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This case describes the commercial development of natural resources via public-private cooperation. The case can be used to illustrate how natural resources can be well managed and beneficial to national economic development. With a specific focus on oil and gas, the case can be used to explore integration across project development, gas production, market development, and government relations. The role of the Dutch government as regulator and marketer provides a basis for discussing government involvement in natural resource development. The case also illustrates the complexity of major gas projects involving multiple countries and markets.

In 2008, a group of five entrepreneurs and executives teamed up to launch an innovative hotel chain into what seemed like a highly competitive industry. Rattan Chadha, the founder of fashion company MEXX and Michael Levie, a hotel industry veteran, teamed up with Hans Meyer, a hotel development specialist, Campagne corporate strategist Klaas van Lookeren, and architect and interior designer Rob Wagemans to launch the new concept. They took a different approach to innovation in the hospitality sector. Instead of trying to invent few features - products and services - with which to attract a broad range of customers, they innovated by removing what they believed to be features that were not attractive to a core consumer target: tech-savvy, mobile travellers. The citizenM case details the differences between this new hotel concept and the typical features offered by luxury and high-to mid-range hotels. Each aspect of the customer-facing experience and behind-the-scenes operating model is discussed and defined. It describes the tight fit between all aspects of citizenM's innovative business model, ranging from the location of their hotels, their construction, the facilities (and absence there-off), staffing, operations, and marketing. The case ends by outlining citizenM's prospects as the leadership team looks to grow their new concept.

Founded in 2003 in Uruguay, by 2008 Pay True Solutions had managed to become a relevant player in the Latin American industry of electronic payment solutions. The company offered two suites: PayStudio CPS, providing technological support across the entire electronic payment processing value chain, and PayStudio Risk Center, a fraud detection and prevention solution largely for credit and debit cards. Both suites had been installed at renowned regional companies and boasted excellent reviews in the low-sophistication client segment. The segment encompassing larger clients was characterized by more sophisticated fraud attacks and, as a result, required solutions featuring neuronal models, which PayTrue did not offer. In addition, the software development projects sold by PayTrue had grown increasingly complex dedicating an important part of the internal resources; interestingly, the company generally managed to deliver on time and within budget, unlike some of their competitors. Would the company be able to manage the expected growth in both, products and projects? Was their mixed business model sustainable? And, considering their products, should they go for the bigger and more sophisticated clients? Were the risks of a higher level of investment in innovation worthwhile?

The case on Tarnea Technology Solution is about a startup focused on providing supply chain solutions to the Indian pharmaceutical retail industry with a business model that connected distributors with retailers through a cloud-based interface, enabling real-time data access. In building an equivalent of a stock exchange at the pharmaceutical retail value chain (the last mile of the supply chain), Tarnea had developed the product and completed the pilot project. The case is set at a time when Tarnea had to decide on (a) pricing for both sides of the platform (retailers and distributors), (b) import of data from legacy products onto the Tarnea platform, (c) issues of direction of growth (whether to expand geographically first, or to diversify into other products), and (d) in their race to acquire customers, whether to outsource application development or not. The case discussion would help students to understand why and how platforms need to race to acquire customers as an insurance against envelopment.

In today's interconnected world, a web of entities rather than predominantly a single firm coordinates a set of activities that deliver utility to mutually connected consumers, thus creating ecosystems. In this article, we suggest that in the current, ecosystem-based production and consumption environment it is important to identify a new set of factors that determines business success. We then propose that in order to develop a network-centric strategic mindset it is important to make a transition from the notion of firm-based competitive advantage to ecosystem-based nodal advantage by which products, services, or processes held by a single firm and affecting one or more ecosystems are exploited individually to improve business. To this end, we offer a new set of five forces that are likely to affect not only a node's financial profitability but also its vulnerability within its ecosystem and the survival of the ecosystem itself. Based on these forces, we recommend strategic triangulation and the formulation of policies to prevent infra-nodal substitution, increase nodal stranglehold, and improve nimbleness to accommodate ecosystemic transitions.

During his second year as a high school teacher in South Carolina, Reid Saaris noticed that a highly academically capable student was not registered for advanced classes. The student was African American and Saaris observed that most African-American students at the school were enrolled in lower-level courses. As Saaris walked down the hallway, he could see "on one side a 12th grade English class playing an all-class game of hangman and half of the kids asleep with their teacher saying, 'Who wants to guess the next letter?' And on the other side, kids debating and discussing interesting literature and ideas about citizenship." He and the student went to the school office where Saaris switched the aspiring young man into advanced-level courses. The following year, Saaris was promoted to running the school's advanced programs. Inspired, he led an initiative to "find all the missing students" from the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, meeting with every 10th grader at the school. The initiative had a stunning impact. Within one year, the school's AP and IB programs had doubled in size, with the number of African-American students in advanced classes tripling. At the same time, the success rate for all students on the AP and IB exams increased by 20 percent. This case recounts the subsequent path that Saaris followed to take his efforts to a national level. He established Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) with the aim of closing the access gap to advanced courses for minority and low-income students. The case details the organization's outreach and application process as well as the successes that EOS achieved and the challenges that it faced. It culminates with the announcement of the Lead Higher Initiative for which EOS would dramatically increase the number of schools with which it partnered over the next three years.

