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Makena Wanjiru, chair of Kiri Mount Kenya Conservation Network and Resource Centre (Kiri), wondered whether turning Kiri’s loans business into a co-operative bank would be in the group’s best interest. The challenge was to convince the rest of the board members of the idea. The board of directors would meet on July 18, 2019. Wanjiru had to draft a report before then explaining how the idea was consistent with the group’s current strategy and would benefit Kiri for years to come. Wanjiru also needed to consider strategies to grow Kiri’s agribusiness beyond the Mount Kenya community.

Makena Wanjiru, chair of Kiri Mount Kenya Conservation Network and Resource Centre (Kiri), wondered whether turning Kiri's loans business into a co-operative bank would be in the group's best interest. The challenge was to convince the rest of the board members of the idea. The board of directors would meet on July 18, 2019. Wanjiru had to draft a report before then explaining how the idea was consistent with the group's current strategy and would benefit Kiri for years to come. Wanjiru also needed to consider strategies to grow Kiri's agribusiness beyond the Mount Kenya community.

On March 1, 2020, when news of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, it meant an existential threat to the survival of businesses internationally. L’Abode Accommodations, a full-service property management company based in Sydney, Australia that specialized in mid- to high-end luxury vacation homes, was no exception. Virtually overnight, the company experienced an alarming number of contract cancellations. To make matters worse for an industry dependent on vacationers, Australia shut its borders to international travellers. How could L’Abode Accommodations adjust its operating model and strategic and tactical marketing efforts to stop the business from bleeding revenue and profit and to address the staff’s fears of layoffs, as cancellations poured in?

This is the student spreadsheet which accompanies product W26692.

Supplement to case 616020

In March 2021, the wine trade war between China and Australia was escalating, and the competitive landscape in China's wine market had changed dramatically in just three months. Asa Top, a Chinese import company that had represented certain Australian wineries for over a decade, had to rethink its marketing strategy. The general manager of Asa Top did not know when the recent trade friction between China Australia would end. After the Chinese government introduced its new tariff policy on Australian wine, other participants in the Chinese wine market had quickly reacted to claim Australian wine's market share in China. How should Asa Top deal with the impact of the duties, reduce the losses, and explore future co-operation with Australia's winemakers?

Kimball International, Inc. (KII), led by CEO Kristie Juster, and its board of directors, chaired by Kim Ryan, faced critical questions about KII's future in the spring of 2021. Two years earlier, the board had appointed Juster as the new CEO of KII, a publicly traded, small cap maker of commercial office furniture based in Jasper, Indiana. Juster had set in motion a major organizational transformation aimed at putting KII on a higher-growth trajectory. Under her leadership, the company had examined its purpose, adopted a new strategy, revised its compensation plan, and undergone a major restructuring. And then, COVID-19 hit. The company adapted quickly, but the pandemic had a significant impact on KII's profitability and stock price, and on executive pay which was significantly tied to both. As the pandemic dragged on, the board had to decide how to design an executive compensation plan that would be fair to employees, fair to shareholders, and meaningful to executives in a highly competitive labor market, while also aligning with KII's purpose and strategy, and driving its ongoing transformation.

In the spring of 2021, the board of directors of Kimball International, Inc. (KII) was considering changes to the company's executive compensation plan. Two years earlier, the board had appointed Kristie Juster as the new CEO of KII, a publicly traded, small cap maker of commercial office furniture based in Jasper, Indiana. Juster had set in motion a major organizational transformation aimed at putting KII on a higher-growth trajectory. Under her leadership, the company had examined its purpose, adopted a new strategy, revised its compensation plan, and undergone a major restructuring. And then, COVID-19 hit. The company adapted quickly, but the pandemic had a significant impact on KII's profitability and stock price, and on executive pay which was significantly tied to both. As the pandemic dragged on, the board had to decide how to design an executive compensation plan that would be fair to employees, fair to shareholders, and meaningful to executives in a highly competitive labor market, while also aligning with KII's purpose and strategy, and driving its ongoing transformation.

Based in southern Germany, Richard Henkel GmbH was a manufacturing firm focused on its triple-bottom line rather than on its sales turnover. Driven by its sustainability ethos in both its products and its manufacturing processes, it saw itself as a champion of a post-growth, sustainable economy. The case pivots on co-managing director Susanne Henkel’s decision concerning a lucrative sales order: the order would place significant stress on its existing steady-state manufacturing operations and potentially compromise its sustainability performance. In deciding whether to accept the order, Henkel had to confront a pivotal question: How much growth was necessary and sustainable, and how much was too much?

Based in southern Germany, Richard Henkel GmbH was a manufacturing firm focused on its triple-bottom line rather than on its sales turnover. Driven by its sustainability ethos in both its products and its manufacturing processes, it saw itself as a champion of a post-growth, sustainable economy. The case pivots on co-managing director Susanne Henkel's decision concerning a lucrative sales order: the order would place significant stress on its existing steady-state manufacturing operations and potentially compromise its sustainability performance. In deciding whether to accept the order, Henkel had to confront a pivotal question: How much growth was necessary and sustainable, and how much was too much?

