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It was summer of 2013, and the news of cyber-attacks and information security breaches was on the rise in India, as it was worldwide. Incidents such as the Axis bank’s cyber-crime incident and the news of the American National Security Agency’s global e-surveillance were creating consternation and dilemmas in the minds of information security consultants. One such consultant owned and operated an information security company, Percept Softech, a Lakshyaa Technology Lab’s Jaipur franchise. The consultant was bogged down by a number of problems and dilemmas. The first was his marketing and business growth strategy, which was not helping him in promotion of his business. Information security solutions, spying, vulnerability checks, key logging and allied propositions were difficult to promote. Managing young millennial talent was another major problem for him. Apart from the woes of business growth, inefficiency in promotion and talent issues, the consultant was now facing another dilemma. Should he start a new business away from the umbrella of the Lakshyaa Technology Lab? Should he partner with a detective agency? Or should he relocate from Jaipur to a more central location (such as New Delhi) where perhaps people would be more aware of the importance of cyber security and students would be more interested in pursuing cyber security training?

It was summer of 2013, and the news of cyber-attacks and information security breaches was on the rise in India, as it was worldwide. Incidents such as the Axis bank's cyber-crime incident and the news of the American National Security Agency's global e-surveillance were creating consternation and dilemmas in the minds of information security consultants. One such consultant owned and operated an information security company, Percept Softech, a Lakshyaa Technology Lab's Jaipur franchise. The consultant was bogged down by a number of problems and dilemmas. The first was his marketing and business growth strategy, which was not helping him in promotion of his business. Information security solutions, spying, vulnerability checks, key logging and allied propositions were difficult to promote. Managing young millennial talent was another major problem for him. Apart from the woes of business growth, inefficiency in promotion and talent issues, the consultant was now facing another dilemma. Should he start a new business away from the umbrella of the Lakshyaa Technology Lab? Should he partner with a detective agency? Or should he relocate from Jaipur to a more central location (such as New Delhi) where perhaps people would be more aware of the importance of cyber security and students would be more interested in pursuing cyber security training?

In December 2005, Sapient Consulting signed a fixed-price contract with U.S.-based Global HR Outsourcing Inc. to design a human resources portal for its international customers. Sapient's senior manager of project management, who was based in India, had been handed the project with full faith that it would not only be delivered on time but within the fixed price and using the new agile hybrid methodology. The client wanted the portal built for them and insisted that the project be delivered in a phased manner and with functionality approved by them. Thus, the challenge was to meet the needs of the client while maintaining the margins for the organization.

Cyprus is a small island member of the European Union, constituting 0.2 per cent of the eurozone gross domestic product. During its growth phase, the Cypriot banking system developed vulnerabilities after suffering heavy losses during the Greek sovereign debt crisis. The European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union offered a bailout of US$16.9 billion if the Cypriot government could raise US$7.54 billion from within. The government had a few options on the table — a “one-off” stability levy on all bank deposits (a solution loathed by both native and foreign depositors), a bank restructuring plan, seeking help from Russia (which expected access to the island’s oil and gas reserves) and a complete banking system bailout (which would come with oversight and control from those offering the bailout). The economy was fast approaching a standstill and Cyprus had only two days to strike a deal to avoid the collapse of its banking system.

The owner of The Jade Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, BC, is ambushed by an impromptu media interview with animal rights activists regarding his restaurant’s serving of shark’s fin soup. This soup has been an upper-class staple delicacy in China for over 400 years; with the increased consumer power that has resulted from the growth of the Chinese economy since 1970, it has become the signature dish for families celebrating important occasions and for sealing business and political deals. However, research has shown that sharks have become a highly endangered species, in part because of the practice of harvesting only the fins and throwing away the rest of the carcass and because of the small birth rate and slow growth development of the fish. The consumption of shark’s fin soup in Chinese culture has become an easy target for animal rights activists because it is so localized. How should the owner react to this media ambush? If he removes this culturally important item from his menu, how will this affect his business in the highly competitive Asian restaurant environment in Richmond? Should a cultural norm trump real concerns about the consumption of an endangered species?

Essar Group (Essar), a large diversified conglomerate based in India, needs to raise significant capital through an initial public offering (IPO) and has to decide whether to do so through the Indian Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange or the New York Stock Exchange. The company will have to continue to report in Indian GAAP and, if it decides to list its IPO in the United States or Europe, it also will have to adopt either U.S. GAAP or IFRS. The chief financial officer of Essar has to recommend to management where to raise the needed capital and what accounting standard to adopt. The B case 9B13B015 discloses the decision and describes some of the implementation issues.

