Chevron Corporation invested in a Chadian-Cameroon oil pipeline consortium in the early 2000s. The project was extremely profitable through the decade, but it was subjected to claims of human rights violations that left a tarnish on Chevron's name. Chevron is considering divesting its stake in the pipeline as its strategy has shifted since initial investment and it isn't sure the future stability of the project. Students will gain an understanding of the role of human rights in a complex setting and will be able to articulate challenges of creating an industry within a developing country.
This case centers around Vodafone Egypt and its role in the political instability of Egypt in 2011. The then-president of Egypt asked telecommunication providers to terminate operations to help mitigate the abilities of citizens to rally rapport with the global media and organize local demonstrations. The core dilemma surrounds the idea of how much influence corporations should have on public policy and what a corporation's role is in relation to politics and/or the government, specifically in areas with political instability and conflict.
With increasing attention from consumers surrounding food safety and public health, it comes at no surprise that Perdue Farms is considering eliminating antibiotic use in its poultry operations. Perdue is positioned to receive positive responses from reducing antibiotic usage, but the question of feasibility in implementation remains as the producer had previously failed to phase-out antibiotics. From this case, students will structure argumentative thought around causes of CSR strategies and how CSR impacts business operations
Unilever has successfully rolled out an initiative to sustainably source Lipton tea, and Unilever CEO Paul Polman is wondering if the company could apply the same concepts to its wider portfolio of products. The move has triggered change throughout the industry, but questions remain as to whether sustainable sourcing would be as successful with other products. Lipton's strategy of maintaining price point (shrinking margins) while increasing sales may not be a viable option for Unilever's other brands. There may be pieces of the supply chain where a sustainability program would lead to higher costs. If Unilever scaled the initiative to the rest of the organization, it had to find a way to integrate sustainability into its corporate strategy, reduce environmental impact, and boost social good, all while increasing profits.
On December 28, 2014, contact with Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, was lost after it left Surabaya, Indonesia bound for Singapore. All passengers were believed dead. Until this horrific incident, AirAsia and its various affiliated airlines, which included AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia, along with several other airlines organized in joint ventures throughout Southeast Asia, had recorded rising profits, rapid expansion and, until this incident, a solid safety record. The company was buoyed by a savvy marketing strategy and the leadership of its flamboyant founder. He was concerned now about how this tragedy would affect AirAsia's business in the short and long term. Should he delay or even stop some of his aggressive growth initiatives?
Better World Books (BWB) was founded as a for-profit "B corporation" committed to a triple bottom line of financial, social, and environmental performance. Early success with an innovative business model leveraging social entrepreneurship allowed BWB to grow revenue to over $80 million in 2014. BWB now faces challenges expanding further while sustaining their social-entrepreneurship business model. BWB currently faces such issues as narrow margins, shrinking supply, low brand awareness, and even copycat competitors. Chief Executive Office Mike Miller must decide how to handle these issues in a way that keeps BWB competitive in the crowded used-book industry and also creates value for all BWB's stakeholders.
The firing of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and directors affiliated with Arthur set off employee protests throughout the grocery store chain. Industry specialists estimated that Market Basket was losing close to $10 million each day in lost business and inventory, due to the protests. A long history of legal battles had destroyed the relationship between the families of the 2 cousins. This case describes the complexities of corporate governance for a family-owned organization.
DaVita had launched Paladina in early 2011 and the startup was struggling to gain traction: Paladina had already used a significant amount of the $40 million in funding committed by DaVita; the company's primary care clinics had not yet reached the number of patients necessary to sustain a profitable business; and it was in the midst of trying to integrate with another primary care clinic operator that it had acquired years earlier, but was just now merging into Paladina. Although the startup was young and still finding its way in an emerging industry, Thiry believed that Paladina would benefit from Golomb's experiences at Rx, which had also struggled in its early years. The situation at Rx became so precarious at one point that many of DaVita's senior leaders wanted to shut it down entirely. Rx made it through those challenging early years though, and was expected to exceed $600 million in revenues for 2013. However, Golomb wondered how relevant his Rx experience was to Paladina. Rx was closely tied to its parent company-DaVita provided dialysis services to patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and Rx supplied medications to ESRD patients-while Paladina's connection to DaVita was less obvious. If Golomb took the job, what could he do to make Paladina's clinics as efficient as possible in terms of service and its economics, without compromising on its value proposition? Was Paladina just too different of a business to be part of the DaVita family? This case offers an example of "intrapreneurship"-i.e. entrepreneurial ventures launched within large companies-at a Fortune 500 company. DaVita has already had a successful experience launching Rx (after some difficult early years), and the company is now even serving patients from some of DaVita's leading competitors. However, Paladina is the company's first intrapreneurial venture outside of its core focus of serving end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients-DaVita's main function is to provide dialysis se
On December 28, 2014, contact with Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, was lost after it left Surabaya, Indonesia bound for Singapore. All passengers were believed dead. Until this horrific incident, AirAsia and its various affiliated airlines, which included AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia, along with several other airlines organized in joint ventures throughout Southeast Asia, had recorded rising profits, rapid expansion and, until this incident, a solid safety record. The company was buoyed by a savvy marketing strategy and the leadership of its flamboyant founder. He was concerned now about how this tragedy would affect AirAsia’s business in the short and long term. Should he delay or even stop some of his aggressive growth initiatives? Supplement to 9B12M013.
The Crucell (B) case updates events at Crucell since 2009. In September, 2009, Johnson & Johnson acquired 18% of Crucell for $400 million. This investment was part of a business development deal. Subsequently, in 2012, Johnson & Johnson acquired Crucell for $2.8 billion.
In 2009, The Obama administration and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee enter into talks with industry groups that will be effected by the health reform that the Congress is working on.
In 2009, the Senate begins drafting its health care bills. Jurisdiction in the Senate is shared between two committees, but the more important is the Senate Finance Committee.
In the summer of 2009, a meeting is called in the White House to discuss the impact of changing the rules on the employer-sponsored health insurance tax exclusion.
In the fall of 2009, President Obama makes a speech to a joint session of Congress in an attempt to regain lost momentum on health reform and get a bill through Congress.
In the fall of 2009, the House and Senate each voted to pass health reform bills. These bills then had to be combined into the Affordable Care Act and the ACA had to be passed by both houses. Reconciliation had to be used because of Republican Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts.