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The advent of the world wide web and the entry of private players in India’s post-liberalization era resulted in India Post losing a substantial volume of its business to e-mails, faxes, short-message services and private-courier-service providers. Additionally, government policies regarding India Post had long remained unchanged. As a consequence, India Post was caught up in a vicious cycle of decreasing mail traffic, low levels of technology investment, poor financial performance and poor customer service. Critics also raised questions regarding India Post’s lack of market orientation. Nevertheless, India Post responded by taking advantage of its huge distribution network, pursuing related diversification and modernizing its facilities. Despite these efforts, undertaken between 2005 and 2012, India Post was unable to report any profits, although the efforts generated revenue growth. Among all the services that the postal department provided, only postal insurance generated significant profits. It was from this perspective that India Post’s management wondered whether it should follow the example of countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where the postal services had been privatized, or whether it should wait for the 2005-2012 initiatives to generate profits for India Post in the coming years.

The advent of the world wide web and the entry of private players in India's post-liberalization era resulted in India Post losing a substantial volume of its business to e-mails, faxes, short-message services and private-courier-service providers. Additionally, government policies regarding India Post had long remained unchanged. As a consequence, India Post was caught up in a vicious cycle of decreasing mail traffic, low levels of technology investment, poor financial performance and poor customer service. Critics also raised questions regarding India Post's lack of market orientation. Nevertheless, India Post responded by taking advantage of its huge distribution network, pursuing related diversification and modernizing its facilities. Despite these efforts, undertaken between 2005 and 2012, India Post was unable to report any profits, although the efforts generated revenue growth. Among all the services that the postal department provided, only postal insurance generated significant profits. It was from this perspective that India Post's management wondered whether it should follow the example of countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where the postal services had been privatized, or whether it should wait for the 2005-2012 initiatives to generate profits for India Post in the coming years.

NPI is a Shanghai-based social venture that actively promotes social innovation and cultivates social entrepreneurs by granting crucial support to start-up and small- to medium-sized grassroots non-profit and non-governmental organizations. The company was founded in 2006 when the Chinese government had loosened its restrictions on private donations to charitable causes and cautiously welcomed private non-profit organizations to enter the social welfare sector. Its founder’s ability to enlist support not only from national and local government officials but also from foundations and other grassroots not-for-profit organizations has led to its success in the areas of incubation of start-up social enterprises, venture philosophy, resource integration, capacity building, showcasing, outreach and social innovation. However, in 2013, NPI is threatened by a combination of rapid growth, mushrooming projects and limited means to attract and retain professional staff. The founder is faced with devising a three-year strategic transformation of NPI at a critical tipping point for social enterprise in China.

There is an important shift in business focus in the United States that is empowering companies to not only declare their intent to be ethical firms which do good while making a profit, but also to submit proof of that commitment for annual review by outside evaluators. A new business model is providing structure for nonprofits that wish to grow, for for-profits that wish to be socially responsible, and for individuals who wish to invest in companies with a commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. B Lab has taken the lead in providing the models necessary for this shift to a focus on the double bottom line: profit and social benefit. It has created the legal documents for state legislatures to use to pass a new corporate structure called the 'benefit corporation.' In the 3 years of its existence, legislatures in 19 states and the District of Columbia have ratified the new corporate structure. Likewise, B Lab offers a performance assessment program to become a Certified B Corporation, independent of legal corporate status, which also serves as an evaluation program for benefit corporations. Additionally, it has created a ratings agency and analytics platform, the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), to help institutional investors evaluate the impact of companies' corporate social responsibility initiatives. This article discusses the requirements and benefits of the new models and addresses the issues that have been raised about them. It also identifies companies that are incorporating the benefit corporation structure and are becoming Certified B Corporations.

With cost advantages from manufacturing in Asia and Mexico steadily deteriorating, U.S. firms are reassessing the option of domestic outsourcing to remain globally competitive. The challenge in evaluating international versus domestic outsourcing strategic options lies in that first-movers are extremely and intentionally vague about how they reach their decisions. The purpose of this article is to reveal these reasons by providing statistical and firm-based evidence on five major factors that are influencing the decision regarding where U.S. companies should manufacture to optimize their gross profits. The factors include (1) increasingly competitive U.S. labor costs; (2) increasing productivity of the U.S. workforce; (3) increasingly competitive domestic production costs; (4) incentives from federal, state, and local governments; and (5) improved synchronization of production with other business functions.

