This case is set in the last quarter of 2022. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), the renowned global supplier of electric vehicles (EV), was one of the most talked about companies in the media, partly because the company's cofounder, director, and CEO, Elon Musk, took over Twitter for USD44bn in October 2022. Aiming to turn around Twitter's profitability, Musk carried a bathroom sink to Twitter's headquarters and let the management and staff members "sink in" the idea of massive layoffs. However, his reform plans and public vote result of Twitter's users resulted in a backlash. On 20 December 2022, Musk tweeted he would resign as CEO of Twitter once a replacement was found. On 24 December 2022, Tesla suspended its EV production in its Gigafactory Shanghai, its second largest plant, without providing an explanation to the public. It was believed the suspension was due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, and the slower demand for Tesla vehicles in the Chinese market. Musk and his companies had a few turbulent years, dramatic success and painful failures, as well as inspiring vision and self-inflicted wounds. Now, even some of his most enthusiastic supporters were beginning to question his leadership. For the 12 months of 2022, the NASDAQ Composite Index experienced a 33.89% drop, and Tesla's share price fell by 69.2% after closing at USD123.18 on 30 December 2022. Whether Musk's leadership performance was related to his recently revealed diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was being questioned. Could his Asperger's partly explain both his visionary genius and his irrational behavior? Did Musk's Asperger personality features contribute to his interest in Twitter, thus distracting him from Tesla? Did his unique personality profile affect his questionable management decisions? Musk's lack of focus on Tesla was blamed for a dramatic stock value downturn, and questions about his future fit as the primary steward of Tesla was becoming an issue for the Tesla board and Tesla's
The case presents a multilayered story of long-term cultural transformation taking place within a large enterprise and an increasingly strategic industry sector. Global developments, including Europe's energy crisis, have placed renewable energy high on policymakers' and business leaders' agendas. They herald green energy as a catalyst that can accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, intensify the fight against climate change, and lead to the creation of entire new industry sectors. Statkraft is Europe's largest producer of renewable energy. From its roots in hydropower, it has expanded into solar, wind, offshore wind, hydrogen and biofuels. In recent years, Statkraft has repeatedly ramped up its production targets, continued its ongoing spate of company acquisitions, and penetrated new geographies on several continents. It has also reorganized its general management into four market-oriented business units. To tackle this unprecedented complexity while living up to its ever-growing aspirations, Statkraft has had to redefine and invigorate the way its employees collaborate, particularly across silos. "We grow together" has now been upheld as one of the organization's core values. The stakes are high, and so are the obstacles - chief among them the deep-seated resistance to change, especially within the business areas that are accustomed to a high degree of autonomy. To date, Statkraft has begun shifting its governance model towards a matrix. It has explored a number of avenues that lead to empowering people, encouraging experimentation, and instituting rewards that are linked to improved collaboration. Nonetheless, there are powerful hurdles to overcome and tradeoffs to be made as the company implements and deepens the collaboration agenda.
After COVID-19 lockdowns delayed its first public theatre performance in April 2020, the Bombay Theatre Company (BTC) turned to virtual performances on various online platforms, establishing an international presence and casting international artists. In May 2022, the company's founder reflected on the human resources and business challenges he had faced in his short entrepreneurial journey. These included limited resources for talent acquisition, an overreliance on social media as a hiring source, and difficulties in retaining gig workers, as well as tepid corporate responses to BTC's theatre-based interventions and a lack of financial resources and clear revenue model. BTC's founder needed to determine the best business model to generate a steady flow of revenue and to envisage a clear growth path, and he knew he would have to choose between virtual and in-person shows as well as between theatre and film. Overall, BTC had built itself a strong foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it now sought to leverage that base to build a compelling employee value proposition and attract the talent it needed to become profitable.
Early in 2020, la Fundación Delirio (Delirio), a salsa dance, music, and circus arts show from Cali, Colombia, faced the abrupt and indefinite suspension of its presentations because of lockdowns associated with COVID-19. The general director and the staff who remained had to find new ways to connect with their audiences, relying on the strength of the brand, which help them stay afloat despite restrictions on live performances. However, when considering some of the alternatives to live performances, the general director also wondered about brand management: What impact might these short-term survival strategies have on the brand? What was going to happen to the artists?
In the context of platforms, an open architecture is instrumental in enabling innovation by complementors. But as complementors increasingly deplete the innovation opportunities that the platform architecture affords, the platform architecture must evolve to reinvigorate the platform's generative capacity. This article underscores the role of complementors in the process of platform architecture evolution by introducing the notion of architectural generativity. Architectural generativity involves actively soliciting and selectively incorporating contributions from complementors to help evolve the platform in unforeseen ways. In the case of the Mozilla Firefox web browser platform, complementors contributed new ways to facilitate access to the platform's technological components and suggested better ways to control the platform and its architecture.