This is a supplement to 9B13B014.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER -Best case in the Entrepreneurship & Indian Family Business category, ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition</strong></p><br>An entrepreneur puts his entire lifetime into building an organization. When it comes to health care in India, it is all the more difficult as there are so many hurdles, such as a huge population that cannot afford to pay, shortage of trained manpower and increasing cost of supplies. LV Prasad Eye Institute has been successful, largely because of its founder’s dedication, hard work and innovative pyramid model of organizational structure. In spite of its success, this healthcare institution faces challenges from increased competition and the lack of a succession strategy.

By 2015, Cervus Equipment Corporation, based in Calgary, Alberta, has grown its business substantially through regional acquisitions and strong organic growth. The company was founded in the 1990s to manage and consolidate farm equipment dealerships in western Canada but, in partnership with original equipment manufacturers, has branched into the construction equipment and long haul trucking manufacturing industries and has moved into New Zealand and Australia. The board of directors is now looking for the new chief executive officer to chart an innovative growth strategy that will see the company triple in size over the next five years. The market fundamentals to support this growth are quite strong and realistic; however, the growth opportunities in the company’s traditional Canadian markets are not sufficient and its customers’ requirements are being driven to new levels of complexity due to a technology revolution happening within the industry. At the same time, its experience overseas has ultimately provided an opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the differences in international markets and new cultures. Management needs to come up with a growth plan that puts the company into non-traditional markets or new industries while addressing the changes happening in the industry.

The director of the investment wing of a financial-services provider must decide whether his firm should continue to invest in the former frontrunner in the personal-computer industry or switch strategies and invest instead in an up-and-coming competitor. At a time of significant technological change and slowing global growth, the director and his team of analysts set out to create an in-depth assessment of the personal-computer industry in order to make an informed decision about their firm’s optimum investment choices.

The publisher Random House, a fully owned subsidiary of the German family company Bertelsmann SE & Co. KgaA, faces significant changes in its markets and internal structure. While printed books have been the company’s core competence from its earliest years, with the advent of the Internet, customers, especially in the West, are beginning to prefer electronic books. Will printed books be completely replaced by digital ones, or will e-books remain a niche market? How will this development affect production, distribution and marketing? Will Random House be able to compete for authors and sales with such online e-book giants as Amazon? The imminent merger with the U.K. publishing house Penguin also provides an opportunity and incentive to expand Random House’s operations into China as part of the internationalization strategy of the parent company. A post-merger integration plan must be established since the two publishers’ regional presences and product offerings are in part complementary. How can the new Penguin Random House strengthen its position as the world’s biggest and most successful publisher?

India’s real estate boom led to the built-in appliances industry’s biggest opportunity. In 2010 and 2011, a total of 533,954 residential units were launched in seven top cities: Mumbai, National Capital Region, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. As the market evolved and demand increased, investments and improvements in infrastructure, software, education, work force, installation, after-sales service, logistics were guaranteed to occur. This was expected to initiate a cycle of profitable growth. Whirlpool was already an established player in the home appliances segment. Given the improving industry described above, should Whirlpool tap this emerging market? If so, what might be its strategic objectives and positioning strategies for dealing with the competition and appealing to its prospective customers?

Jade Magnet was India’s largest creative crowdsourcing platform. It had grown from an entrepreneurship project idea of two MBA students to one that had completed more than 700 projects for 200 brands through 3,000 providers that offered a range of creative services. As 2011 was coming to a close, the founders were preparing for a meeting with their mentor and angel investor to discuss a number of issues including whether to grow the business by expanding domestically in India and/or expanding internationally into the Middle East. A decision to enter the Middle East would raise further questions concerning market knowledge, competitors, external funding sources, joint ventures and branding.

Sinofert Holdings Limited, the largest comprehensive fertilizer enterprise in China, is trying to improve the profitability of its urea business. The company has invested a great deal of time and money but still reported losses in 2007 and 2009 and only a small profit in 2008. Sinofert both manufactures urea and purchases it from external suppliers, as well as distributing it to the provinces. Manufacturing costs, transportation costs, market prices, demand forecasts and manufacturing constraints are all known. An optimal distribution plan using linear programming can be compared to the plan derived by Sinofert management. Substantial profitability increases are shown to be possible, although the optimization reveals some issues with contract constraints. If the company is to make its urea business profitable, it needs a fresh look and a change in the way of doing business. The company’s chief analytics officer has been asked to look at the urea business and to provide recommendations to increase profitability.

