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Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than $800 million. While Daniel Wiegand (the co-founder and CEO) is confident about the design of the company's latest seven-seater aircraft, he is still struggling with the business model. Lilium has three main options. First, it can offer air mobility services to passengers, i.e., become a full-service B2C company. Second, it can become an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), selling its jets to other companies that offer mobility services (B2B option). Third, Lilium can choose a hybrid option, offering air mobility to end-users in certain markets while selling its jets to other air mobility service providers.

Mitsuharu Kurokawa was the 18th generation leader of a family firm that produced and sold premium Japanese sweets, Toraya Confectionery Co., Ltd. He had succeeded the business from his father, Mitsuhiro Kurokawa who had led the firm for thirty years. Mitsuharu was committed to following his predecessors who had strived to please customers with delicious Japanese sweets. The challenge was how he could further improve product quality and diversify the product line to please the customers of today without affecting Toraya's brand image. Mitsuharu also believed that plant-derived "yokan" (a traditional sweet using azuki bean paste) was healthy and had the potential to become a global popular sweet, like chocolate. Thus as a long-term goal, Mitsuharu had an ambition to offer Japanese sweets to customers around the world. In planning ways to further grow the business, Mitsuharu had to pin down exactly how the family business was defined in relation to his family. He also needed to identify what role of prominence his family's position within the highest tier of decision-making meant for the rest of the larger "Toraya family," which included longtime employees. Would Mitsuharu's endeavor to expand the product line to reach a wider customer base be in line with the well-being of the company? Would there be a risk of damaging Toraya's image as a luxury brand? Would global expansion be the right decision for the firm with a long history of offering traditional sweets to premium customers in Japan?

Over his 40-year career, Paul Polman had led some of the world's largest consumer goods companies, making his biggest mark as CEO of Unilever-a multi-national corporation that produced everything from soap to soup. Polman was also well-regarded as a leader in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and had consistently staked his career on the message that doing better for the planet and its inhabitants ultimately made for better business. Many called him visionary; others felt he was misguided. But thanks to his sterling business credentials, when Polman spoke, people listened. And speak out he did, trying to win over corporate leaders to his vision of how business should serve society, and not the other way around. Now, having stepped down from Unilever and living in the midst of the biggest global health crisis in a century, he wondered how to rally business and civic leaders to do more to fight climate change, preserve biodiversity, and reduce global inequity.

On September 6, 2018, a couple was enjoying a meal at a hotpot restaurant in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. The restaurant was a branch of the popular Chinese hotpot restaurant chain owned by Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings Co. Ltd. (Xiabu Xiabu). Halfway through the meal, the pregnant wife found a dead rat in her soup. The news spread on social media, and according to some analysts, Xiabu Xiabu's share price dropped US$190 million in market value. Had Xiabu Xiabu's lack of quality assurance undermined the company's success? How could the company improve its risk and crisis management?

Breastcancer.org (BCO), a small, Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization with a $5.4 million annual budget in 2020, was looking ahead several months to the start of Pink October (also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Unlike the many non-profits that focused on medical research to find a cure for breast cancer, BCO was dedicated to helping patients and their caregivers make sense of complex information, and it had established a digital community that became a trusted source of information and stories. BCO's vice-president of partnerships and development was preparing for the 2019-2020 fiscal year-end review with the chief executive officer and the board of directors. While BCO was not at risk of closing, it had to find ways to increase revenue beyond individual donations and corporate sponsorships. The organization needed funding from additional revenue streams to expand its program offering, and the vice-president had just a few weeks to complete her assessment of BCO's assets and revenue strategy, which she would present to the board.

On May 24, 2021, Peloton Interactive, Inc. (Peloton) announced its intention to build a new US factory to produce its stationary bicycles and treadmills. The new factory, which would be located in Ohio, was an addition to the company's investments in its manufacturing facility in Taiwan and its purchase of fitness equipment manufacturer Precor Incorporated. In deciding to invest in its own production facilities to supply exercise equipment, Peloton was in stark contrast to its competitors, who predominantly outsourced production overseas. Would Peloton's plans to build its own fitness equipment in Ohio help or hinder its ability to fulfill its goal of market leadership?

