In July 2021, the CEO of AB InBev's European operations and his team strategized to position the company for success post-pandemic. As the world's largest beer company, boasting over 500 brands, revenue of $46 billion, and a workforce of 160,000 in 2020, AB InBev grappled with the repercussions of the pandemic, particularly the adverse effects on on-trade customers like bars and restaurants. Historically a traditional firm in a conventional industry, AB InBev had begun a substantial digital transformation in recent years. This strategic shift was aimed at leveraging data and market insights more effectively. A key component of this transformation was the creation of the Growth Analytics Center (GAC) in India in 2016, a move designed to embed advanced forecasting and analytics into their business model. As the pandemic unfolded, management increasingly relied on the GAC's analytics and forecasts to navigate the evolving crisis. With pandemic restrictions starting to relax in mid-2021, the company began considering substantial investments in the struggling on-trade sector to gain market share. The company considered offering grants in the form of pre-paid discounts to pubs and restaurants that needed capital to reopen after the pandemic. The dilemma was whether to proactively reinvest in the on-trade sector or take a cautious approach. The decision rested on interpreting GAC data and the company's financial outlook.
In 2023, Luciano Bueno, CEO and founder of plant cell culture agriculture company GALY, was considering the best path forward for his company as he planned to pitch Series B investors. GALY, founded in 2019, aimed to produce cotton and other crops from cells grown in the lab. The company hoped to create 500,000 tons of products by 2030, and by 2023, had produced proof of concepts of cotton, coffee, and cacao. Bueno had a number of decisions to make. How should the company scale? Where should it locate production? Should it build its own production facilities, or license its intellectual property to partner firms? Should the company continue operating an office in Brazil, or centralize operations in Boston? The answers to these questions would point the way forward, but which path was best?
Inter IKEA Systems B.V. (IKEA) entered Korea at a relatively late stage of its global expansion and encountered an overwhelmingly positive customer response, which emboldened it to open several additional stores at a relatively fast pace. However, IKEA encountered much stronger headwinds after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Korea. It had to shift to online sales channels, mitigate customer dissatisfaction, face aggressive Korean competitors, accommodate a major slump in furniture demand, and address employee dissatisfaction and strong demands from its labour union. What could the company do to address these challenges and renew its success?
Two branches of sound-related machine learning are emerging: sound detection and analysis, and AI-powered sound creation. In industries such as security, health care, retail, and media production, these acoustic technologies have significant potential for business value creation. The author describes several applications of sound detection and analysis technologies powered by machine learning and suggests ways business leaders can capitalize on them.
Many organizations fail to make good decisions about their data monetization strategies because their leaders lack a shared understanding of how to discuss them. This confusion can impede efforts to derive more value from the company's data assets through improvements or innovation. This article shares a simple, practical matrix approach that can help remove friction from discussions about monetizing data and identify areas of business opportunity, now and in the future.
Inter IKEA Systems B.V. (IKEA) entered Korea at a relatively late stage of its global expansion and encountered an overwhelmingly positive customer response, which emboldened it to open several additional stores at a relatively fast pace. However, IKEA encountered much stronger headwinds after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Korea. It had to shift to online sales channels, mitigate customer dissatisfaction, face aggressive Korean competitors, accommodate a major slump in furniture demand, and address employee dissatisfaction and strong demands from its labour union. What could the company do to address these challenges and renew its success?
In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States imposed strict limitations on the use of race in college admissions decisions. Given the outsized nature of US influence on both global perceptions and corporate practice, it is essential to consider how the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) decision is likely to affect corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives around the world. In this article, the authors discuss how an incorrect understanding of the SFFA decision could negatively impact global perceptions of DEI and provide guidance for how to minimize these impacts. Put simply, the Supreme Court decision does not substantially change US corporate DEI methodology. The SFFA opinion is consistent with the “anti-discrimination” approach to advancing racial equality that has long been a feature of US law. Formal US “affirmative action” programs are strictly limited to circumstances where the employer is adopting targeted remedies to correct its own specifically identified discriminatory practices. Policies such as “employment equity” in Canada, “positive action” in Europe, “special measures” in Australia, or “affirmative action” in Brazil require, encourage, or tolerate to varying degrees social identity-based quotas, preferences, and exclusive recruiting measures of the type prohibited in the United States. Finally, understanding the anti-subordination approach—rejected by the Supreme Court majority but embraced by many national laws—allows for a recommitment to “do equity” using explicitly affirmative actions, where they are permitted, and an equity-based approach to all DEI initiatives.
In November 2022, OpenAI launched the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT on the web. Demonstrating the ability to understand human language and generate human-like, high-quality dialogues, answers, essays, jokes, and even poetry, ChatGPT attracted 100 million users within two months—setting the record of the fastest-growing consumer app in history. This case introduces ChatGPT and generative AI, elaborates on ChatGPT’s underlying large language models, examines the drivers of the technology’s rapid adoption, and investigates potential use cases, risks, and societal impacts. Finally, through an optional design exercise, the case leads the students to explore how the technology can shape the future of business and society.
