Linc Pen and Plastics Limited (LPPL) was a 40 year old Indian writing instruments company with a presence in over 50 countries through its sole brand Linc, a value brand that had a brand image of providing good quality products at a low price. Over the past year and half , LPPL had faced margin pressure due to a steep increase in the price of raw materials. In late 2019, Deepak Jalan, the managing director , decided not to disturb the brand equity of Linc but instead to move upmarket by developing a new ballpoint pen, Pentonic, for the premium segment. LPPL priced Pentonic ball pens at ₹10 -higher than Linc's original ball pens, which mostly sold at ₹5. The Pentonic ball pen was highly successful right from its launch, and within a year, Pentonic had become the company's second largest product in terms of volume and its largest product in terms of value. Pentonic had an independent identity in the market. In the last board meeting, Jalan had proposed building Pentonic as a separate brand for the premium market. The board had asked him to develop a detailed plan for developing the new product to target the premium market and balancing the marketing mix and positioning strategy for the specific target customers of the two brands, Linc and Pentonic.
In 2017, Jan Juchelka, the new CEO of KomerÄnà Banka, identified the need for the bank to start an enterprise wide agile transformation. He started by working to create a sense of urgency to kick-start a process to enable the level of service delivery to customers he believed is necessary to prepare for a future of increased levels of competition from both traditional players and possible new digital challengers. This journey is embarked upon despite entering a relatively successful operation with a leadership position among peer financial services organizations in several areas. To do so, Juchelka and team begin working to shift mindsets and start adapting the organizational structure towards an agile operating model. The case describes the bank's transformation, including the timeline for each department's move to agile (from HR to Risk), the creation of an Agile COE (Center of Expertise), the training and selection of managers to launch the first "Agile Tribes", and the thought process on how and where to begin. The case also discusses goal setting processes and use of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), linking an enterprise wide agile operating rhythm, to an outcomes based mindset that meets the requirements of Juchelka and team to empower a more responsive, adaptable and agile organization. The case reflects on the lessons and challenges of launching, leading and scaling an enterprise wide agile change program.
The Sydney Opera House, an iconic architectural landmark and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, was officially opened in 1973. The project cost AU$102 million and took 14 years to complete—AU$95 million and 10 years more than originally estimated. The challenges with the construction of the opera house included a brilliant and visionary architect who lacked project management experience, team collapse due to misalignment, bureaucratic and political issues that hindered work, and a rush to begin construction without proper planning. What could have been done at crucial crossroads to facilitate the project? What could today’s project managers learn for future construction?
In April 2020, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, announced an alliance with social media giant Facebook Inc. (Facebook). This was the biggest foreign direct investment for a technology firm in India. The association between Jio and Facebook offered both firms many opportunities, and the strengths and core competencies of the two organizations promised to create value for Indian consumers and businesses by meeting their technology needs. However, the differences in the two organizations in terms of culture, expertise, business models, and management styles would need to be dealt with effectively to create the desired synergy. How could Jio ensure a co-operative and complementary partnership (despite their differences with Facebook) in order to succeed and set a precedent for future international alliances?
Linc Pen and Plastics Limited (LPPL) was a 40 year old Indian writing instruments company with a presence in over 50 countries through its sole brand Linc, a value brand that had a brand image of providing good quality products at a low price. Over the past year and half , LPPL had faced margin pressure due to a steep increase in the price of raw materials. In late 2019, Deepak Jalan, the managing director , decided not to disturb the brand equity of Linc but instead to move upmarket by developing a new ballpoint pen, Pentonic, for the premium segment. LPPL priced Pentonic ball pens at ₹10 —higher than Linc’s original ball pens, which mostly sold at ₹5. The Pentonic ball pen was highly successful right from its launch, and within a year, Pentonic had become the company’s second largest product in terms of volume and its largest product in terms of value. Pentonic had an independent identity in the market. In the last board meeting, Jalan had proposed building Pentonic as a separate brand for the premium market. The board had asked him to develop a detailed plan for developing the new product to target the premium market and balancing the marketing mix and positioning strategy for the specific target customers of the two brands, Linc and Pentonic.
Toronto-based financial technology (fintech) start-up Koho Financial Inc. (Koho) offered millennial consumers a new way to manage their money with no fees. Koho challenged traditional banking institutions by providing typical banking services digitally. In November 2019, the company had recently secured its series B funding round, bringing the total amount raised to US$57.5 million. Now, with expectations from its investors and growing competition, Koho had to develop new strategies to ensure its leading position. Should Koho continue competing directly with traditional banks, or should the company invest in new technologies and compete with other fintech start-ups? How could Koho acquire more customers? How would the changing fintech regulatory environment affect Koho’s strategy?
