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Flatpebble is an innovative start-up e-business that acts as an online marketplace where customers can connect with professional wedding photographers. Flatpebble has reached a stage wherein it already has a good revenue stream and a recognized brand name across India. It is poised for rapid expansion, and the management team must evaluate the various strategic alternatives available. The Flatpebble team must design a comprehensive, consistent and coherent business strategy that will allow the company to scale up quickly, beat its competitors and stay relevant in the dynamic and rapidly evolving e-business industry.

Arun Kumar, founder and group chief executive officer of Strides Arcolab Limited — a first generation, Indian pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bengaluru — is preparing for a crucial meeting of the Board of Directors. The meeting was called to discuss the proposed dividend payout to the company’s shareholders following the completion of a US$1.725 billion sale of its specialty division — Agila Specialties — to the U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. Kumar proposed that Strides distribute all the free cash available from the sale — after the retirement of debt and internal payouts — in the form of dividends to its shareholders. Strides had already communicated its decision to retire debts and reduce its leverage.

Spreadsheet for product 9B15N011.

Spreadsheet for product 5B15N011.

Speechwriters do not exist to free executives from having to work on presentations; they exist to help make executives look good enough to give their careers a boost. The objective is the creation of a speech that is memorable, hopefully for its key message. Those planning speeches must ask: “Do I endure or embrace the speech experience?” Because giving a great speech can help one climb the corporate hierarchy, there is no excuse not to embrace it. Speeches should be clear and concise, usually between 1,500 and 2,000 words. As very few people are born to give fabulous keynote addresses without preparation, practice is key. Indeed, delivering a good speech requires training, energy and commitment. While preparing, one should ask for and be open to blunt feedback. Inserting brief pauses into speeches as a means to emphasize key points can be a powerful tool. When crafting a speech, it is important to consider aural quality and avoid non-conversational language. Good speeches create a dialogue with the audience through relating to people and involving participants. Furthermore, every good speech should feature an attention-grabbing title.

NJOY, Inc., an electronic-cigarettes enterprise based in Phoenix, Arizona, conducted some Experiential Concept Tests (ETCs) on a sample size of 215 panelists. The sample included a mix of gender, age, education and income. It also included a mix of users and non-users of electronic cigarettes. In light of the consumer insights gained from the ETCs, NJOY Inc. wants to leverage the results to resolve three particular issues and pave the company’s way forward: How should NJOY sharpen its differentiation from big tobacco? What further innovations would be necessary in the core product? How should NJOY position its flagship product for long-term success?

The three cases in this series focus on two Chinese families’ experiences with entrepreneurship and succession. Because most family businesses in China are relatively young, these first-generation entrepreneurs use their own approach to identify and develop their successors, and to pass their “wealth” to their offspring in a context shaped by unique Chinese cultural elements. The role-play exercise that relates to the (C) case illustrates the current Chinese cultural characteristics that influence leadership succession and highlights the case issues to be explored in the case discussion. See also 9B15C021 and 9B15C022.

This is the second case in a three-case series. See also 9B15C020 and 9B15C022.

This is the third case in a three-case series. The role-play exercise that relates to the (C) case illustrates the current Chinese cultural characteristics that influence leadership succession and highlights the case issues to be explored in the case discussion. See also 9B15C020 and 9B15C021.

As a result of teamwork and small steps taken by the four cousins and founders, who also fill the top management positions, ID Fresh has grown, in less than 10 years, from a kirana store (a small Indian neighbourhood grocery/retail shop) to a successful mid-sized ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food company. The managing director recognizes the need to transition to a more proficient organization by recruiting highly motivated professionals to fill the management positions. In doing so, the company will need to reconcile the working style of the incoming professionals with the founders’ humble background and strong ethics and values that are based in their religious faith.

A young Peruvian MBA graduate, who previously had worked in international marketing firms, founded an online fashion store and has been selling North American fashion products through Facebook, personal sales events and pop-up stores. The business has been growing profitably with an increasing customer base, overcoming initial supply side issues. Three years after the launch, however, the personal approach to satisfy each customer, a stronghold of the founder’s business philosophy, is making expansion difficult. The business has grown to a point where it is barely manageable personally. Is expansion the right decision and if so, which type? Can the fashion store founder scale the business and still enjoy the lifestyle benefits of independence and flexible working hours?

New medicine launches in India had come down by nearly 80 per cent during the last six years. The risks associated with new-drug development were high, and for that reason, companies were considering buying the potential molecules in the early stages of development at comparatively cheaper rates. Apart from cutting costs, out-licensing provided opportunities for domestic players to enter into collaborations with global players. Now, with out-licensing gaining popularity in the global pharmaceutical markets, one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in India wondered whether out-licensing could be its next big Indian opportunity.

Product counterfeiters hurt more than just corporate bottom lines. They put millions of jobs at risk, not to mention threaten the health and well-being of consumers. And the problem is getting worse. By the end of 2015, the International Chamber of Commerce estimates that the value of counterfeit products will reach US$1.7 trillion, about two per cent of global economic output. In the past, retailers mainly had to deal with the problem of brand theft and counterfeiting in the brick-and-mortar realm, e.g. fake Louis Vuitton bags or Rolex watches. Today, the threat that counterfeiters pose is much broader. The online world is rife with counterfeit products, and perpetrators are using increasingly sophisticated techniques, such as 3D printing, to manufacture goods and parts. However, firms can take stock of their online brand presence — including their website, social media and mobile components — to identify vulnerabilities. They can prioritize what needs to be done through a scoring system specific to the most important brands and infringements. Finally, they can take the counterfeiters down through a combination of using online platforms’ reporting mechanisms for intellectual property infringements, using search-engine mechanisms to remove links, and directly asking infringers to take down fraudulent content.

