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In 2019, Fitbit lost its leadership in the wearable sensor market to Apple and to cheaper alternatives. Why did it lose its market position? How will the proposed acquisition affect it and Google?

Otis Gates has built a successful affordable housing firm. Along the way, he and his partners have engaged in large amounts of community service in the neighborhoods wherein they own properties. Now 80 and ready to retire, Gates is creating a request for proposal for his firm. In doing so, he has to evaluate his firm's total value and decide whether their social-good mission is helping or harming their bottom line.

In April 2014, the founder of SecureNow met with one of his classmates who was now an angel investor. The two had recently met socially and the founder had briefed his classmate on SecureNow's online business-to-business insurance marketplace. The classmate was now expressing interest in investing in SecureNow but his valuation was much lower than the founder's expectation. The founder was confident of SecureNow's future growth, but he wanted funds to expand. His classmate would provide him with the kind of relationship he was seeking with an investor, but the founder wondered how he and his classmate arrived at such different valuations. He also wondered whether he should accept the funds at a low valuation, consider other options, or just postpone his expansion plans.

In 2015, Snapdeal, an e-commerce company in India, faced a supply chain situation in reverse logistics. In conforming to the industry trends, the company had a policy on assured product returns, which led to most customers returning to an online merchant for future purchases. However, by the end of 2015, the estimated worth of products returned under the Indian e-commerce platform was $800 million to $1 billion. The rate of returns of online products could add substantial logistics costs to each product return, hampering the industry's growth. Snapdeal had some serious questions to address. Should it reverse its policy and not give customers a chance to return products? Should the company connect organizations and retailers with customers and derive valuable feedback from them? Should Snapdeal alter its product return policy in favour of a "free returns" or "no questions asked" return policy? Would corrective action be required for the e-commerce industry so companies like Snapdeal could create a return policy for customers who had legitimate reasons to return products?

This case tracks Jerome Chouchan's strategies and execution for a successful turn around of Godiva Japan's operations which was experiencing a decline in sales when he became the managing director of the company in 2010. Through various initiatives and innovations, Godiva Japan had targeted a variety of demographic segments in different sales points, acquired new customers and created a moment of luxurious consumption for all ages. Accordingly, within Godiva's global enterprise, Godiva Japan had become number two in terms of worldwide sales and number one in terms of profits. It exported made-in Japan products and concepts to Godiva's other markets. How could Chouchan keep the momentum and sustain Godiva Japan's top-line and bottom-line growth going forward? Would he be able to keep the balance between aspirational and accessible? How much of the success in Japan might contribute to the growth of Godiva's global sales?

The case documents the evolution of an eye care hospital promoted by not-for profit organization located in Mandvi, District-Surat, close to the tribal community of Gujarat state, India. In a short span of five years (as of 2016), the trust has evolved as a community hospital. The value proposition of the trust is a portfolio of activities, which includes awareness by education, prevention of eye care diseases through eye screening camps, treatment, and rehabilitation on need basis and addressing direct and indirect healthcare needs of the community. The managerial challenge before the board of trustees is to carefully balance (a) The purpose for which the trust was created, (b) the gap between the ground realities and the need in the relevant tribal community (c) the accomplishments of the eye hospital so far.

The case deals with the unforeseen uncertainties faced by Reva, the first electric car of India, while entering the Indian market. The company was able to take up the challenge of making an energy efficient car. As a new product, Reva achieved operational success, developing an electric, low energy car. Its marketing strategies had limited consumer pull and had to be strengthened to gain consumer acceptance. The ecosystem worldwide is looking for support from governments on the concept and the infrastructure of this product category.

The case relates the growth story of a transformative medical diagnostics company as it moves from idea to maturity at a critical time when leaders must determine what to do about the falling stock price. As the case unfolds, it shows how an idea for transforming cervical cancer testing was converted to a proof-of-concept, followed by years of scientific and technological research to create products. The case portrays gaining FDA approval while short on resources, persuading skeptical insurers to pay for a new diagnostic test, and managing the challenges of subsequent growth, profit, and maturity while facing the emergence of new technologies and competitors. Students are asked to adopt the role of a newly hired vice president of business development to decide how to address the company's situation. They must identify and frame the problem, generate alternatives and evaluate them critically, then prepare recommendations for an upcoming board meeting. Students take into account industry and company data as well as strategic realities. They examine what makes creating, growing, and managing a science- and medicine-based company different from doing so with other technology companies, especially consumer hardware and software with which students tend to be most familiar. Color printing of the case is recommended for clear interpretation of exhibits.

