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A management science professor had an unpleasant experience with a hotel she stayed at in New York City. Consequently, she wanted to figure out if hotel ratings were enough to recommend a hotel, or if customers' text reviews could be used as more important and accurate indicators of customers' hotel experiences. The exercise serves as an introduction to the topic of text analytics-specifically, sentiment analysis-and introduces the concept of text mining and the importance of dealing with unstructured datasets. Much of the exercise focuses on the method and rationale behind document indexing and the subsequent weighting of the indexed terms through term frequency-inverse document frequency. Textual data from customers' hotel reviews are provided to apply the text mining techniques and to provide insight for a better decision-making process that would help the professor in her next hotel booking.

In March 2018, Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM) was an unlikely high-growth company. From its humble origins as a collaborative experiment to create efficiencies for the education sector-an experiment that had lost money and had to be financially supported by the government-the organization had adopted the culture of a high-growth start-up. OECM facilitated the procurement by universities, colleges, and school boards of everything from pencils to computers. By pooling orders, OECM was able to provide better prices from suppliers, thereby saving taxpayer dollars. OECM aimed to become "the Amazon of education sector" procurement. The total education sector procurement market in Ontario was CA$4 billion. OECM currently facilitated CA$255 million in transactions, but it was looking to control CA$2 billion of the market. Having become profitable under the leadership of a new chief executive officer, and newly independent of government support, OECM's management was now challenged to continue to transform the organization's public-sector culture in order to achieve high growth. What strategy should OECM use to achieve its aggressive growth targets? How should OECM scale up?

PowerChina was an integrated construction group that provided investment and financing, planning design, engineering construction, equipment manufacturing and operations management for hydraulic and hydropower projects and infrastructure. According to the company's data, PowerChina had over 50 per cent of the medium- and large-sized flood mitigation and water supply reservoir construction market worldwide. The aim of the company was to build a world-class comprehensive construction investment group that was globally competitive and of high quality and efficiency. However, the integration of international business and localization in certain markets combined with international and domestic development meant that PowerChina needed to remain cautious and vigilant. PowerChina's managers were confident with the prospect of its international expansion to accelerate the company's growth rate, but it was still necessary for them to seriously consider the strategy they should choose in the next phase of their internationalization, and how to upgrade their risk management system in these changing times.

In 2016, the founder and managing director of Smaart Home Furniture, a furniture manufacturer in southern India, faced a dilemma. Although the business remained profitable, it was facing stiff competition from local players, branded and non-branded players, and online retail stores. The founder and managing director was considering extending his manufacturing business by also offering sofa servicing, which would require changes in the company's production, organization, and management. It would also require a rethinking of the firm's approach and interaction with its consumers. Should he start offering services? If so, should sofa servicing be launched as a separate entity or as part of the offerings of the existing manufacturing unit?

Mark Seidman at the Federal Trade Commission is evaluating a proposed merger between two health care entities and competing market leaders in southwest Virginia. The rural region is characterized by poverty, unemployment, and poor population health indicators relative to the rest of the state. The merger would form a virtual monopoly, normally prohibited by federal consumer protection laws, but the two companies assert that it would allow them to remain profitable and to continue to offer health care services in the region. In the B case, Marissa Levine, the Virginia Commissioner of Health, considers reports for and against the merger as she decides whether to issue a waiver to allow it. The optional C case describes the consequences of these decisions. The case set includes excerpts from public filings, which provide rich insight into the reasoning behind each entity's opinion. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

This case describes how Ali Sabancı and his sister Emine Sabancı Kamışlı, shareholders of Esas Group, one of Turkey's largest family-owned investment firms, worked to grow and professionalize the business. While their father Şevket Sabancı, played an instrumental role in launching the group in 2000, he soon stepped back and let his children drive the business forward. In 2009, the first of the third generation of family members entered the business, prompting Ali and Emine to start putting formal processes in place for the onboarding and integration of the next generation. By 2019, the family office had several billion dollars of assets under management, diversified across various asset classes, both inside and outside Turkey. Emine's two sons had recently entered the business. Ali and Emine's biggest priority was establishing strong governance for the family office. They were taking several steps to professionalize the group and bring in more nonfamily members. Ali and Emine recognized that these actions would mean relinquishing certain privileges and freedom, somewhat shifting from their underlying ethos, which focused on protecting shareholders' individual rights. Shareholders had been offered liquidity and treated like customers, having the option to invest elsewhere if they so desired. To date, the family members had kept their capital within the group. Would this continue to be the case in the future? How could they keep the family together and make sure everyone was financially satisfied? How could they ensure to continue growing the net worth of their assets?

