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A radical change was triggered in the fertilizer industry in India in fiscal year 2015-16, following a policy directive by the government of India regarding mandatory neem-coated urea, a fertilizer component. The government’s policy decision was made to restore the market dynamics by moving control of, and access to, urea from intermediaries and industries toward farmers. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GNFC) decided to leverage this policy directive as an opportunity to set up a fully-integrated value chain for the in-house production of neem oil and related product offerings. The decision to pursue an integrated value chain approach was driven by GNFC’s belief that neem seed collection, a labour-intensive activity, presented a huge opportunity for the economic and social empowerment of rural women in India. GNFC launched the Neem Project, which showcased a differentiated business model to comply with the government’s policy directive. By 2017, the project had benefited approximately 225,000 rural women. Although the project earned GNFC many accolades and the managing director at GNFC was confident about its potential, he was concerned about the challenges associated with scaling the initiative.

In April 2017, the chief executive officer of Funskool India Limited (Funskool), was formulating a growth strategy to increase the company's annual revenues from ₹1.9 billion in 2016 to ₹5 billion by 2020. The Indian toy manufacturer had primarily catered to the local market while also exporting toys to developed markets. In 2006, the company expanded its line of products, set up an exclusive design department to develop new products, redesigned its advertising and promotional activities, and expanded into retail outlets. However, Chinese importers were upgrading and moving up the product segment ladder, where Funskool had a strong presence, and video games, which Funskool did not produce, were seeing exponential growth. How could Funskool augment the revenue obtained from the sale of its own brands? With Chinese competitors targeting consumers higher up the segment, should Funskool target customers in the lower economic levels? Should it enter the digital space to prevent a growth stall and catapult itself to the next stage in the growth cycle? The company needed to make some decisions and take steps to face these emerging challenges.

In the fall of 2017, Ajanta Packaging (Ajanta) was among the fastest growing glass bottle-packaging companies in India. Although the company had a large buyer base of 1,700 customers, it still earned around 50 per cent of its business from 10 key accounts, including its biggest buyer, S.F. Foods (SF), which accounted for 15 per cent of Ajanta’s revenue. The position of privilege enjoyed by SF became a cause of concern for a director at Ajanta because of the client’s unrealistic demands. After a $25 million order from SF with a profit margin of less than 7 per cent, a payment period of 60 days, and a very short turnaround time, the director was forced to review his relationship with his company’s biggest client, and to decide whether to accept the order on SF’s terms, or renegotiate the price, payment terms, and delivery schedule to benefit Ajanta.

In August 2015, the general manager of Western Regions Gas Pipeline Company was gazing at a natural gas pipeline map in his Beijing office. The multinational natural gas pipeline (MNGP) would deliver natural gas from the Republic of Timur to China through the Republic of Frespirit. The construction of the pipeline was at the planning stage. To construct and operate the MNGP, Western Regions Gas Pipeline Company was legally required to set up a joint venture with a local company in each of the transit countries. However, the construction period for the MNGP was extremely tight, and the relationships between the stakeholders were quite complicated. How to exercise control in the joint ventures to ensure the smooth construction and operation of the MNGP had become a difficult issue.

In 2009, the owners of Mobile Joint Stock Company (Mobile World) were struggling to manage the challenges of rapid internal growth in a fast-changing and competitive industry. At the same time, private equity firm Mekong Capital was considering its role in the company and how to guide future growth. There was some dissension between the two parties; how could they resolve their differences and add value to the company?

In late 2009, Mobile World consulted with the former chief executive officer of Best Buy about its operations in Vietnam. Should Mobile World take his advice? Should Mobile World's senior management team visit other companies with more experience in the electronics industry? How could Mobile World and Mekong Capital conquer the challenges they faced in 2012? Use with 9B18M078.

In 2016, with success in its two main business lines, mobile phones and electronics retailing, Mobile World Joint Stock Company (Mobile World) faces the challenge of expansion. It is considering geographic expansion into the nearby markets of Cambodia and Myanmar. It is also considering business line expansion into either pharmaceutical or mid-market fresh produce. The founders of Mobile World and the partners of its private equity investor, Mekong Capital, are debating the chances of success of entry into one or more of these new geographic or product areas. Use with 9B18M078 and 9B18M079.

In October 2016, the chief executive officer of Bidcorp Baltics, a food services company operating in the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, faced a dilemma. He needed to decide whether to expand the warehouse depot in Lithuania or in another location, and whether the company should diversify into products other than fresh fish and seafood. Because the company was part of the larger Bid Corporation Limited group, headquartered in South Africa, he had scheduled a teleconference with the head office. His challenge was to present a persuasive case for the parent company’s capital investment in Bidcorp Baltics. What contextually relevant factors did the chief executive officer need to consider?

The factory manager of John Deere Reman, located in Edmonton, Canada, was preparing for a meeting in September 2017, with the general manager of Global Reman Operations and Marketing at the company's head office in Springfield, Missouri. John Deere’s remanufacturing operations had been steadily improving over the last decade. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss opportunities for changes to John Deere’s remanufacturing operation that would provide value to the company, improve customer service, and support the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

CRISIL Limited (CRISIL) was a pioneer in the ratings business in India and a market leader in the industry. However, the company was facing a high level of competition in attracting and retaining talent not only from ratings companies but also from other sectors such as start-ups, banks, and financial institutions. Against this backdrop, one of the major strategic tasks for the president and head of Human Resources was to identify the main dimensions of an employee value proposition that could be used to position CRISIL as a strong employer brand in the minds of current and potential employees.

