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In July 2019, the uncertainty that had been surrounding Brexit since the public referendum in June 2016 had led to a crisis for Owen Barry Inc. (Owen Barry), a luxury goods manufacturing enterprise in the United Kingdom. The company's finance and production manager had voted in favour of Brexit but was hardly prepared for the deadlock that followed. He was now weighing different options for navigating a way out of the company's predicament. His three main concerns were: How should he deal with the exchange rate fluctuations that had been affecting the company's revenues and margins? How should he deal with issues around sourcing and importing essential raw materials? How should he deal with problems around the recruitment and retention of the skilled workforce at the company's manufacturing plant near London?

In January 2020, Jai Prakash Chaubey, the managing director of Sarva Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (Sarva), needed to decide whether or not to accept a proposal from Gursim Pharmaceutical Limited (Gursim) to market some of Sarva's products in Cambodia. Sarva had been performing well; however, the company's profitability in Cambodia was minimal. Should Chaubey accept Gursim's offer? Or should he hire a new country head who could drive the sales in the country and motivate the sales team for better results? Other options included restructuring Sarva's product portfolio or shutting down the company's marketing arm to focus solely on distribution. What strategies should he adopt to turn around his company's performance, strengthen its presence in Cambodia, and remain on course to achieve the company's target for 2020?

This case provides a minimum threshold and a range of value for a contract for janitorial services in an office building. A variety of facts are presented that negotiators can choose to pay more or less attention to when planning and conducting their negotiation. Mitchell, a shift supervisor, has been temporarily empowered to conduct the negotiation on behalf of his supervisor, Robert Eckhart, who is out sick. Jim Evans, the sales representative from Philly Cleans, is attempting to preserve his company's typical 25% profit margin, which is 10% above the industry norm of 15%. A contingency agreement is a possibility, which would likely take the form of a delivery reduction in the average price per room if in fact the average size of the rooms in this renovated office building is actually significantly smaller than the average size of rooms in newly constructed office buildings. This case contains two roles, one for each person in a two-party negotiation. They are relatively short in length and can be read in class just prior to a mock negotiation. This learning activity is appropriate for teaching negotiations skills to a broad audience, including undergraduate and graduate business school students, adult learners in a variety of settings, and in a corporate university.

This case contains two roles, one for each person in a two-party negotiation. They are relatively short in length and can be read in class just prior to negotiating. This learning activity is appropriate for teaching negotiation skills to a broad audience, including undergraduate and graduate business school students, adult learners, and in corporate university settings. At first glance, there is no immediate resolution to the negotiation. A couple is attempting to qualify for an apartment lease, and based on a percentage of guaranteed salary, they do not qualify. Students should learn that only by asking probing questions and seeking to understand more about one another's assets and interests can the landlords and potential renters identify a workable solution.

This case study is based on a Hong Kong technology start-up, Morllex (Morllex is a disguised name of a real company), specializing in chemicals for the electronics industry. The company received substantial private funding, as well as funding from a government-backed incubation program, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. The three founders encountered conflicts in various strategies, including relationships with the two non-executive shareholders, several key suppliers such as a marketing consultant, and a China sales agent. There were substantial pressures to build sales and marketing traction and ensure timely delivery of the product to distributors. Over two years, the three founders and two non-executive shareholders (all anonymized here) had nurtured Morllex from an award-winning concept to a market-ready product. Yet, the partners struggled to reach an agreement on some major decisions, such as whether to register the business in Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Also, the partners had an ongoing debate about whether to manage marketing and distribution in-house or to outsource it. One partner favored the former option while the other partners had a different point of view. These conflicts left the founders questioning the future of a company in which they had believed so strongly and invested so much time and energy. In this case study, students will play the roles of the founders and shareholders. The case is designed to set up conflicts among the players to teach students how hostile team dynamics can make inherently solvable problems intractable.

In May 2019, the management team of DuPont de Nemours Inc. (DuPont) was assessing whether to retain the business entity DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS) as part of the overall company, divest it to another consultancy firm, or sell it to the internal team through a management buyout. DSS was set up in the late 1960s as an in-house provider of safety and risk management services. Having established its credentials with the company's sprawling chemical plants worldwide, it soon became a mid-sized business in the operations consulting field, serving clients in oil and gas, mining and metals, and industrial manufacturing sectors worldwide. In 2019, the management team had to determine the best path forward for DSS.

In September 2019, a marketing director at Multinational Beverage Inc. faced a dilemma: she needed to determine how to reverse the declining sales and market share of her Florida-based orange juice brand, Fresh Squeeze. While one potential solution was to move production to Brazil to take advantage of lower production costs, the marketing director also had to consider the effect this would have on Fresh Squeeze's brand image. Given industry dynamics, would becoming a low-priced competitor lead to the right positioning for Fresh Squeeze, or were Florida oranges the heart of this business?

