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It was September 2022, and, despite a long day at the office, Stephen Price had a lot to consider. He had just finished a meeting with the development and sales team at Graywood Developments (Graywood), during which they had discussed one of the latest developments in Graywood's pipeline-the Centricity project. With a zoning bylaw amendment (ZBA) in hand, kicking off sales for the project was the next step in the process. However, with a looming recession and an anticipated cooling of the real estate market, Price had to decide whether to proceed with a sales launch in the first quarter of 2023, or shelve the launch until market conditions improved. Graywood could ultimately launch sales in January 2023 in the hope of achieving an average selling price of CA$1,650 per square foot, or it could delay the launch until January 2024 and hopefully sell at $1,700 per square foot or higher-though there was no guarantee that the market would improve. He wondered what impact his decision would have on Graywood's plans to launch its tenth real estate fund in 2023. This case includes a complex merchant developer Microsoft Excel model, whereby students can adjust inputs and observe how key metrics change.

Since its establishment in 1999, Xiamen Golden Home Co., Ltd. (GoldenHome) had adopted a high-end strategic positioning for its professionally produced kitchen cabinets. The company had first established a high-end brand image by differentiating its service and providing consumers with the ultimate full-process shopping experience. It had then consolidated a high-end perception of its products in the minds of its target customers by continuously researching and developing new processes and selecting high-quality materials. When changes in market and competition patterns led it to expand into new home-furnishing categories such as wardrobes and wooden doors, the company worked to transform its brand to encompass the entire range of customized home products. While customers had long recognized the high-end nature of the company's kitchen cabinets, it had been more difficult to transfer this brand recognition over to the new product lines. Moreover, substantial changes in the competitive landscape had made the company's original high-end positioning ambiguous. In 2022, the company faced a dilemma about its future development: Should GoldenHome use high-level strategic changes to establish its entire series as high-end products, or should it implement differentiated positioning for different product lines, maintaining the high-end positioning of its kitchen cabinet products while positioning other product lines for mass-market consumers?

In April 2021, the owner and founder of Claw & Kitty (CK) in Markham, Ontario, was considering moving his claw machine arcade to a larger location to continue growing his business. The owner had managed to grow his business despite the challenge of numerous pandemic-related shutdowns, and now he wanted to expand. He needed to decide whether this was a good time to do so. Would CK be able to survive if the Ontario government implemented future lockdowns or capacity limits? The owner had to assess the return and payback he might expect on this large investment and consider how he would fund the expansion. He would need to analyze the incremental revenues and costs and compare these against the investment to determine whether this move made sense from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives.

This case involves quantifying emissions, their impact, and applying the social cost of carbon to complete a comparative financial valuation for a fictional startup, VerticalFarm Co. (VFC). VerticalFarm Co. sites, develops, and owns/operates vertical farms in retrofitted buildings such as warehouses or high rises. These vertical farms grow fresh produce (e.g., lettuce, spinach, microgreens and herbs), using lighting, water nutrient delivery systems, and temperature control. VFC's leadership is passionate about providing fresh, nutritious food in traditionally food-insecure urban areas and creating employment opportunities in the local community. They aim to expand their operations to a building in Chicago for which they seek venture capital (VC) investment. The fictional protagonist is a senior investment analyst at a large VC firm. She is asked by her boss to evaluate how the social cost of carbon would affect the firm's current valuation of VCF-and her analysis and recommendation is due in just a few days, per the request of the firm's board of directors. Students are asked to act as the protagonist and incorporate the social cost of carbon into the proforma projections and then compare them to the original due diligence analysis. Finally, they will make a recommendation either "for" or "against" investing in VFC. The case provides an overview of climate change; why emissions are a challenge (from both global stability and monetary impact quantification perspectives); an overview of controlled environment agriculture; and the framework for an analysis and the quantification of the social cost of carbon. Data on alternative estimates of the carbon price for the United States are provided.