Buckeye Chiller Systems and International Steel Corporation formed MicroFin Incorporated in 2017, in South Carolina, United States, as a joint venture to produce tubing for industrial chillers. After four years of losses, the chief executive officer of Buckeye had lost patience with the joint venture. He gave his chief operating officer until the end of March 2021 (less than three weeks) to turn around MicroFin or dissolve the partnership. With no chance of making money in the short term, the chief operating officer focused on three options for terminating the joint venture. Time was running out, and something needed to change.

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is a leading manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance, and haircare products with annual sales of over $14 billion in 2020. ELC had a long-standing commitment to "High Touch" customer service, inviting and tracking all feedback from consumers. ELC had recently moved from a manual to an automated tracking platform, positioning the company to more efficiently handle customer feedback. This platform and the data it aggregated was put to the test in August 2020 when the Consumer Care Analytics & Insights Group noticed an uptick in contact volume largely generated from China. The team also noticed that the increase was driven almost exclusively by complaints. The spike was especially cause for concern given that ELC had a 100% return policy with no questions asked, so customer complaints often led to returns and lost revenue. In this case, students are asked to consider potential root causes of the increased online customer complaints-and based on their hypotheses, what type of analysis and potential interventions they would recommend.

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail locations in four states. However, some decisions that fueled their rapid growth were double-edged swords. Licensed partnerships with Disney raised the brand's profile, but necessitated expanding production. The factory they built was expensive and introduced new logistical challenges. And the native New Yorkers were unhappy with a pricey West Coast expansion. In March 2020, they filed for bankruptcy, disappointing the venture capital investors they had attracted and the legions of fans who did not understand why the popular brand was not turning a profit. The protagonists' story continues in The Social (HBS No. 822-074), which tells the story of their second ice cream venture.

This case features the same protagonists as Ample Hills Creamery (HBS No. 822-073), and can be used as a continuation of that story. Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail locations in four states. However, some decisions that fueled their rapid growth were double-edged swords, and the couple filed for corporate and personal bankruptcy in 2020. After ruminating on their mistakes, Smith and Cuscuna decided to start another premium ice cream brand, at a much smaller scale, using the lessons they learned in their Ample Hills experience.

The social enterprise Apni Shala Foundation (ASF) provided social and emotional learning programs to disadvantaged communities in Mumbai, India. Since its founding in 2013, ASF had engaged with more than 16,000 students. Before February 2020, ASF was directly engaged with more than 4,600 students, 1,000 parents, and more than 500 teachers at 35 government schools and non-profit organizations. However, on March 31, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced ASF to shut its office and discontinue operations, and its mission of equipping children, educators, and parents with skills to support improved mental well-being stopped abruptly. Amrita Nair, the co-founder of ASF now faced a dilemma regarding resuming the foundation's social and emotional learning programs: If ASF did continue, which categories should it choose to serve, and why? How could it transform its offerings and operations without compromising much on the quality of programs?

Driven by a passion to develop his own brand, Sandeep Yadav started Rock Pharmacy in 2014 in a rented area of 700 square feet and with seed capital of US$6,665. His primary customers were patients who required medication regularly for conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and kidney issues, and people who worked for companies in the local area. The venture dealt mainly in patented medication. However, over 2018-2020, there had been a dramatic decrease in sales and profits due to the rise of e-pharmacies and organized pharma, and the business was struggling to meet its operating expenses. Considering the options available to save his business, Yadav had to decide: should he give up his brand and collaborate with online/organized pharma players, or should he compete with them?

On March 23, 2021, Vineet Sharma, the sole owner of MedStar Polymers, India, a medical-grade latex glove manufacturing company, was considering the dilemma of how to scale up production to fulfill an unprecedented order during COVID-19. With demand for protective equipment outstripping global supply during the pandemic, an exceptional business growth and expansion opportunity for glove manufacturers had emerged. Several manufacturers had expanded production by adding new production lines. On the surface, a production ramp-up looked as simple as increasing inputs: raw material, labour, machinery, equipment, and cash. However, a decision to rapidly increase production could create risk and almost destroy a business-especially when constraints such as raw material unavailability, transport and travel restrictions, logistical problems, and state- and area-wide lockdowns started impacting the production process. Sharma had to decide how to increase output while also dealing with disruptions such as a shortage of labour and concerns about the use of natural latex rubber. Was now the right time to add a new production line? Should he switch to making nitrile gloves? He needed to make decisions quickly, as the current high demand would likely not last.

