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Edward Jones, a wealth management advisory from that prided itself on its interpersonal connections and face-to-face interactions, was eager to augment their services with AI capabilities. Built on 1-to-1 close-knit relationships, the firm had more than 15,000 offices conveniently located across the U.S. and Canada. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Edward Jones' Managing Partner, Penny Pennington, believed their human-centric approach could be enhanced to better serve their clients by leveraging historical client and calling data to improve the client experience and the customization of advice. In particular, AI's ability to integrate all records of past advisor experiences could deliver hyper-personalized insights and financial solutions. Still, Pennington wondered if Edward Jones was deviating too far from its differentiated approached of person-to-person connections. Considering Edward Jones' original business approach, how might digitization and AI transform their competitive advantage? Was there a proper balance between the use of AI and human connection? How would Pennington ensure that the AI-generated expertise would properly represent and attest to each client's specific needs?

This case focuses on the evolution of the hotel industry (red ocean and blue ocean perspectives) and the strategic and innovative creation of a leading boutique hotel brand - W Hotels. Emerging at a time when the industry was relatively stagnant, W Hotels stood out from conventional luxury competitors thanks to novel positioning and value innovation. Case (A) describes the origins and growth of the hotel industry, the standards used (star ratings) to assess properties at the luxury end of the market and other segments, and the competitive landscape in the late 1990s. Case (B) zooms in on W Hotels and its value innovation. Instructors can use the cases as the basis of group exercises, and to discuss other examples of value innovation in the hospitality industry, such as the citizenM and hotelFI brands.

This case explores the downfall of a century-old family-owned and managed firm in Taiwan called Tatung. It follows its history from a construction company firm with large land holdings in Northern Taiwan to one of the most well-known makers of electronic appliances. The founder, Shang-Zhi Lin, was a visionary, and from the end of WW1 to the end of WW2 built a solid manufacturing company and established an educational institute to train the company's engineers. His son, TS Lin, transformed Tatung during the post-WW2 boom into a conglomerate, helping forge Taiwan as an economic powerhouse. It was one of the first Taiwanese companies to be listed on the stock exchange. However, Tatung's fortunes dimmed in the third generation as corruption went unchecked, leading to disgrace and the company's demise.

In 2012, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe) announced that moving forward, its product releases would be available only through the cloud and a subscription model. In 2024, many software companies are pivoting to subscription models for several reasons, including faster time to customer value, seamless onboarding, and flexible pricing. But in 2012, the industry was quite skeptical of this model. This case describes the important decisions that Adobe made between 2012 and 2024. Adobe is now looking at the next step of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into its product offerings.

Jugalbandi is an AI-driven platform developed by OpenNyAI, aimed at enhancing access to legal information and government services in India. This innovative platform integrates large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT with language translation models (LTMs) from Bhashini, creating a seamless conversational AI interface. OpenNyAI, initiated by Agami, leverages AI to address societal challenges, particularly within the legal domain. Jugalbandi was conceived to mitigate the extensive backlog of pending legal cases in India by making legal information more accessible and comprehensible to all, especially in local languages. The platform has gained significant recognition, including being highlighted by Satya Nadella during Microsoft Build 2023, and has been instrumental in delivering critical information through popular messaging apps. Despite its success, Jugalbandi faces several strategic challenges that need to be addressed to ensure its scalability and sustainability. One major dilemma is balancing ecosystem development with technological dependencies on external AI models like ChatGPT and Bhashini. Ensuring the platform remains up-to-date and effective while relying on these foundational technologies is critical. Another significant dilemma is choosing between maintaining an open-source model, which aligns with the mission of creating digital public goods (DPGs), and transitioning to a for-profit model to ensure financial sustainability and growth. Additionally, the team must decide between vertical diversification, adding more core features to enhance existing applications, and horizontal diversification, expanding to new use cases across different domains. Each approach has implications for resource allocation, community engagement, and technological development. Addressing these dilemmas is crucial for the long-term success and impact of Jugalbandi.

The case describes the current state of the Indian textile (inclusive of apparel) value chain from a circular economy perspective. Looking through the lens of a small startup named Saahas Zero Waste (SZW), the case explores different waste streams in India, the current waste treatment activities, and the challenges in adding waste back into the value chain. Globally, textile is one of the most polluting industries; the rise of fast fashion has worsened the situation over the years. The complexity of the reverse supply chain, quality concerns in recycled materials, and lack of traceability and accountability for different types of waste make it challenging to ensure a closed-loop supply chain. SZW mostly looked at post-consumer textile waste and focused on ensuring both environmental sustainability by diverting waste from landfills and social sustainability by providing training and livelihood for women self-help groups (SHGs). Traditionally, brands were not even ready to take responsibility for their pre-consumer waste, let alone post-consumer waste. The scenario had started changing, thanks to the regulatory landscape in western countries. India being an important sourcing hub for global textile brands, many domestic garment manufacturers started investing in recycled yarn production. While continuing its operation in post-consumer waste, SZW was also eager to partner with brands to complete the cycle by facilitating responsible treatment of both pre-and post-consumer waste and seamlessly reintegrating it back into the value chain. Over the years, the volume of collected waste increased, and SZW started facing multi-faced challenges. Their in-house thrift shop was not ready to handle a higher volume of good quality reusable clothes and upcycled products; it needed proper marketing channels and selling platforms. On the flip side, the volume of recyclable waste was not high enough to achieve economies of scale and be cost-effective.

