This case focuses on POSCO, the world's most profitable steelmaker and third largest steelmaker by volume for crude steel production. When Jung Jun-Yang became POSCO chief executive in 2009, he envisioned trust to be the foundation of POSCO's success in achieving sustainable co-prosperity with its stakeholders. Believing that "trust is POSCO's identity" and "trust is based on communication," he launched the 'trust communication' initiative in 2010. This initiative coincided with the start of POSCO's third phase of growth for 2010-2020 decade. For this phase, the company aims to become a truly sustainable corporation. The case describes the trust-related challenges that Jung faces as he launches the initiative. In addition, it shows some preliminary results from the company's nascent initiative and the problems that continue to confront POSCO's management as the company strives to achieve long-term sustainability through a system focused on 'Great Harmony', which is based on trust and communication.
Viki is a web portal that provides video content with crowdsourced multi-lingual subtitles. It relies on an active community of fans to add captions and subtitles in numerous languages to premium videos (movies, television shows) from around the world - thus opening up new markets and enabling new viewers to enjoy the content. Leveraging crowd-sourced subtitling enables Viki to distribute non- English, non-US television content to foreign markets quickly and cheaply. The case begins as Nadine Yap, vice president at Viki, prepares for a major redesign of the website to meet the requirements of the growing company. She laments that when the company fixes bugs or makes improvements, community members often complain and even leave. The community of fans and 'subbers' is at the heart of what Viki does, so staying authentic is crucial to the company's sustainability. How should Yap and Viki go about maintaining the delicate balance between being an authentic site that is supported by an informal community and a slick, commercial operation?
Every year MBA programs across the country advertise for prospective students. They promote the academic excellence of their programs, the uniqueness of their offerings, the quality of their faculty and a variety of other factors. In a competitive market, the goal is to attract the brightest and the best. Many schools claim that graduates of their programs will see large salaries on graduation. This is clearly a very important part of many students’ decision criteria. In fact, the Financial Times rating of MBA programs uses graduates’ salaries as a large component of their rating system. A student has access to the salary data from a prominent MBA school in North America. She sits down to analyze the data and see what factors are associated with higher salaries.
In the spring of 2008, the marketing manager of Wheaties was getting ready for a meeting to discuss ideas about how to reinvigorate one of the most iconic and well-known cereal brands in America, which over the preceding few years had experienced a steady decline in market share. The only limitation the manager would impose was that any new product could not replace the original Wheaties. Otherwise, she was open to any opportunity to differentiate Wheaties from the orange box and yet fully embody the brand equity.
The marketing manager and the Wheaties brand team launched a line extension they believed would bolster the legendary brand. Wheaties Fuel, a ready-to-eat cereal targeted specifically toward men and designed to help users "Prepare to Win" was introduced to consumers in September 2009, with a 360º campaign utilizing television, print, online, and in-store promotions to build awareness. By gaining buy-in early on from Peyton Manning, Kevin Garnett, and Dr. John Ivy, a world-renowned expert on the role of nutrition and exercise performance, the Wheaties team was able to not only create a cereal that was made by champions for champions but also to create prelaunch buzz with a unique method of creating the cereal.
The results were not promising following the initial campaign and launch of Wheaties Fuel as sales dipped five months after it had been put on store shelves. Still there was a 96% incremental gain in sales of the original Wheaties, and many of its new consumers were younger than usual. Based on the initial feedback, the team began using a lighter tone in its messaging, and continued to monitor, learn, and optimize the product and the campaign.
On January 6, 2010, Stanko Grmovsek was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for making profits of an estimated US$9 million over 14 years based on insider tips from his best friend from law school, Gil Cornblum. Grmovsek and Cornblum had operated an illegal insider trading scheme from 1994 until 2008. Using his role as a corporate lawyer at various law firms, Cornblum had passed material non-public information related to 46 takeovers to Grmovsek, who then traded illegally using brokerage accounts located in the Bahamas and Ontario. On October 27, 2009, Grmovsek pleaded guilty to all charges against him in both Canada and the United States following a joint investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
This note introduces convertible notes in angel financing. It begins by delineating the differences between a priced and non-priced round. It then describes a specific example of a convertible note, with attention paid to technical details regarding valuation caps.
