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Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B21B012.

Instructor Presentation to accompany product 8B21M070.

Founded in 1885, Crayola has since established itself as US-based iconic brand with a wide array of quality products and deep connections with consumers, retailers, and licensing and business partners. By March 2020, Crayola had achieved category leadership and was outselling the majority of its competitors. It was on trend with new products and online content for educators, parents, and children—all with the goal of inspiring creativity among children. Crayola had also created strong relationships with and earned the respect of retailers, who had come to value the role Crayola played in their business, especially during the two most important retail seasons: back-to-school and Christmas. At the beginning of the second quarter of 2020, Crayola had to make some critical decisions. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus across the United States had led to business and school closures across the country (and the world), as well as personal physical restrictions. Crayola needed to immediately focus on three key areas: maintaining company culture, collaborating with partners to preserve the volume of back-to-school revenue, and ensuring a strong supply chain to meet consumers’ needs. These three actions would ensure that Crayola could take advantage of key opportunities and continue creating strong and sustainable relationships with educators, parents, and children.

In recent years, India had experienced a digital revolution, emerging as a forerunner in cashless payments and, in the process, dramatically raising the level of financial inclusion in the country. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), established in 2008 with the mandate to improve national payment systems, became a global gold standard for facilitating innovative financial technology (fintech) solutions. NPCI was created as a not-for-profit “coopetitive” organization, initiated by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, but owned by a consortium of India’s leading banks and largely run independently. While NPCI’s success in devising an open innovation platform had led to a new competitive playing field, it had also raised the question of whether or not its original coopetitive organizational design was still suitable for sustaining the flow of fintech innovations.

Xiaomi India Private Limited (Xiaomi India), a subsidiary of the Chinese smart phone company Xiaomi Corporation, controlled a major share in the Indian market. However, its dominance was threatened by geopolitical tensions between India and China. The two countries shared a 4,000 kilometre border and a history of dispute over the border’s actual demarcation. Tensions brewing over the international border during early 2020 precipitated an armed clash between Indian and Chinese troops at one border post that resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers. In response, the Indian government issued orders for companies to declare the identity of products made in China, with a preference for products made in India. A consumer boycott of Chinese products was also posing a threat to the Xiaomi brand’s market leadership position, while competitors saw an opportunity to expand their market share. How could Xiaomi India overcome the current negative environment and prepare for similar potential conflicts in the future?

In mid-2020, Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber) acquired Latin American-based mobile application Cornershop, which delivered online grocery purchases to the consumer’s home. The operation involved technology firms based on multisided platforms. Uber, which focused on the intermediation of passenger transport, had expanded to businesses such Uber Eats for the delivery of restaurant meals, while Cornershop’s focus was the purchase and delivery of supermarket products. Recently, Walmart had attempted to acquire Cornershop, but Mexico’s antitrust authorities would not authorize the acquisition. Uber’s acquisition of Cornershop involved important managerial challenges. What were the main sources of value? Should the two companies be managed separately or as joint units? Would Walmart have been a better fit for Cornershop? What was the best strategy to grow in this multisided business space?

On February 20, 2020, the executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Input Capital Corporation, the first agricultural commodity streaming company in Canada, was reviewing a capital stream contract that one of his associates had prepared for Sustainable Farms Inc. and submitted for his approval. One important consideration was the rate of return expected from the contract and the risks involved. The executive called a co-op student to his office and assigned her the task of calculating the internal rate of return, or effective yield, on this capital stream contract. He also hinted at an alternative way to assess the profitability of the contract, which was to estimate the contract’s mark-to-market value.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B20N037.

Fitzie, a sports and fitness brand that manufactured, marketed, and sold sports and lifestyle footwear and apparel, had been doing relatively well in its Eastern Europe, Middle East, South Asia, and Africa (EMESAA) region, with double-digit growth for the past two years. However, the business had been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the business forecast for 2020 reduced by 39 per cent. As a result, Fitzie’s global team had reduced the EMESAA region’s marketing allocation for 2020 by the same ratio. Archana Roy, the marketing head of Fitzie’s EMESAA region, had to present her marketing plan for 2021 to Fitzie’s global team at the end of September 2020. What had worked in the past might not yield results for 2021, as significant shifts in consumer behaviour had occurred and different markets moved asymmetrically. It was important to prioritize and align all local stakeholders for strong execution and to ensure that the global team allocated the required marketing budget. Was there a need to reconsider the well-established marketing budget allocation process and, if there was, what should the criteria be for reallocation?

