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In 2019, Nadine Vogel, founder and CEO of Springboard Consulting, a firm that worked with Fortune 500 companies on issues related to disability and their workforce, faced the decision of the best path forward to grow her small company. Should she build more and better expertise to expand the topics she worked on with her current clientele? Or should she explore the possibility of moving into the new market of smaller businesses?

In the summer of 2019, Mike Klingensmith, CEO of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twin Cities metro region's largest newspaper, reviewed subscription trends and plans for future experimentation. The newspaper industry across the U.S. had suffered a steep decline for the previous several decades as digital offerings supplanted print subscriptions. Under Klingensmith's leadership, the Star Tribune had fared better than many papers, emerging from bankruptcy with a robust newsroom and with print profitable and digital growing. But given ongoing shifts in consumer media habits, flat EBITDA was still the best-case scenario that the Tribune could reach for. To meet this goal, Klingensmith and his team had put in place new digital offerings and had developed a number of creative additions to the print paper to offset subscription declines and print ad losses. Klingensmith believed that the plans they had put in place would allow the paper to survive in the new news landscape of the 21st century, but as he prepared to meet with the paper's owner, a local, family-owned holding company, he wondered how confident he could be in his forecasts.

In 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation's $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and potential problems or tradeoffs to implementing such a program.

In 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation's $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and potential problems or tradeoffs to implementing such a program.

Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio-a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies-was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build a check scanner feature inside their management software? AppFolio's founders had instructed to never build a check scanner; providing technologies to help businesses move into the digital era was a primary company goal. A scanner for paper checks would contradict the hard-won culture of software innovation and project self-selection that AppFolio and Hawkins' teams lived by. Hawkins also worried that creating a new team to work on the check scanning project would cause workload and morale issues. But the sales team believed that this technology could close deals with larger, more complex property management companies, some with managers who wanted the check scanner feature. Several large-scale deals were on the line. Hawkins quickly assembled an agile market validation team and considered two options: hold fast to the company's values and refuse to build the check scanner feature or capitulate and build a basic check scanner with minimum functionality. Engineers would likely consider this a "loser" project, yet sales might get a boost that could open a new revenue stream. Hawkins had to make his decision quickly.

This (B) case supplements the (A) case, 419-066, and provides information about what happened after the (A) case ends.

In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward?

In 2014, as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has just brought former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on as chairman of the board, Jean Rogers, founder and CEO, struggles with how best to ensure the nonprofit's financial sustainability while pushing for broad acceptance of its nonfinancial accounting metrics.

In 2018, Mustafa Koita, Founder and CEO of Dubai-based organic milk company Koita has to decide whether or not to pursue an investment from a potential competitor who is coming into his local market.

In 2018, Al Islami Foods CEO Marwan Al Garem and Chairman Saleh Saeed Lootah have to decide on a potential investment partner. They hope to find the best match for a strategic investment in their Dubai-based halal foods company from a list of three global food companies.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 417072.

This note describes the major considerations and frameworks of compensation. Its audience is general managers interested in learning about their own or their employees' compensation.

In 2018, New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and his wife, former Times writer Sheryl WuDunn (HBS '86) who worked in finance, were planning for their next book. The couple's earlier books had given rise to social movements around gender equity and poverty issues. They hoped the next book would be equally powerful. What should the book focus on? What additional content should they create to make sure their writing had an impact?

Beginning in 2014, JPMorgan Chase launched Invested in Detroit, a $100 million philanthropic investment in the city over five years. The bank worked with local economic development organizations, workforce development organizations, small businesses, philanthropies, and the city government to put in place a series of investments to help turn around the struggling city. In 2017, JPMorgan Chases' chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, is faced the with decision of whether or not to expand the program to other locations in the U.S. The (B) case explains the expansion of the program to Chicago and Washington, D.C. that began in 2017.

Beginning in 2014, JPMorgan Chase launched Invested in Detroit, a $100 million philanthropic investment in the city over five years. The bank worked with local economic development organizations, workforce development organizations, small businesses, philanthropies, and the city government to put in place a series of investments to help turn around the struggling city. In 2017, JPMorgan Chases' chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, is faced the with decision of whether or not to expand the program to other locations in the U.S.

In 2018, Ann Randazzo, executive director of the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) is assessing the organization's performance since its 2006 founding. Founded to address an imminent retirement bubble of middle skills workers in the utilities industry, CEWD had since expanded its mission to focus on workforce development initiatives to improve the skills and diversity of the industry's workforce. The group was an example of an industry coming together to collectively address a problem facing all members of the industry.

In 2016, Kurt Summers, the Chicago City Treasurer, considered his future in Chicago politics. With an unpopular governor and mayor soon up for reelection, should Summers consider running for higher office? Summers reflects on his time growing up in gang-controlled neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago, and career experiences in both the public and private sector. These include stints at Harvard Business School, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, the Chicago Olympics bid, and in local government. He tries to assess what he should do in this situation and what the best next steps would be in terms of his career. The case also discusses his work and leaderships styles, his personal life, including his relationship with his wife, and how he has adjusted to the new role of being a politician.

In January of 2017, CJ Entertainment & Media (E&M) proudly announced that it will be holding its first ever KCON in Mexico City just two months later. CJ Group Chairman Jay Lee and Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee are pleased at the progress that KCON, a Korean-oriented music and cultural convention, has made since its debut in LA in 2012. In the years since 2012, the event has been held every year in LA, and has recently also taken place in New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Abu Dhabi, with varying levels of financial success. In addition to growing in number, KCON has grown in size. By 2016, KCON LA had become a three-day, two-concert affair, that attracted 70,000 attendees with a wide range of experiences for fans to enjoy, including Korean foods, dance classes, beauty products, and eSports offerings. Chairman Lee and VC Lee believe that KCON is a good vehicle for accelerating the Hallyu wave of Korean culture that was still sweeping the globe, and riding this wave in promoting CJ Group offerings. Indeed, the Group's food brand Bibigo, which ran nine restaurants in the LA area and sold frozen dumplings and other Korean foods in Costco across the U.S., and KCON.tv, a digital media channel, were experiencing commercial success in the U.S. market. But at the same time, there was some uncertainty about the best way to ensure continued growth of the KCON concept. Should they expand the current KCONs to include more days, shows, and events; launch KCONs in new geographies such as Southeast Asia or Australia; or some combination of these growth strategies? How concerned should they be with KCON's uneven financial performance and difficulty in generating sponsorship revenue? KCON LA and KCON Tokyo have made a profit for multiple years in a row, and KCON NY was in the black for the first time in 2016, but other KCONs lost money. What can they do to further grow the Bibigo brand in the US?

In 2017, Sarah Powers, VP of Sales at an automation hardware firm, is trying to understand why some members of her sales team have been underperforming. She is tasked with analyzing her firm's email and calendar data to try to find relationships between communications and sales performance.

In 2016, Susan Cassidy, VP of Sales and Marketing for the packaged foods division at CPG firm Bertram Gilman International has to make a promotion decision. Should she choose the person she has been grooming for the position, or another candidate recommended by central HR based on the firm's promotions algorithm?