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VCayr was a not-for-profit social service organization that connected individuals through its social media platforms and community events. In January 2019, an organizational member and an active project manager at VCayr reported to a friend and board director that she was sexually harassed by another board director at VCayr. The friend and director had to decide how to manage the situation. He was aware of the severity of sexual harassment and the significant harm that it could have on all VCayr members and on the overall organization. Another sexual harassment incident was reported to him one year later by another member of VCayr. The board director had a second chance to rethink his strategies and to weigh in other options in light of the emerging information.

In 2019, Michael Whan, commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), a non-profit organization that ran the world's most prestigious women's golf circuit, was preparing for the tour's 70th anniversary. Throughout its history, the LPGA had broken many social barriers, from the inclusion of African American players in the 1960s to the acceptance of transgender players in 2010. It had also reached important economic and athletic milestones. For example, the LPGA had the largest purses of any women's sports association, a wide range of international sponsors, tournaments broadcast in over 170 countries, and the highest concentration of international professional women golf stars. These achievements were due largely to the internationalization process launched in the late 1990s that had helped transform the LPGA from a U.S.-based to an international tour. But the internationalization of the LPGA had come with challenges.

Using the example of the acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina in 2016/17, the case highlights the credit, legal and regulatory risks associated with a complex cross border acquisition finance transaction from a lenders point of view. The case focuses on the credit risk of a short-term bridge loan that is established to enable the borrowing group and its financial advisors to structure a long-term financing solution. Such transactions are typically structured using various special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in different jurisdictions. The complex structure of the transaction, crossing several jurisdictions and regulatory environments, requires the credit analysts to consider not only financial risks but also non-financial risks such as the questions of enforceability of the lender's claims.

Popular Japanese fast-food chain Saizeriya operates affordable family-style Italian restaurants in Japan with subsidiaries in a number of Asian locations. Since the company's Australian suppliers require payments to be made in Australian dollars (AUD) instead of Japanese yen (JPY), volatile currency exchange rates continue to be a serious risk to Saizeriya's operations. The company's president, Issei Horino, believes foreign currency hedging could reduce the costs associated with exchange rates. But an earlier attempt to use foreign currency coupon swap contracts from BNP Paribas went horribly wrong- it cost the company JPY15bn to break those contracts. As the JPY continued to depreciate, together with declining restaurant sales and a falling share price, Horino decided to revisit the company's previous use of foreign currency hedging to investigate whether Saizeriya could adopt an appropriate foreign currency hedge.

This case details the challenges Kiana Nelson faced at Central Valley Towing, a fictional towing company Nelson acquired. In the case, Nelson must decide whether to overrule a direct report's decision regarding firing an employee, determine what to do about a talented but abrasive employee, and respond to a top performer who wants a promotion and another top performer who has decided to leave the company.

What does it take to build the infrastructure to recycle plastic bottles that is economically viable? The case looks at the economics of the circular economy, focusing on the development of a business case for a beverage producer to create a closed-loop PET bottle recycling facility on the island of Malta.

This case focuses on the entrepreneurial journey of Sino Suisse Pte Ltd, an external asset manager (EAM) in Singapore. This case is motivated by three observations: (1) the ability of Sino Suisse to rise rapidly from failure in a short span of 3 years to achieve an asset under management (AUM) of US$ 4 billion, (2) the strong conviction of the founder in the "triple-wins" positioning of the EAM business model, and (3) the use of technology to maintain a lean organizational structure. The case examines the motivations of Mr Albert Liu, founder of Sino Suisse, in switching from a salaried employee in private banking to an entrepreneur in 2017. It goes on to explore the entrepreneurship lessons learnt by Liu. The case further presents the business and revenue models of a typical EAM and the value propositions of the EAM model to high net worth clients. It illustrates the "three-win" positioning of an EAM espoused by Liu and continues with the differentiating value propositions of Sino Suisse to clients, which includes, • an open architecture with access to products, pricings and markets from multiple private banks and investment banks, • an aggregator platform called the "Happy Alliance" which allows other EAMs to participate in idea generation and sharing of best practices, new products and ideas via various channels including seminars, online forum, and events, • an exclusive business network called the "Hippo Club" where ultra-high net worth clients of Sino Suisse can source for direct investment deals and philanthropic ideas, among the members. Finally, the case prompts the reader to analyze a key concern of Liu, namely the risk of a negative externality on Sino Suisse from a reputational loss in the broader EAM industry, and brainstorm ways to mitigate this risk for Sino Suisse and the broader EAM sector.

