This note provides an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana. It discusses the public and private sector as well as traditional medical practice. It also discusses the country's pharmaceutical industry. It is recommended as a companion to Professor Regina Herzlinger and Ben Creo, "mPharma: Scaling Access to Affordable Care," HBS No. 323-033 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2022, rev. 2023). mPharma is trying to create the largest pan-African healthcare company ever to provide much needed primary care and a reliable, fairly priced supply of drugs. Founder and CEO Greg Rockson must decide how best to achieve this lofty goal. He must prioritize launching a telemedicine program, expanding his pharmacies across the continent, and/or creating a new payment program to cover the cost of medication. Rockson cares deeply about health equity, but his venture capital financed company must be profitable.
Roku Inc. was launched in 2008 as a spinoff from Netflix. Inc. The company sold streaming devices—tools that transformed standard televisions into smart TVs—and operated a free advertising-supported streaming television service called The Roku Channel. Throughout the 2010s, Roku Inc. dominated the streaming device industry. In late 2022, however, the company was facing several challenges. Increased operating expenses from recent investments in content creation, coupled with an advertising recession, had led to declining profitability. In addition, the company faced increased competition from established technology giants such as Google LLC and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., in addition to the entry of major US telecommunications leaders such as Comcast Corporation and Charter Communications Inc. To maintain its market share and drive profitability, Roku Inc. could enhance its advertising capabilities, continue pursuing aggressive negotiation tactics, prioritize geographic expansion, further expand its product line, or seek a buyer. The company’s management team had to make decision.
The co-founders of The Graph Foundation had experienced first-hand how difficult it was to create new Web3 applications without easy access to blockchain data: There was no indexing and querying software for blockchain, and developers had to find their own method for collecting and transforming data from different sources. The Graph was an indexing protocol designed to solve this issue and become the nascent "Google Search" for the metaverse. With a recent investment giving it an opportunity to increase its revenue while improving the value proposition, The Graph had to decide which business model to adopt: Should The Graph implement a protocol-to-user model to attract everyday users, or stay with its current protocol-to-developer model? If it implemented a the former, should it develop its own search feature, or collaborate with a partner (or set of partners) to this achieve this goal? What role should this feature play in The Graph’s broader strategy and within the wider Web3 ecosystem?
Tata Motors Limited (Tata Motors), an Indian automobile major with a consolidated annual turnover of more than ₹2,497 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021, was struggling to turn profitable and reinstate dividend payments to its investors. The case discusses the dividend policy of Tata Motors, comparing it with the dividend policies of the company’s peers and examining its relevance to the investor community at large. With Tata Motors’ long history as a dividend-paying company, its sudden withdrawal of dividends in FY 2016, with no payouts in the following five years, has made investors jittery. The company was working on the turnaround plan and internal reorganization that would allow it to provide a differentiated focus on its three business verticals—the commercial vehicle segment, the passenger vehicle segment, and the electric vehicle segment. Tata Motors had already communicated its decision to conserve cash to reduce its leverage and become debt-free by FY 2024. However, with an increase in pressure from a certain section of investors, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Motors, was considering when to reinstate dividends. What signal would doing so send to the market? Would the ownership structure of the company have an impact on its dividend policy? Did the company’s cash flows support the dividend payment at this stage?
For decades, countries have used reduced corporate tax rates as incentives to attract multinational enterprises, or MNEs. But new G-20/OECD international taxation rules aimed at preventing legal maneuvers such as tax-base erosion and profit shifting to avoid paying corporate taxes will have major ramifications for MNEs by 2024. The authors explain the potential impacts of the new rules and suggest four ways C-suites should respond so that their companies are prepared for the changes.
