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In March 2024, the global energy storage market witnessed a landmark event. The Indian public utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited was able to lower its rates, or tariffs, for energy storage by 58 per cent, compared to bids submitted in a previously issued government tender. The low tariffs, which were the lowest rate ever reported, would open a floodgate of opportunities for the renewable energy industry. Commercially viable energy storage would encourage investments in inherently intermittent solar and wind generation. It would also offer a new alternative for improving grid availability and reliability. However, a sudden drop of over 50 per cent in tariffs also raised new questions. Was the submitted bid to the government tender feasible? Would these low rates be viable in the short and long term? Would low tariffs continue to attract investment in this sunrise sector, which was seeking significant private-sector investments? Amid these questions, the managing director of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited had to determine how to proceed.

This case analyzes the challenges faced by the founder of Magic Hive, an organization that offered counselling, parenting workshops (called Chetana), and self-awareness sessions for adults and children. Despite the creation of a psychologically safe climate in the Chetana workshops, several parents hesitated to participate actively. The founder was considering three strategic alternatives: personalized outreach to participants after the workshop sessions to help build rapport and trust; off-line retreats to help build connection among Chetana community members; and integrating interactive activities into the online workshop sessions to promote collaboration. Which option would be the best for Magic Hive?

Coco Fresh was a natural tender coconut water bottled by Madhura Agro Process Pvt. Ltd. (MAPPL). The chief executive officer (CEO) sensed there was a market opportunity given the health benefits of Coco Fresh compared to other beverages. He developed the technology to extract the coconut water and package it without any preservatives. This market was crowded with many players, each claiming to offer genuine coconut water. The regulations in India did not distinguish tender coconut water from mature coconut water. The CEO was in a dilemma over how to overcome this regulation and drive home the value of Coco Fresh to consumers.

Satkar Automobiles was a dealer for Hero MotoCorp, located in Chhinwada, a small town in Madhya Pradesh, India. Starting from a humble beginning, the two-wheeler dealership had increased its sales revenue year-over-year—until COVID struck. During the pandemic recovery, Hero MotoCorp’s competitors gained more market share. Amidst a changing market, distribution restrictions, and inventory challenges, the company’s chief marketing officer, a second-generation entrepreneur, was faced with a huge problem: how to regain share in her market and become the number one dealer for Hero MotoCorp in India.

At a conference in November 2020, the chief executive officers (CEOs) of two exceptional healthcare start-ups—AliveCor Inc. (AliveCor) and Neurobit Inc. (Neurobit)—discussed their paths to innovation: AliveCor, a trailblazing health tech company, had emerged in 2011 with electrocardiogram (ECG) hardware and software that had since garnered global recognition. Neurobit, a digital health start-up, entered the scene in 2018 with sleep biomarker–based health analytics that could predict adverse cardiopulmonary or neurological outcomes. As the CEOs shared their stories, common challenges emerged regarding data acquisition, privacy concerns, and regulatory compliance. Amid their successes, the two companies experienced the necessity of addressing data challenges to achieve AI’s full potential in healthcare. They made trade-offs between time and resources amid a rapidly evolving industry and employed various strategies and solutions, from academic collaborations to extensive data collection, in their quest to determine the best strategy to use to overcome the challenges of efficiently and cost-effectively acquiring and utilizing data to drive innovation and gain a competitive edge.

Within a single year, Lebanon experienced multiple adversities, from the economic crisis in October 2019, to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the Port of Beirut explosion on August 4, 2020. Many start-ups had to shut down during this period. This case investigates the role of organizational culture in how Toters Delivery, a high-tech Lebanese-based start-up, responded to these challenges and adapted its business model to overcome adversity. Its co-founder believed that organizational culture was a key factor in its survival. The case examines questions such as: How can a start-up maintain its culture in the face of grand challenges? and What strategic changes does a start-up need to make during challenging times, and how?

Fastech Fashions Private Ltd. was founded in Rourkela, India in 2017 with the goal to elevate the livelihoods of traditional Odia weavers. By 2022 the company had experienced notable success, focusing on T-shirts, school uniforms, traditional handicraft products, professional attire, and athleisure. However, tension between the investors and one of the owners grew when the owner's commitment to reinvesting in weavers for broader societal impact interfered with the company's profits. Balancing profitability and philanthropy became a critical challenge. The emotional and logical complexities of decision-making had to be made while under constant pressure from investors. Strategic choices needed to be considered, as well as the delicate balance between business success and social impact.

