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In 2016, the founder and chief executive officer of Red Star Macalline, China’s largest furniture shopping mall operator, was finalizing the company’s new growth plan—the “1001 Strategy.” The plan was to be implemented in two phases: first, building 1,000 brick-and-mortar shopping malls, focused on home improvement products, and then integrating the malls into a seamless ecosystem through a single overarching Internet platform. The company faced challenges in being the first in the Chinese home improvement industry to forge such a path. Could the chief executive officer sustain the company’s first-mover advantage? Would his overall strategy work? Did he need a reality check for the execution plan?

In January 2017, a Canadian farmer and entrepreneur faced a challenging decision about the future of his two businesses: a farming operation and a trucking operation. After the hectic 2016 farming and trucking season, he began to compare his 2016 and 2015 financial statements for the farming business, Meakin Farms Inc., and the trucking business, Meakin Industrial Ag Corp. While both organizations remained viable, he wondered what he should do for 2017 and beyond, given the unique structure of the businesses and the vast uncertainty of the agricultural industry. Should he pursue an expansion, a contraction, or should he maintain the current levels of business? He needed to identify a strategic direction that would balance the size and scope of his businesses while accounting for environmental risks.

In February 2017, disruption in the carbonated soft drink value chain in the fictional city of Utopia has raised opportunities for prospective entrants to explore new business-to-business (B2B) partnerships at all levels in the value chain. This in-class, action-oriented strategic B2B partnership exercise has been designed to give learners experience in deciphering how B2B partnerships are built. In teams, participants assume the roles of the key value chain players in the soft drink industry (i.e., strategy heads of beverage companies, bottlers, big retailers, and small retail store owners). Teams are provided with an industry description and specific role information highlighting relevant constraints and opportunities. The teams then work to negotiate contracts during this in-class exercise.

Founded by an entrepreneur in 2007, Hillberg & Berk was a successful Canadian company in the affordable designer jewellery industry. After being funded through the Dragons’ Den television show in 2009, the entrepreneur and her team grew the company to achieving more than $10 million in annual sales. The company had focused its growth in its home province of Saskatchewan and into the neighbouring province of Alberta, but in late 2016, it faced a turning point. The entrepreneur wanted to capitalize on the success of the company’s signature Sparkle Collection and grow its other product lines by building customer loyalty. As Hillberg & Berk was no longer a small company and not yet a large company, the entrepreneur knew that how she managed her company’s strategy would have significant implications for its ability to maintain sustainable growth.

Rapid changes in technology-including advances in augmented and artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mobile-are paving the way for significant changes not only in the channels through which education is delivered but in how education itself is structured. This article identifies eight ways in which education technology can change how learning is facilitated and who will facilitate that learning. Basic economic principles then provide a framework for thinking about how these changes will be embedded over time as education increasingly becomes a durable good providing increasing returns through network effects.

Disruptive technologies tend to underperform on attributes that are considered as key attributes of incumbent technologies and require new value propositions to increase mainstream customer appeal. Yet, how do firms reconfigure their value proposition as a way to overcome the technological inferiority of disruptive technologies? This article conceptualizes and empirically investigates the process of value proposition reconfiguration. Based on evidence on the commercialization of electric vehicles, it explores the tactics firms use to reconfigure value propositions to increase market acceptance from mainstream customers. The article develops a framework showing three reconfiguration tactics: compensating, enhancing, and coupling tactics.

The Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. (Wanda) was a fast-growing real estate imperium in China, built by Jianlin Wang, the wealthiest man in China. In 2010, Wang transformed Wanda into an entertainment conglomerate and initiated an ambitious international growth strategy. His ambitions knew few limits; however, one of his acquisitions—the Edificio España in Spain, an iconic historical building in the centre of Madrid—ran into difficulties due to conflicts with the local authorities. Wang’s refurbishment plans for Edificio España envisaged a comprehensive renovation and upgrade of the building’s commercial spaces, which required approvals from the Local Historical Heritage Commission. Initially, politicians expressed their support for Wang’s plan, but the application progressed slowly through the formal process and became entangled in local politics. A local election mid-process resulted in a new party gaining control of the city council—a governing party that was not supportive of Wang’s plans. Should Wang cut his losses and sell the building, or persist and reboot his project management?

