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In January 2005, the vice-president of International Affairs at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, must decide how to respond to a request for proposal from the Hamad Medical Corporation of Qatar. In order to reach its global mission of "Healthier Children, A Better World," the Toronto hospital, which had an international reputation for excellence in pediatric medicine, had established an arm called SickKids International. In addition, it was anxious to find new ways to recover from an operating deficit caused by the aftershock of the SARS outbreak. Hamad Medical Corporation, a major state hospital medical supplier in Qatar, was looking for international centres that would want to partner with it in the development of what it hoped would become the best children's hospital in the Middle East. The vice-president understood the enormous benefits that the partnership had to offer but recognized the need for a comprehensive strategy to mitigate all of the associated risks, such as the difference in cultures between Canada and Qatar, the pressure on the Toronto hospital's staff to make the project successful and the uncertain political and business environment in the Middle East. Should she recommend to her executive team that they go ahead with their first international request for proposal?

A company with a strong commitment toward corporate social responsibility since its founding days, Green Mountain faced an ethical decision point in 2007 as new information from the field uncovered a chronic dire problem facing coffee communities-seasonal starvation. Company leaders are driven to re-assess their social impact and address this widespread problem while aligning their efforts with their broader, rapidly expanding business of selling coffee.

EA Financial Services is a microfinance institution in Koforidua, Ghana. In its seven months of operation, it has done well to establish a client base, but it now lacks sufficient capital to meet the growing demand for new loans. Although having a growing client base is a positive sign, the lack of capital is a significant burden - the company has had to begin turning down loan requests. The owner knows that potential clients will likely deal with one of his many competitors if he cannot provide financial services for them. He wonders if he should first explore obtaining additional operational capital or concentrate on improving current operations. Several alternatives to addressing these issues have presented themselves. What is his best course of action?

In October 2011, a young entrepreneur in Ghana faced a critical moment. Given his degree in marketing from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and his past work experience running a retail clothing store, he was confident he could branch out and start his own photocopying service in his hometown of Koforidua, where there was a distinct undersupply of photocopying services. The proposed store would be located near All Nations University, whose students and faculty would provide a stable demand for his offerings. Now he must perform a breakeven analysis and return on investment calculation to assess whether he should go forward with the venture.

In 2013, a successful entrepreneur in Eldoret, Kenya is considering her options. In 2007, after a history of operating several small businesses, only one of which failed, she founded Lilgaa Property Management Ltd., a real estate and property management business. She has focused her energies on the real estate industry in spite of its many challenges, which include corruption and lack of regulation, enforcement and trust. Now, she needs to decide how to grow her business, specifically, whether she should buy a building in Eldoret and rent it out or buy a plot of land on the outskirts of town and build a hotel; if the latter, should it cater to the middle or upper class? She must assess the various elements of the business, political and social environments and consider the potential risks that could affect the outcome of her investment.

MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte have been exploring the impact of social media on business over the past three years through surveys, data analysis and interviews with executives and academics. The latest survey explored whether companies are deriving value from their social business initiatives. Sixty-two percent of managers surveyed report that their organization's social business initiatives are at least somewhat successful at meeting their stated business objectives, while 63% of respondents report that social business has positively affected business outcomes at their company. Fifty-nine percent of respondents in multinational companies report that social business helps them operate across geographies. Perhaps equally compelling is the extent to which individual employees indicate the value of social business to their daily work. Fifty-seven percent of respondents say that it is at least somewhat important for them to work for companies with mature social business practices, while 46% of respondents say that social business is at least somewhat important for decision making in their day-to-day role. A key factor in whether companies are able to derive positive benefits from social business is social business maturity. The researchers asked survey respondents to envision a company with ideal social business practices and then to assess how close their company was to that ideal. The higher a respondent rates his or her company, the more likely they are to report that the company is deriving business value from its social business initiatives. For example, 92% of respondents from the companies with the most mature social business practices say that social business helps them operate across geographies.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Facing headwinds from a shifting media industry, executives at Spanish language broadcasting company Entravision recognized the need to innovate their business model. To get there they created Luminar, a big data insights division that utilizes about 2000 external data points to deliver customized, transaction-based insights to marketers, about Entravision's Latino audience. The fastest growing U.S. demographic, Latinos have amassed buying power worth more than a trillion dollars annually.

The value of many products and services rises or falls with the number of customers using them; the fewer fax machines in use, the less important it is to have one. These network effects influence consumer decisions and affect companies' ability to compete. Strategists have developed some well-known rules for navigating business environments with network effects. "Move first" is one, and "get big fast" is another. In a study of dozens of companies, however, the authors found that quite often the conventional wisdom was dead wrong. And when the rules failed, the reason was always the same: Companies trip up when they try to attract large volumes of customers without understanding (1) the strength of mutual attraction among various customer groups and (2) the extent of asymmetric attraction among them. Looking at examples such as TripAdvisor, Wikipedia, and the New York Times, the authors offer strategies for competing in markets with network effects. New entrants should focus on customer groups that they are uniquely positioned to serve or appeal to the most attractive customers in a market. Incumbents pursuing growth strategies in adjacent markets or new geographies should consider how similar the needs of new customers are to those of existing customers. Offering complements also allows incumbents to reach additional customer groups.

