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This technical note aims to guide discussion on three strategic moves that are designed for multipoint competition: thrust, feint, and gambit. It will examine how these moves might be applied for multipoint competition within the pet food industry. In the 1980s, pet food companies competed across many different subsegments of cat and dog food, requiring complex and creative multipoint competition strategies to win market shares.

Set in mid-2021, the case follows the events happening at the Taiwanese company, Wistron, which commenced operations as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) - a company that designs and produces products for other companies. Its founder, tech billionaire Simon Lin, started Wistron in 2001 as a spin-off from ACER Inc., one of the largest multinational computing companies' hardware producers. After former US president Donald Trump and his administration began taking a hard line on Chinese state-backed enterprises, both superpowers began retaliatory measures that hurt several vital industries. One of the key measures taken by the Trump administration was to impose tariffs on all products entering the US that had manufacturing origins from China, regardless of the firm's nationality. Foundry manufacturing firms, including Wistron, could no longer sustain the margins required to stay afloat and had to contemplate decoupling their operations out of China to alternative sites. In 2018, Lin saw the opportunity to relocate his iPhone manufacturing operations to India to avoid caught being in the middle of the trade spat. Amidst the move, Wistron was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which made the initial costs of relocation untenable. As a result, Wistron had to raise capital very quickly. Luxshare, a relatively new upstart in the manufacturing world was ready to acquire Wistron's operations in China. Initially blocked by Taiwanese regulators, as Wistron was viewed as a strategic player in a vital industry, Luxshare managed to circumnavigate the restrictions and the sale went ahead. Wistron's decoupling strategies are now faced with massive challenges in their Indian operations. The firm had struggled to maintain the same level of competency in India as it had in China. As a result, it ran into many issues in the knowledge transfer process and faced one of the largest labour strikes that the country has seen for a while.

After US materials science company Dow decided to renew its focus on inclusion and diversity (I&D), it opted to use its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to enable its staff to embrace this cause and effect a cultural change across its locations worldwide. As this case focuses on Dow's efforts in Asia Pacific, it delves specifically into how Dow's ERGs in Greater China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand have helped raised staff awareness about I&D issues in these locations. In particular, Dow staff were educated on areas such as disability, gender equality, mental health, inter-generational workforce, and the marginalised in society through the various activities organised by the ERGs.

At the beginning of 2021, TikTok was facing multiple market threats and had to decide what strategies to implement to manage them. TikTok was the world’s largest short-video platform, with users in 155 countries. But along with great success in entering numerous geographic markets, TikTok faced various geopolitical pressures, mainly concerning the company’s origins in China. The company had to consider how it could survive emerging geopolitical pressures, manage competitive threats from global technology giants as well as platform envelopment threats, and capitalize on its creative and somewhat addictive platform to expand its reach into new promising markets such as the African continent.

In December 2020, White House Industries (White House), a manufacturer of aerosol aluminum cans for deodorants and other consumer products, including sanitizers and pain relief sprays, received customer order forecasts of 30 per cent more than its maximum production capacity. Unless White House invested in a third production line, which represented a significant capital investment and required almost a year’s lead time, it would be unable to fulfil several customer orders with its existing manufacturing lines. Some customers had long-term relationships with White House, some were newly acquired, and some had a global-level tie-up with White House’s parent company. In addition, the demand from some customers was already large, while others had immense future potential. White House’s board and management team had different views regarding which customers the company should retain and which it should decline. This customer selection issue was a pressing and challenging problem that needed to be solved immediately. How should White House resolve its customer selection conundrum?

The case GoSports: Developing Sports Talent to Create Role Models describes the evolution of an Indian not-for-profit organization GoSports, whose mission is to identify high quality sporting talent and provide them necessary support so that they can excel in international sporting competitions and win laurels for the country. Despite being a nation of 1.3 billion people with no dearth of talent, India's performance in international sporting events have been modest. This is because of multiple structural factors such as lack of hard and soft infrastructure for promoting sports, inadequate financial support from the government and private sector as well as absence of career options for sportspeople after an active career. GoSports has positioned itself as a bridging organization that would provide the necessary encouragement to talented sportspersons until they become famous enough to receive adequate support from the government or the private sector. Being a pioneer in this field, GoSports' journey exemplifies how an organization sets about creating an ecosystem for sports in a country where multiple economic, social and cultural barriers have traditionally prevented sports from getting its due importance in nation building. Learning from its initial failures to build a for-profit talent management organization, GoSports concentrated on raising funds from the corporate sector through their athlete-focused development programs, many of which were mentored by highly acclaimed role models from the world of sports. In parallel, GoSports created a network of support services comprising coaches, nutritionists, and sports scientists - all of whom played important roles in ensuring optimum performance from sportspersons. Dedicated athlete managers from GoSports maintained a trust-based relationship with the sportspersons such that every young sportsperson felt assured there was someone to help them deal with the myriad challenges in their intensely competitive domain.

