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On December 1, 2019, Stephanie Ball was hired as the new Executive Director (ED) for the Central Okanagan Journey Home Society (COJHS), a backbone agency tasked with implementing Kelowna's five-year strategy to end homelessness. A few months earlier, COJHS had been declined its charitable status by Canada Revenue Agency because of a lack of clarity of its purposes and main activities. This was due to several factors including the fact that the society was newly formed, it had a complex board and subcommittee structure, and the task ahead was immense. Expectations were high that this new society could make progress on a social issue that was becoming increasingly of concern for City of Kelowna residents. Recognizing that financial independence, community perception, governance complexity and an ability to effect social change were criteria that had to be weighed, one of Ball's first tasks was to recommend to the COJHS Board an organizational structure best positioned for the enormous task - reducing homelessness - that lay ahead. This case introduces students to different legal structures associated with socially focused organizations such as nonprofits, for-profits and hybrid organizations (specifically C3's as this case is set within a Canadian context). In addition, it provides an opportunity to explore and discuss new collaborative governance entities such as backbone organizations.

How can a popular neighborhood restaurant in the trendy Flatiron District in Manhattan survive the significant challenges that arise during the COVID-19 pandemic? Indoor dining is banned, offices are closed, and many residents have fled the city. This case describes how Klaas Claes, the co-owner of BXL Zoute, adapts his restaurant to the changing business landscape during the initial coronavirus lockdown. During the first ten days, he implements several initiatives to keep the restaurant in people's minds and to create much-needed cash flow. Claes develops the capability for customers to buy online gift cards and he adds alcohol to his delivery menu when New York States relaxes its liquor laws to help restaurants. He is also taking steps to sell and deliver ready-to-heat vacuum-sealed (i.e., sous vide) meals to customers directly. Ten days after the announcement of the lockdown by New York's Governor, it dawns upon him that the pandemic restrictions will be in force for a while and that these new initiatives will not be enough to get him through extended periods of indoor dining restrictions. Faced with considerable uncertainty, he wonders how he can he leverage his resources and his vast network of friends and restaurant professionals so that BXL Zoute will survive these "interesting" times?

This technical note is an introduction to the world of financing entrepreneurial ventures. It is a primer on the different stages of a business and the different types of financing available. Most of the capital that high-growth entrepreneurial businesses will secure to fund their future plans is private capital. Private capital includes all the equity financing that is not in public equities; i.e. publicly listed companies. Hence, private capital includes not only venture capital and private equity, but also business angels and equity crowdfunding. We will go deeper into these sources in section 2 of this note.

Beryl is a leading brand in China's goji berry market that has stayed ahead of the competition quality-wise and is the only one to build a name for itself both offline and online. Beryl made a foray into e-commerce in 2015 and quickly outperformed rivals with low-priced berries. However, its success came at the expense of brand image. In 2018, Beryl repositioned itself by axing lucrative low-price products that brought the company ¥70 million in sales and accounted for 70% of total e-commerce sales. It shifted focus to new goji berry snacks to satisfy the demand for health products among younger generations. In 2020, the Covid-19 outbreak dealt a severe blow to Beryl's offline retail. As a bulwark against the pandemic, Beryl decided to embrace internet retail and make livestream marketing a strategic priority.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case CB0152

Feng Min, Sun Lei, and Li Shangzhen initially established Ruhnn as a Taobao brand called "LiBeilin". With the rapid development and growing integration of social platforms and e-commerce functionality, they partnered with fashion model Zhang Dayi to open an exclusive online private store. Following the store's promising debut, LiBeilin officially renamed itself Ruhnn and adopted an "influencers + incubator + supply chain" operating model. With its self-operated business, Ruhnn looked to optimize its model as the supply chain was too complicated and focus on influencer incubation and operations. It also brought in business partners to pursue monetization. Ruhnn's FY2021Q1 results indicated a dramatic surge in profitability, with the platform business becoming a significant driver of robust growth. In recent years, influencer marketing has exploded with a host of multi-channel networks (MCNs) mushrooming across China. Ruhnn faced a barrage of criticism for relying on Weibo despite declining commercialization. Ruhnn's management team faced several issues. Could influencer incubation be replicated at scale through institutional operations? How should Ruhnn empower influencers and better serve businesses with influencer marketing needs? Could the company's organizational structure keep up with the expanding influencer pool and business size?

The case describes the process of entering the China market undertaken by InMobi, an Indian Internet Company that provides a mobile advertising platform and value-added services for brands. InMobi was intentionally developed as an international venture by its founders. After opening offices in South Africa, Europe, and North America, the board had a long discussion and eventually decided to enter the China market. The case describes how, under the leadership of Jessie Yang, InMobi China successfully adapted to the unique ecosystem of China's internet industry. In 2019 InMobi's China revenue exceeded $100 million for the first time, accounting for over one-quarter of its parent company's global revenue, and next only to the US market. The case ends by noting the expansion of the Beijing office by inviting InMobi technologists from India and also plans for spinning off InMobi China as an independent company. After achieving the aspiring milestone, Yang also faced the business growth challenges. How could she strengthen InMobi's first-mover advantage in the China mobile advertising market and maintain good relations with headquarters to gain autonomy and trust?