Roku Inc. was launched in 2008 as a spinoff from Netflix. Inc. The company sold streaming devices-tools that transformed standard televisions into smart TVs-and operated a free advertising-supported streaming television service called The Roku Channel. Throughout the 2010s, Roku Inc. dominated the streaming device industry. In late 2022, however, the company was facing several challenges. Increased operating expenses from recent investments in content creation, coupled with an advertising recession, had led to declining profitability. In addition, the company faced increased competition from established technology giants such as Google LLC and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., in addition to the entry of major US telecommunications leaders such as Comcast Corporation and Charter Communications Inc. To maintain its market share and drive profitability, Roku Inc. could enhance its advertising capabilities, continue pursuing aggressive negotiation tactics, prioritize geographic expansion, further expand its product line, or seek a buyer. The company's management team had to make decision.
The co-founders of The Graph Foundation had experienced first-hand how difficult it was to create new Web3 applications without easy access to blockchain data: There was no indexing and querying software for blockchain, and developers had to find their own method for collecting and transforming data from different sources. The Graph was an indexing protocol designed to solve this issue and become the nascent "Google Search" for the metaverse. With a recent investment giving it an opportunity to increase its revenue while improving the value proposition, The Graph had to decide which business model to adopt: Should The Graph implement a protocol-to-user model to attract everyday users, or stay with its current protocol-to-developer model? If it implemented a the former, should it develop its own search feature, or collaborate with a partner (or set of partners) to this achieve this goal? What role should this feature play in The Graph's broader strategy and within the wider Web3 ecosystem?
Tata Motors Limited (Tata Motors), an Indian automobile major with a consolidated annual turnover of more than ₹2,497 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021, was struggling to turn profitable and reinstate dividend payments to its investors. The case discusses the dividend policy of Tata Motors, comparing it with the dividend policies of the company's peers and examining its relevance to the investor community at large. With Tata Motors' long history as a dividend-paying company, its sudden withdrawal of dividends in FY 2016, with no payouts in the following five years, has made investors jittery. The company was working on the turnaround plan and internal reorganization that would allow it to provide a differentiated focus on its three business verticals-the commercial vehicle segment, the passenger vehicle segment, and the electric vehicle segment. Tata Motors had already communicated its decision to conserve cash to reduce its leverage and become debt-free by FY 2024. However, with an increase in pressure from a certain section of investors, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Motors, was considering when to reinstate dividends. What signal would doing so send to the market? Would the ownership structure of the company have an impact on its dividend policy? Did the company's cash flows support the dividend payment at this stage?
<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - African Business Cases Category at European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>On January 20, 2022, Shamini Harrington, vice president for climate change at Sasol Limited (Sasol), considered the recent announcement that the company had reaffirmed its commitment to climate change management. As she looked through the plans in place, she reflected back to Sasol’s evolution as an organization and its role within South Africa, and considered the complexities involved in the process of a just transition. Two questions particularly resonated with her as she thought of the report she needed to provide to her management in the next three months: What were the implications for a just energy transition in a developing country like South Africa? and, How should Sasol work with stakeholders who often held differing perspectives?
The case features Ina Botha, executive director for South Africa-based Commercial Cold Storage and Logistics (CCS Logistics), critically reflecting on the lessons learned during her tenure leading the organization. Botha initiated and led a three-and-a-half-year culture change journey, which helped improve accountability and results. Now that she was considering a larger role within the organization’s parent company, Oceana Group, she reflected on whether the new culture had been embedded within CCS Logistics and if it would be sustainable in a new era under different leadership. What should she recommend the incoming joint executive directors of the business continue to do or do differently to ensure the new culture supported the business in achieving its strategic objectives?