The case presents Independiente del Valle Specialized High-Performance Club, an Ecuadorian sports club focused on soccer. It competed in the third division until 2007 when a group of businessmen led by Michel Deller assumed ownership. Since then, the club has offered housing, meals, and education to children aged 13 and older in its Specialized High-Performance Center in Quito, where they learn the fundamentals of soccer and refine their skills. Applying this holistic approach to player development, the team has been the leading contributor since 2012 to all of Ecuador's youth teams and the national squad. Additionally, the club rapidly became the second-most laureated Ecuadorian team internationally with three regional trophies. The club's ability to attract, nurture, and develop talent caught the attention of international teams looking for rising stars and generated a consistent revenue flow through transfer fees. To ensure model sustainability, the Board of Directors decided never to include this income in the annual budget of the first division team to avoid short-sighted decisions that could consume the income in a few years. This commitment would be tested as Independiente increasingly competed with clubs with higher fan bases and historic sponsorship appeal, making it hard to cover the first-division team expenses through matchday income, sponsorships, and broadcasting rights. The case allows students to compare different business models in the global soccer industry and the challenges presented by a strategy for developing top football players.

The newly appointed CEO of Highstreet Properties has doubts about several members of the top team she has inherited. She's trying to drive a turnaround, the company has a complicated matrix structure, and some team members seem opposed to her strategy. She's debating replacing several of them, but she's worried about making too many changes too quickly, upsetting her board, and bringing in too many former colleagues.

The newly appointed CEO of Highstreet Properties has doubts about several members of the top team she has inherited. She's trying to drive a turnaround, the company has a complicated matrix structure, and some team members seem opposed to her strategy. She's debating replacing several of them, but she's worried about making too many changes too quickly, upsetting her board, and bringing in too many former colleagues.

The newly appointed CEO of Highstreet Properties has doubts about several members of the top team she has inherited. She's trying to drive a turnaround, the company has a complicated matrix structure, and some team members seem opposed to her strategy. She's debating replacing several of them, but she's worried about making too many changes too quickly, upsetting her board, and bringing in too many former colleagues.

Eugenia Kuyda launched Replika AI in 2017 as an empathetic digital companion to combat loneliness and provide emotional support. The platform surged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering non-judgmental support to isolated users. By 2023, Replika boasted 10 million users, with 40% engaging in romantic partnerships with their Replikas. Kuyda's strategy of prioritizing users' emotional well-being over engagement metrics was successful: 85% users reported improved mood post-interaction. However, as users ventured into more intimate conversations with the AI, Kuyda faced a pivotal decision: Should she restrict these exchanges or embrace them as the platform's natural evolution? This choice was complicated by the need to safeguard Replika's brand, prevent misuse, while satisfying its diverse user base. The case explores the ethical boundaries of AI-human relationships and the evolving role of AI in addressing loneliness. It is suitable for courses in technology, entrepreneurship, AI, and ethics.

After a personal journey and interest in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) by Bill Gates, Gates Ventures set out to find the best way to accelerate innovation in the field of AD. In partnership with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Gates Ventures created the Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) to fund innovations as a venture philanthropy fund. The AD field had seen rapid advances in therapeutics, and as such, large corporations were hesitant to take venture funding which meant potentially losing control and having other opinions on the Board. Instead, these companies were turning to other non-dilutive sources of funding. The DxA, and GV, sat at a crossroads and needed to determine where to go next to fulfill their mission.

Blockchain pioneer Stellar Development Foundation oversees one of the earliest and largest crypto networks (Stellar) and the management of its native token XLM. The foundation partnered with cross-border payments provider MoneyGram to help on and off-ramp cryptocurrencies between the Stellar Network and cash. In one case, the partnership enabled the United Nations to distribute funds to refugees.

Founded in 2014, SuperMonkey is an innovative gym brand that has disrupted the traditional gym membership model with its "pay-per-session, no annual memberships; professional coaches, no sales pitches" approach. Initially, SuperMonkey offered a unique fitness experience through shipping container gym pods before shifting its focus to group classes. SuperMonkey's gyms are lively group class spaces where clients can follow professional instructors, immersed in dynamic lighting and music. This transforms what could be a solitary and monotonous workout into an energetic and social event. By the end of 2022, SuperMonkey had attracted over 500,000 paying users and had opened or was planning nearly 200 stores in first-tier and emerging cities. However, as market competition intensifies, SuperMonkey faces new challenges, particularly regarding its pace of expansion. HILEFIT, a competitor established around the same time, had expanded to 1,300 locations by 2023. SuperMonkey must now carefully consider whether to maintain the quality of its fitness services to ensure customer satisfaction or accelerate the opening of new stores to capture a larger market share. This dilemma poses a significant test of their strategic decision-making skills.

