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<p align="justify">In July 2017, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada, grappled with mounting conservation costs, inconsistent and unreliable funding, and the erosion of their cultural identity within their Tribal Parks. Some of the community’s past knowledge had also been lost due to ongoing colonial impacts, and the sacred protocol for visitors to the land was often disregarded. The community also had to contend with the significant expenses required to sustain the lands, aggravated by inconsistent support from tourism operators and the government. Julian Hockin-Grant, a senior consultant with responsibilities spanning the entire Clayoquot region, faced a daunting challenge. In an average year, the Tribal Parks hosted approximately a million visitors engaging with the community in various ways. Managing funding was an arduous task, as donations and grants fluctuated annually, making budgeting and project planning difficult. Relying on volunteers and a limited crew of Guardians only stretched resources so far. Hockin-Grant’s mission was twofold: to secure greater funding opportunities and to ensure that financial progress remained within the operations of the Tribal Parks. He also had to craft strategies to strike a delicate balance between sustaining the Tla-o-qui-aht culture from extinction and coping with the influx of tourism that would generate support for the area.

In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown periods, the marketing director of Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul) was in a virtual meeting with his marketing manager. The two men were discussing plans for a marketing campaign for the hotel, restaurant, and cafes (HoReCa) market segment to be run during the pandemic. The campaign was expected to target and engage the key stakeholders (or influencers) of the HoReCa segment—the chefs in the food service industry. Before the pandemic, Amul engaged with chefs mainly through personal relationships, based on individual in-person meetings. However, in context of the adversity caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person meetings were no longer feasible. The challenge for Amul was to build a scalable and executable marketing campaign that would engage chefs, the market’s key influencers.

Bay Towel Linen and Uniform Rental Inc. (Bay Towel) was a family-owned business based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that had been serving the state and growing organically for about 100 years. The company provided uniform and linen rental and laundry services from its head office in Green Bay and two distribution centres in central and southern Wisconsin. But in the wake of disruptions to global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bay Towel faced challenges in serving customers better while reducing operating costs. The company had a few options to do so, but how could it choose the most cost-effective solution with the least investment?

Luthra Engineering Industries (LEI), a small-scale, family-run manufacturing business, based in a small Indian city, is going through a crisis. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, LEI had been shut for two months but has received the government’s permission to re-open, albeit, if it complies with certain conditions. LEI can invite only 30 per cent of its employees back to the office amidst proper safety, leading to challenges of maintaining equity due to salary dilemmas and implementing various safety protocols. However, LEI’s management are not only dealing with a pandemic looming large along but also macroeconomic uncertainty, business continuity, financial crunch, and employee motivation, equity, and safety. LEI’s leaders need to make sense of this multi-pronged crisis.

The founder of Zentein Nutrition Inc. needed a short-term plan for 2023 to maximize his goals for business growth and customer reach. The company was based in London, Ontario and provided natural, simple, healthy, and nutritious food alternatives to an affluent, health-conscious, and health-knowledgeable customer base. Its competitors included many large companies in a highly competitive and fragmented market, but the company had a competitive edge by offering a simple and sustainable ingredient list, use of collagen as a protein source, and made-to order protein bars. With demand outpacing supply, the founder paused all promotional efforts but the company continued to grow exponentially with only word-of-mouth promotion and a social media presence. The founder was now wondering which sales and distribution channels he should pursue for the rest of 2023, and also for the future, after supply would be increased with automation. The three sales channel options—the company website, the Amazon online platform, and traditional retail stores—each offered specific benefits and drawbacks, but the founder had to make a decision that would deliver both quantitative and qualitative results.

In 2021, Hitachi Limited was reconsidering its ownership of Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM). The decision about HCM’s future was one of the last steps in a more than decade-long effort to reorient Hitachi from a manufacturing conglomerate to a service-oriented company. HCM was a global player in the construction and mining equipment business, and although it no longer relied on Hitachi for product technology, Hitachi’s technological capabilities might once again become more valuable to HCM as automation and electrification of construction and mining equipment gained importance. Would there be greater synergies from more closely integrating HCM with Hitachi’s other businesses, or would both sides be better off if HCM was completely independent?

<p align="justify">In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership faced a developing crisis in the United States after conservative backlash to a Bud Light promotional campaign in partnership with a transgender influencer led to a boycott of the brand. The promotional campaign aimed to appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience but ultimately resulted in Bud Light losing significant sales and market share. This put the brand at risk of losing its competitive advantage, brand value, and long-standing position as the leading beer brand in the United States. This case is the first in a continuing A-B case set.