Highlighting the successful implementation of a sustainable large-scale residential development that defied powerful Hurricane Ian, this case focuses on Sydney Kitson and his sustainable real estate development company - Kitson & Partners - and how the firm is handling Florida's situation. Detailing the combination of government intervention, market demand, and business opportunity, this case provides insight into the business reasons to pursue sustainable practices. The case describes the current effects of climate change in Florida, specifically analyzing its impact on housing development, as both population and the risk of storm damage increase. The goal of the case is for students to realize that business is not always the problem but, in many cases, the solution for many of our environmental problems. The class discussion aims to help students better understand the factors that allowed Kitson to be successful and how there is opportunity for similar business ventures in the future.

Senaca East Africa, aka Sentry & Patrols, is a Kenya-based security guard firm founded in 2002 by John Kipkorir, a longtime member of the Kenyan police. At the time, there were only a few well-known Kenyan-owned security companies, and crime was rising. After some early stumbles, Sentry & Patrols grew rapidly and John's wife and daughters joined the business. Part A of this case details the family's early struggles to grow their operation, develop expertise and define their roles in the business. It follows the first eight years in operation, during which John's wife and eldest daughter became full-time employees. It traces their journey up to the point that Sentry & Patrols was approached by a European firm about a merger. The tie-up prospect offered risk and reward. By that time, Sentry & Patrols had become one of the best-known guard firms in East Africa, with more than 1,000 workers. But cash flow was tight, clients were slow to pay, and the company was struggling to expand. This case examines the challenges of defining roles in a family business and setting up effective governance structures. Case A ends with the family mulling the merger offer. Part B of this case details what happened after the family agreed to the merger and changed the company name to Senaca. Initially, the tie-up brought benefits. The company grew to 1,500 guards and landed contracts with universities, hotels and companies such as Nokia. The business diversified, expanded to Uganda, started a guard training school, and launched a technology arm. The company invested in equipment such as cameras, body scanners, security gates and electrical fencing for their new clients. However, this period presented the Kipkorirs with many challenges. John Kipkorir's other daughters became involved with the company, but over time, their decision-making power was eroded by their European partners, and the business nose-dived. This part of the case challenges students to think about family business struc

Focusing on the field of intelligent projection, Xgimi built a strategic development model with the whole machine, algorithm, and software system at the core. It creatively integrated projection, audio, and an intelligent system, thus becoming a leading enterprise in the domestic projection devices industry. In the development process, Xgimi faced the challenge of deciding whether to switch from cost-effective competition to differentiation competition. This necessitated a comprehensive analysis, considering factors such as the target customers, the company's ability to meet customer needs, competitive products or substitutes, competitors, differences between them, competitors' reactions, Xgimi's core competencies, and whether it had sufficient resources to drive the switch in the strategic direction (including price adjustment). This case provides an example of a transition from low-end to high-end product competition for a firm in an emerging market or a developing country. It also exemplifies a firm's commitment to technology and innovation-driven growth.

U.S. beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola shared many similarities by August 2018-both were founded by pharmacists in the 1890s, grew to offer hundreds of drink brands, and championed rival flagship products that drove loyalists into taste-testing wars. That month, each company announced its largest acquisition in history, of SodaStream and Costa Coffee respectively. But why would such similar firms pursue such different diversifications? Which was the better direction of scope expansion?

The case describes India's economic development trajectory, with a specific focus on the last few years under the Modi administration. It provides insights into the current economic profile and competitiveness of the country. The case enables students to identify the significant economic opportunities India has as well as the key barriers for growth it will have to remove.

