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<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Best Teaching Case Studies Award at the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI)</strong></p><br>In 2014, as one of the most well-known Taiwanese cuisine brands, Din Tai Fung operated more than 100 restaurants around the world. Attracted by its signature xialongbao (soup dumpling), long queues of customers at Din Tai Fung’s storefront were a common sight. Requests for partnerships for global expansion were constantly arriving. Customer feedback from overseas, however, suggested a notable gap in service quality between the overseas and Taiwanese branches. The demand for support by overseas branches had also surged significantly due to the fast pace of growth in recent years. The company’s chief executive officer had deferred his plan to open the 10th branch in Taiwan. Nevertheless, plans to open new branches in overseas markets were enthusiastically evaluated by existing partners. Two new potential partnership offers from Dubai and the Philippines were being aggressively pursued. What was the best way to cope with the increasing number of requests for support from overseas branches and to ensure high quality? Should Din Tai Fung approve the two overseas offers for partnership that seemed promising? What was the best overseas expansion strategy?

Saksham Wealth Solutions P. Ltd. (Saksham), founded in 2005, was an investment company that survived the challenges of the Indian wealth management industry and the ups and downs of the financial market. Saksham’s success was due in part to a strategy of building trust with clients and educating them about the nuances of creating wealth through various financial instruments. Transparency, assistance, timely advice, and a goal-oriented approach were considered the company’s essential services. In 2008, the company turned down a purchase proposal from top international bankers who valued Saksham at three times its annual profit. Ten years later, Saksham was four times bigger. If a similar offer were made, should Saksham take it?

Shree Balaji Alumnicast Pvt. Ltd. (SBA) was a successful Indian metal recycling company and a pioneer in creating sustainable customer value through its closed-loop supply chain. In 2009, its biggest customer demanded a 15 per cent price reduction on alloys and threatened to withdraw its entire business if SBA failed to meet its demand within a given time frame. This customer contributed a significant share of SBA’s revenue and was thus indispensable. SBA could not simultaneously offer a price discount and retain its margins, which were already declining, through its current business and manufacturing practices. The company needed to rethink its strategy in order to maintain its growth trajectory, and find a better way of managing costs.

The chief executive officer of Network for Information & Computer Technology (NICT), an information and communications technology implementation firm, had to consider a proposal from India Post in which the latter would leverage NICT’s franchisee-based last-mile customer service kiosks to offer banking solutions to rural areas in India. With the deal, the Post Bank of India would emerge as India’s largest commercial bank. NICT’s network of customer service kiosks was already used in a limited capacity by public-sector banks (the Bank of India and the State Bank of India). The India Post offer could stabilize the financial health of NICT and enable it to venture into new domains. However, its current partners might object to the relationship with India Post and withdraw from their partnership. While NICT had the competencies to serve its current clients, it would need to build new ones for India Post. The CEO had to choose between this emerging, possibly highly profitable opportunity and the existing but less profitable partners.

LifeCell International, a stem cell banking service in India, reduced its subscription pricing in 2013. The managing director and chief executive officer was considering the effects of this price differentiation strategy on his efforts to make regenerative health care affordable in India. He needed to address several critical issues, including improving awareness of regenerative therapies, disseminating product information, increasing market penetration, evaluating the new price structure, and continuing to support technological advancements.

Canara Bank has been one of the top five public sector banks in India since its founding in 1906. After lagging behind its competitors for some years, it has finally started to recover from non-performing assets and low profitability. Its new chief executive officer has brought vision, strategic direction, and motivation to achieve a remarkable turnaround in 2013/14, but now he faces several key questions. Should the bank launch an ambitious expansion of its branches, online services, information technology, and human resources, based solely on the recent encouraging results? Is the management committee’s optimism justified, given that several new initiatives are still at various stages of implementation? Will this growth overstretch Canara Bank’s already constrained resources? In order to regain its position and improve reach and profitability in a highly competitive market, an expansion program has to be launched or an opportunity will be missed.

The managing director of Sathavahana Ispat Limited (SIL) was relieved when his company’s expanded manufacturing facilities commenced operations on April 1, 2015, after a delay of more than a year. Though he had a reason to rejoice, the managing director also had concerns about SIL's rising borrowing costs and dwindling liquidity. Accordingly, he approached the Indian Women's Bank to replace the company's high-cost debt to the extent of ?3 billion and to raise a corporate loan of ?1 billion. Would the proposal be sanctioned? Or would it be rejected due to SIL's weak financials, subdued market conditions and the ongoing global economic slowdown?