Discussion between Coca-Cola, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focused on how Coca-Cola's supply chain knowledge could be harnessed to improve the distribution of essential medicines and health supplies in Africa. This led to Project Last Mile, a pilot project that aimed to deliver sustainable improvement in distribution of essential medicines and health supplies in Tanzania.

Thomas D'Souza, a cofounder of Trinisoft, reflected on how far Trinisoft Technologies had come in just four years. He and Nicolson, his brother and cofounder, had just purchased a new office space in Ahmedabad, India, and added several new developers to service a growing list of clients. Trinisoft's fee-for-service business model meant clients would have to be replaced as development projects came to an end. Growth required more than just replacement, and attracting new clients depended on tangible successes with current ones.

The young CEO of a Turkish bank wants to experiment with a new way of reaching customers and doing business--but she's meeting with resistance from employees and worries that they have had enough. Expert commentary comes from Mitch Krebs, President and CEO of Coeur Mining, and Pinar Abay, CEO of ING Bank Turkey.

The young CEO of a Turkish bank wants to experiment with a new way of reaching customers and doing business--but she's meeting with resistance from employees and worries that they have had enough. Expert commentary comes from Mitch Krebs, President and CEO of Coeur Mining, and Pinar Abay, CEO of ING Bank Turkey.

The young CEO of a Turkish bank wants to experiment with a new way of reaching customers and doing business--but she's meeting with resistance from employees and worries that they have had enough. Expert commentary comes from Mitch Krebs, President and CEO of Coeur Mining, and Pinar Abay, CEO of ING Bank Turkey.

Nickolay Lamm, a recent university graduate, has been interested in entrepreneurship since his childhood. After running two small start-ups as a teen, graduating with a marketing degree and being laid off from his first traditional job, he finds himself working as a freelance designer. His focus is on creating original visual representations of data that go viral. Nickolay's speculative illustration of a fashion doll based on the proportions of an average 19-year old American woman (referred to as "Normal Barbie" by online media) creates considerable market buzz. His "average is beautiful" doll concept is widely covered in online media channels including the Huffington Post, BBC Radio, Cosmopolitan, CNN, Good Morning America, MSN and Smithsonian. When Nickolay starts to receive requests from parents asking where they can purchase an actual physical "average" doll based on his visual representation, he asks himself a question: "Is this the entrepreneurial opportunity for which I've been waiting?" In the end, Nickolay has a decision to make: 1) explore the feasibility of a partnership with Mattel, Hasbro or another established player 2) launch his own company, either with business partners or by himself; or 3) wait for a better entrepreneurial opportunity to emerge...

This compact case describes a scenario where a new human resources manager overhears an exchange between a male and female employee at an off-site party that he believes may constitute harassment. Students are asked to place themselves in the position of this individual as he reviews the course of action he needs to undertake. When it comes to analyzing interpersonal interactions, intentions versus actual behavior may not align. This is particularly true when culture, perception and interpretation intersect in diverse and multicultural environments; here the nuances associated with interpreting ambiguous activities came be further complicated by the differing cultural lens that participants may bring to bear as they work through both identifying and eliminating harassment and abuse. This compact case describes one such "gray" situation, which is further complicated by the fact that the described incident occurred at an off-site social event.

Barbara Levesque was preparing for her monthly board meeting on January 18, 2016. Five years ago John Howard Society of the North Okanagan (JHSNOK) made a strategic decision to pursue social enterprise. Its primary purpose was to better support the growth and development of their clients. A secondary driver was to find additional ways to diversify their funding sources to have more financial independence and stability. Social enterprise was identified as the vehicle to expand their impact, more fully meet their mission, and help contribute to long term operational funding. In 2010, Howard Industries was incorporated and two social-purpose ventures were created: "Uncle Howie's Kitchen" provided low cost catering and "Clean Sweep" offered minor renovations, painting and cleaning that mainly serviced the non-profit and public sector. By 2015, the investment in Howard Industries had started to pay off and to-date their social enterprises had contributed $4500 to its parent organization. The management team estimated that approximately 18 clients of JHSNOK worked full time in the two businesses throughout the four-year period from 2011 to 2015, and significant transformative change for some of these men had occurred. Howard Industries was at a pivotal point in development. The market showed an opportunity to maintain and expand current contracts, increase their profitability, and move their clients into leadership roles in the business. In order to grow, additional management time would have to be allocated to support it. Levesque had been asked by her Board to report on what Howard Industries achieved in 2015, and provide recommendations for its future direction. With the five-year social enterprise pilot coming to an end, Levesque needed to decide if Howard Industries was worth continuing and if so, how would she convince the Board to renew their commitment to this social venture.

