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The director of World Tailors, a small Canadian manufacturer that employed immigrant and refugee women to sew high-quality aprons, napkins, and market bags, wondered how all of the needed products would be completed for the 2017 December holiday season. During the past seven years, demand for World Tailor products had steadily increased from craft markets, online orders, and retail stores. How could the capacity of its current operations be better managed and expanded? World Tailors was more than a local manufacturer: it supported courageous women, who had recently arrived in Canada as refugees and immigrants, to integrate into the community. Would reorganizing as a business co-operative better balance the unique social mission of the organization?

In June 2018 Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), the iconic American manufacturer of motorcycles-hogs as they were affectionately referred to - announced that it would shift some United States-based production to a foreign country. Harley explained it had little choice if it was to remain competitive in foreign markets, specifically, Europe. The EU (EU) had the previous month announced an increase in the import duty imposed on Harley-Davidson motorcycle manufactured in the U.S. in retaliation to President Donald Trump's imposition of increased tariffs on European steel and aluminum. But Harley's problems went much deeper than simply European import duties. Harley was suffering from a decade-long slump in sales and profitability. Would shifting production out of the U.S. be the appropriate solution?

In its first four years, Fancam Pty Ltd. (Fancam), a high-definition, 360-degree crowd-imaging business based in Cape Town, South Africa, had enjoyed considerable growth that was driven in part by its network of resellers around the world. However, the structure and incentives of the reseller channel were becoming too difficult for the business to manage. By February 2015, Fancam's chief executive officer was considering how to fix the firm's channel management strategy. He was considering the use of reseller exclusivity agreements and wondered how to manage such agreements. He also wondered how to improve the company's multi-faceted sales incentive structure, whether to replace resellers with an in-house sales force, and what role these decisions would have on the brand positioning of his company’s product.

US-based Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI), founded in 1992, was the world's largest agency dedicated to providing adoption services to abandoned children living in Chinese social welfare institutions. By 2017, CCAI had found permanent homes in the United States for more than 12,000 orphaned children and children with disabilities. However, the economic, social, legal, and political environments in China were changing. The number of abandoned children in the Chinese mainland was gradually decreasing, while the number of children with disabilities seeking a foreign adoption was constantly increasing. The founders were determined to apply their experiences, resources, and influence to charitable work, while continuing to pursue the cause of international adoptions. What should they do to help maintain CCAI’s sustainable development?

In 2018, President of the United States, Donald Trump, criticized the company Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) for increasing drug prices—which had been a strategic move by Pfizer in response to industry-wide challenges. This announcement highlighted the complex dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry and the big challenges that innovative research and development (R&D)–intensive pharmaceutical companies faced. The entire pharmaceutical industry was being challenged by issues such as decreasing global average returns on investment and increased R&D costs. In addition, the company faced increased competition from companies from other industries and from emerging-market companies. Pfizer’s chief executive officer needed to determine whether or not these changes marked a turning point for the whole industry.

Case B complements Case A, describing pharmaceutical companies’ strategic responses—such as mega-mergers and acquisitions and specialization—to industry-wide global challenges and highlights strategic decisions by Pfizer’s chief executive officers between 2007 and 2018.

In January 2018, Fotile Kitchenware Co. Ltd.'s (Fotile's) sales for 2017 were announced at over ¥10 billion. Fotile had become the first kitchen appliance manufacturer in China to reach this significant milestone, despite its relatively short operational history. For years, Fotile had also been considered China’s most prominent brand in the kitchenware industry, beating several internationally-reputed brands. Since the company’s founding, the founder had set a differentiation strategy for this new venture to compete in the kitchen appliance industry. He had also made numerous tough decisions along the way to ensure that this strategy was persistently followed through. However, could his strategy continue to sustain Fotile’s growth for the future?

Between 1998 and 2018, JD.com Inc. (JD.com) transformed from a compact disc (CD)-burner shop into a technology-driven group of service companies (JD Group) and China’s largest retailer by revenue. Yu Long joined the Group in August 2012 as chief human resources (HR) officer and general counsel. Over the years, Long launched various initiatives to strengthen the HR team and improve its practices to support the Group’s rapid growth and transformation. This case describes the new challenges that faced the Group’s HR management committee headed by Long.