In mid-2017, the regional head of Operations and Supply Chain at Sika AG, a Swiss specialty chemicals leader that developed solutions for building and automotive industries, faced a new challenge in the company’s epoxy flooring supply chain. She was tasked with identifying a robust solution that would both satisfy a shortened lead time and provide spare capacity to accommodate future growth. How should she proceed with these tasks?

In October 2012, the chief executive officer of Focus Brand Management (Focus), a consulting and advertising company based in mainland China, was preparing to meet with Jiangzhong Pharmaceuticals (Jiangzhong). Focus had been working with Jiangzhong on an annual analysis of brand tracking. Based on that analysis, executives at Jiangzhong believed that it was time to expand their business to the functional food industry. Their first product would be a line of biscuits featuring a core ingredient known as hou tou gu, an ingredient that was considered beneficial to stomach care according to traditional Chinese medicine. For her meeting, Focus’s chief executive officer needed to resolve some key questions about the most appropriate branding, packaging design, advertising and promotion strategy, and the choice of a suitable brand ambassador for this product.

In early 2017, the chief executive officer of AgriSmart, a German start-up company within the Bosch start-up platform, was preparing for an important upcoming board meeting. She needed to explain why AgriSmart had deviated from its original financial plan, seek approval for its upcoming budget, and convince Bosch's board that the company deserved further funding. In preparing the company's forecasts to share with the board, the chief executive officer also needed to prepare for all possible questions from the directors regarding AgriSmart's past performance and the assumptions going forward.

In late 2016, Axonify, a Canadian technology company that managed a corporate online learning platform, was struggling to meet aggressive revenue growth targets while also controlling the costs of acquiring new customers. Axonify's chief financial officer had not imposed a top-down approach to developing budgets, nor had he attempted to closely monitor and control actual results against the budgeted costs. The members of the senior management team had been exercising considerable autonomy to develop their own functional area budgets and had been asked to explain only significant variances. The budgeting system had served Axonify well in its start-up phase. Would this “loose” budget system continue to work as the company grew, or should the chief financial officer have considered another budget process?

In 2015, MobilityWorks, the largest mobility dealership and reformer of wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) in the United States, found itself unable to cater to a large enough fraction of the population with limited mobility. With the baby boomers starting to retire, the gap was widening at a pace much faster than the growth of the WAV industry. How could MobilityWorks re-work its business strategy in order to grow across different market segments?

In 2016, a young South African left her secure office job to pursue her passion for social entrepreneurship in the youth development field. She had been volunteering with street children, but she wanted to do more by drawing on her entrepreneurial experience from high school and university. She followed her passion, and experienced a number of challenges, but also early successes over her first four years of social entrepreneurship, including the formation of her social business, Beyond the Lemonade Stand. Business was steady but she struggled with getting the commitment needed in poor township schools to make the program a success. She began to question the core purpose of her organization and wondered if she would be better off pursuing opportunities offered by middle-class and private schools that wanted her services.

In December 2016, the president of the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association (LMTA) was getting ready for a board of directors meeting during which the members had to vote on whether to hire an executive director—a first for the association. If hired, the association would face a new financial hurdle that could threaten its sustainability. The LMTA was a non-profit mountain trail association that was implementing socially responsible tourism practices on and around a 470 kilometre trail. The association was struggling to sustain itself financially, to protect and maintain the trail, and to secure the succession of its board.

In 2007, the former Calgary mayor was preparing to make the case for a Community Revitalization Levy to secure financing to develop Calgary’s East Village, a downtown brownfield site. The East Village had a difficult history, and economic, social, and environmental issues abounded there. All previous attempts at redevelopment had failed. After doing meticulous research, the mayor presented to Calgary City Council his idea of the Community Revitalization Levy, the first of its kind in Canada, and it was approved. Next began the momentous task of carrying out the redevelopment, and the City of Calgary could not be directly involved. The mayor had to decide how the city could ensure the success of the redevelopment of the East Village.

Zhejiang Semir E-Commerce Co. Ltd., the online subsidiary of Chinese casual clothing company Zhejiang Semir Group Co. Ltd. (Semir), grew continuously from its launch in 2012 to become a main contributor to Semir’s success, contributing approximately 30 per cent of Semir’s annual revenue by 2016. Semir entered the online market relatively late after many competing Chinese clothing manufacturers had already established their presence online. Yet it became the industry leader in terms of e-commerce revenue. It differed from other major clothing firms mainly in its implementation of the management philosophy of Kazuo Inamori, particularly his Amoeba Management method and his belief in altruism and a win-win approach to business. Semir worked to create supply chain relationships that were true partnerships, and it promoted the various brands in its multi-brand strategy through celebrity endorsements and online marketing. Like its major competitors, Semir was exploring online-to-offline (O2O) models in the clothing industry. In 2016, the company faced a rapidly changing online environment and increasing competition in the industry. It needed a strategy to maintain its early success in e-commerce. It also needed to determine what kind of O2O model to adopt and how to deal with competition from fast-fashion retailers in the online marketplace.

By October 2014, Kumar Sweets was a successful sweets company in Kurukshetra, Haryana, India, well-known for Indian sweets made using a Kumar family recipe that had been passed down for generations. The company’s success was largely due to the continued efforts of its founder and head, but the founder’s eldest son sensed that something was wrong with the firm’s operations. Although revenue had increased over the years, the business had not been able to realize the expected profit. Since its last product expansion effort in 2011, Kumar Sweets’ profitability was lower than it had been in previous years; the founder and his son wanted to find out why, because they had hoped to pursue geographic expansion. Kumar Sweets needed to implement appropriate actions that addressed its existing problems as soon as possible.