"Chi Forest, a beverage company founded in 2016, breathed new life into the long-unchallenged Chinese beverage market with its innovative, internet-focused approach. The company was renowned for rapidly creating differentiated blockbusters, including its signature Sparkling Water, Alien Electrolyte Water, R Tea, and Milk Tea Classic. Its Sparkling Water, launched in 2018, quickly took the market by storm and has since maintained its leading position. Over the next three years, Chi Forest saw its sales revenue skyrocket 15-fold from ¥160 million to ¥2.5 billion, making it a force to be reckoned with in China's beverage industry. Chi Forest's rapid rise to prominence captured the attention of entrenched industry leaders, prompting them to unite in an attempt to thwart its development. These industry giants introduced their own sugar-free sparkling water products mirroring Chi Forest's offerings, pressured distributors to exclude its products from their channels, and persuaded suppliers to cut ties with Chi Forest. Flush with financial and logistics resources, these large companies sought to disrupt Chi Forest's dominance in the market. Faced with these hurdles, Chi Forest recalibrated its operational approach. To mitigate its comparative disadvantages, this internet-based company began adopting strategies similar to those of traditional beverage companies, such as building its own production facilities, expanding its distribution networks, and restructuring its organizational framework. In addition, Chi Forest aggressively ventured into the cola sector, a segment long dominated by the duopoly of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. By launching cola-flavored sparkling water, Chi Forest aimed not only to disrupt the market with another innovative product but also to demonstrate its boldness and readiness to take on the industry titans.

This case study series delves into the innovative evolution of the Yang brothers' business model, segmented into three main parts: Cases A, B, and C. Case A reveals the captivating transformation of the Yang brothers from comedic influencers to pioneers in live stream sales, marking a significant milestone as they became the first to amass over a hundred million followers on TikTok. Their unprecedented popularity and commercial triumph, however, came with its own set of challenges. Numerous editors began segmenting their live streams into a variety of short clips for unauthorized distribution, aiming for profits but instead causing consumer confusion and discontent. The critical issue at hand is: How do the Yang Brothers intend to tackle the problem of these unauthorized clip accounts? Case B follows Case A and outlines the Yang brothers' clever solution: they began licensing their livestreams to clip editors, thus entering the livestream clip distribution market. This savvy strategy not only boosted their profits but also benefited the clip editors, consumers, and other stakeholders involved. However, the rapid increase in licensed editors eventually led to market saturation. The pressing question now is: What strategies should the Yang brothers employ to address this oversaturation? Case C follows Case B and introduces the launch of 'Everyone's Assistant' by the Yang brothers, a platform embodying a novel business model designed to address the saturation and competitive challenges in the livestream clip market. This platform brought a wide array of clip editors and livestreamers together for collaboration, thereby standardizing the industry and accruing significant benefits for both the Yang brothers and other stakeholders. However, this innovation also ignited discussions on the heightened competition and concerns about product integrity, prompting contemplation on the future trajectory of 'Everyone's Assistant': What strategies should the Yang brothers adopt to ensure sustainable expansion of this business segment? This series illustrates the dynamic process of business model innovation navigated by the Yang brothers against the backdrop of an ever-changing stakeholder landscape. Each phase of innovation not only resolves immediate issues but also introduces new challenges, driving the need for continuous innovative solutions. Through relentless innovation, the "Crazy Yang Bros" brand has seen its value soar, benefiting an expanding network of stakeholders-an exemplary model of adaptability and success worth studying.

Supplement to The Crazy Yang Bros (A): Revolutionizing Live Commerce with Comedy. Case B outlines the Yang brothers' clever solution: they began licensing their livestreams to clip editors, thus entering the livestream clip distribution market. This savvy strategy not only boosted their profits but also benefited the clip editors, consumers, and other stakeholders involved. However, the rapid increase in licensed editors eventually led to market saturation. The pressing question now is: What strategies should the Yang brothers employ to address this oversaturation?

