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The owner of Inspiratica Web Services was about to graduate from university and devote all his time to his web design and hosting company. Since Inspiratica’s founding in 2006, annual sales had gone from a few thousand dollars to nearly $100,000. Furthermore, it had hired six staff and expanded its product offering to a complete web services package. However, the owner was scrutinizing the company’s product portfolio and wondering which products and target markets had the most potential for success. Most customers had been acquired through word of mouth, but new ways were needed to expand the company’s client base. Finally, he wondered if Inspiratica’s strategy of premium pricing for high quality was the best option for the future.

The general manager of Craig Manufacturing Cambridge Branch felt that there was room to improve top-line growth through better utilization of plant capacity. The company was losing out on sales due to the highly seasonal nature of demand; the plant was fully loaded four months of the year, but it had unused capacity during the remaining months. The general manager had just attended a lecture where a more flexible approach to pricing had been suggested as a way to better manage supply chain and capacity issues. An idea began to emerge: Could Craig Manufacturing use pricing to better match demand to plant capacity? If so, would this practice boost profitability, or would it merely reduce revenues?

Giel Bessels is one of the three founders of a Dutch classical music record label called PentaTone Music BV, which releases all of its recordings on a high-resolution audio format called Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD). Now a decade old, PentaTone has survived the commercial failure of SACD’s launch in 1999 and the adverse market characterized by a continually shrinking demand for classical music recordings. However, the founders wish to build their company further and know that they must stimulate demand for their products so that they can finance further recordings. Bessels and his team recognize the unique difficulties of educating consumers about the superior quality of high-resolution, surround-sound classical music on SACD, which needs to be heard to be fully appreciated. The case invites students to think creatively about alternative ways of growing and protecting PentaTone’s business, including novel uses of social media and possible expansion into China. The case also illustrates a relatively unusual motive for new venture creation — here, the business is seen as an asset to be built up to provide a future capital gain through a trade sale rather than as a vehicle to generate a stream of current and ongoing dividends (incomes).

The branch manager of the YMCA Goderich-Huron considers a change in operations for the beachfront property at Rotary Cove Beach, which has been unprofitable for years. She needs to assess how a number of factors, including financial considerations, might change operations for the coming year. Her assessment and recommendations would have to fit with the branch’s overall financial strategy while considering the various stakeholders involved, including Goderich’s town council.

The owner of Finchco plans to sell his company, which is a distributor of industrial materials. The purpose of the case is to utilize several valuation methods and suggest the possible deal structure. The situation is made somewhat more complicated because Finchco has a real estate subsidiary that must be valued, and because the company has a great opportunity to land a major new customer whose value must be included in the analysis.

This case deals with the commercialization challenges that a premier research institute in an emerging economy faces despite conducting cutting-edge research. The case is set in 2009 in Hyderabad, India, soon after the appointment of CCMB’s new director, Dr. Mohan Rao. Rao has to decide how to proceed with incentivizing the scientists to find potential applications for their research when most scientists are merely interested in doing basic research and when, at the same time, the government is increasing its emphasis on the use of public science for societal good. The case also deals with the role of commercialization and technology transfer, publishing versus patenting, basic versus translation sciences, and incentives.

This case deals with the innovation challenges of a medium-sized firm (under $1 billion) in an emerging economy (India), particularly the challenges of product development and commercialization. The management has to decide how to proceed with a promising novel formula for oral insulin — promising both in terms of financial returns as well as social impact. The company has spent several years of research and development in getting the drug through Phase I and Phase II trials, and is entering the most critical stage, Phase III. The case is set in 2009, a period that was punctuated with a lot of economic uncertainty. Students are asked to decide if Biocon should go ahead with Phase III and, if so, whether it should be done locally or globally and with a partner or alone. The case also deals with transitioning research and development strategies in emerging markets, wherein firms that have traditionally focused on “imitation” (or generic drugs) are moving to high-risk drug discovery.

The Indian business landscape is marked by uncertainty, turbulence, hyper-competition, and non-linear growth, as exemplified by the automobile sector. Increasing competition from foreign automobile organizations and homegrown ones such as Tata Motors are posing a threat to the market leader, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. A fierce battle for market share is ensuing among these automobile giants. However, Maruti Suzuki has succeeded in maintaining its leadership position. Yet with more companies venturing into the territory of Maruti Suzuki — the small car segment — the threat to Maruti Suzuki’s market share is looming larger than before.<br><br>This case illustrates Maruti Suzuki’s journey and depicts the changes in its organizational strategy, HR strategy, and work culture in response to new challenges. Maruti Suzuki had to change from a government-owned organization and a monopoly, to a firm capable of competing with world-class automobile companies. This case describes the various challenges faced by the organization and how HR has assisted in bringing about much-needed transformation. The challenges include having to create a performing workforce, changing the mindset of the employees, coping with cross-cultural issues and, most significantly, engaging in breakthrough innovation. HR needs to create an organizational culture that not only supports breakthrough innovation but also helps retain employees.