In May 2019, the founder of SaladStop!, a Singapore-headquartered healthy salad chain with locations across Asia, was looking for innovative ways to improve the customer experience at SaladStop! stores worldwide. In six months, the founder was planning to renovate one of his branches in Singapore. This renovation would set a precedent for future outlets in terms of layout and design. The founder was aware of rising customer dissatisfaction caused by some service quality issues. As such, there was an urgent need to find a way to maintain customer interactions at SaladStop! while paying attention to customers’ expectations. Should SaladStop! embrace new technologies in the restaurant business, or should it continue to focus on offering a truly authentic customer experience by relying on traditional human touchpoints?

In early 2021, PepsiCo Inc. (PepsiCo), one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, was undergoing immense criticism for its role in global health issues including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, malnutrition, and cancer. As far back as 2010, executives at PepsiCo had recognized that “society, people, and lifestyles have changed” and that PepsiCo had no choice but to move in healthier directions. Although PepsiCo had made impressive strides in reducing the negative health impacts of some of its products, criticism persisted that it was not going far enough.

Alicia Soulier, owner of Capelli Salon Studio, a hair salon in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has developed an application (app) that can help save hair salons thousands of dollars per month in hair colour costs. However, she is struggling to recruit enough subscribers to her new software as a service (SaaS) company, SalonScale. With the diversion of her attention from her hair salon to the app threatening her core business, Soulier must soon decide on a customer acquisition strategy.

In April 2020, the interim president of the 3D printing and digital manufacturing business of HP Inc. was weighing his options in resolving three managerial dilemmas: (1) How should HP promote technology awareness among industrial customers? (2) How should HP scale up its production of 3D printers? (3) How could HP promote shorter technology adoption cycles among industrial customers?

When the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 affected commercial circulation in various regions around the world, Heilongjiang Feihe Dairy Co. Ltd. (Feihe), a leading Chinese dairy company, had been facing difficulties for a while. The company’s enterprise strategy was actively adjusted, and various measures were taken to protect the company’s supply of raw materials and the business operations of its production, distribution logistics, sales, and other departments from adverse effects of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020. Feihe announced that its revenue growth rate in the first quarter of 2020 would not be less than 30 per cent. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, the pattern of competition among milk powder brands had quietly changed. Although Feihe had successfully gained a share of the high-end market, which had previously been dominated by foreign brands, its proportion of this market was still not high. At the same time, the rapid rise of other domestic brands had disturbed Feihe’s brand appeal of being “more suitable for Chinese babies” and its claim that its sales were far ahead in China. How should Feihe further adjust its strategy to properly deal with its competitive relationship with other brands?

Seattle-based Dropbox Inc. (Dropbox) was a leading provider of cloud storage and online collaboration tools. The company had successfully grown a global user base by combining digital channels (user-driven viral growth) with investments in physical assets (offices and infrastructure) overseas. However, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced individuals and organizations worldwide to work remotely and created an unprecedented growth opportunity, the company found itself outflanked by more aggressive rivals. Dropbox needed to reassess its existing strategy and find a way forward.

The Pratham Institute for Literacy, Education & Vocational Training (Pratham Institute) in India, ran vocational education and training (VET) centres that were engaged in skilling the rural youth of India to prepare them for vocational careers. In April 2020, the organization’s centre in Pilani, Rajasthan, along with several other chapters, had noted that a significant share of the institute’s trainees were failing to sustain their employment for a long period and were returning home to their native villages instead. Though the VET centres had seen several success stories, they were somewhat perplexed about why so many of their trainees were not staying in their careers, despite the promise of greater financial benefits and job security compared to farming-based livelihoods. Some of the common concerns of trainees included urban culture shock, family pressures to return home, sustenance worries, career ambiguity, and a lack of psychological readiness to cope with harsh city life. The head of the Pilani centre was left pondering how to tackle such psychological issues among the Pratham Institute’s trainees and thereby reduce the dropout rate and fully realize the positive impact of the training programs.

In 1989, Tracy Edwards, at age 26, led the first all-female crew in the prestigious and grueling 59,264-kilometre (32,000 nautical mile) Whitbread Round the World Race. Edwards had developed a deep love for sailing in general and for the Whitbread Round the World Race in particular. However, she soon found that it was impossible, as a woman, to participate as a fully integrated member of a crew. Hence, she sought to organize an all-female team to compete in the race. She located, bought, and restored an old racing yacht, which eventually was christened Maiden. The idea of a team of women racing in the Whitbread Round the World Race was unthinkable to many men in and around the world of yacht racing, so the backlash was predictable and intense, and the hurdles to successfully complete the race seemed insurmountable. This six-part case series chronicles the myriad challenges faced by Edwards and her colleagues before and during the race, including rampant sexism and misogyny. Each of the six cases sets the stage for the next challenge Edwards has to overcome.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.