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Founded in 2016, udaan operated India's largest B2B e-commerce platform, which catered to millions of vendors registered on its app and trading a wide range of products. Its Capital arm focused on enabling the country's multitude of micro-enterprises with financial services and products, so that sellers and buyers could grow their business with easily accessible trade credit. Having crossed the "small start-up" stage, the HR team at udaan Capital was weighing its options to grow the organization with structured yet empowering processes and policies. The case goes over how the Head of HR architected a performance management framework along contemporary lines. Its philosophy laid emphasis on combining organizational targets with employee aspirations via constructive dialog around goals. Skill ladders were drawn up to help employees at different career stages to navigate their path within the organization. The case reader is invited to contrast this approach with rank-and-yank approaches, which rely on assessments that craft a score to guide actions on rewards and layoffs. Managers were integral to this framework rollout and had to be carefully equipped to conduct productive conversations with employees. A technology tool captured the reviews and tracked the milestones of the exercise. Insights derived from these conversations informed the HR organization about the next steps.

Trans Neuron Technologies (TNT) is a learn-to-launch (L2L) company, which aims to transform job-seekers into industry-ready professionals by providing them with adequate backing to undertake that journey. TNT is an innovative company with immense faith in the power of the youth. The company offers eKaushal, a unified platform for various stakeholders in the skilling ecosystem, including candidates, training providers, employers, and assessment agencies. Hundreds of youth visit the eKaushal platform every day to undergo various forms of professional training. These candidates belong to various demographics, education level, income brackets, etc. It was found that some of the candidates could not leverage the training for employment opportunities. The business goal is clearly defined for TNT - they want to enable efficiencies in the entire skilling ecosystem, thus helping youth with employment opportunities. For Shivaam Sharma, the Chief Executive Officer of TNT, the objective is to recommend relevant training to the candidates to increase their employability chances. Sharma wants to use the collected data to achieve the following: 1. Recommend suitable trainings to candidates, so that dropouts are reduced and placement chances for candidates are increased. 2. Compare efficiencies of the training providers (TP) and understand if some of the TPs are underperforming and therefore leading to fewer training completions.

The case GoSports: Developing Sports Talent to Create Role Models describes the evolution of an Indian not-for-profit organization GoSports, whose mission is to identify high quality sporting talent and provide them necessary support so that they can excel in international sporting competitions and win laurels for the country. Despite being a nation of 1.3 billion people with no dearth of talent, India's performance in international sporting events have been modest. This is because of multiple structural factors such as lack of hard and soft infrastructure for promoting sports, inadequate financial support from the government and private sector as well as absence of career options for sportspeople after an active career. GoSports has positioned itself as a bridging organization that would provide the necessary encouragement to talented sportspersons until they become famous enough to receive adequate support from the government or the private sector. Being a pioneer in this field, GoSports' journey exemplifies how an organization sets about creating an ecosystem for sports in a country where multiple economic, social and cultural barriers have traditionally prevented sports from getting its due importance in nation building. Learning from its initial failures to build a for-profit talent management organization, GoSports concentrated on raising funds from the corporate sector through their athlete-focused development programs, many of which were mentored by highly acclaimed role models from the world of sports. In parallel, GoSports created a network of support services comprising coaches, nutritionists, and sports scientists - all of whom played important roles in ensuring optimum performance from sportspersons. Dedicated athlete managers from GoSports maintained a trust-based relationship with the sportspersons such that every young sportsperson felt assured there was someone to help them deal with the myriad challenges in their intensely competitive domain.

This case covers a common issue concerning traditional manufacturers in the digital era. As we know, Chinese manufacturers mainly focus on products and make profits by ramping up capacity and expanding dealer channels. As the Chinese economy shifts to a lower gear, this type of business model leads to overproduction and market saturation while also failing to meet consumer demand for more personalized products. In the digital era, therefore, traditional manufacturers need to change their business model to transform their business structure. While such a goal may be clear, how to reach it is a different matter. Founded in 2011, SAIC Maxus, a Chinese auto manufacturer, began exploring the C2B (Customer to Business) model in 2016, shifting from a product-centric approach to a user-centric one and from standardized mass production to personalization and smart customization. To this end, it had to adopt a new business model and digitize the entire manufacturing process and supply chain. With no precedent in the market to fall back on, how did SAIC Maxus figure out the C2B model from scratch? How did its C2B model help digitize the traditional value chain of the auto industry? What challenges would the C2B model face in the next step? What lessons does SAIC Maxus' exploration of the C2B model hold for other traditional manufacturing companies?