This case explores the work of Ozyegin Social Investments, founded by Husnu Ozyegin , one of Turkey's most successful entrepreneurs. With a focus on education, health, gender equality, rural development, and disaster relief in Turkey, Ozyegin Social Investments and the Ozyegin family-Husnu, his wife, AyÅŸen, and their children, Murat and AyÅŸecan-have spent decades serving and improving communities in need. Their efforts led to the creation of one of Turkey's top universities, the establishment of schools and rehabilitation centers, post-earthquake humanitarian shelter and facilities, nationwide campaigns and an internationally recognized educational training initiative for young children, amongst other achievements. Students will learn how Ozyegin Social Investments represents a model of giving that has had a significant impact across multiple sectors of society and discuss how the legacy can be sustained in the future.

Born out of a desire to bring technological advances in enterprise software into the healthcare vertical, Peter Gassner and Matt Wallach founded Veeva to bring life sciences companies into the digital age for data management in both the commercial and R&D sectors. Over the course of years of growth, the company expanded to take a commanding share of the market and become the nearly-uniform "operating system" for life sciences companies. Veeva also became the first Public Benefits Corporation (PBC) in the U.S. to enshrine their objectives for the industry within their business model and as one of five stakeholders, along with shareholders, as a for-profit company. Veeva is now at a crossroads and must decide where to go to ensure compliance with their objectives as a PBC, continue their growth and expansion, and ensure they maintain market share. What should the company do?

However, this observation is inconsistent with employee observations shared with Perez. Students must, therefore, adjust the pay gap estimates to reconcile employee perceptions with the pay data. Students are provided with a cross-sectional pay data file generated for Elemental's Binary Gender Pay Report. (It is a supplemental Excel file included with the case and teaching note). Informed by employee quotes provided in the case, students perform equity analytics to estimate Elemental's binary gender pay gap. The analyses start with an unadjusted pay gap estimate and then proceed through a series of adjustments. These analyses reveal that although there is no unadjusted gender pay gap across Elemental's four divisions there are distinct pay disparities within individual divisions. A key insight of the case is that aggregating unit pay data at the organization level can mask substantial pay disparities among an organization's constituent units. Students will attribute estimated pay differences to differential treatment of men and women employees (i.e., different behaviors produce different pay) or to disparate impacts of organizational practices (i.e., equivalent treatment produces different pay). More specifically, the instructor can use the equity analytics framework (detailed in the teaching note) to demonstrate which of Elemental's divisions exhibit one of the pay disparities featured in the equity analytics 2 x 2 framework: (1) differential allocations, (2) differential valuations, (3) disparate allocations, or (4) disparate valuations. Each of the four disparity-generating processes necessitates a different approach to closing the pay gap.

In March 2022, Nemus, an environmental planning, development, and sustainability consultancy based in Lisbon, Portugal, released a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through its Nemus Earth initiative with the goal of supporting reforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The company purchased at-risk land in rainforests, created collectible NFTs, and used proceeds from the NFT sales to support reforestation and economic and social development in the region. While some purchasers praised the company for the NFTs, other stakeholders, such as activists, government officials, and Indigenous groups, questioned the efficiency and legality of the project. By July 2022, Nemus faced a decision: should it continue with its mission, or should it leave it up to governments and non-governmental organizations to lead the way on climate action? Could NFTs be effective in protecting rainforests, or were there better alternative paths?

"Ten Years Later" is a series of one-page narratives that provide a glimpse of "what happened next" in the lives of a group of members of the INSEAD MBA graduating class of 2002. The narratives, recounted by female and male graduates of different nationalities and aspirations, give students a flavour of how life can turn out for people who have 'sat in their seats' before.

This case tells the story of Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic founded in 2020 that provides virtual medication abortion services to eligible patients in nine U.S. states. By January 2023, the company had served more than 20,000 patients and raised nearly $10 million in venture capital, all while navigating an ever-evolving regulatory landscape. At the time of the case, Kiki Freedman, Hey Jane's CEO and founder, is considering expanding the company's holistic support model to another highly stigmatized reproductive health need-maternal mental health.

