This case is designed to help students understand how to manage diverse employees with unique strengths and weaknesses. It features the Dialogue in the Dark ("DiD") China organization, a social enterprise franchise that employs visually impaired people to guide visitors as they experience daily life tasks in pitch-black. After briefly introducing DiD's origins in Germany and DiD China's founding story, this case describes how its founder, Shiyin Cai, managed the organization with an emphasis on selecting the right employees, providing training for their personal development, and giving employees opportunities to build self-confidence. Furthermore, this case explores how Cai considers the diverse perspectives of her employees and establishes personal relationships with them to develop enabling conditions that can help them thrive in both this organization and society at large. On December 16, 2021, the tenth anniversary of DiD China, Cai reflected on her past experiences. A month prior, had falsely reported to authorities that DiD Shanghai's operation was in violation of the fire code, an accusation that intensified the existing financial struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the ups and downs, Cai reflected on the challenges and rewards she experienced with founding DiD China. More importantly, on a personal level, she acknowledged her ongoing journey of learning and growth as a leader.

This case traces the development of Canyou Group over 22 years, starting from its origins as a small computer interest club in 1997 to an organization consisting of a foundation, 14 non-for-profit firms, and 42 for-profit companies, two of which are listed. As Canyou developed, the mission of the founder, Weining Zheng, remained crucial to decision-making. He wanted to prove the worth of disabled persons by showing that they can create value and gain approval from the market. Canyou faced three critical strategic decisions during its formation, which were key to determining this social enterprise's development. By making decisions in line with its mission, Canyou showed how it evolved to find success utilizing disabled employees to create value for the firm. In understanding Canyou's success, the firm has built complementary assets focused on its employees. Specifically, it developed a unique human resource system that captures the needs of employees and a corporate culture that supports them. Moreover, it designed a supporting structure with its "Three-in-One" model to help Canyou support the disabled while generating profits and contributing to its mission, resulting in a virtuous cycle. This case provides an opportunity to analyze Canyou's decisions during its development. Specifically, the case allows students to consider both the external and internal activities that a firm with this unique mission should explore and, more importantly, what activities it should reject. After discussing these decisions, the case provides an opportunity to analyze how the mission created complementary assets geared towards disabled employees, leading to a source of sustained competitive advantage. Finally, this case discusses Canyou's future challenges. While the case protagonist Weining Zheng understood that Canyou had a solid foundation, he needed to consider how it could build on disabled people's value while increasing its success after he left the firm (and this world).

This case follows the development of Daddy Lab, a Chinese social enterprise founded in 2015 by Wenfeng Wei. With extensive experience in product safety testing, Wei started Daddy Lab to tackle the social problem of poor-quality and hazardous consumer products used by children and their families in China. By identifying, testing, and reporting such products to the public via social media, Wei became an internet celebrity. Nicknamed "Daddy Wei," he racked up millions of followers on China's most popular social media platform, WeChat. In 2018, Daddy Lab received China Gold Social Enterprise certification from the China Charity Fair. That same year, Daddy Lab generated average monthly revenue of approximately ¥5 million by selling high-quality, non-hazardous products online. As Daddy Lab continued to grow and tackle its social mission, it faced numerous challenges. Social entrepreneur Wei realized that he faced the dilemma of trying to make the world a safer place for children and their families while making a profit to sustain this purpose. Wei had established a model to make profits through Daddy Lab's dual roles as a "reviewer" and a "seller" but wondered whether it was appropriate for this social enterprise. As Wei considered Daddy Lab's future, the following questions kept him awake at night: Was Daddy Lab's current business model effective in achieving its social and financial goals? How could Daddy Lab better manage its dual roles as a "reviewer" and a "seller"? How could Daddy Lab become more sustainable in the future?

This case describes the background to an upcoming negotiation between a Chinese social entrepreneur (Jamie Zheng) and a venture capitalist (Chris Liu). Case (A) lays out the situation from the perspective of Jamie, who is trying to attain first-round investment in order to better grow Smart Health, which was founded by Jamie. However, Jamie's purpose for the firm includes not only the pursuit of profit but also a desire to have a social impact by making life easier for the elderly. This provides a potential conflict, as Jamie's social purpose may impede the company's commitment to the pursuit of profit. After negotiating with five investors, Jamie still could not reach an agreement, especially with Smart Health's social goal being an important condition for its future development. However, Jamie is optimistic heading into this meeting with Chris, as Jamie believes Chris shares the same vision and understands the unique nature of Smart Health as a social enterprise. Case (B) presents the perspective of Chris, who, on a personal level, likes Jamie's idea of helping the elderly. However, as a traditional venture capitalist and an agent of XYZ Capital, Chris understands the importance of investing in firms based on their potential profitability. Therefore, Chris needs to ensure a sound return on investment, which includes some control over how the firm makes financial decisions in the future. Students will be asked to play the role of either Jamie or Chris and negotiate on how they can come to an agreement on the venture capital firm's potential investment in Smart Health and what degree of control the venture capital firm should have over Smart Health, in order to ensure it meets its financial obligations. They must haggle over one issue-social purpose. The key question for this negotiation is: How does one reach a deal when there is more than just a financial incentive at stake? How does one negotiate when the social purpose of the firm is among the issues at hand?

This case describes the background to an upcoming negotiation between a Chinese social entrepreneur (Jamie Zheng) and a venture capitalist (Chris Liu). Case (A) lays out the situation from the perspective of Jamie, who is trying to attain first-round investment in order to better grow Smart Health, which was founded by Jamie. However, Jamie's purpose for the firm includes not only the pursuit of profit but also a desire to have a social impact by making life easier for the elderly. This provides a potential conflict, as Jamie's social purpose may impede the company's commitment to the pursuit of profit. After negotiating with five investors, Jamie still could not reach an agreement, especially with Smart Health's social goal being an important condition for its future development. However, Jamie is optimistic heading into this meeting with Chris, as Jamie believes Chris shares the same vision and understands the unique nature of Smart Health as a social enterprise. Case (B) presents the perspective of Chris, who, on a personal level, likes Jamie's idea of helping the elderly. However, as a traditional venture capitalist and an agent of XYZ Capital, Chris understands the importance of investing in firms based on their potential profitability. Therefore, Chris needs to ensure a sound return on investment, which includes some control over how the firm makes financial decisions in the future. Students will be asked to play the role of either Jamie or Chris and negotiate on how they can come to an agreement on the venture capital firm's potential investment in Smart Health and what degree of control the venture capital firm should have over Smart Health, in order to ensure it meets its financial obligations. They must haggle over one issue-social purpose. The key question for this negotiation is: How does one reach a deal when there is more than just a financial incentive at stake? How does one negotiate when the social purpose of the firm is among the issues at hand?