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With ChotuKool, an innovative cooler, Gopalan Sunderraman, Executive Vice President at Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing and his team were able to profitably address a need of bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers in rural India. Case A presents the challenge and the approach used (in-market research) to identify the need and design a solution. To ensure ChotuKool's go-to-market strategy is a success, G&B must get the finance model and distribution model right. Case B explains how G&B partnered with micro-finance institutions and empowerment initiatives targeting local women to address the finance and distribution model challenges. It also describes the non-financial impact that ChotuKool had on local entrepreneurs and consumers, as well as hinting at future avenues for growth.

The case tells the story of SGFE Cambodia and its CEO, Carlo Figa Talamanca, in the period 2011-14. Talamanca has the opportunity to take over the struggling SGFE. Created by the NGO GERES to reduce deforestation in Cambodia, SGFE produces and sells char briquettes. They compete with traditional charcoal, which is mainly derived from illegal forest exploitation. Although superior, the briquettes are also more expensive, and are not well-known by consumers. The question is how to penetrate the market at low cost, and how to position the products. Another question is whether SGFE can realistically achieve the social and environmental objectives of the company. Case B describes SGFE's subsequent commercial success. Getting the public to know the products was the major hurdle, but now that this step has been achieved, demand exceeds supply. Interestingly, it is the low-income vendors, at the bottom of the pyramid, who are the biggest consumers of this more expensive product. However, the social impact of SGFE is minimal and the deforestation of Cambodia continues.

In September 2015, VW had admitted to United States regulators that it had deliberately installed "defeat devices" in many of its diesel cars, which enabled the cars to cheat on federal and state emissions tests, making them able to pass the tests and hit ambitious mileage and performance targets while actually emitting up to 40 times more hazardous gases into the atmosphere than legally allowed. The discovery had prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt final certification of VW's 2016 diesel models, and VW itself had halted sales of its 2015 models. As fallout from the defeat devices developed, VW posted its first quarterly loss in more than 15 years, and its stock plummeted. Top executives were replaced, and VW abandoned its goal of becoming the world's largest automaker. Stakeholders around the world had been asking since the scandal broke: "How could this have happened at Volkswagen?"

The case explores Hadi Partovi's mission to provide every K-12 student in the United States the opportunity to learn computer science. Students can assess how Partovi transformed his passion into an organization that reached millions around the globe through the launch of not-for-profit, Code.org, and its well-known awareness building event entitled "The Hour of Code." The case provides students the opportunity to consider the organization's multi-faceted approach, its team, and partnerships strategy. A particular focus is on the path taken by this relatively young social enterprise to address issues of scalability and sustainability.

Which sales candidate is a startup's ideal first hire? What marketing channels are best to invest in? How aggressively should an executive team align sales with customer success? Early stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives often face one, and sometimes all, of the above scenarios as they grow their ventures. This case presents three short vignettes, with three fictitious organizations, to facilitate a discussion around these important decisions.

This case study was prepared as part of a research project on Culture, Conduct, and Governance in Financial Firms. The objective of this project is to compare and contrast the efforts of U.S. and European banks to induce changes in organization culture in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Since this crisis, wide ranging regulations aimed at improving risk management and bankers' ethics have been promulgated in the United States and in Europe, and more rules are currently under discussion. Academics, regulators, and public officials have proposed many of these measures. At the same time, banks have been implementing their own company-tailored culture change programs. This project and the Morgan Stanley case in particular describes these change programs and banks' experience with them so far-with particular attention being paid to how banks are using compensation and other incentives to change and reinforce organization culture and conduct. One of the central questions of this case is whether or not the voluntary efforts of Morgan Stanley to strengthen their conduct and culture will prove to be "effective" or "adequate" according to bank regulators and the general public. This case lends itself to analysis and discussion in a variety of related graduate-level courses dealing with the management of financial institutions, financial regulation, corporate governance, organization behavior, and corporate accountability and ethics.

