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Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W28362.

Desi Hangover, an Indian company empowering artisans to manufacture handcrafted leather footwear, was a finalist at Lakmé Fashion Week in 2020 in the category of Circular Changemakers. The chief executive officer had a dream of establishing his company as a leading circular economy fashion brand, and now he had a chance to pitch his vision of the future. But his core team had reservations and worried about the cost and risk of transitioning fully to a circular model. Considering the journey Desi Hangover had taken since its inception, the changing needs of the market, and the unpredictability of the business economy, Desi Hangover had to come up with the right pitch for the event—one that would continue on the path to conscious fashion while ensuring growth in revenues to sustain operations.

On the evening of June 4, 2021, the Nigerian government ordered the suspension of business operations for Twitter in Nigeria, accusing the social media company of spreading misinformation and fake news and allowing activities that could undermine the corporate existence of Nigeria. The suspension caused anger and outrage in Nigeria and sparked reactions around the world. Four months later, on October 1, 2021, the Nigerian government stated that it was ready to revoke suspension if Twitter agreed to certain prescribed conditions. Twitter was keen to resolve the issue and resume operations in Nigeria, but accepting some of the requirements could compromise its core values. Should Twitter agree to the government’s conditions?

The Edmonton Opera Association (Edmonton Opera) was founded in 1963 as a not-for-profit arts organization with the aim of providing audiences with compelling productions that combined music, song, and theatre. Over the years, Edmonton Opera had been successful in providing its services, but, in 2020, it was challenged. Just when it had almost recovered from a deficit, reported in 2012, the global COVID-19 pandemic occurred, and an economic slowdown followed. The board of directors knew that many organizations, in addition to Edmonton Opera, had had to suspend their operations temporarily due to COVID-19 restrictions, and they wanted to know how the pandemic had affected Edmonton Opera’s operations. A newly minted board member with a background in finance and accounting was assigned the task of conducting a financial statement analysis. Because not all members of the board had the necessary skills to provide oversight of the association’s accounting matters, this new board member was also asked to address Edmonton Opera’s specific accounting issues.

On the morning of June 30, 2019, the Orlando Magic had only a few hours to make a major decision, before the National Basketball Association free agency period was set to begin at 6 p.m. The management team needed a recommendation regarding whether to offer a new contract to the team’s current player, Terrence Ross, or pursue a free agent replacement, such as Rudy Gay. With extensive analytical data available, a thorough analysis was needed to predict which player was most likely to contribute to the Orlando Magic’s future success.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W27081.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W27082.

This article is a compilation of what the author considers sound advice presented to new and aspiring CEOs by a retired one with more than two decades in the role across three organizations. Keith Collins shares key learnings from a career related to governance, financial stewardship, strategy, culture, structure, team building, and leadership: 1) good governance makes things work (ensure there is clear agreement on this layer of the governance model while being recruited for the role); 2) strong financial stewardship improves your sleep; 3) laser focus on strategy gets you where you want to go; 4) strategy and culture must be aligned; 5) structure must follow strategy; 6) build your leadership team with leaders; and 7) how you lead and what you say matters. Additionally, as a young manager, Collins learned a couple important lessons about leadership and communication that were reinforced during his time as an executive and a CEO. First, the leadership style of a manager, executive, or CEO will inevitably shape the leadership style of their direct reports. Second, what leaders say—and how they say it—matters a great deal to those receiving the messages.

In February 2019, Tim Hortons, Canada’s iconic coffee franchise, opened its first coffee shop in China in Shanghai, thereby extending its international footprint to China. To accomplish this entry, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), the parent company of Tim Hortons, formed a joint venture (JV) Tim Hortons (China) Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tims China) with Cartesian Capital, a private equity fund that had operated in China for more than twenty years. As the minority owner, RBI granted Tims China the master franchise rights, covering the use of trademarks, core products, store management procedures, and so on. Cartesian Capital, on the other hand, held majority ownership and would manage the strategy and daily operation of the joint enterprise. A veteran of Cartesian Capital was dispatched to the JV to be its chief executive officer. The fast-growing coffee market in China presented enormous opportunities, but Tim Hortons was a latecomer compared with foreign brands like Starbucks and numerous local coffee providers. In this situation, how should he best position and expand Tim Hortons in the new market?

