As she prepared for the Hershey Company Investor Day, CEO Michele Buck knew the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI); the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices; and that EDI within corporate social responsibility (CSR) was key to Hershey’s valuable brand image, engaged employees, and effective business relationships. “Children’s wellbeing is at the heart of who we are as a company. This goes back to our founder, Milton S. Hershey, who cared deeply about children.” However, the company depended on cocoa beans from West Africa and had not yet honoured a 2001 industry-wide pledge to uproot child labour in global supply chains. Hershey was committed to improved practices but had not yet reached its goals. What if Hershey’s largest customer in its largest market decided to drop Hershey products? What if socially conscious institutional investors decided to sell their shares? How could the CEO avoid these disastrous scenarios and reassure both customers and investors?

Amid turbulent financial times and fierce competition, Joanna Geraghty assumed the role of chief executive officer at JetBlue Airways Corporation (JetBlue) in February 2024. Facing significant losses and gender barriers in a male-dominated industry, Geraghty embarked on a mission to steer JetBlue towards stability and success. Hindered by setbacks such as the failed acquisition bid of Spirit Airlines Inc. and pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, Geraghty focused on enhancing reliability and cost control to fortify JetBlue’s position. This case explores Geraghty’s strategic decisions and leadership approaches in overcoming challenges, with implications for navigating complexity in the airline industry.

<p align="justify">In 2022, Emtec Inc., an information technology and digital services firm located in Florida, was at a critical juncture. The company had seen immense success as a hardware reseller and managed services provider to government agencies and midmarket companies in the US. But Dinesh Desai, the founder and former chief executive officer, was concerned about decreasing profit margins and intensifying competition in the current reseller and managed services business. Low barriers to entry were adding new entrants and competition on pricing as well as affecting the ability to acquire and keep talent. Furthermore, the pace of technological change influencing newer offerings such as cloud and custom development was creating significant uncertainty. For Desai, the question came down to the following: Stay the course and build upon established services or pivot to a different mix of offerings? The pressure to chart a new path was very important, given the uncertainty about the future and the cutthroat price-based competition in the market.

In 2022, Emtec Inc., an information technology and digital services firm located in Florida, was at a critical juncture. The company had seen immense success as a hardware reseller and managed services provider to government agencies and midmarket companies in the US. But Dinesh Desai, the founder and former chief executive officer, was concerned about decreasing profit margins and intensifying competition in the current reseller and managed services business. Low barriers to entry were adding new entrants and competition on pricing as well as affecting the ability to acquire and keep talent. Furthermore, the pace of technological change influencing newer offerings such as cloud and custom development was creating significant uncertainty. For Desai, the question came down to the following: Stay the course and build upon established services or pivot to a different mix of offerings? The pressure to chart a new path was very important, given the uncertainty about the future and the cutthroat price-based competition in the market.

As she prepared for the Hershey Company Investor Day, CEO Michele Buck knew the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI); the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices; and that EDI within corporate social responsibility (CSR) was key to Hershey's valuable brand image, engaged employees, and effective business relationships. "Children's wellbeing is at the heart of who we are as a company. This goes back to our founder, Milton S. Hershey, who cared deeply about children." However, the company depended on cocoa beans from West Africa and had not yet honoured a 2001 industry-wide pledge to uproot child labour in global supply chains. Hershey was committed to improved practices but had not yet reached its goals. What if Hershey's largest customer in its largest market decided to drop Hershey products? What if socially conscious institutional investors decided to sell their shares? How could the CEO avoid these disastrous scenarios and reassure both customers and investors?

Following its disastrous market entry into the United Kingdom in 2019, due to immediate backlash from the LGBTQ+ community, Chick-fil-A, the US$16 billion conservative Christian fast-food company, named a new chief executive officer in 2021, Andrew Truett Cathy. By inheriting the privately-held, family-owned empire, Cathy faced a monumental task, made more difficult when he appointed a vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which sparked calls for a boycott from conservative groups and claims that “the company had gone woke.” To make matters worse, Chick-fil-A was in the middle of a worldwide chicken sandwich war, fighting against many competitors, including McDonald’s, Popeyes, and Wendy’s. As August 2023 came to a close, how could Andrew Cathy, newly minted third generation chief executive officer of Chick-fil-A, avoid the curse of wealth destruction and simultaneously fight culture and chicken wars?

Following its disastrous market entry into the United Kingdom in 2019, due to immediate backlash from the LGBTQ+ community, Chick-fil-A, the US$16 billion conservative Christian fast-food company, named a new chief executive officer in 2021, Andrew Truett Cathy. By inheriting the privately-held, family-owned empire, Cathy faced a monumental task, made more difficult when he appointed a vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which sparked calls for a boycott from conservative groups and claims that "the company had gone woke." To make matters worse, Chick-fil-A was in the middle of a worldwide chicken sandwich war, fighting against many competitors, including McDonald's, Popeyes, and Wendy's. As August 2023 came to a close, how could Andrew Cathy, newly minted third generation chief executive officer of Chick-fil-A, avoid the curse of wealth destruction and simultaneously fight culture and chicken wars?

