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In January 2015, the founder and chairman of Sunyuki Agricultural Co., Ltd. (Sunyuki), was considering a major change to his company. Founded in 2010, Sunyuki was one of the first online fresh-food retailers in southwest China, providing safe, fresh, organic foods to high-end consumers who had a strong preference for high dietary quality. Since its launch, Sunyuki had achieved soaring average annual growth rates of almost 100 per cent. However, it was becoming difficult to attract new customers through online channels alone. Therefore, the founder was considering the option of opening physical stores as an off-line channel to complement the company's successful online sales and distribution channel. Because of rapid growth in the fresh-food industry and intensifying competition, the founder needed to carefully consider the company's next steps. If Sunyuki opted to expand off-line, how should it proceed? Specifically, how should the company manage a new online and offline strategy in an omnichannel sales and distribution environment?

In September 2018, WaterEquity, a US-based investment vehicle for both financial and social returns, had to raise US$50 million in total funding capital. The sales team had to propose sales pitches for alternative investments for three types of investors. From a financial perspective, the investment was essentially a risk-free asset with an annual return of 3.5 per cent. However, this investment could also positively affect four developing countries-India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Cambodia-by providing clean water solutions for billions of people. Through the lending facilities of the local microfinance institutions of these four countries, WaterEquity could offer support to the poor and empower more women, generating both financial and social returns. Different groups of investors might be attracted by different levels of these social returns as well as the financial returns. The sales team planned to use a simple extension of the standard Markowitz portfolio theory framework to incorporate social returns and account for two distinct types of returns, customizing the sales pitches for each of three groups of investors.

In the wake of a mass killing in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015, the FBI requested that Apple unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters. Thus began a dilemma for both Apple and the FBI, each of them with storied histories that intertwined data and individual rights to privacy. Apple faced a fundamental question made more difficult by the competing interests of a publicly-traded company: what is the best action for society and the public good? What precedent would Apple be setting if it complied with the FBI's request? If the company refused to comply, would it be standing in the way of preventing further attacks?

In 2011, the vice-president of Craig Manufacturing (CM)was preparing a presentation for the company's advisory board and senior management. Craig Manufacturing, based in New Brunswick, Canada, was a privately held, third-generation family business that manufactured attachments for heavy equipment used in large construction projects in Canada and the United States. The company had achieved a strong reputation by pursuing a differentiation strategy based on product quality, leading technology, and exceptional customer service. However, the company needed new revenue streams, as it was experiencing less demand for its customized heavy equipment attachments. The vice-president was about to suggest launching a new product line by producing attachments for mini, or compact, construction equipment and growing the company with a cost leadership strategy. However, entering this market would mean focusing on standardized products, in contrast to the company's traditional focus on customized attachments. Would the new product line and its cost leadership strategy help propel the company to be the leading manufacturer of industrial attachments in Canada and the United States?

Since 2009, Bilibili Inc.'s Bilibili.com (the B-site) had been an online video site providing services to fans of anime, comics, and games culture. After several years of effort, it had become a popular Chinese site for danmaku content and commenting technology. The B-site had a good reputation because of its excellent user experience: users did not need to watch endless pre-roll ads before enjoying video content because, in 2014, the B-site had promised that it would never use pre-roll ads as part of its profit model. However, in spring 2016, an important content provider, TV Tokyo Corporation, renewed its copyright contract and added terms requiring the B-site to add pre-video ads on anime series from TV Tokyo, which contradicted the B-site's promise to its users. How should the B-site address this public relations crisis and retain the trust of its users?

In early 2015, the chief executive officer of Bumbox Logistics Private Limited (Bumbox) faced a challenge. The company, launched in Singapore, provided smart lockers for use by delivery companies and consumers to ensure the safe and timely receipt of online purchases. The lockers offered an attractive opportunity, given their ability to resolve last-mile delivery problems that plagued both logistics companies and online consumers. Despite the promising business concept, 18 months after launching, the business had not gained much traction-or revenue. The chief executive officer was fully aware of the company's multiple challenges: because parcel lockers were a new concept in Singapore, consumers needed to be educated on their use; the company faced competition from other companies, including the nation's post office; and while increasing the number of smart lockers would help the company succeed, expanding the network could only be justified once the lockers were being widely used. The company had tried to target three segments-online shoppers/consumers, logistics companies, and e-tailers-but because of limited resources, it needed to focus on one segment only. What strategy should the chief executive officer follow to take Bumbox to the next level?

