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In July 2020, Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) received a US$765 million loan from the US federal government for drug component manufacturing. Kodak's chief executive officer (CEO) was confident about the company's ability to excel in the pharmaceutical industry. However, critics cited several concerns, such as workforce availability and Kodak's lack of experience in the pharma business. The CEO believed that Kodak’s expertise in advanced chemicals and manufacturing could drive the firm’s success in the pharma business. Would Kodak be able to establish its mark in the US pharma industry? What challenges was Kodak likely to face?

Birla Cellulose, a part of India’s large conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, manufactured viscose fibre, which came from wood and was naturally sustainable. In 2017, the Changing Markets Foundation (CMF) brought out a report titled Dirty Fashion, which described the environmental damage caused by manufacturing practices used in viscose fibre production. The report detailed impacts on the environment, bodies of water, and communities around viscose manufacturing plants. Birla Cellulose responded to the report by collaborating with CMF and making significant changes to its manufacturing processes to comply with the highest standards around the globe. It ensured that its raw materials were responsibly sourced and that its products were responsibly manufactured and then properly handled at the end of their lives. The company was proud of its achievements. At the same time, it recognized that it needed to do more. In late 2019, the company’s business director wondered how to make the company even more sustainable. What level of investment would be required? How could it adapt to changing consumer preferences and still retain the benefits it had recently gained?

In June 2021, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Peruvian-based Austral Group S.A.A. (Austral), one of the six largest producers and traders in marine-based foods and ingredients in the Republic of Peru, was concerned about two major ongoing challenges: gender equality and cross-generation employees. In May 2006, Austral merged with and became a subsidiary of Austevoll Seafood ASA (Austevoll), the world-leading Norwegian conglomerate in the fishery and seafood industry. After the merger, Austral improved its foundations of human resources (HR). The newly merged entity built a common organizational culture and created a bond to engage workers in its new culture. In 2007, the company introduced a 10-year plan to drive structural changes in human resource management (HRM). The CEO’s current issue is how to overcome the two outstanding challenges to move the company forward and make it sustainable for the future.

Perfect Day was a rising cellular agriculture company specializing in lab-based milk. Its founders had created and patented a formula for an ingredient that could produce authentic-tasting non-dairy products. At the beginning of 2020, the US-based firm received US$140 million in funding, and the founders had to navigate a complex operating and stakeholder environment to map out a growth strategy. The complex situation required them to answer related questions that were easy to understand but difficult to answer. First, the founders would have to chart the expected evolution of the lab-based milk industry as it moved to the full roll-out of products. The founders would next have to decide on Perfect Day’s positioning in its changing industry. Finally, they would have to assess the myriad players, both as stakeholders and as potential alliance partners, in order to support the strategic positioning decision.

In January 2011, China-based Joyson Automotive Group (Joyson) acquired Preh GmbH (Preh), a German manufacturer of high-end automotive components. While Joyson had lower capabilities in areas such as management and engineering, it was able to ensure a successful acquisition of the more competent firm Preh after years of careful planning and relationship building. Joyson had grown over 14 years to become a US$10 billion manufacturing company by continuously acquiring more capable firms. The acquisition of Preh would make the two companies powerful players in the global automotive parts supply market and promised to provide Preh with financial resources and access to the lucrative Chinese automotive market, but only if the Chinese and German companies could be integrated successfully. How could Joyson’s management team ensure a successful integration of a firm with superior management, soft skills, and technical capabilities?

In October 2020, the managing director of Laurs & Bridz Pharmaceuticals Private Limited was considering changing the company’s sales strategy to reflect the challenges that India’s pharmaceutical industry was facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was also considering launching a new antiviral drug. The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted many routine sales practices, such as in-person meetings with customers, and had also affected drug distribution. Consequently, the sales team had managed to achieve only 87.4 per cent of its sales targets in the first three quarters, with a mere 9.3 per cent growth over the previous year against a targeted growth rate of 25.1 per cent. The managing director had to consider all factors affecting his company’s sales performance during the COVID-19 crisis. What strategies could he devise to motivate sales managers and representatives facing uneven growth across different zones? Should he revise sales targets this late in the year? What were the pros and cons of launching a new product during these times of market uncertainty?

Virginia-based Aspetto Inc. integrated fashion into its ballistic clothing, which was considered the lightest and strongest in the world. Its customers included the United States Air Force, the United States Marine Corps, the US Department of State, and various law enforcement agencies, as well as civilian consumers. By October 2020, demand for body armour in the civilian market in the United States was increasing, given the growing number of mass shootings in the country. Intending to grow the company through innovation, the two co-founders had to decide whether to prioritize the civilian market or the military market for body armour. How could they ensure growth through innovation? What strategic growth plan would allow them to do this?

In 2017, Total Credit Recovery Limited (TCR), an accounts receivables management and debt collection firm, hired a data scientist to analyze the firm’s current data analytics practices and create a plan to extend the use of its data. TCR collected more than 1 million points of data per day, and the company’s new data scientist knew that with a proper team in place, he could use this data to offer his firm a competitive advantage that was currently non-existent in the industry. TCR's leadership supported the data scientist with substantial resources and the team made notable contributions to the firm’s operations. However, one year later, as the firm was preparing to launch a new venture that relied on the contributions of the new data analytics team, the young leader was struggling to build a positive dynamic within his cross-functional team. How could he improve his team's dynamics and thus its ability to add value to TCR?

Instructor Spreadsheet for product 8B17C016.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B21M061.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B21M061.

