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In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy, while the other represents a more modest $3 million raise to bring the company to operating profitability. Richter had developed the $15 million plan with an executive introduced to her by her venture capital board members with extensive fundraising and startup experience; however, after months of pitching to investors, the aggressive expansion plan had failed to produce a term sheet. Richter must decide whether the rapid expansion is the right course of action for the company as she begins to question whether her business could realistically meet the plan's projections even if she could secure the financing to fund it. Meanwhile, Soofa's capital was rapidly dwindling. Richter must raise another round of capital by early 2020, or will be forced to lay off the majority of her staff and close her operations. Should she continue pursuing the aggressive expansion plan, pivot to the more modest plan based on operating profitability, or attempt to pursue both plans simultaneously? And how should she navigate the growing tension on her board given the company's struggles?

Founded by Chris Czerwonka, John Roberts and Julie Monniot-Gaillis, Mosabi is an app-based solution addressing the lack of financial literacy education and financial inclusion for informal sector entrepreneurs in Africa. By providing an alternative to traditional credit-scoring through education, Mosabi seeks to empower its users in the long-term, generating a multiplier effect on their lives. It is designed to be financially sustainable as it also reduces the high cost of accessing the underbanked for the financial services providers (FSPs). In order to achieve its social and financial objectives, Mosabi measures both financial and social impact and ensures the two go in lock-step.

HSBC (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) Holdings plc was a member of various trade finance consortia that aimed to digitise the traditional paper-based trade finance process. It had successfully executed multiple trade finance pilots by using a blockchain-based platform, Contour (formerly known as Voltron), and is planning to launch the platform commercially. The trade finance market was estimated at USD 18 trillion annually, and HSBC had a share of 12% in trade finance transactions worldwide. This case revolves around the challenges faced by banks or consortia while porting the traditional trade finance process to a blockchain-based system. Key aspects to be considered are the ways in which banks form consortia, implement blockchain and facilitate trading globally, given that blockchain is a new technology and the porting process will necessitate bringing all of the stakeholders involved in the trade finance value chain onto the blockchain-based platform. It is in this context that HSBC confronts questions related to making various decisions. What type of governance structure would facilitate a quick roll-out of services that could be provided robustly and with integrity of process and intent? How should HSBC price its trade finance services?

On April 8, 2019, Occidental's CEO Vicki Hollub made a private offer to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for $72 in cash and stock. Anadarko's CEO Al Walker said he would consider the offer, yet three days later, on April 11, he signed a merger agreement with Chevron in a deal worth $65 per share in cash and stock. This agreement included a $1 billion "break-up" (termination) fee payable to Chevron if Anadarko accepted another offer. To avoid losing the deal, Hollub then made an initial public offer to buy Anadarko for $76 per share in cash and stock on April 24. When Anadarko failed to respond, Hollub, revised her offer on May 5. Although the revised offer had the same stated value of $76 per share, it included substantially more cash ($59 per share instead of the original $38 per share). With competing offers on the table, Walker now had to decide whether to accept Chevron's $65 offer or pay the break-up fee and accept Occidental's $76 offer? Of course, once he had made up his mind, he would have to convince his board that it was the right offer to accept and the right price.

In 2020, Numenta's co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, completed his pathbreaking research on artificial intelligence. His co-founder and CEO, Donna Dubinsky, had to find a business model to monetize the technology. This case explores the challenges of building a business around intellectual property.

In May 2015, Filip Daw, a human capital strategist with a leading consultancy, is hired by the Indian subsidiary of Semicon Inc (SI), an American semiconductor manufacturing company, to uncover the reasons behind the high attrition rate in the company. Established in 2005, SI is a design centre - a skill-intensive core business unit that directly impacts the parent company's competitiveness as a supplier to the end-user industry. India's low-cost and abundant talent was expected to add to the design centre's competitiveness but SI's high attrition rate proved otherwise and had started eroding its competitiveness and revenue. Daw must identify the turnover drivers and analyse how the company's HR policies influenced these drivers. Besides adopting a data-driven approach to diagnose the attrition drivers, Daw needs to examine assumptions held by various stakeholders. The case on Daw's hand requires finding a proxy metric for performance and then connect that performance metric with turnover, developing hypotheses, collecting requisite data and making insightful recommendations. This case documents a real-life analytics project in a semiconductor company that was later bought over by another company. The name Semicon India is used to disguise the identity of the original company. The project was helmed by the author Dr Fermin Diez, who was then its Regional Chief HR Officer.