Lexoo, a UK-based online marketplace for legal services, was facing the strategic choice of how to grow from early start-up to mature platform. Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo's CEO, and web developer Chris O'Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo to help Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to find legal advice at low prices. At the time of the case in 2018, Lexoo had just started attracting larger companies in need of specialized legal advice as new customers. Larger companies had higher value and more frequent needs. Lexoo could become their "go-to" place across a broad range of legal services. Nevertheless, larger companies also required a more personalized approach and were more difficult to acquire than SMEs. Van Binsbergen and O'Sullivan were debating whether Lexoo should diversify to serve both SMEs and larger companies, or whether to pivot their focus toward larger companies altogether.

This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering Covid-19 vaccines. It describes the start-up of a drive-up Covid-19 mass vaccination site at the Texas State Fair Grounds on the east side of Dallas, Texas. The challenge facing Jamie Bonini and Bita Behgooy, the protagonists, is to help the Dallas County staff raise the vaccination output rate to 1000 cars per hour, but they also are not in charge so they have to influence the site leadership.

Intenseye was a Turkey-based technology startup that deployed machine learning algorithms to workplace camera feeds in order to identify unsafe worker actions and unsafe working conditions, in order to help improve worker safety. The case describes how Intenseye's technology solution was developed, how it works, and their target clients. The case highlights the tradeoffs associated with facial recognition and privacy, and the challenges measuring the value created by Intenseye and how the firm can capture more of the value it was creating.

In 2021, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increased rapidly, particularly for electric vehicles. Anxious not to be reliant on Asian players, Europe was keen on developing its own home-grown capacity to control the value chain, maintain employment in Europe, and get a share of the profits. The unpredictability of the coronavirus pandemic, which had exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, had also put pressure on European countries to move quickly to keep Europe's automakers competitive. Europe had a new champion in Sweden's Northvolt, which was headed by a former Tesla executive. Since its inception in 2016, Northvolt had raised $6.5 billion in debt and equity and built a team of 2,000 people in three countries. It had begun construction of a first "Gigafactory" in Northern Sweden that would manufacture lithium-ion batteries on an unprecedented scale. The company also stood out by its ambition to build the world's greenest car battery-a concept that encompassed minimal carbon footprint, ethical sourcing of raw materials, and a robust ecosystem for recycling. Even though Northvolt had secured offtake agreements amounting to $27 billion through 2030, the construction of its first "Gigafactory" had yet to be completed. Would the bet on making the most sustainable battery pay off? And would the company be able to execute the multi-billion-dollar construction projects to build the factories and then operate them as planned to meet the quickly rising demand for the batteries it had committed to delivering?

One of the most significant challenges in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was the shortage of test capability. At the beginning of April 2020, fewer than 200,000 tests per day were being performed, much less than public health experts had recommended. Also, in many cases, it often took several days or even weeks for a person to receive the test result. Many experts believed the testing turnaround time was one of the most significant failure points to contain COVID-19. Heading into fall 2020 and winter of 2021, U.S. healthcare experts continued to cite testing capability (and fast results) as the first necessary condition of getting back to everyday life. One solution to increase the testing capacity was called a pooled test. In this case, the government of Ann Arbor is considering whether the city should use pooled COVID-19 testing and, if so, how the test should be designed since there are several different versions. Students are asked to apply probability theory and develop Excel models that can help decision makers.

This case examines the accounting of sale and leaseback transaction for an undergraduate or graduate accounting class. This case also examines the effects of such a transaction on financial statements. Vibrant Group is listed on the Singapore Exchange. In 2019, it entered into a sale and leaseback transaction. This was reported in its 2020 Annual Report using the revised Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (International) 16 ("SFRS(I) 16") Leases. This case exposes students to practical situations that highlight important principles and illustrate best practices in accounting. The business scenario of this case creates opportunities to delve into a variety of capital management options, namely: (i) obtaining a loan using property as a collateral; (ii) issuance of share capital; or (iii) entering into a sale and leaseback transaction; their pros and cons and financial statement effects. This case may be used in countries where IFRSs are applicable as SFRS (I) 16 Leases is identical to IFRS 16 Leases.

Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm, specializes in Corporate Law, fiduciary services, investment advice, and international business. In April 2016, several media around the world revealed that they had a set of 11.5 million confidential documents from this firm, which had been obtained by an anonymous source with access to the firm's information systems and databases. According to the media, the documents showed how wealthy individuals used offshore companies to hide their assets from public scrutiny. The scandal had severely undermined the reputation of Mossack Fonseca's clients -including many high public officials and renowned celebrities. Carlos Sousa, the law firm's Public Relations head, had to write a news release to address the terrible scandal involving the so-called Panama Papers. Mossack Fonseca's clients interacted heavily with the firm via its web portal, which ran on open-code software and, as reported when the scandal made international headlines, featured multiple vulnerabilities that threatened information security. Carlos found it hard to fathom the impact the public knowledge of this vulnerabilities would have on the firm's clients, and he knew he had to announce remedial actions. What should Mossack Fonseca communicate to the press and its clients? Could the firm have prevented this cyberattack? What steps should the law firm take?

PagAmigo specializes in transactions for the public from cashiers' windows located near the exit counters of supermarkets located mostly in the greater metropolitan area of a country in Latin America. These transactions included the payment of electricity, water, phone, and Internet bills, loan repayments, credit card payments and other banking transactions, the sending of remittances to relatives in foreign countries, the purchase of lottery tickets, or tickets to sporting or cultural events and many other types of transactions. Five year earlier the supermarket chains, which had been owned by the same business group that owned Pagamigo, were sold to a European retailer that was not interested in purchasing Pagamigo. This had a serious impact on Pagamigo employee morale, and led to a period of declining investment in both infrastructure and training. Shortly before the opening of the case, a major banking group known for its aggressiveness acquired Pagamigo as a going concern and placed one of its rising executives as the new general manager. An MBA from a well-known business school in the region, with several years´ experience in the banking industry, the new general manager must now decide upon the organizational changes that must be made within Pagamigo, and on a long-term strategy for achieving his vision of bringing Pagamigo into the digital era.

La Madrilena, footwear and sport goods' retailer, operated 18 stores -under La Madrilena brand for shoes and Quonam for sports- in Argentina's Patagonia region. This case describes the company's situation in May 2014, when Argentina experienced significant macroeconomic uncertainty as a result of strong local currency devaluations and greater foreign exchange availability restraints enforced in December 2013. Domestic prices rose at a rapid pace, and an economic downturn loomed ahead. Against that backdrop, La Madrilena's management team pondered a decision to start or delay remodeling work on a real estate property in Esquel, a city in Patagonia, that required an investment of ARS 5 million (equivalent to USD 625,000 at the time). After describing La Madrilena's background and operations, the case focuses on the design of financial performance management reports and provides extensive information on the company's economic and financial performance over the past five years.

HCL Technologies was successfully leveraging Application Tracking System till 2017 to fast track its recruitment process, which contributed effectively till then. However, by 2017, as the strategic business objectives changed, HCL decided to implement advanced technology to create more intelligent recruitment system called Techruit. The new system had to meet the broader objectives of experience, efficiency and impact. The decision dilemmas in front of the core HR team were to choose the right technology for enhancing the effectiveness of talent acquisition process, and the right combination of metrics to measure and improve recruiter performance.

Camera IQ, a camera marketing software company that empowered brands to create and launch augmented reality experiences (AREs) across social platforms, had just raised an additional $5 million to fund further product development and expand its marketing and sales efforts. In the four years since the company's founding, Camera IQ had worked to "democratize the camera," breaking down the significant technological barriers that prevented companies from easily harnessing the power of AR at scale in their digital marketing campaigns. Now, the business stood at a critical juncture. It was time to accelerate the company's growth. Several issues were on the table for discussion, including how to segment and target their customer base to drive exponential growth. Second, the founders had to decide how to direct their engineering resources to refine their platform to meet the needs of an expanding and diversifying customer base. Some in the company were advocating for the development of a much cheaper product tier with capped features to capture the mass market, while others were arguing that the company should focus on refining a more intricate enterprise solution. Still others were excited about the possibility of launching a two-sided marketplace for AR content and templates. Third, as Camera IQ refined its customer value proposition, they would have to further differentiate AREs from other types of digital content and move beyond traditional notions of advertising toward the achievement of a richer, more immersive and engaging branded experience.

