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By October 2021, the US social media giant Facebook Inc. had been dominating the social media market globally with the highest number of active users. It owned four of the biggest social media platforms—Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. However, the company’s history was marked by controversies ranging from ethical matters to social issues. The various crises it had faced to date included thousands of internal documents leaked by whistle-blower Frances Haugen, public criticism by former director Tim Kandell, and data breaches by Cambridge Analytica. These crises were symbolic of the anguish that various stakeholders were feeling. In the aftermath of these events, Facebook Inc. had to contemplate various key questions. Were the controversies destructive to the company, or were they adding value to its growth? Had the company taken the right actions to address its issues, or could it do more to make amends? How could the company prevent the recurrence of such situations in the future?

On March 26, 2020, Singapore Airlines was reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. To raise badly needed capital, it announced that its shareholders would be offered S$5.3 billion worth of rights shares and S$3.5 billion of rights mandatory convertible bonds, both of which would be reflected as equity on its balance sheet. Should shareholders take advantage of this offer or not? To make this decision, investors had to analyze the airline’s reasons for choosing this form of equity financing, the impact of this capital-raising exercise, Singapore Airline’s valuation, and the role of sovereign wealth funds in equity financing. Investors would have to decide the appropriate response to the rights issuances.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W25409.

USV Private Limited (USV), an Indian pharmaceutical company, launched three comparative advertising campaigns for its Sebamed cleansing bar in January 2021, targeting the soap bars of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) based on the bars’ pH values. Without delay, HUL filed a lawsuit against USV on grounds of disparaging its brands, infringing upon its trademarks, and misleading of consumers. The Bombay High Court restrained USV from continuing with the campaigns, but later vacated that order and delivered another order that permitted USV to continue with one of the three campaigns, directed modifications for the other two, and restrained the company from categorizing soaps as “safe” and “not safe” based on their pH values. HUL eventually began a campaign to refute the pH rationale used in USV’s advertisements. USV now had questions to consider: Would consumers buy its Sebamed cleansing bar for the bar’s “ideal” pH level as communicated in the ads, or was it time to change its advertising strategy?

In January 2020, two social entrepreneurs were looking back at the first five years of operation of their venture JioVio Healthcare. The entrpreneurs had designed, developed, and implemented their cloud-based Internet of Things software Savemom. Using feedback from key stakeholders, Savemom assisted in the early detection of preventable complications during pregnancy and safe delivery, especially for expectant mothers in rural India, with a goal to reduce India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR). Using an iterative process, Senthilkumar collaborated with various stakeholders in central and southern parts of rural India to enhance and implement the Savemom software. To achieve the socially-conscious goal behind the Savemom software, the team developed a wearable device for use by each expectant mother, as well as a medical measurement device and an online platform for healthcare providers to access the health information of patients. After several iterations of prototypes based on process outcomes and feedback from stakeholders, the Savemom software, devices, and process seemed to have achieved its ultimate goal. But when one of the entrepreneurs visited doctors to get their feedback, they expressed great dissatisfaction with the vast amount of patient information to check each day on the portal, which was increasing their workload almost ten times. The two social entrepreneurs had to find a way to address the genuine issues the doctors had raised.

In May, 2020, Rio Tinto PLC, a global mining company, blasted a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site in the Juukan Gorge, an area in Western Australia. While Rio Tinto’s actions were legal, the company was nonetheless widely criticized for its blasting of the sacred site, which contained remains and artefacts dating back tens of thousands of years. Furthermore, investigations revealed that Rio Tinto had knowledge of the sacred nature of the site. Internal investigations also revealed that the company had earmarked the site as being important to the Aboriginal peoples. The reaction to the blast was swift and unforgiving.

Patrice Mousseau was an Indigenous woman in Canada who founded an organic skin care company, Satya. From Satya’s modest beginnings and early challenges, the company had several subsequent successes before Mousseau faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mousseau’ s Indigenous values and influences shaped her approach to launching and developing Satya. Additionally, Mousseau’s collaboration with a women-only network of investors (SheEO) and the support they offered not only aligned with her desire to achieve social change and impact through Satya, but also proved to be a vital virtual lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Role play assignments for product W26681.

Doodlage Retail LLP (Doodlage), a sustainable fashion brand based in India, was based on an idea that had come to the co-founder while she was interning with export houses. There, she witnessed large-scale discarding of fabric waste, which found its way to landfills and became a major source of pollution. Doodlage utilized the practices of circularity—repairing, reusing, refurbishing, and recycling—to transform industrial waste into women’s apparel. With time, the company came to collaborate with numerous players and extended into categories like home furnishings, accessories, and men’s apparel. Relying primarily on social media and e-commerce sites to market its wares, Doodlage slowly built a niche for itself. After nearly a decade, awareness of sustainable fashion, ethical fashion, and slow fashion had risen, and a number of competitors had emerged, heating up the competitive landscape. Doodlage thus faced multiple future challenges and needed to decide whether to continue to focus on the niche it had created for itself or to go mainstream. What was the optimal way forward?