This case describes a unique insurance scheme in India called Krupa Arogya Suraksha, promoted by the Shree Krishna Arogya Trust. The product was designed with the aim of extending basic health coverage to the “base-of-the-pyramid” population at an affordable premium. The services were provided by Shree Krishna Hospital, of which the Trust was an associate. The Trust and the hospital were looking at a win-win situation: in providing modern health services to a larger, lower-income group, the facilities of the hospital would be better utilized. In the five years since the scheme’s creation, membership had increased threefold to 43,000. These members accounted for 13 per cent of patients treated by the hospital. Thus, the dual objectives of extending affordable health care to the lower-income segment and increased utilization of the hospital facilities had been achieved, to some extent. However, the Trust was unable to meet the cost of the health care offered under the scheme from the premiums collected and was dependent on donors to cover the difference. The Trust’s management was concerned about the sustainability of such an arrangement and was looking for ways to make the scheme pay for itself.

The Pop Shoppe was once a leading player in the Canadian soft drinks market, but changing market conditions and corporate mismanagement drove the company into bankruptcy in the early 1980s. In 2003, an entrepreneur purchased the rights to the brand, and was considering reintroducing it in the market. The entrepreneur suspected that many Canadians would be as fond of the Pop Shoppe as he was. However, he had little experience in the beverage industry and consumer habits had changed in the many years since the brand died. Looking at the market, the entrepreneur wondered if there was an attractive space for Pop Shoppe. His instincts told him that older consumers would embrace the reintroduction of the old brand, but it was difficult to know if they were a sustainable market segment. Would older consumers be able to turn their children onto the brand? With little experience and limited funds, he knew that if he proceeded with the idea, he could not afford to make many mistakes. If he chose to reintroduce the Pop Shoppe, he questioned how true he should stay to the original concept. Could a new Pop Shoppe compete in the current market? Despite the entrepreneur’s love for the old brand, he wondered how he could raise enough consumer and retailer interest to make the brand succeed.

In 1982, Fadi Ghandour founded Aramex, a leading provider of logistics and transportation solutions with headquarters in Amman, Jordan. From its early inception, Ghandour strategically included principles and practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in the company’s culture in order to align business interests and competence with stakeholders’ needs. The community and environment were regarded as key stakeholders driving Aramex to act as a responsible citizen. Since its inception, Aramex had been involved in sustainability activities grouped into six primary areas: education and youth empowerment; community development; entrepreneurship; sports; environment; and emergency relief. Committed to growth and opening new offices globally, Aramex faced the challenge of preserving CSR as an integral part of its expansion strategy. In late January 2011, Ghandour and Hattar began brainstorming ways to address the need to harmonize CSR and sustainability values and practices across operations and ensure that sustainability principles were firmly institutionalized across branches and subsidiaries.

The vice president of operations for Acpana Business Systems Inc., a Canadian software development and backup-as-a-service provider located in Toronto, Canada, is concerned that the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar is significantly affecting Acpana’s revenue and undermining the company’s organic growth. The case focuses on understanding and quantifying the risks associated with exchange rate fluctuation and its impact on a firm’s revenues and costs. The case introduces instruments available to hedge risk, including forward contracts and put and call options.

The case is set in mid-2009, about six months before the scheduled worldwide launch of Microsoft Azure. The group director of cloud computing for Microsoft India was considering the pros and cons of launching Azure simultaneously in India with the rest of the world. Cloud computing was a paradigm shift in the information technology (IT) industry that fundamentally changed how software and services were delivered to an end-user’s desktop. Cloud computing enabled shared resources — software, hardware, and information — to be provided to consumers on demand, charging them based on usage. Azure was Microsoft’s offering in this space, providing software and infrastructure as a service, and was also a platform to develop new applications on a pay-per-use model. Microsoft had always made its products available to users in the traditional license model, and Azure would be a paradigm shift not only in terms of technology but also in terms of the business model.<br><br><br><br>The director had to decide whether the nascent Indian market was ready to adopt this new technology and business model, and which segments to target. There were many reasons why the Indian market looked very lucrative, including presence of a strong IT development community, increasing IT adoption across Indian industries, and presence of a very big potential customer base in terms of small and medium enterprises. Conversely, there were concerns such as poor current IT adoption, rampant piracy, low availability of infrastructure in India (such as electricity and broadband penetration), and the “do-it-for-me” attitude of Indian businesspeople, which meant significant initial costs in terms of time and effort required to increase awareness.

