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

In April 2020, Rudra Industries and Services Private Ltd., a diesel generator product and service provider in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in northern India, was facing a dilemma. Diesel generators (DGs) were heavily used by telecommunication companies to provide uninterrupted power supply to their towers, despite frequent power outages. However, consolidation in India’s telecommunication industry had led to stagnation in the company’s core business. .....more

Located in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone in Shenzhen, China, Vanke Port Apartment (Vanke Port) was the leader among China's centralized long-term apartment rental enterprises. Recently, the company had improved its cost and operational efficiency and recorded stellar performance. A key partner in Vanke Group recalled the struggles Vanke Port had encountered on its way to achieving this performance. In 2019, Vanke Port had been battling .....more

CUBO Modular Inc. (CUBO) was a start-up social enterprise in the Philippines that emerged shortly after its chief executive officer, Earl Forlales, received a substantial cash award for besting 1,200 entries in a competition. The concept behind Forlales’s competition entry was the use of engineered bamboo to produce modular houses. The materials, design, and fabrication resulted in cheaper houses that could be used for mass housing projects.The public .....more

California-based Vivos Group (Vivos) built and sold luxury bunkers designed to withstand catastrophes. The founder himself had acknowledged that the majority of US residents could not afford them: while competitors offered bunkers with down payments as low as a US$1,300 —which middle-income consumers could afford—Vivos’s $35,000+ bunkers were for the rich. By May 2020, several of Vivos’s bunker properties were sold out, but it was uncertain whether .....more

Yueting Network Technology Company Ltd. (Airparking) was founded in Guangzhou in 2015 by a pair of former managers from a large, state-owned real estate company to solve a common problem in Chinese metropolitan cities: a severe lack of parking space. Airparking's business model, based on the sharing economy concept, allowed the company not only to optimize the distribution of parking spaces but also to increase the operational efficiency of parking .....more

Ashiana Housing Ltd. (Ashiana) was a small real estate developer in India, specializing in mid-priced domestic housing. The company was tightly run and had attracted investment interest from large reputable firms, but its financial performance had recently deteriorated—a state that was reflected in the company’s declining share price. The industry was also undergoing change with far-reaching reforms, which was leading to consolidation and the exit .....more

In September 2015, the owner of Jayman BUILT, a homebuilder and developer in Alberta, was fine-tuning his vision for a resort-style residential community in the outer suburbs of Calgary, Alberta. The development, Westman Village, would be a legacy project and the first of its kind in Calgary—a high-density, walkable, and amenity-rich community. Work on the development was planned for September 2016, and the owner was eager to showcase the innovative .....more

In August 2019, WeWork filed for an initial public offering; investors in its 14 venture capital rounds were anxious for an exit. Softbank had invested US$6 billion in WeWork, including US$2 billion in the Series H round that valued the firm at US$47 billion; consequently, it hoped for a positive reception from Wall Street. While WeWork had 100 per cent recent sales growth, its net income was US$1.9 billion, and it was on pace to spend over US$5 billion .....more

In April 2019, the chief executive officer of Dubai-based Diamond Developers, reflected on his company’s progress in developing a business model based on sustainable living. In December 2015, The Sustainable City in Dubai had welcomed its first residents. The project had become a success story, both commercially and in terms of building a vibrant community of 3,000 residents from 60 countries, who were living a lifestyle characterized by social, environmental, .....more