In October 2021, the head of digital communications and branding at the Australian biopharmaceutical conglomerate CSL Limited (CSL), was tasked with a strategic rebranding exercise. By August 2022, he and other stakeholders felt a sense of pride and satisfaction at how quickly the rebranding initiatives had been completed. CSL felt that it had achieved the desired brand associations and met its targeted brand net promoter score performance. Looking forward, the company’s executives needed to outline an implementation plan to ensure CSL’s brand positioning—its key differentiator—to ensure that CSL outpaced respected competitors and that the CSL brand connected with the company’s product brands at each customer touchpoint—all while maintaining trust and attracting the best researchers possible.

In October 2021, the head of digital communications and branding at the Australian biopharmaceutical conglomerate CSL Limited (CSL), was tasked with a strategic rebranding exercise. By August 2022, he and other stakeholders felt a sense of pride and satisfaction at how quickly the rebranding initiatives had been completed. CSL felt that it had achieved the desired brand associations and met its targeted brand net promoter score performance. Looking forward, the company's executives needed to outline an implementation plan to ensure CSL's brand positioning-its key differentiator-to ensure that CSL outpaced respected competitors and that the CSL brand connected with the company's product brands at each customer touchpoint-all while maintaining trust and attracting the best researchers possible.

Two months after his January 1, 2021, appointment as chief executive officer (CEO) of NewCo, the code name for the soon-to-be spun off managed infrastructure services portion of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Martin Schroeter was faced with the daunting prospect of creating a distinct strategy and identity for a huge company in a very short time frame. Announced on October 8, 2020, by IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, NewCo was a high-stakes strategic move to "create value through focus" and "increased agility to focus on evolving customer needs and delivery excellence." Once spun off, NewCo would immediately become the world's leading managed infrastructure services provider, with US$19 billion in revenue, 90,000 employees, and 4,600 customers, including more than 75 per cent of the Fortune 100 across 115 countries. With the spinoff expected to be complete by the end of 2021, Schroeter had only a few months to craft a strategy, recruit a leadership team, define a new identity for the company, ensure a "strong strategic relationship" with IBM, and bring thousands of customers and tens of thousands of employees into NewCo. Success required many pieces to come together rapidly and seamlessly. Schroeter was unsure how best to address these challenges. All he knew was that failure was not an option and that time was short.

In March 2022, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Auchan Retail Group (Auchan), a top French retailer, faced a serious dilemma. As head of a €30 billion, privately held company, the CEO had to choose between staying the course and leaving Russia, one of Auchan’s top three markets, in the aftermath of the business turnaround and explosive geopolitical tensions that followed within two weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Public backlash had already forced more than 300 companies to exit or scale down their operations in this large emerging market. In this context, as he prepared for an interview with a popular French newspaper, the CEO had to decide how to best to address this dilemma: should Auchan follow the crowd or stay the course?

In March 2022, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Auchan Retail Group (Auchan), a top French retailer, faced a serious dilemma. As head of a €30 billion, privately held company, the CEO had to choose between staying the course and leaving Russia, one of Auchan's top three markets, in the aftermath of the business turnaround and explosive geopolitical tensions that followed within two weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Public backlash had already forced more than 300 companies to exit or scale down their operations in this large emerging market. In this context, as he prepared for an interview with a popular French newspaper, the CEO had to decide how to best to address this dilemma: should Auchan follow the crowd or stay the course?

<p align="justify">Two months after his January 1, 2021, appointment as chief executive officer (CEO) of NewCo, the code name for the soon-to-be spun off managed infrastructure services portion of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Martin Schroeter was faced with the daunting prospect of creating a distinct strategy and identity for a huge company in a very short time frame. Announced on October 8, 2020, by IBM’s CEO, Arvind Krishna, NewCo was a high-stakes strategic move to “create value through focus” and “increased agility to focus on evolving customer needs and delivery excellence.” Once spun off, NewCo would immediately become the world’s leading managed infrastructure services provider, with US$19 billion in revenue, 90,000 employees, and 4,600 customers, including more than 75 per cent of the Fortune 100 across 115 countries. With the spinoff expected to be complete by the end of 2021, Schroeter had only a few months to craft a strategy, recruit a leadership team, define a new identity for the company, ensure a “strong strategic relationship” with IBM, and bring thousands of customers and tens of thousands of employees into NewCo. Success required many pieces to come together rapidly and seamlessly. Schroeter was unsure how best to address these challenges. All he knew was that failure was not an option and that time was short.