Founded in Hyderabad, India in 2019, Inkpothub is India’s first digital media platform to offer researchers, scholars, and academics a forum for sharing success and experience stories. The platform allows users to share their journeys to promote research as a career, help researchers make informed career choices, and avoid common pitfalls. Inkpothub also creates, curates, and shares content, information, and knowledge to promote management scholarship and research. The platform connects users with scholars in major Indian academic institutions through content, mentorship programs, courses, and workshops. Inkpothub facilitates high-quality research output and works closely with institutions across the country to promote their doctoral programs to prospective students.<br><br>Inkpothub’s co-founder and current sole owner is Anita Sharma, India’s first woman skydiver with a disability, who is also an entrepreneur with a doctorate from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore. Sharma has worked as professor at IIM, Amritsar and has been a keynote speaker, among other roles she has held. In April 2020, Inkpothub’s co-founder Nishan Singh left the company for personal reasons, leaving Sharma to lead the company alone and face the impact from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. With a difficult business environment for all businesses across all countries, Sharma was considering three potential options for the future: sell the business to regain her investment in the company, find a new partner to grow the business and share the risks and revenues, or continue to run the business on her own.

In June 2023, the director of corporate communication and digital services for Khalil Fattal et Fils SAL (a subsidiary of Fattal Group) was tasked with presenting a strategy for the company’s online activities. The family business was a fourth-generation diversified distributor of a large variety of products and many other items by well-known brands headquartered near Beirut, Lebanon. The director had started to explore online sales platforms after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, which was soon followed by a major political and economic crisis in Lebanon. The director was wondering which of two potential strategies she should present to the board of directors. She could recommend a B2C strategy to strengthen the company’s retail business or a B2B strategy to avoid potential conflicts among the company’s various independent retailers. The director had to make a decision before the next board meeting.

On July 10, 2023, a Snow Valley Resorts co-owner was reviewing his organization’s first quarter financials for fiscal year 2022–23. Snow Valley Resorts was founded in 1993 in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, when the first of the group’s four resorts, Snow Valley Resorts Manali, was built among the Himalayan mountain range with panoramic views and pleasant weather. The co-owner had set a goal to increase the organization’s revenue growth rate to nearly twice the previous year’s rate, but he realized several issues had to be addressed first. Technology and operations at the four resorts needed to be integrated. Communications and transactions had to be smoothened. Actions had to be taken to address various issues raised in the customer feedback. Service quality had to be improved at each of the four resorts. Overall, the ripples of customer complaints had to be converted into guest satisfaction by taking appropriate measures.

Shanghai Zhongdan Information Technology Co. Ltd. (SZIT), established in 2017, was an e-commerce firm focusing on the flash-sales industry. Helping clothing brands clear their inventory quickly, SZIT rapidly attracted a large number of brands and successfully built a business ecosystem that included platforms, brands, shopkeepers, and consumers. To achieve success for all parties, SZIT took a series of measures to empower ecosystem members, such as helping brands build private traffic pools, providing one-stop services for shopkeepers, and reducing financial pressure for shopkeepers. These measures met the needs of different types of stakeholders and enabled SZIT to develop quickly and become a unicorn in the e-commerce industry. To continuously increase user traffic, SZIT developed the Xiang Store WeChat Mini Program to attract public traffic and ease the bottleneck of private traffic. However, SZIT now faced a new problem: determining how to balance the proportion of public traffic and private traffic.

<p style="color: white; background-color: rgb(3, 70, 56); font-size: 16px; display: inline-block; border: 0px solid rgb(197, 183, 131); padding: 4px 4px;"><a href="" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"> DIGITAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE COMING SOON</a></p><br><br>Kurt Preston, Vice President of Global Sourcing & Product Operations at Sonos Inc. (Sonos), had been considering a Joint Development Model for future Sonos products. In 2022, Sonos began to expand their product offering to target value-conscious consumers and grow market share with more modest price points. Historically, Sonos designed every aspect of their products in house and used Contract Manufacturers (CM) for production. A Joint Development Model (JDM) approach offered an opportunity to partner with the supplier to potentially decrease the product development time and cost. However, JDM meant giving up control of several aspects of the product design and this had many at Sonos very worried.

Casing Petrochemicals was a leading importer of Petroleum Derivatives (such as Base Oil), Chemicals and Refrigerants in India. With 90% of the firm's revenue and profits contributed by the Petroleum Business, the other businesses were secondary in nature. The firm through procurement contracts with refineries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East imported base oil and then sold in bulk to institutional buyers across various industries such as automobiles, steel, and consumer companies. . Covid cases had begun to rise again and Indian states had already declared lockdowns. With Crude Oil prices also expected to remain volatile, the future of the firm was at stake.

