Bob Hall, President of Green Gables Partners, evaluated whether to angel invest into an up-and-coming ski brand. As the son-in-law of the founder of Vera Bradley and having retired from a lengthy career on Wall Street, Hall was well-versed in both direct investing and the consumer goods industry alike. He also loved learning about new entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of their industry-and taking a hands-on approach to his investments. With his lifelong love for skiing, he found himself drawn to emerging ski-preneur, Curt Nichols, and his ski goggle brand Glade Optics. Bob weighed Nichols' proposal for a direct investment deal and the terms. How should he evaluate the proposal, his increasing concentrated risk in ski apparel, and whether he could invest for both financial returns and the future of an industry he loved?
An exodus of nurses from the profession is leaving health care leaders with a staffing shortage that can’t be ignored. To understand the factors behind the burnout and dissatisfaction driving nurses’ exit, the authors analyzed the free-text employer reviews nurses shared on Glassdoor. The results revealed what actions leaders can take to reverse the trend and resulted in an interactive tool that can be used to compare how 200 large health care systems stack up against one another.
This case study examines the pivotal role of centralized exchanges in today's digital asset ecosystem and emphasizes the importance of thorough due diligence for institutional investors when assessing digital asset companies. It underscores the need to recognize potential warning signs, such as inadequate regulatory oversight, inexperienced management, or intricate corporate structures. Furthermore, it delves into effective practices for Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and other institutional investors venturing into the digital asset landscape to adeptly manage risks. In this case, students assume the role of Raffi, an analyst at a prominent Middle Eastern SWF. The SWF contemplates digital asset investments as part of its portfolio diversification strategy but is wary of associated risks, especially in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. Consequently, they assign Raffi the task of investigating the FTX collapse, extracting essential lessons, and formulating a robust due diligence framework to mitigate risks in future digital asset investments. This case aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to the FTX collapse and acquaint them with best practices for institutional investors navigating the digital asset space, focusing on the identification and mitigation of counterparty risks.
After publicly declaring that they would not enter the contract research organization (CRO) business in 2017, Thermo Fisher purchased Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), one of the biggest players in the CRO space, in 2021. Much had changed in the intervening years, but questions still remained concerning the strategic about-face. Thermo Fisher, often referred to as the 800lb gorilla in the room, was already nearly a one-stop-shop for biotech and pharma companies. Now, with the acquisition complete, Thermo Fisher and its customers faced a bit of a reckoning, with many potential paths forward. What would the right path for Thermo Fisher and its customers be?
Creating an equitable environment and supporting diverse populations in navigating them are key to sustaining workplace diversity. Organizations can work toward this goal by taking five steps: committing to sponsorship, addressing systemic factors to eliminate glass ceilings, diagnosing “glass cliff†situations, approaching mentoring conversations differently, and measuring and tracking progress.
On August 16, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The wide-ranging law included provisions for lowering prescription drug costs, expanding the Internal Revenue Service, subsidizing the Affordable Care Act, and tax reform. But the largest share of the IRA's $738 billion investment-$369 billion-was allocated to mitigating climate change. The law was designed to meet several objectives: stimulate the economy and reduce inflation, create well-paid working-class+S16 jobs, and encourage consumers to buy American products-all within the framework of a carbon reduction strategy. The task of implementing the climate-related provisions of the IRA was daunting. It would require coordinating not just among the agencies of the federal government, but with state, local and tribal governments, with local organizations, and with the private sector. The case goes on to describe the provisions of the IRA and the plan for implementing the law while detailing the significant challenges to reducing the country's carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. HKS Case No. 2270.0
The concept of Jungle Bay Dominica (Jungle Bay) was created by Samuel Raphael on the island of Dominica in 1997 and first opened for business in 2005. Raphael’s philosophy was that he could profitably operate a luxury hotel with minimal disturbance to the surrounding natural environment that functioned as a tool to further the economic growth and social welfare of the local population. To its clientele, Jungle Bay offered a variety of experiences in a tropical setting, such as breathtaking views, spa treatments, lush gardens and orchards, adventure tours, and fresh organic food. For the Jungle Bay team, Raphael provided opportunities for learning new skills and a steady income, and he gave motivated individuals an opportunity to grow. However, a series of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in Jungle Bay struggling to achieve occupancy rates above 35 per cent. Raphael had to determine the best way to expand Jungle Bay’s marketing efforts, increase occupancy rates, and increase revenue.
