In June 2021, Kim T. Folsom, the founder and CEO of revenue-based financing firm Founders First Capital Partners (FFCP), must decide whether to issue another loan to OnShore Technology Group, an up-and-coming software validation company. FFCP provided revenue-based financing (RBF) to small businesses, with a particular focus on diverse entrepreneurs. OnShore Founder Valarie King-Bailey had previously taken an RBF loan, and had requested a second round of capital from FFCP. The case provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of RBF - specifically relative to bank loans and merchant cash advances - and challenges readers to decide whether a second RBF loan would be appropriate for OnShore.
Colette Phillips' marketing firm had just won the City of Boston's 2nd largest contract in history to a Black-owned company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Get Konnected!, the networking organization for people of color that she founded 15 years earlier and led to prominence, had evolved into a portfolio of 5 ventures, including executive recruiting and a VC fund, to remove systemic barriers to equity and inclusion in business and wealth creation in a long-racially-troubled region where she had also experienced discriminatory barriers. A strong commitment to partnerships, some controversial, had extended her reach, and Boston was changing, including its first elected female mayor of color. How could Phillips assess her impact as a leader, given the magnitude of the problems? What was the role of networking in increasing the numbers of successful minority and female small businesses? Was she contributing to changing the narrative and building new institutions? In addition to the 4 N's of numbers, narratives, networks, and new institutions, how else could she capitalize on the region's momentum, and determine what to do next with her platform to ensure a more equitable and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem?
Joe and Matt Deitch, father and son, knew it was time to start their own family office. Matthew had recently joined his father at the family's three enterprises, and they both realized that their family's needs had grown increasingly complex over the years. In search of someone to oversee their new initiatives, the two began interviewing prospective CEOs to head their new family office. Having defined the family's needs and wants for their family office, how could they find someone that resonated with their values and priorities? How could the family establish the governance and legacy institutions necessary to fulfill their goals and wishes? Knowing that their decisions would set a precedent for all generations to come, how could the family translate their strategic vision into an optimal family office structure, and how could they identify the best partner to guide them through the process?
The case is an example of how a family can control a large conglomerate - TECO Electric & Machinery, a Taiwanese engineering business - yet with almost no ownership stake. Founded by five prominent business families in 1956, TECO has been run by Mao-Hsiung "Theodore" Huang for the past 50 years, the son in law of the former CEO and co-founder, who married into the dominant founding family and rose up the ranks. Theodore's eldest son, Eugene, is impatient take over the reins. However, he makes a discovery just before the Annual General Meeting in 2021 and reaches the conclusion that at 83, his father simply does not want his son to take over the leadership, and will control the company from behind the scenes via non-family professionals he has installed in the executive suite. The case highlights a dilemma facing many Asian family-owned companies dominated by octogenarians who don't know how to retire gracefully. It also addresses some of the ambiguities of bringing in non-family professionals when perhaps the ulterior motive is to avoid a change of leadership.
In early 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the world led the most highly affected countries, such as the United States and India, to focus on rapid testing and contact tracing to break the chain of transmission. By August 25, 2020, India had tested nearly 37 million cumulative COVID-19 samples as part of the government's "Test, Track, Treat" initiative. The efficient allocation of collected swabs with saliva samples to appropriate testing labs had become an urgent operational requirement. The senior consultant of GD Labs was appointed officer on special duty by the State Government of Chhattisgarh to devise a plan for the optimal allocation of swabs to government and private labs across the state. He decided to roll out a pilot study for two districts that had six labs-both government and private. The task required access to extensive data on the collection of swabs with saliva samples, previous backlogs, locations of labs, and the maximum capacity per lab. The goal of the project was to maximize the allocation of swabs for testing within budget constraints.
On her first day as the new CEO of Citigroup Inc. (Citi), Jane Fraser announced Citi's commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2050. The case examines the implications of such a decision, including the need to work both on Citi's own operations as well as help transition those of its clients. The case allows for an examination of the green bond market, and separately, the market of social bonds and sustainability-linked bonds. The case discusses the various principles and frameworks for green and social bonds and their potential benefits and risks.
This case set draws on a summer internship in brand management to outline potential steps in bringing a new food product to life. While there are general guidelines to the new product (brand, grocery aisle, and target market), the rest of the product development is up to the team of marketers and research and developers. This case can serve several purposes: It can be used as a midterm exam (e.g., after a module on consumer research) or as a part of a final exam (together with other mini cases). Another possibility is to use this case as a live case or as a case to discuss focus groups.