In June 2009, Greenpeace accused the cattle industry of contributing to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Big brands that bought beef and leather were named as silent partners to the practice. Pressure from Greenpeace and the Brazilian government led to major changes. Meatpackers Bertin, JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva, responsible for one-third of exports, agreed to stop purchasing directly and indirectly from ranches that cleared more forest than legally permitted, and committed to buying from direct and indirect suppliers that reduced deforestation to zero. Fernando Sampaio, executive director of Abiec, the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association, worked closely with meatpackers that exported beef to comply with deforestation agreements. While Abiec's mission was to grow the export sector, his members were now asked to take an active role in curbing deforestation. Progress was promising. Deforestation dropped by over 80 percent from 2004 to 2014, attributable in part to the cattle agreements. This was clear progress, since the cattle sector in the Amazon was one of the largest drivers of global deforestation. Yet, traceability of animal movements among farms and slaughterhouses was a big challenge. Some non-compliant ranches were selling to slaughterhouses without full monitoring systems. Other non-compliant ranches were selling cattle into legitimate supply chains through licensed ranches. By mid-2015, Brazilian Amazon deforestation had grown by 16 percent compared to the prior year, demonstrating that gains were fragile. How could Abiec, which represented 29 meatpackers responsible for 70 percent of slaughtering and 93 percent of exports, persuade more members to adopt a zero-deforestation policy and demand supplier compliance? Sampaio's goal of growing sales for his members while curbing deforestation was complex and required working with many beef value chain actors.

In July 2016, India celebrated the 25th anniversary of its economic reforms, which were initiated in 1991 as a result of a severe fiscal deficit-driven balance of payments crisis. The reforms saw India gradually break free of a low annual growth rate of 3.0–3.5 per cent. In 2016, with a growth rate of 7.6 per cent, India emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world. The increases in the country’s macroeconomic indicators in the past 25 years indicated a major turnaround. Were these positive macroeconomic indicators sufficiently sustainable? Should investors be confident about India’s growth story in 2016?

In July 2016, India celebrated the 25th anniversary of its economic reforms, which were initiated in 1991 as a result of a severe fiscal deficit-driven balance of payments crisis. The reforms saw India gradually break free of a low annual growth rate of 3.0-3.5 per cent. In 2016, with a growth rate of 7.6 per cent, India emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world. The increases in the country's macroeconomic indicators in the past 25 years indicated a major turnaround. Were these positive macroeconomic indicators sufficiently sustainable? Should investors be confident about India's growth story in 2016?

By 2016, Midea Refrigerator was one of the leading Chinese manufacturers and exporters of refrigerators. Yet despite its broad global product market, the company’s development was stagnant. The high cost of exports had become a disadvantage. Fierce global competition was driving Midea Refrigerator to choose foreign direct investment (FDI) as its next strategic step, and China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative presented an opportunity for international expansion. The manager of Midea Refrigerator had to determine which of Russia or India (two countries linked to China by the new initiative) represented the best choice to start the company’s FDI. He also needed to decide which FDI model—greenfield investment, acquisition, or joint venture—was the best option for the chosen destination.

In December 2015, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Technology Uncorked LLP (TU) was facing decisions about the company’s future. TU was a four-year-old start-up that was set up as an ideation engine that would use crowdsourcing to generate ideas and then fast-track the development of the best of them. Faced with a previous choice between early success of a technology project in a single-product domain and remaining consistent to TU’s founding vision, the CEO had chosen to maintain the company’s original direction. This led to the early exit of one of her two partners. TU’s technology workshops had found a market, and TU was in a comfortable position financially. Should the CEO focus her resources on the workshops and scale up to become a technology training company, or should she move the business model online and shift resources to the back end of the business model, becoming more of an innovation platform? To move online, she might have to consider external funding sources, perhaps from a private equity investor. This would mean diluting the founders’ equity and losing some control over TU’s future direction. Alternatively, she could continue growing slowly but organically, and retain control.

In 2013, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP) was facing the threat of bankruptcy. The chief executive officer (CEO), who had founded the company in China in 2001, was aware of the complexity and challenges of an emerging global industry (solar energy) and economy (China). Fears of energy shortages had fuelled the growth rate for the global solar energy industry, and governments in many countries had introduced subsidies for solar energy initiatives. Consequently, the company had grown from a technology start-up to the leading global producer of photovoltaic solar cells and modules in 2011. However, by 2013, the company was facing financial distress and the threat of bankruptcy. Many factors, including the fluctuating cost of silicon, difficulty finding a stable silicon supplier, the 2008 economic downturn, an uncooperative management team, and the subsequent decline in the solar energy market had caused major problems for STP. How could the CEO turn this company around and avoid bankruptcy?