In June 2020, the vice-president of Ginjalrein India Corporation was meeting with three members from the client organization Nierejia Care. The meeting was to discuss the deteriorating relationship between the two companies. The relationship between the two companies had been difficult for most of 2019, something which had threatened the contract between the two partners. These initial issues had been resolved in March 2020 following high-level interventions and collaborations between key members from both organizations. <br><br/>Unfortunately, the subsequent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 threatened to derail the partnership once again. Both organizations faced significant challenges as a result the pandemic; lockdowns and pandemic measures forced escalated costs, increased uncertainties on various fronts, and threatened the survival of both organizations. Ginjalrein India Corporation was required to make manufacturing operations decisions that Nierejia Care viewed as a breach of contract. The upcoming round of negotiations in June 2020, as these companies sought to find middle ground and yet support their own interests, would be critical for both parties.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W26682.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W26681.

Vimeo, Inc. (Vimeo), led by Anjali Sud, was a New York City-based listed company that operated across the entirety of the video creation and distribution value chain. When the company was spun off from its corporate parent in a May 2021 initial public offering, Vimeo was growing but not yet profitable. As the country and the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vimeo and a fast-growing set of competitors were facing the end of a nearly two-year tailwind that had helped them grow very quickly. Sud and her team had to respond to growth and profitability challenges to help Vimeo maintain its industry leadership position.

On December 29, 2021, the independent shareholder advisory firm InGovern Research Services (InGovern) published a report accusing Asian Paints Limited (APL) of corporate governance lapses. Nearly 53 per cent of the shares of APL, which was based in Mumbai, India, were owned by its promoters and their families. InGovern had followed up on a whistle-blower’s report claiming that APL had engaged in several related-party transactions but had failed to adequately disclose them in its annual report. InGovern demanded large-scale changes in APL’s board of directors, and APL’s share price fell by approximately fourteen per cent after the charges were made public. The seven independent members on the company’s board had to respond to the accusations.

In January 2022, Maha Research Labs Private Limited (MRL) needed to boost its sales force effectiveness (SFE). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MRL experienced losses in sales revenue and saw dwindling profits through 2020 and 2021. The pandemic had changed the sales ecosystem of the pharmaceutical industry, with many physicians and retailers now preferring online sales presentations. MRL’s managing director was concerned about the increased marketing and selling expenses that were affecting the company’s profitability, and he had identified gaps in the company’s sales process, performance, and SFE. The managing director proposed investing ₹40 million for the implementation of an SFE program, and he had one week to convince his team that this investment would create a smarter, more efficient sales force, restrain operating costs, and generate much-needed profitability for MRL.

Integrated Centre for Consultancy Private Limited (ICCPL) was a small company operating in India’s public relations (PR) industry. ICCPL was a successful and established company in this industry, with a focus on a niche segment of the market—real estate firms that offered affordable housing and operated on thin margins. ICCPL’s strong client relationships had resulted in an excellent track record for executive brand building and a client retention rate of above 75 per cent, which the company boasted as the highest in the market. In December 2018, one of ICCPL’s clients requested that the company lower its pricing or risk losing the contract to either a new in-house PR department or a small competitor that was offering a similar service at half the price. ICCPL refused to lower its price and, in June 2019, the client announced its plan to cancel the contract. ICCPL was analyzing all data for client satisfaction and loyalty to determine what went wrong. Should the company attempt to retain this important client? If so, what strategy can the company use?

Spreadsheet to accompany product W27236.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W27237.

Intolerance and discrimination against LGBTQ+ identifying individuals are widespread in the workplace and in academic institutions. This case explores the consequences of intolerance and offers participants an opportunity to consider and practice how individuals can use inclusive language and mindful communication strategies to deal with episodes of intolerance. Learning how to break the silence when faced with taboo or challenging topics enables people to understand other individuals’ perspectives and draw them into a shared conversation, thereby fostering understanding. <br><br>The case focuses on the prevalence of common types of microaggressions and discrimination in the workplace and in academic institutions and enables participants to consider and role-play multiple mini cases connected to queer and trans experiences based on real-life events.

In late 2019, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) , a luxury goods empire, made an aggressive bid to acquire Tiffany & Co. (Tiffany), in an attempt to expand LVMH’s product portfolio and customer base. This move was consistent with the specialty of LVMH's chief executive officer—making hostile acquisition offers. The chief executive officer of Tiffany needed to consider whether the acquisition was in the best interest of Tiffany's existing shareholders and whether the terms of the current offer maximized the value of Tiffany.