Reymund (ER) Rollan and Shivapratim (Shiv) Choudhury, founders of the digital technology platform GrowSari, were at a crossroads. The feedback from their initial product roll-out were not what they had expected, and they needed to decide how to proceed. The pair, alongside co-founders Andrzej Ogonowski and Siddhartha Kongara, had started GrowSari after they had each spent significant time working at the intersection of technology and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). They were trying to bring data and technology to inform how multinational consumer goods companies sold their products through small, informal retailers known as "sari-sari" stores in the Philippines. These stores, whose name means "variety" or "everything" in Filipino, were a typical convenience store or bodega, selling consumer products from sachets of shampoo to cans of baked beans and potato chips and soda.
Case supplement for HBS Case No. 322-036. Reymund (ER) Rollan and Shivapratim (Shiv) Choudhury, founders of the digital technology platform GrowSari, were at a crossroads. The feedback from their initial product roll-out were not what they had expected, and they needed to decide how to proceed. The pair, alongside co-founders Andrzej Ogonowski and Siddhartha Kongara, had started GrowSari after they had each spent significant time working at the intersection of technology and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). They were trying to bring data and technology to inform how multinational consumer goods companies sold their products through small, informal retailers known as "sari-sari" stores in the Philippines. These stores, whose name means "variety" or "everything" in Filipino, were a typical convenience store or bodega, selling consumer products from sachets of shampoo to cans of baked beans and potato chips and soda.
The Miami metropolitan area is a global epicenter of climate risk from heat and sea level rise, but leaders have only recently mobilized for action to respond to this systemic challenge. Resilient 305 began a collaboration across officials in the cities of Miami and Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County, with some community leaders, but action has been slow. The case identifies the actions and concerns of (a) public sector officials (Mayors and new Chief Resilience Officers), concerned with infrastructure; (b) community activists (grass roots advocacy organizations) concerned with immediate resident issues like electric utility bills in a region with large income disparities; and (c) business leaders (real estate developers and climate technology entrepreneurs) who seek growth and economic returns. Can their interests be aligned, and new collaborations forged to accelerate climate action for both short-term and longer-term goals?
This background Note introduces the implications of climate change (global warming) for American cities. In the U.S., partisan political divides and unaddressed economic and racial disparities in climate vulnerabilities can inhibit action. The two main fronts for action are mitigation (reducing emissions) and adaptation (preparing for change by building resilience). The Note reviews main sources of emissions - energy, buildings, transportation, waste - and examples of mitigation actions, showing differential costs and impact. Adaptation actions depend on geographic location and specific climate hazards, with resilience of infrastructure and institutions a major factor. The most risk-prone are often the least prepared. Crises tend to propel action, and foundations have facilitated adaptation capacity, but leadership challenges require cross-sector goal-setting and collaboration.
In December 2021, more than a decade after its founding, Goldman Sachs's 10,000 Small Businesses program was still going strong - and the firm now needed to evaluate potential program modifications to reach a wider group of small business owners. Launched in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, 10,000 Small Businesses provided business education, a wide network, and access to capital to U.S. small business owners through more than a dozen city- and state-based program and a National Cohort model. By 2020, Goldman Sachs achieved its goal of graduating 10,000 small business owners from the program, and the firm decided to renew the program with the goal of reaching another 10,000. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed unprecedented strain on small business owners across the U.S., the 10,000 Small Businesses program office team expanded the program's efforts to organize a collective voice for small business owners in U.S. politics, support an internship program that paired community college students with local small businesses, and admit owners of smaller businesses than had previously been accepted into the program. In late 2021, the team considered how to approach its latest effort: supporting Black women business owners in line with the firm's broader One Million Black Women initiative. As 10,000 Small Businesses expanded its reach to smaller businesses and sole proprietors, what modifications did the team need to make? In what ways did Goldman Sachs need to rethink its work to render its One Million Black Women initiative effective?
The South Korean K-pop band, BTS, is shattering linguistic boundaries and reshaping the global music industry. BTS became the first band in Billboard history to simultaneously top the Billboard Artist 100, Billboard Hot 100, and Billboard 200; and the sixth act to have four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles in less than a year. A critical component of BTS's success has been the efforts of a vast network of very dedicated fans called the ARMY. How did BTS build and grow its devoted global fanbase? Could other artists or even businesses follow BTS's lead?
Beijing’s Palace Museum was facing the threat of becoming irrelevant and obsolete. A former imperial palace, it housed thousands of priceless cultural relics of historical importance and was once a destination in high demand. However, over time, the museum found its popularity with modern youth was waning. To address this problem, the Palace Museum chose to follow in the footsteps of other global museums and in 1998, launched a digital transformation. By June 2020, the museum had made steady progress in its digitalization over the previous two decades. It formed partnerships with online media platforms and experimented with innovative technology in key areas of its systems and structures. However, this transformation did not come without criticism. Was the museum sacrificing its integrity and its cultural import by leaning too heavily on science and technology? If people could access the collections online, would anyone still bother to visit? The museum was challenged to weigh the risks and benefits of digital transformation.
