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Over the past few decades, the market for used books had declined and many used bookstores around the world have closed. Sydney, Australia, where Ampersand Bookstore and Café was located, was no exception to this trend. Yet, Vangel Cvetkovski, co-owner and operator of Ampersand, has steered it towards financial success. Established as a bookstore café, a familiar environment accessible to most university students, this case examines how Vangel and his partner overcame the limitations of the used bookstore and café industries to create a hybrid business model and how they got it to work.

WillowTree began as a small digital products company in 2007. By 2020, it had more than 500 full-time team members operating out of offices in four locations, and it had launched hundreds of digital products, including mobile apps, websites, voice assistants, and TV experiences. But also in 2020, WillowTree was facing the most significant challenge in its 12 years of corporate existence-a global pandemic. By analyzing how WillowTree blends project and product management, students will gain insights into how a digital products services company integrates a product mindset within contract-based projects, and get the opportunity to brainstorm how WillowTree can further adapt to provide a unique value proposition during the pandemic and beyond.

The aspiration of addressing maternal deaths in Nigeria, which were mostly caused by blood shortages, led Temie Giwa-Tubosun to found LifeBank in 2015. LifeBank developed an online platform that enabled hospitals to connect and purchase blood from local blood banks and fulfilled those orders through an around the clock team of dispatch riders. Over the years, LifeBank delivered a range of essential medical products including blood, medical oxygen canisters and medicines. However, the company had yet to break even and now needed to raise additional funding. LifeBank aimed to become profitable by 2022 and planned to grow its revenues 24x over three years. To achieve such growth the company needed to raise 10x more than the total amount raised since its inception. Giwa-Tubosun wondered how to achieve such growth and funding targets. What were LifeBank's growth options? More importantly, what kind of funding opportunities were available to the company?

This case describes the experiences of Michael Sanders-the Chief Executive of the What Works Center for Children's Social Care-as he led the design and implementation of a program of research aimed at improving the social care system in the United Kingdom (UK) at the national level. In the course of discussing the case, students are asked to consider the challenges of improving wellbeing for social workers and to debate the merits and challenges associated with the proposed experiments. The solutions and ideas shared by students illustrate various behavioral science techniques aimed at improving employee well-being by leveraging non-cash rewards and recognition, especially within the context of a financially constrained organization.

Pratham is a non-governmental organization, focusing on high-quality, low-cost and replicable interventions to address gaps in the Indian education system. Co-founder Madhav Chavan is interested in using technology for education but differed in the way it is used in schools in India. He believes that technology allowed flexibility and non-linearity in exploring knowledge while the school classroom is based on a rigid and linear path of learning textbook lessons for the sake of examinations. Keeping this in mind, Chavan designs a digital initiative, PraDigi Open Learning, to improve basic numeracy and literacy skills among children in rural India. Electronic tablets pre-loaded with content are distributed in a few villages to help increase children's engagement with learning. Self-directed peer group learning is encouraged. The tablets trigger the children's curiosity. Post-COVID 19, when children are not able to attend class because of the lockdown, Chavan wonders how PraDigi Open Learning can be scaled and aligned with school education to ensure uninterrupted learning.

Could these dots be connected? Dozens of Israeli startups and Multinational Corporations (MNCs) thought that they could, and were employing 700 Palestinian engineers, in part through outsourcing companies, and in part directly by opening local R&D centers. In conjunction, the Palestinian tech ecosystem was benefiting and developing a promising entrepreneurship sector. Both the joint work and the independent Palestinian ecosystem had important geopolitical implications, first by supporting the Palestinian economy, and second in the potential implications it could have on the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, two peoples who have been in conflict for decades. While the opportunities were clear, various challenges facing an emergent tech sector, coupled with sensitivities surrounding cooperation between long-time 'enemies', created complications. Paradoxically, Palestinians realized that working with Israeli tech companies was highly promising, but the reality was that any relationship with Israel was politically sensitive for them and created a dilemma. The same applied for Israelis motivated but concerned about working with Palestinian engineers. Given the tremendous benefits, MNCs, governments, non-profits, and international organizations decided to promote co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian tech companies and to support the creation of a sustainable Palestinian tech sector; by mitigating the challenges both sides faced. Still, it remained to be determined whether these efforts would bear fruits, or whether tech cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians would remain anecdotal. Moreover, it was as yet unclear what big-picture implications such initiatives could have on the Palestinian economy and on the relationship between the two peoples. Recent developments, including the global pandemic and the peace agreement signed between Israel and the UAE provided their own sets of challenges and opportunities.