For years "risk management" has been characterized chiefly by caution--preventing the business from doing things that would create exposure. Although this has undoubtedly saved dollars and headaches, it's also led to slower growth, lower margins, and less innovation. New research from CEB shows that the best companies are rethinking their approach. Instead of simply trying to eliminate or reduce risk, managers are implementing three best practices: striking a balance between risk and reward; focusing on decisions, not process; and making employees the first line of defense. This reprint contains three additional Idea Watch articles. "First, the Pain" shows that for many companies that refocus their structures on customer segments rather than products, gains materialize only after two or three years of turmoil and losses. "For Founders, Preparation Trumps Passion" describes a series of studies revealing that although entrepreneurs see their enthusiasm as key to success, results depend much more on how well they have developed their ideas. "Strong Brands, Weak Pay" discusses new research showing that companies with well-known brands pay their top executives significantly less, suggesting that HR departments could leverage brand strength as they do other benefits when recruiting employees and negotiating pay.

School nurse Hazel O'Leary and her supportive principal, Jamal Morden-Jones, strive to effectively respond to weight-related cyberbullying at their middle school. While there is a district-wide bullying prevention and intervention program guide that supposedly has all the necessary guidance on the subject, the duo still find themselves scrambling to implement the plan in the school, highlighting the gap between policy and practice. As the case study ends, Hazel prepares to initiate her school's first foray into the world of logic models for public health program planning.

If you want to create a really successful business, you have to do more than win your share of customers or control costs--you have to break the rules and overturn the received wisdom about how things work in your industry. For example, high-priced landing fees are just a cost of business in the airline industry, aren't they? Ryanair didn't think so, and it turned Europe's unused World War II landing strips into very low-cost airports. To be a cell phone service provider, you need to invest in towers, networks, billing systems, and more, right? India's Airtel said no and leased virtually everything it needed from others. In sharply lowering its costs and improving its working capital model, Airtel was able to offer India's impoverished consumers cell phone service at a dramatically reduced price. How can companies figure out which rules to break in their industries? By focusing on big structural problems endemic to their industries--not just problems they alone face. There are five common types of industry bottlenecks: (1) an outdated purchase or usage experience, (2) a superfluous major expense category, (3) high financial risks for customers, (4) disengaged employees, and (5) detrimental side effects of the product or service. This article lays out strategies used by real companies for busting those bottlenecks. In doing so, companies stand to significantly reduce their costs--or even eliminate entire cost categories--boost demand levels, and sometimes both.

This Reading distills, synthesizes, and builds on insights from 5 academic domains that inform the topic of global competition: economics, international business, global strategy, business strategy, and corporate strategy. It identifies the challenges of competing internationally as well as the need for firms that do so to develop a global strategy. It also introduces the DDD framework (deployment, development, and deepening). The Reading then identifies the many factors that firms need to consider while developing and implementing a global strategy, such as activities, location, and timing. Together, these insights illustrate how competing globally differs from doing business in a single country and suggest frameworks that provide options for global value creation and value capture.

This Reading examines how firms can use new technology to compete successfully. It starts by distinguishing how technology strategy is different from conventional competitive strategy. The Reading then describes how technology leaders can develop strategies to manage technology risks, identify market needs, commercialize new technologies, and compete successfully in a market. The author also identifies various factors that determine whether it is better for a firm to lead or follow when introducing a new technology to a market. Such factors include whether a new technology affects only current offerings in an existing industry, or whether it creates an entirely new offering for a new industry. The Reading then considers how a business can position itself to exploit the next new technology. A Supplemental Reading section explains the importance of platform technologies and the strategies that can help a firm succeed in platform competition.

This Reading examines the competitive and cooperative interactions and interdependencies among firms in a competitive game, particularly in regard to how these firms attempt to create and capture value. It also provides a framework for understanding, predicting, and influencing the actions and reactions of other firms, and it considers how the perspectives and incentives of other firms can influence the nature of the game being played. This discussion provides the foundation for an introduction to game theory, which provides a rigorous way to analyze economic payoffs for players under various scenarios.