Ucommune was the first co-working space operator in China to submit a prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As its basic business, Ucommune provided co-working spaces for members and customers, and gradually formed two specific space operation models: the self-operated model and the asset-light model. Ucommune also offered members comprehensive value-added services and promoted the development of a service business by establishing a service ecosystem. Constant exploration of the co-working space industry had enabled Ucommune to create a unique business model and, through its creation, positively change the industry's old model. Although it had reached certain goals, Ucommune still faced challenges, including problems with achieving profitability, fierce competition, and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. To transcend the current obstacles, In early 2020, Ucommune had to consider how to further adjust and optimize the business model.

Masai Ujiri, the President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors (Raptors), had an illustrious career on and off the basketball court; he had not shied away from making bold, even controversial, decisions; and he had led his franchise, the Raptors, to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship. Following the Raptors’ clinching the NBA Championship in 2019, Ujiri faced an altercation with an Officer in Oakland, California. At the height of his success, Ujiri explicitly called out his mistreatment because of his being a Black man, highlighting the racism prevalent against Blacks and minorities. Contemplating his future as an executive, Ujiri would need to decide whether to continue, and if so, how to marry the worlds of sport and activism, charting his own path for social change.

Shrujan, a 50-year-old social enterprise, was started to provide work for villagers following a severe drought in the Kutch region of India. The organization focused on using the villagers’ appreciable skills in embroidery to create and market high-end handicrafts. The products both generated a source of added income for their households and helped to preserve the traditional crafts of the artisans. Shrujan had grown over the years, increasing sales and thus increasing the number of artisans supported by the project. However, in January 2020, a young fashion designer—the niece of the trustee manager and an employee at Shrujan—had ideas for growing and expanding the organization even further. The trustee manager needed to evaluate her niece’s proposal and decide whether or not it was possible to scale Shrujan and grow the business without compromising its social commitment.

Urban Axes introduced the Canadian indoor sport of axe throwing to the US market, beginning with one location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2016. Although Urban Axes was started as a “side hustle” by four friends with corporate jobs, it soon became apparent that the concept could be both popular and profitable. The partners quickly decided to become fully involved in the business to maximize its potential. This case features a woman protagonist as chief financial officer and the originator of the business plan. It is a novel, contemporary example of the first-mover principle, highlighting the risks and rewards of creating a new line of business in a competitive and volatile industry—in this case, the indoor or experiential entertainment industry.

In 2020, the corporate purchasing and sustainability manager at the Plastilene Group (a plastics producer based in Colombia) needed to address a sustainability challenge. In response to media and legislative attacks and consumer behaviour changes regarding the use of plastic products globally, the corporate purchasing and sustainability manager, supported by the company’s chief executive officer, was tasked with leading a strategic renewal in the 62-year-old business group known for its integration of various lines of innovation both inside and outside its organization. The organization’s process of strategic renewal had arisen from the theories of sustainability and the circular economy. How could the company management enhance not only the sustainable innovation strategy within the organization’s structure, but also its spirit of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation?

On May 29, 2020, the World Health Organization launched the COVID-19 Technologies Access Pool (C-TAP) with the aim of making pandemic-related technologies—specifically, vaccines and treatments—available to its participants. Although the initiative was positively received in many developing countries, it was not well received by pharmaceutical companies, who viewed C-TAP as a threat to the patent system and, therefore, as a threat to the companies’ future research and development. Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported the initiative because it was expected to help poorer countries and income groups access a vaccine. Companies, NGOs, and national governments had to decide how to engage in the process.

Elon R. Musk, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), was on a mission to provide people in rural and remote areas with affordable, reliable Internet access. Starlink—a constellation of 12,000 satellites to be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO)—was to provide a seamless web of high-speed, low-latency Internet access to anyone with a coordinating ground station. If revenue from the project materialized as forecast, the income stream could help fund Musk's bigger mission: getting people to Mars. The project was not without its challenges, however. LEO satellites had failed in the past, and the market emphasis was the launch of the fifth-generation mobile network (5G) and extending that service to rural areas. Further, competition was increasing, as other companies were entering the segment. Another problem was the clutter and light pollution that the satellites created in orbit. How could Musk increase demand for Starlink's services, and how should he prioritize and tackle the challenges his project faced?

In October 2015, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tender Greens faced his most difficult decision yet: should the company continue to pay a premium price for sustainably sourced beef, or should it switch to conventionally raised beef to boost profit margins and improve the company’s prospects for national growth? Tender Greens, a thriving fast-casual restaurant chain in California, was ready to expand its operation to the East Coast with backing by equity investors. As the expansion plans grew closer, the CEO began to address the foreseeable supply chain issues that his company would face with the next level of expansion. The company had faced sustainably raised beef supply shortages before, but this time the CEO had more stakeholders to satisfy. He faced a dilemma, one that required him to weigh competing stakeholder interests, the company’s stated values, and significant financial implications to arrive at the best long-term outcome for the company. What would be the best way for the company to achieve scale while maintaining a commitment to food that was local, sustainable, and affordable?

In 2015, the lean transformation of the University of Chicago Medicine medical centre encompassed substantial renovation of its internal supply chain. This included moving from a centralized warehouse-based system managed largely by clinical teams to a lean, decentralized, just-in-time system managed by supply chain professionals. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the University of Chicago Medicine’s supply chain. Accommodating for the COVID-19 pandemic required making numerous changes to the physical supply chain, which could potentially affect actions and decisions at the level of operations on the hospital floors. Amid so many changes, how would the supply chain team members on the hospital floor address daily issues while maintaining efforts to improve the system? How would they remain aligned to the hospital’s mission and goals?