A change in the corporate US federal income tax rate necessitates an adjustment to a company's balance sheet deferred tax account. Stephanie Allen has been tasked with determining the projected effects of several "what if" changes in the corporate income tax rate on her employer's (Software for Seniors, Corp.) and a peer's DuPont ratios and earnings per share performance measures. This general experience-based case uses data created by the authors that generally model the proportionalities of various line items within the financial statements of some real-world companies. As such, the financial statement effects due to an income tax rate change explored in this case are reasonable. It is suitable for an undergraduate or graduate level financial reporting course or a financial statement analysis course.

This public-sourced case set in May 2020 examines various corporate governance issues that have arisen for the nonprofit USA Track & Field (USATF). The case's protagonist is board member Tricia Myers who considers how the board can better serve its constituents as they are inundated with a torrent of issues around CEO compensation, fundraising, and governance regulations. The board faces a fire drill as CEO Max Siegel's high compensation has just been made public, surprising the board and requiring a response. Students can use the data provided in the case to evaluate whether Siegel's compensation package is "fair and reasonable" for a nonprofit executive and recommend next steps. The board also grapples with whether Nike's influence over USATF has grown too large after Siegel signed a long-term sponsorship contract with the company that provided the bulk of USATF's total revenues but also created potential conflicts of interest and polarized USATF's elite athletes. Lastly, the board contemplates regulatory changes imposed by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the implications for its membership base. This case allows for a rich discussion about a nonprofit's mission statement and business model, aligning stakeholder interests, and the role of nonprofit board members.

In January 2014, CITIC 21CN Technology Company Limited (CITIC), a firm that had been under the radar, took the Hong Kong stock market by storm after its stock price soared 372% upon Alibaba Group's acquisition. Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce company, took a controlling stake of CITIC and subsequently renamed it AliHealth. CITIC had operated a state-owned pharmaceutical product monitoring platform overseeing the massive supply chain of manufacturers, distributors, drugstores, and medical organisations in China. Developed in 2006, the proprietary system was used for pharmaceutical serialisation aimed at safeguarding public health. Using cryptography-based authentication and traceability technologies, the system efficiently traces illegal activities across the supply chain from manufacturing to point of use and expedites recalls of counterfeit medicine. Given China's plan to extend the serialisation mandate to all categories of medicine, the company appears poised for strong growth in the coming years. To scale the system, what more could have been done? Should the system adopt the latest blockchain technology? Should the company dedicate more effort to strengthen stakeholder engagement?

On August 30, 2019, the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India (GoI) announced the consolidation of ten nationalized banks into four. As part of this move, Indian Bank and Allahabad Bank were to be merged into a single entity, and the new amalgamated bank had to start operations on April 1, 2020. Amalgamating two very different banks with thousands of branches and employees within a pre-set time window would be complex enough under normal circumstances, but the challenge was compounded by the advent of COVID-19 and the ensuing national lockdown in March 2020. Padmaja Chunduru, Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indian Bank, was given the formidable task of overseeing the amalgamation process. The case study describes the actual integration process in detail and the thorough planning and execution involved. It illustrates the role of the Integration Management Office (IMO) as a central point of information dissemination and an empowered body in the merger process. It also lays out the myriad challenges of the amalgamation process - personnel integration, IT/banking system management, branch rationalization, and customer integration, and the steps taken to tackle each one. The COVID-19 pandemic came as an unknown midway through the integration process and required Chunduru and her team to rethink several aspects of the integration plan and strategy. The case study concludes with the actual mechanics of the amalgamation process. With the worst of the COVID-19 crisis behind them, Chunduru looks towards building a bank of the future. Having undergone rationalization in several areas, Indian Bank not only emerged in a better financial state than before but also laid down its vision as a future-ready bank. How could the learnings from the integration process be made a continuous process and become part of the organization's DNA? These were the key questions facing Chunduru and her team.