On December 12, 2020, SolarWinds learned that malware had been inserted in its software, potentially granting hackers access to thousands and thousands of its 300,000 customers. General Counsel Jason Bliss needed to orchestrate the company response without knowing how many of its customers had been affected, or how severely. The SolarWinds CEO was already scheduled to step down within three weeks, and the incoming CEO was as yet unaware of the incident. Bliss needed to address three immediate issues. First, did the incident qualify as a material event, and if so, what information did SolarWinds need to report to whom, and when? Second, what posture should SolarWinds take with respect to its customers and to the media, where the news was expected to break within a day? Third, how should SolarWinds balance helping its customers understand and recover from the breach with protecting itself from a negative stock price impact and potential legal implications?
Supplements the (A) case, describing actions taken by SolarWinds as well as by regulatory agencies in the aftermath of the immediate crisis. The case also includes reflections by SolarWinds managers on the choices they made with respect to disclosure, media relations, cybersecurity preparedness, and the sometimes-contending agendas of companies and government agencies SolarWinds interacted with.
Belinda Oliveri, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Starlight, reflected on the events of the past couple of years. At a 2021 meeting of its fifty-two Australian dealers, Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Pty Ltd announced a new sales model through which customers would buy vehicles at a fixed price directly from the company and only step inside a dealership to collect their purchase. Oliveri knew that as a respected industry leader and significant player in Australia’s high-volume automotive business landscape, she had to develop an informed opinion on the matter. She also knew change was coming, but that there were also a lot of unanswered questions. Would the change be a good one? How would it affect customers? Should she support it or oppose it by joining the $650 million lawsuit 80 per cent of dealers filed against Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific?
The notion of “quiet quitting,” or only fulfilling the bare-minimum requirements of one’s job, achieved zeitgeist status in 2022. When someone quietly decides to no longer go the extra mile for their employer, two ingredients of a healthy working relationship—trust and clear communication—are typically missing. And while many factors beyond a manager’s control might contribute to an employee reaching this point, three particular issues tend to drive workers into a “quiet quitting” experience. First, a lack of transparency at an organization—including managers keeping employees out of the loop of organizational realities—can lead to quiet quitting. Second, a lack of direction can lead to quiet quitting, because workers are not mind readers and can hardly deliver results when they don’t have clear guidelines. Third, a lack of boundaries can contribute to quiet quitting, especially in toxic corporate cultures that demand too much from workers. When any of these core values are weak or missing in an organization, employees may appear to be limiting engagement and commitment as part of some new trend. But when you take a real look at quiet quitting (and its counterpart, “quiet firing”), it’s really a symptom of failed business leadership. The solution, of course, is to be serious about proactively building these values into your workplace culture to foster trust and an authentic rapport with employees, which increases engagement and decreases the need for morale-depleting practices like clock watching.
The majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO) is seeking to lessen this disparity by putting vaccine production in the hands of South Africans and other low- and middle-income countries. Afrigen Biologics is the first in a planned hub-and-spoke model which will extend throughout Africa and South America, allowing local labs to use shared knowledge to produce their own vaccines, particularly the COVID-19 vaccine. However, Afrigen and the WHO face a number of challenges to their proposed model. First, though Afrigen reports it has produced an original vaccine, the company did use publicly-available information about the Moderna vaccine as a starting point for their production. Long-term use of Moderna's "recipe" is not guaranteed, as it is unclear whether the company will enforce its intellectual property rights to prevent others from producing a similar vaccine. Second, Afrigen could begin facing local competition from Moderna and other large vaccine producers such as Pfizer and BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech have already begun sending modular lab "pods" to Africa to be able to produce its vaccine on the continent. Moderna also has proposed setting up vaccine centers in Africa. The presence of these larger companies within LMICs could threaten the development of the proposed hub-and-spoke model, thus continuing to limit the power of local labs to produce vaccines for their communities. Not to mention that demand for vaccines has recently been low in Africa, making it difficult for any new players to enter the market.
Belinda Oliveri, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Starlight, reflected on the events of the past couple of years. At a 2021 meeting of its fifty-two Australian dealers, Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Pty Ltd announced a new sales model through which customers would buy vehicles at a fixed price directly from the company and only step inside a dealership to collect their purchase. Oliveri knew that as a respected industry leader and significant player in Australia's high-volume automotive business landscape, she had to develop an informed opinion on the matter. She also knew change was coming, but that there were also a lot of unanswered questions. Would the change be a good one? How would it affect customers? Should she support it or oppose it by joining the $650 million lawsuit 80 per cent of dealers filed against Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific?
