This case highlights a recent and important type of new sustainability project for existing buildings commonly referred to as an integrated energy retrofit (IER) project. Anthony Malkin of Malkin Holdings, owner of the Empire State Building (ESB), acknowledged the importance of making the existing building stock, particularly in New York City, more energy efficient, as it comprises a large part of the real estate in most cities. Taking a bold leadership position, Malkin vowed to make the ESB the most energy-efficient, sustainable, "green" pre-war office building through an IER project that examined several facets of the building's systems, operations, and tenant behaviors. In addition to making the ESB a green icon in Manhattan, Malkin also stated the importance of making the project transparent and economical so other pre-war buildings could copy the model. This case study examines in depth the process that Malkin Holdings underwent in attaining its goal of establishing the ESB as a leader in existing building sustainability.
By the early 21st century, the economics of thoroughbred horse racing in the United States was backwards - owners invested about four times as much money into the sport than the total amount of purse money available. Owners raced their horses as early as possible, and for as short a time as possible to prove that they were valuable for breeding-then sold them to breeding operations. The industry relied heavily on new entrants who had money from outside horse racing to buy and race their foals. Stonestreet Farms was founded by Jess Jackson, a billionaire wine entrepreneur, who invested more than $200 million in the sport. Unlike most in the horse racing business, Stonestreet was involved in both training and racing horses and in breeding. Two of its horses, Curlin and Rachael Alexandra, won the coveted North American Horse of the year for three consecutive years, from 2007-2009. Both later became part of Stonestreet's breeding operation. This case discusses the challenges facing owners and breeders in the North American thoroughbred racing industry. It can be used as a companion case to SPM-49: Del Mar Racetrack: Reinventing the Horse Racing Fan Experience, which focuses on the industry from the perspective of race tracks.
Supply chains consume vast amounts of capital and are responsible for most of a firm's cost of goods and operating expenses. Supply chains also create significant value and can be the deciding factor in whether a firm will keep its customers. Through concrete examples, this case introduces students to an inventory model that shows how to quantify the often-subtle impact of both operational and structural changes in a supply chain.
George Hausman, co-founder and CEO of Pleasanton, California-based Refresh Organics (fictional), was proud of the business he had built over the past 15 years. Along with a minority partner, Hausman had started Refresh as a distributor of organic produce sourced throughout California. The business had grown steadily, if not explosively, and was now a distributor for organic farms throughout the United States. Refresh's distribution revenues were on track to hit $40 million this year. Refresh Organics also has a lucrative juice business. As the business grows, Hausman wonders if and how he ought to expand his ad hoc board of family and friends into a "real" board (vignette 1). He also wonders whom to add and whether the group of ten he has assembled is 'right' (vignette 2). Finally, Hausman has an opportunity to learn some best practices around how to deliver bad news to the board (vignette 3).
In October 2008, Andrzej Klesyk, CEO of Poland's largest insurer PZU, reflected on possible ways of resolving a decade-long cross-border shareholder conflict at his company. Owned 55% by the Polish State Treasury and 33% by the Dutch insurer Eureko as of October 2008, PZU was a highly profitable company and Poland's biggest asset holder. Eureko aimed at majority ownership of PZU as the building block of its Eastern European expansion strategy. The Treasury, however, was reluctant to forfeit control of the country's crown jewels. Several rounds of negotiations and international arbitration failed to resolve the conflict, leading to a progressive breach of trust. Was there anything Klesyk could do to break this international and multilateral stalemate?
In September 2008, the Polish State Treasury and the Dutch insurer Eureko were wondering if they were ready for reaching an amicable solution on PZU. If so, for how much and under what conditions should they settle so that they, as well as PZU, are satisfied? If not, what other potential alternatives might exist?
The newly appointed president and chief operating officer (COO) of Olympus Corporation of Japan was called to an emergency board meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss governance issues regarding corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A). However, it would be no ordinary meeting. Since assuming the role of president in April 2011, the president discovered evidence of corporate fraud on a large scale. He had commissioned an external auditor report that showed a significant loss of shareholder value. His call for changes to be made to the Japanese board of directors had been met by resistance. How should he plan for the meeting? What could he expect? What position should he take? How should he influence decisions regarding the company's immediate problems and its longer-term corporate governance?