This case describes the business career of Calouste Gulbenkian, a skilled intermediary who was able to secure 5 per cent of a vast oil concession covering much of the Middle East that was signed in 1928. Gulbenkian was an ethnic Armenian born in the Ottoman Empire, which was a large multi-ethnic empire covering large swathes of the Middle East and eastern Europe. Gulbenkian's career is set against the steady erosion of the Empire's sovereignty by Western powers, and mounting ethnic tensions. These trends reached their climax in the modernizing Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman entry to World War 1 on the side of Germany, the massacres of millions of Armenians and other ethnic groups, and the creation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Against this background, Gulbenkian distanced himself from the family merchant business, became a financier in London, and formed a close relationship with Henri Deterding, the leader of the power Royal Dutch Shell oil group. After the Young Turk Revolution, he also worked for the new government, forming a company to exploit the oil resources of the Empire with him and Royal Dutch Shell among the shareholders, and securing a vast oil concession. These arrangements were disrupted by the war, the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, and the entry into the region of the United States government and oil companies. However, Gulbenkian survived numerous attempts to dislodge him and his shareholding was confirmed in the Red Line Agreement of 1928. The case provides an opportunity to explore the role of intermediaries in global business and more specifically, to show how the control of Middle Eastern oil ended up for a half a century in the hands of a small number of oligopolistic Western oil companies with no ownership by local stakeholders.

The case opens with Alain Bejjani, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding, anticipating on the Group's next phase in the multi-year transformation journey and reflecting on the initiatives he implemented to create the Group's growth-oriented culture. Founded in 1995, MAF Group was a regional conglomerate, operating shopping malls, and retail and leisure establishments across 12 businesses in 15 markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The case describes the series of structural changes that Bejjani undertook since he became the CEO in 2015, how he transitioned the Holding company from a passive investor to a strategic architect model, and assumed ownership of the brand, culture, and talent across the entire organization for all its operating companies: MAF Properties, MAF Retail, and MAF Ventures. The case discusses the steps that the Group undertook-creation of the Leadership Institute, a new performance management system, investments in digital technology and analytics capabilities, and the launch of the School of Great Moments to instill a focus on customer experience. By November 2019, Bejjani recognized that the organization had evolved considerably in the past five years. He wondered about the next steps in scaling and ability to execute strategy. How much more could he push the organization to continue to change?

Set in December 2019, this case explores how P&G has applied data science and analytics to cut costs and improve outcomes across its business units. The case provides an overview of P&G's approach to data management and governance, and reviews the challenges associated with changing long-established work processes within the company. It concludes by exploring four examples of how P&G has applied analytics to its businesses.

On June 13, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR became the first woman to fly in space on Vostok 6. Soviet leaders publicly espoused gender equity, but also sent Tereshkova on her mission in order to be the first country to send a woman to space, a milestone they reached before the U.S. did. Five Soviet women were in the initial group chosen to train as cosmonauts, but of the five, only Tereshkova would make it to space. The case explores why Tereshkova was selected from the group and her mission and subsequent career. It also discusses the successes of the women cosmonauts and astronauts in the Soviet and U.S. space programs decades later. By 2020, women remained a minority of space travelers, but the inclusion of both genders had become commonplace. Had women reached gender equity in space faster than on Earth?

"We're in business together, and whether we lose a few million dollars or make a few million dollars, let's do this. If you think you can pull it off, I'm behind you." Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation, the world's leading live entertainment company, expresses his support to Pharrell Williams, one of the music industry's biggest stars, and his long-time manager Ron Laffitte. It is December 2018, and Williams just pitched Rapino an idea for a music festival in Virginia Beach, Something In The Water. Williams is engaged in many endeavors - he is not only a chart-topping musician, but also a fashion designer, film and television producer, brand builder, and business consultant - that are brought together in his company, I Am Other, which is in a joint venture with Live Nation. Although Live Nation generally does not shy away from making big bets on its artists, Williams' festival idea is risky and has an unusually aggressive time table. Is Rapino right to lend his support to Williams' proposed festival? Are partnerships like the one it had formed with Williams' company I Am Other the way forward for Live Nation? And how can the company that dominates the live music space best continue to create value for artists and their managers?

King's had begun the financial year (April 1, 2017) forecasting a loss of £40 million. By December 2017, losses were projected to be over £90 million. In response to the crisis, in November 2017, the CEO of King's had removed the CFO and COO. Then, on December 10, 2017, the chairman of King's, Lord Kerslake, announced his resignation, signaling that the group would soon be put into administration. Writing in The Guardian, he warned of the deeper structural problems facing the NHS: My two and a half years at King's have been in equal part inspiring and frustrating. There are undoubtedly things that I and the Trust could have done better - there always are - but fundamentally our problems lie in the way the NHS is funded and organized. We desperately need a fundamental rethink. Until then we are simply 'kicking the can down the road.' Shortly after Lord Kerslake's resignation, NHSI announced that they would appoint Ian Smith (HBS MBA, 1987) as the interim chair. The next day, as Smith arrived at King's, there were extensive protests outside the main entrance over government underfunding of the health service in general and the departure of the chairman in particular. Smith entered via a back door to avoid the Union picket line in front. There he met the group's 28 clinical directors. The mood was angry. They briefed him on years of funding cuts in the face of poor operational performance, a highly congested emergency department, and long waiting lists for elective surgeries. Smith faced some immediate challenges. The chief executive was still in place; was he part of the problem or part of the solution? How could Smith engage with the clinicians and managers to launch a rapid turnaround? Would the regulator prove a help or a hindrance in the process? What would a "100 day" plan look like?

