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Campusutra was a leading information and partially transactional portal operating in India that helped aspiring higher education students select appropriate educational institutions. It was founded in 2011 and initially focused on supporting a student's choice of management education. It added support for engineering schools. It was known for offering distilled and unbiased objective information about offerings, fee structure, peer-level engagement, and placement opportunities, and potential students remained loyal to the portal. Later, a friend advised the founder to make a strategic alliance with an EdTech company to monetize the intangible value it had created. The founder's dilemma was whether to pursue such an opportunity and risk diluting its mission.

In June 2023, Prerna Mathews, vice president of Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Product Strategy at Mackenzie Investments (Mackenzie), was considering what ETFs to launch for the remainder of the year. As Mathews deliberated over the potential launch of a covered call ETF at Mackenzie, she had many things to consider. How would this product compare to existing investment solutions offered by Mackenzie? What should the underlying portfolio that the calls were written on be, and what percentage of the portfolio should be covered? What should be the expiration date and strike price on the written calls? Mathews knew that these critical product decisions would have significant consequences on how such an ETF would perform under various market conditions, as well as the costs Mackenzie would incur in managing the ETF.

In mid-September 2022, Saumil Majmudar, the co-founder, chief executive officer, and managing director of Sportz Village faced a problem. The company, based in Bengaluru, India, was India’s leading sports education organization, which provided a structured physical education (PE) curriculum to K–12 schools. Thirteen years after its inception, EduSports, a division of Sportz Village, was unable to reach its goal of penetrating 5,000 schools with its PE curriculum. Research had indicated that the low penetration rate stemmed from not offering inter-school sports competitions to showcase the ability of the students involved in the structured PE program. Majmudar had to evaluate between two funding sources to enable EduSports to offer inter-school sports competitions: pass on the increased subscription price to students or keep the subscription price the same but look for brands to offset the increased costs of running inter-school events. Given that the yearly sales cycle would begin in about two weeks, Majmudar’s decision was urgent.

SAP’s global approach of Pledge to Flex was the foundation for hybrid working for its employees. The approach empowers employees to balance when, how, and where they work best, considering business requirements and local legislation. The organization’s people leaders co-developed a model with their team that considers customer and partner-specific needs. The case also describes SAP’s strategic move in establishing the Future of Work (FoW) organization to continually evaluate and innovate in this direction. The case raises the following questions: How does a large multinational company with a research and development centre in India decide on a hybrid model? How does a large multinational with a presence in several countries introduce a change plan conceived in the global corporate office, what are the challenges to this approach, and will it impact people’s experience and turnover? How much customization should be allowed? Will the true shift come with frequent assessment, experimentation, and application as per the changing needs?

As Lorena Scaloni sat in her office at Riverwalk Wealth Management, she was starting to get just a little nervous. The end of the week marked the day when she would be standing before a room filled with her peers and investment professionals, ready to present her vision for the future of Riverwalk’s financial advisory practice. The audience had no qualms about challenging her ideas or casting doubt if her vision lacked persuasiveness or her action plan failed to convince them.<br><br>As one of the three partners at Riverwalk, Scaloni had a reasonable understanding of the challenges confronting both the industry and her firm. Although not entirely clear, she knew that the financial advice industry was undergoing a significant reckoning. Scaloni identified her vision to ensure a thriving future for Riverwalk. Now she had to present that vision to her peers.

Bayer Crop Science AG (Bayer CS) was grappling with the critical issue of how to navigate the landscape of relevant technologies for innovation partnerships. The organization's structure was fragmented, with each business unit operating its own tech screening and sourcing processes. To tackle this, the Innovation Sourcing Team introduced InnovationFlow, a digital platform. This platform formed the core of Bayer CS' scouting network, enabling their employees’ efficient external scouting and idea leveraging. The case study centres on evaluating this platform and the emerging challenges during its rapid growth. It showcases the dynamic nature of digital ecosystem development, where technology, organizational change, and effective innovation sourcing intersect.

J P Landgoed (PTY) LTD (J P Landgoed), a mandarin fruit farm in Limpopo, South Africa, was founded by Cobus Beetge in 2014. The firm grew from a few mandarin trees to a well-established export-oriented company. In July 2021, at the peak of the harvest season, Beetge received an email from the Citrus Growers Association of South Africa. The email stated that although port activities in Durban had resumed and the port was fully operational capacity following looting and riots in KwaZulu-Natal province, the backlog was severe and most cold-storage facilities were at capacity; as such, Durban harbour was not accepting any further consignments. This meant uncertainty for J P Landgoed, with the firm having to deal with confined consignments due to the backlog as well as others scheduled for dispatch from the farm. Beetge called a meeting with his financial manager, Francois Venter, to discuss the issue and come up with a solution.

