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This case study has been prepared after thoroughly studying the Indian wine industry. Secondary data for the value of wine imported in India has been taken from the website of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Data for GDP per capita for India has been taken from World Development Indicators, World Bank. Data for revenue generation of top five countries have been sourced from Statista Report on Indian wine market. Fictitious names are used for the Winery (Romaniszyn) and the individual (Harish G.) working there.

This case revolves around accounting complexities for starting a winery in India. A new vineyard comes with the challenge of the gestation period (five years), during which it would not generate revenue. Harish G. was adept at business development and had experience working with an Italian winery. He was unaware of how difficult accounting decisions would be, including determining the quantum of funds required, ascertaining different financial options to purchase assets and meeting cash requirements. He knew he would not be able to generate any sales for five years at the newly formed winery; the grapevines imported from New Zealand took that long to reach maturity. Furthermore, given that Harish was starting a new brand of wine, he also faced constraints with attracting new customers.

This case can be used in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in the introductory session of a financial accounting course. It is designed to approach basic accounting concepts, permitting the class to discuss and focus on the principal thought process of starting a real business and accounting for the transactions as and when they occur rather than only on mathematical computations. The objective of this case study is attained by involving the students in recording various accounting transactions and decisions the winery’s management must take over the time from early plantation to bottling of the wine. Every decision assesses the students’ comprehension of accounting concepts by making them analyze and resolve the accounting issues raised.

This case is used in Darden's required first-year course, “Strategic Thinking and Action.”

In 2015, Steve and Heidi Crandall, the founders of Devils Backbone Brewing, LLC (DBB), were looking back on eight years of unanticipated success and significant growth. DBB had created a destination, a brand, and beer that drew people from all over, and it was the largest craft brewery in its region. The entire community, not just loyal beer drinkers, had supported DBB. In addition to funding and zoning accommodations, so many local residents had built their own economic lives around what had been their “little brewery that could.”

But the success had brought challenges, specifically in terms of growth. DBB was consistently not meeting demand in its existing markets and was receiving complaints about out-of-stocks. The Crandalls and their team had to figure out how to grow with, or preferably ahead of, demand for DBB's product. Should DBB build further capacity despite an already exhausted line of credit? Should it employ a contract brewer despite the local authenticity concerns such a move might stir up? Or should it just keep trying to manage business within its existing footprint, comfortably serving its loyal customer base?

“Originally as a business providing community life services since its founding in 2017, Dingdong (Cayman) has transformed itself into a fresh e-commerce company. After making adjustments to its business model and operating strategy for three times, Dingdong (Cayman) has completed the strategic transition from grocery surrogate shopping to comprehensive self-operation, and built its own commercial fortress. In 2019, the total revenue of the company was five billion yuan. Upon the outbreak of COVID-19, its monthly revenue exceeded 1.2 billion yuan in February 2020, and the year's total revenue was expected to hit 15∼18 billion yuan. To date, Dingdong (Cayman) has formed a supply chain fully based on digital operation and built a commercial fortress in the fresh e-commerce industry. Despite this, its future prospect is not free from challenge. This case mainly deals with the following questions: How about the strategic positioning and core competitiveness of Dingdong (Cayman) in its early days? In the process of rapid expansion, what are the advantages and problems in its business model? How can the digitally operated supply chain support its continuous expansion in the future?”

This case is based on an existing firm. The names have not been changed, and all data on the firm’s history and opportunities is accurate. Primary data is based on interviews with the owner of the firm. One of the authors is a client of the studio and friend of the owner. The case has been reviewed and approved by Jill Murphey, owner of yogaErie. The purpose of this paper is to introduce students to industry analysis, to entrepreneurial decisions and to issues with organizational growth and change.

Jill Murphey, owner of Yoga Erie, is considering whether to or how to expand her studio operations into adjacent communities. Her studio has been very successful since she opened in 2009: the studio has been named Erie’s Best for most of the years since then. Classes were filled and students were asking about the prospects of a satellite studio in other parts of the community. Information on the options Murphey was considering are presented as well as Murphey’s motivations in opening her own studio, and the opportunities as well as concerns she faced in the expansion decision.