In late 2016, the marketing head at Air France India needed a strategy to acquire additional business-class customers. Although Air France India had been performing well in the economy-class segment, revenues in the business-class segment remained a challenge. Which customer group should the airline target to acquire more business-class travellers? How should the company increase its brand image for this target customer group? And how should the company reach out to these new customers? The marketing head also needed to decide whether the company should act alone and implement a strategy of direct marketing, pursue a partnership using a co-branding strategy, or utilize a combination of those options.

As Shanghai MarcPoint Information Technology Co. Ltd. (MarcPoint) celebrated its fifth anniversary, its founder was quite pleased by what the company had achieved. MarcPoint was a start-up that offered marketing research services by analyzing user-generated content (UGC) with big-data technologies. The company had been successful and grown steadily since its inception in 2013. It was founded upon the realization that UGC was disrupting traditional marketing research and that big-data analytics provided the technological means to analyze the UGC efficiently and effectively. In 2018, the founder reflected on what MarcPoint’s next steps should be: What technologies should they pursue? Which markets could they target for growth in the next five years? Should they try to transport MarcPoint’s success to overseas markets? All in all, what needed to be done to sustain MarcPoint’s growth and maintain its leading position in the turbulent technical and business environment?

In January 2017, the Midea Group Co. Ltd. (Midea), a China-based large manufacturer of electrical appliances, completed its acquisition of German-based KUKA AG (KUKA), a large manufacturer of industrial robots. To ease concerns about technologies falling into foreign hands, Midea entered into an alliance with KUKA that ensured KUKA’s independence until 2023. However, within less than a year, KUKA experienced problems in its European and Asian markets. In China, it needed to lower costs. In Europe, a price war slowed down the orders, and the company had insufficient workers to meet demand in the United States and Asia. Some German automotive clients were losing trust in KUKA, and German employees worried about their job security. How could the two companies operate sufficiently independently to maintain their clients' trust, while being integrated enough to improve their efficiencies? How should they be prepared for the expiration of the alliance in 2023?

In November 2017, Jerry Xie, executive vice-president and corporate secretary of China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (CGI), the only overseas-listed subsidiary of China National Gold Group (CNG), a Chinese state-owned gold company, was expected to report his plan for the future development of CGI to the chairman of the board of both CNG and CGI in a week’s time. CGI was perceived as the international flagship company of CNG and was listed in both Canada and Hong Kong, yet it had two mines in China and none in Canada. The parent firm needed Xie’s help to answer a question from the global capital market: should CGI be kept in operation in Canada?

On March 29, 2012, the chief executive officer of London Mining, an iron ore mining firm based in the United Kingdom, was considering an innovative financing offer from BlackRock World Mining Trust, an investment firm owned by asset manager BlackRock. The offer was a royalty agreement that would see BlackRock pay US$110 million to London Mining in exchange for 2 per cent of iron ore revenues from the Marampa mine in Sierra Leone. The company was looking at raising $250 million in debt and funding the remainder through a combination of free cash flow, convertible debt, or an equity issue. The opportunity to sell a portion of the revenues as part of a royalty agreement seemed appealing. The chief executive officer’s challenge was to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of agreeing to the royalty arrangement.

In 2015, the director of the Lebanese non-governmental organization Arcenciel felt a surge of pride knowing that his organization's bottle caps project had created grassroots awareness of the importance of recycling. In recent years, Arcenciel had grown from an organization that supported people who were disabled and disenfranchised to become the largest recycler in the region. The organization had managed to create a synergy between its engagement on behalf of people who were marginalized and its activities to dispose of garbage in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. The Lebanese public was encouraged to collect plastic waste; and in exchange for each tonne of collected bottle caps, Arcenciel would donate a wheelchair to a person with a disability who was in need. This initiative engaged thousands of people in joint collection efforts. The director wondered how the trust that Arcenciel had gained through the bottle caps project could be harnessed to bring about political change, and to place environmental and social issues in Lebanon on the national agenda.