In 2003, the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) was launched to explore new and commercially sustainable models of livelihood promotion for India’s vulnerable communities of craftworkers. The Indian handlooms and handicrafts, collectively referred to as the craft sector, symbolized the rich historical and cultural diversity that distinguished India from the rest of the world. The sector provided low-cost, “green” livelihood opportunities to millions of Indian families, supplementing their incomes in seasons of agrarian distress, checking migration, and preserving traditional economic relationships. The sector represented the economic lifeline of the most vulnerable sections of Indian society. AIACA took a unique approach towards stakeholder engagement by establishing partnerships with local non-governmental organizations, business enterprises, individual craftworkers, self-help groups, and government agencies. This level of co-operation produced effective advocacy and high-impact developmental work through multiplicative strategies, and the results were scalable and replicable in the context of informal sectors in transitioning economies. AIACA had spent a decade successfully designing and implementing livelihood interventions to help small-scale, family-managed businesses evolve into sustainable enterprises and innovative networks. The organization now needed to re-examine its approach and look for ways to deliver a deeper developmental impact.

In August 2011, the newly hired chief executive officer of the Indian firm Headstart Industries Ltd. (HIL) faced a dilemma over whether or not to allot funds for a new project of a business unit that had poor performance over several years and had affected the company's overall profitability. The chief executive officer was faced with a tough choice between acting against the dominant culture of HIL by refusing to fund the new project or displeasing the board members who had hired him to bring about organizational change. He was well aware of the board members’ belief that the division in question was a burden on HIL's resources and should be closed down. Should he appease the culture, or should he accept the risks and approve the funding?

In June 2015, two entrepreneurs launched HeyTaxi!, a start-up venture that used motorbike and scooter taxis in Mumbai. The goal was to reduce the time, effort, and money spent by citizens on commuting. But the entrepreneurs faced a problem of survival and sustainability: the government authorities refused to issue a licence for the bike-taxi service. The venture was favoured by citizens who used its services, but HeyTaxi! was limited to marketing its service not as a legitimate taxi service but as a ride-sharing service. HeyTaxi! was fulfilling a social need, and customer loyalty was fuelling the venture’s journey, but the absence of regulatory permits put the longevity of HeyTaxi! at risk. Concerns about HeyTaxi!’s future needed to be addressed to ensure the venture’s survival, scalability, and sustainability.

Amarnath Gupta and Sons was a distributor of lubricants and owner of a petrol pump based in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. The business was originally set up as a family-owned single petrol pump in 1953. The family member currently in charge of daily operations had expanded the business significantly, especially since the entry of new multinational players in the Indian lubricant market. In 2013, this owner-partner was looking at ways to involve his children—one of whom had finished college (a son), one of whom was in college (a daughter), and one of whom was about to start college (a son)—in the family business. Should three businesses be established for each of the three children, or should they all be part of the same business? How could the next generation enter the business successfully? This case won the 2015 ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition in the entrepreneurship category. The ISB-Ivey case competition was sponsored by ISB.

In 2014, U-Haul International Ltd. (U-Haul) was the biggest North American company in do-it-yourself moving and storage. A publicly-traded but family-controlled firm, U-Haul's corporate performance was very strong. However, the company continued to be plagued by reputation-related challenges stemming from long-ago family feuds that had been made public. Just when the feuds were settling, the company’s executive vice-president learned that a television series planned to air an episode profiling the murder of a member of the family. The murder took place in 1990, and the killer was arrested, but the case was controversial. Such a program detailing the murder might create new challenges for U-Haul's reputation. How should the company respond to this planned television episode? How much of the past still affected U-Haul’s reputation, and how much of the reputation still affected U-Haul's relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, and investors? Should the company hope the renewed attention would blow over or should it set out to influence its public relationships?

The Digital Secretariat project proposed a radical change in the existing workflow of government offices of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The new system aimed to replace manual file processing in the state secretariat, thereby reducing the time consumed during file movement, improving archival facilities, and increasing efficiency. Digital Secretariat was developed by Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society in a private partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. The project began in June 2012, but by April 2015, Digital Secretariat had been rolled out in just 23 of the 49 departments it hoped to encompass. Furthermore, an analysis of annual usage records revealed that even the departments that had formally adopted the system were not actually using it as much as anticipated. Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society wanted to identify and resolve the factors contributing to these low adoption rates.

On January 17, 2015, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) released service cost estimates to all municipalities under its new municipal billing model. The new billing model, according to the recommendations of the auditor general, was designed to provide a more consistent, transparent, and accurate reflection of municipal servicing costs. Several mayors were not entirely sold on the new model and had their own opinion on how each municipality should be billed. Municipal officials needed consistent year-to-year service costs to accurately forecast their annual budgets. The OPP had to demonstrate the merit of the new billing model to ensure its adoption by all municipalities.

