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In late May 2023, Sarah Merino, the newly appointed manager of the Customer Insights group at Travelogo-an online travel booking platform-initiates a comprehensive analysis of clickstream data to understand the varied behaviors and needs of their users. In preparation for the upcoming marketing strategy meeting, Merino and her team delve into the extensive customer data collected by the platform as users search for flights, aiming to understand search patterns, trip characteristics, and clicking and purchasing behaviors. This deep dive is to identify distinct customer personas and actionable insights that will shape Travelogo's marketing strategies. The case provides students with a hands-on exploration of the fundamentals and benefits of customer segmentation, fostering an understanding of how to create detailed buying personas from complex data for strategic marketing purposes. Additionally, the case emphasizes the critical need for effective collaboration between decision-makers and data science teams, underscoring the importance of clear communication to ensure that data analytics are precisely aligned with business objectives, especially when crafting sophisticated strategies to engage and cater to a varied customer base with a deep understanding of their preferences.

Facilitated by hot Diablo winds, dry weather, and combustible vegetation, the Camp Fire in November 2018 almost destroyed the town of Paradise in Butte County, California. The fire also led to the demise of Merced Property and Casualty Company (Merced), a small property and casualty insurer based in Atwater, California. Following the Camp Fire, homeowners’ insurance claims exceeded Merced’s ability to pay out their insurance claims, and in December 2018, Merced was put into liquidation by the California Insurance Guarantee Association. In September 2021, Jessy Picado, chief executive officer of Insuredhouse, a small property and casualty insurer in Alberta, Canada, decided to scrutinize the case of Merced in a bid to restructure Insuredhouse’s climate risk management plan. Picado appointed Dany Voisin, chief risk officer, to identify the reasons for the downfall of Merced and draw lessons from it. Voisin had to determine what available information and financial ratios would have been indicators of Merced’s business vulnerability and use them in his analysis before making recommendations to Insuredhouse.

The chief general manager (Retail) at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) was reviewing the sites that had been shortlisted for network expansion. The company needed to select three sites out of six on the short list where it could expand its retail operations. Traditionally, the sales potential for HPCL’s main products—motor spirit and high-speed diesel—was an overarching factor for site selection. However, the company had to also now take into account the strategic requirement to expand the current retail fuel network while considering the energy transition as well as other growth avenues. As such, the network expansion strategy and site selection process had to be in alignment with the aspirational targets set by the company. For selecting the most suitable sites, a set of criteria was identified that aligned with HPCL’s targets. However, no single shortlisted site provided the maximum benefit across all criteria, so selecting the right sites for expansion would be a difficult task.

This experiential exercise is designed to teach students how joint ventures can entail inherent tensions that resemble a real-world prisoner’s dilemma. In the context of a (hypothetical) international collaboration in the global bicycle industry, students are put in the position of the parent firms’ decision-makers and must decide between accessing the other’s knowledge versus wanting to acquire (i.e., own) it. Students are thereby incentivized to act in self-interest, which ultimately leads to worse outcomes than if they had acted in the interest of the group. The exercise provides a lively, visceral learning experience and is complemented with an in-depth discussion of assumptions and implications as described in this teaching note.

Natalie Wilson, a human resources administrator at League Plastics, a manufacturer of parts for the recreational vehicle industry, was worried that she would be blamed by her supervisor for an increasing number of workers’ compensation claims. After gathering data on the ever-worsening safety record in the facility and taking notes about where injuries were occurring, Wilson knew she would need to act before the company’s workers’ compensation policy came due for renewal. She needed to put together a plan that would start reducing injuries for the rest of the year, and she needed to persuade her supervisor to implement it.

This experiential exercise is designed to teach students how joint ventures can entail inherent tensions that resemble a real-world prisoner's dilemma. In the context of a (hypothetical) international collaboration in the global bicycle industry, students are put in the position of the parent firms' decision-makers and must decide between accessing the other's knowledge versus wanting to acquire (i.e., own) it. Students are thereby incentivized to act in self-interest, which ultimately leads to worse outcomes than if they had acted in the interest of the group. The exercise provides a lively, visceral learning experience and is complemented with an in-depth discussion of assumptions and implications as described in this teaching note.

Natalie Wilson, a human resources administrator at League Plastics, a manufacturer of parts for the recreational vehicle industry, was worried that she would be blamed by her supervisor for an increasing number of workers' compensation claims. After gathering data on the ever-worsening safety record in the facility and taking notes about where injuries were occurring, Wilson knew she would need to act before the company's workers' compensation policy came due for renewal. She needed to put together a plan that would start reducing injuries for the rest of the year, and she needed to persuade her supervisor to implement it.

In this exercise, students are asked to assume the role of a project manager for Kaymak Consulting, a 210-employee management consulting firm located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Students must work in groups to determine how much of a merit increase each of six analysts should receive during their next salary review. They make their decisions while considering the values that the organization would like to encourage. Background information on each analyst, along with current salary, are provided in the exercise. The task is to determine the most fair and effective method for dividing the pool of funds for salary increase among the six analysts.

