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In early 2022, Rajendra Jaiswal was in a quandary about the future of the collective enterprise Diwak Mata Farmer Producer Company Limited (Diwak Mata), which his organization, Prakriti Foundation for Natural Resources Regeneration (Prakriti), had helped incubate and grow. Since Diwak Mata’s registration in 2018, Prakriti had helped it develop connections with various value chain participants and overcome the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a supportive Board of Directors (BoD) and an able chief executive officer (CEO) in Rakesh Sen, Diwak Mata was recognized as one of the better-performing producer companies in the region and had growing revenues with fluctuating profits. Looking at the figures of the audited balance sheet, Jaiswal wondered whether Prakriti should withdraw its support to the producer company. Were Diwak Mata’s BoD of farmers and the CEO strong enough to chart the organization’s own path? Could they create sufficient ownership from the stakeholders for sustained growth in Prakriti’s absence? Should Prakriti remain loyal to Diwak Mata or exit and continue its core activities with other communities?

The cannabis industry in Canada has experienced unprecedented growth since the Cannabis Act came into effect in 2018. It is widely expected that cannabidiol (CBD) will be classified as a food and natural health ingredient in Canada, the European Union, and other jurisdictions in the near future, which will open up a significant market. In 2023, Dr. Jacqueline Shan, the CEO of PBG BioPharma, made a long-term strategic decision to enter the cannabis consumer health market by launching a series of CBD consumer health products once the cannabis regulations in Canada are relaxed. In preparing to launch its own consumer product line, PBG BioPharma is developing its marketing strategy and analyzing potential challenges in managing its supply chain.

In August 2022, Falguni Nayar, the founder and chief executive officer of Nykaa—a Mumbai, India–based omnichannel beauty, personal care, and fashion retailer—confronted declining profitability and a stock price that had fallen 36 per cent since the company’s initial public offering in late 2021. As a woman entrepreneur who had launched her venture at the age of 49, Nayar’s attempt to emulate the French multinational retailer Sephora in the Indian market had had a strong start amid heady media coverage. However, the company had been expanding out of its core beauty and personal care market, where it was an early entrant, to the crowded and highly competitive fashion market, which impacted profitability. Nayar and her management team had to address two major issues: determining how to increase profitability and deciding whether or not to make a strong push to India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where the competitive intensity was likely to be lower, but the demographics were unlike those in the country’s large metropolitan areas, where Nykaa was successful.

In 2022, the India-based patient-centred integrative oncology start-up ZenOnco was struggling with brand equity and impact. The company had introduced two innovative apps—Ziopar and CANNECT—to help empower, educate, and enable patients and caregivers to access scientifically-based information and support on cancer treatment. However, the company had yet to become the most sought-after platform for cancer guidance. More than a dozen oncology start-ups were springing up across India’s fragmented, disorganized, and complex cancer-care industry, known for service-delivery issues and high drug costs. ZenOnco’s biggest challenge was brand building and navigating the customer service journey to become the preferred destination for free and low-cost, fact-based cancer-care guidance, counselling, and support.

<p align=”justify”>US-registered Emerging Markets Development Group (EMDG), a small but successful international consulting firm that provided development assistance in emerging and post-conflict regions, bet big on a project in Southeast Asia in 2008 that was financed by a Small Business Administration (SBA)-guaranteed loan issued by a local bank. The project failed, with catastrophic results. After seven years of attempting to dig themselves out of the hole, the principals were out of cash and needed to either significantly restructure the balance of EMDG’s outstanding loan or shut the firm down. Complicating the situation was the possibility that a former partner, who had left the firm over nine years before, might be held liable for the current debt.</p>

A female entrepreneur in Ghana developed a transportation company that provided services for national and large multinational organizations in the country. A key service that Pergah Transport Limited (Pergah) offered was vehicles and drivers for the executive expatriates of multinationals. The drivers for that service were employed by Pergah but embedded with the contracting companies. Pergah’s remaining employees—mechanics, other drivers, and support staff—were based out of the company’s premises in Accra.<br><br>The employees at Pergah’s premises were paid above the employment standards for Ghanaians; however, the drivers who were embedded with the multinational companies were compensated according to the standards established by those companies. The variance between local and multinational standards for employees of the same company led to differences in job satisfaction, motivation, and compensation. The Pergah-based employees were paid fairly, and increasing their rate to the multinational level would have posed financial challenges to the company. How, then, could Pergah address the discrepancy and resolve these issues?

