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Ideas Kitchen is a medium-sized kitchen maker that specializes in customizing the modular kitchen. As a result, it has built a loyal customer base. Business has been relatively good for Ideas Kitchen, and the company has been doing well financially. It has been capitalizing on the burgeoning growth of the modular kitchen market in India. However, several foreign players have begun entering the Indian market and almost all of them have been expanding at a rapid pace either through franchise models or by opening showrooms in a number of cities. The founder of Ideas Kitchen is in a dilemma about whether to stay a niche business or to take a bold step toward expanding product range and geographical reach.

In late 2011, SAP, the German leader in the enterprise software industry, announced a major investment plan for expanding in China and also acquired a leading American firm in cloud-based human capital management software. At first glance, these investments seemed rather unconnected. A closer look at SAP’s strategy, however, revealed a closely connected and coordinated network of strategic decisions and investments for which alignment and finding the right balance were key challenges. Hence, it was crucial to ask: What were the principal challenges for SAP in aligning its innovation and sourcing strategies? Compared to its key competitors — Microsoft, IBM and Oracle — how was it aligning its innovation strategy with its sourcing strategy?

The founder and CEO of Dialogue in the Dark (DID) had a very unique background with long-term professional experience. She developed a passion for working with the blind and, through this passion, she brought DID to China. DID was a social enterprise aiding the disabled through awareness. Social entrepreneurship was a fairly new concept that had only recently been introduced in China.<br><br>The CEO needed to figure out how to introduce this idea of social franchising to China and how to make it successful. Further, she faced the challenge of developing and executing a successful business plan for future growth and investment for DID. Marketing and revenue outlets were limited and needed to be expanded for future growth and success.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the not-for-profit sector in Ontario was forced to shift from a provider of social needs to a creator of social opportunities for communities doubly hit by rising unemployment and falling social supports. The Ontario Trillium Foundation moved to fund innovative, collaborative programs involving not-for-profit organizations, businesses and governments in creating viable social enterprises. Ottawa, London and Sarnia were three communities faced with different, but still difficult economic times, and each had responded to the crisis by proposing alternative models of social transition. In 2013, representatives from the not-for-profit sector in these cities joined with the Richard Ivey School of Business to present a proposal that promised they would work collaboratively, learn from each other, document the entire process and develop tools to prepare and guide many others. Would the Trillium Foundation support such a creative and ambitious project?

Dicore, the third largest supplier of drilling services in the world, must increase its profitability. To do so, the executive committee is considering an expansion into the southwestern United States. The senior vice-president and general manager must create a plan that outlines whether or not Dicore should enter the southwest drilling market and, if so, if it should enter this market organically or through an acquisition.

More than one-third of India remained without electricity or received less than eight hours of electricity per day. To fight energy poverty, Boond was in the business of providing lighting solutions to the low-income population in rural India. By 2013, it had created a network of four hubs (energy centres) and impacted the lives of more than 50,000 people across two states in India through its solar energy systems. It had forged non-traditional partnerships with regional rural banks and community-based organizations and its plan was to shift from the inception phase to the growth phase in 2013-2014. The aim was to set up 30 hubs covering more than 50 districts in the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh by 2015. This required evaluating the transformational challenges and creating an action plan to address them without losing sight of the social mission. Key obstacles included attracting social investors, extending its reach, and finding and retaining skilled employees willing to operate in small towns and villages.

In 2009, a U.S.-based social enterprise, d.light design, launched its innovative brand of solar lamp in India. Although the company has gained market share, the category as a whole is not growing. In 2014, The solar lamp market in India is complex, as a result of being both fragmented and disorganized. The company’s new head of Indian operations faces three dilemmas: How can the company scale up? How can the company improve the productivity of its distribution channels? How can the company leverage its first-mover advantage to make its brand synonymous with the category?

In 2012, Golan Heights Wines wanted to take advantage of the Chinese market. In recent years, China had demonstrated incredible growth in the wine market. Consumers’ growing interest in wine products had made wineries and vineyards like Golan Heights hungry for entry. The CEO of Golan Heights Winery had gone to China with her products in 2009. She had chosen distributorships as the mode of entry because of their expertise and experience in the Chinese market, something she did not possess. Since she had entered the market, however, she had learned of the seemingly disappointing demand for Israeli wines. Sales were rather limited given the size of the market. Most Chinese consumers who sought imported wines wanted them from Europe, particularly France. Additionally, vendors and distributors did a poor job of pushing Israel products. The CEO needed to devise and execute a series of strategies to better take advantage of the impressive Chinese market, establish a brand for Golan Heights Wines and create a platform for future growth.

This case traces Shenzhen-based AAC Technology's entrepreneurial journey, depicting their motivations, experiences, learning and foresight. It discusses the inter-generational transfer between the entrepreneur and his son, and their cooperation with VCs, thereby laying the foundations for a Chinese family business to transform into a first-source global supplier to several major mobile device manufacturers. Scoring wins in miniaturization and the mobile phone market, AAC continued to build its competitive advantages in high quality and fast response products. Case B examines the strategies undertaken by AAC for growth and expansion after its IPO in 2005.

The founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Schuhren Consumer Packaging (Schuhren), a manufacturer of plastic food packaging based in Windsor, Ontario, is getting ready to meet a group of buyers from one of the top six fruit packaging firms in the world. An hour before their arrival, the CEO uncovers a whole series of issues concerning quality assurance, waste production and machine operations that could have an impact on the company’s operations, financial position and business development efforts.

A management consulting team has been hired to advise HuStream Technologies on a new business model and target market. HuStream operates a service-based business model, providing customers with fully produced interactive video content. In the founders’ efforts to transition to a product-based business, they have built a cloud-based platform to provide easy accessibility to their company’s products and services. Using that platform, clients can produce their own interactive content. HuStream faces the challenge of transitioning from an entirely service- based business model to an entirely product-based business model. The consultancy’s task is to identify HuStream’s top business and marketing opportunities using the service-based business model and keeping within the constraints of limited funding.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Emerald/AABS Case Study Competition</strong></p><br>In December 2012, the CEO of the professional services company Business Systems Group (BSG) called his management team together to evaluate the firm’s continued sponsorship of the BSG Triathlon Series. The previous five years of the sponsorship were considered a worthwhile investment by the business, although the relationship with Triathlon South Africa (TSA) was becoming increasingly strained. The case charts the growth of BSG’s business in South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as the evolution of the sponsorship and relationship with TSA. The decisions facing BSG were whether to renew the sponsorship and build towards the Rio Olympics in 2016, continue with the BSG Triathlon Series without TSA sanction or exit the firm’s involvement in the sport.

Studying or practicing? Being an entrepreneur or a manager? Working for the family business or not? How much should business-owning families support their young? The Trusted Family case discusses some fundamental dilemmas of next-generation family business members. It follows two young family entrepreneurs who launch their own company, a social media platform for other family businesses, thus finding not only a new way of working with the family business, but also how to leverage it.

Studying or practicing? Being an entrepreneur or a manager? Working for the family business or not? How much should business-owning families support their young? The Trusted Family case discusses some fundamental dilemmas of next-generation family business members. It follows two young family entrepreneurs who launch their own company, a social media platform for other family businesses, thus finding not only a new way of working with the family business, but also how to leverage it.

In December 2012, the CEO of the professional services company Business Systems Group (BSG) called his management team together to evaluate the firm's continued sponsorship of the BSG Triathlon Series. The previous five years of the sponsorship were considered a worthwhile investment by the business, although the relationship with Triathlon South Africa (TSA) was becoming increasingly strained. The case charts the growth of BSG's business in South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as the evolution of the sponsorship and relationship with TSA. The decisions facing BSG were whether to renew the sponsorship and build towards the Rio Olympics in 2016, continue with the BSG Triathlon Series without TSA sanction or exit the firm's involvement in the sport.

The CEO of a newly formed corporation had just finalized several outsourcing agreements to manufacture MoxiMed's flagship product, the MoxaLamp. The MoxaLamp was designed to replace the practitioner's role in administering moxibustion, a popular form of traditional Chinese medicine therapy. Now that the MoxaLamp was ready for production, the CEO must select a target market and set the appropriate selling price.

In early 2014, business development executives at Google were formulating a distribution strategy for Glass, a wearable computer that projected information on a display viewable with an upward glance. Options, which were not mutually exclusive, included 1) continuing to sell Glass directly through online channels; 2) creating an open platform to allow any eyewear manufacturer to create frames compatible with Glass; and 3) negotiating a partnership with a leading eyewear manufacturer to jointly develop and market Glass.

The CEO of a newly formed corporation had just finalized several outsourcing agreements to manufacture MoxiMed’s flagship product, the MoxaLamp. The MoxaLamp was designed to replace the practitioner’s role in administering moxibustion, a popular form of traditional Chinese medicine therapy. Now that the MoxaLamp was ready for production, the CEO must select a target market and set the appropriate selling price.

Valjibhai Stones, a supplier of quality stone chips in India, has been approached by a multinational company that needs a reliable supplier of quality stone chips for the next eight years. Accepting the order would require a capacity expansion to produce high-quality aggregate solely for the multinational company and at the cost of foregoing all of its existing business. If the offer is accepted, the company would earn substantial revenue for eight years, but would then need to seek fresh business in a highly competitive market.

Don Valentine participated in the beginnings of two significant milestones: the birth of the silicon chip and the development of the venture capital industry. From humble beginnings, Valentine became a legendary salesman at Fairchild Semiconductor and National Semiconductor, before founding Sequoia Capital in 1972. Valentine was comfortable making high-risk bets on unknown entrepreneurs in markets where he saw great potential. Unlike other venture capitalists of the time that focused on finding outstanding entrepreneurs or groundbreaking technology, Valentine took a different approach. He focused predominantly on the size of the potential market.