The forestry industry unit (UFI) of ZENI, an important business area that carried out its own felling operation and featured high levels of investment in timber processing equipment and technology was run by one of the Founder son Patricio Zeni. Despite strong growth in recent years, UFI's profitability had gradually declined, partly due to the domestic economic situation which was marked by cost increases as a consequence of inflation between 15% to 20% annually, with an almost fixed exchange rate and, partly because the industry was becoming more globally competitive, prices in the USA market were set by two major competitors. Although internal operations seemed to run smoothly, General Manager of UFI -Patricio- was sure that better results in terms of profits could be achieved with more accurate diagnosis especially focus in production balance. The case explores whether UFI should implement a pull-based production planning system to improve company commercial performance and meet future demand or a push-based production system to maximize operational efficiency. Also, the case looks into the feasibility of implementing a control and monitoring system with operational indicators to reduce production problems. Finally, the case introduces the concern about the current organizational structure and how to reorganize the planning management function, possibly turning it into an independent area.

This case takes place as Señor Sisig has had three years of increasing success. The case highlights founder Evan Kidera, and the business as a whole, in Señor Sisig's efforts to continue the company's success and in pursuing the best growth options. Señor Sisig has received great acclaim in its early years. Founder Evan Kidera feels great pressure to capitalize on the opportunities presented to Señor Sisig as a result of the hard work in those early years, and at the same time does not want to over-stretch Señor Sisig's reach. Beyond maintaining business as usual, Kidera was considering three growth opportunities for Señor Sisig: (1) Add more food trucks, (2) expand operations to package products for sales to food retailers, and (3) open a bricks-and-mortar restaurant.

Dr. Fred Carroll, a professor at Regency State, a large university in the Southeast, stopped in to talk to his department chairman, Dr. Ken Winston, about a likely change in the summer faculty pay plan. Rumors were circulating that summer teaching compensation would be cut. Winston, in an uncomfortable situation, replied that the College faced a serious budget shortfall, and the administration was looking at ways to reduce costs, in particular, the high costs of summer instruction. Carroll, who formerly had been a department chair, countered that summer compensation was just one of many possible areas for reducing costs and identified several other options. He did not accept the explanation that the budget must be balanced by reducing summer pay, and remarked that it was unfair, even discriminatory, and contrary to University policy. He vowed to investigate the situation and talk with Winston again. Along with Carroll several other faculty members had expressed their concerns about changes in summer pay to Winston. Faculty summer pay at Regency State was based on a percentage formula that was tied to the faculty member's academic year; those with higher salaries earned higher pay for a summer course. To reduce the summer compensation budget by about 25%, the dean, associate dean, and department chairs were looking at various ways of cutting costs. With the tradition of many year-round students and large summer enrollments, many faculty members were accustomed to getting significant summer pay to supplement their academic-year salaries. Winston, along with the other College administrators, were challenged in identifying alternatives and finding a satisfactory solution to the budget problem that would reduce summer compensation costs yet minimize adverse effects on faculty morale.

This two-part case traces the evolution of the Tata Group, one of India's largest and well-known business groups, from inception until date. The first case principally focuses on Ratan Tata's leadership of the Tata Group, from 1991 to 2012. Tata Group History, the first section of the case, traces the early years of the Tata Group, its management philosophy, the leadership years of its legendary chairman, JRD Tata and ends with the elevation of Ratan Tata as chairman of the group in 1991. Leading Change details the group's transformation under Ratan Tata's leadership. Passing the Baton describes the succession process that led to the appointment of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the group in late 2012. The second case describes Cyrus Mistry's leadership of the group until it ended abruptly with his sudden removal as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016, and the reinstatement of Ratan Tata as interim chairman.