Nreach Online Services Private Limited (doing business as Xoxoday) is a technology company that builds digital infrastructure for rewarding employees, customers, and partners through perks, incentives, and disbursement payouts. Incorporated in 2018, it has grown at a scorching pace; in just a little over three years, it has acquired more than one thousand clients that leverage their technology infrastructure to run rewards programs for about two million end-users. Xoxoday has built a sizable suite of reward, recognition, and motivation products for three target segments: (1) corporate workforces, (2) customers and channel partners, and (3) sales teams. The product lines for these three client groups are called Empuls, Plum, and Compass, respectively.<br><br>Employee well-being, both physical and emotional, has been a challenge for Xoxoday’s Empuls (corporate workforce) clients. These challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Another issue apparently catalyzed by the pandemic—and with which corporate employers were grappling, given that most of their workforce had been working remotely since 2020—was that of attrition. Xoxoday’s Empuls clients are looking for novel solutions to stem the tide of what is now famously called the “Great Resignation.” Should Xoxoday implement gamification as a strategic solution to encourage well-being behaviours among the workforce of its corporate clients and to arrest attrition? Why and how could Xoxoday demonstrate responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) while deploying gamification as a strategic solution for addressing the two key human resources management (HRM) challenges of employee well-being and attrition? How can trust pose a potential challenge to the implementation of AI-based HRM solutions? Which approach to business model innovation should Xoxoday adopt while offering such solutions?

Sharmaji’s Canteen was the only cafeteria on the campus of a prominent management institute in Gurgaon, India. The business had been operating since 1990 and its success depended on a captive residential population of primarily students and staff. The lockdowns imposed by the Government of India in March 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus led to the closure of the academic programs. During the pandemic, students had become accustomed to more choices offered by online food delivery that they felt Sharmaji’s Canteen did not match. The business was losing sales and profitability was eroding. The owner needed to decide between three different revival strategies based on the data collected.

Greenkraft Private Limited (Greenkraft) supplied artisanal products to global clients and was an India-based not-for-profit organization. The company worked to address the socio-economic needs of artisan women. For 800 women workers, the Greenkraft production unit symbolized independence and pride, motivating them to work and deliver quality output. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greenkraft was compelled to adopt home production to supplement production unit operations to fulfil its supply obligations. With the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in January 2022, Greenkraft’s management had to choose a production and fulfilment strategy in the new normal. They considered adapting production unit operations with the COVID-19-related protocols, changing to complete home-based production, or adopting a hybrid model with part production unit and part home production. The change in the production strategy impacted Greenkraft's business viability and producers’ livelihood, needing careful thought and implementation.

AstraEye Pharma Pvt Ltd.: An Unsettling Dilemma (APP) was an ophthalmology pharmaceutical company that drew 80 per cent of its revenue from the artificial-tears segment. Elena Sanders was responsible for drafting a turnaround strategy for increasing market share by building prescription momentum, improving operational efficiency, and devising a renovated digital strategy. Based on the available options, Sanders had to decide between improving operational efficiencies for an existing brand—Rejuvenate at a 0.5 per cent carboxymethyl cellulose concentration—or launching a new product—Fresh Plus at a 0.3 per cent hyaluronic acid concentration—to cater to a greater number of patients. She was also tasked with sharing an important element of digital strategy: launching APP’s health-care-providers-and-practitioners engagement website or launching a microsite on a third-party online community platform for doctors (i.e., the Health Support Network for Professionals). The decision was urgent, as Sanders had to present her position during the annual strategy meeting scheduled for March 2022.

Universal Pictures’ animated movie Abominable was scheduled for release in Malaysia on November 7, 2019. However, Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board ordered the studio to cut the scenes showing a map with the controversial “nine-dash line.” Without those cuts, the Malaysian government would not allow the movie’s release in Malaysia. The nine-dash line was a geopolitically sensitive issue in the South China Sea region, pitting China against neighbouring countries. China claimed historic rights over the territories bound by the nine dashes it had drawn on a map in the South China Sea. In contrast, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Brunei also claimed the part of the sea adjacent to their coastline. The US government also challenged the Chinese claims under the nine-dash line.<br><br>Universal Pictures was in a fix: Not deleting the map scene would mean that Malaysia and other countries in the South China Sea could ban the movie. However, deleting the scene could provoke the Chinese government, which in the past had reacted strongly against studios and actors who had disregarded Chinese restrictions. China was a significant market that no Hollywood studio could afford to lose. But should Universal Pictures focus only on its commercial interests at the cost of taking a morally sound position?

Until 2022, Peloton Interactive, Inc. had been focussed on keeping up with unprecedented demand. However, by early 2022, the company’s fortunes had turned. Despite layoffs, cuts to capital spending, and price reductions, more dramatic changes were required. The company appointed a new chief executive officer in February 2022, who wrote a letter to shareholders three months later outlining the steps taken to stabilize cash flow, get the right people in the right roles, and return the company to profitability.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W32687.