Erste Group ("Erste"), one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe, faced a rapidly changing business environment in 2019: fintech startups were unbundling retail banking services as consumers' expectations for service in the digital age were evolving-and increasing. Yet, on the 200th anniversary of its inception as the first Austrian savings bank, Erste had overcome a number of strategic, leadership and spatial challenges. In response to the rise of digital banking, Erste created George, a digital platform; grew an omnichannel offering; and developed a strategy based on being a trusted provider of financial literacy, thereby enabling customers' financial health. The creation and growth of George gave rise to organizational challenges: to support the business strategy, Erste's digital innovation lab, Erste Hub, was located in a separate organization, away from Erste's other Viennese properties. The dispersal of Erste's operations throughout 28 inner-city locations in Vienna created major organizational and logistical challenges for the bank as it grew, making the search for a suitable physical solution an imperative-for decades. The development of a consolidated facility for Erste was kindled by the purchase of an unusually large parcel of land in 2007, and culminated in the staged occupancy of an innovative new campus in 2016. In 2019, Erste celebrated a momentous anniversary and executives and employees reflected on the multi-faceted impacts of the spatial consolidation of the group's local operations, including Erste Hub. Throughout this time period, Erste implemented fundamental changes within the organization. In parallel, leaders looked to the physical configuration of the new campus to impact how teams completed their work and, ultimately, boost the ability of the members of the organization to deliver on the new goals of innovation at Erste.

Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), a leading bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), needs to decide whether to enter the soon-to-be-liberalized insurance industry. Since its founding in 2004, TMB has played a pivotal role in reshaping the DRC banking landscape by focusing on retail customers and thus promoting financial inclusion in the DRC. In 2018, the Congolese government decided to open up the insurance industry, formerly a state-owned and mismanaged monopoly. TMB is considering applying for the newly available insurance licenses as the bank is well-positioned to capitalize on its existing banking infrastructure to begin selling insurance. The bank's leadership team is assessing the opportunities and challenges with such a move. What is required of TMB to make this move a success? How will TMB's customers react? How should the bank grow in an increasingly competitive environment?

UrbanClap is a marketplace for on-demand services available through a smartphone app. It was established in October 2014 to bring the unorganised sector workforce into the mainstream using the power of technology. Initially, UrbanClap-developed as a horizontal marketplace-faced intense competition from existing and new players operating in the hyperlocal service space. It competed in the on-demand service marketplace by categorising its services into a lead-generation business (connecting the customer with the service provider and charging a fee for matchmaking) and a fulfilment business (taking end-to-end responsibility for service delivery quality). After three and a half years of operations, UrbanClap's co-founders wondered whether they should close the lead-generation business and focus on the fulfilment business.

On November 14, 2017, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (Aurora) made a proposal to CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (CanniMed) to acquire all of CanniMed's issued and outstanding common shares in a share exchange that valued CanniMed's common shares at a premium of almost 30 per cent over the previous day's share price. In its proposal, Aurora requested a response from CanniMed's board of directors by November 17, 2018, in the absence of which it intended to launch a formal, hostile takeover bid. Instead of responding to Aurora's offer, CanniMed's board of directors issued a news release advising shareholders to take no action regarding Aurora's bid and announcing that CanniMed had entered into an agreement to wholly acquire Newstrike Resources Inc. (Newstrike). As a result, Aurora took its bid directly to CanniMed shareholders, with a condition that CanniMed terminate the proposed Newstrike acquisition. Now CanniMed investors had to carefully consider their alternatives: should they tender their shares to Aurora's bid, or should they hold on to their shares according to the CanniMed board's recommendation and then decide whether to vote in favour of the Newstrike transaction?

Diana Uribe was a successful cultural personality in her native Colombia, best known for her national radio show about world history. Since 2000, the show had aired every Sunday on Caracol Radio, Colombia's most popular news radio station. On October 9, 2018, Caracol Radio announced to Uribe the unilateral termination of her contract, effective in one week. Uribe felt pressured to act. She knew that her future work opportunities would depend on her ability to remain visible and popular with a diverse audience. The unexpected termination prompted Uribe to think of alternative options to continue to communicate with her audience and ensure continuity for her team. Was the time ripe to move to podcasts?

This compact case describes an incident between an aspiring manager and an employee, related to an interpretation of expected engagement of the latter in a planned Agile Boot Camp-an event designed to bolster the transfer of the organization towards new ways of working. Alexander, the main case protagonist, overhears Victor, his employee, say that he will take only a passive part in the event since it is classified by Human Resources (HR) as training, and not as a workshop, in terms of how working time for such an activity is accounted for. Alexander, for whom the Boot Camp is very important, feels the urge to engage in the conversation (which he does in part B of the case).

