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Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B16E029.

In 2008, an ambitious entrepreneur was eager to succeed in India’s corporate catering industry despite having no prior experience. She learned the intricacies of the business and developed processes and systems that made her company stand out among the competition. However, an inflationary surge in food prices exposed the weaknesses in her business model—namely, the fixed-price contracts and her resolve to self-finance the venture. The entrepreneur also faced new competitors who were able to undercut her prices because they could leverage alternative revenue streams to compensate for the increased food costs. Should she make changes to her business or was it time to exit?

Brooks Sports, Inc. (Brooks) strove to inspire and promote an active lifestyle through its innovative gear, enabling its customers to run longer, farther, and faster. The shoe company had endured a number of growths and declines in its 100 years of operations. Nearly bankrupt by 2000 because of its attempt to compete with diversified athletic brands, Brooks had finally found a strategy to compete in the sports market. Operating as an independent subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Brooks focused entirely on the niche running market, transforming into a brand that generated over $500 million in 2014. Now Brooks had set its sights on becoming a $1 billion brand by 2020. In the past, few companies had focused on the small but growing running industry; however, with the running market becoming increasingly competitive, would Brooks’s runner-focused strategy carry the company to its $1 billion goal by 2020, or would it be forced to shift back to a diversified approach as the running market became more crowded?

In 2015, Nintendo—the iconic Japanese video game company—was faced with the decade-long challenge of responding to an industry that had changed in ways it had not anticipated. Under its new president, Nintendo had to contend with large-scale changes in the global gaming market. By not adapting to changing customer needs, Nintendo had lost the customer loyalty it had once enjoyed, as was evident from the decline in the number of units sold. It faced daunting challenges in the traditional console gaming segment from Sony and Microsoft, as well as more recent threats to its competitive position from the mobile gaming segment, which had become a preferred platform for game developers. Nintendo needed to decide how to revise its business model and strategies to move away from the decline that had been part of the company for years. Could the once-dominant Nintendo connect with its customers as it had done in the past, or was it better off as an acquisition target by a large entertainment company?

In November 2014, the founder and chief executive officer of HomeZilla, in Toronto, Canada, was considering how to provide value-added services to his business. One of the company’s main services was to work with real estate agents to provide web listings to attract home shoppers. Many Internet companies were analyzing web-browsing data in an effort to better understand user behaviour and thus improve their business. Inspired by this trend, the founder considered how his company could use web-browsing data to better attract home shoppers on the company’s website and thereby add value to his business.

The chief marketing manager of Crown Distilleries (Crown) in Raipur, the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, faced cumbersome brand-building activities and maintenance of its brand equity. Competitors began taking market share from Crown’s well-established brand. Crown added new brands to its portfolio in response to its competitors’ activities. Would it be fruitful for the company to opt for an umbrella brand in a particular segment or continue to add new names to its product portfolio? How would the company develop an action plan to beat competitors, choose a brand name for its new product, and build strong brand equity?

In 2016, the oldest member of the family business The Ong Group was concerned about the ailing firm that he and his siblings were running. The business had been started in 1957 in Hong Kong by their father. After the death of the father and one of the siblings, the remaining family members needed a plan for the future of the business. Should all of the remaining siblings and their children be allowed to become directors in the family firm? How could they create a workable governance structure that would help the family make the right decisions? How would they put the business back on track?

It was the summer of 2015 when the son of a family-owned real estate business in Vancouver was struck by love and decided to follow his heart to India. However, leaving his family’s business was easier said than done. The family had no formal documents that provided members with an exit strategy or remuneration. There were no wills or financial plans, and whatever money was available to finance a move abroad was tied up in the family business, which was operating at a loss. At stake was the pending sale of a commercial property that could inject nearly $3 million into the family’s coffers. Before leaving, which short- and long-term issues needed to be addressed to ensure the business and the family estate were prepared for the future? How should the family move forward when faced with the realization that the children might not be interested in taking over the business?

Want an easy way to become a better leader in the age of uncertainty? Read philosophy. It helps remind us about what we should instinctively already know: to never be afraid to ask questions. As Bertrand Russell said: “To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it.” Brexit should drive business leaders to review existing strategies and pay extra attention to agility when planning business models. This, of course, requires facing the unknown. And the most powerful weapon for senior managers today is being comfortable in facing uncertainty. After all, unless you’re willing to put decision making on indefinite hold, you must learn to calmly get over the challenges of the unknown and make a call. But just being able to boldly move forward isn’t enough because no organization benefits from blind leaps forward. The key is finding the prudent middle ground between being reckless and timid when facing the unknown. And one of the best ways to learn how to do that well is through understanding philosophy, which complements business smarts and other skills taught in business programs. Philosophy is the study of knowledge through critical thinking and questioning — and that’s where the return on time invested for executives sits, because philosophy sharpens their questioning technique and answer-interpretation skills.

In 2016, the executive vice-president of commercial services for Sibanye Gold, Westonaria (Sibanye), the largest gold producer in South Africa, faced a challenge. The company’s latest acquisition had been particularly difficult, with much resistance from the acquired management team. Although the executive vice-president tried to empathize with the management team who had done things a certain way for decades, he was frustrated with their lack of co-operation and lists of concerns. The management team needed to internalize and learn to live by Sibanye’s values, encapsulated in the acronym CARE—commitment, accountability, respect, and enabling. How could the executive vice-president help the management team to change their traditional mindset so they could effectively manage mining operations under the new company?

Presentation for product 8B16C026.