Apple, 3M, Procter & Gamble, and Google know the importance of an internal environment supportive of innovative activity. But how is that environment identified or measured? As research on corporate entrepreneurial activity has evolved, numerous researchers have acknowledged the importance of internal organizational dimensions to promoting and supporting an environment for innovation. This research has identified five specific dimensions that are important determinants of an environment conducive to entrepreneurial behavior: (1) top management support, (2) work discretion/autonomy, (3) rewards/reinforcement, (4) time availability, and (5) organizational boundaries. If an organization is serious about developing an internal environment conducive to entrepreneurial activity, then it must seek to measure the specific dimensions associated with an innovative environment. In this article we introduce an instrument, the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI), as a diagnostic tool used for assessing managers' perceptions of the five major dimensions critical to creating an entrepreneurial/innovative environment. This instrument provides an indication of a firm's likelihood of being able to successfully implement an innovative strategy, and highlights areas of the internal work environment that should be the focus of ongoing development efforts.

Statistics about women's presence as CEOs, directors, and board members show relative stagnation over the last few years. Many theories exist to explain this problem, but there is a paucity of specific suggestions targeted at individuals seeking to rise to the top of their organizations. In this article we propose that changing the way women talk about accomplishments can improve leadership presence and aid in promotion. We analyzed video interviews of 20 men and 20 women in leadership roles at Fortune 50 companies. Since leaders will inevitably confront this when interviewing for promotions, we chose to focus on the question: ''In your career, what are the accomplishments you are most proud of?'' We analyzed content, syntax, gestures, and facial expressions, and identified significant differences in the way men and women talked about accomplishment. Based upon our research, we identify six communication essentials that can help women project confidence: (1) starting strong, (2) staying succinct, (3) dimensionalizing content, (4) owning voice, (5) controlling movement, and (6) projecting warmth.

The gender stigma of work-life balance (WLB) policies as concessions for mothers and female caregivers originated with the push by the Women's Movement for gender workplace equity in the late 20th century. Unfortunately, this perception continues in the 21st century and retains the additional stigma of employee participation in these policies--regardless of gender--as a detrimental career move. Thus, home and work responsibilities for professionals of all genders who desire more occupational flexibility remain unreconciled. Despite this dominant national and international outlook, this article encourages new century organizations and professionals to reject the traditional perception of occupational inequity through gendercolored glasses and instead contemplate the benefits of WLB policies void of gender stigmas. Specifically, organizations could re-create workplace culture with stigmafree WLB policies through administrative leaders' embracement of and participation in such policies, which may pave the way for establishing occupational equity. Through workplace culture re-creation, organizations may then offer employees--regardless of gender, marital status, or company position--flexible work options to assist them in leading happy, healthy, and more productive lives.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian public-sector oil company that features among the Fortune Global 500. The company has historically been in the business of refining and marketing petroleum products. For about 25 years, BPCL operated in a protected environment where it was assured 12 per cent post-tax returns by the Indian government. In 2002, the government stopped guaranteeing returns to its oil companies, and BPCL found that its sales were increasing but its profitability was declining. In response, BPCL ventured upstream into the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. The case is set in 2010, seven years after BPCL adopted a corporate strategy of vertical integration. BPCL’s chairman and managing director assesses reasons for the company’s spectacular success and considers what BPCL should do next.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian public-sector oil company that features among the Fortune Global 500. The company has historically been in the business of refining and marketing petroleum products. For about 25 years, BPCL operated in a protected environment where it was assured 12 per cent post-tax returns by the Indian government. In 2002, the government stopped guaranteeing returns to its oil companies, and BPCL found that its sales were increasing but its profitability was declining. In response, BPCL ventured upstream into the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. The case is set in 2010, seven years after BPCL adopted a corporate strategy of vertical integration. BPCL's chairman and managing director assesses reasons for the company's spectacular success and considers what BPCL should do next.

Visa's China strategy was challenged by the Chinese monopoly, China UnionPay Company ("CUP"), on all fronts after a few short cooperative years. Visa countered CUP's competitions by scaling the disputes up on the WTO level. What were the implications of Visa's history of monopoly and where would the disputes between two global monopolies lead?

CEO, Ryan Smith and the rest of the founding team at Qualtrics grew the company to 350 employees and an estimated $50M in revenue through an inside-sales model. After ten years of bootstrapping however, the company took on $70M in funding from prominent venture capital funds. With this milestone, the team faced a new inflection point in the company's growth. To support the next phase of evolution, Smith brought in John D'Agostino as the new Head of Worldwide Sales. Smith and D'Agostino needed to increase revenue without negatively impacting the company's strong foundation. The Qualtrics leadership team faced several options for the future of their sales organization. It was up to Smith and D'Agostino to decide--how should they organize the sales team to face the challenges of Qualtrics' next phase of growth?