This case, based on general business experience, casts students in the role of analyzing the financial effects of a possible outsourcing decision. Lee and Marcia Mills, owners of LeMar Outdoor Play Products, Ltd. (LOPP), a Canadian company that designs, manufactures, and installs outdoor play equipment, are faced with a decision pertaining to whether LOPP should outsource the company's back-office information technology enabled services (IT-ES) functions. Lee engages with an outside advisory firm specializing in matching companies with suitable outsourcing partners in India, and eventually a contract is presented. From just a financial perspective, students must ascertain whether Lee and Marcia should accept the outsourcing offer.

The Roche Diagnostics Belgium (RDB) case study consists of two parts: Part (A): "Changing a Winning Formula?" and Part (B): Cultural and Digital transformation. The cases focus on the transformation which Anna-Maria Heuchel-Reinig initiated to turn the company into a more successful business. RDB had a strong track-record within Roche for high-performance and good market share. Anna had an equally solid reputation, having managed different businesses and country organizations within Roche over a 20-year career. The two-part case study covers the period from April 2017 until October 2019 and recounts how Anna made sense of the situation she inherited when she became the General Manager of the Belgian organisation and the actions she took to initiate a journey focused on customer centricity, cultural change and digital business transformation. Case A covers Anna's first 100 days as General Manager from April 2017 - August 2017. She was told that RDB was a high performing, customer-focused organization, yet she encountered a company living on past successes with weakening customer focus. The case outlines the company context, Anna's early encounters with the Belgian organization, her developing concerns and the gap between RDB's narrative of success and her own assessment of the company.

Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new economic strategy, known as "Abenomics," being enacted in 2012, Japan's deflationary spiral continued. In an effort to stimulate economic growth, early in 2013 the Bank of Japan (BOJ) stepped in, using quantitative and qualitative monetary easing (QQE) with the aim of achieving an inflation target of 2% in two years. At that time, the short-term prime interest rate was 1.475% per year. Could an unconventional monetary policy work? Despite all efforts, Japan's economy remained weak. On 20 January 2016, the BOJ's governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, held a policy meeting in Tokyo, where the decision was made to introduce QQE with a negative interest rate.

In June 2019, the founder and chairman of Shandong Moris Chemical Co. Ltd. (Moris), a leading chemical production group, had to decide whether Moris should diversify into an unrelated industry. Moris's main business had been the production and processing of brine chemicals. With several of its chemical products dominating worldwide markets, Moris had become a hidden champion in these industry segments. Through the company's most recent diversification move into water treatment and land improvement, the founder had stretched Moris's corporate umbrella beyond purely chemical businesses, hoping to transform the negative corporate image associated with chemical industries. Now, he had to determine whether the cultural and creative industries would fit with this strategic aspiration, especially since a move into this area would be the first unrelated diversification for the company.

SenseTime Group Limited was founded in Hong Kong in 2014 to commercialize artificial intelligence for digital recognition of images, particularly human faces. After only three years in business, the company was profitable, with annual sales revenue of about US$100 million. In 2018, it employed over 2,000 workers and was referred to as the world's most valuable artificial intelligence start-up, with a valuation of US$7.6 billion. China had become the largest market in the world for facial recognition technologies, with its share of global sales expected to grow from 29 per cent in 2017 to 45 per cent in 2023. And the global facial recognition market was forecast to be worth US$6.5 billion by 2021. SenseTime Group Limited aimed to empower more industries throughout the world with its artificial intelligence platform. A key question in early 2019 for the company's co-founder and chief executive officer was how to adapt its strategy to achieve that mission in an increasingly fraught global environment.

