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How should ZEISS, the German manufacturer of precision optical and optoelectronic systems manage two historic businesses that operated fairly autonomously? The Industrial Quality Solutions (IQS) business sold measurement equipment to manufacturing companies in sectors like automotive and aerospace. The Research Microscopy Solutions (RMS) business sold into scientific research laboratories and industrial materials laboratories. The two units had many similar characteristics. Both served demanding customers in complex and competitive market segments, and the use of RMS microscopy products in materials research meant an increasing amount of cross-selling into IQS customers. Yet there were many differences in the sales processes, product development processes, and approaches to product and market planning. RMS and IQS had very different ways of working, and most team members would say that the organizational cultures and the customers were very different as well.

In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA '09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a young professional providing care for her mother, Jurist-Rosner spotted an opportunity, given the long-term demographic trends in the United States. As she raised capital, built out a technology platform and recruited a team of care coordinators, Wellthy's growth remained slow until she piloted a B2B product with the Hearst Company. Jurist-Rosner wondered whether Wellthy should fully pivot from B2C to B2B, how fast she should ramp up the recruitment of care coordinators, and as she looked to raise another round of capital, whether she should position Wellthy as a B Corporation delivering social impact alongside commercial returns.

In December 2019, Atabek Nazirov, head of Uzbekistan's capital market regulatory agency, prepared the release of Uzbekistan's capital market strategy. As Nazirov was getting ready to release the strategy, he reflected on the first year of his tenure and the steps ahead. Did he take the right actions to strengthen Uzbekistan's capital market? What additional features would the capital market need to build trust with both the citizens of Uzbekistan and international investors? How could he convince the critics within the administration that his focus on a market-based economy would serve Uzbekistan best? And how could he deliver quick results to retain the president's support?

An up-and-coming staffer at a small family foundation was considering whether to recommend a corporate bond investment to the foundation's investment committee. Her exploration was inspired by an article that identified some attractive corporate bond investments, and she was examining the merits of specific bond issues from Allegiant Travel, GameStop, and Western Union. Information is provided that would support a variety of bond pricing analyses, with a focus on uncovering possible mispricing and the drivers of that mispricing.

In 2014, the founder and chief executive officer of Beyond Meat, Ethan Brown, reflected on the question that had led him to start the company: "How difficult can it be to change what you eat for dinner?" The small start up based in Los Angeles, California, had faced considerable challenges in changing customer perceptions and attitudes since it was founded in 2009. Its intention was to address both health and environmental problems related to meat consumption by creating plant-based meat. The company had successfully developed plant-based meats that were similar in taste, texture, and composition to regular animal meat. However, Beyond Meat needed to change customer perceptions and behaviours to persuade US consumers to switch from animal- to plant-based protein. What strategies could Beyond Meat use to market its disruptive innovation and become a game changer in the meat industry? Should the company invest in aggressive research and development to make its product taste and feel more like real meat, or should it focus on marketing the product based on its nutritional, health, and environmental benefits? Should it target vegetarians or meat eaters, and what demographic changes should it consider?

In October 2017, the managing director at Ohtani Capital faced a critical decision-should the company divest its long-term investment in Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba)? Recent events surrounding Toshiba's disagreement with its auditor over how to best report the writedown of its US nuclear power unit (Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC) had negatively impacted the company's profitability and internal management, leading to the company's possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The managing director needed to decide if Toshiba could overcome its difficulties, improve its internal management, and return to profitability, which would then enable the company to secure the necessary emergency funding to survive.

The owner of Dunlop Livery Antiques in Dunlop, Ontario was considering a comprehensive marketing strategy with a focus on digital marketing. The industry was changing, popularity was wavering, sales were falling, and distribution channels were shifting. A new strategy was needed to increase revenue, profit, and brand awareness in the shrinking industry. Several placement choices were available, including selling online or at trade shows. A promotion plan also needed to be developed and implemented, which included advertising options such as Instagram and magazines. He needed to catch up with the competition in terms of promotion and distribution. With retirement looming, he had to make some tough choices-how could he promote and improve sales to ensure the future success of his antique business?

