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In 2014, Yildiz Holding, a Turkish conglomerate, had just acquired the UK-based biscuit maker United Biscuits, the premium chocolate maker Godiva Chocolatier Inc., and the US-based company DeMet’s Candy Company. As Yildiz Holding moved forward in pursuit of its goal of dominating the global confectionery market for biscuits and snacks, senior management members were questioning whether the company's business model (which had brought it success for many years) would continue to be viable, and particularly, what the implications of its global expansion were for its diversified business model.

By August 2015, Swiggy, an on-demand food delivery start-up, had been operating for almost one year in Bengaluru, India. The exponential growth of the business was expected to persist. However, Swiggy was incurring a loss, or a cash burn, on each delivery it was making. The company’s current cash reserves were also drying up, and its chief executive officer had been unsuccessful in attracting new venture capital funding to finance the cash burn estimated for the next four quarters. Swiggy must figure out how to pursue its growth without the injection of any fresh funds.

Founded in 1969 as a small operation, Otsuka Kagu, Ltd. became Japan’s largest furniture retailer and was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1980. A membership program in 1993 managed to revitalize the company’s sales at a time when Japan was in a recession. Years later, after sales began to decline and the founder was convicted of insider trading in 2008, the presidency was transferred to the founder’s daughter, who applied a more customer-centric model to the business. This change infuriated the founder, who removed his daughter from the company’s leadership. After persistently poor performance, the company’s board of directors reinstated the founder’s daughter; she then launched a notorious public battle for control of the company. Despite new environment-responsive strategies, revenues continued to decline to the point of the company declaring its biggest loss by the end of 2017. In August 2018, the company reported a net loss of ¥2.3 billion, with the company’s shares trading at their lowest level ever. Facing financial distress, the company had to look both inward and outward to determine its next steps.

In January 2017, the founder of Sunton Manufacturing in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, boarded a flight to Cambodia. He had to tackle the performance issue of the company’s garment manufacturing joint venture (JV) there—after two years in operation, it had run out of cash. After meeting with his JV partner, he concluded that the existing JV in Sihanoukville was beyond repair. He now needed to decide whether to exit Cambodia or to remain there, albeit in a different city and with a new partner. A new factory would require further investment. If he quit Cambodia, could his company survive and develop in the future?

In 2015, the corporate affairs executive of the leading Swiss agribusiness company Syngenta Crop Protection AG (Syngenta) and founder of the next-generation innovation platform Thought for Food, faced a dilemma about whether to register Thought for Food as an independent non-governmental organization, or to keep it housed within Syngenta. The choice had implications for Thought for Food’s potential for future growth and for its impact on global food-security challenges. To grow within Syngenta, Thought for Food would have to close the gaps between its open innovation practices and Syngenta’s traditional operations. To grow independently, it would have to develop a business plan that assured financial security. In either case, Thought for Food had to continue growing in relevance to its non-financial stakeholders, like the student participants and expert judges in its annual innovation challenge and summit.

In January 2017, the online cake company Ohmycake.in, which was started two years earlier by a young entrepreneur in Kerala, India, ran into trouble after a series of successful experiments. Adding to the company’s problems, customers were becoming more demanding and the competition was catching up. The entrepreneur had hired a new operations executive to help solve the company’s business strategy and scalability issues, including a current problem: whether to accept or reject demanding custom orders that were appearing in the company’s online order management system.

In January 2017, the founder of Sunton Manufacturing in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, boarded a flight to Cambodia. He had to tackle the performance issue of the company's garment manufacturing joint venture (JV) there-after two years in operation, it had run out of cash. After meeting with his JV partner, he concluded that the existing JV in Sihanoukville was beyond repair. He now needed to decide whether to exit Cambodia or to remain there, albeit in a different city and with a new partner. A new factory would require further investment. If he quit Cambodia, could his company survive and develop in the future?