In June 2021, 23andMe completed their IPO with the VG Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was more interest in genomics, as its value at scale had been demonstrated through many of the public health vaccine sequencing initiatives. Given these favorable market conditions and access to capital, was this the right time for 23andMe to shift their business model away from a consumer genetic testing company to a personalized health care company that collects genetic data to develop drugs and provide care? Did the company have the resources in place to achieve this vision? Could they do it alone or did they need to deepen their relationships with pharmaceutical companies, some of whom they were already in partnership with? In the age of growing consumer data privacy concerns, should Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s chief executive officer and co-founder be wary of this approach of collecting genetic data?

FlowerAura.com (FA)—established in 2010 in Gurgaon, India—was an online-first gifting company. FA offered door-to-door delivery of flowers, cakes, and gift items, along with personalized messages, across two hundred cities in India. In early 2022, the co-founder and chief executive officer of FA needed to revitalize the FA brand to drive sales and margins. He debated whether to (a) adopt a more aggressive sales initiative, which would elicit strong competitive retaliation, or (b) build the FA brand, which could increase the gross margins without a competitive response. The bottom line was that he had to make the best decision for his company in the short and long term.

In early 2020, Scarcity Labs Inc. (Scarcity Labs) was created as a spinoff from ViewFin Canada Corporation, a financial technology company providing a wide range of blockchain and cryptocurrency services. Scarcity Labs’ chief executive officer (CEO) and chief product officer (CPO) sat in the company’s Toronto office discussing potential opportunities for blockchain applications. In particular, they pondered the possibility of developing a non-fungible token (NFT) platform for artist, where works of art could be turned into NFTs, which people could then buy and sell. The CEO and CPO wondered what Scarcity Labs needed to do to successfully launch such a platform.

In 2021, Apple Inc. (Apple), the global manufacturer and seller of consumer electronics, computer software, and online services based in California, was considering entering the domestic market in India. With Tim Cook as leader, the company sold some of the world’s most popular products, including iPad, iPhone, iPod, MacBook, iTunes, Apple Watch, Apple Smart TV, and Apple Music. The company sold its products both through online and physical retail stores across the world, as well as distributing its products through third-party wholesalers and resellers. In India, Apple operated only through third-party partners and authorized resellers, which meant that it was not taking advantage of the government’s foreign direct investment opportunities by operating directly within the Indian retail market. The main challenge Apple faced was the price sensitive Indian consumer, which contrasted with the company’s premium pricing strategy. Cook was eager to enter the lucrative and fast-growing Indian consumer technology segment. However, the company would have to make a decision, especially with strong competitors such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung) already dominating the Indian market. Should Apple retain its premium status and pricing strategy or lower its prices to appeal to more price sensitive Indian consumers?

Ehmke Manufacturing Company, Inc., a technical fabric products company established in 1929 in Philadelphia, United States, was facing challenges attracting and retaining employees. In the first half of 2022, issues such as critical open positions and an exponential number of resignations were being experienced across numerous industries around the globe. On June 1, 2022, the company’s chief executive officer met with his entire management team to discuss his company’s dilemma and various options, including the reputation of the company’s brand. He had to decide how to manage the increasing workforce challenge, despite unprecedentedly high demand for his company’s products and services. His company’s growth projections, from a relatively small company to a medium-size international business, did not account for customer disappointments due to product order delays, especially considering that the company manufactured products used for critical search-and-rescue, military, and other governmental applications in the United States and allied countries. The chief executive officer had three options: accept current conditions, increase wages and benefits, or outsource production.

Spreadsheet to accompany product #W31040.

Radius Synergies International Pvt. Ltd. (RSIPL), which came into existence in 2010, was a pioneer in implementing prepaid smart metering solutions in Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), India. RSIPL was created as an independent entity to focus on harnessing contemporary technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, cloud computing, and mobility and leveraging them for the energy market that its parent, Radius Group (Radius), had been serving through conventional products and solutions for more than two decades. Though the company faced many challenges with respect to the use and acceptance of the new technology, it had still been successful in implementing the solutions and had been able to achieve consistent growth in its annual revenues. On March 21, 2022, Mr. H. S. Singh, RSIPL’s managing director, had a meeting with his executive management team to discuss the strategy for expanding RSIPL’s smart metering solutions and leveraging the IoT platform developed for additional potential business opportunities. Should the company try to obtain external funding? Should it focus on increasing market reach for existing products and solutions or venture into new products or services that could be spin-offs of the IoT platform and expertise developed so far?