For this exercise, students are asked to assume the place of the two founders and owners of a web-based company called Good Authority. The venture was launched one year earlier and has been successful, although the two owners are finding it difficult to continue operating the company during their spare time while working full-time hours at their day jobs. Recently, an investor offered to fund the salary and payroll expenses for one employee, allowing the two owners more time to grow and expand the business. The students are tasked with effectively designing a job for the new employee to allow the two owners time and energy to focus on the future and success of the business.

For this exercise, students are asked to assume the place of the two founders and owners of a web-based company called Good Authority. The venture was launched one year earlier and has been successful, although the two owners are finding it difficult to continue operating the company during their spare time while working full-time hours at their day jobs. Recently, an investor offered to fund the salary and payroll expenses for one employee, allowing the two owners more time to grow and expand the business. The students are tasked with effectively designing a job for the new employee to allow the two owners time and energy to focus on the future and success of the business.

In this exercise, students are asked to assume the role of a project manager for Kaymak Consulting, a 210-employee management consulting firm located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Students must work in groups to determine how much of a merit increase each of six analysts should receive during their next salary review. They make their decisions while considering the values that the organization would like to encourage. Background information on each analyst, along with current salary, are provided in the exercise. The task is to determine the most fair and effective method for dividing the pool of funds for salary increase among the six analysts.

A recent Master of Business Administration graduate from a renowned business school in India secured a position with a top rated asset management company. On the first day, his manager asks him to construct a portfolio using William Sharpe's single index model (SIM). To construct his model portfolio, he reviews the Bloomberg terminal for the data set. This exercise provides a step-by-step review of his analysis to construct a portfolio through SIM.

In this exercise, students are required to match eleven unidentified companies to the relevant industry group in which they operate, based on the Global Industry Classification Standards (GICS). Students are provided with a description of the eleven GICS and the financial information of the eleven companies. Each company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). While the exercise has an Australian focus, international students should be able to correctly match the companies to their industry due to the generic nature of the industry characteristics.

In January 2021, Indigo Paints Limited launched an initial public offering of ordinary equity shares to list the company on a stock exchange. It was one of the most subscribed public offers in recent times in India. The company was in the business of manufacturing and selling decorative paints. A retail investor from Mumbai, India received an allotment of Indigo shares and wondered if the grey market premium indicated a fair value for the stock. He understood that initial public offerings were generally underpriced, but wondered what the company’s intrinsic value actually was. He sought input from his friend, who was an independent financial advisor, to help him understand the value proposition that the initial public offering would bring to Indigo Paints Limited. The two friends consulted all relevant financial statements and began their calculations.

This case is based on real negotiation dilemmas posed by a crisis generated when a peace agreement signed between the Colombian government and the guerrilla group FARC-EP was outvoted in a national plebiscite, causing the necessity of the renegotiation of the peace accord in order to gain public legitimacy. Both parties need to revise the agreement and adjust it in a short period of time in which the ceasefire is in place. Negotiators are pressured to maintain the spirit of the original accord, avoid conflict relapse, while making adjustments to respond to the population's concerns and attain legitimate approval of Parliament.

This case is based on real negotiation dilemmas posed by a crisis generated when a peace agreement signed between the Colombian government and the guerrilla group FARC-EP was outvoted in a national plebiscite, causing the necessity of the renegotiation of the peace accord in order to gain public legitimacy. Both parties need to revise the agreement and adjust it in a short period of time in which the ceasefire is in place. Negotiators are pressured to maintain the spirit of the original accord, avoid conflict relapse, while making adjustments to respond to the population's concerns and attain legitimate approval of Parliament.

A recent Master of Business Administration graduate from a renowned business school in India secured a position with a top rated asset management company. On the first day, his manager asks him to construct a portfolio using William Sharpe's single index model (SIM). To construct his model portfolio, he reviews the Bloomberg terminal for the data set. This exercise provides a step-by-step review of his analysis to construct a portfolio through SIM.

In December 2022, Shariq Nomani had been living with his family in a rented apartment in Lucknow, India. Even though they liked the place, which had all the necessary amenities, they were thinking of buying a unit in the same community. After collecting all the necessary information, Shariq sat down to figure out the best alternative between two options: buying and renting. He needed to undertake a comprehensive quantitative analysis by applying the concept of time value of money to make the optimal decision.

<p align="justify">On April 12, 2022, a devastating mudslide covered 87 hectares of the Toyota South Africa Motors factory located in Durban, South Africa. The company’s president and chief executive officer was facing various immediate issues including mud flooding of the plant, employees stranded within the plant, growing concerns over electrical shorting and possible electrocution due to rising water levels, and the plant’s closure in response to the flooding. As a result of the flooding, the plant had to shut down for five months, which deeply impacted the entire supply chain of original equipment manufacturers and dealers who depended on Toyota South Africa Motors for their sustainability. The consequences of a prolonged plant closure could affect multiple stakeholders, including 8,000 employees and the larger South African economy. Toyota South Africa Motors contributed approximately 130,000 Toyota vehicles per year for the local market and for global export. The company’s president needed to contain the immediate crisis and work with Toyota South Africa Motors stakeholders to lead a substantial recovery from the disaster.