India's Economic Survey 2016-17 proposed a gradual implementation of the concept of universal basic income (UBI) as the fastest way of providing a long-term solution to poverty. Large-scale inequality and poverty, along with huge misallocation and wastages in the existing welfare schemes, made India a perfect ground for experimenting with UBI. Though the rapid expansion of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile infrastructure was expected to smoothen the execution of UBI in India, there were looming concerns about implementation of the program, fiscal feasibility, and the questionable effectiveness of UBI's impact on poverty alleviation.

In December 2019, a member of a fantasy hockey league had to decide whether to trade away his top talent in exchange for draft picks in the following year's fantasy draft or to continue to compete for a position in the playoffs. If he traded his top players, he would forfeit his chances at competing for a championship; however, this move might put his team in a better position for the following year's fantasy hockey season. He had access to the league's historical data to help determine the likelihood of his team making the playoffs. He wanted to conduct an analysis to make an informed decision grounded by numbers.

Tea Connect, a chain of five tea cafés in India, had ended 2019 with sales revenues of ₹48.1 million. The co-founder of Tea Connect had the ambitious target of opening 20 cafés and achieving sales revenues of ₹200 million by 2020. The co-founder planned the renovation of the cafés to improve the speed of service, but he also wanted to launch Tea Connect-branded consumer packaged products. Three franchising offers for stores in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Mount Abu were also under consideration. He was wondering whether renovation would help to enhance the customer experience and whether this was the right time to launch consumer packaged goods. Also, was it the right time to explore the franchise route of expansion?

This case follows Jason, a high school student who is looking forward to going to college. He is an excellent student and a basketball star, which allowed him to receive two full-ride scholarships: the first to play Division 1 basketball at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the second to attend the University of Virginia (UVA). This leaves Jason with a huge decision to make. Should he attend Penn State and try to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA, or should he attend UVA and fulfill his passion for engineering? To gain more information to guide his decision, Jason solicits advice from two of his mentors: his basketball coach, Coach Roberts, and his math teacher, Ms. Humphries.

Cinda Klickna, trustee of the State of Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), was preparing to vote in June 2019 on a proposed $75 million investment in a new fund being raised by First Light Capital (FLC), a midsized buyout firm. Illinois had been under financial pressure for some time, and TRS, the state's largest public pension, was seriously underfunded. In 2012, TRS's board began a plan to strategically increase its allocations to private equity (PE). By 2018, the target allocation to PE had reached 15%, well above the 10% average of other public pensions. The increase in PE was undertaken in an attempt to close the funding gap necessitated by insufficient state funding and the generally low-interest-rate environment. The strategy had not gone unnoticed, and many now openly questioned the higher risk and costs of these investments. In the face of this greater scrutiny, Klickna believed it was important that the pension's PE investments earn a satisfactory return, by looking to invest in funds that had upper-quartile returns and public market equivalents (PMEs) greater than one. This case is appropriate for courses that cover PE investments, such as those typically covering topics on venture capital or PE, or courses on asset management that include alternative assets. It introduces students to some of the commonly used PE performance metrics and the challenges associated with measuring performance for an illiquid asset class. Students are introduced to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) and their purposes and limitations in evaluating performance. Students are asked to calculate the gross and net since-inception internal rate of return (SI-IRR), DPI, RVPI, TVPI, and PME for the same pending investment in FLC Fund IV and compare how performance is assessed across these metrics. The case also discusses the push for greater disclosure in the PE industry as it grows in its influence and public investors seek to know more about its performance.

This case focuses on the rising trend of CEO activism, especially as it relates to business extending its impact on democracy. The case centers on the contentious political issues of gun violence, gun rights, and gun control. Students will follow the protagonist and develop strategies to support Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who took a stance on gun control by reducing gun and ammunition sales after a mass shooting in 2019 at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Building on CEO activism, the case also focuses on further steps that corporations can take to influence public policy.

In February 2019, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Daily Bread Food Bank (Daily Bread) in Toronto, Ontario reflected on the charity's strong performance in the past year. Despite Daily Bread's success, the CEO felt there were opportunities to do more. Toronto's food insecurity rate had been rising in recent years, and food banks across the city had been struggling to meet demand. The CEO had several potential ideas for contributing to the long-term sustainability of the food bank and delivering the highest impact in the community. Daily Bread's underused kitchen could be turned into a social enterprise and used to generate more funds to gain additional engagement with the local community in the fight against hunger; the kitchen could also be rented out for special events after hours and on weekends; extra shifts and truck deliveries would help grow the charity's operations; or the organization could keep the status quo and let the charity grow naturally. Most importantly, however, the decision would have to align with the charity's mission and current operations. With the advisory board of directors' meeting rapidly approaching, the CEO had to make a decision on how to maximize the food bank's resources.