<p align="justify">EatSure was the direct-to-customer platform of Rebel Foods, an internet-based restaurant. EatSure was positioned as a digital food court compared to online food aggregators and other companies in the food-service industry. Sagar Kochhar, chief executive officer of EatSure, had a meeting with his executive team to discuss the company’s goal of reaching fifty million EatSure app users. EatSure had recently reached more than seven million downloads. The team met to analyze EatSure’s positioning with respect to other food-delivery competitors following recent market research and the creation of a perceptual map. Kochhar wanted to understand the company’s existing market position and decide on a future course of action to meet this growth goal.
This case traces the rise of Nelson Mandela from his tribal home in South Africa to president of the country. Rejecting expectations that he would be a tribal leader, Mandela instead dedicates his life to fighting Apartheid. After peaceful approaches fail, he joins with others in violent resistance for which he is ultimately jailed. After a widely-covered trial, he spends 27 years in prison. As his celebrity grows, he continues to fight for freedom and, when finally released, becomes president of South Africa. He ushered in a new democratic constitution and worked valiantly to heal the country. Students will learn how Nelson Mandela navigated life's choices to leave a lasting impact on the world.
In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Unlike mainstream platforms such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, Fantuan had been profitable for its first four years until deciding to invest heavily in international expansion in 2020. Wu and his team now were evaluating how best to scale Fantuan further in order to capture additional value: by extending its existing services to new geographies, deepening its offerings for existing customers, or broadening its customer base beyond the Chinese diaspora.
"Working with Lawyers" explores effective management of external legal counsel in business. It highlights lawyers as precise "legal software engineers" and advises clients to balance expert advice with broader business goals. Building a trusted advisor relationship and realistic cost management are crucial. Early lawyer involvement, understanding the legal team, and recognizing cognitive biases are emphasized. Reading legal documents and avoiding last-minute changes are essential. Mistakes often result from communication breakdowns, necessitating efficient process management and communication channels for successful collaboration.
Pay transparency regulations are designed to close the wage gap. Research shows that despite broad assumptions to the contrary, women do negotiate on salary. It also shows that when pay information is paired with performance data, it leads to clearer comparisons and fairer negotiations and can motivate people to perform better. Robust appraisal systems can make pay transparency an opportunity to improve performance rather than a compliance burden.
EatSure was the direct-to-customer platform of Rebel Foods, an internet-based restaurant. EatSure was positioned as a digital food court compared to online food aggregators and other companies in the food-service industry. Sagar Kochhar, chief executive officer of EatSure, had a meeting with his executive team to discuss the company's goal of reaching fifty million EatSure app users. EatSure had recently reached more than seven million downloads. The team met to analyze EatSure's positioning with respect to other food-delivery competitors following recent market research and the creation of a perceptual map. Kochhar wanted to understand the company's existing market position and decide on a future course of action to meet this growth goal.
The concept of Jungle Bay Dominica (Jungle Bay) was created by Samuel Raphael on the island of Dominica in 1997 and first opened for business in 2005. Raphael's philosophy was that he could profitably operate a luxury hotel with minimal disturbance to the surrounding natural environment that functioned as a tool to further the economic growth and social welfare of the local population. To its clientele, Jungle Bay offered a variety of experiences in a tropical setting, such as breathtaking views, spa treatments, lush gardens and orchards, adventure tours, and fresh organic food. For the Jungle Bay team, Raphael provided opportunities for learning new skills and a steady income, and he gave motivated individuals an opportunity to grow. However, a series of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in Jungle Bay struggling to achieve occupancy rates above 35 per cent. Raphael had to determine the best way to expand Jungle Bay's marketing efforts, increase occupancy rates, and increase revenue.