Lack of trust and transparency had long plagued the Indian Ayurveda industry. NirogStreet, a New Delhi-based start-up, seeks to mitigate this problem through its tech-enabled platform that offers digital solutions to Ayurveda practitioners and patients. The case study describes its history, macro environment, business model, growth trajectory, other industry players, and the potential opportunities and challenges ahead. It helps students understand how the macro environment affects a business, how a platform business gains competitive advantage from its internal resources and capabilities, and how to achieve rapid growth through value innovation and lean start-up process.
The case study is about the Japanese carmaker Suzuki. The 100-year company was founded at the peak of Japan's silk-production industry in the early 20th century. Michio Suzuki (1887-1982), a gifted inventor, started tinkering with weaving looms and in 1920 founded the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company in the coastal village of Hamamatsu. The case is an example of dynastic control - where the family control its strategic direction but own an insignificant number of shares - as well as an illustration of the role played by adult adoption in family businesses in Japan. When adopted son-in-law Osamu Suzuki retired in 2021 and his son took over as chairman, it was the first time the top job had gone to a natural heir since 1957, when the founder retired. The narrative follows the transformation of the small car company into a global player via a partnership strategy. Osamu was able to expand sales in North America following a tie-up with GM in 1981 (that lasted until 2008). Even more significant was his decision to enter the Indian car market in partnership with Maruti, a poorly performing state-owned carmaker, which would ultimately make Maruti Suzuki the biggest brand in India.
Shortly after Rich Hagen joins Paypal as Strategic Director in 2021, the CEO Dan Schulman asks for his input to choose between two promising directions for the business: venturing into retail investing or launching a super app. As a brokerage sector veteran, Hagen is intuitively inclined to favour online trading, but Schulman makes a strong case in favour of the super app. To prove himself in his new position, Hagen needs to weigh both options and make an informed recommendation.
The authors' research into leader character demonstrates its effect on judgment and finds that fostering a culture where character is valued equally alongside competence can result in better decisions and outcomes. Furthermore, they find that, as with competence, character can be developed through education and practice.
The case looks at the challenges faced by SEWA Rural, a non-profit organisation located in Jhagadia, Gujarat, India. Started in 1980, the trust has been instrumental in establishing a robust healthcare system in Jhagadia, especially in the areas of child and maternal health. Along with a primary care hospital, the trust is also involved in community health, child care and education, women and girl child empowerment, and vocational education. The trust, currently, is considering its future course of action and its vision is for year 2030. The three protagonists: Dr. Shrey Desai, Dr. Gayatri Desai and Dr. Dhiren Modi, were entrusted with coming up with a plan for the same.
Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), a set of software and analytical tools designed for the purpose of wildlife conservation, had demonstrated significant improvements in patrol coverage, with some observed reductions in poaching and contributing to wildlife population growth. Jonathan Palmer, Executive Director of Conservation Technology for the Wildlife Conservation Society, wondered how far to promote the integration of a new predictive analytic tool being developed at Harvard University, called the Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security (PAWS), and whether the data that PAWS gathered from the parks and wildlife reserves would be reliable enough for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to work effectively.
In November 2021, Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen, founders of Brooklyn-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Ethena, were looking to expand their compliance training business. The founders hired Arnie Gullov-Singh, an outside revenue consultant, to advise on whether to pursue mid-market sales or enterprise sales as the company scaled. Gullov-Singh performed a diagnostic of Ethena's sales funnel and found mid-market to be a reliable, growth-oriented trajectory for the company. The data for enterprise, however, was more limited, making it harder to recommend pursuing with confidence. Petraeus felt enterprise was attainable, nonetheless, especially given Ethena's client base already included some high-profile enterprise firms. Together with Vice President of Customer Success Akhila Iruku, the group discussed whether pursuing both mid- market and enterprise was feasible, and in light of the limited data on enterprise, whether it was wise. Ethena: A Go-to-Market Dilemma (HBS No. 723-363) also includes supplements: Ethena: Pre-Seed Pitch Deck Supplement 1 (HBS No. 723-385); Ethena: Seed Pitch Deck Supplement 2 (HBS No. 723-386); and Ethena: Series A Pitch Deck Supplement 3 (HBS No. 723-387).
CEO Francesco Starace is considering what is next for Enel SpA, one of world's largest energy companies. From 2014 to 2022, he has wrought a dramatic transformation at Enel, restructuring the company's business units; redeploying senior talent across functions and geographies; instigating a digital transformation; initiating a shift from Enel generating energy primarily sourced from thermal (or brown) sources (reliant on fossil fuels), to a leading provider of renewable energy. He has launched Enel X, an incubator for new products and services built on electrification, which is steadily overtaking Enel's own retail sales. He has introduced an Office of Innovability as a way to inject a culture of sustainable thinking across the company. Now he faces a possible third term as CEO. What is next for Enel and Starace?