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Since 2000, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, a global Fortune 500 petroleum company largely owned by the government of India, had institutionalized an internal competition called IDEAS. Each year, several employees participated by submitting their innovative ideas to the competition. Many of these innovations involved significant savings and/or improvements. However, by 2015, a degree of fatigue had set in. Was IDEAS an innovation engine or a tool for employee engagement? How could the competition be transformed so that it delivered more for the employees and the organization?

In June 2015, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) India was considering its future in the Indian telecom market. MTS India, a global telecommunications (telecom) brand, had been operating in the country since March 2009. It had gone through difficult phases marked by India’s regulatory regime and the global economic crisis. Although the Indian telecom market had immense potential, MTS India’s success was stifled by a lack of telecom resources and in the inability to successfully manage the macro environment. Over the years, the company had adopted multiple strategies to drive business growth. However, due to the incompatible telecom ecosystem, including technology and devices, the company was not able to achieve its intended objectives in India. The chief executive officer was evaluating several strategic options in light of intense competition and a geopolitical crisis faced by MTS India’s parent company in Russia.

The Renault KWID was successfully launched in India in the entry-level car segment as a new competitor for the Maruti Suzuki Alto, the largest-selling passenger car in the country. By August 2016, the market leader’s market share had fallen to 40.6 per cent from 48.5 per cent earlier that year, while the Renault KWID gained a market share of about 19.8 per cent. Despite the KWID’s remarkable success, however, Renault’s strategy for the future needed to consider two major issues: competitive strategy for market leaders versus market disruptors, and product portfolio analysis and performance. Renault also needed to consider the threat other new entrants might pose. Should the company create a strategy to manage new entrants that might follow Renault’s own successful launch? Renault also had to consider the strength of its portfolio. Was it likely to generate more successful launches in the future or was the KWID just a rare occurrence?

In September 2015, the Volkswagen Group (VW) was in a state of flux. Its reputation was taking a severe beating in the auto industry and among consumers. The United States Environmental Protection Agency had accused the company of tampering with its EA 189 diesel engines to clear emissions tests. The engines, fitted with a “defeat device,” met the stringent emission levels and higher fuel efficiency standards set in the United States. The defeat device controlled emissions during laboratory testing and driving so that they remained within permissible limits; however, during actual on-the-road driving, the nitrogen oxide emissions were up to 40 times higher. VW’s admission of the intentional manipulation severely dented its value chain, affecting market share, brand image, internal/external stakeholders trust, and supply chain operations. In the wake of the scandal, the company faced the challenge of organizing a product recall and reconceptualizing the VW brand identity.

In September 2015, the manager of Hind Oil Industries (HOI), a small edible oil manufacturer in Asansol, West Bengal, was challenged by a dilemma in pricing strategy. HOI had seen the price of mustard seeds, its primary raw ingredient, rise steeply because of harsh weather conditions in the previous harvesting season. HOI would need to raise the price of its product significantly in a price-competitive market dominated by larger companies. The manager wondered if he could increase the price of his only product, Maa mustard oil, to cover the substantial increase in production costs without suffering a loss in total revenue earned. If so, what would be the optimum price under various scenarios related to his competitors’ expected price hikes? Could HOI’s price be raised even if the competitors decided against raising their prices?

In November 2014, an intern at Top Dog Wealth Management in Brisbane, Australia, was assisting with a market evaluation and company evaluation for Medibank Private Limited (Medibank). The upcoming Medibank initial public offering (IPO) was set to be one of Australia’s largest and was expected to generate more than AU$4 billion from shareholders who were keen to own a piece of the country’s largest private health insurer. Because the intern was new to the deal, her supervisor gave her access to his notes and directed her to use Bloomberg terminals. As she read through this material, the intern pondered some important questions: What was Medibank worth? Which valuation methods should she use?

The Renault KWID was successfully launched in India in the entry-level car segment as a new competitor for the Maruti Suzuki Alto, the largest-selling passenger car in the country. By August 2016, the market leader's market share had fallen to 40.6 per cent from 48.5 per cent earlier that year, while the Renault KWID gained a market share of about 19.8 per cent. Despite the KWID's remarkable success, however, Renault's strategy for the future needed to consider two major issues: competitive strategy for market leaders versus market disruptors, and product portfolio analysis and performance. Renault also needed to consider the threat other new entrants might pose. Should the company create a strategy to manage new entrants that might follow Renault's own successful launch? Renault also had to consider the strength of its portfolio. Was it likely to generate more successful launches in the future or was the KWID just a rare occurrence?