Incorporated in 2012, Mukunda Foods Private Limited (Mukunda) was an Indian robotics company that focused on innovative, internet-enabled smart devices for use in home and industrial kitchens. These devices could be controlled with a smartphone application. Mukunda started as the manufacturer of the DosaMatic, an automatic tabletop machine that made dosas (a popular Indian food). The machine was targeted at the industrial market. Mukunda’s chief executive officer had to design the marketing strategy for the April 2016 launch of the company’s range of ready-made batters aimed at the consumer market. Subsequently, the company planned to launch the consumer version of its DosaMatic machine. The chief executive officer was aware that the consumer market posed challenges different from the industrial market in terms of product and branding decisions, pricing, promotion, and distribution. He also knew that as a start-up, Mukunda could not match larger competitors in their distribution and promotional spending, especially given that Mukunda was simultaneously developing several new products (such as automated roti- and curry-making machines), which required consistent investments in research and development. What was the best strategy for Mukunda’s unique circumstances?

In late December 2014, one of the founders of the Indian start-up Deltecs InfoTech (Deltecs) was considering the progress of his organization. Deltecs had received several awards for its product, an innovative middleware that companies could use to create their own applications on mobile platforms. Its customers had also received awards for the innovative ways they had deployed the Deltecs product. The company had grown at a rate of almost 100 per cent per year. To sustain that growth, it would need to explore new products or new markets, which would require additional funding. The co-founder also wanted to achieve 10,000 business-to-business customers by 2020. To do so, Deltecs would need to focus on acquiring and retaining employees who could achieve this growth strategy. The co-founder was considering various funding sources, including equity- and debt-baced options. He also wondered whether to outsource some or all of his company’s human resources management functions.

In August 2015, imiAID, an Indian start-up that provided portable first aid kits for emergencies, was struggling to reduce its production costs and increase awareness about its product. The company began operations in Guwahati, Assam, and subsequently expanded the business to other states in Northeast India. Key target segments for imiAID included educational institutions and health-care service providers. Customers were somewhat aware of the product; however, imiAID wanted to develop a strategy that addressed its two goals of reducing production costs and increasing awareness about the imiAID Pocket First Aid Kit. Management had to decide how to best guide the company’s growth. Would imiAID be able to successfully operate in the emerging market of Northeast India in the long term?

In March 2013, the chief executive development officer of the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) was preparing a report on the findings and recommendations of the organization’s seven-year history. The HEDC, the economic development arm of the Heiltsuk Nation, was not meeting its goals. The HEDC structure was based on the theory that economic development success in Aboriginal communities required a separation of business from political influence. Unfortunately, the HEDC had yielded little economic success to date. Further, it was not clear whether it had effectively brought about the desired separation of economics from politics. Similar concerns were expressed by the chief councilor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, the political governance structure responsible for administering, governing, and setting policy for the Heiltsuk Nation. There was hope that the report would bring clarity to what had gone wrong in the development process under the HEDC. Was the governance structure appropriate for the task the HEDC was supposed to fulfill, or were the roles and responsibilities not clearly defined? What was causing the myriad of communication issues? What should be done?

In the fall of 2010, the founders of Campus FundSource, an organization developed to help campus groups raise money for their respective causes, were asked to present to a potential investor. The three founders were struggling with how to scale their start-up that connected campus groups that needed funding (such as language groups, intramural sports teams, and singing groups) with major brands that were trying to reach a younger demographic with their marketing messages. The company was still at the start-up stage, and the founders had just graduated from a business accelerator program, where they finished developing their website and tested both the site and the business concept--connecting brands with students. In order to show potential investors that they were readily scalable, they needed to show that they could quickly attain a critical mass of both student groups and national brands. This presented a chicken-and-egg dilemma, as it was proving difficult to penetrate two markets at once. How could Campus FundSource attract both the student groups who needed funding and the national brands that wanted to attract and keep post-secondary students as their customers?

In 2005, three international information technology professionals formed an international joint venture to design and construct information technology systems for shopping centres and office buildings. Despite being relative newcomers to working in the Chinese marketplace, in 2012, the company won a contract for a large job in China. However, when the company’s three directors travelled to China to meet with their Chinese business partners, they encountered several unexpected, questionable situations. Their Chinese business partners were not there to meet them; rather, they had travelled to another country. The three directors met instead with representatives from the Chinese government consortium overseeing the construction project, and these officials pressed the three company directors regarding what they had brought for them. Their limited preparation and lack of contingency plans challenged their ability to maintain respect and move forward. How could they recover the situation and still achieve their goals of a signed contract?