In October 2021, the head of digital communications and branding at the Australian biopharmaceutical conglomerate CSL Limited (CSL), was tasked with a strategic rebranding exercise. By August 2022, he and other stakeholders felt a sense of pride and satisfaction at how quickly the rebranding initiatives had been completed. CSL felt that it had achieved the desired brand associations and met its targeted brand net promoter score performance. Looking forward, the company's executives needed to outline an implementation plan to ensure CSL's brand positioning-its key differentiator-to ensure that CSL outpaced respected competitors and that the CSL brand connected with the company's product brands at each customer touchpoint-all while maintaining trust and attracting the best researchers possible.
In March 2023, Fixie Co-Founder and Chief Architect Matt Welsh and co-founders had the kind of meeting no founders want to have. The president of leading artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment firm OpenAI, which had catapulted into fame with its ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) products, briefs them on a new product that represents an existential threat. OpenAI is launching ChatGPT plugins, which would transform ChatGPT from a base layer tool into a platform, where third-party application developers such as Expedia, InstaCart, or OpenTable could leverage OpenAI's underlying models to build useful applications. This move threatened to derail Fixie's nascent cloud-based platform that leveraged large language models (LLMs) to build and customize conversational AI systems for enterprise. Fixie aspired to be the middleware standard that connected underlying models with AI-facing applications. Now they had to decide if their product was still relevant, whether a pivot was possible, and how to play their next move in the fast-paced Gen AI chess game.
In October 2021, the head of digital communications and branding at the Australian biopharmaceutical conglomerate CSL Limited (CSL), was tasked with a strategic rebranding exercise. By August 2022, he and other stakeholders felt a sense of pride and satisfaction at how quickly the rebranding initiatives had been completed. CSL felt that it had achieved the desired brand associations and met its targeted brand net promoter score performance. Looking forward, the company’s executives needed to outline an implementation plan to ensure CSL’s brand positioning—its key differentiator—to ensure that CSL outpaced respected competitors and that the CSL brand connected with the company’s product brands at each customer touchpoint—all while maintaining trust and attracting the best researchers possible.
In 2023, Nieves Segovia, President of the SEK Education Group in Spain, contemplates the future of her family's for-profit education company, which includes K-12 schools and the newly established UCJC university. Renowned for its innovation in education, SEK faces crucial decisions in a rapidly evolving market. Nieves Segovia grapples with the direction to prioritize for UCJC's growth strategy, considering whether to expand programs and degrees, invest further in online education post-COVID-19 success, or delve into lifelong learning opportunities.
In early 2023, Claire Chiang, co-founder of Banyan Tree Group (Banyan Tree), a Singapore-based multinational hospitality brand with several hotels and resorts across the globe, was contemplating growth plans for the company. Banyan tree was aiming to double its existing portfolio to 100 hotels and resorts by 2025, while remaining competitive in a market dominated by large international players, and staying true to its brand philosophy of creating shared value (CSV). Banyan Tree had entered the market with unique proposition of providing culturally rich and unique destination experiences with an innovative 'pool villa' concept to luxury travellers while focussing on sustainability. The company had also concentrated on a 'Responsible Leadership' approach to drive growth and business diversification. Could Banyan Tree expand rapidly while staying true to its core values of CSV and sustainable development? Could it continue to maintain its competitive advantage when other players were also increasingly adopting sustainable development goals? The case can be used in Strategy and Finance courses that teach Competitive Strategy, Creating Shared Value (CSV), and Sustainable Business as a business strategy in graduate and executive education classes.