In early December 2020, the sales controller for Star Medical Equipment, Brazil, was working on the sales forecast for 2021. Sales in 2020 had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately recovered, and the company had ended the year with about 7 per cent growth over 2019. Predicting the market demand for 2021 was uncertain, as the pandemic was not over and newer strains of the virus were afflicting different parts of the world, again and again. What was certain was that freight costs and transfer prices would increase significantly in 2021. If the sales controller attempted significant sales growth, the organization’s gains could be high; its success was uncertain, while a reduction in profitability was certain. He had to decide whether he should play it safe and follow global business guidelines to increase profitability or gamble with ambitious sales and market share growth plans for 2021.

Moderna, Inc. (Moderna), a US biotech start-up, was a contender in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. On November 23, 2020, Moderna announced success in the third-stage clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine, soon after larger rival Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer), partnering with BioNTech SE, had reported the successful clinical trial results of its own vaccine. However, large-scale vaccine production was a challenge for Moderna, and its chief executive officer acknowledged that scaling production would not be easy. The two other leading vaccine developers, Pfizer and AstraZeneca plc (AstraZeneca), had fewer challenges with manufacturing capacity; however, Pfizer’s vaccine required extreme cold storage, and AstraZeneca’s vaccine faced issues with its third-stage clinical trial results. On the consumer front, many Americans were unwilling to be vaccinated for COVID-19, leading to anti-vaccination protests on social media and in public. In November 2020, Moderna was planning to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for Emergency Use Authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccine manufacturers were racing to see whose vaccine was best. Could Moderna produce the most effective COVID-19 vaccine? Given the uncertainty in consumer demand for the vaccine, should Moderna plan its manufacturing capability based on end-consumer demand or focus instead on seeking government contracts?

This public-sourced case set in May 2020 examines various corporate governance issues that have arisen for the nonprofit USA Track & Field (USATF). The case's protagonist is board member Tricia Myers who considers how the board can better serve its constituents as they are inundated with a torrent of issues around CEO compensation, fundraising, and governance regulations. The board faces a fire drill as CEO Max Siegel's high compensation has just been made public, surprising the board and requiring a response. Students can use the data provided in the case to evaluate whether Siegel's compensation package is "fair and reasonable" for a nonprofit executive and recommend next steps. The board also grapples with whether Nike's influence over USATF has grown too large after Siegel signed a long-term sponsorship contract with the company that provided the bulk of USATF's total revenues but also created potential conflicts of interest and polarized USATF's elite athletes. Lastly, the board contemplates regulatory changes imposed by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the implications for its membership base. This case allows for a rich discussion about a nonprofit's mission statement and business model, aligning stakeholder interests, and the role of nonprofit board members.

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley's hottest social-media startups to lead its 'Series A' funding round, in a deal that values the startup in the nine figures. Lyons has been instrumental to Andreessen Horowitz's efforts to secure the deal: he created and led The Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF), a partnership between the VC firm and some of the most influential Black leaders. Launched in August 2018, Lyons' fund had amassed an impressive network of Black executives, athletes and entertainers-including Carmelo Anthony, Chance the Rapper, Sean Combs, Common, Kevin Durant, Quincy Jones, Kevin Hart, Marshawn Lynch, Nas, Shonda Rhimes, and Will Smith-who had signed on as limited partners. Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, agreed to donate 100% of its management fees as well as its share of any profits realized by the fund to non-profit organizations dedicated to advancing the position of Black people in the technology sector. "We are doing good, and the Cultural Leadership Fund is a competitive advantage for us," noted Andreessen Horowitz's co-founder Ben Horowitz about the small fund's significance to the wider company. Have Lyons and his colleagues at Andreessen Horowitz found a formula for success with the Cultural Leadership Fund-one that not only creates value for the firm and its portfolio companies but also, and more importantly, for its cultural leaders and for other Black individuals hoping to advance in the tech industry? How can the VC firm best capitalize on its strong ties with the entertainment, media and sports world's biggest stars? And how can Lyons, already thinking of a second act, build on the first fund's eye-catching start?

In May 2020, Andreessen Horowitz secures an agreement with Clubhouse, one of Silicon Valley's hottest startups, to lead its 'Series A' funding round. One of the factors that insiders saw as pivotal in the race to be Clubhouse's VC firm of choice was Andreessen Horowitz's ability to secure celebrity appearances on the app, most notably by stand-up comedian and actor Kevin Hart, a limited partner in the VC firm's Cultural Leadership Fund. After being responsible for what would turn out to be a key moment in the race between competing VC firms, Hart - with his production company HartBeat Ventures - now was first in line to invest in Clubhouse. "I'm an entrepreneur at heart, and venture capital is a world I'm now in love with. And I love the fact that HartBeat Ventures has a chance to align itself with a powerhouse like Andreessen Horowitz," said Hart. "Things make sense when they are supposed to, and joining the Cultural Leadership Fund was a move that made sense. Of course, as we gain success, we can do more and we can want more." How exactly does Andreessen Horowitz and its Cultural Leadership Fund creates value for Black cultural leaders like Hart? And does it provide a compelling proposition for them in the long run as well?

