The U.S. air transportation system flies high on some indicators, mostly involving capacity to take to the air, but lands low on others, mostly involving ground facilities and processes. This note provides an overview of the history and current state of air transportation in the U.S., covering industry costs; types of airlines, including passenger and cargo (e.g., Delta, Southwest, Alaska, and Frontier); airport issues; and the role of technology. It reviews some opportunities for innovation that will solve the pain points and bottlenecks facing the system and outlines high-priority policy areas. It becomes clear that individual airlines have often been managed back to health and focus on innovation, but the overall system itself and its governmental connections need attention, including the desire for NextGen air traffic control and revisiting Open Skies agreements.
Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange debtor-in-possession financing to provide liquidity while in bankruptcy. The company has received a financing proposal from its existing term loan lender that includes some aggressive and unusual features. This includes the requirement that, immediately upon filing for Chapter 11, School Specialty undertake to sell its assets under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Company must decide whether to accept this proposal, and what other options may be available.
Indian cell phone retailer Go Mobile had implemented high-powered incentives to motivate its store employees to behave as owners and provide exceptional service. As the company scaled up, it faced multiple challenges in building a layer of district managers that were willing and were able to support the highly incentivized store teams. On one hand, the district managers were expected to drive a profitable expansion, supporting complex day-to-day operations at the stores. On the other hand, they were expected to serve as mentors-communicating and teaching the values of the firm to their store managers, sharing best practices, and instilling a long-term perspective of the business. The case presents different mechanisms that the company could implement to motivate the district managers to effectively support the stores and foster growth. This product can be used with the free Job Design Optimization Tool (JDOT), available at: hbsp.harvard.edu/jdot
In 2013, a group of Tsinghua IMBA graduates decided to open a business, originally called "topline technology", to target Chinese consumers by supplying consumer goods reviews and rankings based on independent analysis and reviews. Setting "independent" and "fair" as its core value, the company is determined to help Chinese consumers with better information. CCR faces several major challenges. The biggest challenge is how to establish trust. The trust issue overall in Chinese society means that CCR has to convey a clear message of its independence and trustworthiness to its targeted consumers. Why should consumers believe CCR is fair? Other challenges include but are not limited to: How can Chinese consumers be made to understand its position and value proposition? How can CCR take advantage of current social media platforms such as Wechat and microblog? Finally, as marketing's core is to satisfy customers needs with profit. How to generate profit can also be discussed. Instructors can use the case to explore cultural differences between the west and the east: why simply applying the idea of consumer reports in the US to China may not be enough.
The Indian packaging industry — represented by a mix of paperboard, plastics, metals, and glass — had seen great change leading up to 2013. In 2012, Ajanta Packaging ranked among the top suppliers of glass bottles in India with an employee base of more than 50 and net revenues of US$100 million. The glass-bottle industry had a derived demand and depended on major industries using glass bottles in India, such as the liquor and beer, soft-drinks and pharmaceutical industries.<br /><br />The Ajanta Packaging case study discusses the stiff competition faced by the glass-bottle industry from different packaging options and materials that had entered the industry in the last four to five years. It assesses the changing market dynamics that could have a big impact on the future of Ajanta Packaging, with many companies shifting to PET bottles, Tetra Pak, flexible packaging, and other innovative packaging solutions, to reduce costs and improve the durability of products. Ajanta Packaging was highly dependent on glass-bottle sales, as 95 per cent of its revenue came from them. Should it carry on with the same product range, exploit the declining glass-bottle industry with more customers of glass bottles or enhance its product range with more varieties of PET bottles?</p>
The Indian packaging industry - represented by a mix of paperboard, plastics, metals and glass - had seen great change leading up to 2013. In 2012, Ajanta Packaging ranked among the top suppliers of glass bottles in India with an employee base of more than 50 and net revenues of US$100 million. The glass-bottle industry had a derived demand and depended on major industries using glass bottles in India, such as the liquor and beer, soft-drinks and pharmaceutical industries.The case discusses the stiff competition faced by the glass-bottle industry from different packaging options and materials that had entered the industry in the last four to five years. It assesses the changing market dynamics that could have a big impact on the future of Ajanta Packaging, with many companies shifting to PET bottles, Tetra Pak, flexible packaging and other innovative packaging solutions, to reduce costs and improve the durability of products. Ajanta Packaging was highly dependent on glass-bottle sales, as 95 per cent of its revenue came from them. Should it carry on with the same product range, exploit the declining glass-bottle industry with more customers of glass bottles or enhance its product range with more varieties of PET bottles?
"Introduction to Strategy" provides a comprehensive overview of the strategy discipline and introduces the building blocks of strategy by providing overviews of fundamental conceptual frameworks. Readers will learn how firms decide where to compete by exploring the business landscape and the structural forces that shape competition. This Reading will also present alternative perspectives on strategy.