For generations, the model for receiving health care services in the developed world has been straightforward. It starts with showing your insurance card at the reception desk and ends with a 10-minute examination/discussion with a doctor. In developing countries, this model is structurally untenable: according to the World Health Organization, there is a global shortage of four million health care providers, and in 57 countries, this amounts to a crisis. The authors present several new models for delivering health care services in developing countries that use ICT (information and communication technologies)-i.e., cell phones, tablets and computers. It is only a matter of time, they say, before these models spread to more resource-rich settings.

Global trade has taken off over the past decade, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are reaping rewards in developing markets. The authors describe four political and four socio-economic challenges presented by these markets, and describe five strategies for surmounting these challenges, using examples of successful Canadian and British SMEs that are leading the way in fast-growth markets.

In his work at IDEO, the author has been closely studying a gigantic emerging market: the Chinese middle class consumer. In this article he describes three key aspects of this consumer's identity. Calling this consumer segment "a moving target", he says the important thing is to maintain a consistently human-centered approach aimed at uncovering latent needs. Businesses that continually develop their empathy and understanding of this group, he says, can meet the evolving needs of one of the largest new markets in history.

Business leaders from Jack Welch to John Seely Brown are amongst a growing number of leaders advocating the power of storytelling. The author describes the key tenets of storytelling and shows why it is so naturally appealing to the human mind. For instance, because we are highly averse to uncertainty, we tend to embrace simplistic 'cause and effect' relations without questioning them. The problem is, when the story isn't true, such characteristics of stories becomes 'traps'. She provides four ways to escape story- formula infrastructure so that we don't fall into a 'no-exit storytelling trap'.

Three veterans of the C-suite discuss the current business landscape and some of their key challenges past, present and future. Mark Barrenechea, CEO of OpenText, explains why "Big Data is a bit over-hyped"; Former MasterCard CMO (now Sotheby's CMO) Alfredo Gangotena describes his greatest challenge ever: marketing EuroDisney to Parisians; and Mountain Equipment Co-Op CEO Mark Labistour explains his affinity for Design Thinking, and the importance of working towards a "desired future state" for your customer.

This note introduces the Performance and Value Analysis (PVA) framework, an integrated framework to analyze strategic performance (i.e., performance corrected for temporary and random effects). This framework (quantitatively) decomposes a firm's performance into 3 consistent parts - common performance, value creation advantage, and bargaining advantage - and then provides frameworks to analyze each.

Can corporate social responsibility plans avert the tragedy of the commons? Or is selfishness an inherent part of business? Coca-Cola has long been criticized for its extraction of water from water poor communities. Faced with protests at the University of Michigan, Coca-Cola has agreed to an independent assessment. This case tells the story of what happened after the report gets back and asks students to decide if Coca-Cola has lived up to its stated principles. Or is Coca-Cola just green-washing?

Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Egyptian Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), continuously scoured the globe for opportunities to expand his telecommunications empire. In 2005, Naguib looked across the Mediterranean Sea and announced his intention to acquire Italian telecom operator Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (Wind), one of Italy's leading telecommunication providers in the largest leveraged buyout in European business history.

Despite facing giants like Coke, Pepsi, and Budweiser-with obvious potential sources of competitive advantage-Red Bull had established itself as the U.S. market leader in energy drinks. By 2008, however, Red Bull's dominance was challenged as Monster drinks surpassed it in volume. The case considers judo strategy both from the perspective of a small player (when up-start Red Bull faces Coke, Pepsi, and Bud) and as a large player (when market leader Red Bull faces up-start Monster).

In April 2003, Dr. Julio Frenk, the Minister of Health of Mexico, prepared for the debate on his health reform bill to begin in the Senate. Since becoming Minister of Health in President Vicente Fox's administration in 2000, Dr. Frenk had worked tirelessly to build support for his vision of health reform and his goals of re-structuring the health care system in Mexico and providing universal access to care for 50 million uninsured in Mexico. The Senate debate on his bill was a rare political opportunity to fundamentally transform Mexico's health system. Dr. Frenk had to figure out how to deal with the opposition to his reform and how to get his bill adopted by the Mexican Congress.

The case represents a role-play simulation in which a team of up to 7 participants acts as a board of directors of a privately-owned company. The board has to discuss and make decisions about its Chairman's resignation. The latter asked to step down after an internal crisis unfolded following the Chairman's media interview in which he criticized the country's President. The board comprise two company founders and 5 independent directors including the Chairman.

The case represents a role-play simulation in which a team of up to 7 participants acts as a board of directors of a privately-owned company. The board has to discuss and make decisions about its Chairman's resignation. The latter asked to step down after an internal crisis unfolded following the Chairman's media interview in which he criticized the country's President. The board comprise two company founders and 5 independent directors including the Chairman.