Supplement to The Crazy Yang Bros (A): Revolutionizing Live Commerce with Comedy/ (B): Pioneering Livestream Clip Distribution. Case C introduces the launch of 'Everyone's Assistant' by the Yang brothers, a platform embodying a novel business model designed to address the saturation and competitive challenges in the livestream clip market. This platform brought a wide array of clip editors and livestreamers together for collaboration, thereby standardizing the industry and accruing significant benefits for both the Yang brothers and other stakeholders. However, this innovation also ignited discussions on the heightened competition and concerns about product integrity, prompting contemplation on the future trajectory of 'Everyone's Assistant': What strategies should the Yang brothers adopt to ensure sustainable expansion of this business segment?

Zhongshan Hospital was one of the best medical institutions in China, maintaining a leading position in domestic rankings thanks to its extensive capabilities. From 1992, the hospital leveraged information systems to efficiently manage daily operations. In recent years, amid sweeping digital transformation across Chinese hospitals, Zhongshan Hospital pioneered the development of a smart hospital. Achieving this vision required investment and a robust organizational framework. Three pillars thus underpinned this initiative: patient-friendly healthcare, functional resource management, and smart business management. In February 2022, Shanghai entrusted Zhongshan Hospital with the critical task of shaping the future of hospitals. This served as the primary focus of this case study. Building on its previous accomplishments, the hospital faced three significant challenges: 1. How would Zhongshan Hospital define its own "hospital of the future?" The definition should be applicable to all hospitals for future implementation. 2. How should it realize this goal using its experience to build a smart hospital? 3. How would the smart hospital initiative help digital transformation become part of industry culture, especially in changing how people think and behave?

This case illustrated the business ecosystem of WeChat from two perspectives. From an external perspective, the WeChat ecosystem was part of Tencent's overall ecosystem. Using this perspective, the case examined the external relationships between the WeChat ecosystem and the external environment. Looking closely, the various parties collaborating on the WeChat platform formed an ecosystem. From an internal perspective, the case examined the internal relationships within the WeChat ecosystem. The platform was not a closed, impenetrable ecosystem. Expertise, resources, and value could flow in and out, enabling sharing and exchanges. However, it was not entirely open. Certain boundaries protected the independence and distinctiveness of the WeChat ecosystem. As a result, participants better suited to the nature of the WeChat ecosystem would thrive. Externally, WeChat was born with the mission of delivering Tencent's new strategy to encourage openness and sharing, representing Tencent's determination to change after its former core product, QQ, was accused of monopolistic behavior. Apart from serving the more extensive "Tencent ecosystem," WeChat was also developing its own ecosystem. The two systems supported and empowered each other. Internally, WeChat helped various types of participants find their most appropriate roles within WeChat. Through product and function design, capacity empowerment, resource channeling, and rulemaking, WeChat ensured there was room for key enterprises, users, distributors, suppliers, and even competitors. All parties would find their proper places. In this newly established value network, WeChat would help capital, information, and traffic flow in an orderly manner. Different parties could seek monetization and exchange value to sustain their survival, co-exist with others, and contribute to a symbiotic environment.

There is a massive need for stroke treatment and rehabilitation in China. In 2018, Neusoft Medical cooperated with the State Engineering Laboratory of Internet Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Technology headed by Xuanwu Hospital to create the eStroke National Thrombolysis and Thrombectomy Image Platform (eStroke, in short). The primary objective of eStroke is to shorten the time of diagnosis for proper treatment in order to improve patient survival and reduce sequelae when the patient survives. After three years, the project is well underway but needs to scale up, as only 83 hospitals have joined, and only 13,000 patients have been served. No partner is satisfied. The project was set up as a public welfare project with an agreement not to charge users. Neusoft had hoped that eStroke's user base would grow and indirectly drive equipment sales such as CT and MRI machines. However, since eStroke does not directly generate profits, sales staff had no incentive to promote eStroke. Dr. Huang Feng, who is in charge of the eStroke project at Neusoft, plans to apply for a special marketing budget from Neusoft Medical in the annual budget review meeting to expand the scale of eStroke users rapidly. Still, the concerns and demands of various stakeholders of the eStroke platform are far more complicated than simply calling for investing more capital and increasing the workforce. How should Dr. Huang consider the claims of all stakeholders? How can he persuade the company to invest more? Will the new budget alone help eStroke expand quickly?

