Kasahara, the founder and CEO of mixi, the most successful Japanese on-line social network, is deciding between two strategic options: (i) B2C or (ii) C2C, to leverage the power of the social network. In the B2C option, mixi would become a portal for on-line shopping for both digital content and tangible goods and charge the business sellers a fee. In the C2C option, mixi would facilitate exchanges between mixi's members through on-line flea markets or auctions and charge the members for successful transactions. In choosing between the two options he has to consider other upstart networks, particularly in the field of mobile social networking.
The executive team at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union has pushed the concept of members first deeply throughout the organization, empowering employees to put member-owners' interests ahead of either the organization's interests or their own interests. As a result of this focus, the credit union must determine what to do with its profitable indirect auto lending business, which some see as inconsistent with the strategic direction set by the management team.
A carpenter is considering options for improving the manufacturing process of his custom wood-flooring concept. He started the business as a part-time venture and wanted to increase production efficiency to accommodate the growing interest for his pine flooring design. The carpenter was unsure whether he should invest in new equipment or hire part-time labor, but he knew that either way, he would have to change the current process to ensure that capacity would meet the upcoming year's forecasted demand.
The human resources manager at the Alice Saddy Association (Alice Saddy), a non-profit agency in London, Ontario, Canada, supporting people with developmental disabilities who lived independently rather than in group homes, informed the executive director that some of the support workers believed that the current organizational structure caused confusion, slowed decision making and created potential risk for the people served by Alice Saddy. The executive director agreed that there were some problems related to the structure of the organization. However, the structure reflected the mission of Alice Saddy and changes were likely to be resisted by the management team for that reason. The executive director had to decide how to proceed.
This case (1834.0 and related epilogue 1834.1 and abridged case 1834.3) tells the story of Major General David Petraeus and the US Army's 101st Airborne Division in the months following the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the fall of Baghdad, and collapse of Saddam Hussein's government. Having completed their combat mission, and with just a few days notice, the 101st is ordered to Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and the capital of Nineveh province. Their orders were spare - get up to Mosul and Nineveh Province and get things under control. The case details the development and implementation of the 101st strategy to bring stability to Mosul and the surrounding area and provides insight into General David Petraeus and his approach to leadership. While set in a military organization in wartime, the case is not about military operations. Petraeus and his division, with little notice or preparation, undertake traditionally civilian tasks associated with reconstruction and governance. HKS Case Number 1834.3
Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder was off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would re-allocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.
Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder was off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would re-allocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.
Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder was off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would re-allocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.
Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder was off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would re-allocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.
Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had just received two pieces of very bad news: the demise of an existing project and the loss of a $1 million engagement he thought was already sold. The news raised difficult questions about how Geoff had structured his firm and had designed its governance and incentive systems.
Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had just received two pieces of very bad news: the demise of an existing project and the loss of a $1 million engagement he thought was already sold. The news raised difficult questions about how Geoff had structured his firm and had designed its governance and incentive systems.
This set of two cases describes how two MBA alumni acquired a long-established business in France, and, despite all their efforts to modernise it, grow it and apply best practices as learned in business school (Case A), finally turned it into a loss-making and cash-bleeding company (Case B).
The experienced entrepreneurial chief executive officer (CEO) of Jadelink International Limited strives to create a modern jewelry brand representing a new perception in jade. The CEO has achieved early success of growing sales rapidly and bringing Jadelink products to Shanghai, the trendiest city in China. But the company wants to expand business to the Asian and international luxury goods markets. This requires intensive capital to continue to build up the company scale. This case examines the consideration of venturing a new business in the China market, managing business growth and acquiring venture capital. It also allows discussion of factors leading to a successful entrepreneurship and dealing with business highly associated with industry tradition, people connection and product design and innovation.
Well-codified interfaces have enabled horizontal specialization in the global semiconductor industry. This Technical Note describes the modern integrated circuit value chain, and the motivation for the reuse of blocks of intellectual property in modern IC designs. It briefly examines ARM Limited as an example of an IP specialist supplier, and looks at the evolution to complete Systems-on-Chip and Systems-in-Packages so that students may examine the evolution of industry structure in the accompanying case System-on-a-Chip 2008: Global Unichip Corporation.
The experienced entrepreneurial chief executive officer (CEO) of Jadelink International Limited was striving to create a modern jewelry brand representing a new perception in jade. The CEO has achieved early success by growing sales rapidly and bringing Jadelink products to Shanghai, the trendiest city in China. But the company wanted to expand business to the Asian and international luxury goods markets. This requires intensive capital to continue to build up the company scale. This case examines the establishment of a new business in China, managing business growth and acquiring venture capital. It also allows discussion of factors leading to successful entrepreneurship and dealing with business highly associated with industry tradition, people connection, and product design and innovation.
In an ever-changing world, certain topics-such as sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and gender-still are hot-button items for many people. This series of vignettes covers many diversity topics, primarily in the workplace, and should promote engaging and intense debate. In reading them, students should try to see each vignette from the different perspectives presented.
This case describes a 21-factor, 56-recipe multivariable test (MVT) conducted by Progressive Insurance with the help of QualPro, a leading MVT consulting firm. The object of the test was to improve Progressive's direct-mail retention campaign. The results of the test are available in a spreadsheet for students to analyze (UVA-S-M-0762.xls).
In July 2007 Joris Brinckerhoff, founder and owner of Costa Rica Entomological Supplies (CRES), must decide whether to accept an offer from RBA, a publications firm in Barcelona, Spain, to sell mounted butterflies or "deadstock" as part of RBA's "collectibles" program for schoolchildren. Joris had always avoided the deadstock business which he considered to be low margin and unstable. The business proposed by RBA would also require additional investment and increased overhead. Nevertheless, he thought that the RBA offer might be attractive to CRES and its many suppliers in rural areas throughout the country. Currently, the oversupply of butterfly pupae was adversely affecting not only his business, but also the livelihoods of dozens of breeders, many of whom had been low-income rural families, endangering the social gains that had been made over the past years.