The Kamoriongo Poultry Co-operative consisted of 10 families who were involved in poultry farming in Nandi County, in the North Rift Valley of Kenya. The purpose of the co-operative was to pool savings to help individual families pay for tuition when their children came of age. Because of heavy rains during the region's rainy season, many of the co-operative's chickens were contracting waterborne illnesses that made them incapable of producing eggs. In order to keep up with demand from the wholesaler who bought from them once a week, the farmers had to find a way to keep their chickens healthy and to produce enough eggs to increase profits. In 2018, to combat this problem, the co-operative was considering purchasing either a new hen shelter or a commercial incubator. With a continuing decrease in egg production, the farmers needed to evaluate each alternative, determine how to finance these investments, and prepare both short- and long-term plans for sustaining their business.

In March 2019, entrepreneur Greg Pahl was contemplating the next steps for Medicine Hat Meat Traders; the past year was the company's best in terms of beef jerky sales. Should Pahl keep the business running at its current state while focusing on streamlining the operations to realize some additional profits? Should he consider a partial expansion that would allow for a potential increase in sales? Or should he build or lease a new facility that would allow production to be tailored for current use and future expansion while also adding new product lines? Was there another option that Pahl had not yet identified? What were the risks and benefits of each of the options, and how could they influence Pahl's decision?

In December 2019, Scoot, the low-cost carrier (LCC) launched by Singapore Airlines Limited in 2011, had successfully established itself in the Asian market, having flown over 65 million passengers to 68 destinations with a fleet of 48 aircraft. Scoot accounted for 14 percent of seat capacity in Singapore, and 43 percent of LCC capacity out of the country. In 2016, SIA fully acquired and integrated the local LCC Tigerair into Scoot. Scoot's growth, along with the integration of Tigerair, enabled SIA to compete for price-sensitive leisure travelers on short- and medium-haul routes, particularly within Asia, and premium passengers on medium- and long-haul routes. Scoot had been essential to building network connectivity within Asia and allowing SIA to compete effectively with competitors entering the market. Reflecting on Scoot's evolution from 2011 to 2019, Goh Choon Phong, CEO of Singapore Airlines Limited felt that the SIA Group had succeeded in fulfilling its strategic intent of being invested and a market leader in both the full-service and low-cost markets. He contemplated the opportunities and challenges ahead for SIA. Because Scoot operated many places where the full-service airline did not fly, Goh thought that SIA could gain tremendously by making connections between flights by Singapore Airlines, Scoot, and SilkAir-the airline's short-to-medium haul premium subsidiary-as seamless as possible. But there were challenges as well, since Scoot provided different service levels and had been established and run with a high level of autonomy. Goh explained, "There are different expectations between the full service and the LCC if there are any delays. But when you are connecting the two of them, how do you manage the expectations? These are all things that we are still learning. But we are determined, and we think it can be resolved. We are just right at the front of the learning curve."

Topgolf started with the simple concept that it was time to rethink the "joyless mud fields" of golf-and apply microchip technology to create new frontiers in the game. Topgolf Watford, the company's first facility, opened in 2000 northwest of central London. Topgolf differentiated itself from traditional driving ranges by offering covered bays, multiple screens, patios and cafés-in addition to new golf accuracy challenges based on scoring tied to technology, and a broader entertainment model.