Big corporations have structured processes and frameworks for strategic projects review, and professionals are well trained and versed on developing detailed project plans. But, the execution discipline is frequently overlooked or completely neglected, which results in staggering project failures, even when they are strategic to the business in a fast-changing environment, and even when it has the appropriate sponsorship from the senior management. This case study is based on the events and outcomes of one such project, MyCHC, driven by Merck in China. It demonstrates the benefits of a structured framework to secure a successful strategic project execution. MyCHC was a key strategic digital transformation project to develop a digital platform to support physicians and patients make informed decisions for diagnosis and treatment of diseases and to diminish the transactional friction to set appointments and follow-up. Although the project was solving both patients and physicians' problems and had strong support from the senior management it ended up discontinued and was eventually merged into another project. The framework for smart execution from Gilbert et al. 2008 was utilized to analyse the case to better understand what went wrong during the execution of the project that was set for success with the appropriate focus, scope and sponsorship. An application of the framework highlights the need to secure the best team, a better rehearsal of the execution to identify risks and potential roadblocks, more investment to inspire and engage the team members and key stakeholders, and to follow through and keep the team energized, which were the missing elements that led the project to be folded eventually. The case demonstrates not only the importance of a structured approach to secure the success of a strategic project in a complex internal and external environment, but also the challenges to bring about a key digital transformation in an industry incumbent.

In 2019, a small investor was reviewing her portfolio mix, which included quick-service restaurants. During her research, she learned of new-product launches by two companies: Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. Both companies produced plant-based products that simulated meat, and both were distributing their products not only in grocery stores but also in quick-service restaurants. Both also used innovative marketing, such as insisting that their products be placed in the meat aisle and not in a separate aisle for plant-based food. The companies suggested their products were better for animals, human health, and the environment than animal-based meat, but faced pushback and regulation. Would plant-based meat be a good investment?

In December 2018, the procurement director at Bombardier Aerostructures (Bombardier) was tasked with deciding whether to support the manufacturing department's proposal to expand capacity in order to produce the front substructure for the A220 aircraft in house or to instead propose that Bombardier outsource the production of this critical assembly. Demand had been growing steadily for the A220. Engineers had determined that expanding the current production capacity at Bombardier's headquarters in Montreal, Canada, was the least capital-intensive solution. However, the front substructure was a prime candidate for outsourcing, and the procurement director wanted to be sure she had considered all options before she made a final recommendation to the senior management team in two weeks.

In late 2018, a female entrepreneur, the founder and chief executive officer of Candi&Co, South Africa's first ethnic hair salon franchise faced a dilemma. After launching in 2014, Candi&Co had quickly expanded to five locations. The founder's priority was to continue to grow the business; however, she had been approached about selling her business to South Africa's Long4Life investment group, which was acquiring the Sorbet Group's companies, including Candi&Co. The entrepreneur had set out to change the way consumers felt about their hair, to offer a service they did not believe they deserved, to professionalize an industry, to empower stylists, and to grow the industry in a sustainable manner. Would selling to Long4Life allow her vision to materialize faster than she could do it on her own? Or would she need to break away from the Sorbet Group and continue building her vision alone?

In 2016, the chair of McMaster Family Health Team faced challenges related to differences in operational culture that had emerged at its two clinic sites-Stonechurch Family Health Centre and McMaster Family Practice. The two sites, which had operated independently with relative autonomy for over 30 years, were merged in 2015, in response to a government initiative, a new funding model intended to increase access to primary health care for all Ontarians. The original goal was to operate the two sites under one model, one set of standard operating procedures, and one common governance framework. Over time, however, two distinct team operating cultures evolved organically at the two sites. The identity of both sites was consistent, but they differed in functionality. The chair's goal was to continue growing the clinics, but he needed to decide how best to proceed. Should he allow the two sites to continue operating with different functional cultures, and possibly allow other future sites to also organically develop their own identities and cultures? Or should he proactively influence a standardization plan?

Devoted Health aimed to build the next-generation Medicare Advantage health insurance plan, taking advantage of tech solutions to ensure cost containment for the company's bottom line- and a high-quality health care plan that treated members like family. The technology platform would be critical to coordinate the logistics of patient-centered care, identify and recruit the highest-quality providers, and keep a tight control on operating and administrative costs. The case discusses the cost calculations and competitive landscape in the fast-moving Medicare Advantage market, where start-ups and big insurers were jostling to provide America's seniors with health plan options beyond the basic Medicare coverage. This type of plan covered one-third of Medicare beneficiaries in 2019, and this figure was projected to grow to 42 percent by 2028. To generate profits, Medicare Advantage companies focused on high-touch patient care to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital. In Devoted's operating model, high-tech efforts and predictive modeling would also be key to its successful expansion to new markets.

The case explores the strategic decision of global non-profit startup accelerator MassChallenge on whether to pursue a for-profit spinoff, discussing: (1) the costs and benefits of this decision, (2) how best to manage the risks of the decision, and (3) alternative pathways to ensure business sustainability and success.

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and unprecedented supply and demand disruptions crippled the economy. In response, central banks announced massive lending programs to avoid a financial meltdown, and governments were launching unprecedented fiscal packages designed to contain the collapse. In a matter of weeks, the pandemic turned into one of the worst global economic crises since the Great Depression. As governments struggled to make policy decisions, uncertainty and tensions were rising. How to balance the public health and economic concerns? What would be the economic and political consequences of the policy response? Was this the end of globalization, or the beginning of a new era of international cooperation? The only certainty was that some of the hardest choices still lay ahead.