The executive director of a daycare is trying to figure out how to address legal, financial and safety issues stemming from an incident - two months ago, a two-year old boy had broken his leg. Despite having no formal training in public relations or crisis management, the executive director felt she had handled the incident reasonably well: it seemed as though everything at the daycare had returned to normal. Still, the executive director couldn't stop worrying that the daycare might experience further fallout from the incident.
The founder and CEO of Edison2 and his internationally renowned team of designers, engineers, and professional race car drivers had worked tirelessly for three years to design and build the Very Light Car (VLC), which won the 2010 X Prize competition. Now the CEO is considering what path Edison2 would follow. The only thing he had decided is that Edison2 should not attempt to become a traditional auto manufacturer, given the large amount of new capital it would require and the likelihood that it would have to compete long-term with the established behemoths in the industry. The CEO has narrowed his choices to two possible paths: Edison2 could enter the specialty fleet market in the United States or seek out partners to reach the consumer vehicle market in the developing world. The company's dwindling supply of money is an issue so he needs to decide which direction to take the company and how to go about doing it.
In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous woman in China" had quit with two-thirds of Caijing's staff, allegedly over a conflict on editorial independence. Wang, known for his ability to navigate the country's carefully controlled propaganda apparatus, considered how to rebuild the magazine without its star editor.
In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous woman in China" had quit with two-thirds of Caijing's staff, allegedly over a conflict on editorial independence. Wang, known for his ability to navigate the country's carefully controlled propaganda apparatus, considered how to rebuild the magazine without its star editor.
Tim O'Shaughnessy, the 29-year-old CEO of LivingSocial, is growing a revolutionary worldwide business of "daily deals"-in which retailers offer a heavily-discounted product or service available for purchase for brief (often 24-hour) windows. The case explores the complicated sharing of risks and rewards between LivingSocial, participating retailers, and customers, focusing on the return on investment in both the short- and longer-term for LivingSocial's retail partners. In addition, given the rapid growth of the daily deals space and the accompanying proliferation of competitors including Groupon and Amazon.com, the case focuses on the need for constant innovation in product offerings to maintain differentiation from copycats.
The case describes OpenIDEO, an online offshoot of IDEO, one of the world's leading product design firms. OpenIDEO leverages IDEO's innovative design process and an online community to create solutions for social issues. Emphasis is placed on comparing the IDEO and OpenlDEO processes using real-world project examples. For IDEO this includes the redesign of Air New Zealand's long haul flights. For OpenIDEO this includes increasing bone marrow donor registrations and improving personal sanitation in Ghana. In addition, the importance of fostering a collaborative online environment is explored.
The newly appointed president and chief operating officer of Olympus Corporation of Japan was called to an emergency board meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss governance issues regarding corporate mergers and acquisitions. However, it would be no ordinary meeting. Since assuming the role of president in April 2011, the president had discovered evidence of corporate fraud on a large scale. He had commissioned an external auditor report that showed a significant loss of shareholder value. His call for changes to be made to the Japanese board of directors had been met by resistance. How should he plan for the meeting? What could he expect? What position should he take? How should he influence decisions regarding the company’s immediate problems and its longer-term corporate governance?
The executive director of a daycare is trying to figure out how to address legal, financial, and safety issues stemming from an incident that occurred two months before, when a two-year-old boy broke his leg. Despite having no formal training in public relations or crisis management, the executive director felt she had handled the incident reasonably well: it seemed as though everything at the daycare had returned to normal. Still, the executive director couldn’t stop worrying that the daycare might experience further fallout from the incident.
Pearson Plc is an education company that operates worldwide, with headquarters in London, England. Its six primary business units are North American Education, International Education, Professional, The Financial Times, Interactive Data, and Penguin Publishing. The vice president of product management within the Digital Learning division of the North American Education unit based in Chandler, Arizona, begins to transform the product development processes to better meet the needs of his customers in the education market, specifically in transitioning from using an off-shored Waterfall software development model to an on-shore Agile model.<br><br><br><br>When the vice president first joined Pearson a year earlier, the Digital Learning unit had spent significant resources developing a major upgrade for one of its educational software products. The first version of this new product was challenged by the disconnect between what the software development group was delivering and what the vice president’s customers desired. He is now faced with a decision to continue focusing on the specific methodology the group had implemented (Scrum) or move to a new one (Kanban). Additionally, he has to consider expanding his focus to help drive Agile methodologies both with other groups in his business unit and outside his business unit. These decisions must be made at a potentially critical time for his products as his organization deals with the growing pains associated with the shift to Agile.