The case provides an opportunity to formulate a late entrant's response to the competitive dynamics set in motion by its repositioning as a low-cost airline. It presents the dilemma before Tony Fernandes-the chief executive officer of AirAsia Sdn Bhd (AAB)-about how he should respond to the competitive retaliation from Malaysia Airlines (MA), the incumbent national carrier of Malaysia. Fernandes entered the Malaysian aviation industry in December 2001 by acquiring an ailing AAB. After acquiring the airline, he repositioned it as a "low-fare, no-frills" airline with the tagline "Now everyone can fly". He focused on all possible avenues to reduce the operations and maintenance costs and maximise the capacity utilisation of the planes. The initiatives yielded results, and AAB became debt-free within eight months of its renewed operations and reported a monthly cash flow of RM 18 million. With the utilisation of 4,000 seats daily and a passenger load factor of 70%, the airline repaid the loan of RM 100 million and earned a monthly profit of RM 2 million. In August 2002, MA retaliated by announcing its super saver offer that provided a full-service flight experience at 50% of the original fare. The tariff reduction resulted in a drop of 40% in AAB's bookings and threatened its survival. Fernandes had to respond to the new development.

In 2017, the Trump Administration made a bold claim-that they would return the next man and the first woman to the lunar surface by 2024, this time to establish a sustainable presence to enable further exploration in the solar system. With the Artemis Program, NASA has demonstrated an interest in bolstering public-private partnerships and developing an international coalition interested in collaborating in lunar exploration. A central piece of infrastructure will be the Lunar Gateway, an orbiting habitat and command module in cislunar space. Should NASA prioritize the Lunar Gateway, especially considering its history managing the International Space Station?

This case explores the tradeoffs between product personalization and simplicity as companies grow. The case presents an opportunity to understand whether and how each of these approaches enables and/or limits companies' abilities to provide customer satisfaction while being efficient in their operations. In October 2018, Allianz was one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with 103 million retail and corporate customers in 70 countries. It was one of only two insurers to rank amongst the world's 50 strongest brands in 2017, a sign that the company's customer-centricity approach drove value and resonated with clients. Allianz's ambition was to reach the top 25 brands in Interbrand's ranking by 2025. For the insurer, the key to success was to focus on simplicity-reducing the complexity of products and processes in order to create a more unified customer experience. However, such a move did not align with current trends in insurance markets, where Allianz's main competitors had opted for hyper-personalization. Furthermore, a strategy focused on simplicity implied a radical move in certain key markets where Allianz had traditionally offered a large diversity of products. Was simplicity the right strategy? Would Allianz be able to embrace customer needs successfully within and across markets while simultaneously growing its business?

Dr. Andrea Pusic, breast cancer reconstruction surgeon, wants to extend outcomes measurement beyond traditional surgical metrics of infections, complications, and survival rates. The case describes her development of a new mobile phone app, which collects patients' responses to questions about their post-surgical outcomes and experiences using BREAST-Q, a statistically-validated patient-reported outcomes survey instrument she helped develop. The app provides patients with immediate feedback about their progress, and access to resources customized to their recovery needs. Dr. Pusic also leads a time-driven activity-based costing study to measure the cost of treating patients for all disease stages and across all stages of care and treatment modalities, including psychosocial oncology and physical therapy services. The case describes several care decisions based on the new information on patient outcomes and preferences, and the costs of care. The case ends with Dr. Pusic deciding whether to undertake a project that would adapt the new app for community cancer care centers, which have limited resources, more diverse patient populations, and worse outcome than urban academic medical centers.