Alicia Soulier, owner of Capelli Salon Studio, a hair salon in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has developed an application (app) that can help save hair salons thousands of dollars per month in hair colour costs. However, she is struggling to recruit enough subscribers to her new software as a service (SaaS) company, SalonScale. With the diversion of her attention from her hair salon to the app threatening her core business, Soulier must soon decide on a customer acquisition strategy.

Alicia Soulier, owner of Capelli Salon Studio, a hair salon in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has developed an application (app) that can help save hair salons thousands of dollars per month in hair colour costs. However, she is struggling to recruit enough subscribers to her new software as a service (SaaS) company, SalonScale. With the diversion of her attention from her hair salon to the app threatening her core business, Soulier must soon decide on a customer acquisition strategy.

In 1989, Tracy Edwards, at age 26, led the first all-female crew in the prestigious and grueling 59,264-kilometre (32,000 nautical mile) Whitbread Round the World Race. Edwards had developed a deep love for sailing in general and for the Whitbread Round the World Race in particular. However, she soon found that it was impossible, as a woman, to participate as a fully integrated member of a crew. Hence, she sought to organize an all-female team to compete in the race. She located, bought, and restored an old racing yacht, which eventually was christened Maiden. The idea of a team of women racing in the Whitbread Round the World Race was unthinkable to many men in and around the world of yacht racing, so the backlash was predictable and intense, and the hurdles to successfully complete the race seemed insurmountable. This six-part case series chronicles the myriad challenges faced by Edwards and her colleagues before and during the race, including rampant sexism and misogyny. Each of the six cases sets the stage for the next challenge Edwards has to overcome.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

Supplement for product 9B21C020.

David Pong, co-founder and CEO of a water technology start-up, had good news to share with his team: after several rounds of pitching and evaluation, they had raised seed funding for their social enterprise, Wateroam. David had started Wateroam as a fresh university graduate with two younger co-founders in August 2014. The trio's mission was to tackle the global problem of water scarcity by providing water filtration systems to the rural poor. As a new start-up, Wateroam faced challenges in funding, product innovation, sales and distribution. Wateroam broke even in its second year of operation. In the four years since its formation, the social enterprise, which is based in Singapore, has provided people in 14 countries with access to clean water. Now, with this round of seed funding, Wateroam was poised to enter its next phase of growth and reach out to more underserved communities that were in dire need of clean water. As CEO, David had many important decisions to make. Chief among them was how he should scale up Wateroam, bearing in mind the latter's double bottom line of profitability and social impact.

Ashok Leyland (AL) has been a good performer in the commercial vehicle (CV) industry in India, and has emerged as a leading player in the global CV industry. It has done well to survive and grow in a cyclical industry and has overcome many recessions and downturns in the nearly 70 years of its existence. The case describes the efforts of AL in conceptualizing and launching a new initiative called ServiceMandi to garner a greater share of the aftersales service part of the value chain, thus taking AL into a market that was historically dominated by the unorganized sector. The SM initiative comes with its own set of rewards and challenges and confronts AL with tradeoffs whose resolutions are not so obvious. This case presents an insight into the conceptualization of the SM initiative, the approach followed by AL in converting the SM concept into reality, and the progress made so far with this initiative. The case also presents the potential directions that this initiative can take in the future and provides an opportunity for students to think through the various options in terms of the pros and cons and recommend a course of action for AL

In 2008, Zoomlion acquired the Italian company Cifa, a world-leading company in the concrete machinery market. The acquisition bolstered Zoomlion's leadership in this market in China through Cifa's advanced technology. The acquisition also provided Zoomlion fast access to foreign markets, so that it could extend its leadership in the concrete machinery market to Europe, and to emerging markets such as India and Russia. But while much emphasis was given to the noteworthy success of this operation, less has been said so far on the difficulties Cifa managers experienced in their cultural dealings with Zoomlion. Zoomlion's lack of prior international experience and their cultural differences with the Cifa managers led observers to doubt Zoomlion's ability to successfully manage Cifa's operations. What factors were behind the managerial integration? What were the biggest challenges in building a stable working relationship between the two management teams?

Student spreadsheet to case W21283

Ucommune was the first co-working space operator in China to submit a prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As its basic business, Ucommune provided co-working spaces for members and customers, and gradually formed two specific space operation models: the self-operated model and the asset-light model. Ucommune also offered members comprehensive value-added services and promoted the development of a service business by establishing a service ecosystem. Constant exploration of the co-working space industry had enabled Ucommune to create a unique business model and, through its creation, positively change the industry's old model. Although it had reached certain goals, Ucommune still faced challenges, including problems with achieving profitability, fierce competition, and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. To transcend the current obstacles, In early 2020, Ucommune had to consider how to further adjust and optimize the business model.