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Coral reef ecosystems are beautiful and vibrant underwater communities inhabited by a spectacularly diverse and abundant array of organisms essential to human needs. Reefs are severely threatened worldwide-estimates are that one-fifth of coral reefs have already been lost or severely damaged, and the rest are expected to disappear before the end of this century. The intrinsic value of coral reefs is incalculable and immense, and this technical note seeks to educate students about that value, as well as the threats-global and local-to coral reefs.

This technical note provides information on the evolution and current state of angel investing in Europe. The note first describes the role and types of angel investors, focusing on their investment preferences and practices. It then details the new trends in the market, including the development of policy tools and the proliferation of incubators/accelerators to support angel investors. Finally, the note explores salient issues in angel investing for the future and pays particular attention to the recent developments in crowdfunding.

The case on Randy Weiner explores the tensions between artistic and financial imperatives in a for-profit immersive theater venture. In order to revive the dormant Manhattan nightclub "The Diamond Horseshoe," theater-impresario Randy Weiner created "The Queen of the Night," a hybrid performance that combines food, opera, circus arts, and dance. While "The Queen of the Night" is the latest in a string of productions categorized as "immersive theater," a category Weiner is credited with inventing, it is also more expensive and more artistically risky than anything he has ever done before. Has Weiner finally gone too far, or will he be able to pull this off? This case explores the creation of a market for immersive theater, as well as structures Weiner has created to fund, manage, and create his productions. Additionally, this case examines the psyche of Weiner, a successful artist-entrepreneur, and investigates the role of risk, controversy, and the line between avant-garde and controversial art in creating works that are both financially profitable and artistically impactful.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Responsible Leadership category, 2014 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>In February 2014, a McKinsey Global Institute report proposed tracking an empowerment line that could enable India’s citizens to get out of poverty by providing the resources they needed to build better lives. This prompted Ela Bhatt, founder of the India-based Self-Employed Women’s Association, to take stock of her initiative to empower women working in India's informal sector. Since 1972, her organization has been widely acclaimed as a global first mover and active champion of grassroots development. Quickly approaching two million members in India and six neighbouring countries, and inspiring similar efforts in South Africa, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso, it exemplifies a unique form of positively deviant organizing by speaking to the centrality of human beings at work. Given resources, support and encouragement, its many members have used their own human agency even in the direst of circumstances to better their lives in ways most meaningful to them, for instance, by creating childcare, health care, banking, farming and education cooperatives. However, as she reaches retirement and contemplates the future, Bhatt wonders if the new generation of Indian leaders will take up the Gandhian socially minded path or follow the commercial careers opening up in the country’s multinational sector. Also see B case 9B14C019.

Supplment to 9B14C018.

The Volkswagen Group (VW Group) had set a firm-wide "Strategy 2018," which sought to make Volkswagen "the most successful and fascinating automaker in the world by 2018." According to the strategy, the company would reach annual sales of 10 million vehicles worldwide. To achieve this ambitious goal, VW Group placed "intelligent innovations and technologies" at the top of its agenda. Big data, broadly defined, represented an important opportunity for the company. In this exercise, the class will be divided into teams, and each team will design an initiative that leverages big data to help the VW Group make significant progress towards its objective. The teams will present their initiatives at the upcoming executive meeting, at which time the best initiative will be selected.

Safe Water Network, a charity initiative focused on providing underserved populations with clean drinking water, established its first site in the village of Nizampally, India. This initiative was unique in a number of ways in its conception as well as its execution. Firstly, after vigorous assessment of the identified region, demand-driven solutions were customized to deal with the specific water-related issues of the region. Secondly, it was supported by prominent Indian and international companies who not only provided monetary support but also extended assistance in terms of technology, assessment and further research. Thirdly, the project was economically sustainable and required active participation and ownership by the community it served. Safe Water Network’s directors hoped to scale up and sustain the adoption of the Safe Water project. The commitment and participation of the villagers was truly heartening but would this enthusiasm continue? Would the villagers see value in this expenditure? Were there any barriers to the project’s adoption?