Rain Industries Limited (Rain), through its wholly owned subsidiary Rain Carbon Inc., produced upcycled carbon products from the by-products of steel and petroleum and other industries. The demand- and supply-driven shifts and various sustainability initiatives by industries both downstream and upstream in Rain’s existing supply chain could prove to be disruptive, requiring strategizing and future-proofing. When the Government of India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry banned the import of green petroleum coke, also called petcoke, in 2018, Rain’s chief financial officer had to decide whether it was the right time to identify and implement different supply chain risk mitigation measures.

By early 2020, Mindee Barham, vice-president of development at the microfinancing organization Grameen America, which focused on empowering low-income female entrepreneurs by offering them microloans to develop and grow their own businesses, had overseen the successful implementation of the first year of Grameen America’s ten-year Lifting America campaign for strategic growth. This campaign was intended to increase membership to 400,000 people; to issue loans amounting to $12 billion; to raise $300 million, including $100 million in philanthropy and $200 million in debt capital; and to enter new locations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly derailed the funding and implementation of the campaign, and given the pandemic's large impact on Grameen America’s vulnerable members, it threatened the existence of Grameen America itself. How should Grameen America respond to the pandemic? What would become of the Lifting America campaign? And what could Grameen America do to support its members through the COVID-19 pandemic without jeopardizing the organization’s future plans?

On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, founder, chief executive officer, and chair of Facebook Inc. (Facebook), announced Facebook’s name change to Meta Platforms Inc., reflecting his vision for the company’s transition to metaverse technology. At the same time, Facebook was plagued by multiple scandals related to a data privacy breach, the spread of misinformation on the social media platform, employee whistle-blowing, and surveillance-style marketing and advertising. Trust in Zuckerberg’s leadership was diminishing. Zuckerberg controlled 58 per cent of Facebook’s voting shares, and stakeholders, critics, and regulators were calling for distributed leadership. How could Zuckerberg restore trust in his company and his leadership? What did he need to change to become a more effective leader?</p>

Green Monday Group (GMG) was founded in 2012 with a mission to “construct a multi-faceted global ecosystem of future food that combats climate change, food insecurity, public health crisis, planetary devastation, and animal suffering.” In 2020, GMG partnered with McDonald’s in Hong Kong and launched six dishes featuring OmniPork Luncheon Meat, a plant-based meat substitute that GMG had developed. In February 2021, the chief executive officer and co-founder of GMG had to figure out how GMG could expand its partnership with McDonald’s in Hong Kong to the rest of China. McDonald’s size and potential in the rest of China far exceeded that of McDonald’s Hong Kong, and while GMG had the resources and the determination to expand, it had to decide which marketing strategy to use.

In October 2021, Todd Tucker, senior vice-president of Market Development and general counsel for Arrive Mobility Inc. (Arrive), a Chicago-based provider of last-mile mobility solutions, met with Beth Diaz, innovation director for Sapphire Parking (Sapphire). Sapphire, a parking company based in Seattle, Washington, was struggling to remain in business due to the changing needs of modern society and a shift to a work-from-home culture. While Tucker believed he could generate better business opportunities for garage owners like Sapphire through technology, after his meeting with Diaz, he realized that gaining buy-in from Sapphire’s operational leaders would be an uphill battle. Technology could be confusing, and technological inertia existed. Tucker’s challenge was to convince Diaz’s field team to try new methods for monetizing Sapphire’s parking spaces while bringing the business into a more modern mindset.

In May 2021, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba), China’s biggest e-commerce company, faced a number of challenges. Alibaba, which operated under a platform business model, was confronted with weakened consumer spending due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as increased competition from JD.com Inc. (JD.com) and other e-commerce entrants. To boost business growth and strengthen Alibaba’s leading position in China’s e-commerce market, Daniel Zhang, the company’s chief executive officer, would need to evaluate the possibility of adding a direct online retail model to complement the operations of its flagship platforms Taobao and Tmall. What challenges could Alibaba potentially face in its e-commerce business expansion?

