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In 2015, the general manager of Maritimes Credit Union based in Atlantic Canada was faced with a merger proposal that involved amalgamation with another, much larger credit union. The major concern was how co-operatives and credit unions could compete while retaining the values and mission that were at the core of their foundation. The credit union was dealing with the issue of competing in a modern world where technology was changing at a rapid pace, where the value demanded by younger customers had evolved, and where the competitive landscape was more intense, even in rural areas. The values and culture of a credit union were called into question as it coped by developing strategies that resembled those of investor-owned firms.

The electric-vehicle market in India had never grown to its expected potential. Environmental uncertainties, structural challenges, lack of consumer awareness, and high costs all served as major deterrents to customer acceptance of electric cars. In 2014, Mahindra Reva launched the e2o, a completely revamped version of its previous electric vehicle, the Reva. Although the car was highly advanced and loaded with innovative features, sales remained stagnant. Should Mahindra Reva attempt to strengthen its market position or completely change its strategy and pursue other options, such as the hybrid-vehicle market.

In 2015, the general manager of Maritimes Credit Union based in Atlantic Canada was faced with a merger proposal that involved amalgamation with another, much larger credit union. The major concern was how co-operatives and credit unions could compete while retaining the values and mission that were at the core of their foundation. The credit union was dealing with the issue of competing in a modern world where technology was changing at a rapid pace, where the value demanded by younger customers had evolved, and where the competitive landscape was more intense, even in rural areas. The values and culture of a credit union were called into question as it coped by developing strategies that resembled those of investor-owned firms.

Writing a business case as a class project is an effective way to help students integrate theory and practice, build a tolerance for ambiguity, develop critical thinking skills, and improve their writing ability. However, implementing a case writing project in the classroom can be both difficult and time-consuming. The Case Project Guide is designed to make this process easier. This field-tested guide walks students (alone or in groups) through the entire case writing process, including how to structure a case, collect data, define key problems and concepts, write a teaching note, and get a case published. Detailed specifications are included for structured assignments so instructors (even those with no case writing experience themselves) can quickly and easily integrate a case writing project into any traditional or online class (or independent study initiative).

In March 2016, eEquity, a small firm providing online training and software to corporate human resource professionals, faced a dilemma. A year after new ownership and management took over, the channel sales strategy that was expected to support the growth of the promising Software as a Service division failed, and cash was running out. Management had devised a new sales and marketing strategy that it believed would be successful, but lacked the funds to implement the strategy. This same management team identified four options to acquire the necessary funds, each of which had inherent strengths and weaknesses. The firm’s success depended on making a good choice under conditions of incomplete information and a short time frame.

Bad leadership is clearly expensive. Fraud resulting from mismanagement at Wells Fargo, for example, has cost the bank about US$300 million in fines and pre-settlement investigative costs while wiping out around US$6 billion in shareholder value. Ex-employees, meanwhile, are seeking at least US$2.6 billion in a class action lawsuit related to the Well Fargo corporate culture that rewarded employees who created multiple accounts for customers without permission. And let’s not forget the extra millions lost from the hit to Wells Fargo’s brand value. <br><br> It has been less than a decade since banking-sector leadership and governance failures almost toppled the global financial system, but the lessons embedded in the 2008 financial crisis already appear forgotten as cases of appalling corporate behaviour continue to undermine capitalism. It is no secret that good leadership requires commitment to doing the hard work it takes to look out for all of an organization’s stakeholders, along with the intellect and competencies required to compete in today’s disruptive times. But as research into the financial crisis has made clear, good leadership also requires a balance of identifiable character dimensions. When recruiting leaders and directors, organizations have long invested time and money to ensure they are managed and governed by people with adequate experience and competencies. But all that time and money can be wasted when leadership character isn’t also given the attention it deserves. This is because costly failures in decision making are often rooted in character-based issues such as close-mindedness and impatience, as well as a lack of accountability, empathy, humility, and courage.