This supplements the "A" case. Joel Rose and Chris Rush decide to spin-off from School of One to found New Classrooms Innovation Partners. Rose and Rush navigate the strategic complexities of the spin-off process to make their mission-driven product a reality. The case explores the co-founders' decision to pursue either a for-profit or nonprofit structure and their strategy for scaling their product, Teach to One.

Founded in 1986, Red Star had become the leading department store in China for furniture and home equipment products (bathroom, lamps, textiles complements, etc.). The business model of Red Star was to provide adequate space for vendors (that rented the space) in good shopping mall facilities, well designed and equipped (parking, transportation, services) located in key developing zones of Chinese growing cities. In the first 27 years, Red Star had opened 115 shopping malls in 85 different cities. With capacity to launch up to 10 new malls per year, Red Star expected to reach 200 malls by 2020. By 2012, the company employed over 15,000 people. With increased competition, and the growing complexity of its operations, how should the company manage its ambitious growth strategy?

Mobile broadband carriers provide network access to the Internet for a range of devices (typically portable or mobile), including consumer devices such as smartphones, tablets and E-Readers, but also a host of new emerging devices. Mobile broadband networks enable data to travel in packets over telecommunication (telecom) companies' wireless (or cellular) networks. The number of worldwide mobile cellular subscriptions reached 6 billion in 2011, reflecting a penetration rate of 87%. This note provides some industry context for the advent and opportunities associated with mobile broadband.

A swelling current account deficit, ballooning interest rates, and a plunging currency: These were just some of the worrisome trends in India that Krishna 'Kittu' Kolluri contemplated on his 20-hour return flight from Mumbai to Silicon Valley in September 2013. The U.S-based general partner co-leading India investments at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) reflected on how the American venture capital firm just 18 months earlier had set aside US$200 million of its US$2.6 billion world fund for investments in the sub-continent. Now Kolluri was mulling over whether to recommend changes to NEA's India strategy at the VC firm's quarterly general partner meeting in Washington, DC in October and the potential for missing out on lucrative investment opportunities in India if NEA played it too safe. This case closely examines how a venture capital firm creates and implements a strategy to invest outside the United States. It presents U.S. venture capital firm NEA's response to globalization and a contracting U.S. venture capital industry via an innovative global fund strategy that emphasizes agility in investment decision-making across and within geographies and sectors. The case focuses specifically on NEA's activities in India to illustrate the various elements of this strategy. It asks students to analyze the advantages and challenges of investing in an emerging market located half a world away both logistically and culturally, through a large, U.S.-based, multi-country venture fund. Students evaluate NEA's global fund strategy and determine the best investment strategy to follow in India given the country's deteriorating macro-economic situation at the time. They examine NEA's decision-making processes, communication channels, and incentive systems for its India practice. They gain a deeper understanding of what a U.S. venture capital firm like NEA expects from portfolio companies in emerging markets and what those portfolio companies receive in return.

Founded in 1973 with a vision of inclusion, integration and normalization, Monnikenheide had pioneered a series of innovative approaches to improve the quality of life of people with mental disabilities. It had introduced some of its practices to local partners in China, India and Indonesia and now had the most sought-after facilities in Belgium for families with special-needs children and other family members. At the age of 69, the co-founder of Monnikenheide felt the necessity to plan for the transition for Monnikenheide, and decided to appoint her third son to be the director of the board. Her son and the board were confronted with how to evaluate the options for the transition. Should it continue as an independent organization or join a larger group with adequate organizational capabilities? How should Monnikenheide go about meeting its financial targets? Should Monnikenheide play a bigger role globally and, if so, how?

