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In June 2022, two MBA students from a post-secondary institution in India were asked by their professor to build a valuation model for HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited to assess the company’s stock price for investors. The students understood the importance of the task and tracked the company’s historic stock price. They found that its share price dropped considerably in 2021, as the company’s profits decreased due to a high number of claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, however, the company witnessed a rise in profits mainly due to a high number of premiums, as fears from COVID-19 infections led more people to buy insurance coverage. Given that the company’s profits and performance had been fluctuating, the students wanted to know whether the stock was undervalued, overvalued, or fairly priced. Their task was to determine the ideal stock price and whether to recommend the stock to investors.

In 2021, Hitachi Limited was reconsidering its ownership of Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM). The decision about HCM’s future was one of the last steps in a more than decade-long effort to reorient Hitachi from a manufacturing conglomerate to a service-oriented company. HCM was a global player in the construction and mining equipment business, and although it no longer relied on Hitachi for product technology, Hitachi’s technological capabilities might once again become more valuable to HCM as automation and electrification of construction and mining equipment gained importance. Would there be greater synergies from more closely integrating HCM with Hitachi’s other businesses, or would both sides be better off if HCM was completely independent?

<p align="justify">In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership faced a developing crisis in the United States after conservative backlash to a Bud Light promotional campaign in partnership with a transgender influencer led to a boycott of the brand. The promotional campaign aimed to appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience but ultimately resulted in Bud Light losing significant sales and market share. This put the brand at risk of losing its competitive advantage, brand value, and long-standing position as the leading beer brand in the United States. This case is the first in a continuing A-B case set.

Following its disastrous market entry into the United Kingdom in 2019, due to immediate backlash from the LGBTQ+ community, Chick-fil-A, the US$16 billion conservative Christian fast-food company, named a new chief executive officer in 2021, Andrew Truett Cathy. By inheriting the privately-held, family-owned empire, Cathy faced a monumental task, made more difficult when he appointed a vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which sparked calls for a boycott from conservative groups and claims that “the company had gone woke.” To make matters worse, Chick-fil-A was in the middle of a worldwide chicken sandwich war, fighting against many competitors, including McDonald’s, Popeyes, and Wendy’s. As August 2023 came to a close, how could Andrew Cathy, newly minted third generation chief executive officer of Chick-fil-A, avoid the curse of wealth destruction and simultaneously fight culture and chicken wars?

In July 2021, a major supply-side crisis in Nigeria forced the Dangote Tomato Processing Co. Limited plant of Dangote Farming to operate at just 20 per cent of its production capacity. Since its inception in 2016, the plant was shut down several times due to a shortage of fresh tomatoes of the required quality. Although the Nigerian government supported Dangote Farming by pursuing pro-tomato and pro-tomato-paste policies, it was unable to operate its processing plant at full capacity, reduce per-unit cost, and improve profitability. Due to various constraints, several tomato processing plants had exited the Nigerian market in the past several years. In view of persistent supply-side problems and tough competition from low-priced Chinese tomato paste, Dangote Farming needed to decide about the continuity of its tomato processing plant in the Nigerian market. If it decided to remain in the market, then it needed to devise strategies that could make the plant competitive and profitable.

ASML Holding NV (ASML) was a leading technology company headquartered in the Netherlands that specialized in the design and production of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. It had a global presence, with operations in Asia, Europe, and North America. Its unique chip manufacturing technology was essential for the development of technology products from military equipment and laundry machines to the smartphones in peoples’ pockets. ASML produced complex and consequential products that were the foundations of the modern economy. Because of this, ASML played a significant role in global geopolitics and found itself in the middle of the West’s increasing efforts to control exports of semiconductor technology to China. In December 2022, a couple of months after the US government unilaterally restricted exports of chip technology to China, ASML faced a strategic crossroads: should it maximize company profits and ignore Western policy by engaging China, or should it weigh the pitfalls of ignoring the West’s political decision to block China from essential technology and disengage from its business with the People’s Republic of China?

In August 2024, Harsha Desai, an equity research analyst based in Mumbai, India, found himself deeply engaged with the financial statements of Berger Paints India Limited (Berger), a Kolkata, West Bengal–based firm in India’s paint and varnish industry. Among the various financial metrics, the company's low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.021 drew his attention, indicative of prudent fiscal management. This observation spurred him to employ a discounted-cash-flow (DCF) valuation to determine Berger's intrinsic value. Nevertheless, a crucial element of the analysis was missing: the company's prospective debt strategy. Thus, Desai aimed to identify the optimal debt level for Berger and then pinpoint great investment opportunities for the firm.