In 2018, after nearly two decades of success in the highly competitive consumer electronics market of Singapore, Asian Home Electronics (AHE) Limited was once again searching for new frontiers to break through for its retail business. Having evolved from the traditional brick-and-mortar business model to omni-channel and to experiential retail, AHE, a household name consisting of five retail stores in the city-state, had set its eyes on retailing solutions for the smart home of the future. The vision of a smart home was beginning to come together as worldwide sales of smart devices reached an all-time high in 2016, and the industry was poised for even stronger growth in the next decade. However, the smart home concept had not been as pervasive as imagined several years ago. While it may appear exciting to many people, the wide array and the complications of operating smart home devices are also daunting to the average consumer. To bridge the gap between technology and consumers, retailers, such as AHE, are in the best position to demystify the complexity surrounding the smart home concept. To address the challenges that might confront a new entrant in the smart home market, AHE solicited ideas from consultancy companies through a call for proposals. Three shortlisted submissions presented a myriad of ideas in crafting a smart home retail concept, and AHE would need to carefully evaluate them based on two key criteria: first, how well did the consultant proposals present the smart home concept to consumers through the communication of multiple product inter-operability and overall retail store design? Secondly, what kind of recruitment and training would be effective in transitioning salespeople to become smart home advisors? This case study adopted the retailer's perspective to understand an omni-channel approach in selling smart home solutions.

In 2019, the chief executive officer of Carefirst Seniors & Community Services Association (Carefirst) was sitting in her modest office near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, looking back on 22 years of providing health care services to seniors and other clients in the Toronto area. Demand for its services had been growing steadily, as Canada's aging population continued to increase in numbers. The 2016 census reported that seniors outnumbered children for the first time in the survey's history. One in six Canadians was age 65 or older, and this age group was growing four times faster than the overall population. In addition, more than one in five Canadians lived with a chronic disease. With increasing financial difficulties for the Canadian government to meet the needs of its aging citizens, and with a diverse population reflecting Canada's comparatively open immigration policy, Carefirst was experiencing a changing external environment that demanded a swift pre-emptive response. A recent change in the provincial government had also led to a restructuring of the Ontario health care system. What would be its next strategic move, to ensure that it was better positioned for imminent changes?

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L'Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful company has a strong culture, but the leadership is largely elite-educated, French males, and made up of <i>bebe L'Oréal</i>, executives who have spent their entire careers at the company. Le Grand strongly believes that to uphold the company's mission of "Beauty for All," it needs top talent that reflects the diversity of the world itself. He is currently leading numerous initiatives to expand the ranks of the top leadership. How can Jean-Claude Le Grand preserve the best aspects of the company's distinctive, tight-knit culture while also ensuring that it is open and inclusive to a changing workforce?

The case opens in 2017 as Tim Murray, CEO of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), the largest single-site aluminum smelter in the world outside China and a major contributor to the Bahraini economy, was contemplating the recovery options as the company was facing the most severe crisis in its history. The case provides background on Alba and chronicles a transformation process implemented by Murray. The company had historically underperformed expectations. It developed a hierarchical, engineering oriented culture. The large workforce, made up of multiple nationalities, exhibited uneven levels of process compliance and personal accountability. Those deficiencies manifested themselves in many ways. Most damaging was a consistently poor record of workplace safety. Alba suffered from a high rate of on-the-job injuries and fatalities. Murray undertook to change the company culture, using safety as the linchpin of a campaign to instill a greater sense of discipline and personal responsibility across all levels of the organization. The case occurs against the backdrop of Alba's largest expansion project to date, which was planned to increase its production capacity by 50%. Just as Alba was reaping the benefits of Murray's campaign, a total blackout at Alba's facilities leads to an explosion that severely damaged its largest production line while Murray is on home leave. As the extent of the damage becomes apparent, the management team begins reverting to old behaviors. The case follows the subsequent series of events as Murray seeks to get control of the situation. Murray has to choose between two options for restoring production: outsourcing the recovery efforts to a credible third party at a very high cost or letting his team take on the task. As he contemplated his options, he dwelled on an overarching question-what was the best mechanism for restoring the damaged production line without undermining the culture he had invested so much in trying to create at Alba?