Pep Guardiola is often hailed as one of the most successful football managers in the world. He frequently appeals to players' individual emotions to motivate them and to generate a feeling of belonging to the team. This case delves into his first season as a coach at FC Barcelona (2008-09), with a particular focus on his team's journey to the UEFA Champions League final and his use of collective emotions to motivate his team to perform. The case zooms in on events in the dressing room that preceded the final game. Instead of his usual speech before kick-off, Pep showed an inspirational video to all players. The moving video illustrated the team's accomplishments, hard work, and dedication. It leveraged heroic images with emotive music, touching the hearts of the players. The case intends to explore the complex relationship between the use of collective emotions and team performance and allows to explore and apply frameworks to participants' own leadership.

The case describes how Pret a Manger-a London casual-dining institution-was significantly adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they tried to pivot by launching several business experiments in fast succession. The long-term outcome of these experiments was far from certain, but the case provides a solid basis for evaluating their potential merits and pitfalls.

This case has stimulated some of the most engaged discussions in my 25 years of case teaching. Students will embrace opposing sides in debating how much packaging versus other factors cause smoking behaviours: initiation, frequency, cessation, and relapse. Some students will argue passionately that removing any advertising and branding, especially that protected by international intellectual property laws (e.g., logos and trade dress), will have no effect and is largely punitive. The discussion can include whether consumers (in particular children and adolescents) have free will, more generally. The case is dense and packed with references given its legally sensitive nature, but this should not pose a barrier.

Kanopy LLC (Kanopy) was a video streaming platform that hosted independent and documentary films for educative purposes. Founded in 2008, Kanopy had rapidly expanded to several countries. By 2017, it had more than 3,000 college libraries and several public libraries as subscribers. Although Kanopy's services were received with much enthusiasm, under Kanopy's pay-per-view pricing model, libraries soon incurred subscription fees that exceeded their budgets. Kanopy's popularity became an impediment to growth as libraries cancelled subscriptions or switched to more restrictive models. By December 2019, even though Kanopy's revenues were increasing, the company's founder needed to consider how to ensure the company's continued growth. Given libraries' constrained budgets, what changes did Kanopy need to make to sell its streaming services to libraries?

Created in 2015, BEWOOD was a sustainable fashion brand start-up in Lille, France that sold a range of products with wood as their primary component. The company's best-selling product was a wooden bow tie named "Mr. Divergent." In March 2018, Laury Bonjean, founder and owner of BEWOOD, had four options for growth available to her and had to decide which of these to act on and, most importantly, how to price them. She was considering offering two new products (a Father's Day box set and a subscription box) and had two new channel opportunities (a trendy shop wanted to sell her products and a pop-up store had invited her to participate). While these began as product and distribution decisions, Bonjean felt that pricing formed a huge part of the strategizing. Using qualitative and quantitative information she needed to decide how to proceed and needed to do so very soon.

In mid-December 2016, John Cortes, owner, founder, and general manager of JC Premium Cars in Colombia, reached the final stage of the recruitment process for a new sales manager. A prestigious international headhunting firm had spent nearly two months seeking suitable candidates who could also potentially succeed Cortes as general manager. He had recently sold a significant stake in the firm to SLB, a multinational bank that was rapidly expanding into the country. At the assessment center, the performances of the three shortlisted candidates left Cortes dissatisfied. He was negatively surprised by the performance of his favorite candidate, while the other two finalists did not exactly fit the desired profile, contrary to the impressions he had formed of them earlier in the process. The recruitment process had begun with a fundamental instruction from Cortes to the headhunter: "I want the best and the most experienced individuals in the market." He thereby set very specific criteria in terms of experience and knowledge within JCPC's market niche. The headhunting firm found only a few candidates meeting Cortes's requirements, and eventually concluded that "These are all the qualified candidates available in the market." Cortes, who had hoped to retire in order to rest and dedicate himself to other businesses, now believed this would not be possible in the near future. As SLB needed to approve the sales budget for the following year, Cortes was pressed to appoint the new sales manager before the end of the month.