Orchestrating an ecosystem requires coordination to create value, but prior research has tended to emphasize centralized ecosystem control over solutions involving distributed governance. By studying multilateral public-private collaborations to develop scientific knowledge to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease, we identify a new model of ecosystem control - indirect and distributed governance using R&D consortia. We report archival and interview data on 46 consortia with overlapping corporate, nonprofit, and governmental membership. We find three models of consortia that allow member organizations to jointly orchestrate an ecosystem without centralized control. We discuss the broader implications of this model for orchestrating ecosystems.
Entrepreneur François Randin was successful, but searching for his next venture, wanting to build something sustainable. Suddenly he sees an all-electric sports car and decides to create an electric vehicle (EV) charging station company, even though the number of EVs on the road at the time is minuscule. He starts with software, moves to hardware, and launches... And then grows slowly until the day he discovers a new business model. He is successful in funding the start of the scaleup, but realizes that to really get to hyperscale (and fund his next idea), an adjacency, he needs really deep pockets. Raise more money, go for an IPO or accept one of the three acquisition offers he has in front of him?
Early in 2020, la Fundación Delirio (Delirio), a salsa dance, music, and circus arts show from Cali, Colombia, faced the abrupt and indefinite suspension of its presentations because of lockdowns associated with COVID-19. The general director and the staff who remained had to find new ways to connect with their audiences, relying on the strength of the brand, which help them stay afloat despite restrictions on live performances. However, when considering some of the alternatives to live performances, the general director also wondered about brand management: What impact might these short-term survival strategies have on the brand? What was going to happen to the artists?
Hillel International was founded in the United States in 1929 as a non-profit organization, with a mission to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. By 2021, it had grown into the world’s largest Jewish college campus organization with over US$50 million in revenue and had achieved international recognition by connecting students at colleges and universities around the world. In August 2021, the newly appointed brand director was challenged with developing a new digital marketing strategy in the throes of rising antisemitism. Her campaign had to be educational and engaging, and should empower Jewish students on campus to act: involving other Jewish students and fostering a feeling of inclusivity for all. The brand director had much to prepare and needed to outline how Hillel International should embark on a marketing campaign during the fourth quarter of 2021.
<p align="justify">James Urdang, founder of Education Africa, registered the non-profit organization (NPO) in 1992. While the dismantling of apartheid laws and legacies began in the early 1990s, the systemic impact of centuries of oppression required more than just a change in political leadership. The education system, challenged by the historical injustices of apartheid (and its colonial precursors), had been deeply impacted. Urdang set up Education Africa with the objective of contributing positively to the goal of equitable and quality education and aligned with the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal of quality education for all. One of Education Africa’s flagship programs was the South African Model UN (SAMUN).<br><br\>As an NPO, Education Africa relied on donor funding for its projects. A corruption scandal in 2010 left the organization severely financially compromised. While most of the NPO’s projects, such as the Early Childhood Development project, had sufficient funding to be sustainable, SAMUN had not been able to run since 2017 due to a lack of funding. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in much of the organization’s funding coming to an end in 2020. The pandemic’s effect on global travel further exacerbated the sense that it would be difficult to reinstate SAMUN. How could Urdang source funding for SAMUN in the global pandemic context and financial constraints to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of Education Africa?<p/>
Karen Wonders founded Maple Tree Cancer Alliance (MTCA) in 2011 as a non-profit organization in Dayton, Ohio, to improve cancer patients’ quality of life through an individualized exercise program. By early 2020, MTCA had enjoyed significant growth, crossing the geographical and administrative boundaries of several hospital networks in the United States. Funding from hospital networks was contingent upon the efficacy of MTCA’s exercise program, which could be established only through ongoing, rigorous data analysis. However, the old way of collecting and processing client data could not adapt to MTCA’s current size; as such, MTCA needed a new solution, and Wonders found herself reviewing four options.
Nykaa E-Retail Private Limited (Nykaa), an Indian e-commerce start-up catering to the beauty and personal care segment, was preparing for its IPO amid the uncertainty presented by the nationwide lockdown in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since only retailers selling essential goods were allowed to remain open during the strictest lockdown phase, Nykaa was not able to operate during the first three months of 2020. Nykaa had adopted an omnichannel retailing strategy and made good use of digital marketing activities to ensure customer satisfaction, but its existing business model appeared to be insufficient to overcome the pandemic-related hardships. Nykaa needed to decide on potential strategy changes and the timing of its stock market debut, knowing that by postponing the highly anticipated IPO, the company could be risking its reputation.
Managers at the Chinese state-owned hydropower development company Jiuzhaigou Hydropower Development Co. (JHDC), in Sichuan Province, were considering using photovoltaic (PV) power generation in the wake of carbon-emission regulations. After JHDC was founded in 2003, it built five hydropower stations, its original and traditional power-generation mode. When China proposed its double-carbon policy, JHDC’s general manager realized it was time to explore new approaches to electricity generation, and the breeze and sunshine of the Jiuzhaigou Valley led him to consider wind and PV power. Following a lengthy discussion among its board of directors and shareholders, JHDC made a strategic decision to expand its capacity by embracing new methods of electricity generation. Now the key question was, What was the best strategy for JHDC, as a traditional utility company, to adopt this new technology?