In May 2018, Philippe Boisclair, business owner and president of McGill St Laurent (MSL), sought to grow the firm and increase annual profitability by CA$35 million by 2020. MSL was a medium-sized commodities trading firm with interests in wood, grain, and energy. Founded in 2009 by two business school graduates and veterans of the lumber industry, MSL had enjoyed significant growth. The company had not only expanded into grain and energy trading but had also diversified its wood business to encompass architectural design and manufacturing as well as industrial lumber products. Boisclair, a serial entrepreneur, had to decide on a corporate growth strategy, which he had to present at the upcoming advisory board meeting.

In 2018, Swedish furniture maker IKEA was undergoing a significant transformation. Challenged by the rise of online shopping and changing consumer behavior, and mourning the death of its founder, the Company's top executives knew they had to step out of their comfort zones and embrace new strategic initiatives to stay relevant. But which initiatives, executed where, when and how, would enable IKEA to achieve its goals in a way that was profitable while creating an IKEA they would want to pass on to the next generation of co-workers and customers?

This case is about how to build the "Georgia Brand" and how to position Georgian wines on the international market. The oldest wine remnants in the world, dating back to around 6000 BC, have been found in Georgia, which would allow us to assert that Georgia is ""the birthpace of wine."" In addition, the country has about 500 endemic grape varieties, and grape fermentation methods that enable the production of very special wines. All these elements should position Georgian wines as niche products and allow them to be sold at high prices. However, due to the historical and political conditions of the last 100 years, hardly anyone outside Georgia and the former USSR is aware of these facts, and Georgian wines are mostly exported to countries of the former Soviet republics. The case raises several decisions regarding Georgian wines. Should Georgia continue selling its wines in the mass market or focus on a "good value for money" strategy? Should it pursue a differentiation strategy, offering high-quality/high-priced wines? Regarding the product: should it stick to traditional winemaking methods or adapt to international market preferences? Finally, should it continue selling in its traditional markets, where Georgian wines are recognized and easy to sell, or diversify into non-traditional markets?

This case mainly describes how Shanghai Phoenix Bicycle Co., Ltd. (abbreviation: Phoenix), with a history of over 100 years, was disrupted and changed after multiple impacts brought on by the Internet and e-commerce, especially the bike-sharing business model and related new technologies. Phoenix evolved over time not only by opening up e-commerce channels, but also by extending its product offering from a single bike to multiple ones through vertical and horizontal diversification. It also formed a strategic partnership with ofo, a bike-sharing company, to participate in the design and manufacture of shared bikes and acquired resources and capabilities that were beneficial to the Phoenix brand's development throughout the process. As the President of Phoenix presiding over its difficulties, Wang Chaoyang had come to realize more and more clearly that the changes brought by bike-sharing to the bike industry would be disruptive. This disruptive change would eventually lead to the redefinition of bike products. And this redefinition would lead to the failure of the traditional business model in the bike industry. As a result, Phoenix had undergone fundamental changes in marketing, products, and manufacturing. However, how should Phoenix respond effectively? What resources and capabilities should Phoenix prepare in order to respond successfully? In July 2019, Wang Chaoyang had been facing these problems for a while.

This case series describes the dilemmas encountered by Shenzhen Chasm Security Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Chasm Security") in its three rounds of funding since its establishment in 2012. As a company with Internet security technology as its core asset, it has five co-founders from three regions. Given the political and economic context of the China-U.S. trade war and the sensitivity of the information security industry, this case series always generates vigorous and enthusiastic discussions. Case (A) focuses on the first two rounds of funding in mid-2016 and discusses various dilemmas faced by the founding team. First, should the equity split among the co-founders be based on instinct or logical rationale? Second, should the company's shareholding structure be more concentrated or distributed? Third, should President Zhi Wang exercise his veto power? Crucially, the judgment on the last question encompasses three other dilemmas: (1) whether to insist on his rationale on market positioning, or swallow his opposition for the sake of maintaining relationships; (2) whether to gain a firm foothold in the Chinese market, or pursue a broad global presence; and (3) whether to chase a high valuation and wealth, or retain company control.