The case explores the challenges faced by the leader of the El Dandara tribes in Egypt, as he confronts the disappointing results of an assessment on the status of women within his tribe. Despite being praised for his leadership style, the assessment reveals a significant gap in female empowerment within the tribe. Hashem, known for his transformative initiatives, had initiated a project to uplift women in his tribe. Now faced with the need to reassess and improve the project, Hashem must navigate the complexities of tribal leadership, cultural norms, and the urgent need for female empowerment. This case helps students understand the importance of culture for leadership by providing insights into Western and Arab leadership practices.

Nitin Kapoor, the managing director of Saera Electric Auto Pvt. Ltd. (Saera Electric), a leading three-wheeler electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer in India, was excited to capture the opportunity brought about by some recent favourable regulatory developments in the Indian EV sector in early 2015. Although Nitin, along with his father, Vijay, had spearheaded the growth of Saera Electric despite several difficulties, the new developments were compelling Nitin to reevaluate Saera’s playbook. This case examined the strategies adopted by Saera Electric for transforming an innovative idea into a final product and explored the various opportunities and challenges associated with competing in a BoP market segment in a larger emerging-market context.

Hopeworks Camden (Hopeworks), a small non-profit organization based in Camden, New Jersey, with a $4.7 million annual budget in 2022, was looking ahead to 2024. It was mid-July 2023, and the board of directors tasked Don Rhoton, Hopeworks’ chief executive officer, and Onome Pela-Emore, their chief operating officer, to develop an expansion plan that is financially viable and increases their geographic reach, beginning as early as the second quarter 2024. Rhoton and Pela-Emore believed in their mission and knew that to grow they would need to increase in spatial geography, obtain new business opportunities, increase recruitment and training, and be competitive in the marketplace. They also knew that to make this all happen they would have to question how they market, determine who they would market to, and how the market will recognize them as a competitor.

A year had passed since implementing digitalization of the direct lending process at Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and the committee gathered on January 2, 2023, to reflect on its success and identify any issues. During the meeting, the team discovered that some businesses faced issues with loan sanctioning due to the need for relaxation of certain policies. Because the system-driven processes were based on standard procedures, the committee faced a dilemma in how to handle these relaxations. Although the system was automated, there were still certain areas that required manual interventions. As a result, the team deliberated whether SIDBI should move toward hyperautomation.

On July 15, 2022, the senior marketing manager of Prabhu Murthy Industries Limited participated in a high-priority meeting attended by all of the company’s executives to discuss a pressing issue. The company’s unstable financial position and disappointing results had tarnished its reputation among investors. The company had to quickly raise funds by promoting itself as a favourable investment option for the public and investors, and the senior marketing manager was entrusted with developing an advertisement that would fulfill this purpose. As he contemplated the challenging week ahead, the senior marketing manager grappled with determining the most effective course of action to achieve the company’s objective. How would he convey the right advertising concept to effectively inspire confidence in investors and stakeholders? His contemplation would also underscore the importance of ethical communication in the financial services industry.

The case explored whether a novel design for a recycling bin could promote proper recycling behaviours in Singapore. The redesigned recycling bins were initially deployed at different sites around the National University of Singapore to assess their effectiveness among the university community, with promising results. The team now wanted to investigate whether the improved recycling habits observed on campus could be replicated in more diverse public environments, such as shopping malls. The decision for the team was how to implement a field trial of these bins across three shopping malls in Singapore to assess their effectiveness among the general population. The case underscored the importance of human and behavioural-centred design in promoting sustainable practices and discussed primary operational challenges, potential risks, and mitigation strategies to ensure a field study’s success.

In early 2020, Daniela Suarez, a dynamic fitness entrepreneur, opened a successful studio in downtown Montreal, earning a loyal clientele with her energy and passion for holistic health. When COVID-19 shutdowns forced her to close, she quickly pivoted to online training, inspiring clients and growing her brand with engaging fitness and nutrition content. A fitness contest winner and nutrition textbook author, Suarez leveraged her expertise to cultivate a strong online following.<br><br>She later expanded into e-commerce with Ēvolvō, offering resistance bands and fitness apparel through drop shipping. While sales showed promise, new challenges emerged: What products should she offer? What mix would be optimal? How could she boost sales and profitability?