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David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments-hedge funds, private equity, real estate-given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy and also considers how to classify some of the different assets. It highlights the issues around allocations across different subclasses, e.g., between venture capital, hedge funds, and real assets.

As a leading name in the Indian tractor industry, New Holland Tractors India (CNH) is known for its participative employee culture and holds the distinction of having no employee union organization to date, a feat generally unheard of in this industry in India. Thanks to its excellent community-management policies, CNH has derived certain indirect benefits in the form of increased workplace productivity and improved employee behaviours. The company wants to roll out some aggressive plans for growth, but off late, a series of altercations between its blue-collar and white-collar employees threatens to disturb workplace harmony. In terms of its human resource policies, CNH's management team must decide whether to maintain the status quo or put some new strategies in place.

InfoSoft Global is a seven-year-old start-up in the charting-software market. In 2008, it earns revenues of US$3.35 million in a market that its founder estimates to be US$100 million. Should the founder continue growing steadily within a niche, as he had done in the past, or should he make some new strategic choices to target a bigger share of the US$100 million market? Which technologies and devices should he bet on? What customer segments should he focus on? Should he add more complementary products to his company's portfolio? What new channels should he leverage for greater market reach, and what strategy must he adopt to get there?

After having virtually created the yoga-wear segment more than a decade earlier and having become a stock-market darling, Lululemon Athletica finds itself at a critical point in its development. After a series of missteps and a first-quarter profit drop of 60 per cent, the yoga-wear retailer's founder, Chip Wilson, prepares to go into battle, meeting with banks and private equity firms to mount a buyout and take the company private. Similar to other highly successful entrepreneurial companies and their leaders, Lululemon, Wilson and the company executives face fundamental struggles in their attempts to balance an ambition to grow with the need to preserve core elements of the brand as the firm evolves.

Cisco Systems, Inc., the dominant global supplier of the routers and switches that formed the backbone of the Internet, was considering entry into the cloud-based education market in China through the design and marketing of an in-classroom device, the Sunbird. The new vice-president and chief technology officer of Enterprise Networking Group, Cisco Greater China, had met with a Politburo member of the Communist Party of China and State Councilor with responsibilities including China's science, technology and education policies. The vice-president had introduced Cisco's global operations and the two women had discussed partnering, technology transfer, cross branding, joint product and service development, cooperation with Chinese companies, and the IT revolution and its effect on Chinese education. How could Cisco profitably join in the Chinese education IT revolution? Cisco had never entered the educational IT equipment space in any part of the world with its own dedicated product. Should it develop the Sunbird for the Chinese market?

This case examines the queueing issues caused by the growth in popularity of one of the most visited Hindu temples in the world. On January 2, 2015, Ramesh and Vasantha Gupta visit Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, just a day after some 210,000 people crowded the 2,000-year-old site. The case describes the many enhancements that the temple administrator, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has implemented since its management of the temple complex began in 1932. The soaring popularity of the temple, however, has led to safety and comfort concerns for pilgrims. While challenging students to consider additional improvements that might benefit pilgrim throughput rate and time in the temple system, the case highlights the tension TTD must manage between maximizing efficiency and maintaining religious traditions. Additionally, the case demonstrates the importance of perceived waiting times in the management of queues.

This case follows a young entrepreneur as she launches a crowdfunding campaign to expand her already-established craft ice cream company. The story reveals the several steps taken from the planning phase through execution of the online campaign. This case provides an opportunity for students to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of crowdfunding, both as a form of marketing a business as well as garnering capital for expansion of a small business.

The case study discusses the human resource strategy of a fast-growing company in the highly competitive beauty spa industry in Malaysia. It examines how the founders' personal values and philosophies are expressed in the human resource policies and practices and the influence of these on the company's customer service delivery and service culture. HerbaLine's focus on excellent customer service enabled the founders, Mr. Low Chee-Kwong and Ms. Liu Kim-Hwa, to position the beauty spa operator as a viable alternative to expensive, high-end international beauty chains and low-cost, no frills individually-operated beauty salons. The success of their service strategy is reflected in the growth of the beauty spa operator from one outlet in 2000 to 55 outlets in 2014. With a vision to expand HerbaLine beauty spa to every major town in Malaysia, the founders embarked on a new a profit sharing scheme for high performing employees to reward performance and to sustain and grow the high levels of employee commitment and excellent service delivery that underpinned the company's growth. Could this be the motor that would enable the company to double its number of outlets to 100 by 2024?

In March 2015, the U.S. television industry received a major wake-up call. HBO, a premium cable channel with over 30 million subscribers, had announced it would begin offering a standalone streaming service. This new service would allow customers to bypass the cable companies and get direct access to HBO's programming online. The announcement was followed closely by Brian Roberts, chief executive of the Comcast Corporation. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television content and delivering it via cable networks to more than 20 million households. Broadcast and cable television was a $173 billion industry in the U.S., but the rise of on-demand and streaming services meant viewers had more options than ever before. What did developments such as HBO's new service mean for the future of Comcast, and for the industry overall?

In late December 2014, Shinzo Abe was elected to another term as the prime minister of Japan. His re-election was largely interpreted as a vote of confidence for his economics policies, collectively referred to as "Abenomics." Comprised of three "arrows," including expansionary monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, and structural reform, these strategies were designed to reverse Japan's two-decade long challenge with deflation and sluggish growth. Japan also faced several worrisome structural issues, including a demographic crisis, strict labor regulations, and low wage growth, despite low unemployment, in addition to a debt balance that reached 240% of GDP. As the Abe government launched a second round of quantitative easing, totaling ¥80 trillion per year, many wondered, would Abe's three arrows be enough to reverse Japan's problems with economic growth, rising debt, and persistent deflation?

