On March 17, 2018, the founder and owner of Memon Lubricants, a Shell Pakistan Limited distributor located in Sukkur, Pakistan, was trying to find the best recruitment process to hire a new sales team. Memon Lubricants had just opened a second location in Khairpur, approximately 30 kilometres south of Sukkur. Several constraints that affected the process included a tight budget, limited availability of skilled and qualified candidates, and pressure to complete the recruitment quickly, Therefore, the founder wanted to adopt a more efficient recruitment process than the one he had used to hire a sales force at his first branch in Sukkur. He first had to identify the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes of ideal sales representatives. He then had to encourage appropriate candidates to apply for the positions. Generally, he had to improve the current recruitment process.
A new entrepreneur planning to start a new exports and/or imports business is confronted with the issue of managing and mitigating various risks in international trade. Risks are inherent to any business, be it domestic or international. However, when business becomes international, the dimensions, complexities, and quantum of risks get amplified. This technical note discusses the nuances of various risks faced by the exporters, such as; credit risk, country risk, and currency risk faced by the exporters, popularly known as the three C’s of international trading risks, and the strategies of mitigating those risks. The note also discusses the various risks encountered by the importers, such as; currency risk, supplier risk, and product risk and the methods of managing such risks.
On the morning of June 30, 2019, the Orlando Magic had only a few hours to make a major decision, before the National Basketball Association free agency period was set to begin at 6 p.m. The management team needed a recommendation regarding whether to offer a new contract to the team's current player, Terrence Ross, or pursue a free agent replacement, such as Rudy Gay. With extensive analytical data available, a thorough analysis was needed to predict which player was most likely to contribute to the Orlando Magic's future success.
Honor Home Care, founded as an on-demand home care company, evolved into the leading home care technology and operations platforms for home care agencies across the U.S. In the last quarter of 2020, the Honor leadership team raised $140 million in Series D funding to accelerate the company's geographic expansion. Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor Home Care, must decide between two options- acquiring one large home care franchise or buying several smaller home care agencies. In this case, students are encouraged to explore the advantages and disadvantages of different partnership and acquisition opportunities to scale technology companies in the home care market. The case highlights the complexity of customer acquisition and employee recruiting, management and retention in the industry, and lays out how Honor sought to tackle these challenges, as well as the strategic decisions they faced along the way. The case also chronicles the evolution of the home care industry in the United States, highlighting the market structures that impacted the company's growth.
When Timothy Yu and Katherine Cheung, Snapask's CEO and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively, decided to enter the Indonesian market, they knew that this wouldn't be a snap. Snapask was an education technology company that applied machine learning and mobile cloud services to make education more effective, personalized, and accessible to everyone. After an uncertain kickoff in Hong Kong SAR, a very successful entry in China Taiwan, and relevant experience in the Southeast Asian region, Timothy and Katherine had learned that an in-depth knowledge of their stakeholders and the target educational context were key for their success. During the two-month pilot program in Indonesia, Katherine found out that their existing subscription model did not fit the market. Instead of monthly or yearly subscriptions, the Indonesian students expected to pay by prepaid cards. How could Snapask market and price its product in this different context? In Indonesia, Katherine had to adjust the strategy and formulate a proposal for Timothy accordingly.
Wilo SE, headquartered in Dortmund, Germany, was a leading supplier of pumps and pump systems for the building services, water management and industrial sectors, which was doing business in more than 50countries. Based on current global developments in politics, economy, and society, Oliver Hermes, President and CEO of Wilo Group, saw a de-coupling of three tectonic plates centered in China, USA, and Western Europe. At the Wilo management conference in September 2020 Hermes informed stakeholders about the decision to establish a 2nd headquarters in Beijing within the next few months, and possibly to open a 3rdheadquarters in the following year in the USA. He stated: "With the opening of a 2nd headquarters I want to set a sign. Wilo has to keep up with current global developments - whether we like them or not. A stronger regionalization of Wilo is necessary to continue our global success." The case text introduces the key measures to establish the 2nd headquarters in China.