In October 2001, the co-founder and vice-president of Veritas Investment Research Corporation (Veritas), was considering his next steps as he prepared to issue a highly critical report on Bombardier Inc. (Bombardier). The vice-president believed that Bombardier had relied upon accounting innovations rather than operating innovations in order to report accounting profits. While numerous issues concerned the vice-president, one of the most critical was the way the company had managed the relationships between its various operating segments. These issues had developed over recent years and threatened to increase following the business decisions in the wake of September 11, 2001, which had dramatically affected the sale of aircraft. The vice-president's investment report would have significant consequences for numerous stakeholders and would affect both his own and Veritas's reputations. How should Veritas interpret the various issues related to Bombardier's accounting and reporting choices?

This case covers the period from 2014 to 2020, when DBS embarks on its second strategy under the stewardship of Piyush Gupta. The aim is to become the Best Bank in the World (BBIW) by 2020. The bank reaches its objectives in 2019 and continues to garner more banking accolades. Building on Strategy 1.0 that is implemented from 2010 to 2014 to shape the bank up to international standards, DBS's Strategy 2.0 focuses on "Making Banking Joyful" through three key tenets: (1) digital to the core; (2) being customer obsessed; (3) creating a start-up culture. This case illustrates the requisite leadership and operational capabilities to translate the digital transformation vision into a strategy. It explains how the bank leverages technology as part of its strategy to make banking invisible for its customers, for example, by initially engaging employees through the adoption of hackathons and design thinking. The case also discusses how the bank successfully developed a start-up culture bringing everyone on the same understanding and developing digital tools. Finally, this case highlights the need for the top management team to canvass its Board's endorsement and investment support for a transformation of such size, scale, and duration.

Credit Suisse, a leading Swiss banking institution in the private and investment banking sectors, had a poor performance after the financial crisis of 2008 and was trailing its global peers. The bank appointed Tidjane Thiam as new CEO of the bank in July 2015, with the mandate to turn the bank around. When Tidjane Thiam joined, Credit Suisse had a weak capital position, which prevented it from effectively competing. Additionally, the bank had some businesses which were "structural" loss makers and hence a drag to the Group's profitability and capital positions. Even more important than the underperforming businesses and weak capital position, it was apparent that Credit Suisse was lacking a clear and consistent strategy. Private banking and investment banking businesses were operating to some extent as independent operations and the bank was not taking advantage of synergistic opportunities across its businesses. The board asked the new CEO, Tidjane Thiam, to conduct a detailed strategic review, in close collaboration with the Group Board, to restructure the bank. The case is centered on this strategic review and explains the position of the bank prior to the arrival of the CEO.

Deeply disturbed by the consequences of underinvestment in critical infrastructure in the United States over the last half century, highly successful former investment banker Suneel Kamlani set out to address the problem by launching an innovative infrastructure bank model that he honed as a 2016 Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow. To implement his social innovation, Kamlani, an unaffiliated private citizen, needed to convince states to pass new legislation permitting its establishment, despite his lack of legislative knowhow and institutional power. This case study chronicles Kamlani's development of his solution for infrastructure underinvestment and his relentless efforts to build a robust multi-stakeholder coalition using advanced leadership practices to try to pass infrastructure bank legislation in his home state of Connecticut. It shows how he worked with elected state officials and other stakeholders to champion the effort and how he tried-both successfully and unsuccessfully--to overcome entrenched interests. It provides background for an in-depth discussion regarding 1) the degree to which Kamlani's skill set, his chosen solution pathway, and his targeted societal problem aligned to tackle the infrastructure underinvestment issue, and 2) the strategies and advanced leadership skills that individuals without legislative expertise or formalized institutional power in state government can employ to build coalitions and pass new legislation. The case study opens on June 3, 2019 with Kamlani on the cusp of a major legislative victory for his Connecticut Infrastructure Bank (CIB) initiative. It concludes with the Governor's unexpected withdrawal shortly thereafter of support for the CIB bill and the CIB coalition's relaunch of the legislative effort in early 2020.