In their final year of studies, many engineering students in Canada eagerly anticipate reciting their obligation and receiving their “ring” as part of the century-old iron ring ceremony (i.e., the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer). Most students are unaware of the specifics of the ceremony or its history until they attend it. The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer has been an important rite of passage for Canadian engineering graduates for almost a hundred years and upholds a culture of engineering that is male-dominated, hierarchical, and elitist, in addition to being implicated in environmental abuse and degradation. Over the last century, the ritual has remained largely unchanged, even in the face of public pressure. As a member of the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, what decision, if any, would you make about changing the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer?

This case explores the complexities and challenges that can arise when evaluating a job offer that involves a potential conflict between an individual’s passions and their professional prospects and personal relationships. In January 2023, Stephanie MacLean, a recent business school graduate, faced a challenging career decision. She had received a job offer from Hockey Canada’s Public Relations (PR) division for what she had initially regarded as her “dream job.” However, after revelations in the news regarding the organization’s history of sexual assault, she now had reservations about taking up the offer. While tempted by the opportunity to combine her passion for sports and her interest in PR, MacLean feared potentially alienating her social and professional networks, damaging her personal reputation, and limiting her career trajectory. It was Friday, and MacLean needed to make a decision over the weekend.

Zakir Khan, a celebrated Indian comedian, commanded an impressive and vast fan base. Khan’s unreserved exhibition of his authentic nature had earned him acclaim not only from his fans but also from fellow artists and the media. It had also allowed him to build a personal brand, leading to widespread appeal that had, in turn, unlocked diverse creative avenues for him that typically remained beyond the reach of conventional comedians. What else had contributed to Khan’s personal brand, and what would enhance and sustain that brand identity?

While Microsoft and its allies received immense praise from industry insiders for creating GitHub Copilot, a tool that greatly improved programming accessibility, it faced scrutiny from regulators and ethicists shortly after its launch. A class action suit was filed against them for using the publicly available codes to develop Copilot without informed consent. Ethicists raised concerns about their commitment to ethical and responsible innovation. While Microsoft and allies were being questioned they and several other big technology firms terminated a large numbers of AI ethics personnel. This raised several concerns about ethical and legal oversights in design, development, and deployment of AI-powered innovations like GitHub Copilot.

In February 2023, a prominent retail investor was contemplating selling his investment in Narayana Hrudayalya Limited, one of India’s leading health care companies, when the stock price reached an all-time high of ₹800. The investor had initially bought the shares in 2017, when the price was ₹350 per share. On February 6, 2023, he came across an article about the company that discussed its future prospects, which prompted him to investigate the company’s financials and other key aspects more closely. As he delved deeper into the company’s financial details, the investor discovered various diverse opinions in various reports. To gain some clarity on the company’s financial situation, he asked for the professional advice of his nephew, who was an investment analyst at a prominent stockbroker firm. The analyst knew the importance of conducting a thorough analysis of a company before offering an informed conclusion and investment recommendation to his uncle. He also saw his analysis as an opportunity to provide valuable insight to his own current and prospective clients.

In February 2023, SZ Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co. Ltd. (DJI) was included in the list of the “Top 100 Global Innovators.” At the same time, the 200-metre DJI Sky Pixel—the world’s first asymmetrical suspension steel structure ultra-high-rise building—was achieving remarkable success in the 2023 China Architectural Awards. The building seemed to symbolize DJI’s meteoric rise. In 2023, DJI was a leading company in the global drone industry. From DJI’s inception in 2006 to the first University Student Robot Training Camp in 2013, and up to its current status in 2023, DJI had dedicated 17 years to the development and perfection of drones and more than a decade to the field of education. In its early days, DJI had to overcome serious technical challenges to achieve astonishing success and navigate the strong competition in the market. In 2023, the biggest hurdle DJI was facing was global trade tensions. What other issues were awaiting DJI on its path forward?