In February 2023, the Care for Wild founder and her team were planning for the future of their organization. Care for Wild had recently received a request from a potential international donor to outline the interdependencies for the social, ecological, and organizational aspects of the operation to determine how funding could help strengthen these areas. Care for Wild was a not-for-profit rhinoceros sanctuary based in South Africa that was facing various challenges and opportunities. Over the course of the organization’s first 12 years, Care for Wild had been committed to helping rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned rhinos, a species that was at threat of extinction. The founder was aware that a healthy and holistic system approach was needed for Care for Wild’s future. She was now tasked with articulating the complexities and interdependencies between these two areas. Her response to the potential donor’s request would also reinforce the importance of resilience within the organization’s socio-ecological environment.

Jason Kelce, an NFL player and athlete recognized around the world, had built a strong personal brand over the course of his career. He had reinvented himself and worked hard at honing his own personal branding, successively building a successful platform for each venture and staying forward-looking about his future after retiring from football. By 2023, Kelce was at a crossroads. He was not quite ready to hang up his Philadelphia Eagles jersey, and he knew that managing his own personal brand was a full-time endeavour as well. What was the best way to further develop his brand so that it would continue to flourish post-NFL career? What kinds of projects should Kelce take on next?

BYJU’S first entered India’s test preparation industry in 2007 with technology-enabled learning, when the market was uncontested, allowing the company to grow steadily until 2015 and achieve unicorn status in the industry in 2017. However, many new organizations started joining the technology-focused learning sector in 2014–15, greatly reducing the market share BYJU’S was enjoying before it was challenged. By 2020, with many new educational technology start-ups in the market, the industry was valued at US$1.43 billion. BYJU’S dominated the market with a 57 per cent share, but the founder knew that the market was no longer uncontested. Therefore, to retain its position as a market leader, BYJU’S acquired firms rapidly. The strategy, however, soon led to financial crises and catastrophic losses. From 2007 to 2015, BYJU’S created high levels of value before switching to a growth strategy of rapid and numerous acquisitions, leading to cash crunches and financial challenges. How could the founder turn his company around to regain the company’s early success?

Founded in 2006, Shanghai Action Education Technology Co., Ltd. (Action Education), a provider of management training services for small and medium-sized private enterprises, was the first listed management education company in China. In 2014, due to the fierceness of the market competition and the splitting of the top management team, Action Education changed their strategy from a product-oriented one to customer-oriented one and repositioned themselves as a “world-class practical business school.” This strategic change not only helped Action Education win the recognition and loyalty of their customers but enhanced the company’s profitability and management ability. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and rising consumer demand, Action Education faced increasing pressure. Li Jian, the chair of Action Education, is considering two paths with different customer value focuses: should he add a consulting business unit and provide one-stop services for customers or standardize the company’s management training services and improve their quality and delivery?

In December 2021, the director of Options Pregnancy Centre (Options) was challenged with determining how to expand the services offered by the organization in its Montreal, Quebec, community, as the need to support women who planned to carry their pregnancies and pursue parenting was becoming more acute. Options already offered counselling, grief and loss support, and a variety of parenting programs; it also facilitated required medical services and provided opportunities for pregnant teens to live with host families on either short- or long-term bases. The organization occasionally had opportunities to develop its own residential program. Doing so would mean shifting its strategy from providing services on a non-residential basis to having its own residential program. Should Options expand its current non-residential programs? Should it more actively recruit families who were willing to take pregnant teenagers into their homes for short periods of time? Should it take the bold step of making an offer on a residential building that was currently available? The director recognized that it would be necessary to carefully prioritize Options’ programming to ensure that it could secure the resources it needed to run effective programs.

The partners at ZGM Modern Marketing were pleased with their growth and progress of working within the highly competitive marketing industry and had confidence in their team of skilled employees supporting the company’s success. But they also knew a good thing never lasts forever and had to continually strategize to stay ahead of the competition. While the partners were used to being very hands-on with the day-to-day management of people, ZGM had grown to a point where it was becoming difficult to juggle all aspects of the business without adding specialized resources. Bringing on non-billable people such as the new HR Director puts a strain on the profitability of a company. The challenge was how to maximize the value of these new resources.

