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This case highlights the demand and supply factors that caused a sharp rise in onion prices during the period of December 2010 to January 2011. These factors ranged from natural demand and supply forces to manmade forces such as government price interventions in the form of a minimum export price and ceiling price, and a supply shortage that was artificially created by hoarders in anticipation of higher prices in the ensuing period. Government price interventions prevented price mechanisms from clearing the market. Hence, alternative clearing mechanisms such as maintenance of the surplus stock or rationing were used in the onion market. The cost of such alternative clearing mechanisms, however, falls on taxpayers. The case highlights the dilemma faced by policy makers and analysts: whether the government should intervene in the market in the short run by providing subsidies when prices are exorbitantly high, or incur heavy investment expenditures to bring about long-run stability in onion prices.

La firme Pizza Volant, célèbre au Québec pour sa livraison de pizzas à domicile, avait bâti sa longue réputation sur deux principaux axes : un service de livraison novateur et une compréhension en profondeur de la culture québécoise. Cependant, les tensions sous-jacentes à ce modèle, idéal en apparence, commençaient à se faire sentir, et la cohésion de la firme à se fissurer.

In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) faced the largest existential crisis since its founding in 1948. The directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, WHO had been severely criticized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by several member countries – especially the U.S. The organization had been accused of being too China-centric, not doing enough to quickly obtain accurate information from China about the new airborne illness, failing to press China for the speedy admittance of a WHO team of international experts, and only declaring the spread of COVID-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) at a time and in a manner that was deferential to the Chinese government. Dissatisfied with WHO’s actions, U.S. President Donald Trump decided in April 2020 to suspend funding to the international organization and, three months later, formally withdrew the U.S. from WHO.

Based entirely on public information, this case gives students an opportunity to reflect on WHO’s role in dealing with global health crises, why it was criticized during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether that criticism was warranted, and how the organization could be reformed to prepare for future PHEICs.

In 2012–15, India’s domestic tyre industry witnessed slower growth of its production capacity and capacity utilization along with a decline in market share due to increasing demand for cheap Chinese tyres. Indian tyre manufacturers attributed the growing demand for Chinese tyres to dumping of tyres by China. On behalf of major Indian tyre manufacturers, who were worried about the unfair trade practice of Chinese tyre suppliers, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) urged the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to impose an anti-dumping duty on Chinese truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres. The Association argued that an anti-dumping duty would enable domestic manufacturers to compete with cheap Chinese tyres and more fully utilize their production capacity. But tyre dealers were dead set against an anti-dumping duty, arguing that it was against consumer welfare. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD), which was investigating the case, had to both determine the extent of Chinese dumping and ensure that consumer interests were not undermined by efforts to protect those of the domestic tyre industry.