McDonald's reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales growth in early 2015. Despite McDonald's recent poor performance, Jonathon S. Jacobson, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management, had initiated a large position in McDonald's stock. Jacobson and his team believed that there was enormous upside in McDonald's stock if management successfully implemented what they perceived to be straightforward operational and financial changes. McDonald's needed to return to its core competencies of producing quick and reliable burgers and fries. In addition, they believed that financial restructuring could unlock sizable value for investors. Jacobson and his team debated whether to more forcefully articulate their vision for the company and began drafting a letter to Andrew McKenna, McDonald's Chairman.

The SF Ballet was regarded as one of the top ballet companies in the world. It had an enviable earned revenue percentage of almost 50% and had an internationally recognized ballet school. However, by 2019 the Ballet faced a number of challenges. Ballet was a European art form that had gained popularity in the U.S. a century ago, but the demographics of the U.S. no longer reflected those European roots. In San Francisco, the Ballet had been a favorite pastime of the older, monied set, but the city's demographics had changed over the last few decades as young Millennials had flocked to San Francisco to join the burgeoning tech industry. The Ballet struggled to attract younger audiences and found itself competing with digital alternatives for how people spent their leisure time. Moreover, to make changes in programming, accessibility, and the Opera House venue to appeal to younger audiences, the Ballet risked alienating its loyal, older donors, who were the lifeblood of the Ballet's revenue model. Kelly Tweeddale, the newly hired Executive Director, had to consider the interests of various stakeholders--dancers, donors, audience, staff, board, and the local community--which often were at odds with one another. With limited resources, the Ballet needed to choose which changes to tackle first and those decisions were tied to how the organization prioritized its various constituents.

In October 2018, the owner of Sam's Pizzeria (Sam's) in Orillia, Ontario, needed to determine how he should staff his business to keep up with an increase in demand on Halloween. Halloween had often been a source of frustration, as Sam's struggled to keep up with demand on that day. Providing customers with good-quality pizza and fast delivery was critical to Sam's success. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the past, the owner knew that he would need a better plan to staff his pizzeria if Halloween were to be any different this year.

In late May 2018, Grant Sparling, chief development officer at Cowbell Brewing Co. (Cowbell), a high-growth destination brewery located in rural Blyth, Ontario, was considering the company's long-term growth strategy. Whereas most craft breweries started in leased commercial space, Cowbell opened its doors in the summer of 2017 with a state-of-the-art brewing facility, packaging operation, bar, and restaurant, all housed in an iconic barn-style building on land owned by the Sparling family. Sparling was considering a range of expansion projects, including increasing Cowbell's brewing capacity, launching a working farm concept, building a 15,000-capacity event venue, offering a bus shuttle service to and from London, constructing an on-premises hotel or inn, and opening a second restaurant location, possibly in Toronto. But how should he decide on the next offering to fuel Cowbell's growth and expansion?

From its humble beginnings as a start-up in China's Jinjiang County in 1989, Joeone Company Ltd. (Joeone) had grown to become the country's best-selling producer of men's pants. Over the past three decades, the company's founder and chairperson had faced several substantive turning points, including a quality crisis, a period of mediocre growth, and the need to enhance the sophistication of the company's management approach. These turning points led to continuous business model innovation through the three stages of creation, sustaining innovation, and efficiency. By June 2019, the company was doing very well: an initial investment of ¥720,000 had built a company with sales of ¥500 million by the end of 2003, and the company had been publicly traded since its initial public offering in 2011. Clothes from Joeone's three brand platforms were sold via direct sales channels in key cities and through major online shopping channels. However, the founder was still grappling with questions of how to align the company's strategy to ensure its long-term success. Against the backdrop of pressures to further increase efficiency, expand the business (potentially internationally), and respond to changes in the larger competitive and political environment, how could the company sustain its competitive advantage and further improve its operational efficiency and flexibility? What lessons from the past 30 years could be applied to the company's next 30 years of growth?