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Reckitt Benckiser was the world's largest manufacturer of household products and a major marketer of health-care and personal-care products. The company was at a threshold of opportunities provided by a growing market of Indian consumers who were becoming health conscious and buying antibacterial products to make their homes germ-free. At a time when more and more Indians were looking for antibacterial products to protect their health, the company wondered if it should launch an antibacterial laundry detergent powder as part of its brand expansion strategy. Would the company benefit from a first-mover advantage by launching the first antibacterial laundry detergent in India? If the company were to consider entering this market, what strategic and branding objectives should it adopt? Should this new detergent be an extension of the company's famous Dettol brand or a new brand name?

Kim Fuller is planning to start a business. The case discusses the kinds of information she needs to run it successfully.

A physician is thinking about starting a new business. Students must translate her ideas into a beginning balance sheet.

This case gives students the opportunity to examine the operating cycle. They see how a manager's decisions can affect both the cycle, and, perhaps most importantly, how to manage the amount of cash that an entity needs to operate.

This is a relatively simple introductory case, designed to give students practice in constructing a balance sheet and to begin to think about the meaning of assets, liabilities and equity.

Lumiscape, a manufacturer of high-tech streetlights, has recently decided to switch from a direct sale business model to a subscription service, in which customers would get installation, maintenance, and monitoring software bundled with the product. Part of the reasoning is that customers haven't been extracting all the potential value in their streetlights. Now a customer wants to hugely increase its order--but through a direct sale. With commentary by Scott Burns, of GovDelivery, and Jack Kutner, of Bigbelly.

Lumiscape, a manufacturer of high-tech streetlights, has recently decided to switch from a direct sale business model to a subscription service, in which customers would get installation, maintenance, and monitoring software bundled with the product. Part of the reasoning is that customers haven't been extracting all the potential value in their streetlights. Now a customer wants to hugely increase its order--but through a direct sale. With commentary by Scott Burns, of GovDelivery, and Jack Kutner, of Bigbelly.

Lumiscape, a manufacturer of high-tech streetlights, has recently decided to switch from a direct sale business model to a subscription service, in which customers would get installation, maintenance, and monitoring software bundled with the product. Part of the reasoning is that customers haven't been extracting all the potential value in their streetlights. Now a customer wants to hugely increase its order--but through a direct sale. With commentary by Scott Burns, of GovDelivery, and Jack Kutner, of Bigbelly.

ISlide is the story of a nascent entrepreneur, Justin Kittredge, who used his experience and knowledge of the athletic footwear market to start his own footwear company, a manufacturer/distributor of customizable athletic sandals known as "slides." The case illustrates many of the concepts of Entrepreneurial Thought and Action-where an entrepreneur starts with the concepts of Who am I, What do I know, and Whom do I know. The founder, Justin, a former Reebok executive and college basketball player, is passionate about basketball and coaching young people. The case illustrates how Justin builds a company in a niche that has not yet been exploited by the big footwear companies.

The Grupo SALA case focuses on entrepreneur Humberto Rodriguez's venture based in Bogota, Colombia. Rodriguez saw an opportunity in the environmental-solutions space when the Colombian government decided to privatize public services. Rodriguez started his venture in 1997 in a 62-square-meter office with an investment of $100,000 by a U.S.-based investor. By June 2015, the time of the case, Grupo SALA operated in three areas-solid waste, dangerous residues, and water and sewer-and had grown at an average rate of 21.3% over the 2002-2014 period. The group drew on three foundations-entrepreneurship, technology innovation and regulatory management, and successful environmental management-and, with 3,270 employees working in eighteen companies, recorded Colombian pesos 256 billion in revenue in 2014 (US$128 million at 2014 conversion rate of 1 Colombian Peso = US$0.0005). After a quick introduction, the case takes the reader through the following six sections: (1) Rodriguez's personal background and approach to risk-taking and entrepreneurship; (2) a window into Grupo SALA's businesses, organizational structure, and ownership; (3) the group's opportunities transforming Colombian attitudes and behavior toward waste, the introduction of containerization, the incineration of hazardous waste, water treatment, and the eventual end game around sustainability and improved lives, spaces, and the environment; (4) Rodriguez's and Grupo SALA's approach to management; (5) the staging of a first "shark tank" to encourage ideas to fuel Grupo SALA's future growth; and (6) Rodriguez's questions for his group regarding the road ahead.

Steve Healy, the President of Zimmer Spine, has to transform his organization into a market leader. Zimmer is a major medical device firm, but the Spine division has underperformed and it's core technology did not get the expanded FDA label that had been expected. The case reviews the industry, the competitive landscape, and the potential growth strategies for Zimmer Spine to consider.

Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s, income distribution had widened. By 2015, 20 business groups -- nearly all family-owned -- controlled one in four listed companies through corporate pyramids. Public anger over the high cost of living, which many believed was due to a lack of competition, led to a series of protests. Some academics and members of the Knesset (Parliament) called for reforms to limit the activities of corporate pyramids.

Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies which environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. This case compares the models of two dissimilar environmental powerhouses: Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Active in 100 countries, WWF works with governments, businesses, other NGOs, and communities to set up conservation programs to preserve natural habitat. In contrast, Greenpeace works to campaign for environmental change against governments and corporations and accepts funding only through individuals and foundation grants. Explores the detailed history and business models of both organizations.

In March 2016, Donna Dubinsky (co-founder and CEO) and Jeff Hawkins (co-founder) were struggling with a key question: could Numenta be successful in both creating fundamental technology and building a commercial business? Located in Redwood City, CA, Numenta was founded in 2005 to expand Hawkins' research on the human brain, with the goal of "reverse engineering the neocortex" and then creating machines based on biological principals. Ultimately, Hawkins believed that Numenta could be a catalyst in creating intelligent machines that would lay the foundation for the next generation of computing with potentially broad ranging commercial opportunities.

Jade eServices Pvt. Limited (Jabong), an e-retailer of fashion products in India, regularly had to balance conflicting expectations from its supplier brands and consumers. The discounts that e-retailers had to offer to consumers to generate sufficient sales resulted in brand dilution, which compelled these brands to avoid the online channel. After allowing large discounts on Jabong's website for two years, Puma, a major international sports shoe brand, decided to stop discounting product lines that were contributing to 14 per cent of Jabong's footwear sales. Puma products helped to attract new customers, and Puma's decision had the potential to affect the commercial terms offered by other footwear brands, which would have even more impact on Jabong. Jabong's director of sports apparel knew that he was unlikely to meet the required growth figures without discounts on Puma's products. He needed a new strategy to compensate for Puma's withdrawal of discounting options, and he needed it immediately.

In 2015, many people in southwest Sri Lanka were experiencing severe health problems as a result of poor water sanitation, decaying pumps and pipes, and the resultant unsanitary water. With Sri Lanka's dubious credit record and extremely poor economy, the country's government was unsure of how to raise the US$70 million that was required to build new sanitation plants and replace many aging pipes throughout the region. Would it have to accept the first offer of support or would its long-time allies from other foreign governments come to the rescue? There was little doubt that Sri Lanka would be faced with a number of caveats and conditions as part of any agreement to secure the necessary funding. Furthermore, even if the country could find the funds, would the designated officials use them appropriately without falling prey to corruption? As in any developing country, there were many concerns that needed to be addressed, and very few resources with which to address them.

In 2015, Generation Investment Management celebrated the successful 10-year track record of its flagship Global Equity Fund, which outperformed its benchmark index by over 500 basis points per year. A mainstream investment firm whose founders included former United States Vice President Al Gore and former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management David Blood, Generation integrated qualitative sustainability factors such as environmental, social, and governance issues with traditional financial equity analysis. Along the way, Generation proved to skeptics that it was capable of building a mission-driven investment firm that prioritized returns and delivered superior results. Generation faced a significant challenge to its long-term investment focus during the global financial crisis in 2008. One of its largest holdings, the Irish industrial panel manufacturer Kingspan Group, saw its equity price drop almost 65 percent in one year. Confronted with this precipitous drop, the Global Equity Fund team decided that it needed to revisit its analytical process and question what, if anything, it had missed. This case provides an overview of Generation's philosophy, culture and organizational structure. It includes an in-depth look at the Global Equity Fund's qualitative and quantitative investment process that utilizes the Kingspan Group investment as an example. Optional Excel spreadsheets are available to enable students to analyze Generation's valuation methodology in greater detail.

In January 2016, the program director of Royal FloraHolland and a supply chain consultant met to develop a supply chain strategy that would allow Royal FloraHolland to adapt to the changing competitive environment that jeopardized its business model. Royal FloraHolland was the largest floriculture auction organization in the world, selling more than 30 million flowers and plants daily. Located in the Netherlands, Royal FloraHolland was a co-operative owned by 4,500 growers. A century-long tradition, where buyers purchased flowers and plants through the Dutch flower auction clock, was being threatened. Pressures facing Royal FloraHolland included emerging global competition, industry consolidation, and customers bypassing the auction process to buy directly from the growers. The two supply chain experts considered opportunities and challenges that lay ahead for the organization.

In response to a recommendation at a government-sponsored power forum, Delhi's aging and inefficient Rajghat Power House (RPH) was scheduled to close its doors. The coal-based plant had reached the end of its 25-year useful life, and its outdated equipment spewed toxins into Delhi's air and water on a daily basis. Environmentalist bodies and power-distributing units in Delhi had made similar recommendations for the RPH's closure over the years, and while the government had gone so far as to approve some of those plans, nothing had ever come of them. With the arrival of the forum's recommended date of October 2015 for the plant's closure, Delhi's government officials faced a difficult decision. Should they ignore the environmental degradation to achieve a high growth rate in the short run, or should they protect the environment to achieve a sustainable growth rate in the long run?