Brice Scheschuk, chief executive officer of WIND Mobile, embarks on a transformative journey to revitalize the company's organizational culture. This case provides a lens into the challenges and opportunities inherent in building a workplace culture in a fast-paced telecommunications market. Scheschuk employs a strategy that places significant focus on the field employees, who are often overlooked in corporate strategies. Students will gain insights into the nuanced art of leading change, leveraging HR as a strategic asset, and measuring the effectiveness of cultural interventions. This case employees qualitative and quantitative data and is an exemplar for those aiming to integrate HR strategy with organizational effectiveness.

Kyrö Distillery Company (Kyrö), founded in 2012 in Isokyrö, Finland, focused on producing rye whisky from Finnish rye. However, it took an average of three years for one batch of whisky to be produced and ready for sale, so, to cover their costs and stay afloat, the founders decided to start producing gin, which could be produced faster. As luck had it, in 2014, Kyrö’s rye-based Napue Gin was named the best gin in the gin-and-tonic category in the UK-based International Wine & Spirit Competition, and Kyrö now had two promising products in its roster: rye whisky and rye-based gin. <br><br>Kyrö exported its products to overseas markets, including Japan, where its results had so far been modest, but it planned to expand and grow its businesses in Japan. As an underdog in an industry dominated by major global players, Kyrö had to work to increase its market share. It relied on its authentic brand image, original products, and brand ambassadors. In September 2022, as one of Kyrö’s co-founders travelled to Japan to meet with the company’s main Japanese distributor, he wondered, How could the company gain growth in a market that was highly competitive and dominated by well-established local companies?

In April 2023, Greg Linton, the founder and chief executive officer of Tightline Anchor Inc., a start-up that sells innovative anchors to the personal watercraft industry, was preparing for growth. Linton and his team were having success with sales but they could see multiple opportunities ahead. This case explores growth decision-making challenges for early-stage ventures and competitive positioning for new products. In addition, the case explores the interesting example of military entrepreneurs and the challenges and opportunities for service personnel.

In October 2023, Hotel Zed’s chief executive offer (CEO) was exploring ideas for the 10th iteration of Hotel Zed’s Valentine’s Day campaign, the Nooner. The eclectic, Victoria, British Columbia–based hotel chain had built its identity on being radically different, featuring a sex-positive brand identity and a retro-themed hotel aesthetic from the 1960s and 1970s. Moreover, the Nooner’s cheeky, risqué campaign focus had earned the hotel significant media attention over the years. But creating a new promotion highlighting a decade of success would be a tall order.<br><br>What might surprise and delight Hotel Zed’s customers, driving eyes and attention to its funky, rebellious brand? Hotel Zed’s CEO needed to work with the marketing team to quickly nail down a new promotion idea that would effectively promote the hotel and the Nooner campaign.

This case describes the challenges of declining and uneven sales facing the manager of a Khadi Gramodyog outlet in the Bhootnath market in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Khadi Gramodyog is the brand name for Shri Gandhi Ashram Khadi Bhawan, a social trust established according to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s national ideal. Khadi Gramodyog produced marketable goods, fulfilled the goal of self-reliance, and empowered people living in poverty, while strengthening rural communities. Its purpose was to support cottage-based businesses that in turn supported the Khadi Gramodyog brand’s objectives. But as competition increased, the requirement for modernization and digitization made it harder to meet the needs of today's consumers. The case serves as an example of the difficulties the store manger of an outlet Khadi Gramodyog store in the Bhootnath market faced in trying to revive the business.

Mysore Deep Perfumery House (MDPH) faced the challenge of scaling a low-tech business in the incense stick market. Led by Prakash Agarwal and his sons, MDPH secured a substantial domestic market share through competitive pricing and extensive distribution, aiming to achieve a ₹10 billion turnover by 2026. The company had to choose between expanding their core business or diversifying into related or new product lines. Expansion entailed deeper market penetration and product variation, while diversification presented opportunities in sectors like home fragrances or personal care products. The chosen strategy had to align with MDPH's economic and non-economic family goals, considering market dynamics and consumer trends. By leveraging their brand equity and distribution networks while staying true to their values, MDPH had the opportunity to navigate industry challenges and realize their growth ambitions.

Orange Sky Australia evolved as an entrepreneurial non-profit organization offering two primary services for the homeless: mobile laundering of clothes and engaging in genuine, individual, face-to-face connections through conversation. In February 2024, with 73 employees and roughly 3,000 volunteers spread throughout Australia and New Zealand, the company’s recent staff engagement data indicated a decline in well-being metrics since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, despite the strong positive organizational culture. The company’s growth strategy to double volunteer numbers within the next two years created additional challenges for how to recruit volunteer team leaders to manage and oversee daily operations as most volunteers did not want leadership roles.