Case A focuses on how entrepreneurs and leaders deal with sudden unexpected events and crises. It describes the tensions that Russian female entrepreneur and CEO Anastasia Tatulova had to deal with in response to the coronavirus pandemic that wrought wide-scale disruption on society and businesses across the world. Tatulova founded the AnderSon café to address a lack of family-friendly cafés in Russia. Having started in 2009 with a single café in Moscow, AnderSon celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019 as a chain of 52 cafés in Russia and neighboring countries. It employed 1,500 staff in its cafés and in the "Factory of Happiness," which produced the confectionery sold in the cafés. At the beginning of 2020, Tatulova was poised to expand her business with outside investment, but by March, as COVID-19 triggered restrictions and the shutdown of society, her core business was paralyzed by a 90% drop in sales. This put her in the critical situation of having to fight for AnderSon's survival. Along with other small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Russia, AnderSon was obliged to pay staff during the lockdown and received very limited government support. The case highlights the struggles that Tatulova faced and it ends with her having to decide what to do with her business.

Case B describes Tatulova's actions in response to the crisis. This included a meeting with President Putin to discuss the situation of small businesses. Tatulova's speech, in which she pleaded with him to support Russian entrepreneurs, made her very visible in Russia and propelled her into a nationwide role as the ombudsman for small businesses during the crisis. This new role provided her with an opportunity to influence at a broader level, yet it diverted time from nurturing her own business. Her choice to accept the ombudsman role provides an opportunity to discuss what motivates entrepreneurs to stretch and reinvent themselves and the role of communication and networks in crisis management.