In the spring of 2024, suicide prevention non-profit organization Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) was looking forward to the future. With its CEO’s impending retirement, succession planning had become imperative. If the organization wanted to grow rather than plateau, it would need ongoing strategic leadership and organizational transformation, with a particular focus on fostering cohesion and collaboration between staff and volunteers. SOS had to consider .....more

The Indian Women Pilots’ Association (IWPA) was a non-governmental organization founded in 1967 by trailblazing women in Indian aviation. The association, sustained through membership dues, sponsorships, and donations, provided interest-free loan scholarships to help women pursue advanced training. It also organized seminars, educational programs, and international collaborations to promote aviation awareness and training. IWPA had been instrumental .....more

In 2022, Manisha Pande, the co-founder and managing director of Village Ways (VW), a responsible tourism company in India, was facing financial challenges which threatened to wipe out her company’s 16 years of growth. VW offered personalized trips within India and in neighbouring countries, fostering the well-being of rural communities while limiting environmental damage. But then the COVID-19 pandemic stopped tourism worldwide and created significant .....more

This exercise provides a structured framework for introducing business students to supervised machine learning (SML), unsupervised machine learning (UML), and reinforcement machine learning (RML). The exercise revolves around applying these techniques to evaluate harassment policies, offering a hands-on and practical approach to understanding how machine learning (ML) works in real-world scenarios. The exercise is suitable for undergraduate classes .....more

This exercise explores the operational and strategic challenges faced by Philanthropy Insight (PI), a Canadian non-profit organization founded by Emily Hayes, which aims to provide donors with information to make informed giving decisions. Despite significant growth in website traffic, PI struggles with chronic underfunding, leading Hayes to continually finance the deficit from her personal savings. The case delves into PI’s data management issues, .....more

In May 2024, the founder of Keepsie Kits was planning for the future of her sustainable travel products company, based in Toronto, Canada. She had launched the venture three years earlier to address the environmental impact of disposable, single-use, heavy travel products. She also wanted to educate business and leisure travellers about reducing their environmental footprint. After starting Keepsie Kits in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic, .....more

This case focused on the scenario of income inadequacy at the Madras Crocodile Bank and Centre for Herpetology, a notable zoo in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. The zoo was run on the income it generated through visitors’ fees, corporate sponsorship, individual donors, and grants. It was under pressure to increase its revenue, reduce the surplus of reptiles, and maintain the climatic conditions inside the premises. The solution potentially lay in .....more

In August 2023, Kurma Vedic Village, located in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, India, was steeped in Vedic culture. The 70 residents in the village embraced minimalistic life and achieved self-sufficiency through land, cattle, and Krsna consciousness. They renounced modern conveniences such as electricity, internet access, and cooking gas in favour of traditional agricultural methods, village technologies, clothes made from handloom, and .....more

In August 2023, the chair of the Pune-based Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), reflected on the organization’s 20-year journey to empower Dalits through entrepreneurship, independence, confidence, and job creation. Despite DICCI’s efforts, societal challenges and fears of disclosing Dalit identity persisted. As the chair considered ways to boost membership and retain existing members, he wondered whether emphasizing collective .....more

By April 2019, the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika), had become a cornerstone in empowerment and poverty-eradication efforts in Bihar, the poorest state in India. With an innovative talent-management initiative known as the Young Professional (YP) program, Jeevika aimed to harness the potential of top-tier postgraduate students to drive its projects. However, the organization faced significant challenges with this program, including .....more