Kamal Patel and Tushar Thumar, co-founders of Khedut Feeds & Foods Private Limited (KFFPL), were contemplating whether to accept the proposal from Royal Exporters Private Limited (REPL) to become one of its contract manufacturers. REPL was a leading peanut exporter in India that shipped premium peanuts to the European Union (EU) and other markets. Patel and Thumar had invested INR 134.8 million to establish a cutting-edge peanut-processing facility for exporting peanuts to the EU. However, despite producing high-quality peanuts, they could not find buyers in the EU willing to pay a reasonable price. This happened for two reasons. First, they started at a time when the EU was considering a ban on Indian peanuts because of the presence of aflatoxin in them. Second, many EU importers were unwilling to take a chance on a new exporter from India. By accepting REPL's offer, KFFPL could benefit from gaining access to its production capacity and obtaining a guaranteed return on investment. However, the downside would be losing autonomy in decision-making, brand-building potential and international recognition.
Rollins Inc., a listed pest control company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ROL), and former CFO, Paul Edward Northen, were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with improper earnings management. The charges were based on the company's financial reporting between 2016 and 2018. The SEC alleged that Northen waited the preliminary earnings results were ready, and adjusted the company's accounting reserve accounts to align with the research analysts' consensus EPS estimates, without following U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), and failed to properly document the basis for his adjustments. Rollins was known for boasting about its EPS record. In late 2020, the SEC's Enforcement Division detected irregularities in the company's EPS results through data analytics. On 18 April 2022, the SEC found Rollins to have violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Despite not admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Rollins and Northen agreed to pay civil penalties of USD8mn and USD100,000, and to stop any future violations of their previous misconduct. The SEC investigators, Carolyn Winters and Tonya Tullis, uncovered the series of Rollins' misconduct. What steps could they take to avoid similar situation for at Rollins and other U.S.- listed enterprises going forward?
In 2021, the Vancouver-based Universal Outreach Foundation (UOF) collaborated with the Rocky Mountain Soap Company (RMS), a Canadian natural beauty products company, to launch a soap-making venture for Liberia Pure, a business established by UOF and owned by and for Liberians. RMS then contributed a one-time donation to support the distribution of soap during Global Handwashing Day. This case highlights the different forms and levels of sustainability associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. Students consider how to make CSR a strategic advantage for the firm, rather than relying on regulatory incentives or emotion to ensure continued corporate support. It further looks at the sustainability of the impact on the recipients after the firm leaves.
Global increases in employee absenteeism over the past couple of years can be traced not only to physical illness related to the COVID-19 pandemic but to mental health issues as well. The authors propose the concept of well-being intelligence and share ways managers can apply it in practice, including recognizing their own mental health challenges at work so that they are better equipped to help improve well-being among their team members and throughout the broader organization.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 35%, the highest since 2008. Though some of the job losses could be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country had already been experiencing high unemployment due to a slow growing economy. The news was worse for the country's youth. Of the 20.6 million people aged 15 to 34 years, 44.7% were neither employed nor in an education or a training program. South Africa's 2030 National Development Plan called for the creation of 11 million jobs between 2010 and 2030. This meant adding 600,000 jobs per year, but the country's economy had only produced 250,000 jobs per year, on average, between 2010 and 2020. In South Africa, young, first-time, job-seekers faced multiple hurdles to finding employment. Youth often lacked job-readiness skills-the behavioral and personal readiness to find and keep a job-and had low formal educational attainment, causing employers to be wary of hiring. In addi-tion, the country's minimum wage was a high proportion of average occupational salaries, providing further disincentives for employers to hire inexperienced workers. Also, workers in South Africa enjoyed significant legal protections to prevent unfair terminations, so employers risked incurring high costs associated with retaining workers later found to be unsuitable. Employers often tried to lower their risk by recruiting over-qualified or over-educated workers, which entrenched exclusion. During its first ten years, Harambee worked to match youth to jobs. The organization analyzed a job to define the specific competencies required, recruited excluded young people and tested them to determine if they possessed those competencies and if so, effected a match. If they did not have the competencies, defined the gap and determine the fastest, most efficient way to train them and move them into the job. This approach led to the organization's initial success but by 2016, its leaders recognized that it was imperative
Hillel International was founded in the United States in 1929 as a non-profit organization, with a mission to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. By 2021, it had grown into the world's largest Jewish college campus organization with over US$50 million in revenue and had achieved international recognition by connecting students at colleges and universities around the world. In August 2021, the newly appointed brand director was challenged with developing a new digital marketing strategy in the throes of rising antisemitism. Her campaign had to be educational and engaging, and should empower Jewish students on campus to act: involving other Jewish students and fostering a feeling of inclusivity for all. The brand director had much to prepare and needed to outline how Hillel International should embark on a marketing campaign during the fourth quarter of 2021.