The transition to a green economy is expected to create plenty of new employment opportunities. Unfortunately, filling them will be far more challenging than most employers think. Accenture’s research on the future of the green economy in the Asia Pacific region shows strong employment growth potential. But the research also identified a significant disconnect between youthful demand for “green” employment and where most green job growth is taking place. The sectors not known for sustainability are driving most green job creation. Training and salary expectations also don’t match the emerging opportunities, since the majority of green jobs will not require advanced qualifications, nor command relatively higher salaries. To understand the green jobs landscape in the region the authors targeted, they identified four pathways to reducing greenhouse gas emissions: transitioning transport, supplying low-carbon electricity, decarbonizing the built environment, and greening agriculture and land use. The results showed that transitioning transport had the greatest jobs potential. By breaking down the jobs created across the four pathways into specific industries, the authors found that up to 76 per cent of the 32.6 million new jobs would be in construction (18.1 million) and manufacturing (6.7 million). Tech-intensive roles requiring a highly trained workforce will undoubtedly be part of the equation. However, relatively better paying jobs will be the minority, accounting for less than 8 per cent of the total jobs potential in the Asia Pacific region.

Shanghai Forest Cabin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Forest Cabin) was a skin care product manufacturer and retailer that had focused on developing offline stores. At the beginning of 2020, however, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic stagnated offline sales activities. Half of Forest Cabin’s offline stores closed at that time, and the existing stores had few customers, slowing the offline sales business. Forest Cabin rapidly initiated live streaming sales based on the digital foundation the company had built in its earlier stages. In this way, the company successfully responded to pandemic-related challenges and gained user traffic to realize revenue growth. However, with COVID-19 slowing down, people were resuming offline activities. Forest Cabin’s offline stores had provided a competitive advantage to the company. But the company had been able to leverage online live streaming, bringing explosive growth and enabling the company to survive a crisis. Should Forest Cabin focus on online development or offline development going forward?

Founded in 2017, Simply Good Jars (SGJ) was launched with the introduction of a unique salad-in-a-jar line of products. The founder, owner, and chief executive officer of SGJ was looking to build a ready-to-eat salad business with a mission of “making better-quality delicious food more attainable.” The SGJ brand promoted healthy, quality ingredients and sustainability. Initially, the product was tested in various locations, including vending machines in airports and businesses, and coolers in grocery stores. After achieving early success, SGJ’s founder quickly found pressure to balance growth opportunities with limited financial resources. In 2022, five years after starting the business, he had to decide whether to scale up and mass market SGJ’s products or continue to serve a niche segment through the company’s salad-in-a-jar business.

In March 2020, Canadian-based venture Braze Mobility was experiencing growth challenges. The company had commercialized an anti-collision system to enable safe wheelchair navigation, which had been well received by the US market following a fruitful collaboration with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The chief executive officer of Braze Mobility was now facing some big decisions. Should the company continue to expand its current export model, diversify into the Canadian market, or tap into growing online demand directly from consumers? Compounding the complexity of the problem was the departure of a key member of the team and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Braze Mobility was well positioned for growth, but its next steps would be crucial to its success or failure.<br><br>Related case: Academic Entrepreneurship: Navigating Commercialization Challenges, product number W28370.

In April 2021, the chair and managing director of India’s JSW Steel Limited (JSW Steel) was facing questions about how to encourage sustainability in an expanding company. JSW Steel was the flagship company of the JSW Group, which started with a small steel plant in 1982 and grew into a conglomerate with interests in steel, cement, infrastructure, energy, paints, and sports. Steelmaking had numerous impacts on the environment. To offset the impact on the environment, JSW Steel had decided to use its by-product, slag, to manufacture cement. The managing director was acutely aware of sustainability concerns and was focused on making his sustainability vision a reality. JSW Steel was at the cusp of a large capacity expansion that would come from existing projects as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions, and both modes of expansion posed challenges for sustainability at JSW Steel.