This case was originally targeted toward graduate and undergraduate courses in Strategy because of the industry definition and diversification problems but can also be used in classes on Organizational Change or Entrepreneurship.

To understand how certain cultural dynamics play out in the case, the main attributes of Hofstede and Meyer’s work are first highlight. While Hofstede focuses on national culture, Meyer’s uses culture as a tool by which to gauge behavior within organizations, teams and individuals. Below the main elements of their work are highlighted. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are detailed in IM Exhibit 1. Note there are six dimensions on a scale of 0–100. The higher the number, the higher that element of that dimension. For example, the individualism score for the USA is 91, whereas China’s score is 20, suggesting that Americans are much more individualistic, whereas the Chinese are much more collectivist. Students can find where the USA, France and China, the three countries discussed in the case, stand at the Hofstede’s website noted below. For reference, these are also noted in IM Exhibit 2.

All of the information in the case was gathered using publicly available secondary sources (i.e. news articles, annual reports and executive/employee interviews). All sources are cited at the end of the Case/IM.

On April 12, 2022, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the global leader in the personal luxury goods, released first quarter earnings for 2022, highlighting their latest acquisition, the New York City-based Tiffany & Co (Tiffany). Tiffany had performed well due to growth in demand in the USA following two difficult years because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This underscored the fact that Tiffany was still largely dependent on the US market, which was a cause for concern for CEO, Anthony Ledru, who was brought in by the parent LVMH to elevate Tiffany and exploit the high growth market for personal luxury goods in China and other parts of Asia-Pacific. LVMH’s acquisition of Tiffany had been completed on January 7, 2021, and LVMH was expecting the turnaround of the largely US-centric Tiffany to show results by shifting focus to higher-end and more iconic jewelry lines and greater expansion in China. Nonetheless, Ledru’s ability to address the China market for Tiffany was constrained by culture clashes between the company’s French owners and management team and its large cadre of US-based employees. Employees chaffed at what they felt was a rigid and autocratic management style and at the company’s insistence on limits to a work-from-home policy that was instituted in early 2020 because of the pandemic. Ledru and his top management team had to quickly overcome the internal clashes and employee issues to make significant inroads in the China market.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate and MBA courses addressing dynamics of global business, strategy and culture, such as cross-cultural management, international business, global strategy and organizational behavior. At both levels, its is found that the case will be valuable in generating a lively discussion on organizational and strategic challenges grounded in often lesser discussed issues around cultural fit. In most courses, the case should be positioned toward the end, mainly because it examines both cultural challenges (French ownership of a quintessentially American company) and strategic initiatives (how to grow the brand itself along with geographic expansion, i.e. China), assuming that the module has covered one or the other/or both at different points in the course.

The case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from secondary sources comprising newspaper articles, research papers, research magazines, magazine articles, industry reports, research reports, etc. as indicated in the references. The company’s financials and peer data are sourced from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.

The case examines the financial position of Macy’s, Inc., America’s largest and one of the oldest premier departmental stores, with a consolidated annual turnover of US$18,097m in the fiscal year 2020/2021 (FY, 2021). Over the previous few years, the company had been struggling with decreasing market share and profitability mainly due to increasing competition from online retailers and deep discounters, which was affecting the company’s share price. With the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) in fiscal year (FY) 2017, Macy’s, Inc. undertook several changes to revive its financial health and improve its market share. However, it still registered heavy losses of US$3,944m in the FY 2020/2021, the company’s first time in the past decade. With many retailers filing for bankruptcy, was there more that Macy’s could do to improve the company’s position and regain lost investor confidence? Will its entry into emerging markets play a crucial role in its turnaround?