In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook knew that Apple, despite its phenomenal success, needed to continue to innovate in new product areas in order to continue its momentum into the future. This case explores three new (actual or potential) product offerings from Apple: the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and the Apple Car. All three categories represented significant opportunities and challenges. The smartwatch category was new and poised for growth when Apple released its Watch in April 2015, but the use case remained uncertain, and Apple would face a strong challenge from Android-based competitors. The television industry, facing growing dissatisfaction with traditional cable packages and the rise of online streaming, was ripe for disruption, but would Apple be able to build a competitive offering? The automotive industry, with the rise of electric cars and autonomous driving technology, was also on the cusp of significant changes, but the engineering and economic challenges of the industry made any move into that space a risky bet.

This case discusses the digitalization strategies of a leading bank in Turkey, Akbank, and how to position its digital banking products going forward. The Turkish banking industry was undergoing a transformation prompted by the demands of the country's digitally savvy, young population, and by new regulations on consumer banking that threatened banks' profitability. Akbank had a legacy as the best financial services company in Turkey, but bank leadership knew it needed to innovate to maintain that reputation in the digital era. The bank's chairman, CEO, and EVP of digital banking unit were evaluating their options. Should they have a separate P&L for the digital banking unit? Should they create a separate brand for digital banking? How should they structure digital banking so Akbank would remain profitable while achieving the vision for innovation and growth laid out by the bank's chairman?

This case explores the strategic options available to TAV Airports Holding, a Turkish firm, after it withdraws from a bid to build Istanbul's newest airport. The new airport would eventually replace Istanbul Atatürk Airport, where TAV makes 43% of its current revenue, and losing it will leave the company without a presence in its nation's largest city. TAV weighs four options: continue expanding internationally to the U.S. and other distant markets; buy an ownership stake in Istanbul's other remaining airport; diversify into related businesses; or seek out large infrastructure projects unrelated to airports. Will vertical or geographic diversification be more likely to ensure TAV's future?

This case explores the strategic options available to TAV Airports Holding, a Turkish firm, after it withdraws from a bid to build Istanbul's newest airport. The new airport would eventually replace Istanbul Atatürk Airport, where TAV makes 43% of its current revenue, and losing it will leave the company without a presence in its nation's largest city. TAV weighs four options: continue expanding internationally to the U.S. and other distant markets, buy an ownership stake in Istanbul's other remaining airport, diversify into related businesses, or seek out large infrastructure projects unrelated to airports. Will vertical or geographic diversification be more likely to ensure TAV's future?

Discovery Communications Inc., an American global networks company, had entered the Indian television market in 1995 with its eponymous channel offering that focused on non-fiction, infotainment programming. Nearly two decades later, steered by a solid senior management team, it had built a formidable operation with 11 channels spanning various genres and created a strong brand presence in India. Though the company was a leader in almost all the genres in which it operated, the Discovery team knew that they could not afford to be complacent even for a single day in the extremely competitive Indian television market. With close to 800 channels fighting for viewership daily, they had to make quick and tough decisions day in and day out. Looking back on their journey and some of the strategic moves they had made in India, it was evident that they had managed to pick up certain distinct capabilities along the way. Not only had they successfully "Indianized" a global brand, they had also deftly overcome some of the challenges inherent to the television industry in India. What was next for Discovery? This was the question that the team was grappling with in 2014. With their most recent launch, "Discovery Kids," it seemed that they were once again moving in the direction of children's edutainment. Did this mean they were coming full circle? Could they successfully apply what they had learned from the past to the unknown future? How could they do things differently and yet stay true to their vision and brand promise of making the Discovery television experience deep and enriching? The case presents the hard choices that Discovery needed to make at several strategic junctures as the cable television market changed and evolved over the years. It facilitates an in-depth discussion on whether, and how, Discovery has developed the ability to make astute decisions and acquired the necessary agility to respond to the dynamic market in India.

In the years after 2009, Qualcomm navigated the wireless industry's transition from 3G to 4G, retaining its technological leadership and experiencing dramatic growth in revenue and profit. In March 2014, Qualcomm appointed a new CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, who had to contend with a rash of new challenges, ranging from new technologies and new competitors to anti-trust battles and an activist shareholder disappointed by weak stock performance. This brief case brings the analysis of Qualcomm's competitive position up to 2015, when it was preparing for the evolution to 5G, while also investing in new areas, such as IoT, automobiles, eHealth, and eEducation, despite a mixed record in diversifying beyond wireless communications technology.

Founded in 1951 in Argentina, Arcor Group consolidated as an industry leader in the manufacturing of food, candy, crackers, cookies, chocolates, and ice-cream for consumers in over 120 countries across all five continents. This case focuses on the process carried out by Arcor Group to introduce and institutionalize sustainability in its management and strategy, describing how the process unfolded and highlighting the challenges that were faced, particularly revolving around the decisions that the company had to make to integrate sustainability to its day-to-day business management and to engage employees in this endeavor in late 2010. "Creating Business Value: Arcor Group and Sustainability" includes two documents: the case itself and its epilogue, which provides information on later developments.