He increased the sales of products such as Pulmicort RespulesTM after their patents expired, generating significant social benefits by making medical treatment and medicines more accessible in lower-tier markets. Wang was promoted to President less than two years after joining AZ. While working primarily to boost sales in China, Wang introduced another task not tied to performance targets: innovation. To facilitate innovation, AZ reached beyond the pharmaceutical sector and worked with partners in the "3D" (diagnostics, device, digital) industries to launch "a patient-centric, integrated disease diagnosis and treatment platform." This initiative enabled pharmaceutical companies, which had acted only as drug suppliers during treatment, to engage in all stages of the patient journey, from education and screening, diagnosis and treatment, to follow-up and rehabilitation. Their first innovation project was the construction of pediatric nebulization centers, which were equipped with smart nebulizers powered by IoT and digital technologies. Following the initial success, AZ co-launched the chest pain center (CPC) project and the prostate cancer integrated diagnosis and treatment (PiDT) project, which not only delivered benefits to patients and hospitals but also granted partners access to hospital resources. The integrated diagnosis and treatment platform focused on areas where AZ excelled, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, so participating hospitals and patients could "naturally" choose AZ's products. However, a closer look at its sales revenue revealed that AZ was not always the primary beneficiary of the platform, and its return on investment proved to be modest.

The sales of various drug products for AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company, have been greatly impacted by the volume-based procurement resulting from the medical reform in China. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 epidemic has catapulted the internet pharmaceutical industry into rapid development. When crises are intermingled with opportunities, AstraZeneca attempted to establish Yiliyili.com, an internet medical service platform, by leveraging its offline resources. Chen Hua, the CEO of Yiliyili.com, has 14 years of experience in pharmaceutical e-commerce and has set up an innovative "doctors-to-pharmaceuticals" model in contrast to the mainstream that runs otherwise. This model was created through collaboration with doctors from contracted offline hospitals who were engaged online. The goal was to establish a stable and active group of doctor users while providing them with empowerment and supporting services. The objective was to replicate existing doctor-patient relationships in an online setting. Meanwhile, it has extended services in physical medical and pharmaceutical products to value-additive services such as case management and compliance-related services for patients. It has also extended the provision of prescription drugs other than essential drugs at non-public offline hospitals according to patients' needs to enhance its marketing abilities for such drugs. Furthermore, it has used its marketing capacity for prescription drugs to establish cooperation with other medical appliance manufacturers to form an integrated marketing platform through which it could average down its fixed costs for maintaining a huge marketing team while better-utilizing marketing capacities. Can Yiliyili.com gain a competitive edge over its traditional competitors by implementing a service-heavy strategy and utilizing its offline strengths to outperform its online advantages? Will it be able to establish itself as a top-notch provider of exceptional and cost-effective

This case starts by exploring the brief history of Alibaba from 1999 to 2020 from the perspective of strategy and values. The case shows how a company's strategy and values are mutually interdependent, but each retains a degree of autonomy. Values are based on and then applied to the implementation of strategy. The case next describes how Alibaba used values to influence and check employee behavior. It highlights Ali's unique value-centric rules, organizational structure, and value-based KPIs while describing the company's evolution toward a more flexible approach concerning values. It links this evolution to the company's different development stages. The case concludes by specifying the challenges Ali faced and would face in enforcing and popularizing its values, namely (i) business expansion was bound to dilute Ali's values; and (ii) business diversification would introduce other business cultures. The main purpose of this case study is to identify potential solutions to these challenges.