James Han, director of strategy and planning at CHINT Group, needed to select the new country manager for the group's branch in Saudi Arabia. The branch was expected to become CHINT's regional hub for the Middle Eastern market, but the incumbent country manager lacked the necessary leadership skills. Han was considering two candidates: Wendy Sun, the country manager in Turkey, and Jack Ma, the country manager in Egypt. Both branches had achieved outstanding business growth under the leadership of Sun and Ma, respectively. Han needed to evaluate their capabilities and decide who was a better fit for the target market and the local team in Saudi Arabia, while also taking into account the cost of replacing them at their respective branches.
In the 2020s, with the emergence of a variety of digital technologies, Prada Group was interested in developing a new digital strategy. The global leading luxury fashion house headquartered in Milan, Italy, was recognized for its innovation and creativity. It sought a strategy that reflected the values and legacy of the company, while considering the sense of exclusivity that consumers of luxury brands desired. Prada Group was considering a digital strategy involving either the Metaverse or Web3 through the launch of a non-fungible token or by offering branded headsets and other equipment for customers to enter the Metaverse. Both the Metaverse and Web3 were relatively new technology concepts, not commonly known for interacting with luxury fashion brands. The company had to decide if it should explore an opportunity involving the Metaverse or Web3, or if it should instead find a way to remain relevant to customers by pursuing another digital strategy.
Poorly designed job roles hurt employee engagement and retention. The problem: Many managers don’t know how to create healthy, productive roles. New research shows that ChatGPT can bridge this knowledge gap and help leaders improve work design. But managers must understand the pros and cons of using generative AI technology for this task and how to do so effectively.
Husband-and-wife co-founders Patrick and Alexandria Gentry had built Sprout Solutions to be one of the biggest Software-as-a-Service human resources management platforms in the Philippines, guided by the mission to "impact the life of every Filipino by improving business in the Philippines." In 2019, they closed a $6 million Series A round of funding; in 2022, they were projecting what a Series B funding round might look like. Crucially, they were pondering two different growth trajectories: to stay in their home market of the Philippines and move towards creating an entire HR ecosystem including fintech offerings; or branch out into neighboring markets, a path which may attract more global investors.
"For ghSMART, freedom is the first principle from which all good things flow"-Geoff Smart, Chairman and Founder, ghSMART. ghSMART was a leadership advisory firm that was grounded in the principle of freedom. Talented Consultants and Partners could work remotely from where they wanted to, they could work on whatever they wanted to, and with whoever they like. There was no up-or-out culture, and employees were rewarded based on outcomes, not hours worked. In January 2022, ghSMART & Company conducted a comprehensive review of its 12-year performance, revealing remarkable growth with nearly $100 million in revenue by 2021 and a strong reputation for employee satisfaction and client impact. However, after a decade of success, the firm faced challenges related to its freedom-based culture, including difficulties in promoting self-sustaining partners, limited knowledge sharing, and uncoordinated innovation efforts. To shape its future, the firm's leadership had identified five key questions regarding maintaining its culture, formalizing promotion policies, decentralizing or centralizing innovation, geographic expansion, and the possibility of going public to address capital constraints. This case discusses these questions, and the central question of whether the company should change or keep their freedom-first culture as the company continued to expand.
After four successful years on the market, the founder and chief executive officer of Sanzo Brands Inc. (Sanzo) was looking for ways to continue the momentum and growth of his company. Sanzo was an Asian-inspired flavoured sparkling-water beverage company with an innovative approach to marketing and branding. Rather than promoting its sparkling water through traditional media channels, Sanzo relied on a digital-brand story approach and adopted social-media marketing tools in a mass-marketing environment. Alessandro Roco knew this was the right product at the right time, but his greatest concern was how to maintain the social-media buzz and continue to build the community around the brand. He wondered how Sanzo should manage social media to keep the community engaged and the brand story relevant.
In its effort to fight climate change, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) established its RBC Climate Blueprint, an enterprise strategy to accelerate clean economic growth and support its clients in a socially inclusive transition to net-zero. RBC holds itself accountable to this plan through its Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance Report, which quantifies the bank's climate change actions. Any business activities that contradict RBC's strategy may adversely impact the bank's reputation. This study was carried out in response to a strategic decision-making requirement from RBC regarding Bitcoin and new technology investment. The case discusses the definition of cryptocurrency, the Bitcoin mining process, energy consumption associated with the mining procedure, and the impact of Bitcoin mining on climate change. After thoroughly describing and analyzing each topic, we will draw conclusions about the effects of Bitcoin mining energy consumption on climate change. At the end of the study, we will be able to answer this question: What environment-related reputational risk might RBC face if the bank were to support products and services around Bitcoin?