In late 2015, the chief executive officer of Shaw Communications was considering whether to reduce or divest the company's media assets. Shaw Communications had been founded as a cable television provider and, over the years, had grown its consumer connectivity businesses to include Internet services, satellite television, landline telephony, and, most recently, cellular network services. Similar to most other major Canadian telecommunications companies, Shaw Communications had acquired media assets, including the Global Television Network and specialty channels such as History and Treehouse. Selling all or, some, of these media assets would strengthen the company's balance sheet and help finance the expansion of its cellular network. The company's chief executive officer needed decide how important media assets were to the company's core strategy.

In 2013, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP) was facing the threat of bankruptcy. The chief executive officer (CEO), who had founded the company in China in 2001, was aware of the complexity and challenges of an emerging global industry (solar energy) and economy (China). Fears of energy shortages had fuelled the growth rate for the global solar energy industry, and governments in many countries had introduced subsidies for solar energy initiatives. Consequently, the company had grown from a technology start-up to the leading global producer of photovoltaic solar cells and modules in 2011. However, by 2013, the company was facing financial distress and the threat of bankruptcy. Many factors, including the fluctuating cost of silicon, difficulty finding a stable silicon supplier, the 2008 economic downturn, an uncooperative management team, and the subsequent decline in the solar energy market had caused major problems for STP. How could the CEO turn this company around and avoid bankruptcy?

In February 2017, Scotiabank’s vice-president of digital enablement was sitting in his office at Scotiabank’s Digital Factory in downtown Toronto. He was reflecting on his recent introduction to the financial technology (fintech) company Kabbage, and on how successfully the partnership was progressing. Scotiabank’s vice-president was considering what opportunities the bank should pursue next, specifically in the area of blockchain. The Scotiabank–Kabbage partnership provided a valuable guideline for future partnerships. At the partnership’s launch, the group head of Canadian banking at Scotiabank said that the partnership with Kabbage set “an example of how banks and fintechs are working together to provide customers with a better banking experience.” However, all partnerships did not work in the same way. How could Scotiabank devise an effective partnership strategy, considering the unique contexts in different sectors and geographic markets?

Alsea was a Mexican-based, family-founded conglomerate operating in six countries in Latin America and Spain. It was a master franchiser for such well-known brands as Starbucks, Domino’s, and Burger King. In late 2016, after years of dramatic growth, Alsea appointed its first chief executive officer (CEO) who was not a family member or had not been involved with the company’s founding or early development. However, family members continued to occupy senior executive roles, serve on the company’s board, and hold significant shares in the company. In March 2017, the new CEO needed to decide on Alsea’s corporate strategy. He also needed to build trust with the founding family, which held a controlling interest in the firm. How should he engage the current executives in building a world-class senior management team? How could he best demonstrate his value to Alsea's board?

The objective of the case is for instructors to teach students how to analyze the strategic situation of a company and use this analysis to evaluate alternative strategic moves for a company. China's e-commerce market overtook the United States market and reported the highest online transaction value in 2013, growing at over 50% per annum. JD.com is the largest independent e-retailer, a key player in the industry, with a unique, differentiated position. The case takes place just as JD.com is preparing for its IPO on the NASDAQ. The case presents the four developmental directions that JD.com CEO Richard Liu had laid out. The direct competitive threat is from Alibaba's Taobao and its T-Mall marketplace, the 10-ton gorilla of China's e-commerce sector. It also contains information on JD.com's unique logistics backbone, its pre-IPO financials, and the company's plans to become a public company.

A family-owned grocery business, Askew's Foods Inc. (Askew's), had to decide how to handle the threat of a Wal-Mart Superstore, which included a grocery department, coming into its market area. Before the news of Wal-Mart's potential arrival, Askew's had already purchased a site on which to build a second store in the city's uptown area, and the board needed to approve the design for the new building. Askew's had a long-standing tradition of being an environmentally sensitive, socially responsible, and community-minded retailer, and the board wanted to uphold those corporate values in the design and operation of the new Askew's store; however, the pending arrival of this low-cost competitor had to be considered in the decision. Was it fiscally responsible for Askew's to stay true to its principles and build a state-of-the-art, sustainable grocery store, or, given the new threat to its market share and profitability, as well as limited funding from its bank, should it opt for the more conservative and less expensive standard box option? Was cost the only consideration?