<p align="justify">In response to the boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership attempted to placate dissatisfied consumers by reaffirming their support for conservative values and distancing the company from both the executive in charge of the promotional campaign and the transgender influencer it had partnered with. This course of action, however, not only failed to repair the company’s relationship with conservative consumers but also drew further criticism from liberal consumers who felt that the company’s response contradicted its core values of equity and inclusivity. This is the continuing B-case for product W36313.

In May 2022, the founder and chief executive officer of Just Kitchen Holdings Corporation (Just Kitchen), a Canada-based and publicly listed operator of ghost kitchens in Taiwan, met with the company’s management team to deliberate on the company’s plan to expand into new markets, specifically, the Philippines. Their optimism for the Philippine market stemmed from the country’s growing online food delivery industry, favourable demographics, and supportive government policies. While the founder his team explored this expansion possibility, they recognized that entering the thriving online food delivery market presented advantages and disadvantages, and questions loomed: What would be the most effective approach to enter this market? And, equally importantly, what challenges and pitfalls should they anticipate as they ventured into such a business opportunity in the Philippines?

In June 2020, Steven Zwane, founder and chairperson of the Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development (YLED) program, based in Johannesberg, South Africa, faced managing the uncertainty of COVID-19’s impact on the program’s long-term sustainability. YLED, a non-profit social enterprise aimed at empowering underprivileged youth, relied on donors and sponsorships to deliver its face-to-face entrepreneurship and leadership training program to grade eleven learners from township schools around Gauteng Province, South Africa. YLED's funding sources were affected by their sponsors’ and donors’ economic constraints during the pandemic, leaving uncertainty about the program's future. Should Zwane suspend YLED’s operations until the end of the pandemic or find an alternative means of delivery? If he suspended operations, what would happen to the young people, whose hopes and dreams could be crushed? If Zwane continued and found other means of delivery, how would he be able to do so without support from donors and sponsors?

Nestlé SA (Nestlé), as a multinational company, engaged strategically with societal issues at the local level and had tasked Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) with evaluating its shared value initiatives. Nestlé ESAR’s chairperson and managing director had to determine whether to take forward one of the of the organization’s strategic initiatives, the Makhoba Trust initiative. The managing director believed the model that he and the team had created through the work developing the Makhoba Trust initiative could be a sustainable framework for future Nestlé stakeholder collaboration. He was keen to share the progress with the global leadership team, but he knew hard questions would be asked. Was the project a successful shared value partnership and therefore worthy of more investment? Any decisions would have widespread implications for the company and the community of 1,400 rural households and 7,000 people.

Creditas Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Creditas), a debt-collection and recovery start-up, had revolutionized the loan recovery process in India by combining data and technology to educate and empower its consumers. Ethera, its software-as-a-service platform, was a great success, and the company was on track to make $7.39 million in the financial year 2021–22. In order to increase its customer base and profits, the company was now faced with two challenges. First, it needed to determine how to convince its clients to accept a new fee structure. To establish additional and consistent revenue streams, the company was attempting to implement a licensing-based monetization model rather than its current recovery amount–linked model. Second, it needed to determine how it should plan for business expansion. The company had received queries from banks in west and southeast Asia, creating expansion potential abroad, and it was also contemplating entering other banking operations, such as lending and insurance. The chief executive officer wondered which of these growth strategies made the most sense for the business at this moment. Should the company increase its services in the areas of lending and insurance or expand to a global market?

In July 2022, the joint general manager of personnel and administration at the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO)’s Paradeep unit received a call from the Delhi corporate office informing him of a complaint filed by the wife of a deceased employee against a current employee of the unit. The complaint alleged that the employee had defrauded the widow of approximately US$40,000—the sum total of her husband’s terminal death benefit. As the joint general manager worked to investigate the matter and prepare a report for senior management, he found himself struggling with the managerial need to safeguard the organization’s image. As a human resources manager, he contemplated several questions: How could an ethical culture be established and sustained in IFFCO? What strategic human resources measures should be adopted to avoid such situations in future? How could communication be used as enabler in this critical situation? Despite his mixed emotions and the limited time available to present his findings, he knew that he needed to ensure a fair and thorough investigation to resolve the issue.