In January 2022, Microsoft announced its $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a leading producer in the gaming sector, which has grown quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Activision was a main player in mobile gaming as well as cloud gaming, an emerging technology that allowed individuals to stream videogames via Internet-connected devices. In this case, students will learn about Microsoft's organic and acquisitive growth in gaming as well as discuss the strategic acquisition of Activision.
2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private valuation of $100 billion. Both companies made bet big on risky technologies. Now that they were leaders in booming industries, the task was to retain their lead. Musk had proposed a round of big new bets for each company: Tesla was to work with partners to rapidly expand battery production with a focus on lithium-iron phosphate batteries, and SpaceX was to launch thousands more of its Starlink satellites aboard Starship, the largest launch system ever devised. Meanwhile, Tesla faced litigation related to SEC complaints and safety concerns about its Autopilot driver-assistance system, and SpaceX's growing Starlink constellation similarly raised safety concerns. For Musk, the question was: should he consolidate gains and fix the operational, legal, and political problems before launching new initiatives, or should he proceed full speed ahead?
In February 2021, the Indian government announced new regulations to increase the accountability of social media companies for misusing their platforms in spreading fabricated news, misinformation, and obscene material. The new rules were not welcomed by some prominent social media companies, including Twitter. The giant microblogging network claimed that the new rules were designed to suppress freedom of speech among the citizens of India, one of the largest democracies of the world. However, Indian regulators argued that the new rules were required to prevent abuse on open social media networks. Twitter contended that it was self-regulated and argued that its users' voices should not be regulated because it would clearly amount to suppression of the right to free expression. In a changing political and legal environment, how could Twitter meet increasing demands from regulators to moderate content, while remaining aligned with its mission, vision, and ethical standards? Were the self-regulatory mechanisms of social media companies adequately effective without interference from external forces?
Cyberattacks on corporations are an increasingly common phenomenon that imposes significant costs on shareholders, customers, and management. It is instrumental for corporations to both invest in appropriate precautionary security measures and have a comprehensive cybersecurity incident response plan (IRP), led by a skilled incident response team, that defines what procedures to follow. This fictional case is framed from the perspective of Ida Inglewood, the chief information security officer (CISO) of Abank, a midsized financial institution that has experienced a massive and unprecedented cyberattack in which $450 million of customer funds were stolen. The case begins with a 2:00 a.m. phone call in which the CISO informs Abank's CEO of the incident. Abank's IRP is activated, and the CISO provides a detailed report to the bank's management team, explaining the legal, regulatory, and financial implications of the cyberattack. The case culminates in the following critical decision: whether to restore full access to the deposits of Abank's customers at the beginning of the business day, or to keep operations closed until a full investigation of the cyberattack has been completed. This case is taught at Darden in a course on "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work"; it would also be well suited for in-person or online MBA courses in banking and financial markets, new technologies, or communication and crisis response.
This case follows a fictional hedge fund manager as she works to finalize an investment thesis on Comerica Incorporated to present to her manager, who is undecided as to whether the fund should buy (go long) or sell (short) the stock. Assessing Comerica's value and outlook is complex. She needs to have a view on Comerica's future earnings, which are clearly linked to the gravity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resiliency of the banking sector as a whole. This case is taught at Darden in a course on "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work"; it would also be well suited for in-person or online MBA courses in banking and financial markets, new technologies, or communication and crisis response.
On March 10, 2021, Ralph Mupita the new CEO of MTN Group, Africa largest telecommunications company, presented the group's 2020 annual results and unveiled a new strategy to "drive growth and unlock value." Despite MTN's leadership in most of its markets, the company's share price was trading at 15-year lows putting Mupita under pressure to accelerate a turnaround. The case considers his plans to execute against the new strategy by spinning off MTN's fintech business and creating more shared value in its markets while at the same time building valuable technology platforms and delivering industry-leading connectivity. Could MTN's leadership team achieve all four priorities within five years as promised, or were they trying to do too much too quickly? Did they have the right structure and team in place to do so? Although Mupita was convinced that swift action and dramatic change were needed to succeed, there were skeptics both inside and outside the firm.