Sichuan Haidilao Catering Co., Ltd. (Haidilao) was the leading hot pot company in the Chinese market and the largest hot pot chain of restaurants in the world. Haidilao was famous for its extraordinary customer service, which had made it a legend in the catering industry. However, on August 25, 2017, a news report with online videos revealed that mice were in the kitchen of one of Haidilao’s restaurants, that dustpans and tableware were washed in the same sink, and that spoons intended for customer use were used to unclog blockages in the plumbing. How could Zhang Yong, the founder and chair of Haidilao’s board of directors, respond to the crisis, turn threats into opportunities, and prevent the recurrence of such a crisis?

Since its founding in 2014, Malus Analytics International (MAI), a US-based player in the analytics consulting industry, had focused on helping its clients move to cloud-based computing and database management. However, by 2018, this strategy had left many of MAI's customers vulnerable to “Shadow IT,” an information technology (IT) phenomenon where employees used computing devices, data, and software that were not provided, approved, or sanctioned by an organization’s IT department for work. Twenty of MAI’s top clients had experienced data breaches as a result of the use of unsanctioned applications. In response, MAI's management team needed to develop a collaborative plan to help ameliorate the natural tensions between the chief information officers and the end-users. The plan needed to balance security requirements and resource management with innovation and flexibility.

Since its founding in 1989, Mejzlík Modellbau, a propeller manufacturing company based in the Czech Republic, had gained high visibility in the remote-controlled plane market. It had achieved a strong position by maintaining product quality and providing excellent customer service. The company had a strong cash position and an excellent credit rating; however, by mid-2018, the market for remote-controlled planes was reaching its saturation stage, as evidenced by Mejzlík Modellbau’s declining profits. If the company continued to rely solely on the remote-controlled plane market, it might soon face bankruptcy. The founder decided to explore various other markets wherein he could utilize his expertise of making high-quality carbon fibre propellers. But how would he strategically determine which market to pursue?

On October 5, 2017, the chief executive officer of Sony India Pvt. Ltd. (Sony), in Mumbai, India, was concerned about the future of the television show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKOC), which aired on the television channel Sri Adhikari Brothers Television (SAB TV), a general-entertainment channel owned by Sony. TMKOC was a flagship, family-friendly comedy show that had enjoyed top ratings for years. However, new comedy shows that featured more hard-edged and less family-oriented content, with jokes at the expense of characters rather than at situations, were gaining new viewers. Current viewers were also using mobile devices rather than traditional television sets to watch content. The chief executive officer wondered how he could sustain SAB TV as a market leader, despite the growing popularity of less family-friendly content from new comedy shows and emerging digital platforms.

Big Hit Entertainment, a Korean-based producer of popular music content, was promoting its hit "idol group," BTS, as a serious entry in the world’s mainstream musical entertainment business, alongside global performers such as Justin Bieber. The "K-pop machine" represented a complex set of practices for producing performances, many of which were unique to Korea and criticized as being "overly manufactured." The case raises questions about the extent to which processes and institutions designed to generate commercially valuable creative outcomes could be developed into a reliable, repeatable, or standardized form. Could a formula be used to generate successful and creative products?

In March 2018, the managing director of Maha Research Labs Private Limited, a pharmaceutical company in India, was charting his 2020 vision for the company. His ambitious plan was to achieve net revenue of ₹1 billion in 2018 and to have a pan-Indian presence and sales revenue of ₹2 billion in 2020. The managing director knew that the company would need to expand rapidly over the next year to meet these goals. First, however, he needed to assess several factors that would be key to deciding the sales targets. He also needed answers to some serious questions: How should the sales organization be designed? What sales force structure would be appropriate? Should the company opt for a generalist sales force structure or a specialist sales force structure? What was the optimal size for the sales force? What processes should the company follow to design the sales territories?

This case describes the internationalization of the PGA Tour, the U.S.'s professional golf circuit. Propelled in part by the popularity of golf in its domestic market, the PGA Tour built a successful business model attracting the best international players and global corporate sponsors. While the popularity of golf is showing no signs of waning in the U.S., it has been growing fast in other parts of the world. Now attempting to capitalize on opportunities abroad, the PGA Tour faces two challenges: some components of its business model do not lend themselves to internationalization, and its strongest rival, the European Tour, got a head start on the international scene in the early 1990s by gaining a foothold in many important markets. This is a decision-making case. It describes recent events (1996-2017) surrounding the internationalization of the PGA Tour and the competitive rivalry between the PGA Tour and its main challenger, the European Tour. Students are asked to put themselves in the position of Jay Monahan, the newly appointed PGA Tour commissioner, and assess whether the international strategy of the PGA Tour will give it a competitive advantage, particularly since the European Tour is challenging the PGA Tour's dominant position.