NorLand Limited (NorLand) was a construction company based in British Columbia, Canada, with operations in Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, and the United States. Having grown primarily by acquisition, the company was moving toward an ambitious goal: to achieve CA$500 million in revenues and CA$50 million in net operating income (NOI) by 2025-the 500-50-25 goal. The main questions facing Dave Reynolds, NorLand's chief executive officer (CEO), and his leadership team revolved around not only expanding the business to achieve this target but doing so sustainably, while giving NorLand's business units the latitude and freedom that had drawn them to join NorLand in the first place.

New research based on MIT SMR's Culture 500 and employees' Glassdoor ratings of their employers identifies the five most common elements of toxic workplace cultures as disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive. The authors discuss how unhealthy work environments negatively affect both employees and their employers and how organizations stand to benefit when they identify and address toxic elements in their cultures.

As Singapore's national garden and tourist attraction, Gardens by the Bay (GB) had succeeded in developing the necessary physical infrastructure to showcase innovative sustainability initiatives to visitors. As it embarked on the next phase of its sustainability journey, GB sought to enhance its sustainability DNA. It recognised that every new and existing employee has an important role to play, and now faces the challenge of how to further engage staff and get them on board this journey through effective induction training. This case examines the challenges of integrating Singapore's new Green Plan into GB's sustainability agenda with special reference to its induction training approach. The United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and the environmental, social and governance parameters can serve as a guide for integrating relevant sustainability content into the induction curriculum. Like other for-profit and non-profit organisations combating climate change, GB must determine how best to impart respective competencies to its internal stakeholders. Through the case, students will learn to appreciate sustainability-related challenges and develop induction training solutions that can be applied by GB's human resource team in support of the overall mission and vision of the organisation. The case can be used in both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on sustainability management, business management, environmental management and human resource management.

Environmental racism describes the unequal burden of environmental hazards placed on disadvantaged communities through systems, policies, and practices. In such a situation, these people disproportionately live close to sources of toxic waste-what are referred to as Locally Unwanted Land Uses (LULUs) such as sewage works, mines, landfills, power stations, major roads, and other emitters of airborne, earth, and water pollution-and suffer from greater rates of health problems, as a result. More than a quarter of Marathon Petroleum's 13 refineries are located in minority-majority communities. Marathon Petroleum's Detroit refinery is located in the ZIP code 48217, where around 80% of residents are Black, 12% are Hispanic, and over 40% are considered to be in poverty. These residents also have higher rates of asthma, heart diseases, and lung cancer than in most other ZIP codes in Michigan. This case places students in the role of fictional character Riley Novak, Marathon Petroleum's chief environmental officer, to examine the company's history with environmental racism, especially in Detroit, and the proposed solution-the Property Purchase Program.

Launched in September 2018, e-retail startup DealShare has created a tech-enabled model for the Indian mass market that allows customers to buy together, save money on good quality goods, and at the same time have fun. It targets customers who are still getting used to the Internet for commerce and for whom big e-commerce players are not an ideal option. As DealShare transitions from a regional to a national company, the founders are at a crossroads. Until now, they have prioritized profitability at the unit economics level over growth. Now that they are confident that the DealShare concept can be profitable, should they relax their commitment to profitability and expand rapidly to preempt competition? Will the investments required and added complexity derail the company's success?

Spotify Technology S.A. (Spotify) was facing significant problems with public relations due to artists' claims of poor treatment. They had accused Spotify of underpaying artists, obscuring its business practices, and being overly litigious. The objections reached a critical point with a union of creatives, the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), submitting a petition to Spotify and on March 15, 2021, protesting at its global offices. Spotify management must decide how to navigate this issue.

On the morning of June 30, 2019, the Orlando Magic had only a few hours to make a major decision, before the National Basketball Association free agency period was set to begin at 6 p.m. The management team needed a recommendation regarding whether to offer a new contract to the team's current player, Terrence Ross, or pursue a free agent replacement, such as Rudy Gay. With extensive analytical data available, a thorough analysis was needed to predict which player was most likely to contribute to the Orlando Magic's future success.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case W27081

Honor Home Care, founded as an on-demand home care company, evolved into the leading home care technology and operations platforms for home care agencies across the U.S. In the last quarter of 2020, the Honor leadership team raised $140 million in Series D funding to accelerate the company's geographic expansion. Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor Home Care, must decide between two options- acquiring one large home care franchise or buying several smaller home care agencies. In this case, students are encouraged to explore the advantages and disadvantages of different partnership and acquisition opportunities to scale technology companies in the home care market. The case highlights the complexity of customer acquisition and employee recruiting, management and retention in the industry, and lays out how Honor sought to tackle these challenges, as well as the strategic decisions they faced along the way. The case also chronicles the evolution of the home care industry in the United States, highlighting the market structures that impacted the company's growth.

In February 2021, the Indian government announced new regulations to increase the accountability of social media companies for misusing their platforms in spreading fabricated news, misinformation, and obscene material. The new rules were not welcomed by some prominent social media companies, including Twitter. The giant microblogging network claimed that the new rules were designed to suppress freedom of speech among the citizens of India, one of the largest democracies of the world. However, Indian regulators argued that the new rules were required to prevent abuse on open social media networks. Twitter contended that it was self-regulated and argued that its users' voices should not be regulated because it would clearly amount to suppression of the right to free expression. In a changing political and legal environment, how could Twitter meet increasing demands from regulators to moderate content, while remaining aligned with its mission, vision, and ethical standards? Were the self-regulatory mechanisms of social media companies adequately effective without interference from external forces?