The Economist opened 2021 with a cover story headlined "Why Retailers Everywhere Should Look to China." It''s not hard to see why. China is both a large and a fast-growing retail market--worth about $5 trillion in 2020--and highly digitized. And the pandemic has made digital every retailer''s strategic priority. The authors draw from their research on Chinese retailers to explain five lessons that Western companies can learn .....more

In March 2021, Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of Israel-based Mobileye, was preparing to meet with Intel''s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, to review plans for the future. Mobileye had been acquired by California-based Intel in 2017, but still operated independently. Mobileye was the global leader in vision technology for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) with a 70% market share and $1 billion in revenue. However, for Shashua, ADAS was .....more

The outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease, 2019) posed unprecedented challenges to the global supply chains. As a leading and innovative supply chain that achieved just-in-time manufacturing, Apple''s performance was put in the spotlight. This case describes how Apple''s supply chain has coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple''s supply chain has weathered natural disasters, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, and SARS; .....more

This case is used to explore the strategic concept of "look forward, reason back." Roku in 2021 is trying to figure out the future of television and streaming media. Students are asked to provide a vision for television and streaming media (that is, Look Forward) by the middle of the decade, and then reason back to the strategic choices it should take in 2021. Roku is well positioned, but industry and consumer habits are changing quickly, .....more

Andr Hoffmann is a leader of one of the world''s largest pharmaceutical companies. His exceptional tenure in philanthropy over the past several decades, including being president of the WWF and the vice-president of the MAVA Foundation, has allowed him access to a far broader scope of the field than most philanthropists can have in a lifetime. Through these experiences, he has indicated a set of key factors that cause philanthropy and social .....more

The case opens in February 2021 as Mohamad Ballout, co-founder and CEO of Kitopi, a Dubai-based managed cloud kitchen platform, is looking over the company''s 2020 results. Propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery orders had been on the rise globally and dine-in restaurants were more than ever focused on profitability. Against this backdrop, Kitopi had seen high traction in its business and the management needed to decide on which growth .....more

In an industry that is struggling to diversify, Kathryn Cooper and her co-directors at CTIP have created a highly successful model for supporting non-traditional founders in early-stage medical-technology companies. Cooper''s personal and professional journey as a Black female entrepreneur sets the stage for CTIP''s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the underserved pediatric market. Central to CTIP''s DEI .....more

This field-based case chronicles how Embraer, a recognized market leader in Brazil''s regional aircraft industry, designed and developed an almost entirely new aircraft, the E2-190. Given the success of the E1-190, a project to redesign that successful product was a bold move. Yet the E2 project excelled. It surpassed industry expectations, including being under time and under budget, and it logged many firsts, such as setting a world record .....more

After breaking into China''s smartphone market, where it becomes a leading brand, Xiaomi sees sales stagnate and then decline as the disruption strategy that empowered its rise loses momentum. As competitors counter every move, targeting its core consumer segment, the company urgently needs to reignite growth and develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The case describes the changing market landscape, Xiaomi''s product portfolio, .....more

Toronto-based financial technology (fintech) start-up Koho Financial Inc. (Koho) offered millennial consumers a new way to manage their money with no fees. Koho challenged traditional banking institutions by providing typical banking services digitally. In November 2019, the company had recently secured its series B funding round, bringing the total amount raised to US$57.5 million. Now, with expectations from its investors and growing competition, .....more