In 2012-15, India's domestic tyre industry witnessed slower growth of its production capacity and capacity utilization along with a decline in market share due to increasing demand for cheap Chinese tyres. Indian tyre manufacturers attributed the growing demand for Chinese tyres to dumping of tyres by China. On behalf of major Indian tyre manufacturers, who were worried about the unfair trade practice of Chinese tyre suppliers, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA) urged the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to impose an anti-dumping duty on Chinese truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres. The Association argued that an anti-dumping duty would enable domestic manufacturers to compete with cheap Chinese tyres and more fully utilize their production capacity. But tyre dealers were dead set against an anti-dumping duty, arguing that it was against consumer welfare. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD), which was investigating the case, had to both determine the extent of Chinese dumping and ensure that consumer interests were not undermined by efforts to protect those of the domestic tyre industry.

CropIn Technology Solutions (CropIn) of Bangalore, India, provided agricultural solutions to business-to-business clients that required a “smart” approach in solving issues related to farm productivity. In July 2015, the chief operating officer (COO) of CropIn, was approached by the chief executive officer of one of the world's foremost seed companies. He presented the COO with an ongoing problem faced by his firm: the seed rejection rate had drastically increased in the past decade, reaching 18 per cent in 2015, up from four per cent in 2006. CropIn was asked to devise a “smart” solution for addressing the issue, for which CropIn would have to customize its product portfolio according to the problem.

In 2014, Shenzhen Bauing Construction Holding Group Co. Ltd. (Bauing Group) decided to expand internationally, and successfully established subsidiary companies in several Southeast Asian countries. Based on this success in Southeast Asia, Bauing Group decided in 2016 to expand further by entering the US market. However, doing so entailed some challenges and difficulties, including cultural and regional differences, language barriers, and the need to become familiar with different construction standards and laws. Bauing Group also needed to address a pressing issue: determining its market entry strategy. Should it enter the market through licensing, greenfield projects, franchising, business alliances, exporting, turnkey projects, joint ventures, or acquisitions?

The chief executive officer of Bamboos Health Care Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. (Bamboos) started her entrepreneurship journey in 2005 with a telephone and a fax machine. She created a platform to match the demand from patients or their relatives with the supply of services from health care professionals. After 12 years in operation, following one consistent business model, Bamboos was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Despite several challenges in its early years, the Bamboos business model proved to be sustainable in Hong Kong and became resistant to change. In early 2018, the founder was considering entering the health care market in mainland China and changing the company’s business model for the first time. Could the current business model in Hong Kong be modified to enter mainland China and other countries? What changes would be required with respect to strategy and management?

In order to shift 30 per cent of the country’s transport fleet to electric by 2030, the Indian government had launched multiple programs to promote usage of hybrid and electric vehicles (EV) in the country and had agreed to provide various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to EV firms up until 2020. Many leading automobile manufacturers in India were investing millions of dollars in designing and manufacturing EVs, building the infrastructure required for running EVs, and creating the components required for the battery system used in EVs. Despite these multiple public and private initiatives, by September 2018 it had became apparent that many macro and micro issues were present in the overall environment that was being built for the smooth running of EVs. Would Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited and other automobile firms be able to effectively formulate strategies and compete successfully in this dynamic and changing business environment?

In 2014, Guccio Gucci SpA (Gucci), a flagship brand of the Kering group, was struggling with its operating profit and human resources. By December 2014, the company had experienced three consecutive quarters of declining profits. In addition to the company’s financial issues, its president and chief executive officer (CEO) and its creative director had abruptly left the company. On January 15, 2015, a new CEO took over and faced several decisions. He needed to decide whether or not to reposition the brand and whether to hire internally or externally for a new creative director—related decisions that would strongly influence the brand’s position in the market and its appeal in the future.