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Robert Mayhem, a senior manager at International Game Technology, had filed a whistleblower report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the company has misstatements in its financial reports. Mayhem's report involved IGT's practice of refurbishing used parts in one of its reporting segments and then transferring those parts to another reporting segment. Mayhem indicated that IGT's method of determining the costs of the refurbished parts was inaccurate and resulted in profits being shifted from one segment to another. Prior to his report to the SEC, Mayhem had reported his concerns to his managers and to the company's internal compliance hotline. At about the same time, IGT announced that it had accepted an offer to be acquired by another large player in the industry which would soon move its incorporation out of the U.S. and into the U.K. What should IGT do regarding the whistleblower and his report?

Andrea Jung became CEO of Avon Products Inc. in 1999 - the first woman to ever hold the position since the foundation of the iconic cosmetics company, in 1886. In a few years at the helm, Jung tripled the company's profits, modernized its culture and was elected one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" by Forbes. By 2005, however, Avon had become bloated with too many hierarchical layers and profits came up flat for the first time in five years. In order to address the looming crisis, Jung was forced to make a difficult decision: Avon would lay off one-third of all employees in middle and senior management positions, which represented approximately 12,000 jobs in total. Even more challenging than making the decision, however, would be executing it successfully while confronting an array of hard questions. How should the CEO announce the layoff to the company? Who should be in the room when she informed some of her direct reports that she would have to let them go? How should she deal with one of her most important executives when that person begged to stay? What was the best way to address questions related to gender and race in the context of the layoff? Should she make any exceptions to the process? There were no easy answers.

Lost Creek Angling Co. (LCA), a fly-fishing operation accessible by helicopter, operated off the grid in a remote location on the Wigwam River, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. LCA's clients were mainly middle-aged to retired businessmen from the United States. The company's season consisted mainly of weekends in the summer months, from mid-July to mid-September. The owner, an eco-centred leader who allowed the river to rest between visits and provided nature education to his clients, had a strong reputation within the local community and was closely tied to the business's brand. At age 70, however, he was considering a slow exit from his business. In the middle of 2015, he was approached by an angel investor but was concerned about losing control and abandoning the environmental mission of the business. In the meantime, LCA had the option of buying more permits to increase the number of guided fishing days (known as rod days) and grow the business in the near term. What was the best path forward for this unique organization and its laudable leader?

A management consultant had a bad experience at a globally branded luxury hotel in Zurna City, Lazistan. After writing a candid online review of the hotel, the consultant found himself embroiled in an altercation when the hotel management lashed out and tried to discredit him by complaining to his organization.

Fabien Beckers, Founder and CEO of Arterys, walks through the creation of his medical / AI imaging company, including the equity struggles of the founding team, building the right team and final the right channel sales partners.

The Harvest City case describes the implementation of a cloud- and IoT-based intelligent procurement system at a new convention complex in the U.S. Midwest. The decision to build a convention complex is a strategic initiative for this city and involves extensive use of information technology. The risk of implementation failure is high. Such failures are costly, highly visible, and affect multiple stakeholders. This case explores the challenges of large-scale, computer-based system implementation by examining the events, decisions, and actions taken to implement the intelligent procurement system at Harvest City. This case helps students to reflect on and discuss the challenges of implementing IT-enabled change initiatives, especially those that requires streamlined and integrated inter-organizational processes. The case discussion gives students insight into what factors influence the success and failure of IT projects.

Since being founded in 2006, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. had emerged as a major player in India's fast-moving consumer goods sector. The company differentiated its products with a unique mix of Indian nationalism, yoga spiritualism, social welfare motives, and natural/Ayurvedic ingredients. In combination with low prices and a low-cost position, this strategy challenged the incumbent multinational and conventional Indian competitors. As a result, competitors, including Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Colgate-Palmolive India, Dabur India Ltd., and Sri Sri Ayurveda, had to decide how to respond to this new competitor and capitalize on the growth opportunities in the Indian market.

In February 2018, Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) was tackling what seemed to be the most challenging problem in grocery retailing-how to efficiently and effectively deliver groceries to customers-known generally as the last-mile challenge. Seattle-based Amazon, which had 22 years of experience delivering goods such as books, apparel, and electronics sold on its website, had already proven that it could efficiently deliver general merchandise to customers. Yet, groceries presented a unique challenge because they were perishable and customers paid more attention to getting them in a timely fashion. After all, it was food that was being carried to the consumer's home. Amazon's efforts to solve the last mile challenge for grocery delivery had not thus far been successful. In November 2017, it shut down its AmazonFresh delivery service in five states but claimed this was unrelated to its purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc. Could Amazon successfully overcome the challenge of last-mile grocery delivery? If so, what were the implications for Amazon and other retailers?

In 2016, ALDI Stores (Aldi) in Australia posted its first downturn in annual growth since it opened in 2001. The German discount grocery store had been on a steady climb towards a top position among competitors such as Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty. Ltd., and Woolworths Limited. Amazon Inc. and Lidl Stiftung & co. KG, another German competitor, had begun to take steps towards entering the Australian market. What can Aldi do to ensure its continued success and retain its market share?