In May of 2021, Kevin D. Johnson had just graduated from a rigorous Executive MBA program, and he quickly needed to decide on his next career move. Johnson was the founder and CEO of a successful media company, Johnson Media Inc., but his career goals had shifted while at business school. He wanted to use his talents to help other BIPOC entrepreneurs access capital and provide opportunities to create intergenerational wealth. Johnson evaluated his four options: work full-time at an online platform dedicated to connecting Black founders with funding; join a BIPOC-focused venture capital ("VC") firm; pursue a job at an established VC firm; or continue scaling his media company. Which option would Johnson choose?

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank's special sauce. What should Vanir's CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard A. Schlesinger features expert commentary by Bob Rivers and Chris Yeh.

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank's special sauce. What should Vanir's CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard A. Schlesinger features expert commentary by Bob Rivers and Chris Yeh.

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank's special sauce. What should Vanir's CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard A. Schlesinger features expert commentary by Bob Rivers and Chris Yeh.

In February 2017 the Team Project Manager and Flow Project Coordinator for Dell Technologies-Limerick (Ireland), is preparing for a review with Dell's Systems and Processes Improvement board, early in a transition from the use of one agile software development method (Scrum) to another (Flow, which applies lean manufacturing techniques to software engineering). The new manager has been on board less than six months. With ten years' prior software development experience in Brazil, he moved to Ireland when hired by Dell. Dell is midway through its attempts to transform from a manufacturing-heavy strategy to an IT-supported service-heavy strategy; its recent acquisition of EMC is an important step in that direction, and executives expect Flow will help globally-distributed software developers produce higher quality code, faster, in follow-the-sun mode. The Flow coordinator/champion recognizes Flow is a complex innovation; it will take time and focus for busy software developers (who only recently mastered Scrum techniques) to master new Flow techniques. The champion is also concerned that needed digital Kanban functionality (essential for supporting globally distributed teams using Flow) has not yet been approved or provided by the Dell IT organization in Texas; this and other obstacles are impeding the developers' transition to Flow. Keen to demonstrate his commitment to help Dell achieve these aims, he worries that some executives expect performance improvements sooner than teams can realistically deliver. He seeks to persuade executives to be both patient and helpful. As he plans his 20 minute presentation for the next day's meeting, he is told to keep his remarks to executives simple: highlight no more than three messages.

This decision-based case developed from primary sources utilizes disguised names, but actual data to afford students the opportunity to evaluate and suggest options regarding the financial implications of varying the timing of retirement. Leon and Billie Reynolds have asked their daughter, Lexie, to review their retirement planning. The couple had accumulated almost $2,000,000 in investments. The case gives the couple's net worth, current salaries, insights into their spending habits, possible retirement points, family situation, and current allocations of their retirement funds. The case asks students to apply his or her financial planning skills to review the implications of the timing of the couple's retirement.

On December 1, 2019, Stephanie Ball was hired as the new Executive Director (ED) for the Central Okanagan Journey Home Society (COJHS), a backbone agency tasked with implementing Kelowna's five-year strategy to end homelessness. A few months earlier, COJHS had been declined its charitable status by Canada Revenue Agency because of a lack of clarity of its purposes and main activities. This was due to several factors including the fact that the society was newly formed, it had a complex board and subcommittee structure, and the task ahead was immense. Expectations were high that this new society could make progress on a social issue that was becoming increasingly of concern for City of Kelowna residents. Recognizing that financial independence, community perception, governance complexity and an ability to effect social change were criteria that had to be weighed, one of Ball's first tasks was to recommend to the COJHS Board an organizational structure best positioned for the enormous task - reducing homelessness - that lay ahead. This case introduces students to different legal structures associated with socially focused organizations such as nonprofits, for-profits and hybrid organizations (specifically C3's as this case is set within a Canadian context). In addition, it provides an opportunity to explore and discuss new collaborative governance entities such as backbone organizations.