Southwire, a leading maker of cable based in rural Georgia, has partnered with the local school system to staff a factory with at-risk high school students. The positive impact on student outcomes has been remarkable, and the factory makes a profit for the company. Now leaders of the effort wonder how they can encourage other businesses to launch similar win-win partnerships with educators.
Southwire, a leading maker of cable based in rural Georgia, has partnered with the local school system to staff a factory with at-risk high school students. The positive impact on student outcomes has been remarkable, and the factory makes a profit for the company. Now leaders of the effort wonder how they can encourage other businesses to launch similar win-win partnerships with educators.
Bridges Ventures, a UK-based impact investor with double-digit returns on its investments, is reflecting on its social impact and pondering its future course.
In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, ordered the temporary shutdown of Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in response to a spate of deaths at the operations. The case lays out Carroll's requirements of what had to be done before the Rustenburg mines could restart operations, including the implementation of a new safety program for tens of thousands of workers that called on the help of executives from other Anglo American businesses. The shutdown disrupted operations and incurred substantial costs.
This case explores the opportunity to purchase the condominium management business of a distressed real estate developer by Advantage Partners, a leading Japanese private equity firm. The case explores investment structuring, bidding strategy, and the ability of private equity firms to add value. The role of private equity in Japan is also explored and allows students to compare the Japanese merger and acquisition market to the U.S. and Europe.
This case explores issues faced by the corporate sustainability manager at the corporate headquarters of a large hotel group in a developing nation as she implements her company’s corporate sustainability strategy through supplier partnerships with bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) social organizations. Under the rubric of responsible purchasing, the hotelier’s “Creating Sustainable Livelihoods” initiative engaged cause-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by exploring opportunities where the products or services of such organizations could substitute for similar products or services sourced from for-profit suppliers. The case illustrates the challenges inherent in a BoP responsible purchasing strategy, including the delicate balance between meeting business objectives while supporting social causes.
This case presents a social enterprise considering whether a for-profit model might be an effective way to scale its impact. Mexico City-based La Vaca Independiente (The Independent Cow) was founded to bring art to underprivileged children. The founder observed that many global problems are caused by humanity’s increasing state of isolation, with individuals disconnected from the planet and from each other. She concluded that most benefit corporations address outcomes of isolationism, but that La Vaca could target the matter directly. La Vaca focused exclusively on a program called Developing Intelligence through Art (DIA). Using artwork as a stimulus for thought and discussion, DIA provided individuals with opportunities to develop meaning in their lives. She believed, based on evidence that companies lose annual revenue due to the effects of isolationism on their employees, that she and her team could pursue a for-profit business model in order to expose La Vaca to markets and opportunities inaccessible to a charitable organization.
In 2009, the owner of a Broadway theatre has to figure out whether to switch to a new show or continue with the current one, which is not generating the revenue expected. He already has a new show booked to begin in five weeks; each new show requires a week of set-up time during which its producers pay rent to the theatre but there are no ticket sales. Is it worth closing the current show and replacing it with an unknown show for a very limited run? Or should he just let the current show continue until the new, already contracted show is set to begin? A freelance analytics consultant helps him solve the problem by analyzing past data on the weekly box office performance of shows.
This case explores issues faced by the corporate sustainability manager at the corporate headquarters of a large hotel group in a developing nation as she implements her company's corporate sustainability strategy through supplier partnerships with bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) social organizations. Under the rubric of responsible purchasing, the hotelier's "Creating Sustainable Livelihoods" initiative engaged cause-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by exploring opportunities where the products or services of such organizations could substitute for similar products or services sourced from for-profit suppliers. The case illustrates the challenges inherent in a BoP responsible purchasing strategy, including the delicate balance between meeting business objectives while supporting social causes.
Steward Health has raised private equity and has converted from not-for-profit to for-profit. The case describes its Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and asks whether it should continue this experiment.
In 2004 Lenovo announced the decision to buy IBM's personal computer ("PC") business. Most people thought the Chinese company would burn its cash and fail. Lenovo proved them wrong, and by 2010 showed clear growth momentum and steadily increased its market share in the PC industry. In early 2013, Lenovo's successful "protect-and-attack" strategy has forced Dell to trail behind and enables the company to compete head-to-head with Hewlett-Packard to become the world's largest PC vendor. But IBM's leaving the PC industry proves the foresight of the world's oldest technology company. The PC industry is in the midst of a sweeping transformation, which started with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and culminated in 2010 with the launch of the iPad. By the end of 2012, over 212 million iPads and other modern tablets had been shipped, while PC shipments had shown continuing decline for four consecutive quarters by the first quarter of 2013. Will the company's "protect-and-attack" strategy still work in an industry in the midst of a structural change? Will it be able to sustain its competitive advantage in the new battlefield? Will the company be able to establish a global brand in the "smart connected devices" market?