Two young, Minnesota based, entrepreneurs set a goal to grow their blood clotting innovation into a robust medical products business. They had, somewhat serendipitously, discovered an idea with real market potential and as a result had made surprisingly good progress in developing a patented product. They had successfully launched a small test in the veterinary market and had been informed that they were only a few months away from gaining FDA approval for use in human markets. To launch their long-term strategy, they needed to answer two key questions. First, how big were the human and animal markets relative to each other? And second, should they continue to build a position in the veterinary market, or should they focus on launching into the human wound treatment market? If so, which segment of the market was the most strategically attractive considering the resources at their disposal? Because of the likelihood of full FDA approval, they were under pressure to bring a clears and defensible strategy to their board within the next 2-3 months. Furthermore, as nascent entrepreneurs, they realized that they would have to come off the fence and propose a strategy in advance of having complete data, while their understanding of the market and entrepreneurial strategy was still emerging.

Rob Taylor, Founding Chairman, and Tracy Hackland, CEO of Columba Leadership, an award-winning South African non-profit organization, pondered a strategic question in March 2018. Columba Leadership was a non-profit values-based youth program that had facilitated individual change since 2009. By February 2018, Columba Leadership had organized 449 residential academy programs and graduated 5,211 high schoolers and 1,260 educators from 169 schools in some of the more disadvantaged areas. Columba Leadership had also pioneered the use of the Social Return on Investment methodology in South Africa. Columba Leadership's value proposition consisted of a six-day residential academy where high schoolers received training in 21st-Century leadership skills (critical thinking, leadership, problem-solving, communication, etc.) based on a framework of six values, including awareness, focus, creativity, integrity, perseverance, and service. Since its inception in 2009, Columba Leadership's focus had been on facilitating positive individual change. However, in 2017 Columba Leadership's executives observed how some schools, that they called "catalytic", had produced higher performance rates and the institutionalization of youth leadership after some of their students had attended Columbia Leadership academies. The systematic impact of these high schools prompted an internal reflection at the Board level, while the organization was also experiencing substantial pressure to change externally from funders. Should Columba Leadership keep its existing approach to youth development and focus on running more residential academies in a broader geographical area? Alternatively, was it time to re-evaluate the residential program and develop a more systemic approach that involved working more with schools in order to scale their impact? What were the key arguments in favor of the different approaches to scaling? What potential objections could the Board raise?

Eric Gomez, CEO maxiaNET Inc., an international brand management and consumer packaged goods distribution company from San Diego had a new opportunity to export disposable diapers into Venezuela. Gomez had experienced success exporting products into the country and understood first-hand the extreme shortages in basic goods and the economic and political crisis facing the country. Diapers were increasingly non-existent or only offered for purchase on the black market. maxiaNET had a strong local partner and access to distribution channels, however many strategic issues remain to be solved. Gomez needed to develop an appropriate business model that would cover costs, while at the same time offer extreme discounts and enable widespread product distribution and sales. Ultimately, he needed to decide on whether and how to proceed with importing diapers into Venezuela.

By early 2019, Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy (A&O) had replaced its longstanding, traditional annual review system with Compass, a state-of-the-art performance management process based on real-time feedback and planful career development discussions. As Managing Partner Andrew Ballheimer put it, Compass was part of a firm-wide cultural shift "to focus on future development and enable people to perform and progress through more regular open and effective conversations." The case describes the impetus for the change, how the change process unfolded, key features of new the system, and the points of debate and controversy around the implementation.

The Rowell & Mackenzie case follows husband-and-wife executives Sarah Rowell and Scott Mackenzie as they weigh the decision whether or not to embark on a search fund. The case addresses the potential benefits and drawbacks of the search fund experience including financial outcomes, lifestyle impact, alternatives, and career trajectory.

Comviva, a mobile solutions provider active in India and 94 other countries, has had a rich history and been successful across many emerging and complex markets: Latin America, South-East Asia, Africa. What are the lessons learnt from expansion, cultural fits, and technological business model changes? With a global decline in telecommunication revenue per user, operators are looking for new revenue sources. Now, in 2019, how and where should Comviva India grow?

The adoption of information technology (IT) in public services in India has been uneven and fraught with numerous difficulties. The case describes a context within the Indian police, where a middle-level officer, Vijay Kumar, led the adoption of an IT-based projectto organise an All India Level Police Meet. Vijay faced significant resistance from senior police officers, and he had to navigate the realm of organisational politics to implement the organisational change project within severe time constraints. Vijay had clearly articulated the design principles of efficiency, transparency and accountability behind the implementation of the IT project right from the beginning. While he took ownership of the project to see it through, he also sought the sponsorship of the top leadership to overcome contingencies in a project of dynamically changing scope and tight deadlines.