It has been a bumpy few years since 2020 for JUMBO Group CEO and Executive Director Ang Kiam Meng. JUMBO Group, like many other firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. Prior to the pandemic, it had established itself as an iconic seafood restaurant chain in Singapore, attracting a large customer base of regular patrons including tourists from around the world, particularly from China. However, due to strict border controls and other regulations implemented during the pandemic, the Group experienced substantial losses. The case captures the challenges faced by JUMBO during the pandemic, while offering readers an opportunity to reflect on its reasoning to reposition its brand in the local Singapore market while also exploring expansion opportunities in overseas markets. Additionally, the case provides a detailed account of JUMBO's digital transformation journey prior to and during the pandemic. The case concludes by examining the strategic priorities and potential roadmaps for JUMBO's future growth. It sets the stage for a discussion on the broader impact of digital transformation within the F&B industry, both in Singapore and beyond.

The case describes Shopify's journey from a small online store to a global technology company with an ecosystem of partners that comprised of tens of thousands of developers and partners. From the inception of the company, Shopify's competitive advantage had come from being merchant obsessed. Having an easy to set-up and easy to use technological platform, as well as a commercial model that leveraged an ecosystem of partners, had accelerated Shopify's growth in building a merchant centric digital business. The case describes in detail the processes and drivers that had led to the success of Shopify. However, by 2022, competitive pressure from the other forms of commerce including live streaming commerce, social commerce and commerce from super apps had started to mount. Amazon, one of the world's largest online marketplaces, had started to encroach on Shopify's market by imitating its business model. The fusion of online and offline commerce had also driven Shopify to rethink its business model and the company started to shift its focus from eCommerce to general commerce. Shopify also wanted to penetrate the Southeast Asia (SEA) market further. High growth rates had been predicted for the region, but it was a heterogeneous market with lots of challenges including less than developed logistics infrastructure.

Since early 2021, Mediacorp had started discussions and planning for its Mediacorp 2030 vision. Several new initiatives were proposed to deepen its digital evolution as it entered the digital era. While it had faced serious challenges from digital players about a decade earlier, Mediacorp has seen a steady increase in its digital revenue for the past several years. What have been the success factors for Mediacorp that enabled it to pull off this digital evolution? And what will be the new challenges it faces as it writes its next chapter? The case captures the decisions behind Mediacorp's journey from a traditional media company to a transmedia company that integrates both traditional and digital business models. It first briefly reviews the history of Mediacorp as Singapore's dominant broadcaster, as well as the challenges brought about by digital platforms like YouTube and Facebook about a decade ago. Next, the case charts Mediacorp's evolution when it tried to adjust to the new digital environment. The final part of the case delves into how Mediacorp would scale up its 3P (Platform, IPs, and Personalities) and transmedia models to reinforce its competitive advantage and carry on the evolution momentum. The case provides material for readers to reflect on Mediacorp's core, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. It then stimulates a discussion of the new challenges lying ahead, and how Mediacorp can get itself prepared to go from strength to strength.

Set in July 2021, this case talks about the launch and discontinuation of the very large aircraft, A380, by leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The development of the A380 had been motivated by two key factors - the projected market trend of increased hub-and-spoke travel and the success of Boeing 747 - a very large aircraft by Boeing. Although the A380 was the biggest passenger aircraft ever built, with avant-garde technology and reconfigurable design, it failed to succeed due to changing industry trends. Hub airports were witnessing increasing traffic congestion, and more and more airlines were switching to point-to-point travel to avoid hubs altogether. Demand for very large aircrafts like the A380 fell by almost 92% from 2010 to 2020, and Airbus had to make the harsh decision of shutting down the aircraft's production in 2021. The case describes the high stake decision behind the development of the A380 and how it fared after its launch. It also elaborates the duopoly between Boeing and Airbus, which accounted for 91% of the commercial aircraft market share. The case ends with forward-looking questions on what strategies Airbus can implement after the demise of the A380 to compete with long-standing rival Boeing and new entrants like Chinese aircraft manufacturers in a cut-throat market that was witnessing the commencement of environmentally friendly aircraft projects by the two leading players as the new battlefield.