It was summer of 2013, and the news of cyber-attacks and information security breaches was on the rise in India, as it was worldwide. Incidents such as the Axis bank’s cyber-crime incident and the news of the American National Security Agency’s global e-surveillance were creating consternation and dilemmas in the minds of information security consultants. One such consultant owned and operated an information security company, Percept Softech, a Lakshyaa Technology Lab’s Jaipur franchise. The consultant was bogged down by a number of problems and dilemmas. The first was his marketing and business growth strategy, which was not helping him in promotion of his business. Information security solutions, spying, vulnerability checks, key logging and allied propositions were difficult to promote. Managing young millennial talent was another major problem for him. Apart from the woes of business growth, inefficiency in promotion and talent issues, the consultant was now facing another dilemma. Should he start a new business away from the umbrella of the Lakshyaa Technology Lab? Should he partner with a detective agency? Or should he relocate from Jaipur to a more central location (such as New Delhi) where perhaps people would be more aware of the importance of cyber security and students would be more interested in pursuing cyber security training?
In 2013, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried and failed to institute a ban on serving sizes of large sugary beverages. Obesity posed a large public health risk to the city. Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban was one of many attempts to combat the rising threat of obesity. The case discusses the efficacy of the proposed ban on large soda serving sizes in the context of the other anti-obesity initiatives crafted by Bloomberg's administration.
Cyprus is a small Mediterranean island located at the cross-roads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its 1974 split, Cyprus has grown real GDP more than fivefold-in large part because of its development as an "international business" center. The country developed a large network of double-taxation-treaties (including some of the most robust agreements with Russia and other ex-Soviet Republics) that allowed it to serve as a tax-efficient conduit for international capital flows. In 2002 it acceded to the European Union and in 2008 to the Eurozone. However in 2012, facing fiscal deficits and an insolvent banking sector, the island became the fourth EU country to formally request assistance from the EC-ECB-IMF Troika. The final assistance package required a "bail-in" from uninsured depositors in order to return the nation's largest banks to solvency. How had Cyprus's development model contributed to both the island's financial crisis as well as the structure of its ultimate assistance package?
It was summer of 2013, and the news of cyber-attacks and information security breaches was on the rise in India, as it was worldwide. Incidents such as the Axis bank's cyber-crime incident and the news of the American National Security Agency's global e-surveillance were creating consternation and dilemmas in the minds of information security consultants. One such consultant owned and operated an information security company, Percept Softech, a Lakshyaa Technology Lab's Jaipur franchise. The consultant was bogged down by a number of problems and dilemmas. The first was his marketing and business growth strategy, which was not helping him in promotion of his business. Information security solutions, spying, vulnerability checks, key logging and allied propositions were difficult to promote. Managing young millennial talent was another major problem for him. Apart from the woes of business growth, inefficiency in promotion and talent issues, the consultant was now facing another dilemma. Should he start a new business away from the umbrella of the Lakshyaa Technology Lab? Should he partner with a detective agency? Or should he relocate from Jaipur to a more central location (such as New Delhi) where perhaps people would be more aware of the importance of cyber security and students would be more interested in pursuing cyber security training?
Richard Lund had reached an important crossroads in his life. At age 65, Lund had had a great deal of success-and amassed much wealth-but he needed to devise a plan for the future. Namely, he needed to figure out what to do with the wealth of which he was so proud and that he had accumulated as a result of his own hard work and perseverance. This case describes a hypothetical investor faced with the challenges of philanthropy and its role in wealth management and personal objectives. Includes discussions of how much, when, why, and how to give.
This case focuses on the challenges and opportunities faced by a successful incumbent organization attempting to transform a large portion of its business from a traditionally product-centric operating mode to a platform-based one that leverages network effects to create durable competitive advantage. Strategic questions include the extent to which the organization should invest in platform initiatives, the appropriate resource allocation among various product and platform offerings, and the most beneficial business model for each of a few candidate multi-sided platform initiatives.