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In November 2021, Procter & Gamble Company (P&G)’s announcement regarding the recall of more than a dozen of its Old Spice and Secret aerosol deodorants and sprays over elevated levels of benzene threatened to damage their brand value. Considering that product recalls come at a cost and involve various phases, P&G need to assess how the recall will impact their brand value. As the Cincinnati, Ohio, multinational consumer goods corporation progress with their recall, what can they do to sustain trust and confidence among their consumers and use the recall as an opportunity to solidify their brand image and superiority proposition and prevent an irreversible loss in their profits?

As a top-ranking hospital in Western China, Huaxi (which means West China in Chinese) Hospital of Sichuan University (Huaxi Hospital) had been navigating a digital transformation journey. In the early phases, Huaxi Hospital focused on the development of setting up a digital foundation. Specifically, it created the relevant supporting departments and built eighteen digitalized systems. In 2013, when Weimin Li became president of Huaxi Hospital, he prompted the expansion of digitalization. Telemedicine services, hospital services using smart technologies, and online hospital services represented examples of the digital innovation adopted. More recently, the COVID-19 epidemic further accelerated the process of hospital digitalization, and Huaxi Hospital continued to advance and keep up with the rapid changes. Artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and big-data platforms were implemented during this later phase. However, despite its success and facing an increasingly turbulent and complex health care industry, Huaxi Hospital needed to continually explore future digital transformation strategies. What could the future of Huaxi Hospital look like in the digital age? How should the hospital prioritize its different initiatives plans and design a road map for its future digitalization?

Since its establishment in 1999, Xiamen Golden Home Co., Ltd. (GoldenHome) had adopted a high-end strategic positioning for its professionally produced kitchen cabinets. The company had first established a high-end brand image by differentiating its service and providing consumers with the ultimate full-process shopping experience. It had then consolidated a high-end perception of its products in the minds of its target customers by continuously researching and developing new processes and selecting high-quality materials. When changes in market and competition patterns led it to expand into new home-furnishing categories such as wardrobes and wooden doors, the company worked to transform its brand to encompass the entire range of customized home products. While customers had long recognized the high-end nature of the company’s kitchen cabinets, it had been more difficult to transfer this brand recognition over to the new product lines. Moreover, substantial changes in the competitive landscape had made the company’s original high-end positioning ambiguous. In 2022, the company faced a dilemma about its future development: Should GoldenHome use high-level strategic changes to establish its entire series as high-end products, or should it implement differentiated positioning for different product lines, maintaining the high-end positioning of its kitchen cabinet products while positioning other product lines for mass-market consumers?

To protect employees of South Asian origin from caste-based discrimination, managers everywhere must understand caste and how it shapes organizations and interactions in the workplace. The caste system, a sociocultural-economic system practiced in South Asian countries and by the sizable South Asian diaspora worldwide, can be a source of implicit and explicit forms of discrimination and exclusion. The authors discuss the caste system’s origins and what business leaders can do to mitigate its harm.

Since its establishment in 1999, Xiamen Golden Home Co., Ltd. (GoldenHome) had adopted a high-end strategic positioning for its professionally produced kitchen cabinets. The company had first established a high-end brand image by differentiating its service and providing consumers with the ultimate full-process shopping experience. It had then consolidated a high-end perception of its products in the minds of its target customers by continuously researching and developing new processes and selecting high-quality materials. When changes in market and competition patterns led it to expand into new home-furnishing categories such as wardrobes and wooden doors, the company worked to transform its brand to encompass the entire range of customized home products. While customers had long recognized the high-end nature of the company's kitchen cabinets, it had been more difficult to transfer this brand recognition over to the new product lines. Moreover, substantial changes in the competitive landscape had made the company's original high-end positioning ambiguous. In 2022, the company faced a dilemma about its future development: Should GoldenHome use high-level strategic changes to establish its entire series as high-end products, or should it implement differentiated positioning for different product lines, maintaining the high-end positioning of its kitchen cabinet products while positioning other product lines for mass-market consumers?

In April 2022, the founder and chief executive officer of Just Kitchen Holdings Corporation (Just Kitchen)—a Canada-based and publicly listed operator of ghost kitchens in Taiwan—was sitting with part of his team to discuss the marketing plans for the year. The company reported revenues of CA$4.6 million for the second quarter of 2022. In the second quarter 2022, total revenues increased by 127 per cent and retail order volume grew by 151 per cent. That year, the number of ghost kitchen locations had increased from 14 to 28. The founder wanted to double the company’s revenue by 2023. To achieve this goal, the management team faced several questions: Should Just Kitchen focus more on local brands in Taiwan or invest in international brand licensing and partnerships? How could the company leverage the omni-channel opportunity to better engage with its consumers and not depend on the delivery partners? What strategies should Just Kitchen consider to attract and retain customers, grow its sales revenues, and increase profitability?