In 2016, Pythagoras Global Fund (Pythagoras), based in the United Kingdom, decided to launch a fund focused on emerging markets, especially those in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries). Pythagoras’s fund manager favoured investing in family-owned businesses, but the investment opportunities in India used ownership structures different than those used in developed markets. The structures in Indian groups altered the cash flow and effective ownership rights in the subsidiary firms, which had ramifications for stakeholders and raised associated governance issues. The fund manager needed to decide which firm to choose by assessing the investment opportunities and evaluating the corporate governance of the companies.
Makena Wanjiru, chair of Kiri Mount Kenya Conservation Network and Resource Centre (Kiri), wondered whether turning Kiri's loans business into a co-operative bank would be in the group's best interest. The challenge was to convince the rest of the board members of the idea. The board of directors would meet on July 18, 2019. Wanjiru had to draft a report before then explaining how the idea was consistent with the group's current strategy and would benefit Kiri for years to come. Wanjiru also needed to consider strategies to grow Kiri's agribusiness beyond the Mount Kenya community.
The case is set in 2022 when Creative Chocolates, a popular United States based chocolate manufacturer, plans to enter the African market. Known in the United States for its unique "warm freshbaked" chocolates, Creative Chocolates expanded to over 100 countries with 26,000 outlets worldwide since its inception in the late 1980s. However, all their outlets were either their own stores or franchisees. Attracted by the market research data on the population growth and economic success of Nigeria and other African countries, Alan Rickman, the new chief executive officer of Creative Chocolates, plans a growth strategy based on penetrating the African market. The case presents Rickman's dilemma-whether to conduct test marketing or not-and builds on it to discuss his next step.
This case chronicles a successful digital transformation in Russia, where JSC Raiffeisenbank, the Russian branch of the Austrian parent company, reinvented its organizational and management system to build a new digital value network. The case discusses the transition to a less hierarchical Agile organizational structure, driven by IT-intensive cross-functional product teams. It illustrates the main challenges facing the leadership team in orchestrating the transformation: overcoming internal resistance, bridging the talent gap and handling the cultural upheaval. It highlights the key enablers that must be put in place to make a digital transformation work: leadership vision and skills, management team alignment, a strong foundation for transformation, detailed organizational rules and fast learning capabilities.
The case charts the success of Chinese hot pot restaurant chain, Haidilao, from humble beginnings to international expansion, with a focus on how an emotion-based culture is created and sustained to deliver high performance. Chinese hot pot - a blend of meat and vegetables - is boiled by customers in a broth and eaten with a variety of sauces. There was nothing special about the food, but what differentiated Haidilao was the service, which catapulted the company to the number 1 spot in its segment and had diners queueing for up to two hours. The secret sauce was the company's attention to the welfare of its employees, who were encouraged to work hard to progress fast. The culture - that competitors its could not emulate - is explored in the case, including the five-part HR system, welfare system, extended family aspects, and ability to adapt (while retaining key cultural markers). The case also looks at attention to product quality and Haidilao's national and international expansion, asking how far its approach is sustainable in the future.
Contextually effective leadership comprises three essential tasks drawing the map, establishing the mindset, and communicating the message that drive desired change. Each task will vary according to the type of change that the leader seeks to achieve. The authors describe three main tasks (map, mindset, and message) that are key to leaders' contextual effectiveness and illustrate how the objective of those tasks varies according to the type of change that the leader is trying to achieve.
In 2016, Pythagoras Global Fund (Pythagoras), based in the United Kingdom, decided to launch a fund focused on emerging markets, especially those in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries). Pythagoras's fund manager favoured investing in family-owned businesses, but the investment opportunities in India used ownership structures different than those used in developed markets. The structures in Indian groups altered the cash flow and effective ownership rights in the subsidiary firms, which had ramifications for stakeholders and raised associated governance issues. The fund manager needed to decide which firm to choose by assessing the investment opportunities and evaluating the corporate governance of the companies.
Beijing's Palace Museum was facing the threat of becoming irrelevant and obsolete. A former imperial palace, it housed thousands of priceless cultural relics of historical importance and was once a destination in high demand. However, over time, the museum found its popularity with modern youth was waning. To address this problem, the Palace Museum chose to follow in the footsteps of other global museums and in 1998, launched a digital transformation. By June 2020, the museum had made steady progress in its digitalization over the previous two decades. It formed partnerships with online media platforms and experimented with innovative technology in key areas of its systems and structures. However, this transformation did not come without criticism. Was the museum sacrificing its integrity and its cultural import by leaning too heavily on science and technology? If people could access the collections online, would anyone still bother to visit? The museum was challenged to weigh the risks and benefits of digital transformation.
On March 1, 2020, when news of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, it meant an existential threat to the survival of businesses internationally. L’Abode Accommodations, a full-service property management company based in Sydney, Australia that specialized in mid- to high-end luxury vacation homes, was no exception. Virtually overnight, the company experienced an alarming number of contract cancellations. To make matters worse for an industry dependent on vacationers, Australia shut its borders to international travellers. How could L’Abode Accommodations adjust its operating model and strategic and tactical marketing efforts to stop the business from bleeding revenue and profit and to address the staff’s fears of layoffs, as cancellations poured in?