Set in mid-2021, the case follows the events happening at the Taiwanese company, Wistron, which commenced operations as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) - a company that designs and produces products for other companies. Its founder, tech billionaire Simon Lin, started Wistron in 2001 as a spin-off from ACER Inc., one of the largest multinational computing companies' hardware producers. After former US president Donald Trump and his administration began taking a hard line on Chinese state-backed enterprises, both superpowers began retaliatory measures that hurt several vital industries. One of the key measures taken by the Trump administration was to impose tariffs on all products entering the US that had manufacturing origins from China, regardless of the firm's nationality. Foundry manufacturing firms, including Wistron, could no longer sustain the margins required to stay afloat and had to contemplate decoupling their operations out of China to alternative sites. In 2018, Lin saw the opportunity to relocate his iPhone manufacturing operations to India to avoid caught being in the middle of the trade spat. Amidst the move, Wistron was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which made the initial costs of relocation untenable. As a result, Wistron had to raise capital very quickly. Luxshare, a relatively new upstart in the manufacturing world was ready to acquire Wistron's operations in China. Initially blocked by Taiwanese regulators, as Wistron was viewed as a strategic player in a vital industry, Luxshare managed to circumnavigate the restrictions and the sale went ahead. Wistron's decoupling strategies are now faced with massive challenges in their Indian operations. The firm had struggled to maintain the same level of competency in India as it had in China. As a result, it ran into many issues in the knowledge transfer process and faced one of the largest labour strikes that the country has seen for a while.

In 2017, the solar panel industry was in choppy seas due to a sudden drop in panel prices, and many large companies started to report bankruptcy. Steve O'Neil, the CEO of Renewable Energy Corporation (REC), was worried about the future of the solar industry and began reassessing REC's market strategy in the face of the downturn. REC was established as a hand-washed solar wafer manufacturing unit in Norway in 1996. Over the years the company grew to become a leading integrated solar panel manufacturing company and the largest European supplier of solar panels. It was able to build a market niche for itself and a reputation of being a quality-focused and technology-oriented manufacturer. By 2017, the company had installed more than 30 million solar panels worldwide. REC had shifted its focus to Asia in 2010 and moved its operational headquarters to Singapore. REC was a mid-scale manufacturer and focussed on residential and commercial customers. The key focus markets for the company were the U.S., Asia Pacific, and Europe with almost half of its revenues coming from the U.S. The solar industry globally was going through a downturn after several solar companies reported bankruptcy and began selling their products at significantly reduced prices. What ensued was a price war among companies, further fuelling the impact of the downturn. Companies who did not have scale had to shut down, and those that were plagued with overcapacity faced losses and became insolvent. REC had been more stable due to its niche market focus but was also beginning to experience the pressure. The company had so far focused on investing in the latest technology to ensure that its products were competitive. Could O'Neil and the management team at REC protect the company from the crisis? What could be their business strategy in the crisis?

Co-Founders of the North is a digital multiplayer turn-based strategy game. Players take on the role of "co-founders", so named for their joint pioneering role in constructing buildings on a set of four fantasy islands. Players must both compete and cooperate, having to balance limited resources and allegiances while contending against each other's hidden agendas. Collaboration is essential to winning, yet only a single player will ultimately win. A player must accumulate the most allegiance points to win. This is accomplished by constructing buildings on available slots, or by paying to demolish a building and constructing over it. Each building generates a different number of points for different allegiances and costs a certain amount of gold to construct. Players receive additional income (i.e., gold) each turn from completed buildings. A player will often not have enough gold to construct a building on their own. In these situations, a player may instead invest a partial amount, allowing other players to invest in completing the building. When this happens, players receive an income proportional to their respective investment. Players are thus confronted with a dynamic environment that will affect their strategic choices, such as when to cooperate and when to go it alone. At the end, there can only be one Ruler of the North!