Kaya Skin Clinic (Kaya) was started in India in 2002. It expanded its operations to the Middle East in 2003. The company's value proposition was to provide medical advice from a dermatologist, which formed the basis for product and service recommendations that would dramatically improve customers' skin. The company had worked hard to position the Kaya brand through defined e-marketing and customer relationship management strategies; however, in 2015, Kaya needed to consider whether combining expertise, customized solutions, and a friendly environment would continue to work for the brand, or whether it was time to revamp and redefine the Kaya brand in the Middle East.

Kaya Skin Clinic (Kaya) was started in India in 2002. It expanded its operations to the Middle East in 2003. The company’s value proposition was to provide medical advice from a dermatologist, which formed the basis for product and service recommendations that would dramatically improve customers’ skin. The company had worked hard to position the Kaya brand through defined e-marketing and customer relationship management strategies; however, in 2015, Kaya needed to consider whether combining expertise, customized solutions, and a friendly environment would continue to work for the brand, or whether it was time to revamp and redefine the Kaya brand in the Middle East.

In 2016, the chief executive officer of the ibibo Group, one of the largest players in India’s online travel sector, faced a major decision. MakeMyTrip, India’s market leader in online travel, had expressed interest in acquiring the ibibo Group. Should the ibibo Group’s chief executive officer accept the offer and give up partial or total control of the company, in return for growing with the market leader? Or should he continue with the business he had launched in 2007, and rely on outside investment or the parent company to fund his efforts at growing the business? It was time to evaluate his strategic options.

In 2016, LinkedIn was the largest online platform connecting people to job opportunities and training. The company’s goal was to innovate and co-create with stakeholders a stable, yet emergent online platform that could serve a global business community undergoing rapid transformation in technology, job requirements, and the structure of work itself. <br><br>LinkedIn had a leadership role in this transformation; the company vision, market penetration, and expertise promised to help address major problems of global unemployment and underemployment. The company’s Economic Graph, a massive data set of employment information, was part of the response, but LinkedIn had some challenges to address. How could LinkedIn co-create with stakeholders a stable, increasingly scaled online platform that could serve a global business community, while the structures of those stakeholders inhibited interconnectivity, the skill sets for workers were evolving, and the requirements for and nature of work itself was going through rapid, uncertain transformation? How could it expand to include less educated adults and connect people in regions with different business cultures, values, and practices? How could it better coordinate open-source information among stakeholders? How could it define “soft skills” and connect people with good soft skills with hiring managers?

In February 2017, disruption in the carbonated soft drink value chain in the fictional city of Utopia has raised opportunities for prospective entrants to explore new business-to-business (B2B) partnerships at all levels in the value chain. This in-class, action-oriented strategic B2B partnership exercise has been designed to give learners experience in deciphering how B2B partnerships are built. In teams, participants assume the roles of the key value chain players in the soft drink industry (i.e., strategy heads of beverage companies, bottlers, big retailers, and small retail store owners). Teams are provided with an industry description and specific role information highlighting relevant constraints and opportunities. The teams then work to negotiate contracts during this in-class exercise.

Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L. was founded in 2013 when Huayi Group (Huayi), a Chinese state-owned enterprise, acquired Cubigel Compressors, S.A., a bankrupt Spanish industrial enterprise. While labour complications and other difficulties developed during the acquisition process, Huayi successfully managed the transition in May 2013. Despite this initial achievement, challenges related to the recovery of productivity, markets, and profitability continued. In January 2014, the general manager of Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L., who managed the transition, received a request to return to Huayi headquarters in Sichuan, China. From his Barcelona office, he grew concerned about several challenges: Who would be the right successor for his position? What strategy did Huayi need to consolidate its internationalization process? What knowledge could he transfer to China for future international strategies?