Dr. Robert Pearl, newly elected as CEO in 1999, faced a massive new challenge: saving Kaiser Permanente from imminent bankruptcy. From 1999 to 2017, Dr. Pearl transformed Kaiser Permanente from a dysfunctional organization to one of the largest and most lauded in the U.S. Dr. Pearl strategically shifted the organization from the lowest-cost provider to one with superior quality and service at a competitive price. He achieved this goal by applying an "art to science" approach to drive down operational costs and persuading otherwise reticent doctors.

Zoom, a popular video conferencing service based out of San Jose, California was built from scratch to be a business-segment focused, easy-to-use video conferencing service. The program was created by Zoom Video Communications Inc., which was founded by Eric Yuan in 2012. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the video conference market grew rapidly. Despite competing against much larger competitors, such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Webex, Zoom took an early lead, surmounted significant obstacles, and continued to grow. At the end of 2020, however, Zoom had to consider how to maintain its lead-not only during, but also after the pandemic.

ACME Birdseed Company (ACME) started as a top-quality birdseed company; but as its baby boomer customers age and retire, it has begun using lower-quality ingredients while expanding to a larger range of stores and geographical areas. While it is still the dominant player in the birdseed market, its profits have been dropping for the past two years, and Angela Baker, ACME's founder and CEO, must make recommendations to its board of directors to increase shareholder confidence in the company. This cross-disciplinary case presents a fictional company dealing with many of the issues a real company faces. The primary focus is on strategy and the need to make tradeoffs, or to gauge acquired knowledge on any of these topic areas. It can also be used to discuss many other critical issues, including profit margin, marketing, customer segmentation, competition, supply chain, corporate social responsibility (CSR), regulation, entrepreneurship, and more.

Zoom, a popular video conferencing service based out of San Jose, California was built from scratch to be a business-segment focused, easy-to-use video conferencing service. The program was created by Zoom Video Communications Inc., which was founded by Eric Yuan in 2012. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the video conference market grew rapidly. Despite competing against much larger competitors, such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Webex, Zoom took an early lead, surmounted significant obstacles, and continued to grow. At the end of 2020, however, Zoom had to consider how to maintain its lead—not only during, but also after the pandemic.

Presentation to accompany product 8B21M075.

In July 2016, Community Sponsorship Organization opened a retail outlet in Kochi, Kerala, India, called Aditya-The Solar Shop, which sold energy-saving and solar-powered products. The shop was opened with the support of the Indian government's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for a limited period of two years. After that time, the shop would have to find its own means for sustainability. The shop helped support the local community by operating as a commercial business. However, Aditya-The Solar Shop was facing several business operation challenges, including reaching an agreement with manufacturers of solar systems on quota allocation, increasing sales at the shop, and determining how to provide after-sales support to customers.

At the beginning of 2021, TikTok was facing multiple market threats and had to decide what strategies to implement to manage them. TikTok was the world's largest short-video platform, with users in 155 countries. But along with great success in entering numerous geographic markets, TikTok faced various geopolitical pressures, mainly concerning the company's origins in China. The company had to consider how it could survive emerging geopolitical pressures, manage competitive threats from global technology giants as well as platform envelopment threats, and capitalize on its creative and somewhat addictive platform to expand its reach into new promising markets such as the African continent.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is looming. Gordon Chen, MD, the chief medical officer of ChenMed, a family-owned company committed to delivering primary care to the oldest and most vulnerable patients in the United States, has a number of decisions to make. How can he continue the strong doctor-patient relationship that his company is known for during a pandemic? How can he keep his staff employed while adhering to the precautions set in place for the pandemic? Finally, should ChenMed pause its plans for expansion until the pandemic passes? ChenMed turned the traditional model of primary health care on its head, opting for a value-based model rather than a traditional fee-for-service one. ChenMed's new model has had exemplary results, and the company plans to expand. But the pandemic poses unique challenges for ChenMed and the vulnerable population it serves. The case provides students with a deep look into many of the challenges of providing health care to older Americans. Students have the opportunity to learn how the United States pays for health care for older Americans, discuss the pros and cons of different models of health care, and finally, consider the very real-world implications of a pandemic for health care companies and their stakeholders.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is looming. Gordon Chen, MD, the chief medical officer of ChenMed, a family-owned company committed to delivering primary care to the oldest and most vulnerable patients in the United States, has a number of decisions to make. How can he continue the strong doctor-patient relationship that his company is known for during a pandemic? How can he keep his staff employed while adhering to the precautions set in place for the pandemic? Finally, should ChenMed pause its plans for expansion until the pandemic passes? ChenMed turned the traditional model of primary health care on its head, opting for a value-based model rather than a traditional fee-for-service one. ChenMed's new model has had exemplary results, and the company plans to expand. But the pandemic poses unique challenges for ChenMed and the vulnerable population it serves. The case provides students with a deep look into many of the challenges of providing health care to older Americans. Students have the opportunity to learn how the United States pays for health care for older Americans, discuss the pros and cons of different models of health care, and finally, consider the very real-world implications of a pandemic for health care companies and their stakeholders.