"Industry Analysis" is intended to familiarize readers and executives with the core concepts in industry analysis. Readers learn why the Porter forces framework is a valuable tool for understanding industry structure and how to perform one. This Reading will also address criticisms and limitations of the framework.
"Competitive Advantage" introduces core concepts in competitive advantage including value creation and distribution, added value, and willingness to pay and supplier opportunity cost. The Reading explores how a firm's unique activities directly relate to establishing competitive advantage. Readers also learn how to analyze a firm's value proposition. The latest revision (June 2022) features updated examples and figures throughout the reading. The overall framework is unchanged. The example that opens the reading has been updated significantly, with newly acquired data (2005-2021), and now focuses on Lilly and Air Canada, replacing the original analysis of Merck and US Steel. Learn more: https://bit.ly/strategycc-guide
In 2012, regulatory changes following the financial crisis mean that Barclays Bank is faced with the need to raise large amounts of capital in order to comply with increased capital requirements, tightening rules as to the "quality of capital," and increased risk weights for its capital markets assets. The bank is contemplating offering contingent capital bonds, which would act like debt during "normal times" but would convert to create capital should the bank hit a "triggering event." How should these instruments be designed? Can they be attractive for the bank and for investors?
The founders of Maricopa, Inc., a startup that sold proprietery hair-care products directly to salons, were preparing a board presentation to address the young company's inability to meet financial projections. While the products had caught on with customers, the financial shortcomings raised some questions about the company's business plan. The company had gone through much of its cash and needed additional funding to continue operating. At the same time, two VC investors were deciding how to proceed with their investments in Maricopa. The larger VC firm questioned Maricopa's management's decisions and was hesitant to further fund the company. However the Maricopa investment was much more important to the smaller VC firm, and it's representative on Maricopa's board worked hard to convinve her counterpart from the larger firm that while the firm had struggled, it was a young startup with strong potential. Without the larger firm investing again in Maricopa, the business was at risk of going under.
This supplementary case follows up on an innovative R&D approach by Beiersdorf,a skin care and cosmetics company. The case relates what happened to the product launched by Beiersdorf, to its Nivea line, following the events of the A case, and how the commercial success of the product informed thinking by leaders in R&D for the future.
In the summer of 2013, Whitney DeSoto had just been hired as managing director for real assets at the Overton Pension Fund (OPF). Her task was to provide recommendations to the board of trustees to introduce real estate into the fund's portfolio, which to date had been invested solely in stocks and bonds. Combining her knowledge of modern portfolio theory with her institutional expertise in real estate, DeSoto needed to decide what fraction of the fund should optimally be invested in real assets. She then faced the task of deciding whether to invest in public or private real estate. If she thought private real estate belonged in the portfolio, she would need to identify the best investment strategy, the best vehicle, and ultimately the specific investments to recommend.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders' motivations and their strategy for disrupting an industry in the midst of dramatic structural change; and asks whether a16z's success to date has been due to its novel organization structure. a16z's 22 investment professionals are supported by 43 recruiting and marketing specialists-an "operating team" that is an order of magnitude larger than that of any other VC firm. Furthermore, the operating team aims to not only assist a16z portfolio companies, but also to be broadly helpful to all parties in the Silicon Valley ecosystem, including search firms, journalists, PR agencies, and Fortune 500 executives. The bet: by providing "no-strings-attached" help to ecosystem partners, the partners might someday reciprocate by steering founders seeking funding to a16z. The case closes by asking whether a16z should seek to double its scale over the next years.
Case describes the funding landscape for enterprise technology startups and how there has been a renewed interest in these types of companies in 2012 and 2013. The case highlights recent IPOs within this sector and the venture capitalists who have created funds to pursue an enterprise information technology investment thesis. Case focuses on the company Splunk to highlight the intricacies and nuances of building a successful enterprise startup from funding to IPO. The case also highlights issues around fund raising, selecting the right venture capitalists, and whether to accept an acquisition offer.
After four months in his new position, the assistant operations manager of a family-run, mid-sized insurance company must deal with the performance issues of a long-time employee. The offender’s high rate of errors and his slow completion times, along with his increasingly defiant attitude, have gone on for too long, especially since this performance is negatively affecting the other employees in the operations department. Since past efforts have done little to remedy the issues, the assistant operations manager knows his next move needs to resolve them. New to his role, he wants to ensure that he handles this difficult situation well.
After four months in his new position, the assistant operations manager of a family-run, mid-sized insurance company must deal with the performance issues of a long-time employee. The offender's high rate of errors and his slow completion times, along with his increasingly defiant attitude, have gone on for too long, especially since this performance is negatively affecting the other employees in the operations department. Since past efforts have done little to remedy the issues, the assistant operations manager knows his next move needs to resolve them. New to his role, he wants to ensure that he handles this difficult situation well.