Vazirani Automotive Pvt. Ltd. debuted its first electric hypercar, the Vazirani Shul, in July 2018 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England. The Shul was promoted as the first electric hypercar from India; however, although the company was headquartered in Mumbai, India, its manufacturing and design hubs were in California, United States. The Shul was considered unique because the car offered a blend of art and science, in contrast to other hypercars that were designed to appear aggressive and driven completely by science.<br>If successful, the Shul has the opportunity to become the world’s first electric car with a jet turbine-electric powertrain, expected to hit Indian roads by 2021. Could the Shul be successful in India and in the global markets? With design and manufacturing centres in the United States, should the Shul be positioned as an Indian car? Was the strategy of blending art and science in a car unique, and was it a recipe for success?

In November 2018, a co-owner of House of Lasagna, a chain of casual dining restaurants in the Philippines, was considering different marketing strategies to increase customer awareness of the chain’s brand and unique menu. The company had seven restaurants in November 2018 and a target of 25 restaurants by 2020. She was concerned about the customer satisfaction survey that the company conducted every year. The survey reported high customer satisfaction but comparatively low brand awareness. The co-owner knew that high brand awareness was critical for growth. What marketing strategies could House of Lasagna use to increase its brand awareness? Future growth and expansion strategies were most important. Would a loyalty program help increase customer retention?

Teach For Lebanon (TFL) was a non-profit organization (NFP) founded in response to the national problem of low quality public education. The case examines the sustainability challenges that TFL faced in a developing country, covering the financial, legal, and social dilemmas that NFPs struggled with. The case tracks TFL’s innovative solutions to enhance the organization’s financial sustainability and considers scaling-up and initiating a new business to generate additional income. Using benchmarking, students can invent and list their own suggestions for enhancing NFPs’ financial sustainability.

In 2012, the founders of food wholesale company FoodXervices Inc. Pte. Ltd. identified a gap between food wastage and food insecurity in Singapore. To reduce this gap, they established a charity arm, The Food Bank Singapore Ltd., which operated as a liaison, collecting near-to-expiry, excess, and unwanted food products from food suppliers, retailers, and restaurants for distribution to beneficiary organizations. When the charity was founded, it was set up to be legally independent to ensure clearer accounts and audits and to prevent false allegations of misuse of food donations. In April 2018, the founders were considering integrating these two now-mature entities to take advantage of potential internal and external synergies. They needed to determine the optimal way to integrate the two entities, while considering the needs of all stakeholders.

In January 2018, the second-generation scion and director of Natural, an Indian ice cream family business, was preparing for a meeting with the general manager of the company’s retail operations. The company was founded by the director’s father in 1984 under the name Kamath Ourtimes Ice Cream Private Ltd. and was known for its handmade artisanal ice cream brand—Natural Ice Cream. Several years after his entry into the family business in 2009, the son insisted on professionalizing the company as a means of achieving a vision of growth, despite an increasingly competitive market. In 2014, almost 30 years after the company was established, the general manager was the first professional to be hired by the company. Although professionalization brought about an increase in sales of two and a half times during 2012–2018, the director was sensing a change in the culture of the company, which he found troubling. He wondered if he had grown the company too big, too fast in his haste to transform it into a high-growth enterprise.

In early 2018, Modena, Italy’s Pagani Automobili S.p.A (Pagani Automobili), a boutique designer and manufacturer of high-performance internal combustion engine powered supercars, was struggling to develop a response to the emergence of electric vehicle technology. This technology appeared to be interesting and potentially useful. It outperformed internal combustion technology in terms of speed and power. In 2018, relatively inexpensive electric cars could already accelerate faster than most supercars over a quarter-mile distance. However, the electric car driving experience seemed very different from the experience of driving a supercar powered by an internal combustion engine, due largely to fundamental differences between the technologies. Could Pagani Automobili build an electric vehicle that its customers would perceive as a true Pagani Automobili creation?