In January 2016, the three partners of CampusHash Technologies LLP (CampusHash), an Indian start-up focused on conducting software training programs, had to make some pressing strategic decisions. CampusHash's revenues had not grown as expected and the partners had to decide whether to continue with the existing business model or choose to pivot. While pivoting could potentially lead to a significant improvement in CampusHash's performance, it could also lead to wide-spread organizational change and disruption, risking the survival of the start-up. Despite their constrained resources, the partners had to decide whether to pivot or not in the next two weeks, when they would present a business plan to angel investors to raise much-required funding.

The international demand for rhinoceros (rhino) horns was driving the species to near extinction. But an international ban on trading the horns made it lucrative to illegally kill rhinos for their horns, which were traded on the black market. One hotly debated idea to curb rhino poaching was to legalize the trade of farmed rhino horns, which could be sustainably obtained without killing the animal. The founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of a non-governmental organization (NGO), Helping Rhinos, opposed legalizing the trade of rhino horns, as had other NGOs. He wondered, though, whether he and his organization should reconsider that position. Legalizing the sale of sustainable rhino horns could counter the black-market demand and protect the remaining, endangered rhinos. At the next board meeting, the founder and CEO needed to recommend whether the organization should continue to oppose legalization or change its approach and advocate for multi-nation legalization. But first he needed to consider the perspectives of the various stakeholders and which decision would be in the best interest of the rhinos. How should he and the NGO proceed?

From 2009 to 2015 was a crucial expansion period for Gastón Acurio and the holding company Acurio Restaurantes under which he combined the creation and day-to-day operations of his Peruvian restaurant empire. The case gives an overview of Peruvian cuisine and of how Gastón, starting from a single restaurant, built a food empire. Between 1994, when he founded his first restaurant Astrid y Gastón in Lima, and 2005 Gastón Acurio quietly established himself as a star chef and a leader in the international culinary scene. He also gained experience not only running a restaurant but also establishing a local supply chain and working with producers and suppliers. In 2005, Acurio Restaurantes began expanding internationally - first in Latin America and then overseas, creating different restaurant concepts for different customer segments and dining experiences. The case describes the challenges associated with expanding to new markets each with its own culinary specificities and practices, the need for local partners, and the financial aspects of an aggressive expansion strategy. Gastón Acurio is the central figure, with his quest to replicate for Peruvian cuisine the global expansion that Italian cuisine had enjoyed a few decades earlier. His strong values and leadership style contributed significantly to the success of the past 10 years. After stepping back from running his flagship Astrid y Gastón in Lima, how could he continue to realize his vision for Peruvian cuisine and facilitate access to the world markets for Peru's farmers and manufacturers?.

This case examines the competition between ports and port operators in the Pearl River Delta over the last four decades. The cities surrounding the Pearl River estuary are the "workshop of the world," and the development of manufacturing in the region was heavily dependent on efficient container shipping. As China has opened up and drawn more direct trade traffic to Shenzhen and Guangzhou ports, the operators in Hong Kong have had to adapt. More change is afoot, and Hong Kong may have to reinvent itself again.

In August 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The first major storm of protest followed the surprise election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016; many put the blame at the door of fake news stories served up on Facebook's Trending News Feed. Zuckerberg dismissed these claims as "crazy," asserting that Facebook was a technology company, not a media company. In 2017, it was revealed that a Russian intelligence team had purchased 3,000 political ads on Facebook in an attempt to influence the 2016 US Presidential Election. Then, in March 2018, the public learned that Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, had used 87 million Facebook profiles obtained from scraping the site to affect the election. As a result, Zuckerberg was called to Congress to testify. In early 2019, Facebook announced the company was to merge its Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms and share data, but that this data would be more secure. The claim was greeted with much skepticism. To explain the move, Zuckerberg published a blog post, changing the company's mission from making the world more open to achieving privacy-focused communications on its platform. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to struggle with fake news while expanding its service offering. In June 2019, it announced it was to launch Libra, a new global cryptocurrency for its 2.5 billion users around the world. There was little doubt of the scale of Zuckerberg's ambitions.

