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I@NS was intended to mimic the experience of founding a start-up, getting it funded, building a product, and taking it to market, with all the potential risk and reward this entailed. Except, of course, this particular start-up experience would occur within Nokia Corporation, a 150-year-old global company with 103,000 employees working in more than 100 countries-a company that described its mission as "creat[ing] the technology to connect the world." Given this rather unusual "start-up" environment, the creators of the program had no idea how it would all unfold. But, they went ahead and established it, evangelized it to Nokia Software employees around the world, judged the first round, and then launched a second round, which was still underway at the time this case was written. In the process of creating I@NS, its founders learned many important lessons about encouraging and supporting innovation and a start-up mentality within an established corporation. The case covers many elements of the design and implementation of an innovation program including: Strategic objectives of innovation processes; Defining success; Determining the scale and scope of new ventures; The staging of the innovation process; The gating and funding decision making process; The definition of the strategic objectives behind the innovation process; Communicating the process to the wide organization; Communicating (the go/no go) gating decisions; Identifying and allocation resources; Recruiting evangelists and mentors; Team formation and composition; How the process interacts with and impacts the culture in the organization; Incentives for innovation; Career development paths for innovators; Attitudes to risk.

The case opens in December of 2018, with Sunil Duggal, the CEO of Dabur India (a multinational consumer goods conglomerate with a focus in Ayurvedic products) contemplating who should succeed him at the head of the company. The new CEO will have been the first since Dabur completed its transition from family management to professional management in 2002, and though publicly listed, the majority of the company's shares were still owned by the Burman family, who founded it in 1884. The case then describes how the Burman family grew the company until the mid-1990s, when professionalization began. The case explains the various obstacles and difficulties that the company overcame in the process of professionalization and explains how the family came to step back from the business. It specifies the nature of the family's involvement during Duggal's tenure as CEO, as the company expanded across the globe, and then it closes by returning to the question of what a professionalized, multinational family business should be seeking in its next CEO, sixteen years after it last confronted such a decision.

The first company under the Amara Raja Group (ARG) was established in 1984, i.e. Amara Raja Electronics Limited (AREL) followed by Amara Raja Batteries Limited (ARBL). Its founder leveraged the presence of his family in Renigunta, a rural village in South India, and chose to start the industry there to create employment opportunities. Preference is given to local population in all ARG enterprises. Despite its strong people orientation, the HR department/function at ARG got strengthened only after Jaikrishna strived to make it central to business. The department's evolution has been demarcated in three phases. The first and second phase saw few initiatives, and during the third phase the HR department was structured according to the Dave Ulrich Strategic HR Model. While this structure had been successful until now, certain sections in ARG still doubted its sustainability.

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in Israel, CEO Lihi Segal and her team are devising a global go-to-market plan for the firm. The team is considering several target markets, ranging from people with diabetes to professional athletes, and distribution strategies including selling direct to consumers or through partnerships with healthcare professionals or insurance companies. Their choices are important because they will affect DayTwo's costs, pricing, positioning, distribution channels, marketing efforts, and product development.

For a company that's trying to reach more customers, selling on Amazon might seem to be a no-brainer. But there are plenty of risks: A firm might get dragged into a price war with low-cost competitors, and Amazon, not the firm, will own the data on customers--and could use it to create its own competing products. In this fictional case study, the head of marketing at a young e-bike maker thinks through the pros and cons of selling on Amazon and of sticking with a direct-to-consumer strategy, and considers the long-term implications of each for his brand.

For a company that's trying to reach more customers, selling on Amazon might seem to be a no-brainer. But there are plenty of risks: A firm might get dragged into a price war with low-cost competitors, and Amazon, not the firm, will own the data on customers--and could use it to create its own competing products. In this fictional case study, the head of marketing at a young e-bike maker thinks through the pros and cons of selling on Amazon and of sticking with a direct-to-consumer strategy, and considers the long-term implications of each for his brand.

For a company that's trying to reach more customers, selling on Amazon might seem to be a no-brainer. But there are plenty of risks: A firm might get dragged into a price war with low-cost competitors, and Amazon, not the firm, will own the data on customers--and could use it to create its own competing products. In this fictional case study, the head of marketing at a young e-bike maker thinks through the pros and cons of selling on Amazon and of sticking with a direct-to-consumer strategy, and considers the long-term implications of each for his brand.