This case explores how to manage the political risks of using a controversial energy extraction technology in the European Union. San Leon Energy, an Irish energy firm, was committed to developing large unconventional shale gas reserves in Poland. To reach these reserves, San Leon needed to use a technique called hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"). Pioneered in the United States during the early 2000s, fracking involved pumping a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into a reservoir at high pressure to crack shale formations, releasing gas to flow up the well. The natural gas produced by this process provided a substantially cleaner energy alternative to coal. Additionally, since large, previously inaccessible shale gas reserves were located in the United States, Canada, China, and parts of Europe, fracking had the potential to revolutionize the geopolitics of the energy industry. However, American and European environmental groups grew concerned that fracking could contaminate local drinking water, generate air pollution, cause minor earthquakes, and crowd out investment in renewable energy alternatives. The Polish government supported fracking as a way to dramatically bolster the country's domestic gas production and reduce its energy dependence on Russia. Yet in 2011 and 2012, environmental protests worldwide grew, causing several countries, including Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Romania, and parts of Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to issue temporary fracking bans. Since San Leon Energy's management called Poland "the heartbeat of our company," the company faced the challenging tasks of mitigating environmentalists' concerns and preventing a Polish or EU-wide fracking ban.
On January 15, 2009, shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada geese. The geese were then sucked into the plane's twin engines, causing total engine failure and the loss of power. Case A of this three-part series recounts how over the following four minutes, Flight 1549's Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles grappled with a variety of extreme challenges. Not only did they have to keep the plane under control, but they also had to quickly decide whether they could make an emergency landing at a nearby airport - or find another alternative to get the plane down safely in one of the most crowded regions in the country. Cases B and C then describe how, after the plane landed in the cold waters of the Hudson River, emergency responders from many agencies and private organizations - converging on the scene without a prior action plan for this type of emergency - scrambled to both rescue passengers and crew and stabilize the aircraft as it began to move downstream. Case Number 1966
Kyruus is used in a course at HBS on Entrepreneurship in Healthcare IT and Services (EHITS). It describes a young company that has built a very large database on physicians. The company has had some early successful pilots with prominent customers, but it is now faced with choices on which markets to pursue. These markets each offer opportunity, but the company must make some decisions. As is often the case in early stage companies, these choices will affect a number of things, including organizational needs and capital requirements.
Many organizations underestimate the challenges associated with the use of a knowledge management system (KMS). To better understand the nature of these challenges, this case describes the knowledge management efforts of a state governmental agency in the United States: Technology Project Authority (TPA). The case focuses on the three main phases of the TPA's knowledge management strategy, between 2004 and 2008. Under pressure to improve its business processes to sustain its expertise in IT project management, TPA implemented two KMS during the period covered in the case. In the end, the second KMS was still not used as intended. Giving our teaching objectives, students are asked to determine the characteristics of an organizational environment conducive to knowledge management activities, to evaluate the strategic alignment of the KMS, and to suggest a tailored method of analysis and reengineering for an integrated system such as the KMS needed at TPA.
The microstock photography industry took shape in the early 2000s, when iStockphoto commercialized its online catalogue of images contributed by a community of amateur and semi-professional photographers. This case takes place about four years after iStockphoto's purchase by Getty Images, an event that signalled a shift of market dominance from traditional stock photo houses to their microstock competitors. The industry has changed dramatically. Three firms - iStockphoto, Shutterstock and Fotolia LLC - control the lion's share of a mature market, and each dominates a particular segment. The Fotolia management team must find ways to grow Fotolia N.A., even as competitors also seek to exploit the "long tail" in the market. The case asks students to develop strategies to generate new revenue in this rapidly changing environment.
Overview of the strategic re-orientation and diversification of Ringier a Swiss based media company as they confront the challenges of staying competitive and profitable in the new and increasingly digital media landscape.
Following a successful career as a Senior Vice President, Vice President, and Chief Communications Officer at two large corporate companies, Shelly London set out to promote opportunities for young people to practice the ethical decision making that she had found integral for success in the corporate world. She developed a portfolio of initiatives that would expand opportunities for young people to be exposed to ethical dilemmas through familial interaction, computer games, and additional media outlets. London reflected on her recent efforts, she was pleased to see various facets of her programs and projects having an impact on the development of ethical thinking among young people.
In 2005, USAID and the U.S. President´s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) to procure and distribute essential medicines and supplies; provide technical assistance to transform existing supply chains; and collaborated with in-country and global partners to coordinate efforts. The new US Global Health Initiative (GHI) initialized in 2010 sought to build on these efforts through strengthened platforms and systems. PEPFAR's five-year strategy, as contribution to the GHI, focused on transitioning the program from an emergency response to a sustainable, country-owned effort. The case describes the general approach designed by SCMS, the intricacies of its successful implementation in Ethiopia, and the challenges moving forward in that country.
A senior product manager for a telecommunications company has been asked to propose ideas for generating new revenue from video gamers who use his company's Internet services. The manager has commissioned the development of "experience maps" for three subsegments within the gamer segment. The experience maps, which are reproduced in the case, provide students with an opportunity to generate customer insights based on real qualitative data.
BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah, managing director of the BASIX's bank, considers a revised insurance policy for the coming season, weighing the costs and potential risks of expanding the product against the potential benefits.