On January 12, 2007 a prominent Chinese blogger protested against Starbucks' presence in Beijing's Forbidden City. The blogger stated, "This is not globalisation but an erosion of Chinese culture." The blog post signalled the start of an avalanche of criticism as Starbucks came under attack for operating a café inside China's Forbidden City. The effort to remove the iconic western brand from the centre of the Forbidden City quickly became global news. Initially the story grew only within China's Internet space, but once translated into English it became global front-page news in a matter of days. Starbucks quickly found itself on the receiving end of criticism for inappropriately operating a café in the middle of a cultural and historical centre. What should the company do?

CP 7-Eleven is a prominent retail chain in Thailand. The analysis of the financial statements for the year 2011 revealed that while the earnings per share increased, the return on equity (ROE) declined. The company had negative working capital. It exerted strong bargaining power over its suppliers and customers and had efficient inventory management. It had been accumulating cash and other liquid assets over the last few years and it expanded in a well-planned manner, with almost 500 new stores every year. However, the company was viewed as having a lot of “fat” on its balance sheet. It was necessary to trim the fat and enhance ROE. The company needed to focus on strategies for future growth.

For many American firms engaging with Chinese business partners, patterns of negotiated promises made but not kept by their Chinese counterparts often prove rule rather than exception. While various issues play a role in this unfortunate condition, many contributing factors are not subject to control or correction by U.S. negotiators. But two singularly damaging factors can be controlled and corrected by U.S. managers. First is their tendency to negotiate from decidedly Western sociocultural perspectives. Second is that managers often negotiate in states of relative ignorance about certain key cultural values that heavily influence Chinese negotiating practices. Grounded in Bing Fa, this article describes approaches designed to enable managers to negotiate more effectively with Chinese partners. By turns, the approaches instruct U.S. managers regarding why and how they should (when negotiating with Chinese counterparts): embrace the unusual as normal; begin with hard ends in mind; anticipate/prepare for conflict; never resist resistances, [instead] always retreat gracefully; disclose with discretion; act like ladies and gentlemen; and never die with bullets in [their] guns. Adopt these tactics, and U.S. managers would lessen the impact of two factors that, when present, degrade their negotiating effectiveness.

The Chief of the Australian Army faces a significant public scandal. In recent weeks, allegations have emerged that members of the country’s defence forces, including officers, shared explicit emails and photos that denigrated women. The scandal occurs as the Australian Defence Force is actively encouraging more women to join the ranks of the military. The Chief of the Australian Army needs to devise a strategy to communicate to the victims of the scandal, members of the army and the general public that the Australian Army is a national institution with strong values and moral standards and will not tolerate chauvinism of any kind.

Founded in 1997, Kalamandir was established in one of the poorest tribal areas in India to revive tribal dances and arts and generate livelihoods. It was now active in over 114 villages and its activities had helped increase the incomes of over 2,500 households. Despite strong achievements, much more would have to be done to make a substantial improvement in the lives of tribal villagers in Jharkhand, an impoverished region of India. The question was how to scale the activities and induce socio-economic development in a sustainable way. How could livelihood opportunities associated with arts, dance, culture and handicrafts be broadened while strengthening the region’s core agricultural income? How could the local leadership pool in villages be expanded and what mechanisms could be introduced to minimize conflicts or resolve them faster? How could Kalamandir attract dynamic professionals? Which government and private organizations did it have to develop stronger relationships with in order to access the financial resources it needed to grow?

In May 2011, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), a leading real estate company in Vietnam, was going to issue US$90 million of 9.875 senior notes (a debt instrument) in Singapore, due 2016. The company estimated the net proceeds from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other estimated expenses, to be approximately US$80.7 million. From the perspective of an analyst at a brokerage firm who was monitoring HAG, there were many questions of interest arising from the note issue. These included the cost of the debt and the reasons why HAG chose to raise the money in Singapore, and not in Vietnam. What was the cost at which HAG was borrowing through the Singapore note issue? Was HAG’s level of borrowing, after the note issue, exceeding the optimal level? What was the likelihood that HAG would be downgraded within a year from its B rating from Standard and Poor’s? How would the risk to HAG’s equity be affected as a result of the issue? Would HAG’s stock price decline? The brokerage firm analyst needed to decide whether her firm should offload its equity holding in the company.