On April 24, 2019, the founder and owner of Lifely Wellness Ltd. in the village of La Jolla, near San Diego, California, received a call from a customer who wanted to purchase some Jordan’s Oil, Lifely Wellness Ltd.’s best-selling product. Jordan’s Oil was an activated hemp-based cannabidiol tincture named after the founder’s son. However, the shop could not supply the product immediately to the customer because the delivery from its supplier was late—again. The founder had been investigating possible alternative sources of supply and wondered whether this was the right time to act. After sourcing two new suppliers, she faced a pressing business operations dilemma. Should she continue working with her current supplier, which controlled a significant part of the supply chain? Or should she develop a new relationship with one or two smaller suppliers? The founder knew that this decision could determine the future and survival of her operation; therefore, she needed to take an in-depth look at her business options, from a strategic perspective.

Biryani by Kilo (BBK) is a Gurugram (Near New Delhi, India) based Quick Service Restaurant founded by Koushik Roy and Vishal Jindal in 2015. The company specializes in serving authentic Indian dishes. They offer both dine in and delivery options and have multiple locations in India. They are known for using high quality ingredients and traditional cooking methods to create delicious biryani dishes. They brought many innovations to their offering. Now they wanted to create a McDonald's for Indian food but were in a dilemma about how to proceed. How could they eventually build a national brand and then expand it globally?

In February 2022, an emergency registered nurse who worked a night shift in a Toronto, Ontario hospital was appalled at the overwhelming number of patients arriving at the emergency department with mental health issues. In recent times, the increase in the number of mental health patients arriving in the emergency department, especially with the novel COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the rise in mental health disorders, made the registered nurse aware of the need for effective strategies to address this issue. The growing interest and changing attitudes about psychedelic-assisted therapy was a potential treatment for mental health, which has the potential to disrupt the health care industry. From the beginnings of psychedelics use and research, starting with the creation of lysergic acid diethylamide (commonly known as LSD) in 1938 and the experimentation with psychedelics during the Cold War, questions were raised about the use of psychedelics in therapy and the need for further research to fully understand their potential as a treatment option. Based on the growing interest and changing attitudes about psychedelics in psychotherapy, the potential benefits and challenges of this field raised important ethical considerations that needed to be discussed and examined.

The Royal Belgian Football Association was a non-profit organization based in Brussels, Belgium that had a goal to organize, develop, and promote all forms of football in the country. To achieve this goal, it regularly interacted with many stakeholders including fans, commercial partners, association members, referees, and brand stewards. In 2021, the association was eager to digitalize these interactions through the use of its mobile app and added many features to the app over the next two years to support a fluid road map. However, during those two years, the performance of marquee teams was disappointing. More than ever, it seemed important to engender continuous digital engagement with stakeholders as a basis for further commercial growth. In March 2023, the director of marketing and communication and the director of digital, innovation, and technology were reviewing and assessing the association’s digital strategy, especially during the previous two years, and strategizing about the future. Their assessment revealed several important questions about how to prioritize digital initiatives in the future.

Campusutra was a leading information and partially transactional portal operating in India that helped aspiring higher education students select appropriate educational institutions. It was founded in 2011 and initially focused on supporting a student's choice of management education. It added support for engineering schools. It was known for offering distilled and unbiased objective information about offerings, fee structure, peer-level engagement, and placement opportunities, and potential students remained loyal to the portal. Later, a friend advised the founder to make a strategic alliance with an EdTech company to monetize the intangible value it had created. The founder's dilemma was whether to pursue such an opportunity and risk diluting its mission.

In June 2023, Prerna Mathews, vice president of Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Product Strategy at Mackenzie Investments (Mackenzie), was considering what ETFs to launch for the remainder of the year. As Mathews deliberated over the potential launch of a covered call ETF at Mackenzie, she had many things to consider. How would this product compare to existing investment solutions offered by Mackenzie? What should the underlying portfolio that the calls were written on be, and what percentage of the portfolio should be covered? What should be the expiration date and strike price on the written calls? Mathews knew that these critical product decisions would have significant consequences on how such an ETF would perform under various market conditions, as well as the costs Mackenzie would incur in managing the ETF.

In September 2022, the vice president of talent engagement at TBK Beverages met with the executive sponsor of a proposed mentoring program to discuss plans. A year earlier, employees had shared their dissatisfaction with the lack of access for under-recognized groups to executive-level mentorship and training, a dissatisfaction voiced in the context of rising awareness across the United States after the death of George Floyd. The vice president was reviewing survey data about mentorships and was responsible for developing an inclusive leadership mentoring program as part of the company’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. What approach should the mentorship program take and what elements should it include?