In early 2022, Rajendra Jaiswal was in a quandary about the future of the collective enterprise Diwak Mata Farmer Producer Company Limited (Diwak Mata), which his organization, Prakriti Foundation for Natural Resources Regeneration (Prakriti), had helped incubate and grow. Since Diwak Mata's registration in 2018, Prakriti had helped it develop connections with various value chain participants and overcome the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a supportive Board of Directors (BoD) and an able chief executive officer (CEO) in Rakesh Sen, Diwak Mata was recognized as one of the better-performing producer companies in the region and had growing revenues with fluctuating profits. Looking at the figures of the audited balance sheet, Jaiswal wondered whether Prakriti should withdraw its support to the producer company. Were Diwak Mata's BoD of farmers and the CEO strong enough to chart the organization's own path? Could they create sufficient ownership from the stakeholders for sustained growth in Prakriti's absence? Should Prakriti remain loyal to Diwak Mata or exit and continue its core activities with other communities?
Faraaz Usmani, heir to the family-owned Herbo Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, a small private Unani pharmaceutical company in Prayagraj, India, planned to expand the company's business to other states to cover most parts of India. Before implementing this ambitious plan, Faraaz needed to conduct a feasibility study by applying some popular capital budgeting tools such as net present value, internal rate of return, and profitability index. He first projected the cash flows for ten years with an initial investment of ₹6.5 million financed with 80 per cent equity and 20 per cent debt. He expected sales to grow by 15 per cent annually for the next five years, 10 per cent from year 6 to year 10, and a perpetual growth rate of 5 per cent afterward. Faraaz understood that the estimation of the cost of capital was a key step in his analysis. He discovered that finding the cost of equity for a private firm was tricky because stock return information was not available to estimate beta. The case introduces the basics of cost of capital (i.e., weighted average cost of capital) and capital budgeting. It focuses on the details of how to estimate the cost of equity for a private firm.
The cannabis industry in Canada has experienced unprecedented growth since the Cannabis Act came into effect in 2018. It is widely expected that cannabidiol (CBD) will be classified as a food and natural health ingredient in Canada, the European Union, and other jurisdictions in the near future, which will open up a significant market. In 2023, Dr. Jacqueline Shan, the CEO of PBG BioPharma, made a long-term strategic decision to enter the cannabis consumer health market by launching a series of CBD consumer health products once the cannabis regulations in Canada are relaxed. In preparing to launch its own consumer product line, PBG BioPharma is developing its marketing strategy and analyzing potential challenges in managing its supply chain.
Alliant Credit Union (Alliant) had to decide whether to partner with Upstart Holdings, Inc. (Upstart), a financial technology (fintech) company that offered a platform to connect borrowers and lenders. Upstart's underwriting models used artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze both standard financial variables and "alternative data" on borrowers (e.g., their education history). Studies found that Upstart's approach to underwriting resulted in fewer defaults and more approvals relative to conventional models based on credit scores. However, the use of alternative data in the underwriting process raised fair-lending concerns. In 2020, a nonprofit claimed that Upstart's use of educational variables led to discriminatory outcomes. While Upstart disputed this claim, it agreed to reform aspects of its models to ensure fairness. This case requires students to evaluate tradeoffs associated with the use of new data and technology in the underwriting process. On the one hand, Upstart's underwriting models expanded access to credit, particularly benefiting borrowers with limited credit histories. On the other hand, the use of alternative data raised fairness concerns because the variables were often correlated with factors such as race, ethnicity, and age. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss fair lending laws in the United States, the economics of underwriting, and funding models used by fintech firms. At Darden, this case is used as part of a second-year MBA elective on fintech. It is part of a unit that studies applications of fintech to borrowing and lending. The case could also be used in classes on banking and financial institutions or corporate social responsibility.
Culture can serve as a lever for implementing organizational change. Leaders must start the process by determining the type of change they’re seeking â€" change that involves reinforcing magnitude, reimagining activity, or rethinking direction. Each approach to change requires leaders to make certain choices about culture. The authors use examples from direct experience in corporate human resources leadership at three different companies to illustrate three different strategies in action.
In the last 70 years, the small island of Taiwan has achieved what many believe to be a "miracle": its economy has grown at a record-setting pace, driven and guided by one of the world's most successful set of industrial policies, and it has become one of the richest and most open nations in the global trading system, with particular sway in the vital semiconductor sector. In more recent decades, however, the authoritarian government that originally led Taiwan's miracle has given way to a more open and pluralistic democracy and the growth of the island's semiconductor industry has slowed. Meanwhile, Taiwan finds itself in 2023 caught in the middle of a trade war between the United States and China, heightened by the threat of invasion from the PRC. Can Taiwan's newly pluralistic political system and plateauing technology sector maintain its miracle in such a vastly different environment?