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This case was developed from both secondary and primary sources. The secondary sources include journal and newspaper articles. Primary sources include court proceedings, industry reports and EEOC recommendations regarding disparate impact for major retailers. This case has been classroom tested with undergraduate BBA students in an introductory undergraduate Human Resources course.

In August 2019, Ms Ramos applied for an entry-level position at Stockworld; however, despite receiving an initial offer, Ms Ramos was notified soon after beginning the position that her job offer was being rescinded as a result of a completed background check. The Fair Chances Act for employment has challenged employers to “Ban the Box” that asks about criminal past acts before conditional employment offers. With increased demand for qualified applicants following and amid current labor shortages, proponents of “Ban the Box” challenge that including background checks before and even following conditional offers lead to disparate impact with Title VII protected classifications of employees. Can employers Ban the Box to prevent Disparate Impact for entry-level positions? What are the implications for eliminating criminal background checks?

This case was written for use in an undergraduate introductory human resource management course or general business law course. The focus of the case supports classroom discussion for online and face-to-face instruction regarding equal employment opportunity and employment decisions. The case also has strong application in course content regarding discrimination and strategic plans for organizational success. Educators who use critical thinking methods to apply hiring strategies or talent pipeline assessment can use this case to explore additional avenues for external recruitment and talent development.

Marketing Management and Economics.

Management courses (MBA level), Courses on Tourism

When in India (WII) is a tour company serving the niche segment of Heritage tourism. WII was incorporated in 2011 with the aim to enable foreign and domestic tourists to experience the deeply embedded cultural ethos and heritage of Old Delhi. Their unique tourism product, “the Wonder Pedicabs”, provides leisure rickshaw rides through the Old Delhi lanes. This teaching case focuses on various managerial dimensions of the operations of WII. The case can be used in courses on Marketing as well as Economics. The case discusses the macro and micro environmental forces operating on WII. It deliberates on the economics of various tours offered by WII. It also educates the participants about the process of decision-making that goes into the selection of a tour operator and a tourism product. Hence, it appreciates the significance of need recognition, search for information, evaluation of alternatives and purchase decision as pillars in the process of decision-making process. The case also attempts to educate the participants about the Indian Tourism Sector.

Comprehend what constitutes a tourism product and types of tourism. Understand consumer decision-making for a tourism product. Highlight the importance of the tourism sector in the Indian economy. Discuss economic concepts pertaining to cost and volume, enabling managerial decision-making.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

Communication Solutions (CS), a woman-owned business, experienced fast growth at its inception, and then found itself slowing after the mid-2000s recession. The firm provides consulting services, primarily to government agencies. The owners have brought the business to sales of about $10.5 million in 2012, but revenues declined following that peak year because of cutbacks in government spending and founder Jennifer Madison’s detachment from the business. Even though they recognize that it may not be an ideal time to sell, they are tired of running the business and want to sell now, as long as they can pay off their debts.

This case was researched through multiple interviews with Mark and Jennifer, who provided all of the financial data and background. All financial statements given in the case provide actual CS numbers. The name of the company and the names of the owners have been changed, at their request to disguise the company. At the time this case was written, the owners were in negotiation with a potential bidder, and did not want their names or their company name to be used. Market information and information about comparable companies was researched using publicly available financial data bases.

This case has the potential to be used in a variety of classes, depending on what the instructor wishes to emphasize. The author uses the case as a valuation case in a corporate finance class (suitable for undergraduates or MBAs), allowing students practice in discounted cash flow valuation and comparable multiples valuation. It could be used in an investments class which teaches business valuation, particularly in teaching valuation using market multiples. The case could be used in an entrepreneurial finance class. The author uses this case to illustrate the difficulties of business valuation with messy (but real) data.

This case explores small business valuation and exit strategies for founders. Students can put themselves in the position of small business owners who are ready to exit. Students should value the firm using discounted cash flow and multiples valuation, which includes making assumptions about the future growth of the firm. While there is likely to be reasonable agreement on the “as is” valuation, there may be great variation concerning the assumptions and valuations of the company as it could be. Students can discuss (and implement) adjustments made when using large company comparables to value a much smaller company.

In September 2014 Leyth Jamal, a transgender woman, filed suit against her employer, luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. Jamal alleged that she experienced harassment from managers and other employees because of her gender identity while employed by Saks, including verbal abuse and threats of violence. At the time she filed suit, no federal, state, or local laws protected transgender employees from discrimination. However, some federal district courts had recently begun to allow such suits on the premise that discrimination based on gender identity was a form of sex discrimination. Other suits and amicus briefs brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) furthered this trend. The EEOC is the federal agency charged with investigating and supporting claims of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, so district and appellate courts watched the EEOC's position on the application of Title VII. Socio-culturally, many Americans supported transgender rights, even as they voiced anxiety about transgender men in women's bathrooms.

This case has students assume the role of a trusted member of the executive team of Hudson's Bay Company, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue. One Friday afternoon in late December 2014, the Hudson's Bay CEO sends an email to his executive team notifying them that he has approved corporate counsel's motion to dismiss Jamal's case based on the argument that transgender people are not a protected class according to Title VII. The motion will be filed in federal court on Monday. The CEO shares that he personally believes it is preposterous for anyone to think that Saks Fifth Avenue is anything but a strong advocate for LGBT rights, but he invites executive team members to call him if they have any concerns. Members of the executive team have a responsibility to consider the broader strategic implications for the company, so students must decide if and how to respond to the CEO.

This case study is built from secondary data such as news articles, regulations and videos. Several drafts of the case study with a teaching note were tested in the classroom setting and shared in a case writing conference. The case was revised based on feedback from students and roundtable discussions from the conference.

