.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B18E001.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B18E001.

On February 25, 2013, the chief investment officer at University of Regina Investing (URI) was reviewing the draft copy of the annual report for 2012 that was to be submitted to the client, the University of Regina. One investment that stood out was Poseidon Concepts Corporation, which the fund had bought at $14.02 per share in April 2012, had reached a high of CA$16.02 in September 2012, and had eventually lost all stock value. The chief investment officer decided to review the transaction to identify any warning signs or red flags indicating that Poseidon Concepts Corporation’s management was involved in earnings manipulation. If there were signs, and if they had been identified earlier, could URI have avoided incurred losses?