This note discusses Herbert Simon's notion of bounded rationality: how managers may sometimes make suboptimal choices because of their limited ability to access or process information.

In 2004, Tata Communications (TCL) was trying to act on its strategic intent to become a globally connected network provider. It had two alternatives: build or buy. The build option would provide TCL with a chance to develop its own network under its own terms. The possible acquisition of the Tyco Global Network (TGN), however, provided a unique opportunity for TCL to establish this global position quickly. As one of the largest global networks at the time of the case, the TGN was a limited asset. The acquisition of the TGN would catapult TCL into being a top player in global Internet connectivity. Even though the acquisition price was low, the associated liabilities and risks could make this a substantially expensive acquisition for TCL. Should TCL negotiate with Tyco? If yes, what would be an acceptable position to proceed with the deal? How should TCL plan for the mitigation of risks and uncertainties? If not, what would be the consequences of losing the TGN opportunity, particularly if a competitor acquired it?<br><br>See also supplement 9B14M138.

Supplement to 9B14M137. The case presents Tyco Communications’ “take-it-or-leave-it” offer to Tata Communications Ltd.

Diversey, a leading global brand in the business-to-business cleaning industry, had entered the Indian market positioned as a total cleaning solution provider to institutional customers. It differentiated itself from the competition with its end-to-end solutions, superior products and service levels, research and development capabilities and value-based pricing. While it had some success in India, it felt that there was a huge untapped opportunity for growth. However, a developing country like India posed several challenges due to its social and cultural differences (e.g., local unorganized competition, customer price sensitivity, complex distribution channels, etc.) versus developed countries. The case provides an opportunity for students to apply a number of conceptual tools (i.e. Porter's 5 forces analysis, 4C analysis, SWOT analysis, value- chain analysis and the stakeholder power/interest matrix) to analyze the current strategy and identify the best alternatives for Diversey to move forward with its growth objectives.

The case follows the foundation and growth of Social Capital Ventures Development (SCVD), a social enterprise based in Cambodia launched by Christopher Wilson and Khov Boun Chhay in 2008. The venture aims to improve the lives and conditions of disadvantaged people in developing countries, through impact investment and dedication to sustainable and scalable projects, in the field of health, education, and farming. SCVD's first project was to provide rural areas with clean water, the absence of which resulted in high child mortality rate and overall ill health. The case follows SCVD during its first five years of its operations.

AWARD WINNING CASE: European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition 2014 — Corporate Social Responsibility category. <br><br>Leading up to the completion of a successful partnership between Hewlett-Packard Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, the two individuals who championed the program contemplate their separate and joint next steps: should their organizations renew or exit the partnership? Together, they had designed and delivered a world-first program, Living Planet @ Work, which had enrolled more than 500 companies, large and small, whose employees had already raised more than $1 million in charitable donations through workplace giving. The program was helping corporate Canada harness the collective desire and power of their employees for the good of business and the future of the planet. The two champions had a short window to go global and scale up the positive impact of the program.

This practice stands in stark contrast to the kind of NGO corporate governance that is prescribed by the Hong Kong government ("HKG"). Since the HKG launched its subvention approach to NGOs in Hong Kong in 2002, it has attempted to establish a code of practices for corporate governance in NGOs that are under its subvention. The code of practices advocates that NGO boards of directors should focus on areas that would ensure NGOs' legal and regulatory compliance, sound financial management, performance monitoring, and transparency. In addition, the best practice of having a diverse set of independent board members with different backgrounds and professionalism is encouraged. As one of the HKG's subvented NGOs, HKBU received 55% of its expenditure from the HKG subvention and grants in 2011-2012. As an organization that receives government funding and grants, that is, a subvented organization, HKBU is subject to the governance and audit system and framework imposed by the government. To a great extent, this governance and audit approach and framework is derived from the business sector's corporate governance practices. However, as a self-help organization for people with visual impairment, HKBU presents a compelling case for why these control and monitoring roles and practices of NGO boards should not necessarily be universally applicable to all subvented organizations in Hong Kong. Despite the HKG's guidance on the compliance and monitoring function of NGO corporate governance, HKBU sees its board, that is, the executive committee, and the Union's operation staff work closely as a unified team to achieve the NGO's missions and to facilitate fundraising. Against the backdrop of the HKG's governance advocacy, what roles and duties do HKBU's EC and its members fulfill? What are the results? And most importantly, why did HKBU adopt such practices?