The international Vishwa Foundation (Vishwa), based in India, was started four decades ago to promote holistic healing and wellness based on the tenets of swaasthya and ancient Ayurvedic texts. Vishwa had revived the Vedic tradition of Agnihotra, or fire-offering, a daily ritual performed at the auspicious hours of dawn and dusk. The organization offered spiritual products that used Agnihotra ash as a key ingredient, offering a unique and traditional approach to personal care and wellness, and had some success. In July 2022, the president of Vishwa wanted to expand the product market by promoting Vishwa’s products as natural, eco-friendly, and holistic solutions for consumers' health and wellness needs. He was aware that Vishwa faced several challenges, including a weak distribution network and a lack of branding compared to its competitors, and he needed to explore alternatives for the company’s growth and implement the changes soon.

This case describes unruly passenger behaviour on National Aviation Company of India Ltd.’s New York-Delhi flight. It elaborates on the airline crew’s failure to effectively address an elderly woman’s predicament and assuage her concerns after an inebriated passenger urinated on her. As a result, Air India was exposed to social media ridicule, public scorn, loss of customer loyalty and trust, and a severe dent in its brand image. With the plummeting net loss in 2022 and reputation damage threatening to come in the way of its goal of becoming the airline of choice in passenger service and comfort, what can Air India do to rebuild its brand image, revive its past glory, prevent or manage such instances, and reclaim customer loyalty and trust?

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company's transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH acquired NWEA, a leading educational assessment company. Lynch was thrilled to add NWEA's industry-standard tools for measuring student progress to his company's product offering - but aware of the fact that HMH's new business strategy was untested. Would students, educators, and district administrators sign on to Lynch's vision for the future of U.S. education?

In April 2022, the founder and chief executive officer of Just Kitchen Holdings Corporation (Just Kitchen)-a Canada-based and publicly listed operator of ghost kitchens in Taiwan-was sitting with part of his team to discuss the marketing plans for the year. The company reported revenues of CA$4.6 million for the second quarter of 2022. In the second quarter 2022, total revenues increased by 127 per cent and retail order volume grew by 151 per cent. That year, the number of ghost kitchen locations had increased from 14 to 28. The founder wanted to double the company's revenue by 2023. To achieve this goal, the management team faced several questions: Should Just Kitchen focus more on local brands in Taiwan or invest in international brand licensing and partnerships? How could the company leverage the omni-channel opportunity to better engage with its consumers and not depend on the delivery partners? What strategies should Just Kitchen consider to attract and retain customers, grow its sales revenues, and increase profitability?

This case describes unruly passenger behaviour on National Aviation Company of India Ltd.'s New York-Delhi flight. It elaborates on the airline crew's failure to effectively address an elderly woman's predicament and assuage her concerns after an inebriated passenger urinated on her. As a result, Air India was exposed to social media ridicule, public scorn, loss of customer loyalty and trust, and a severe dent in its brand image. With the plummeting net loss in 2022 and reputation damage threatening to come in the way of its goal of becoming the airline of choice in passenger service and comfort, what can Air India do to rebuild its brand image, revive its past glory, prevent or manage such instances, and reclaim customer loyalty and trust?

The international Vishwa Foundation (Vishwa), based in India, was started four decades ago to promote holistic healing and wellness based on the tenets of swaasthya and ancient Ayurvedic texts. Vishwa had revived the Vedic tradition of Agnihotra, or fire-offering, a daily ritual performed at the auspicious hours of dawn and dusk. The organization offered spiritual products that used Agnihotra ash as a key ingredient, offering a unique and traditional approach to personal care and wellness, and had some success. In July 2022, the president of Vishwa wanted to expand the product market by promoting Vishwa's products as natural, eco-friendly, and holistic solutions for consumers' health and wellness needs. He was aware that Vishwa faced several challenges, including a weak distribution network and a lack of branding compared to its competitors, and he needed to explore alternatives for the company's growth and implement the changes soon.

Facebook Inc. (Facebook) rebranded to Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta) in October 2021, intending to break into the virtual world of immersive technologies. However, Meta soon found itself in trouble after an eventful year in the virtual reality industry. The number of Meta users was declining, and first-time Meta users were not coming back. Users were complaining about underdeveloped graphics, programming troubles, instability, and overall poor user experience. Meta’s struggle with technological glitches, disengaged users, and an unclear vision resulted in a sharp decline in its financial performance. The company was also attracting negative comments on social media platforms. What should Meta do moving forward? Should it continue spending on innovative technology and hiring additional talent, return to its roots as a social media platform (Facebook), or consider its competitive advantage via collaboration?