On February 27, 2010, Chile was razed by a three-minute earthquake of 8.8 magnitude on the Richter scale. More than 500 people died and nearly 400,000 homes were destroyed. The overall cost was estimated at US$20 billion. Over 70 per cent of the people who had died in the earthquake were from the coastal town of Constitución. Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (Arauco), a Chilean-based forestry and timber company, was Constitución’s largest employer. Arauco’s pulp mill and major sawmill in Constitución was completely destroyed, and all but one of the 34 remaining manufacturing facilities were wiped out. The company’s executives moved rapidly to respond to the crisis and create a plan to rebuild Constitución. By the end of April 2010, Arauco’s pulp business in Chile was operating at 70 per cent capacity and in May, the company’s pulp mill in Constitución reopened. However, the disaster had left an indelible imprint on Arauco’s vision and values. <br>The company had been thinking about pursuing further innovation. The company’s values of efficiency and productivity had been tested with an environmental disaster in 2005, but innovation was still limited. Then in 2009, an opportunity provided Arauco with the ability to engage innovation on a larger scale. But the earthquake and rebuilding efforts now required the company’s full attention. Should Arauco proceed with its innovation, and if so how would Arauco balance these two different objectives?

Planning and Organizing Business Reports: Written, Oral, and Research-Based is a three-chapter book written by Dorinda Clippinger, a consultant, writer, and former lecturer in management at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Her book is intended for managers and MBA students and gives guidance on planning, writing, and delivering effective reports. In Chapter 1, Clippinger defines business reports as organized, objective presentations of observations, experiences, or facts and emphasizes that they are intended to provide information for effective decisions at all levels of an organization. She discusses how to go about preparing reports for people for whom English is a second language and provides guidelines for ethical reporting.

Planning and Organizing Business Reports: Written, Oral, and Research-Based is a three-chapter book written by Dorinda Clippinger, a consultant, writer, and former lecturer in management at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Her book is intended for managers and MBA students and gives guidance on planning, writing, and delivering effective reports. In Chapter 2, Clippinger explains how to best plan, organize, and outline reports. She provides a checklist that you can follow as you draft a report. Planning involves reviewing your purpose, audience, and context and making sure the structure of the report matches these factors. Clippinger also provides guidance on collaborating with a team to create a written or oral report.

Planning and Organizing Business Reports: Written, Oral, and Research-Based is a three-chapter book written by Dorinda Clippinger, a consultant, writer, and former lecturer in management at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Her book is intended for managers and MBA students and gives guidance on planning, writing, and delivering effective reports. In Chapter 3, Clippinger outlines how to plan and guide research. She provides a checklist for a research plan and then outlines how to draft a research or project proposal, which is intended to indicate your understanding of a problem and your ability to look into it in the way you propose.

The eHomemakers project was founded in 1998 to provide skills and employment for disadvantaged women in Malaysia. The women worked from home, weaving baskets out of recycled magazines from which they could generate income. This means of self-support was particularly beneficial to stay-at-home mothers and disabled women who were unable to work. By 2011, the enterprise was struggling for viability in Malaysia, which led the founder to consider crossing the border to Singapore to explore opportunities in that country to avoid having to give up on her social enterprise altogether.

Over its 30-year history, Onex Corporation, a Canadian investment firm, had derived much of its success from the private equity sector. It did so by acquiring attractive portfolio companies, adding value to them by improving their financial and operational performance, and then selling them several years later at an attractive return. However, given the market conditions in 2015, Onex Corporation faced difficulty in successfully acquiring target companies, which was further exacerbated by the large amounts of cash on its balance sheet. As a result, the firm was forced to actively seek growth in other sectors, primarily credit-oriented investment strategies. Given Onex Corporation's growth targets, the chief executive officer and his management team needed to reconsider the lines of business their company should be involved in. How could they effectively position the company's corporate structure, internal processes, and expertise to take advantage of credit-oriented investment strategies?