In 2017, Peter Tang must prepare the economic analysis of a proposal to insource production of certain parts currently purchased by the Tower and Lattice (TAL) division of Akron Crane Works (ACW), a world leader in heavy lifting machinery. The primary motivations for the proposal were rising costs due to vendor price increases and long vendor lead times. The TAL division believed internal production would cost less and that, with increased control of production, the division could reduce lead times and even reduce working capital needs.

In 2012, Strategic Global Capital ("SGC") was founded by Bryan Kuhn, his wife Cathy and his mother Dorothy as a secondary debt market for micro finance notes. Using the founders' money, SGC launched a pilot program in Ecuador that proved their concept worked. Leveraging on their success, Bryan and his family wanted to further expand the business. In order to grow SGC with the most optimal capital structure Bryan and his family would need to consider all the existing financial conditions and potential risks. What would be the best overall capital structure in terms of the proportion and type(s) of debt and equity that should be utilized by the company? How (or should) the company raise equity based capital? How (or should) the company raise debt based capital?

Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is preparing a bid for leading US car rental agency Hertz. By replacing Hertz's top managers, improving capital management and driving down operating costs, CD&R sees an opportunity to nearly double EBITDA. However, the turnaround involves significant risks, which CD&R must weigh in preparing its bidding stategy. Students are required to assess and value the business, evaluate a post-acquisition operating turnaround plan requiring new leadership, select a financial structure to mitigate significant cyclicality, and craft a winning bidding strategy in the context of a competitive auction. Please visit the dedicated case website "https://cases.insead.edu/turnaround-of-hertz/" to access supplementary material.

Hawk Electronics ("Hawk") presents the problems that a company can encounter when its divisions have distinct strategies, especially when one division has been favored at another's expense. It also highlights how such problems can reflect cognitive biases, which influence resource allocation decisions by senior executives. Further, the case challenges students to develop an action plan for Hawk's CEO. The case begins with excerpts from a letter that Jorge Martinez, the president of Hawk's Peripheral Division and a member of Hawk's Board of Directors, has written to Sarah Chan, Hawk's CEO. Martinez is concerned about the resources that Chan has funneled away from his division to fund outside ventures. Martinez feels that this pattern of resource allocation, and the consequences ensuing from it, make his division unable to compete. He also believes Chan's decisions threaten Hawk's long-term viability. Chan needs to respond to the issues raised in Martinez's letter, but she believes her decisions have been largely correct.

Cargo's mission is to help "rideshare drivers earn more money by providing complimentary and premium products to passengers." Cargo sources goods from suppliers to provide a platform for gig economy drivers to run small convenience stores out of their vehicles. Drivers earn additional income, and riders enjoy convenient and affordable access to products during their rides. As the company grew, Cargo faced a number of supply-chain-related challenges including determining the product mix in the Cargo box, replenishment of the product, and the cost of carrying inventory. In particular, would the replenishment decision be driven by the company or the driver and who would bear the responsibility for the inventory cost? The founders also considered how to most efficiently manage its suppliers: Would a centralized or decentralized model best serve Cargo and its drivers? And, how might supply chain contracts with its suppliers help support the company's profitable growth?

Dylan Smith, Co-Founder and CFO of Box, describes the various stages of founding the enterprise digital document and data storage company. At each financial raise, beginning with the very earliest family-and-friend money all the way through IPO, Smith describes the options and the thought process that went into each decision.

Rajesh Exports Limited (REL), founded by Rajesh Mehta in the 1980s and based in India, was the world's largest, lowest cost gold jewellery manufacturer. REL derived more than 90 per cent of its total revenue from exporting gold jewellery to more than 60 countries; but, in 2017, REL set a goal of increasing the portion of revenue contributed by the retail segment to 90 per cent by 2030-an increase from the current contribution of 10 per cent. REL had initiated strategies to differentiate itself in the retail jewellery segment; nonetheless, analysts were skeptical about REL's ability to achieve its revenue goal. They pointed to the hindrances of severe competition in the global retail jewellery market; REL's lack of experience in retail jewellery; and the perception of low quality associated with products produced in India. Was Mehta's vision to establish REL's presence in the retail segment appropriate, and if so, how could REL overcome the barriers and establish its identity in the international retail jewellery market?

After two years of constant work on their start-up, "DressingRm AR," Natsumi Nakano and Bridget Ellery were at a crossroads. Two investment offers were on the table. Neither offer provided as much money as the start-up needed, and both came with constraints that made Nakano and Ellery wary. But they were running out of money, and without new investment, they'd have to shut down. Nakano still hoped that they'd eventually find an investor who appreciated the real value of their ideas and accurately perceived their competence. Ellery, meanwhile, was disillusioned after two years of unexpected obstacles. Their ideas were good, she knew, but the marketplace was uglier and more ruthless than she'd anticipated. She no longer believed that it was a meritocracy. If one more man spoke to her with a patronizing tone or hit on her during a meeting, Ellery feared she would snap. Together, they had to decide what to do.