In July 2014, the managing partner and co-founder of Netherlands-based Expatica Communications B.V. (Expatica) received tragic news. His close friend and business partner had been travelling on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine. The two partners had worked closely together at Expatica for over 15 years. Three days after receiving the news of his friend’s sudden death, the surviving partner found himself alone in his office trying to work out how to cope with the situation and, in particular, how to deal with the employees who were due to return to the office the next day. How should he prepare himself for the next morning? How should he approach the meeting with the employees, and what should he say? What actions should he take regarding the firm in the short and medium term?

In 2006, Sophia Tannis, a 36-year-old professional with the U.S.-based multinational company CPA Solutions (CPA), who had worked internationally for many years, was asked by an influential leader at corporate headquarters in the United States to inject herself into a business-critical situation in Moscow. An established local competitor had been using various methods to damage CPA’s reputation in Moscow, and Tannis had to decide between employing the usual approaches expected by her leaders—involving the courts, media, and outreach to customers—or taking a more informal, relationship-based approach, as her Moscow-based counterpart encouraged. Tannis had to make a choice that could impact the company’s credibility, and she had to choose between strategies that were successful in North America and Europe and those proposed by her local advisors.

Vishant Patel, the founder of Patidar Exports Private Limited (PEPL), an export firm for cotton and other products in Ahmedabad in January 2017, was thinking whether to export cotton to Indonesia or not. He exported cotton to countries like China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, but not sure about Indonesia because of the strict regulation of the buyers in the country. Indonesia was the sixth largest importer of cotton in the world. Exporting to Indonesia could create a new market for Patel while meeting the standard requirements would increase the cost of his cotton. He was not confident whether Indonesian buyer would like to purchase Indian cotton at a higher cost when they had options like American and Australian sellers available.

When the June 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit, resulted in a vote to leave, the managing director of the U.K. subsidiary of Italian coffee-machine maker Molto Delizioso, SRL, faced a scenario that affected many international firms and their subsidiaries. The U.K. subsidiary imported and paid for coffee machines in euros, but when it sold these items in the United Kingdom, the revenue earned was in pounds. The devaluation of the pound after the Brexit vote affected both the company's revenues and costs and, therefore, its profits. Molto Delizioso's managing director had to decide what to do about pricing after the devaluation of the pound caused an increase in the cost of importing his gourmet coffee machines. If he kept prices the same, profits would go down significantly. Should he raise the prices he charged to the customer? And if so, by how much?

When the June 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit, resulted in a vote to leave, the managing director of the U.K. subsidiary of Italian coffee-machine maker Molto Delizioso, SRL, faced a scenario that affected many international firms and their subsidiaries. The U.K. subsidiary imported and paid for coffee machines in euros, but when it sold these items in the United Kingdom, the revenue earned was in pounds. The devaluation of the pound after the Brexit vote affected both the company’s revenues and costs and, therefore, its profits.<br><br>Molto Delizioso’s managing director had to decide what to do about pricing after the devaluation of the pound caused an increase in the cost of importing his gourmet coffee machines. If he kept prices the same, profits would go down significantly. Should he raise the prices he charged to the customer? And if so, by how much?

Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) was started as Singapore’s national shipping line to facilitate industrial development and support the economy. The CMA CGM Group (CMA CGM) had acquired 67 per cent of NOL from Temasek Holdings Private Limited for SG$2.3 billion or $1.30 per share—a 6 per cent premium over the last closing price. In 2016, CMA CGM sought to acquire the remaining shares at the same price so that it could delist NOL and take it private. In order to delist, the company would need to acquire another 23 per cent of shares to hit the acceptance threshold of 90 per cent. Should the remaining shareholders sell their shares at $1.30 per share, or hold out for a better price? Should bondholders of CMA CGA and NOL be concerned about the acquisition?

Paillasse International SA was a Swiss-based bread company operating in 15 European markets as of 2016. The company had invented a proprietary, patented process for producing bread concentrate that was used to make high quality, healthy breads. The company was successfully using licensing agreements for the bread concentrate with bakeries throughout the European markets; the latest agreement was with a retailer in Spain. The chief executive officer had just shared the good news with the company owner. The conversation then turned to questions concerning the future growth of the company. Where should it expand next? What impact would the maturing industry have on the company’s growth plans? How could the company maintain its competitive position in the market?