During his tenure as CEO since 2005, Bill Nuti had moved NCR Corporation (originally National Cash Register) from its historical competence in hardware to become a provider of hardware and software for managing transactions across a range of industries and payments methods. Nuti envisioned a world in which consumers would use NCR hardware or applications whether transacting at a bank or ATM, purchasing clothes at a retailer, or checking into a flight at an airport-and in which NCR software would register the transactions, securely store and process the data, and use the transaction information to help NCR customers efficiently manage their operations. In 2011 and early 2013, NCR had made two major acquisitions of companies that were important providers of transaction software in the retail and hospitality industries. Now, in late November 2013, Nuti and his team were considering a third potential major acquisition: Digital Insight, a market leader in online and mobile banking solutions. Nuti saw Digital Insight as key to complementing NCR's offerings in the financial services industry, transforming it from a maker of standalone, electromechanical cash registers and ATMs into an "omni-channel, omni-commerce, software-driven company." Would this acquisition be the next right strategic move for NCR's transformation?

Travis Boersma, co-founder and President of the Dutch Bros. coffee chain, faces three operational decisions that will shape the company's growth trajectory and distinctive culture. First, should they offer a specialty coffee at a subset of their stores in one region where customers are clamoring for it, contrary to the company's commitment to a consistent experience across all stores? Second, as the company continues to expand, should they roll out an electronic point-of-sale system, which has interfered with customer service in prior pilot tests? Third, how can Dutch Bros. provide opportunities for their best employees, who aspire to own and operate their own franchise stores but often lack the expertise and funding to do so.

After a Twitter API change and policy change block his fledling startup, solo entrepreneur Alex Holt evaluates his options. Should he double-down with a major investment in new servers, rewriting his app from scratch, and charging users for a service that had prided itself on being free? Or give up and admit defeat? Was there any middle ground?

The founder of Toronto-based Able Translations has grown the company since 1990 from a single-man operation that did on-site interpreting to a firm of 100 staff in 2014. The firm provides a range of interpreting and translation services on three continents by more than 3,500 qualified language professionals in more than 100 languages. Although an industry leader, the company faces both strong global competitors and a myriad of microbusinesses and freelancers. Moreover, the language service providers industry is experiencing rapid technological change. The founder wonders whether to pursue international growth of his established translation and interpreting businesses (on-site and telephone) or to focus on its emerging capabilities in software development in the North American market - a strategic choice that will have a profound effect on the future of the firm.

In early June 2014, the chief executive officer of Canadian Western Agribition, a not-for-profit organization, is reviewing the results of its 2013 agricultural show, a fair that takes place every November in Regina, Saskatchewan. The week-long event includes the largest livestock show in Canada, an extensive agribusiness tradeshow, a large marketplace of home products, a rodeo competition, and entertainment and educational programs that have a focus on First Nations. After bouncing back from major financial problems three years earlier, Agribition had generated almost $4 million in 2013. How can management ensure that it will continue to grow as a world-class event? Which customer segment - rural, urban or international - should be targeted? How can more visitors, ranchers and breeders be attracted to pay the admission, entry and commission fees that account for 90 per cent of the organization's budget? How can corporate sponsorship and government grants be increased? To maintain its status as one of the best beef shows on the continent, management must implement a marketing and operations strategy that will meet the needs and interests of many groups, a key element for growth and profitability.

The chief operating officer at Westridge Cabinets, a Canadian cabinet manufacturer, needs to improve the company's on-time delivery performance and reduce costs. Customers' orders vary widely, in terms of both order size and product mix, leading to complications in planning and scheduling the plant. As part of their analysis, students are required to 1) recognize how the company's order process integrates with production planning and control; 2) understand how manufacturing lead times affect flexibility and delivery performance and 3) calculate capacity in each department to identify and resolve potential constraints.

In 2011, Mikkel Larsen, Managing Director, Head of Tax & Accounting Policy, Group Finance at DBS Bank mooted the idea of DBS adopting an integrated reporting approach. He was convinced that this was a more holistic way of reporting on the bank's business strategy and activities, linking each of them clearly to the financial and non-financial impact it would have on its stakeholders. In 2012, when DBS adopted the integrated reporting approach, it was the first listed company in Southeast Asia to do so. The report had been well-received and garnered considerable attention from the external parties such as research analysts and the media. Based on feedback from DBS's stakeholders, DBS incorporated changes that would make the 2013 IR more user-friendly and meaningful for its stakeholders. Larsen was, in May 2014, looking over the 2013 report, recognising that there was always room for improvement. For instance, in preparation for the following years' annual reports, further enhancements, could include defining 'materiality', increasing stakeholder outreach, and reporting 'outcomes' as compared to 'outputs'.

This case provides an introduction to microfinance by presenting a very common dilemma that many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are facing - the struggle of reaching the rural population, and rural women in particular. This is done specifically through the lens of Douglas Pond, Opportunity International's (Opportunity) Chief Commercial Officer of Mozambique. In 2008, Douglas arrived in Mozambique and quickly experienced this dilemma. Upon identifying the many barriers to entry, Douglas was left with needing to make a decision.

The principals at Domeyard, a start-up high frequency trading (HFT) hedge fund based in Cambridge, faced a myriad of important decisions: which markets to trade on, how to raise capital, and from whom to raise capital. Many of these decisions were standard for start-ups, but some were unique to hedge funds-among them choosing the right fund structure, as well as how to raise capital for the management company versus raising capital to invest. Given the recent backlash against HFT, the question of whether they should delay any launch also loomed large.