Anna Bender, VP of product at Workaround, a large human resources (HR) software firm, had just been presented with a number of different recommendations from her employees on how to integrate the functionality and data from a recently acquired software company that had a leading chat app into Workaround's offerings. Although she was impressed by many of the suggestions, Bender was also ethically conflicted about some of them. The business opportunities and ethical implications of each of the three proposals weighed on Bender's mind as she prepared to meet with the senior leadership team the next day. Before doing so, however, she had to identify the potential ethical issues with each suggestion and analyze ways they might be minimized, particularly with regard to privacy and potential antitrust concerns. The worst possible outcome would be getting dragged up in front of Congress. Yet, more broadly, she wanted her decision to reflect the core values of Workaround's business and her own personal values.

In 2021, the car manufacturer National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) faced the challenge of securing funding from its investor to launch an innovative mobility solution based on fleets of shared autonomous driving (AD) cars. The system was complex as it required the development of several interconnected components: from AD cars to a system to coordinate the vehicles with the city's digital and physical infrastructure. Furthermore, AD cars were still in a testing phase. The project was made even more complicated by NEVS' decision to target different customers: from companies which could use PONS as part of a leasing service or to transport goods, to municipalities willing to complement their public transportation services, or private citizens which could use it to commute or go shopping. NEVS felt the urge to launch the system. But was NEVS ready?

In November 2021, US Foods CEO Pietro Satriano must decide his company's trajectory following the COVID-19 pandemic. US Foods suffered due to business closures and social distancing during the height of the pandemic. While the situation improved following the return of indoor dining and in-person learning, an industry-wide shortage of truck drivers and warehouse selectors threatened to dampen its post-pandemic recovery. The US Foods team must determine the appropriate strategy for attracting and retaining new drivers and selectors. Meanwhile, the company planned to build additional locations for CHEF'STORE, its cash-and-carry warehouse brand, which promised to increase its geographic footprint and product offerings. Satriano must decide how to support the CHEF'STORE expansion in light of the foodservice distribution industry's continued supply chain challenges.

Agora was a civic technology (civic tech) startup founded by Elsa Sze, who wanted to enhance the connection between political officials and their constituents by facilitating virtual "town halls," making underrepresented voices heard and benefiting elected and appointed leaders who often struggled to collect meaningful feedback. Despite success in startup accelerator programs, challenges and complexities with government sales cycles led Sze to pivot the company multiple times, until she was selling customer service software to corporations and pondering whether she still wanted to build and sell Agora. A short financial runway meant she had to quickly decide where to invest her energy.

Nicolas Dupont, the owner of Chateau de Montana, a struggling (and old) boutique hotel in Crans-Montana Ski Resort, Switzerland, wished to renovate and reposition his family-owned hotel to target higher room rates. Dupont commissioned Olga Mitireva and Yulia Belopilskaya as consultants to assess the proposition. The consultants had to extract cues for the room rate of the repositioned hotel from comparable hotels. However, the room rates varied significantly across similar hotels due to their differing characteristics and locations. It was a cognitive challenge to read the patterns from a few comparable hotels. They collected the data of 200 hotels from similar locations and simulated room prices using hedonic regression models.

This case follows the organic growth story of ServiceNow, a workflow platform serving enterprise customers. ServiceNow found product-market fit in streamlining workflows for IT service management. It later evolved its product, engineering, and go-to-market organizations to expand first into adjacencies within IT and then into additional domains such as HR, customer service, and others. The case charts ServiceNow's path of organic growth towards $10 billion in revenue, challenging students to consider decisions around build vs. buy, organizational design, innovation investments, and the leveraging of a unified platform technology.