Some company cultures are marked by mistrust and paranoia, which leads to a slew of negative outcomes: poor performance, burnout, turnover, and cheating. People who worry about the behavior of others spread gossip and are prone to backstabbing. That brings out the worst in their colleagues, leading cynics'' suspicion and distrust to become self-fulfilling prophecies. The good news is that cynicism has antidotes, according to the author, who .....more

Yinglan Tan considered the future of his young Singapore-based venture capital firm. On the one hand, the intuition that was behind the initial creation of Insignia in 2017 had been proven correct. The venture capital market in Southeast Asia had grown rapidly, driven by the spread of e-commerce around the globe and the increased willingness of venture investors around the world to look globally. The new venture group, exploiting existing connections .....more

Most companies have digital platforms that support specific functions, such as supply chain management, product design, or operations, and they tightly regulate who may join the platform. The Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier has extended its supply chain management platform to facilitate a broader range of collaborations from innovation and design to supplying materials and components to solving technical problems and providing new services. The .....more

It is January 2020. The chief advisor to the chief minister (CM) of Bihar is particularly unhappy after a long meeting with the cabinet members. Four years after the prohibition on the sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar, it is time to review the full impact of the ban on the state''s socioeconomic fabric in light of upcoming elections. As multiple growth and development avenues emerge, the state is embarking on a vibrant journey to realize .....more

The case explores the direct investment strategy of CPP Investments, one of the largest and most influential pension funds and private equity investors globally. Through an analysis of its acquisition and later sale of a controlling stake in GlobalLogic, students follow the Canadian Pension Fund''s private equity and venture capital investing strategy.

Traditionally, the most reliable way for a firm to find its next wave of growth was to apply the capabilities of its core business in an adjacent market. But recently a new pattern has begun to emerge. More firms are learning the art of building large second cores--what Bain''s Zook and Allen call "engine twos." Given that in the past five years, 60% of big public companies have seen their growth stall out or stagnate--often because .....more

This case describes the ESG journey of Pro-invest Group, an asset management and investment firm specialising in private equity real estate across the globe. It begins in 2017, when the Group is launching its second hotel fund, Pro-invest Australian Hospitality Opportunity Fund II (in parallel to managing Fund I) and there is a growing appreciation of the financial and competitive benefits of strong environmental, social and governance considerations. .....more

With a passion for coffee inspired by her experience overseas, Grace enrolled in a coffee school to learn how to roast her own coffee. With the business skills she had obtained during her MBA program, Grace, along with two partners (Mr. Wang from Beijing and Chester Shen from Shanghai), was exploring the possibility of opening a coffee shop in Shanghai in 2014. This case gives students the opportunity to evaluate Grace''s entrepreneurial .....more

As a traditional retailer focused on selling home appliances, Suning.com Co. Ltd. (Suning) grew quickly and became a leading retailer in China, dominating the market until the 2000s. By 2021, however, Suning was facing challenges, including fierce competition from e-commerce giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Jingdong, and Pinduoduo Inc. and from its upstream brand manufacturers. It also faced financial pressure in its core business due .....more

Lionheart Agrotech Limited, the holding company of Lionheart Farms is developing a large-scale sustainable hybrid coconut plantation with integrated processing and manufacturing capacities in the Philippines. The case describes the idea of the founders, their journey, the challenges they met and how they solved them. The case explores the key challenges and principal constraints that the company faced - and continues to face - during the development .....more