Genentech, long the darling of the biotechnology industry, was acquired by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche in 2009. The combined company retains the name Genentech in the US, but must now move to achieve the promises made at the time of this merger-to build from made Genentech great. One of the key tasks for Genentech CEO Ian Clark and CFO Ashraf Hanna was to implement a new portfolio management process for the combined entity. This case explores the goals of the portfolio management process, and allows students to actively participate in the portfolio management exercise. The case includes cost and income projections for 12 products that need to be reviewed and approved.

Indonesia's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the world's largest pulp and paper company, was attacked in 2011 by Greenpeace in a global campaign against buyers of APP packaging, particularly Mattel. The managing director of APP's sustainability and stakeholder engagement (SSE) had to address lost sales and the accusation of greenwashing and devise an appropriate response to Greenpeace's challenge while implementing the APP Group chairman's goals to promote climate conservation, community, and commerce. In November 2014, the managing director of SSE had to assess the current progress of the Forest Conservation Policy and APP's relationships with its stakeholders.

In 2014, Transcend Coffee-an independent coffee shop and coffee bean roaster with several locations in Edmonton, Alberta-was selling premium coffee to a loyal base of customers. While it had taken several years to establish its presence in a marketplace that was filled with coffee retailers, Transcend Coffee's success was in part due to its direct trade supply chain strategy. By working closely with its coffee bean farmers, Transcend Coffee was able to assist in improving both the growing process of the beans and the quality of the coffee. When one of its farmers experienced a disastrous coffee bean season, the company was faced with several challenges that could have an impact on not just its profits but also the livelihood of its farmers. With demand for its coffee at an all-time high, Transcend Coffee had to consider how to mitigate a supply shortage without sacrificing quality. The founder was unsure if the current supply chain could guarantee a steady supply of high-quality coffee, or whether he could maintain transparency with consumers and suppliers if there was variability with the product. He had to quickly decide what to do about the poor harvest and his relationship with the supplier and also figure out how to meet customer demand.

The protagonist, Jasper Wang, was originally from China, but had extensive risk management experience in overseas banks. With rapid Chinese economic growth, he was eager to return to China for the right opportunity, and was persuaded by the CEO of a domestic Chinese investment bank to head their Risk Management function. His remit was to introduce "international standards" in risk measurement and management to the firm. After the initial "honeymoon" period, he began to encounter more and more resistance from his colleagues at the trading desk, expressing skepticism for the new "Value at Risk" based market risk control framework he wants to set up. He must decide how he will push a more quantitative risk and control framework within the organization in the face of domain issues, dismissal of risk management measures used outside of China, and basic cultural differences about how things may get done within a domestic firm.

The Dallara Automobili case describes the success of a family run company that designed and built chassis for racing and sports cars. Established in 1972 by the legendary Gian Paolo Dallara, the company provided winning chassis for almost all major racing formulas. Initially the company's success was based on two core capabilities: aerodynamics and carbon fiber manufacturing, a combination that allowed the company to produce fast, light and safe chassis. In 2007, when the founder turned 70, he brought on board a new CEO, Andrea Pontremoli (former CEO of IBM Italy), to support and develop the company's long-term vision. Pontremoli led the company through an innovation journey that transformed Dallara from a pure high-end craftsmanship company into a modern engineering firm. Dallara pursued its original vocation and capabilities but it also developed new revenue streams, entering new customer segments beyond motorsports. The case describes the steps of this journey, focusing on how innovation impacted the traditional workflow within Dallara, opening up new business opportunities while maintaining the lead in its core business.

The electric-vehicle market in India had never grown to its expected potential. Environmental uncertainties, structural challenges, lack of consumer awareness, and high costs all served as major deterrents to customer acceptance of electric cars. In 2014, Mahindra Reva launched the e2o, a completely revamped version of its previous electric vehicle, the Reva. Although the car was highly advanced and loaded with innovative features, sales remained stagnant. Should Mahindra Reva attempt to strengthen its market position or completely change its strategy and pursue other options, such as the hybrid-vehicle market.