Once scaled, online platforms reconfigure value to remain competitive. Reconfiguration in online platforms may take a different form than in pipelines, as online platforms are intermediaries that generate network effects among the sides they connect. They also face stiff competition from other spheres due to lower barriers to entry. Why and how do online platforms reconfigure value? By examining 13 Indian online platforms that have achieved a certain level of success (such as tipped markets, investor confidence, or profitability), this article offers four strategies for reconfiguring online platforms: enhance interactions, enhance capabilities, offer new services, and nurture new transactions.
Entrepreneurs often struggle with the question of whether to found solo or alongside one or more cofounders. This case is comprised of three vignettes detailing common founding scenarios: the first-time technical founder; the serial commercial founder; and the MBA co-founders who are friends first. Coupled with robust research, this case offers students the opportunity to break down the roles, responsibilities, relationships, and resources of a founding team and determine when and why they should found alone or seek a cofounder.
In November 2022, OpenAI launched the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT on the web. Demonstrating the ability to understand human language and generate human-like, high-quality dialogues, answers, essays, jokes, and even poetry, ChatGPT attracted 100 million users within two months-setting the record of the fastest-growing consumer app in history. This case introduces ChatGPT and generative AI, elaborates on ChatGPT's underlying large language models, examines the drivers of the technology's rapid adoption, and investigates potential use cases, risks, and societal impacts. Finally, through an optional design exercise, the case leads the students to explore how the technology can shape the future of business and society.
Why the US Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions does not signal the end of affirmative action or substantially change US corporate DEI methodology.
Impostor syndrome can make employees question their intelligence, competence, and sense of belonging. But workers who don't speak up in meetings or apply for promotions might actually be feeling the effects of impostorization workplace policies, practices, and interactions that make individuals question their intelligence, competence, and sense of belonging. The author shares examples of the phenomenon, along with tips to help managers avoid triggering impostor syndrome among employees.
In November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried's multi-billion-dollar crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, wiping out investors and throwing the crypto industry into disarray. As FTX's founder and CEO, Bankman-Fried developed a reputation for his unerring business sense and high-profile charitable giving. To many, it came as a shock when in the wake of FTX's collapse, the attorney responsible for restructuring the company professed he had never seen "such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization." How had Bankman-Fried managed to hide his malfeasance so well, and for so long? The investigation also raised questions about the people and organizations that enabled Bankman-Fried's wrongdoing. What should regulators have done differently? Were the VC funds that bankrolled FTX partly responsible?
In January 2022, superstar-athlete-turned-entrepreneur David Beckham is deciding on a proposal that has the potential to significantly change the trajectory of his business career: Authentic Brands Group ('Authentic') has offered to engage in a strategic partnership that will see that company co-own and manage Beckham's brand and Beckham become a shareholder in Authentic. The proposed deal will yield a significant payment for Beckham in exchange for a 55% stake in his company, David Beckham Ventures. But as he will no longer own a majority stake in his commercial activities, it will also come with a handover of majority control. Is a joint venture with Authentic the right move for David Beckham and his team?
In June 2023, David Beckham, co-owner of Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF, is hoping to find a way to bring Lionel Messi, widely regarded as one of the best players the world of soccer has ever seen, to his team. But Messi-a seven-time winner of the Ballon d'Or and fresh off a fairy-tale-like FIFA World Cup victory with the Argentine national team-is in high demand, and Inter Miami do not have the means to enter a bidding war, so Beckham and his partners will have to be creative. They have been working on an offer for Messi that involves a deal that runs until the winter of 2025, is worth between $20 million and $25 million in salary (including bonuses and other incentives), and that offers him an equity stake in Inter Miami after his retirement from professional soccer. Will the offer he and his partners have been preparing be sufficient to make Messi choose Miami?
As he prepares for a 2023 meeting of General Electric Corp. (GE), Vladimiro de la Mora, president of GE Mexico, weighs the potential benefits and risks of nearshoring production to the Mexican border. Along with major ports that accessed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and a 2,000-mile frontier shared with the United States, Mexico has a long history of trade and cooperation with the United States, supported by trade agreements and low labor costs, that have attracted low-skilled US manufacturing to Mexico for decades. But nearshoring is not without risks. Mexico has high inequality and low levels of human capital, and it is susceptible to political crises, populism, corruption, and insecurity, causing acute problems along the border with the United States. Reforms are needed. This public-sourced, partially fictionalized case offers an overview of Mexico's economic and political history since the 1970s, putting into rich context the opportunities and challenges encountered by a multinational company in 2023. It is taught at Darden in the second half of the Global Economics and Markets (GEM) sequence; it would also be suitable in a module covering long-run potential growth, economic fragilities, and economic crises.
magicpin was a multisided platform that enabled users to discover online and offline offers from merchants and brands through the magicpin app, and to earn rewards and cashback. magicpin facilitated an increase in the sales of partner merchants and brands by diverting consumer traffic, and was paid by the merchants and brands if performance guarantees on an increase in sales were achieved. In its "mission to make hyperlocal magical," magicpin introduced a "phygital" service that enabled users to browse online offers from local offline merchants, check the availability of the merchandise in nearby stores, pay using magicpoints, and pick up the product from the store or have it delivered home. As the company sought to attract users that valued the shopping experience rather than deals, Anshoo Sharma, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of magicpin, was considering releasing a "manifesto" that explained the distinctiveness of magicpin's offering and reinforced its mission.