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CEO Francesco Starace is considering what is next for Enel SpA, one of world's largest energy companies. From 2014 to 2022, he has wrought a dramatic transformation at Enel, restructuring the company's business units; redeploying senior talent across functions and geographies; instigating a digital transformation; initiating a shift from Enel generating energy primarily sourced from thermal (or brown) sources (reliant on fossil fuels), to a leading provider of renewable energy. He has launched Enel X, an incubator for new products and services built on electrification, which is steadily overtaking Enel's own retail sales. He has introduced an Office of Innovability as a way to inject a culture of sustainable thinking across the company. Now he faces a possible third term as CEO. What is next for Enel and Starace?

In June 2021, Kim T. Folsom, the founder and CEO of revenue-based financing firm Founders First Capital Partners (FFCP), must decide whether to issue another loan to OnShore Technology Group, an up-and-coming software validation company. FFCP provided revenue-based financing (RBF) to small businesses, with a particular focus on diverse entrepreneurs. OnShore Founder Valarie King-Bailey had previously taken an RBF loan, and had requested a second round of capital from FFCP. The case provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of RBF - specifically relative to bank loans and merchant cash advances - and challenges readers to decide whether a second RBF loan would be appropriate for OnShore.

Colette Phillips' marketing firm had just won the City of Boston's 2nd largest contract in history to a Black-owned company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Get Konnected!, the networking organization for people of color that she founded 15 years earlier and led to prominence, had evolved into a portfolio of 5 ventures, including executive recruiting and a VC fund, to remove systemic barriers to equity and inclusion in business and wealth creation in a long-racially-troubled region where she had also experienced discriminatory barriers. A strong commitment to partnerships, some controversial, had extended her reach, and Boston was changing, including its first elected female mayor of color. How could Phillips assess her impact as a leader, given the magnitude of the problems? What was the role of networking in increasing the numbers of successful minority and female small businesses? Was she contributing to changing the narrative and building new institutions? In addition to the 4 N's of numbers, narratives, networks, and new institutions, how else could she capitalize on the region's momentum, and determine what to do next with her platform to ensure a more equitable and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem?

Joe and Matt Deitch, father and son, knew it was time to start their own family office. Matthew had recently joined his father at the family's three enterprises, and they both realized that their family's needs had grown increasingly complex over the years. In search of someone to oversee their new initiatives, the two began interviewing prospective CEOs to head their new family office. Having defined the family's needs and wants for their family office, how could they find someone that resonated with their values and priorities? How could the family establish the governance and legacy institutions necessary to fulfill their goals and wishes? Knowing that their decisions would set a precedent for all generations to come, how could the family translate their strategic vision into an optimal family office structure, and how could they identify the best partner to guide them through the process?

Set in April 2022, this case delves into supply chain disruptions faced by 3M in and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the strategies used by the company to cope with the challenges. The case begins by tracing the history of 3M as an 'Innovation Machine', and its internationalization strategy in its early years. It then talks about the company's regionalisation strategy, and complementary growth strategies like the 'Divide and Grow', 'Follow the Technology' and 'Renewal' tactics to expand and diversify internationally. It also talks about the digital transformation and the consolidated operating model, which the company embarked upon in 2019, to re-energise the company. In 2020, 3M faced massive supply chain disruptions amidst a 400% demand surge of N95 masks and personal protective equipment, and simultaneous closure of several manufacturing facilities worldwide. 3M continued to operate from manufacturing plants that were still open, with government support - in countries like Singapore - while facing resource and supply constraints and other uncertainties. To cope with the disruption, the company used several strategies like emergency response teams, 30/60/90-day cycles of supply management, additional supplier sourcing and airfreight for exporting finished goods. In 2022, even after the pandemic started to subside, supply chain disruptions continued to persist amidst increasing geopolitical tensions like the Russia-Ukraine war and a new surge of the pandemic in China. Given the prolonged and evolving supply chain disturbances, what could be the appropriate short-term and longer term strategies that 3M could implement to respond to such disruptions?

In September 2022, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO Alex Oshmyansky considered the future of the company. Cost Plus Drugs was a retailer for more than 340 generic oral medications, selling their drugs at significantly lower prices than typical pharmacies. Oshmyansky could focus resources on adding brand-name drugs to its medication portfolio or focus on the company's ongoing development of a facility to manufacture sterile injectable drugs.

Zak Pym Williams, mental health advocate, grappled with the question of how to create a proactive mental health family environment for his children. Having witnessed how mental health challenges such as addiction and depression had impacted the past four generations of his family, Williams sought to break the cycle for his children and future generations ahead. He himself was among the approximately 20% of American adults who had experienced a mental health condition annually, as he himself had been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and PTSD as a young adult. Although his children were still quite young, he considered how he could enact an optimal family mental health strategy to break the family's intergenerational cycle once and for all.

Charles Holloway, founder of Stanford's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, shares his reflections and learnings on entrepreneurship in this teaching note. Designed to be a hands-on tool for aspiring entrepreneurs, this playbook will frame key questions and provide frameworks to assist in building new ventures.

This case describes the growth of ReNew Power during its first decade of operation. Sumant Sinha, a first-generation entrepreneur and former banker, founded the company, which grew from a modest generator-cum-developer of wind energy-based electricity to one of India's largest companies in the renewable energy sector. With the entry of large, well-funded players such as Tata Power and Adani Green into the Indian renewable sector by the end of 2020, Sinha had to make a strategic decision: should ReNew continue to organically scale up its presence in an increasingly competitive yet expanding Indian renewable energy sector, should it diversify geographically, or should it pursue emerging opportunities for vertical or horizontal integration within the sector? The case provides an opportunity to discuss how alternative business models and competitive scenarios may facilitate or inhibit the growth of a player in the renewable energy sector.