Having positioned itself from the beginning as a global enterprise in information technology, Infosys benchmarked its governance practices with the best in the world right from the start, focusing on the importance of performance appraisal at all levels, including that of the board. Indeed, Infosys broke fresh ground when it introduced a model of Peer Review at the board level wherein each board member would annually review the performance of every other individual member of the board. Launched as the personal initiative of the chairman of the board and chief mentor – who also designed its process framework – the Peer Review was meant to raise the stature of corporate governance at Infosys. <br><br>More than seven years later, Infosys launched Board Review, a more common form of performance appraisal wherein each individual member of the board would annually review the performance of the board as a whole during the previous year. As he re-examined Peer Review in light of this new model of appraisal, the chairman of the board had to decide if Peer Review was serving its purpose, if it was damaging to boardroom collegiality, and how to institutionalize performance appraisal processes before he retired.

types of startup capital are equity funding and debt funding although there are a few hybrid flavors as well. • Sources of funding. These include venture capital firms, angel investors, crowd-funding, and accelerators/incubators. • What investors look for. Each source has a different funding process and set of criteria which you need to understand before seeking funding from that source. • The mechanics of equity funding. Seeking and securing funding involves setting amounts, agreeing to terms, and defining relationships.

Created in 1900 by the tire manufacturer Michelin, the Michelin Restaurant Guide was widely considered the international benchmark of food rating, and, by 2013, boasted paper editions in 23 countries, and had recently expanded to the United States and Asia. Paper sales however had dropped, following the emergence of free, online guides, global players, and more broadly, the wider diffusion of the Internet. In 2012, the Guide had launched a new range of services targeting restaurateurs. The Director of the Guide was contemplating developing the Guide even more internationally and on digital formats, but also knew he needed to limit costs.

Potatoes are grown across 130 countries and form the largest non-cereal food crop consumed in large per-capita measures in some of the Eastern European and South American countries. India is the world’s third-largest producer of the crop and is estimated to consume about 25 million tonnes each year. Calcutta-based Sumangal Industries Limited launched a high yield investment program under the banner of the Flexi-Potato Purchase Scheme. Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), took exception to the company’s collecting uncollateralized deposits from the members of the public without due registration, and issued prohibitive orders.<br><br>This case puts the facts underlying the offering in perspective and conducts a micro-economic analysis to assess the strengths of the business proposition. The statistical analyses reveal that the volatility and predictability of seasonal pricing patterns that the company seeks to exploit may not continue beyond the short-term. Further, the early success of the scheme is likely to attract entry into the segment, thereby squeezing arbitrage margins and enhancing business process costs. This case also lays out facts relating to exogenous influences on the local potato market and encourages policy makers to adequately inform potential investors as a means to empower them to make sound resource allocation decisions. The conclusions of the case could be applied beyond West Bengal, and beyond India, to other agricultural produce and pyramidal investment schemes, qualified by local conditions.

Eikon Device Ltd, a tattoo equipment and supplies firm, has to choose between several alternatives. Their core business is the production of tattoo needles and the power supply that makes tattoo machines operate, selling primarily into the United States and Canada. With increasing international demand however, should they consider establishing a distribution facility abroad? Alternatively, since much of their success is derived from catering to the specific needs of tattoo artists, should Eikon expand its product line for the North American market? At the same time, competition from China has emerged to push Eikon out of its core markets. Eikon management has to prioritize their initiatives.

In February 2012, a human resources appointment attracted wide attention from China's domestic lubricating oil industry. The iconic general manager of Shell Tongyi (Beijing) Petroleum Chemical Co., Ltd. officially took the position as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Huo's Group, thus returning to work for his former boss, the founder of the former Tongyi Lubricating Oil. Before the merger between Tongyi and Shell in 2006, the private entrepreneur and the professional manager had jointly created the well-known Tongyi Lubricating Oil and were renowned as perfect partners by many in the business media. In 2012, their hope was to achieve glory again on this wider business platform - Huo's Group. Was this likely?