In 2018, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Zashita Inc. (Zashita) was contemplating the future strategic direction of his security and electrical contracting firm based in Irkutsk, Russia. The company had experienced outstanding sales growth since its founding in 2013, and this trend was expected to continue into 2019 with the existing business. Despite this, the CEO had identified a new, untapped opportunity in Irkutsk-smart home technology installations-and was trying to determine whether he should risk expansion into this expensive but potentially highly profitable market. Alternatively, he could focus on spending his resources on Zashita's existing business or look elsewhere for new opportunities. The CEO needed to decide on the future strategic direction of Zashita and determine the best course of action for allocating the company's resources to ensure future profitability for the company and its workers.

In 2017, Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (Cathay Pacific) began its largest transformation program in 20 years in response to business hardships the airline had been experiencing since 2016. The program used digital enablement and insight orientation to realign the company's newly defined business focuses and to establish supporting pillars for further development. Information technology (IT) not only played a lead role in this corporate transformation, but it also became increasingly vital to Cathay Pacific's future growth. In 2018, this transformation seemed successful, but important questions remained regarding the development of Cathay Pacific's IT strategy over the previous decade, the company's focus for its IT investments, and the factors that led the company into hardship. As it moved forward, how far could Cathay Pacific go with its digital transformation? How could IT influence the company's future business strategy: could it help Cathay Pacific avoid further turbulence?

Scanteak Corporation was a furniture retailer founded in Singapore in the 1970s. By 2010, it had established more than 100 stores around the world. It had also become the first furniture company to be listed on the Taiwan OTC (Over-the-Counter) Exchange. The two founders had invested a great deal in developing the business and preparing their children to become their successors. In 2003, the two founders' daughter joined the company to help grow the family business, achieving great success in brand promotion and market expansion. In 2010, the two founders' son was asked to help with the business in Singapore or Taiwan but rejected their offer, stating that he would only agree if he could independently run the Japan division of the business, which was in deficit. The two founders questioned whether their recently graduated son could handle the business in Japan, and wondered how to respond to his bold request.

In 2016, the promoters of Savourites Hospitality Private Limited, which owned the fine-dining restaurant 6 Ballygunge Place, in Kolkata, were visiting London to explore possible future growth plans. Their foray into the market of Bengali cuisine through 6 Ballygunge Place had been successful and had developed into a strong destination brand. With a view to growing, Savourites' promoters had ventured into newer product offerings and had tried moving into new geographical markets. In order to expand the brand's range, they had launched a pan-Asian restaurant; launched the Bengal Lounge, which revived the Bengali penchant for never-ending chat sessions; and started fixed-menu outlets as variants of their core offering, hoping to tap into the middle-class market. They had also moved into other locations within Kolkata and to other cities. Their various expansions and diversifications had gone well, and the team found that the bulk of the growing consumer base was the Bengali customers that they had hoped to attract. They wondered how to keep the growth momentum going while still appealing to this clientele.

On October 10, 2017, the co-founders of Snapper Future Tech Private Limited (Snapper) were discussing the solutions they had proposed at a recent blockchain business conference. Snapper's initiative envisaged digital solutions for smooth land registration, adding transparency, accountability, and good governance at every stage of the process. Snapper had developed a proof of concept for land records on a private blockchain in a cloud-based environment. Its live demonstration of the proposal was well received by the conference attendees; the challenge was whether the government would consider the solution and engage on a long-term basis with the company for blockchain solutions in land registrations. Would Snapper's journey be acknowledged in the annals of the country's digital revolution?

In this 2019 case, Ed Rapp, retired group president and CFO of Caterpillar, recounts the positive impact that using a type of "self-talk" called an affirmation has had on his life and career. Affirmations are simple, positive, carefully crafted statements declaring specific goals in their completed state. A foundational belief behind an affirmation is that self-image is shaped by self-talk and daily performance reality. Affirmations should be personal, positive, accurate and balanced, allowing a person to assess who they are now and who they want to be in the future. The gaps that emerge between "now" and "the future" lead to making goals for change, supporting the goals with affirmations, and then creating the positive change. Affirmations are powerful because they create self-awareness, which is critical for leaders. Rapp credits affirmations with helping him succeed in his career; balance his personal and professional life; and become more of the person he wanted to be. In 2015, Rapp was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was diagnosed on November 5th and rewrote his affirmations on November 7th to reflect his new reality, while maintaining the goal of affirmations: continually making positive change.