Impulsesoft Private Ltd (IS) was a Bangalore-based information technology that was engaged in developing Bluetooth (BT) middleware. The founders had wanted to build a software product out of India that targeted a global market. This desire was verbalized as an idea “to build a Sony or HP (Hewlett-Packard) out of India” and “build a world-class products company.” In its infancy, IS undertook different kinds of development projects for third parties and considered several other options until it discovered BT middleware as an area of focus. The company eventually became profitable, with 52 employees by 2005 and a branch office in Silicon Valley. Impulsesoft’s BT software was in 50 per cent of all BT stereo headphones being shipped at the time. The market for BT-embedded accessories grew rapidly, but chip manufacturers began to incorporate BT features in their chips and gave away the technology for free, and the long-term outlook for IS deteriorated. There were also doubts about the scalability of a technology licensing business model. At this juncture, the president and CEO of Impulsesoft received a proposal from the CEO of TEN Technology, a customer of IS and a $20 million company, suggesting a merger of the two companies. The CEO of Impulsesoft needed to make a decision.

At the University of Wyoming, home games played by the men’s basketball team generated significant revenues for the athletics department through ticket and concession sales. With the 2009-2010 season ending, it was time to forecast revenues for the upcoming season. Even though ticket prices were already set, providing a revenue forecast was difficult, as the schedule of home games for the 2010-2011 season was not yet known, and both ticket and concession sales for each game were uncertain. A director of business operations for the athletics department needed to review data from the four most recent seasons and determine the best way to forecast revenues for the upcoming season.

During the summer of 1998, Bob Aston and his partners, all bankers, spent many days discussing their plans to start a bank in southeastern Virginia, United States. Deregulation was transforming the banking industry. In Virginia, mergers and acquisitions in the industry had led to the emergence of large banks that had headquarters in other states. Aston felt that banking as he knew it was disappearing. However, before they could start a bank, Aston and his partners faced many questions and decisions: How would they raise the capital? Who would the bank serve? How would they compete with the larger banks that had emerged due to the deregulation? <br><br><br><br>The decisions they made at the founding had a lasting effect on TowneBank. This became evident a decade later as financial institutions around the country experienced a severe crisis that was triggered by exposure to risky mortgages, while TowneBank remained relatively unscathed. However, the management team had to consider several issues as the crisis unfolded. Should they accept the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds that the U.S. Treasury had offered to banks (even those that were unlikely to fail and were adequately capitalized)? How could they ensure TowneBank’s growth? Should they acquire distressed banks in the local market?

The Tim Hortons Brier is the annual Canadian men’s national curling championship. In the case, students will assume the role of Peter Inch, chair of the 2011 Brier Host Committee, to create and finalize the promotional plan for the 2011 Brier, to be held in London, Ontario. Inch’s objectives are two-fold: i) create interest for the event and the sport of curling and ii) execute a safe and profitable event.

The owner of a large hardware, furniture, and building centre faced a dilemma regarding how to manage the upcoming wage review process. After two consecutive years of frozen wages, employees were impatient for financial progress, but there was no extra money in the budget. It was possible to pump savings from upcoming process improvement initiatives into wage increases. However, the owner had limited motivation to channel hard-won funds to underperforming employees. On the other hand, he was eager to reward the people who added value. Yet a plan that rewarded only some employees could result in an angry backlash. He had to decide if he wanted to divert the savings into compensation and, if so, he needed an effective distribution plan.

Margaret Linnane had just arrived home from a funders’ meeting where she had been asked questions that nearly challenged the very purpose of her nonprofit organization, Rollins College Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center (PNLC). She had been unprepared for the tough questions the funders had asked and she knew that she would need to be much better prepared for the next meeting in one month. She needed answers to the funders’ questions in four short weeks, so Linnane and the PNLC staff put other efforts on hold while they worked intensely to prepare. They gathered all the documents on the PNLC’s mission, vision, and strategic plan. They needed to determine what information to compile to convince the funders that the PNLC’s services (such as networking among established chief executive officers and foundation directors, and introducing newcomers to the nonprofit community) contributed to the professionalization of nonprofit leaders and organizations while addressing critical community issues — even if such services had not yet generated any revenue. What outcome measures were appropriate for assessing the success of non-income-generating activities such as networking? To start to search for answers to such questions, Linnane decided to review PNLC’s performance from the last two years and build a strategy for 2011-2012. Time was of the essence because without the support of funders, PNLC would be hard-pressed to continue offering its well-established networking activities.

Marco Polo Marine (MPM) Ltd was a medium-sized Singaporean shipping company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange that was involved in regional shipping and shipbuilding. The company was part of a larger Indonesian family business group, and had been built from scratch by the CEO. MPM had started off providing barges to transport sand and mining products, initially for the group’s mining operations, but increasingly for third parties. It subsequently entered the shipbuilding industry by establishing a shipyard in Batam, Indonesia, an island near Singapore. As a next step to grow the company, the CEO intended to become an international player in the much more sophisticated offshore marine services sector, but he had yet to decide what strategy to take to achieve it. The case allows students to analyze a global industry and present recommendations to the CEO for positioning the company within this industry. MPM is an example of an aspiring emerging market multinational, and the case discusses the challenges such companies face in catching up with more advanced incumbents in global industries. In order to penetrate the offshore marine services sector, decisions were required as to what types of vessels to build or buy, which countries to target, and how to enter this market given financial constraints and limited technical expertise.