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On January 18, 2016, the chief executive officer and chief technology officer of Geosoft Inc. (Geosoft) met in Toronto, Canada, with the company’s executive team and regional directors for a critical three-day strategic planning session. Geosoft was a privately held, employee-owned, mid-sized global company that worked to help earth scientists and explorers make discoveries through innovative data solutions and services. The focus of the meeting—a new technology strategy to protect Geosoft from the impact of a global economic downturn affecting its primary markets—was pivotal to Geosoft’s current and future growth. This new strategy, known within Geosoft as the digital intimacy strategy, would radically change the way the company communicated with its customers. Geosoft’s customers were located in five major geographic regions: Latin America, Africa, Australia (including Asia), Europe, and North America. Rolling out the strategy demanded seamless communication of change to multiple stakeholders in vastly differing cultures across five continents. The new digital intimacy strategy was planned for rollout in September 2016 with implementation in 2017. For the new strategy to work, communication was crucial.

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 2012, the marketing department at AkzoNobel India Ltd., a major paints company, faced a key decision concerning the possible relaunch of TileShield, a premium roof tile paint in the company’s exterior paints division. Since its inception, TileShield had led the market, especially in the southern part of India, but despite growth in the demand for roof tile paints, TileShield sales had stagnated in 2011–12. Faced with falling sales and intense competition, the company had to decide whether to maintain the status quo or draft a relaunch for the brand. The marketing department would have to make some quick decisions on value proposition and pricing.

A 2016 consumer survey in the United Kingdom revealed that five out of 10 people did not know that Coca-Cola Zero (Coke Zero) contained no sugar. Many respondents also expected Coke Zero to taste more like Coca-Cola Classic, but found the taste not similar enough. Therefore, Coca-Cola relaunched the product with an ambitious multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that followed a three-dimension value management cycle encompassing value creation, value communication, and value capture. To successfully relaunch Coke Zero and achieve the company’s objectives, Coca-Cola would need to both anticipate the challenges in each of these three phases and manage them effectively.

In October 2014, Hari Krishna Exports, a US$975 million Indian diamond manufacturing company, made international news when it gave 1,268 employees a generous performance incentive of approximately US$5,700. This was part of a radical loyalty program the company had started in 2011. However, with the market dynamics of the diamond industry constantly changing, giving such performance incentives on a yearly basis would be a great challenge. Price fluctuations at every step of the process—from procurement, to polishing, to the retail markets of the diamonds—created inherent risk in the industry. Intermediaries such as diamond polishers, in comparison to miners, had less control over the upstream channels of diamond procurement, which usually comprised exploration and the mining of diamonds. What would be the ultimate engagement level of the employees? Would such performance benefits for retaining talented employees be sustainable over the long run for an export house?

In mid-2014, an investor was examining Federal Bank stock and its valuation. In order to fund her children’s educational savings for the future, the investor had been looking for high-growth but undervalued investment stocks. Based on her current market analysis, she had narrowed her search to Federal Bank Limited. Could Federal Bank be the undervalued stock that the investor was looking for? What would be the fair fundamental value of the bank? The dividend discount valuation model, a technique to identify and value undervalued stocks, would determine whether Federal Bank was a potential investment target.

A 2016 consumer survey in the United Kingdom revealed that five out of 10 people did not know that Coca-Cola Zero (Coke Zero) contained no sugar. Many respondents also expected Coke Zero to taste more like Coca-Cola Classic, but found the taste not similar enough. Therefore, Coca-Cola relaunched the product with an ambitious multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that followed a three-dimension value management cycle encompassing value creation, value communication, and value capture. To successfully relaunch Coke Zero and achieve the company's objectives, Coca-Cola would need to both anticipate the challenges in each of these three phases and manage them effectively.

In 2012, the marketing department at AkzoNobel India Ltd., a major paints company, faced a key decision concerning the possible relaunch of TileShield, a premium roof tile paint in the company's exterior paints division. Since its inception, TileShield had led the market, especially in the southern part of India, but despite growth in the demand for roof tile paints, TileShield sales had stagnated in 2011-12. Faced with falling sales and intense competition, the company had to decide whether to maintain the status quo or draft a relaunch for the brand. The marketing department would have to make some quick decisions on value proposition and pricing.

On March 7, 2012, one day before International Women's Day, all female staff of Birkenshire Corporation, a British organization in China, received an email from the human resources department about a pink towel gift set being given to all female employees of the company in celebration of the day. This act sparked a lively discussion among the female staff about various gender issues and cultural customs such as society's expectations for professional women and cultural connotations of colours. The decision faced by management was whether to respond to the issues raised in the staff email thread, and, if management responded, how and when the response should be delivered.

In September 2014, F. Mayer Imports Pty. Ltd., an Australian gourmet food importer, had a narrow window of opportunity to potentially protect its budget exchange rate for the rest of that, and the following, financial year. With imports such as European butter, chocolate, and cheese, the company procured a significant portion of its product in euros. The Australian dollar to euro exchange (AUD/EUR) dropped from a high of 0.7027 in October 2013 to a low of 0.6369 in January 2014. With the AUD/EUR recently rebounding and edging back toward the company’s budget rate of 0.6900, the company’s chief financial officer needed to choose between four proposed hedging strategies.

On March 7, 2012, one day before International Women’s Day, all female staff of Birkenshire Corporation, a British organization in China, received an email from the human resources department about a pink towel gift set being given to all female employees of the company in celebration of the day. This act sparked a lively discussion among the female staff about various gender issues and cultural customs such as society’s expectations for professional women and cultural connotations of colours. The decision faced by management was whether to respond to the issues raised in the staff email thread, and, if management responded, how and when the response should be delivered.