BIG PASTURE Animal Husbandry Company (Group) Co., Ltd. (BIG PASTURE) had achieved great success after nearly 10 years of development. It had started as a ready-to-eat food processing factory that supplied individually owned stores and franchises with self-produced food. Since then, its product line was extended to include fresh and processed beef and mutton. At the same time, BIG PASTURE undertook a major shift from company-operated stores to community convenience stores, further fostering its community economy. However, since the rapid development of e-commerce had contributed toward the success of many local sellers in China, BIG PASTURE saw the possibility of a breakthrough. Thus, the major challenges facing the company included creating a national market through e-commerce and developing community economies.

In the autumn of 2013, the president and chief executive officer of Schenck Shanghai Machinery Corp. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Dürr Group situated in Shanghai, China, was reviewing his business operations. The Dürr Group was a multinational machine tool manufacturer based in Germany. In emerging economies, the mid-market had become the battleground between foreign and local firms. Traditionally, foreign investors earned healthy margins in the premium segment, but many realized that they were missing out on fast-growing market segments and were facing potential threats from local competitors who were moving up-market. To remain competitive and to ensure future growth and profitability, while not compromising the brand's reputation, the Chinese subsidiary had to ensure continued support from headquarters in Germany.

A Singapore-based financial services company, the second largest lender in Southeast Asia, offered to acquire a Hong Kong bank, the eighth largest lender in the country, for a premium price per share. Three months later, a multi-billion hedge fund firm based in the United States had accumulated close to 8 per cent of the Hong Kong bank’s shares. According to Hong Kong’s securities law, the Singapore-based financial institution would have to acquire 90 per cent of the Hong Kong bank’s shares to successfully take the bank private, and there were only 25 days left for the company to meet this requirement. The hedge fund firm’s unspoken message was clear: raise your bid price to buy our shares or we will keep the company public at your expense.

It is widely accepted that the role of any organizational leader involves defining and implementing winning strategies, optimizing resources, developing talent and creating enablers for higher growth and performance, while delivering results. However, it is also commonly believed that sales managers are merely in charge of driving orders and meeting quotas. This needs to change. Today’s competitive market demands that sales force leaders possess market, customer and buying behaviour knowledge, as well as process optimization expertise, internal political skills (to argue for infrastructure resources), coaching and development skills, and the ability to gain commitment from team members. Leaders must know when special incentives are required and in what mix, as well as how to optimize resource allocation. Firms should consider the following questions: Is their sales force leadership comprised of people who excel at working with others? Do their hiring practices identify the knowledge and skill sets that best allow the sales team to sync with customer interface touch points and allow the firm to attract the skills and knowledge that are the most difficult and expensive to develop? Do they proactively seek commitment on behavioural improvements from sales team members, including ones who work from home or alone in the field? Lastly, do they seek the optimal customer relationship and loyalty level?

Following Greece’s failure to repay its loan to the International Monetary Fund, it is easy to claim that the Greeks should simply pay back borrowed money. But there is never a clear answer when asking who should be responsible for a nation’s unmanageable debt, and the question is far more complex when it involves a member of the eurozone. Greece lacks its own currency to devalue to gain economic relief, and the nation’s debt problem cannot be solved by issuing more debt with conditions that kill economic growth. Arguably there has never been a bailout designed to bail out the Greeks. The aid issued to date has been more about buying time to play “musical bondholders.” <br><br> When it comes to sovereign debt, few countries ever pay back principal in the international financial system today. Yet if the Greeks manage to set a precedent that other troubled E.U. countries try to follow, then the fallout could sink the euro and send the global economy into turmoil. Nevertheless, the risks to the global financial sector have been reduced following the bailout deal with the European Union. Investors need to understand that nobody knows what is going to happen, and yet market buying opportunities could arise. Ultimately, when thinking of Greece, it helps to take note of the fact that spending money you don’t have eventually comes back to haunt you.

Rockland Hospitals, a family-run entrepreneurial health care venture, had gone from a 90-bed capacity in 2004 to 808 beds in 2014. It had created an identity as an affordable, quality-driven health care provider in the National Capital Region of India. However, the managing director needed a growth plan that would achieve his goal of creating a medical corridor in the National Capital Region with a consortium of four super-specialty hospitals. Should he focus on capacity utilization and enhancing the efficiency of existing hospitals? Was attracting more medical tourists from foreign countries the answer? Or should he strive to create a health care network that reached the remotest corners of India?<br><br>Can be used with Rockland Hospitals: Innovating Health Care in India (B). 9B15A034

Rockland Hospital, a family-owned entrepreneurial health care group, had conceptualized an integrated health care network that could connect patients, clinics, diagnostic centres, secondary-care hospitals and three existing Rockland specialty hospitals through an information technology interface. Implementation and control of the strategy had to be seamless. When profitability and growth came with the necessary conditions of coordination, transparency and accountability, how could Rockland ensure effective, efficient medical treatment and services to the end user? Could Rockland manage the complexities of multiple stakeholders and multiple health care delivery paths?<br><br> Can be used with Rockland Hospitals: Innovating Health Care in India (A), 9B15A033.