The World Economic Forum and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company collaborated with academics to create the concept of lighthouse factories in 2018. The concept represents a vision for manufacturing in the digital age, in which cutting-edge digital technologies are designed and deployed to enable innovative manufacturing practices to be implemented at large scale. The concept has since become a global standard for digital manufacturing. For McKinsey & Company, and other consulting firms, this vision brings significant opportunities but also requires these organizations and their consultants to obtain an in-depth and nuanced understanding of lighthouse factories and the underlying business models, practices, technologies, and cases.

It was November 2022. Shruthi Reddy, Founder and Director of Anthyesti Funeral Services (hereinafter Anthyesti), sat in her Bengaluru office, reflecting on the past five years. Reddy had established Anthyesti in Kolkata, India, in 2017. The societal structure in India was deeply rooted in cultural traditions, which made it difficult for commercially run funeral services to be accepted. Reddy was among the few early entrants in this space. The flourishing start-up ecosystem in India was not open to the idea of investing in professionally run services for coordinating cremations and memorials or facilitating the logistics of funeral management. Thus, for a young woman entrepreneur with no business background, running a service in this space seemed unthinkable. Reddy began by bootstrapping her business with personal funds, and after demonstrating high growth within the first year, she expanded her services to six other cities in the next five years. However, she had to deal with several challenges over the years. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, other players entered the market and established themselves in the funeral management services domain. In light of the growing competition, Reddy considered her next move. How should she continue to grow and earn healthy margins that could attract investors? Should she differentiate her services or try to compete on efficiency and cost? What services or service bundles would offer the best opportunity for sustained growth?

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of critical results for priority patients. Aidoc's products detected over 75% of common acute pathologies visible on CT scans. The company had 20 algorithms used by over 900 global hospitals and had 17 FDA clearances-the highest number of any clinical AI company at the time. The company, which had initially produced point solutions, had evolved to manage a multisided network platform that hosted its own as well as its partners' algorithms. Aidoc had a rich history of producing highly accurate AI products, but partnership allowed it to bring more innovative products to market. The company needed to determine how to continue to grow. Should it focus more on developing highly technical AI health care solutions or on developing and managing a platform to bring other company's products to its growing customer base?

Hwa Gung Tea (HGT), a premium tea brand founded in Taiwan, has a rich history dating back to 1918. For many decades, the family business has been producing and distributing alpine Oolong tea cultivated at above 2,000 metres on the famous tea-producing Lishan mountains. Having transitioned through four generations, HGT's unique value proposition was an end-to-end value chain integrator from tea cultivation, harvesting, production, and wholesale distribution to retail, including branding and marketing. Few tea companies in Taiwan managed the entire process chain as HGT did. Johnny Tu, the fifth-generation CEO, led HGT to become ISO 20000 and HACCP-certified, winning several domestic and international awards. Collaborations with prestigious names like China Airlines, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and Michelin-starred restaurants also enhanced the brand's visibility. Besides his efforts to grow HGT as a premium brand, Johnny also believed that HGT can lead in creating social impact. He worked assiduously with the indigenous people living in the Lishan mountains and offered them job opportunities, fostered their skill development, and encouraged them to take pride in their vocations. By doing so, he wished to keep the indigenous community together with economic activities and preserve the artisanship of tea cultivation in Taiwan. In 2024, after nearly 20 years of managing the family business, Johnny faced the challenge of expanding globally while preserving HGT's legacy. Balancing tradition and innovation, he experimented and created new flavours while engaging the younger generation through his lectures about tea. Confronted by regulatory hurdles, food safety scandals, counterfeit teas, and skills crunch in tea-making, he contemplated the future of the family business. How can Johnny navigate these complexities while leveraging his inherited intangible assets as a family business successor, tea-making master, and educator?

This case deals with the marketing and sales functions of an educational organisation. The case is set within the Executive Education department of the Nagopian School of Foreign Trade (NSFT), a hypothetical private university located in Southeast Asia. This group is tasked with running for-profit training programmes for would-be participants. The university president has instructed Rakesh Sharma, the newly appointed head of Executive Education to turn around the financial fortunes of the unit. However, he has also stated that he would not get any more promotional budget, nor headcount. NSFT offers three types of Executive Education Programmes: Public Short Programmes, Custom Programmes, and Diploma Programmes. The students are given some revenue and cost information from the past performance of the Executive Education unit and are expected to give recommendations for how to improve its financial performance. The case provides information on the sales force size, the number of hours it takes to sell a typical short course programme, the advertising expenditure for each type of programme (and the per programme expenditures for each individual short-programme, and the number of attendees of short programme offering). Sharma must make decisions about the product portfolio, sales force allocation, and promotional expenditures that will best impact his financial performance.