In 2014, the food and grocery industry in India experienced a surge in the online grocery market. Before that time, existing e-business players had largely avoided the online grocery market because of its complex logistics requirements and issues related to last-mile delivery, or reaching customers in remote areas. The rise of online grocery businesses raised concerns for brick-and-mortar stores, especially local kirana stores (corner stores), about becoming redundant in the future. With limited or no technology adoption, these kirana stores had no way of going online. Grofers came to the rescue of these local stores with a mobile commerce (m-commerce) model for groceries that promised on-demand delivery within 90 minutes. However, with very low margins in the grocery business compared to lifestyle products, in addition to last-mile delivery and returns complexities, it remained to be seen whether Grofers would be able to carve out a niche in the grocery industry with its innovative model. Considering the low entry barriers and the easily replicable business model, how viable and sustainable was an m-commerce business like Grofers?

Yoyo Wallet, a technology start-up headquartered in London, United Kingdom, developed a mobile application for smartphones to facilitate in-store payments and loyalty data collection. Inspired by the success of Starbucks' loyalty-integrated mobile application, Yoyo Wallet strove to become the ultimate tool for retailers in enhancing customer experience. The company planned to enter the mobile payment industry in the United States; however, Yoyo had to compete with existing wallets (like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay), navigate through the uncertainty of the industry's future, and adapt their strategy to the competitive environment in the United States.

In November and December of 2013, Target Corporation suffered one of the largest cyber breaches till date. The breach that occurred during the busy holiday shopping season resulted in personal and credit card information of about 110 million Target customers to be compromised. The case describes the details of the breach, circumstances that led to it, consequences for customers and for Target, and the company's response. The case then discusses the role of management and the board of directors in cyber security at Target. Target's board of directors was subject to intense criticism by shareholders and governance experts such as the leading proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). The case discusses the critique and defense of the board's role. The case is designed to allow for a discussion of the causes and consequences of the cyber breach and accountability of directors in cyber security.

Yoyo Wallet, a technology start-up headquartered in London, United Kingdom, developed a mobile application for smartphones to facilitate in-store payments and loyalty data collection. Inspired by the success of Starbucks’ loyalty-integrated mobile application, Yoyo Wallet strove to become the ultimate tool for retailers in enhancing customer experience. The company planned to enter the mobile payment industry in the United States; however, Yoyo had to compete with existing wallets (like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay), navigate through the uncertainty of the industry’s future, and adapt their strategy to the competitive environment in the United States.

Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun was on a fast track until the EC's antitrust concerns about open-source MySQL ignited a transatlantic war of words delaying the deal. Sun's performance suffered and its customers were approached by competitors while regulatory objections were debated and tensions rose between U.S. and EC regulators.

In early 2016, stock markets around the world plummeted, raising the threat of another major depression enveloping the world. In their struggle to recover from the post-2008 global recession, many nations had expanded their money supply and lowered interest rates, with the aim of stimulating both consumer spending and corporate investment. While some of this monetary expansion increased production and employment, much of it created bubbles in asset prices, especially in the prices of equities. Investors faced such low returns from bonds and other fixed-income assets that they poured their funds into equities, which increased price-earnings ratios to exceptional levels. This bubble in stock prices amplified the risks of a severe crash. What could-and should-governments do to avoid a significant stock market crash and a global depression?

Curling was officially included in the Winter Olympic Games in 1998. Since then, it spread beyond its home in Canada and northern Europe to many other countries, including China. As a new player, the Chinese Curling Association managed to elevate its national teams to achieve world elite status and be widely admired by its international counterparts for being so successful with fewer than 300 curlers and only a 10-year history. In 2014, the Chinese Curling Association needed to develop a strategic approach to grow curling in China in a healthy and sustainable way.

During the Holi festival in March 2012, the managing director of Ramcides, a family-run agrochemical business, was considering the path of the company that his eldest brother had started in 1973. Ramcides had a goal to achieve US$50 million in revenues by March 2014 and $130 million in the following five years. The managing director reflected on whether the company was on the right path towards achieving that objective. Much had changed since an infusion of private equity from a venture capital firm in 2008, but there was still much to be done. There was also the matter of the venture capital firm's planned exit, and where the company would then secure additional funding. All the stakeholders were clear on promoting the future growth and success of Ramcides, but the next three to five years were a critical time of transition. What needed to be done to ensure continued success? The current manager viewed himself as the managing director in transition-the bridge between Ramcides's history as a family-run firm and its future as a professionalized agrochemical company.