In 2015, the general manager of Maritimes Credit Union based in Atlantic Canada was faced with a merger proposal that involved amalgamation with another, much larger credit union. The major concern was how co-operatives and credit unions could compete while retaining the values and mission that were at the core of their foundation. The credit union was dealing with the issue of competing in a modern world where technology was changing at a rapid pace, where the value demanded by younger customers had evolved, and where the competitive landscape was more intense, even in rural areas. The values and culture of a credit union were called into question as it coped by developing strategies that resembled those of investor-owned firms.

Teracom Limited was a medium-sized engineering manufacturing firm in India whose product portfolio included modems. The company catered to the various telecom service providers across India, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited , a major state-owned telecommunications company. Teracom's customers were primarily business-to-business entities such as government organizations and telecom operators. However, it was considering selling its modems to retail customers. After seeking applications for new distributors of Teracom modems, the company narrowed the list down to four candidate firms. In December 2014, Teracom's president of corporate business had to use a distributor selection model and undertake a distributor performance appraisal. What were the main criteria for evaluating the four applicants, and which firm was the best fit?

In 2015, jane's short & sweet, a United States-based for-profit business, regularly dedicated 25 per cent of its revenue to charities supporting its mission of improving the education and healthcare of marginalized women. The company also engaged in some environmental practices with respect to its use of resources. jane's short & sweet's owner understood that she would have to make some trade-offs between people and profit while still attempting to remain consistent with her company's social purpose and contribute to the resolution of its current problem-finding a way to fill a customer order that exceeded the company's production capacity. While addressing the company's new labour needs, the owner needed to evaluate how the trade-off between mission and money would affect the company's labour source, hourly wages, pricing strategy, product price, and organizational goals. To do so, the owner had to identify and evaluate the options that would enable her to better fulfill her company's role as a social sustainable enterprise.

At the end of September 2015, Matthias Mueller stepped in as CEO for the Volkswagen Group, days after Martin Winterkorn resigned over the biggest automotive emissions scandal the world had ever seen. Weeks before, the United States Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the result of investigations proving that Volkswagen had installed software in its most successful diesel engines, which were cheating on the test stand and manipulating results. The successful rapid expansion of Volkswagen's TDI models in the US market was based on fraud. Across brands, about 11 million of the Group's diesel vehicles worldwide were later discovered to have had the cheating device installed. This shattered the worldwide brand and developed into a threat to the formerly pristine image of "Made in Germany" products. Mueller, a veteran of the Volkswagen group, took charge in maneuvering Volkswagen Group out of the crisis, finding technical solutions and regaining the trust of customers, authorities and employees. The Group claimed that the scandal was the result of a chain of errors dating back to 2005. The case illustrates how a failure of proper corporate governance, over-ambitious target-setting and an authoritarian management culture can lead a successful company into crisis. It also leaves us to ponder why a corporate leader in social responsibility could be linked to such a massive scandal.

It was October 2015, Charlie Wong, CEO of Zuji Hong Kong told the media at the launch of Zuji's new brand campaign "Search, Discover and Share" that he would like to see Zuji "become the Google for travel" in Hong Kong. Indeed, a deemed pioneer and leading online travel agent ("OTA") in Hong Kong, the aspiration did not seem far-fetched. Yet, the ambition was not without challenge. Since Zuji went online in 2002, the brand had been twice sold and its geographic coverage shrunk from six to three markets: Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Online travel booking had been slow picking up in Hong Kong. After more than 10 years, online sales remained at under 10% of the total market in Hong Kong, compared to the regional average of 25% in Asia Pacific. As momentum built up, Wong predicted the online travel agent ("OTA") market to quadruple, from 10% in 2014 to 40% in 2016. Meantime, competition from multiple fronts was flooding the market. Global leader Expedia had launched Expedia.com.hk in 2013, and was investing heavily in marketing to capture share. Traditional offline agents were busy expanding their online presence, building a hybrid model as competitive advantage. At the consumer end, mobile phones have become an indispensable travel companion and its implication went beyond the migration from one platform to another. Around the world, the industry was seeing the rise of the millennia travellers with new needs and expectations while on the road, and they were changing the rules of the game. Zuji is facing the biggest opportunity of its time to ride this wave of change and reinforced its market leadership.