The case can be used in undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as accounting for managers, financial statement analysis, management accounting, introduction to accounting and advanced financial statement analysis. The case can also be effectively used to understand the primary fundamental analysis of the company that involves understanding the company’s positioning and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. The case would also help business management and entrepreneurship students to get a preliminary idea about the change management process. Finally, the case can be used to familiarize students with using Microsoft Excel to build financial analysis worksheets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

This case study seeks to develop the analytical and critical thinking skills of the students so that they can not only understand and carry out a comprehensive diagnosis of the case in its facets of entrepreneurship but also see reflected the inherent difficulties of the process and how these can be overcome, based on available resources and capabilities. In the same way, it seeks to develop students’ capacity for critical analysis when making a decision in which, on the one hand, there is a very large market potential that they can try to exploit, taking into account the political transformation that modifies the rules of the game with which the business began, in addition, of course, to the case of a security breach specified in the case and, on the other hand, the possibility of resigning, avoiding greater losses.

This case study exposes the situation of the company Max Drone Venezuela, which had been dedicated to the service, repair and training of drones. This family-owned company had gone through a series of stages that clearly exemplified how environmental factors served to identify opportunities in the early stages of the business, promote strategic actions to maintain itself, guide the course to sustain itself and seek development in hostile environments.

Given the characteristics of this case study, it can be used for the teaching and learning of business or business administration, marketing, economics or related students, at higher or postgraduate levels (graduate school).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

This case study covers marketing concepts, including marketing mix, segmentation, targeting and brand positioning and communication. After completion of the case study, the students will be able to understand the importance of segmentation and targeting; recognize the differences between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customers (B2C) segments; gain knowledge about the points of parity and points of difference while positioning; and examine the elements of a marketing mix.

The case centered around Mr. Ashvinder Singh, founder and director of Uni Style Image (USI), who initiated the polo T-shirt business in 1990 in Okhla, Delhi. The brand expanded across the country, but from 2010, USI faced fluctuating demand due to the rise of online marketing and intense competition from global fashion brands. Revenues dropped massively, leading to a significant downsizing from over 300 employees to just 11 by the end of fiscal year 2016–2017. In 2018, Singh explored the B2B model; however, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 impacted many small- and mid-sized apparel businesses, including USI. In the fiscal year 2021–2022, the B2B segment accounted for 90% of total revenue, but the business size could not cover significant operating expenses. Despite only 10% of revenue coming from the B2C segment, Singh wanted to leverage the online space. In September 2022, Singh closed his factory in Noida, National Capital Region, Delhi. Amid the uncertainty, Singh explored various opportunities in the Indian market. In 2023, he even engaged a consultancy for expertise in marketing initiatives. He had to choose the target segment/s, develop a positioning strategy and create an effective marketing mix with very limited resources.

This case is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, offering a valuable teaching tool for essential marketing concepts, such as the marketing mix, segmentation, positioning and brand communication. It can be used in both core marketing courses and elective courses like brand management, consumer behavior and integrated marketing communication. The decision dilemma presented in the case enriches the understanding of these concepts, making it a valuable resource for marketing education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The learning outcomes of this study are to recall the fundamental concept of revenue management in the hotel industry (remembering); explain the various performance measures used to evaluate room revenue in hotels (understanding); use revenue management strategies to improve room revenue in hotel operations (applying); and examine and evaluate the optimal solution for revenue enhancement, considering factors such as capacity management, duration control and differential pricing (analyzing).

This case study delves into the challenges faced by Hotel King’s Cross, a business hotel located in Pune, Maharashtra, in the year 2022. A week before Christmas Eve, Soham Dande, the hotel’s revenue manager, sought a meeting with Rohan Chopra, the director of sales and marketing, to discuss “revenue optimization for the hotel.”

During their meeting, Dande mentioned that the hotel had fallen behind its budgeted room sales targets for 2022 across various metrics, such as room booking nights, occupancy percentage, average room rate and revenue per available room. Furthermore, the hotel was trailing behind its competitors. The situation was compounded by the management’s decision to raise the targets for 2023 by 5%–7%, factoring in upcoming events, competitive performance and pandemic-related losses over the past two years. Chopra faced the dilemma of formulating an action plan to achieve the ambitious 2023 targets and establish Hotel King’s Cross as a market leader.

Students undertaking executive development programs and graduate-level courses in non-profit hospitality and tourism management, as well as revenue management courses in the executive MBA, management development and graduate MBA programs, may all benefit from this case study.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS12: Tourism and hospitality.