Text-to-image generative AI tools let any consumer become a designer. In this new landscape, consumers and brands like Heinz and Coca-Cola are cocreating campaigns. Brand managers must shift from guarding brand identity to enabling customer participation â€" which entails seizing opportunities and navigating risks. The authors offer advice on creativity, control, and how to experiment safely.

Jerren Chang, CEO and co-founder of GenUnity, had to choose a strategy to scale his civic engagement-focused nonprofit. Based in Boston, Chang could grow the organization there or begin to expand to other cities. He also had to select candidates for a board of directors that would align with his chosen growth strategy. Chang also had to decide how to sequence these choices for an optimal outcome.

Founded in 2006, Mi Xue Bing Cheng (Mixue) had become widely popular in the Chinese market by June 2021. Mixue achieved very high levels of growth by using a low-price high-volume strategy, a clever marketing campaign, and an unconventional geographic expansion strategy that emphasized secondary markets. However, the domestic market was becoming too saturated. Seeing Mixue gain recognition, new competitors started imitating its business model and developing a fiercely competitive market. Mixue’s chief executive officer, Hongfu Zhang, was wondering how to sustain the company’s high growth rate. Should Mixue continue following its original strategy or adopt a new and different approach that includes international expansion?

The case describes the growth spiral of the TCL Group during a long time span of 40 years. TCL's predecessor TTK started as an importer of magnetic tapes from Hong Kong to China's mainland. TCL was founded by TTK to tap into the growing China market with a series of electronic products and home appliances. In the early 2000's, it stumbled after two merger deals with international TV and cellphone giants Thompson and Alcatel. Later, the company decided to move upstream into the semi-conductor industry and tried to seize the opportunity of China's TV industry technology upgrade from CRT to flat screen. A few years after the semi-conductor business took off, TCL moved further upstream to producing silicon materials for the semi-conductor and solar power sectors. While TCL was chasing a vertical integration strategy, it faced severe financial difficulties as a result of many factors, such as continued post-merger losses in acquired businesses, integration challenges, sluggishness in growth and lack of innovation in the consumer electronics sector, prolonged lead time for the high-tech units to turn into profit...

Founded in 2006, Mi Xue Bing Cheng (Mixue) had become widely popular in the Chinese market by June 2021. Mixue achieved very high levels of growth by using a low-price high-volume strategy, a clever marketing campaign, and an unconventional geographic expansion strategy that emphasized secondary markets. However, the domestic market was becoming too saturated. Seeing Mixue gain recognition, new competitors started imitating its business model and developing a fiercely competitive market. Mixue's chief executive officer, Hongfu Zhang, was wondering how to sustain the company's high growth rate. Should Mixue continue following its original strategy or adopt a new and different approach that includes international expansion?

Metaza SA (Metaza) was a family business created by two brothers who later invited their younger siblings to join the firm. Metaza operated in the steel sector, a capital-intensive business with fierce competition. The industry had experienced several mergers and acquisitions led by international players. To remain competitive, Metaza had changed its strategy, moving away from being a steel dealer and toward being a value-added producer. However, these changes generated debate within the family business, which operated with a low level of institutionalization. Consequently, the brothers hired a family business governance consultant for assistance. Metaza’s chair and chief executive officer needed to learn how to implement these strategic changes so that he could pass the torch of a healthier organization.

In 2020, Neha Mathur and Debi Kar co-founded the start-up Wishyogi India Pvt. Limited in Bangalore, India, and launched an online HR platform called Personifwy. Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), Personifwy analyzes employee engagement experiences and integrates data with the client’s own systems, thus serving as an HR analytics platform. During their interactions with clients, Mathur and Kar discovered a gap in the process of recruiting prospective employees. Many candidates were engaging in a phenomenon referred to as “ghosting,” which caused the talent acquisition teams of client firms to constantly restart the process, wasting time and resources. Mathur and Kar wanted to reveal the reason why candidates were dropping out of the recruitment process (or “ghosting” the employer) after receiving an offer letter and find a way to stop the practice. Potential solutions included having the client call these candidates directly or hiring consultants to establish a contact. Could AI technology help to resolve the issue? Could Mathur and Kar design an innovative solution to increase the ratio of job offer to confirmed employee for Personifwy clients? Should the company consider using employees advocates to help resolve the ghosting issue?