In less than 20 years, Uniqlo has become the leading fast-fashion retailer in Japan and a strong player in other Asian countries like China, Korea and Taiwan. Since 1998, the company has expanded sales at double-digit rates, thanks to an aggressive pricing policy combined with a high level of quality, a mix that proved hard to resist for Asian customers. Key to Uniqlo's strategy and success was an agile supply chain inspired by the "fast-fashion" model pioneered by Inditex and also utilized by H&M, the two largest fashion retailers in the world. While Uniqlo demanded competitive prices from its suppliers, it also offered them continual technical assistance in developing and perfecting their manufacturing techniques, and supported them with a high flow of orders. Nineteen ninety-eight was an important year for Uniqlo, as the opening of a flagship store in one of the hottest fashion districts of Tokyo projected the brand in Japan at a national level. At the product level, a partnership with Toray, one of the world's leading producers of composite and synthetic fibers, resulted in garments that had performance and properties no natural material could match. Working with Toray forced Uniqlo to refine its supply chain further, that became "just-in-time," mimicking that of other highly competitive Japanese companies. With an efficient but regional supply chain, Uniqlo faced rising manufacturing costs in China and was experimenting with new supply chain models in low-cost locations like Bangladesh. Uniqlo's supply chain had proved effective in the Asia Pacific region, but could the same model be scaled worldwide? Was the low growth rate Uniqlo experienced in the US, and particularly Europe, also due to the limitations of its current supply chain?

In 2008, the Multinational Natural Gas Pipeline Project was sponsored by China National Group Corporation to undertake a major international infrastructure project in Asia. The Pipeline Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Group Corporation, established joint ventures with the host countries and took the lead in financing the project, which was required to be completed by the end of 2009. Initial investments and procurements were made, and payment would soon be due. However, there was a large gap between the estimated total investment and the funds available. Numerous banks expressed interest in the pipeline project, but most required the sponsor to provide a guarantee for the project's loan. Some banks also asked for an increase in the capital ratio from less than 1 per cent to 20 per cent. The treasurer responsible for the financing of the project was now tasked with the issue of arranging the most effective way to finance the project.

Rohit Gupta, the oldest third generation member of a family business, has to decide whether to continue working for the business, towards which he has a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility, or follow his dreams and venture out on his own. Both alternatives have strong positive and negative implications. Rohit jointly headed the Western India unit of his family business, Ketan Logistics Limited (KLL). His grandfather had set up KLL, a logistics provider, in 1986. Over the years, the company expanded its fleet, acquired a license to operate freight trains, and diversified into ocean freight services and the transportation of large industrial equipment and food products. By 2014, it had become an integrated, multimodal logistics provider to business customers. KLL's operations were divided into four geographic zones, each headed by one of the second generation family members, i.e., Rohit's father and uncles. KLL took several measures to professionalize operations, such as deploying enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, adopting a code of conduct and organizing employee training and workshops. After graduating from college, all the third generation members of the family, except one, joined KLL. Some of them, like Rohit, had high aspirations and wanted to make changes at KLL, but their attempts invariably met with strong resistance. This led to frustration among some next generation members who had considered venturing out on their own at different points in time. Rohit also had a business idea, which he shared with his old friend Amit Goyal who also belonged to a business family. Goyal liked the idea instantly and offered to invest in the new venture. Rohit was emotionally attached to his father and other family members and did not want KLL to suffer as a result of his exit. He also had to consider his own hopes and future. He would not easily get an opportunity again to launch his own venture. Rohit was facing a tough decision dilemma.