This case is set in November 2012, when Olam International, a Singapore-based agricultural supply chain company, was in the midst of a reputational crisis. An analyst firm had shorted Olam's stock and raised red flags about the company's solvency and accounting practices. A poster boy for Singapore's leading businesses, Olam was a highly respected company in Singapore and within the commodity industry. Sunny Verghese, Co-founder, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Olam, had seen the company grow from a small exporter of cashews in Nigeria in 1989 to a multi-billion dollar business managing the global supply chains of more than 20 products across 65 countries. Verghese himself was known for his passion and zeal to see the company expand and perform. But equally, his 18,000 employees admired him for his humility and integrity, and for developing a cohesive culture throughout the organisation that combined ambition and ownership with mutual respect and teamwork. Olam had always prided itself in inculcating a culture of listening, learning and changing for the better. For Verghese, the priority was to win back the confidence and trust of his stakeholders. He came to realise that he had to use the company's culture of humility - and lead by example - to come out of what had evolved to be the worst crisis in the company's 23-year existence. It was time to think clearly, understand where Olam had gone wrong, and recalibrate the strategies for the future.

Set in March 2015, the case begins when the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), an economic indicator of the average price to ship raw materials, hits an all-time low. Khalid Hashim, Managing Director of Bangkok-based Precious Shipping Public Company Limited (PSL) is now tasked with navigating the company through economic uncertainty. In the past, PSL, has weathered similar volatility characteristic of the cyclical nature of the shipping industry. Though it was able to survive some of the biggest downturns in the market, most notably the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, is it poised to sail through the next downturn?