In early 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the world led the most highly affected countries, such as the United States and India, to focus on rapid testing and contact tracing to break the chain of transmission. By August 25, 2020, India had tested nearly 37 million cumulative COVID-19 samples as part of the government’s “Test, Track, Treat” initiative. The efficient allocation of collected swabs with saliva samples to appropriate testing labs had become an urgent operational requirement. The senior consultant of GD Labs was appointed officer on special duty by the State Government of Chhattisgarh to devise a plan for the optimal allocation of swabs to government and private labs across the state. He decided to roll out a pilot study for two districts that had six labs—both government and private. The task required access to extensive data on the collection of swabs with saliva samples, previous backlogs, locations of labs, and the maximum capacity per lab. The goal of the project was to maximize the allocation of swabs for testing within budget constraints.
Only 10% of job opportunities are filled with internal lateral hires which represents a missed opportunity for employers and employees alike. Existing workers' institutional knowledge can help them quickly contribute in their new roles. Workers can also gain new skills that align with their career goals, leading to increased retention. Based on their research, the authors offer four practical insights to help companies that are currently underutilizing internal talent.
Set in April 2022, this case delves into supply chain disruptions faced by 3M in and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the strategies used by the company to cope with the challenges. The case begins by tracing the history of 3M as an 'Innovation Machine', and its internationalization strategy in its early years. It then talks about the company's regionalisation strategy, and complementary growth strategies like the 'Divide and Grow', 'Follow the Technology' and 'Renewal' tactics to expand and diversify internationally. It also talks about the digital transformation and the consolidated operating model, which the company embarked upon in 2019, to re-energise the company. In 2020, 3M faced massive supply chain disruptions amidst a 400% demand surge of N95 masks and personal protective equipment, and simultaneous closure of several manufacturing facilities worldwide. 3M continued to operate from manufacturing plants that were still open, with government support - in countries like Singapore - while facing resource and supply constraints and other uncertainties. To cope with the disruption, the company used several strategies like emergency response teams, 30/60/90-day cycles of supply management, additional supplier sourcing and airfreight for exporting finished goods. In 2022, even after the pandemic started to subside, supply chain disruptions continued to persist amidst increasing geopolitical tensions like the Russia-Ukraine war and a new surge of the pandemic in China. Given the prolonged and evolving supply chain disturbances, what could be the appropriate short-term and longer term strategies that 3M could implement to respond to such disruptions?
In September 2022, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO Alex Oshmyansky considered the future of the company. Cost Plus Drugs was a retailer for more than 340 generic oral medications, selling their drugs at significantly lower prices than typical pharmacies. Oshmyansky could focus resources on adding brand-name drugs to its medication portfolio or focus on the company's ongoing development of a facility to manufacture sterile injectable drugs.
Zak Pym Williams, mental health advocate, grappled with the question of how to create a proactive mental health family environment for his children. Having witnessed how mental health challenges such as addiction and depression had impacted the past four generations of his family, Williams sought to break the cycle for his children and future generations ahead. He himself was among the approximately 20% of American adults who had experienced a mental health condition annually, as he himself had been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and PTSD as a young adult. Although his children were still quite young, he considered how he could enact an optimal family mental health strategy to break the family's intergenerational cycle once and for all.
Charles Holloway, founder of Stanford's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, shares his reflections and learnings on entrepreneurship in this teaching note. Designed to be a hands-on tool for aspiring entrepreneurs, this playbook will frame key questions and provide frameworks to assist in building new ventures.
Eve Burton founded HearstLab in 2015 to support female entrepreneurs and cultivate a new entrepreneurial mindset within Hearst Corporation. Since the Lab's inception in 2015, the Lab team had reviewed over 6,000 companies and made investments in 48 of them, deploying nearly $50 million of capital. Now Burton was ready to take the Lab to the next level with "Lab 2.0" and "Lab 3.0." In each of these phases, the Lab would write bigger checks and look for ways to integrate female-founded startups into the fabric of existing Hearst businesses. In doing so, Burton hoped to solidify her legacy as a leader who relentlessly supported women entrepreneurs.
This case describes the growth of ReNew Power during its first decade of operation. Sumant Sinha, a first-generation entrepreneur and former banker, founded the company, which grew from a modest generator-cum-developer of wind energy-based electricity to one of India's largest companies in the renewable energy sector. With the entry of large, well-funded players such as Tata Power and Adani Green into the Indian renewable sector by the end of 2020, Sinha had to make a strategic decision: should ReNew continue to organically scale up its presence in an increasingly competitive yet expanding Indian renewable energy sector, should it diversify geographically, or should it pursue emerging opportunities for vertical or horizontal integration within the sector? The case provides an opportunity to discuss how alternative business models and competitive scenarios may facilitate or inhibit the growth of a player in the renewable energy sector.