In 2015, the marketing and business developer at Khao Yai Winery in Thailand wondered whether a new excise tax, which the government implemented in 2012, had led to a decrease in sales despite an overall increase in wine consumption in Thailand. Before deciding whether he should lobby the government to lower the excise tax, he tasked three interns to examine how the government’s taxes on imported and domestic wines affected the winery. The interns also needed to determine how the government policies would be affected by various elasticities—income elasticities, own-price elasticities, and cross-price elasticities.

In August 2016, Manish Goyal, a student in his second year of the two-year MBA program at XLRI Jamshedpur, India, had to make career-related choices about which industry, company, function, and role to pursue after his MBA. He had limited previous work experience to rely on, but rather than choosing the first job that came his way or trying to join one of the more popular firms among MBA students, Goyal sought a job that best aligned with his own career objectives. Accordingly, he sought advice from three classmates on career options in the investment banking, management consulting, and fast-moving consumer goods industries. He realized that while his friends' input was valuable, ultimately he had to make his own decisions.

In August 2016, Manish Goyal, a student in his second year of the two-year MBA program at XLRI Jamshedpur, India, had to make career-related choices about which industry, company, function, and role to pursue after his MBA. He had limited previous work experience to rely on, but rather than choosing the first job that came his way or trying to join one of the more popular firms among MBA students, Goyal sought a job that best aligned with his own career objectives. Accordingly, he sought advice from three classmates on career options in the investment banking, management consulting, and fast-moving consumer goods industries. He realized that while his friends' input was valuable, ultimately he had to make his own decisions.

Netflix, Inc. (Netflix), the world’s leading provider of subscription video on demand (SVoD), launched its Indian platform on January 6, 2016. Due to its huge population, India represented a lucrative market. Furthermore, the younger generation in India had dynamic consumption patterns that were comparable to those of Western consumers, giving Netflix another reason to invest in the country. However, six months after Netflix’s launch in India, as the initial buzz surrounding the entry subsided, important questions loomed: Would the company be able to meet the diverse needs of Indian consumers? Was the Indian market and consumer seasoned enough to adopt a more sophisticated model of SVoD? How could Netflix get a stronghold in a market that was still grappling with basic infrastructure problems and low Internet penetration, as well as censorship issues? Even though Netflix was a formidable player globally, it was not the first mover in the Indian market and many of its competitors were already doing extremely well. How could Netflix compete and move forward in India?

Mary Kay (China) Cosmetics Co., Ltd. (Mary Kay China) was one of China’s leading direct-enterprises in skincare products and cosmetics. In September 2015, the president of Mary Kay China was considering how best to continue to grow the company in the face of increasing e-commerce. The parent company and all its subsidiaries ascribed to the mission of enriching women’s lives; its guiding principles emphasized relationships and connections between people. Mary Kay China’s development was a testament to its success as a people-oriented culture that contributed to the environment and society. However, the Internet era had raised concerns about whether the connections among the company's people were strong enough to succeed against competitors who maintained a broad network developed through the Internet. Should Mary Kay China expand into e-commerce, or would relying on the Internet undermine the principles and values that grounded the company?

Joneja Bright Steels Private Limited (JBS) was one of many major players in India’s bright steel industry, serving almost every automobile manufacturer in Northern India. After the business launched in 2002, the automobile market expanded, leading JBS to an early strong position. But in fiscal year 2014/15, the company experienced working capital management issues. JBS considered using credit policies as a way of improving profitability—shifting from a strict credit policy of net 45 days to a flexible credit policy with a 2 per cent discount for accounts paid within 10 days (2/10 net 45 days). Should JBS implement a cash discount for fiscal year 2016/17? The discount could potentially increase the burden caused by already declining sales, but could also improve the company’s cash position.

In 2014, Alibaba—the Chinese e-commerce giant who, in September 2014, completed the largest initial public offering (IPO) in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) history—was preparing itself for an additional round of capital fundraising. This time, Alibaba focused its efforts on a new, large bond issue. Its chief executive officer would lead Alibaba’s finance team in meetings with investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, and London to gather information about this pending bond issue. <br><br>Although Alibaba was listed on the NYSE, an overwhelming majority of its revenues originated in China. Most U.S. investors had not heard of Alibaba until just a few months prior to its IPO in September 2014. Also, being a high-tech company, Alibaba was subject to the potential for large swings in valuations typical for the industry. Fluid valuations and matters related to country risk premia meant pricing the bond issue was going to be a challenge. How would Alibaba estimate the bonds’ pricing? Further, how should the firm determine the location and timing of the new bond issue?

In July 2014, WH Group faced the issue of attempting to launch an initial public offering for the second time, after having previously failed to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. WH Group originated from a merger between two meat-processing companies: China’s Shuanghui International—a global leader in animal protein and the world’s largest pork producer—and Smithfield Foods from the United States. Both Shuanghui and Smithfield Foods commanded top market shares of pork consumption in their respective countries; Shuanghui controlled 2 per cent in China and Smithfield Foods captured 26 per cent in the United States. With many challenges ahead, WH Group had some decisions to make about the company’s future. Should the company try again to launch an initial public offering? Or should the company remain private?

In July 2014, WH Group faced the issue of attempting to launch an initial public offering for the second time, after having previously failed to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. WH Group originated from a merger between two meat-processing companies: China's Shuanghui International-a global leader in animal protein and the world's largest pork producer-and Smithfield Foods from the United States. Both Shuanghui and Smithfield Foods commanded top market shares of pork consumption in their respective countries; Shuanghui controlled 2 per cent in China and Smithfield Foods captured 26 per cent in the United States. With many challenges ahead, WH Group had some decisions to make about the company's future. Should the company try again to launch an initial public offering? Or should the company remain private?