In August 2022, Pinduoduo Inc., one of the fastest growing and largest e-commerce companies in China, faced several challenges. Alongside intensified competition from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc., as well as weakened consumer spending due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pinduoduo had reached a potential growth ceiling within the domestic market. To explore new growth avenues, Lei Chen, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, would need to evaluate the potential opportunities and challenges Pinduoduo might encounter in its overseas e-commerce business expansion.

Often organizations need to apologize for a situation caused by a poor decision or by the actions of one of their employees. There are also times when individuals need to make a public apology about something they have said or done. This case gives students an opportunity to put themselves in the place of Lara Spencer, co-host of Good Morning America, apologizing for comments she made in 2019 about the United Kingdom's Prince George and his grade school curriculum, which included computer programming, religious studies, poetry, and ballet. Critics quickly called Spencer to task for making light of boys and men who dance.

Launched in May 2013, Patreon was the leading subscription-based platform in the online crowdfunding market. For over five years, the company operated successfully and expanded its large base of artists and content providers (known as “creators” on Patreon) and their fans and contributors (known as “patrons” on the platform). Patreon charged its content creators a standard 5 per cent fee, plus transaction costs, offering the artists over 90 per cent of the crowdfunded amounts. However, the founder and chief executive officer of Patreon realized that the company could not survive by maintaining the current uniform pricing and services structure. Patreon had to develop a set of more advanced tools to attract new content creators to the platform and enhance the experience of the contributing patrons. Patreon had to revise its pricing strategy to pay for the development of new services, grow its customer base, and improve the company’s profitability.

AutoNation Inc. (AutoNation), the largest auto dealership group in the United States, found itself in an envious position at the end of 2022. Sales and profits were at an all-time high, and AutoNation had a strong cash position and growth aspirations. However, the auto industry was undergoing changes, driven primarily by the electric vehicle (EV) revolution that was in full swing in early 2023. Committed to an EV future, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were set to introduce more than forty new models in 2023 alone and were exploring direct-to-consumer channels that would take the dealership out of the sales process. Importantly, EVs would cost half as much as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to maintain, taking a large chunk of margin away from auto dealerships’ parts and service (P&S) business. How could AutoNation evolve and change its business model to ensure the company would not only survive but also thrive within these new industry dynamics?

In 2021, Shein’s app was ranked as the most downloaded shopping app in the e-commerce space, surpassing that of the technology giant Amazon.com Inc. A driver of Shein’s high adoption was how it leveraged technology throughout its business model: from analyzing consumer data to designing garments and manufacturing products to shipping clothing in a timely manner, Shein disrupted the fast-fashion space through its use of information technology. With exponential growth came complex challenges. Shein faced questions related to sustainability and social responsibility. What were some future opportunities and challenges for Shein? How could the company balance its technology-enabled strategy and sustainability? What initiatives should Shein implement to integrate sustainability into its supply chain and promote circularity among customers?

Hong Kong-headquartered SenseTime Group Inc. (SenseTime) was founded in 2014 to commercialize artificial intelligence (AI) and was a global leader in deep-learning AI, with applications in Smart Business (facial recognition), Smart City (property damage and theft detection), Smart Life (interacting with the Internet of Things to improve consumer experience), and Smart Auto (autonomous driving). December 10, 2021, was supposed to be the date for setting the offer price for SenseTime shares in the company’s global initial public offering. Instead, it was the date that Xu Li, co-founder and chief executive officer of SenseTime, learned from Hong Kong Clearings and Exchange Ltd. that American President Joe Biden was about to designate SenseTime a Communist Chinese Military Company—an action that prevented American investors from legally investing in SenseTime, derailing the initial public offering. How should SenseTime alter its marketing, research and development, and listing strategies in the light of the American government’s actions? How would the increased tension affect the geographic, technological, and customer aspects of SenseTime’s efforts to drive business growth?

In 2023, the fast-fashion industry found itself under attack on several fronts: a growing poor reputation regarding its significant negative social and environmental impacts; the increasing prevalence of online shopping and the entrance of many new competitors who were not burdened with expensive bricks-and-mortar retail networks; and the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in helping to identify future fashion trends. Industria de Diseño Textil SA (Inditex) and its flagship brand Zara had just come off a record 2022, with industry-leading sales, gross margins, and profits. They were also ahead of the industry with 25.8 per cent of sales through their online channels. However, the challenges the fast-fashion industry faced were significant for Zara and required a long-term strategic response.