Following the Arab Spring of 2011, the centuries-old co-operative movement helped the emancipation and financial independence of women in Morocco. One such woman was Samira Smahri, the founder and president of a co-operative called Attadamoun, which nationally and internationally marketed a unique product native to Morocco now used around the world: argan oil and its derivative products. The co-op, founded in 2014 and located in Sidi Bibi, a small village in Morocco, had experienced steady growth and given women a sense of hope and new-found freedom. However, this was all put on hold with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, Smahri had to decide whether to persevere under extremely unfavourable conditions or to shut down the co-op that meant so much to her and the co-op’s emancipated women employees.

Following the Arab Spring of 2011, the centuries-old co-operative movement helped the emancipation and financial independence of women in Morocco. One such woman was Samira Smahri, the founder and president of a co-operative called Attadamoun, which nationally and internationally marketed a unique product native to Morocco now used around the world: argan oil and its derivative products. The co-op, founded in 2014 and located in Sidi Bibi, a small village in Morocco, had experienced steady growth and given women a sense of hope and new-found freedom. However, this was all put on hold with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, Smahri had to decide whether to persevere under extremely unfavourable conditions or to shut down the co-op that meant so much to her and the co-op's emancipated women employees.

Michele Buck became the first woman president and chief executive officer of the Hershey Company (Hershey) in 2017 and was elected as chair of the board in 2019. Now, in 2021, she was leading a company that was facing supply chain and legal challenges. Although Hershey was dedicated to bringing “goodness to the world,” the company was accused of having broken its 2001 pledge to uproot child labour from its cocoa supply chain. Global pressure for greater supply chain transparency and compliance with human rights increased throughout 2020, and in 2021, Hershey became a defendant in a US federal class-action lawsuit alleging harms caused by child labour. With an annual shareholders’ meeting pending on May 17, 2021, Buck had to decide how to mitigate the risks and deal with potential fines of up to US$500 million.

Michele Buck became the first woman president and chief executive officer of the Hershey Company (Hershey) in 2017 and was elected as chair of the board in 2019. Now, in 2021, she was leading a company that was facing supply chain and legal challenges. Although Hershey was dedicated to bringing "goodness to the world," the company was accused of having broken its 2001 pledge to uproot child labour from its cocoa supply chain. Global pressure for greater supply chain transparency and compliance with human rights increased throughout 2020, and in 2021, Hershey became a defendant in a US federal class-action lawsuit alleging harms caused by child labour. With an annual shareholders' meeting pending on May 17, 2021, Buck had to decide how to mitigate the risks and deal with potential fines of up to US$500 million.

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." Warren Buffet, 1986 Letter to Shareholders. This investment strategy had proven powerful for Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. It had transformed a bad textile company into a diversified investment company, ranked as the 12th largest company in the world in 2019, right behind Apple. It had made Warren Buffet a billionaire and countless of his shareholders millionaires. At the end of 2019, Berkshire's shareholders included Fidelity Investments and the central bank of Norway. The company's stock was considered the number one retirement stock in America. Amid the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, U.S. financial markets crashed at record speed (-35% between February 12 and March 20, 2020), including the biggest single-day drop ever of -12.9% on March 16, 2020, eclipsing the record of October 28, 1929. Expected to be greedy when others are fearful, Buffet was a net seller of stocks and remained on the sideline during that period. His inaction, combined with an unusually cautionary tone at the annual shareholders' meeting, triggered heavy criticisms. Some of his loyalists sold their stocks. As he was approaching his 90th birthday, many started to wonder whether Warren Buffet had changed his time-tested strategy. Was he disconnected from reality? Was he fearful himself?

This case depicts the fascinating success story of Promamec, a family-owned business and an unexpected healthcare champion, amid unprecedented business environment changes, in Morocco's business capital, Casablanca. Known as one of the poorest Arab countries in the world, Morocco has become an emerging market that has attracted many foreign investors. Competition has intensified and financial resources have become more limited for Promamec. More specifically, the case draws attention to a crucial leadership transition between generations (2006) and a game-changing strategic decision (2018) to ensure future prosperity. This success story brings together several business disciplines including but not limited to strategy and entrepreneurship. Until 2018, Promamec's leadership created permanent value for more than three decades, growing organically at a double-digit rate in one of the most challenging business environments in the world. However, the son of the founder who remains the major shareholder must then make a very challenging decision: keep the business ("baby" of his father) in the family or sell it to private investors?

This case describes the immense success of Chick-fil-A in the United States and its first major international expansion efforts in Toronto, Canada, and Reading, England amid increased competition in the United States. Although Chick-fil-A had become the third-largest fast-food chain in the United States in 2018, a public relations controversy that had simmered since 2012 over the company's conservative Christian values still dogged the company's expansion attempts in 2019. How should the company address the backlash from supporters of LGBTQ rights and ensure the success of Chick-fil-A outside the United States?