Mrs Hsu, the Deputy Director of the National Taxation Bureau’s Nantou County Branch in Taiwan, faced a dilemma in June 2021. One of her employees, Mrs Chiang, had requested to return to work after taking several years of parental leave since August 2017. This long absence had put a strain on colleagues, who either had to cover for her or work with temporary replacements. While Mrs Chiang’s actions were legal and protected by her government employee role, her decision to take another leave immediately after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine raised eyebrows. Her peers accused her of using her frontline worker status to gain early vaccine access and other work benefits. Mrs Hsu, upon reviewing Mrs Chiang’s employment history, pondered her next steps concerning Mrs Chiang’s new leave request.

This case would be appropriate for a course in Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior or Gender, Family and Work, especially with the topic of Employment Rights/Legal Protections (in HR), and/or Justice and Ethics (in OB).

LifeBank is primarily focused on tackling the challenge of maternal mortality in Nigeria and other African countries by providing women access to blood, thereby tackling the challenge of gender inequality. The company employed both men and women at its workplace providing equal opportunities for men and women.

Discuss how women entrepreneurs are solving social problems in developing countries using technology and innovation.

Analyze the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in getting the right human capital, raising funds and managing growth for their social business.

The case discusses how social entrepreneur Temie Giwa-Tubosun (Temie) founded LifeBank, a medical distribution company, to provide access to blood, medical oxygen and vaccines to hospitals in Nigeria. The company used technology to provide information to health providers about which blood bank stored the blood type they needed and delivered it quickly and safely to help save lives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case study will help improve systemic gender-related challenges for women in STEM, male-dominated nontraditional workplaces, such as mining, and contribute to CASE FOR WOMEN database of women-centered business teaching cases.

The learning objectives are as follows: discuss gender issues in nontraditional science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM)–related male-dominated industries; conduct a strategic competitive strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and threats analysis and political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental analysis; evaluate relevant information and decision criteria to assess the options; provide recommendations for strengthening vision mission and strategy; and analyze the business model using the Business Model Canvas.

Alicia Woods (she/her), founder of Covergalls Inc., was facing an unexpected challenge during the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic restrictions and lockdowns which had created an unprecedented disruption to her business. Should Covergalls continue on its current path, or was it time to branch out?

This case is suitable for diversity, equality and inclusion, strategic management, entrepreneurship, marketing or leadership courses at the undergraduate BBA and graduate MBA level on campus or online.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

In the 1990s, Mike Flanagan foresaw video moving from analog to digital and developed an equipment rental business to meet the needs of the entertainment/media production industry. By 1996 he established a second company to offer training in the use of Avid, a digital video-editing program. Flanagan sold the rental business in 1998 and by 2002 expanded the training away from a business model to a full-fledged college business model. By 2014 what started as a successful training program developed into a negative interaction with the US Department of Education and Flanagan found himself being forced out of business.

This case was originally a client-based project conducted real time in an MBA-level marketing course at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

The case is well suited for a variety of business and law courses that integrate ethical decision making in their curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case allows for a greater understanding of the implications of managerial behavior tied to ethical beliefs and the possible outcomes that may result. It also allows for a stronger grasp of the integral nature of management, staff, consumers and outside organizations on the pervasive impact of non-ethical behavior. Last, this case creates a framework for students to assess how ethics influence managerial behavior that will affect an organization’s success.

What ethical duties and obligations does a business owe to its customers and other stakeholders? Is ignorance an excuse for failing to meet those ethical obligations?

MBA/MS level programs.

Social entrepreneurship, sustainability and business strategy.

The case discusses about how social entrepreneur Katerina Kimmorley founded Pollinate Energy with five of her friends to provide solar lights to the urban slum dwellers in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, a state in the Southern part of India. The company recruited people known as “Pollinators” for distributing their solar lights to the communities on installments making it affordable to them. To scale-up its sustainable energy initiatives and expand its global reach, Pollinate Energy merged with the US-based solar energy company Empower Generation in 2018 to form Pollinate Group. Since the company was making losses and was a nonprofit organization, the new CEO of Pollinate Group Sujatha Ramani and the senior management team had to tackle the challenge of scaling up the company while financially empowering women microentrepreneurs from marginalized communities.

Study Pollinate Energy’s business model and explore ways in which it can be made sustainable. Discuss the personality traits of Kimmorley which contributed to her success. Discuss how the merger with Empower Generation will help Pollinate Group in expanding its global reach. Explore ways in which the venture can be scaled up further.

Pollinate Group focused on women empowerment to tackle the gender inequality challenge. The company provided equal opportunities for men and women, thereby removing discrimination from access to opportunities, sources, services and promotion of equal rights.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Alice Monroe, a 30-year-old married mother of two, was an admissions officer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She was just completing her first year of service at Northwestern and qualified for the university's 403(b) retirement plan. It was early October 2017, and she had until the end of the month to decide if and to what extent she would participate in Northwestern's retirement plan–that is, how much of her salary should she put into the retirement plan, and into which mutual fund or funds should she allocate her savings?

The case includes background on defined contribution and benefit plans as well as mutual funds. It goes into detail about Northwestern's retirement plan, including data on the performance of 15 of the plan's core mutual funds. The case also provides each fund's strategy, Morningstar Rating and Morningstar Category, expense ratio, assets under management, turnover rate, and historical performance for the last 10 years.

Using modern portfolio theory (diversification and risk-return trade-off) and with an understanding of mutual fund fees and the tax advantages of retirement savings, students will decide how much Alice should invest and in which mutual funds.