The case documents the genesis and development of Israel Secondary Fund (ISF), an innovative venture capital secondary fund operating in Israel, a country dubbed "the start-up nation" for its very dynamic technology sector, in particular in leading-edge applications such as drones, cybersecurity, avionics, advanced materials, software, etc. It offers an exciting exploration of the inner workings of the Israeli venture capital industry through the eyes of a pioneer of its secondaries market. To operate effectively, secondaries funds need to master all dimensions of the industry, facilitating deals and providing liquidity between general and limited partners. The brainchild of two pioneers of Israel's nascent venture capital industry, ISF was launched in 2008 and grew to become the second-largest Israeli secondary fund, with a focus on technology. In February 2021, the fund sold one of its most significant positions, an investment in MyHeritage, generating exceptional internal rates of return for the fund and validating the fund's original business model of providing valuable liquidity to the country's venture capital industry. But the exit brought about new strategic questions: Was the original business model adapted to the new post-pandemic environment? What adjustments could they make to increase the attractiveness of the vehicle to global institutional investors? What would be the optimal size of the next fund to be raised soon, ISF III? What else could be done to facilitate the fund manager's scaling up?

Jennie O'Keefe and Chris Johnson, owners of Rough Waters Brewing Company, were deliberating how to make further inroads into an increasingly competitive provincial craft beer market. The new entrepreneurs were at a crossroads as they considered several possibilities for business growth in the face of a highly uncertain environment that included an unfavourable economic outlook and a global pandemic. They knew there were many things to consider in weighing their options, and that they did not have all the information they wanted or needed to confidently decide. O'Keefe and Johnson needed a framework to guide their decision-making in charting the best course for the brewery in the midst of so many unknowns. 

Shinya Deguchi, Founder and Managing Partner of Star Magnolia Capital, a Shanghai-based multi-family office (MFO), considered how to convince a new prospective family that the MFO's endowment model approach would best suit their needs. In recent decades, there has been a rapid growth of Chinese high net worth individuals, and mainland China faced a shortage of services available to their families. Deguchi believed that Star Magnolia would not only help the MFO's families build wealth over generations through the endowment approach but also possessed the capability to recruit the top and most diligent investment managers in the field. How could he introduce and convince the family of his conviction? In what cases did Star Magnolia offer a competitive advantage as a MFO over individual SFOs? Furthermore, as the MFO continued to grow, how could all member families ensure that their interests remained aligned into the future? At the end of the day, what 'pitch' could Deguchi offer to win the family over?

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has organized the presidential and vice-presidential debates in the United States since 1988. In the spring of 2022, the Republican National Committee threatened to bar their nominees from participating in any CPD-sponsored debates in the upcoming election. The CPD must decide how to handle this challenge.

Indian Railways (IR) has been slow in innovation. The competition from other modes of transport has posed new challenges to IR. Railways worldwide have taken help from startups to develop innovative solutions to improve railway operations. Such collaborations have helped in leveraging the technical expertise of startups in domains which are non-conventional for railways to develop in-house. These collaborations have been made possible by funding startups through various investment channels.

This case series was developed around QuMei's takeover bid for Ekornes ASA, a company headquartered in Norway. QuMei, the Chinese furnishings manufacturer established in 1993 and listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2015, was the promoter of the takeover bid. In the same year, it introduced its "New QuMei" strategy, pivoting from a pure furnishings supplier to a content and service supplier in the furnishings industry. The target company, Ekornes, was a prime Norwegian furnishings manufacturer with four affiliate brands, including "Stressless", known as the "most comfortable chair in the world". It also had vast market bases in Europe and America. Case A mainly discusses the reasons behind QuMei's takeover of Ekornes. First, it explores why QuMei opted for acquisition rather than organic growth. Second, having decided to take the acquisition route, how did it choose Ekornes as its target. Finally, the case examines the feasibility of the takeover and potential ensuing risks. Based on case discussions, students are given the chance to analyze the logic behind takeovers, how target companies are selected, how takeovers take different forms depending on purpose, and how to analyze and avoid potential risks that may be involved. Case (B) focuses on the transaction arrangements in QuMei's takeover of Ekornes: was Ekornes suitably valued? How would QuMei reach a consensus with the target company's shareholders regarding the reasonable consideration for takeover? Then, after valuation, how should the transaction be funded and structured? By the end of 2017, QuMei's assets were at ¥2.1 billion, while its overseas sales were a mere ¥4.87 million. In contrast, Ekornes's assets were valued at over ¥4 billion. This case therefore can be reference for practical problem-solving in acquisition of snake swallowing elephant.

The case analysis facilitates deeper understanding, critical thinking and application of concepts pertaining to organizational environment and strategic planning using the example of Starbucks, an American multinational chain that positions itself as a premier roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee. The case illustrates how the macro and competitive environments impact the Starbucks' strategies and performance, focusing in particular on macro elements such as Economy, Technology, Laws and Regulations, Demographics, Social and Natural Environment/Ecology. The competitive environment analysis explores the five key elements of Industry Rivalry, New Entrants, Customers, Substitutes and Complements and Suppliers. Students are encouraged to investigate the implementation of appropriate effective strategies after gaining a thorough comprehension of the external and internal environmental factors.

Case A reviews Amazon's location choices from its founding in 1994 to 2017, explaining how it moved its offices from Bellevue, Washington, to various Seattle locations, eventually establishing campuses in South Lake Union in 2010 and then in downtown Seattle in 2016. The case then explores Amazon's strategic plan to establish a second headquarters in another North American city, illustrating the complex relationship between cities and major corporations. Case B describes Amazon's cancellation of its New York project, how the company was affected by local zoning laws and urban politics, and how various local interest groups responded to its plan. The subject of the case is business-government relations at the city level.