In 2015, Aro Granite Industries Limited, a successful granite company in India, competed against rivals in Brazil and China to win a coveted, large order from the United States. The order was particularly meaningful because the United States was the most valuable market for Indian granite exporters. Aro Granite Industries had a good reputation and was both financially sound and technically advanced; however, like all granite companies in India, it faced a lack of raw granite despite India having one of the world’s largest reservoirs of good-quality granite. The Indian granite industry was also challenged by poor infrastructure for moving the granite, an inconsistent power supply, and an inadequate supply of skilled labour. The company’s promoter and managing director needed to ensure the company could overcome these challenges and deliver the order. How should he resolve the challenges and improve the overall import and export conditions for the Indian granite sector?

Indian Oil Corporation Limited was a large public sector company operating in the downstream segment of the highly regulated oil and natural gas industry in India. It made large investments in the segment-specific assets in refining and distributing petroleum products. In fiscal year 2014/15, the annual turnover of Indian Oil Corporation Limited was ?4,507 billion (US$73.7 billion), and its net profit was ?52 billion. The strategic positioning of the company was heavily influenced by its social agenda and supported by the Indian government. After the liberalization of the Indian economy, the company was faced with serious competition from the private sector, and had limited access to the upstream segment. In 2015, Indian Oil Corporation Limited attempted to vertically integrate in order to become an integrated energy company. The senior management team evaluated the challenges and strategic choices available to Indian Oil Corporation Limited in terms of integration and exploration, brownfield investment in the petrochemicals sector, and modernization of refineries. The key question before the team was how to distribute Indian Oil Corporation Limited's resources among these three strategic choices.

In July 2015, the largest automobile company in India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), took the initiative to improve its market penetration in a particular category of the passenger car market—the premium segment. Although MSIL was the current market leader in India’s entry-level car segment, the company had not been successful in establishing itself as a dominant player in the premium segment—a segment that had seen intense competition since 2008. By launching Nexa, a new nationwide premium dealership, through its existing dealer network, MSIL was attempting to create a differentiated car buying experience. MSIL planned for all-new premium models to be launched exclusively from Nexa outlets. Would the launch of Nexa help MSIL attain its desired objective of becoming a major player in India’s premium car market?

In October 2015, a low-level staff accountant was suddenly ecstatic about his career prospects. The Chartered Professional Accountant recruitment process had been gruelling, but the end result made it all the more satisfying. After nearly two years of networking and getting to know firms while they closely evaluated him—and which concluded with seemingly endless interviews—the staff accountant had finally received job offers from his top choices. However, thrilled as he was with the result, he now faced a whole new challenge: what approach would he take to deliver the news to his current employer, where he planned to remain employed with for the next 11 months? Should he tell his employer immediately and risk termination and/or a tense work environment? Or should he keep it a secret as long as possible?

On July 24, 2013, the management of Ambuja Cements Limited announced the merger of Holcim (India) Private Limited with Ambuja Cements in a two-stage process. First, Ambuja Cements would buy a 24 per cent stake of Holcim (India) from Holderind Investments Ltd. of Mauritius for ?35 billion. Subsequently, Holcim (India) would be merged with Ambuja Cements. The management of Ambuja Cements projected huge synergy from the merger, whereas proxy firm advisors called it corporate misgovernance. The case gives students an opportunity to analyze this two-step transaction to determine whether it compromised the interests of minority shareholders. The case also presents an opportunity to estimate the marginal impact of the transfer of cash and the cancellation of shares on the stock price of the acquiring company.

OYO Rooms had been growing exponentially since its inception in 2013. By January 2016, it had registered 1 million check-ins and was set to become India’s largest budget hotel chain. The venture's unique business model helped it to offer effective solutions for the difficulties that were faced by customers seeking budget hotel accommodation in India. OYO Rooms' potential for rapid growth made it a candidate for even greater expansion in the global arena. However, OYO Rooms needed to prove its ability to sustain growth in the Indian budget accommodations market. The company’s success and the opening of a huge untapped market had led to a flurry of competition. Would the entrepreneurial founder be able to sustain his company's early momentum in the wake of increased competition? What would be the best strategy to achieve growth and monetize the company’s operations? Should OYO Rooms diversify into allied services or apply a more focused strategy? The founder needed to answer these questions to retain the company’s dominant position in the market.

In February 2016, the owner of Moonka Automobile was struggling with the strategic decision he needed to make to increase revenue and improve profitability. Moonka Automobile had been in business as a full-service, two-wheeler dealership for eight years in India, had a strong customer base, a good reputation, and a positive relationship with the manufacturer, Honda. But, competition was increasing and business growth was slowing. The owner identified various alternatives for growth, but given the changes taking place in the two-wheeler market, the owner’s limited resources, and his excellent relationship with Honda, he needed to make some difficult decisions.

In June 2013, the senior vice-president of talent management of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), recognized an organizational need at the bank. He realized that, to build a strong workforce, CIBC needed to move from simply filling diversity targets through recruitment to a focus on the development and advancement of a leadership talent pool. Towards that goal, he appointed the vice-president of executive talent management to lead a new diversity and inclusion department. CIBC had an even representation of women at an aggregate level, but the company wanted to improve the level of representation at the executive level. The vice-president of executive talent management conducted an internal and external analysis of gender diversity and inclusion in the financial sector. She then wondered how to continue the momentum by leveraging CIBC’s strong track record as a company committed to diversity, hoping to evolve the strategic focus on gender. She also wanted to determine which key leaders to engage and how best to secure their sponsorship.

Spin Master, a children’s toy and entertainment company, was getting ready for an initial public offering (IPO). Its founders were weighing their options with regard to some core issues: What was the right positioning for Spin Master with potential investors? What was the right approach to valuing the business? How did that approach translate into enterprise value, equity value, and share price for the IPO?