The case is set in early 2019. Edouard Neviaski is CEO of the Global Energy Markets (GEM) division of Engie, a very large French energy company. He has been pushing a major programme of change over the previous three years and is considering the next steps: how to maintain momentum, what additional initiatives to pursue and whether to encourage other parts of Engie to apply a similar approach in their divisions. The case provides a lot of detail on the internal organisational changes in GEM from 2016-2019. In particular, it focuses on how some parts of GEM adopted 'holacracy' - a self-organising system in which individual teams take full responsibility for defining their own work and how it fits with others. The case also provides a lot of detail on the broader cultural change and the high levels of investment in professional training around new techniques and concepts.

Set in 2018, the case describes the evolution of New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) in the Indian news broadcasting industry. Starting as a news production company in 1988, NDTV ventured into general entertainment, media consulting, and e-commerce over the next three decades. Students analyze how the firm tailored its activities to pursue a differentiation strategy in news broadcasting. They also assess the challenges faced by NDTV when it diversified into new businesses and its ability to leverage core assets (star journalists) in these businesses.

The case on Siwggy, Foodora,and Yelp analyzes the hyperlocal food delivery business models that are popular in their respective markets. These multi-sided firms bring together local businesses such as restaurants and salons with their patrons through assistance in service discovery and delivery. This case elaborates how the foodtech space is evolving in countries such as India, Germany, and the United States, and how each of these hyperlocal platforms are adopting different strategies to sustain their business in their primary markets. When used as an introduction to multi-sided platforms, this case can help the student understand the hyperlocal space, the logistics challenges that food industry faces and how these delivery service platforms help address the same. This case also looks at what threats these platforms pose to its different sides and how envelopment possibilities emerge. It should help the students appreciate how a technology platform brings differentiation to the traditional food industry, and how a platform business model can provide significant competitive differentiation. By presenting three different hyperlocal platforms in as many geographies, the case study helps illustrate the commonality of business models while bringing forth the nuances of each market and its operational complexities.

Organizations large and small must source a variety of items and services in order to sustain their quotidian operations. This activity takes centerstage with retail outfits, where sourcing constitutes a primary business activity. This case illustrates the problems faced by a fledgling online start-up called Fiesta Gifts, which caters to a clientele of retail stores that are spread across continental United States. Under pressure from its investors, the firm's management is faced with the option of turning around the loss-making operation or shutting shop. The case begins by familiarizing the reader with the context of the US gifting and novelty sector. It then describes the complexities of Fiesta's operations, which involves sourcing thousands of items from hundreds of suppliers and routing them to customers through distribution centers that are located across the country. Despite fulfilling a steady stream of customer orders all year round, the company has accrued substantial losses; inefficiencies in its supply chain are largely to blame. Taking note of this, the CEO has demanded concrete action steps from the senior management. The CFO and CPO have initiated a strategic sourcing exercise, with a vision to curtail spend by rationalizing item categories and suppliers, and to improving lead times. Working from a dataset of purchases that have been made by Fiesta's customers since the launch of the online portal, the duo has employed analytical tools like ABC analysis to arrive at a grand list of decisions; implementing them could address the problems that the firm is facing. The CEO must deliberate the proposal points and decide on further action.

The case is about inflation and how it is computed in the category of food price indexes. The case also covers the tracking and the value of using price data from online sources. The case extends to understanding if it was better or not to formulate inflation through a median CPI. The case provides learning stimulations through rich data sources.

Janarthanan Balasubramanian, Division Head, Information Technology and online Communications at ISKCON wanted to understand the visitor feedback so that appropriate measures can be taken to improve the visitor experience at ISKCON. The primary problem at hand for Janarthanan was to reduce the existing manual effort for his team. Currently three resources are involved in collecting the reviews from social platforms and labeling each review into one of the four classes, viz. positive, negative, neutral and mixed. Two other resources convert the reviews from paper feedback forms/feedback registers placed at different points inside the temple, to an Excel file. The team begins its day by manually collecting, labeling and collating the reviews in an Excel file. At the end of the day, these labelled reviews would be stored in the database. At the end of the week, the total count of reviews for the four classes, viz. positive, negative, neutral and mixed was calculated to understand the overall sentiment. This was an extremely time-consuming manual process from data collection, that is, manually copy pasting the comments from social mediums to data collation and labeling. Janarthanan wanted his team to spend time and effort on analyzing the data and working on remedial actions. He wanted to understand the issues/topics that ISKCON should work on, rather than manually classify reviews and get the count of each review type. Janarthanan felt that getting only the split of positive/negative/neutral/mixed classes is not enough to draw inferences.