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000 yearly deaths, primarily children under the age of five, were the result of poor indoor air quality from unclean cooking fuel. Forecasts suggested exponential demand growth for charcoal driven by rising population and increased urbanization in Africa. Eighty-three percent of sub-Saharan African households relied on charcoal or wood for cooking. Greg Murray (chief executive officer), Sagun Saxena (chief innovation officer), Nicholas Stokes (chief financial officer) and Micael da Costa (chief systems officer) had decided to do something about it. In 2014, they co-founded KOKO Networks (KOKO), a climate-technology company that built and operated clean fuel utilities enabling nations to transition away from deforestation-charcoal. KOKO partnered with the owners of existing liquids infrastructure, and then used its unique technology and operating platform to deliver low-cost ultra-clean bioethanol cooking to a dense network of high-tech "KOKO Point" Fuel ATMs located in corner stores across low-income neighborhoods, which it used to retail directly to households. The end result was a safe, clean and affordable fuel located within a short walk of home, and which delivered a modern cooking experience at a price point that was materially lower than charcoal. By August 2023, KOKO served over one million households across ten cities in Kenya and planned to expand further in Kenya as well as build greenfield utilities in Rwanda and other African nations. Yet, the co-founders knew that the road ahead was full not only of opportunities, but also of challenges.

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company's transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH acquired NWEA, a leading educational assessment company. Lynch was thrilled to add NWEA's industry-standard tools for measuring student progress to his company's product offering - but aware of the fact that HMH's new business strategy was untested. Would students, educators, and district administrators sign on to Lynch's vision for the future of U.S. education?

In 2022, Apple lost US$1.5 billion in Black Friday sales due to iPhone supply constraints. One in three retail stores across the US and Europe experienced stockouts of the new iPhone 14 Pro. China sales were down more than 30% year on year. Apple's stock had dropped 29% in 2022. China's zero-Covid policy resulted in massive lockdowns that made factory working conditions unbearable. In the second half of 2022, many Chinese workers quit their jobs at Apple's Foxconn facilities. The Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022 and the ensuing Western sanctions spurred an unprecedented global energy crisis and double-digit inflation. Now that supply chain disruptions, component shortages and rising geopolitical tensions had become a reality, Apple had to decide on a transformation, knowing that the transition presented difficult trade-offs and would take years to complete: (1) Which elements to change in the company's global value chain? How to approach change without hurting manufacturing continuity, product quality, revenue and profitability? (2) Should Apple further drive its vertical integration in the design of chips, semiconductors, screens and assembly? Or should it adopt the Android phone manufacturers' model and develop a broader base of suppliers?

In April 2022, the founder and chief executive officer of Just Kitchen Holdings Corporation (Just Kitchen)-a Canada-based and publicly listed operator of ghost kitchens in Taiwan-was sitting with part of his team to discuss the marketing plans for the year. The company reported revenues of CA$4.6 million for the second quarter of 2022. In the second quarter 2022, total revenues increased by 127 per cent and retail order volume grew by 151 per cent. That year, the number of ghost kitchen locations had increased from 14 to 28. The founder wanted to double the company's revenue by 2023. To achieve this goal, the management team faced several questions: Should Just Kitchen focus more on local brands in Taiwan or invest in international brand licensing and partnerships? How could the company leverage the omni-channel opportunity to better engage with its consumers and not depend on the delivery partners? What strategies should Just Kitchen consider to attract and retain customers, grow its sales revenues, and increase profitability?

This case describes unruly passenger behaviour on National Aviation Company of India Ltd.'s New York-Delhi flight. It elaborates on the airline crew's failure to effectively address an elderly woman's predicament and assuage her concerns after an inebriated passenger urinated on her. As a result, Air India was exposed to social media ridicule, public scorn, loss of customer loyalty and trust, and a severe dent in its brand image. With the plummeting net loss in 2022 and reputation damage threatening to come in the way of its goal of becoming the airline of choice in passenger service and comfort, what can Air India do to rebuild its brand image, revive its past glory, prevent or manage such instances, and reclaim customer loyalty and trust?