This case describes the accounting fraud at Tesco Stores Limited (TSL), which was discovered by a senior accountant in TSL's finance department. The accountant was concerned about TSL's handling of commercial income, which, according to the accountant, overstated Tesco's profit by an estimated £246 million. Beyond the accounting issue, the case describes Tesco's organizational and cultural shortcoming causing this problem, how Tesco's new CEO Dave Lewis responded to the allegations, and how the court held the Tesco accountable for its fraudulent accounting. In September 2014, Amit Soni, a senior accountant in Tesco Stores Limited's (TSL) finance department filed a report with Tesco's legal team. Soni was concerned about TSL's handling of commercial income. According to the accountant's allegations, TSL employees had been inflating commercial income to meet the division's financial targets, causing Tesco's projected trading profit for the six months ended August 23, 2014 to be overstated by an estimated £246 million. Tesco's legal team had quickly referred the issue to CEO Dave Lewis, who had started in the role just a few weeks earlier, on September 1. Lewis had to decide how to respond to these allegations. Did the allegations have merit and what are the causes for the accounting violations? Should managers be removed if Tesco determined that the allegations had merit? What were the legal consequences for Tesco and how should Tesco's organizational structure and culture evolve?

Apache Corporation had survived and excelled more than 50 years in one of the world's most challenging industries, the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. And it had done so in its own way, with a unique set of skills that allowed it to be one of the industry's lowest cost producers. But in 2019 its fortunes were clearly on the decline. Following the 2008 financial crisis most of the major oil and gas firms enjoyed an extended period of growth and profitability. But not Apache. The company's financial results and share price had been sliding for years. Beginning in 2015 the company undertook a change in direction, exiting most of its major international projects to focus on U.S. operations, specifically the Permian Basin. A major discovery in the Permian of West Texas in 2016, Alpine High, was expected to be the turning point. But three years later the company's performance continued to slide. Investors wanted to know what was next.

The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.

The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.

The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.

Despite its overall prosperity and booming economy, King County in Washington state faced persistent inequities in poverty, homelessness, and unemployment based on race and place. This case covers the period 2014 to 2019, during which the county developed and implemented new equity- and outcome-driven approaches to address these problems. Starting in 2014, the county began shifting its orientation and operations to focus more on preventive social service programs. The county shifted from a traditional procurement model for social services, in which it assessed contract service providers' performance at the end of a contract, to "active contract management," in which the county worked closely with service providers throughout the contract period to achieve specific outcomes that both parties agreed upon in advance. Renewal of a provider's contract depended on whether the service provider met those outcomes. The case highlights how public organizations, such as county governments, develop and implement innovations. This process includes leadership and operational risks; creating theories of change; evaluating outcomes; effective use of data; relationships with outside organizations like service contractors; and resource requirements and constraints. The county's first and flagship innovative initiative was Best Starts for Kids (BSK), a comprehensive suite of programs that focused on early childhood and youth development. In 2016, the county funded BSK via a $65 million annual voter-approved tax levy. The first BSK initiative, launched in 2017, was the Youth and Family Homelessness Prevention Initiative (YFHPI). It was novel because the county was contracting with 25 smaller community organizations to reach communities with persistent rates of poverty and higher likelihoods of entering homelessness. The case, set in 2019, details the opportunities, successes, and challenges of both YFHPI and the county's cultural and operational shifts so far.

This case exposes students to franchising and the pros and cons of becoming a franchisee entrepreneur. The context of the case is a franchise in the casual dining industry segment (a hybrid between fast food and fine dining). A couple has opened two franchisee stores of the Trio Burger chain. The case covers their story, how they ultimately decided to acquire their own Trio Burger franchise, the pains they faced in opening their first store, and finally, challenges for opening their second store. The case then transitions to the decision they would later face - to sell the two stores they had developed to an interested party or to continue operating them and open more stores down the road.

In 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. (Laureate) was the largest for-profit post-secondary education company in the world, with almost one million students enrolled in more than 50 institutions across 20+ countries. During that year, this multinational corporation (MNC) was considering modifying its legal status to become a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) in Delaware (U.S.) and completing the certification process to become a certified benefit corporation (B Corp). They had also decided to file an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO was planned for late 2015, so Laureate could potentially become the largest PBC and the first one to go public in the world. The case presents Laureate's founder and CEO, Doug Becker, in late 2014, evaluating the long-term value of the B Corp certification. To evaluate the decision, students must first understand what the B Corp certification and PBC legal status are and assess if they are helping the organization to fulfill its mission and to manage stakeholders' interests within the context of soon to be a publicly traded company. To do so, the case describes Becker's entrepreneurial background, Laureate's history, and critical developments up to 2014. The case highlights key points in the evolution of the for-profit higher education industry from the late nineties through 2014, as well as an introduction to the B Corp certification and its B Impact Assessment (BIA). The case also clarifies the difference between the B Corp certification and the legal statute of the same name adopted in 27 states by the end of 2014.