Ariel Fristoe co-founded the Out of Hand Theater ensemble (OOH) in Atlanta in 2001. OOH began as a traditional theater nonprofit, which Ariel and her colleagues ran on a shoestring budget. But over the years, the group transformed: First, around 2010, OOH pivoted to science outreach. Then, around 2018, OOH shifted its focus to racial and economic justice, and staged a series of shows in Atlanta community members' private homes.

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company's transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH acquired NWEA, a leading educational assessment company. Lynch was thrilled to add NWEA's industry-standard tools for measuring student progress to his company's product offering - but aware of the fact that HMH's new business strategy was untested. Would students, educators, and district administrators sign on to Lynch's vision for the future of U.S. education?

In November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried's multi-billion-dollar crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, wiping out investors and throwing the crypto industry into disarray. As FTX's founder and CEO, Bankman-Fried developed a reputation for his unerring business sense and high-profile charitable giving. To many, it came as a shock when in the wake of FTX's collapse, the attorney responsible for restructuring the company professed he had never seen "such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization." How had Bankman-Fried managed to hide his malfeasance so well, and for so long? The investigation also raised questions about the people and organizations that enabled Bankman-Fried's wrongdoing. What should regulators have done differently? Were the VC funds that bankrolled FTX partly responsible?

As co-founder and CEO of Simprints-a social enterprise with the mission to "transform the way the world fights poverty"-Toby Norman was at a crossroads. His organization had developed ground-breaking technology used to verify aid delivery, reached more than 2.5 million people in 17 different countries, and received widespread accolades in the global health community. Having initially exclusively focused on partnerships with like-minded NGOs, Simprints attracted highly passionate employees willing to make sacrifices in service of the organization's mission. To scale its impact, Norman had recently decided that Simprints begin working with governments, a move many employees disagreed with, leading nearly half of the organization's workforce to quit. Despite initial success with its new strategic path, Norman wondered how central passion should be to the future direction of the organization. Should Simprints cast passion aside entirely and focus on bringing its technology to as many people as possible, including in areas beyond international development? Should Norman find a way to re-center passion, perhaps by making its technology open-source in an effort to sidestep discussions of who Simprints should be used by? How else could Simprints keep its employees motivated to fulfill its mission?

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Peru. It highlights Peru's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a fictional business dilemma.