<p align="justify">In 2019, Loblaw Companies Limited, a Canadian grocery chain headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, was mired in controversy over the “ethnic food aisle,” which was a common feature in all its stores. The company was questioned about the aisle’s role in creating a sense of otherness and divisiveness among the culturally diverse individuals it served. These issues related to discussions sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement alongside the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, during which broad social inequality and COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on frontline employees became spotlighted in new ways.<br><br>Loblaw Companies Limited had to decide if it should remove its “ethnic food aisle.” It also had to consider the purpose of its acquired stores that were entirely dedicated to ethnic offerings, such as T&T Supermarket, which specifically offered products and a shopping experience tailored to Asian tastes. The company had several questions to resolve. Did its current corporate strategy reflect evolving expectations of equity, diversity, and inclusion? What actions should the company take with regard to its popular “ethnic food aisle?” Should it continue to expand by acquiring additional ethnic grocery store chains? Was Loblaw Companies Limited doing enough to support equity, diversity, and inclusion in the organization?</p>
On January 20, 2022, Shamini Harrington, vice president for climate change at Sasol Limited (Sasol), considered the recent announcement that the company had reaffirmed its commitment to climate change management. As she looked through the plans in place, she reflected back to Sasol's evolution as an organization and its role within South Africa, and considered the complexities involved in the process of a just transition. Two questions particularly resonated with her as she thought of the report she needed to provide to her management in the next three months: What were the implications for a just energy transition in a developing country like South Africa? and, How should Sasol work with stakeholders who often held differing perspectives?
Prakash Singhal is an intelligent, strategic, and hardworking technology integrations project lead at WinCorp. He has taken up this position after a successful tenure at a leading consulting firm and postgraduation at a top-tier Indian business school. An avid traveler and explorer, Singhal has been excited about the company policy of working from anywhere thrice a week and spending only two days a week in the physical office. He soon settles into his team and begins working with his supervisor Anurag Das and his direct report Vivek Joshi. He begins working on landing a huge technology transformation project with ABD Group, an Indian manufacturing conglomerate and prepares a proposal for them. The client is busy with some internal audit and asks the project team, at the very last minute, to present its proposal in its office. Though Singhal has been utilizing his work-from-anywhere days and travelling, he agrees to the meeting and decides to join virtually while Das and Joshi decide to attend in person. Due to some network issues at the client's location, Singhal is unable to participate, and Joshi takes the lead on the proposal. Singhal realizes that all the recognition for this win is being credited to Joshi since he was physically present at the client meeting. Singhal is disgruntled and upset over this and is now considering his future at WinCorp. He is also wondering if the hybrid working system will ever be a possibility in India.
The case explores the intersection of capital allocation and shareholder activism in the biopharmaceutical industry. As many biopharma companies face looming patent expirations for key medicines, the case asks the question of whether investing in R&D and M&A is an imperative. Three biopharma companies have been under scrutiny by Elliott Management, one of the largest shareholder activists for various reasons. The range of investment options for biopharma companies are outlined, including investing in the business via R&D and M&A, and returning capital to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases. The uniqueness of large biopharma companies is reviewed including enviable profit margins, significant risk in R&D, questionable perpetuity value, and the pressure from shareholder activists to prudently deploy capital.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Larry Koo, the co-founder and creative lead of KOODESIGN, needed to come up with a plan to complete a client's project from design all the way to market within six months for a robotic device equipped with disinfectants. Given such a tight project schedule and the high client's expectations of quality, Larry realized that he was indeed in a race against time and would need to think differently to fast track this project to meet the client's deadline. Larry decided to fast track this project by adjusting some of the initial task duration and start time as well as the sequence specifications. By concurrently completing tasks that would normally be completed sequentially, Larry hoped to compress the project duration just enough time to meet the client's launch date. However, fast tracking a project would also create a higher chance of resource overloading problems that Larry needed to address since his design studio's resources were limited.
Leaders of hybrid teams where employees alternate between working in the office and working remotely face the challenge of providing flexibility while maintaining group effectiveness and cohesion. The author describes the CAARE framework, a new approach to leading hybrid work that combines the elements of configuration, autonomy-alignment, relationships, and equity to help leaders balance individual flexibility with group effectiveness.
The case recounts the dilemma faced by Donnie Boyd, the owner of a small barber shop in downtown Toronto in the second quarter of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had spread throughout the world but its consequences were only partially known in mid-2020. The first wave of the virus had almost run its course in Canada but people feared (correctly so, as it happens) that subsequent waves would strike, further devastating the economy and specifically small businesses such as Boyd's Barber Shop.