This note, written to accompany "The NBA, China, and Social Media: What Are the Rules of the Game?" (UVA-E-0459) but useful in tandem with other cases, charts the history of freedom of speech in the United States. The US Constitution did not originally include the Bill of Rights (which contains the 1st through 10th Amendments), but after more than 200 years of legal and philosophical shifts, expression rights receive legal protection on a tiered system, with political speech enjoying the least abridgment, commercial and sexually explicit expression subject to some government censorship, and obscenity and fighting words enjoying no protection. This note focuses on political speech, summed up in the 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This protection had its challenges over the years, with the most notable blow being the 1798 Sedition Act, which criminalized any questioning of the authority or laws of the US President or Congress. (Congress eventually allowed this act to expire), as well as some 20th century cases (for example, Schenck v. United States, 1919). The note touches on John Stuart Mill's 1859 On Liberty, which made philosophical arguments for the value of free expression that would come to undergird liberal legal interpretations of the 1st Amendment some hundred years later, as well as the repeated infringements of constitutional rights, including free expression during the US Civil War, the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Sedition Act of 1918, and other attempts to suppress free speech. Also referenced is theorist Alexander Meiklejohn, who, in 1949, outlined a highly influential philosophy on the limits of free expression.
Britannia Chemicals was under pressure from investors to improve its financial performance because of the accumulation of the firm's common shares by a well-known corporate raider. Earnings had fallen to 180 pence per share at the end of 2017 from around 250 pence per share at the end of 2016. The manager of Merseyside Works, a production plant owned by Britannia Chemicals, thus believed the time was ripe to obtain funding from corporate headquarters for a modernization program for her plant-at least she had believed this until her controller presented her with several questions that had only recently surfaced. This A case presents a go/no-go project evaluation regarding improvements to a polypropylene production plant. It explores aspects related to identifying incremental cash flow implications of investment decisions and evaluating related financial criteria, including impact on earnings per share, payback, and net present value, and internal rate of return.
These fictional caselets, some of which are based on lived experience, present dilemmas and ethical issues in the financial field. The situations include an investment-banking firm executive deciding how to handle an investment tip; an executive struggling with whether to push her tech start-up client to a lucrative IPO or to follow her company's directive to push a merger instead; an employee asked to contravene accepted accounting practice; an employee at a wealth-management firm pressured to promote two underperforming funds; a financial manager whose elderly clients unwisely want to liquidate a significant portion of their savings for a risky venture; and a fintech venture manager who is conflicted about the high interest loans his company offers. These caselets outline and convey the complexities and difficult choices that individuals in the world of finance often confront.
The case is a continuation of the part (A) of the case and focusses on the expansion of Mime restaurants to other cities. After establishing Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime in Mumbai, the parent company, Squaremeal Foods Private Limited (SFPL), opened another Mirchi & Mime outlet in the city of Indore. The case describes the objectives of the company as it embarked on this expansion, and the extent to which these objectives could be achieved. It further describes a few operational issues that the company faced in the initial stages of setting up this new outlet.
This case describes the rise of Walt Disney, founder of the worldwide entertainment company. The case describes how Disney, as a young artist, created memorable figures such as Mickey Mouse and went on to produce Academy-award-winning films and build the world's most popular theme park. Students will learn how Walt Disney navigated life's choices to leave a lasting impact on the world.
This library case examines the rise of shareholder activism in recent years, particularly in the public eye, and analyzes its effects on corporate strategy, growth, and shareholder value. It looks at three contemporary targets of shareholder activism in particular-Bed Bath and Beyond, Occidental Petroleum Corp, and Walt Disney Co.-and presents arguments both for and against the role of activist shareholders.
The general purpose of this case is to explore the evolving nature of business relations across the Taiwan strait, focusing on the prominence of Taiwan's high-tech industry. After the legendary founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) retired, the new chairman grappled with fresh challenges related to its market in China and growing competition. One of TSMC's major Chinese customers faced sanctions by the U.S. government; China invested billions of dollars in building its own powerhouse to compete in semiconductor production. A slowing of innovation in fabrication processes and rising U.S.-China geopolitical tension also added to the uncertainties facing TSMC. What had changed in the competitive landscape for TSMC, and how should it respond to the changes? Was TSMC positioned to be a truly global company? Students should understand how TSMC protects its competitive technology advantage, navigates geopolitical risks in the region, and blunts hungry competitors' efforts to gain market share.
In July 2020, Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) received a US$765 million loan from the US federal government for drug component manufacturing. Kodak's chief executive officer (CEO) was confident about the company's ability to excel in the pharmaceutical industry. However, critics cited several concerns, such as workforce availability and Kodak's lack of experience in the pharma business. The CEO believed that Kodak's expertise in advanced chemicals and manufacturing could drive the firm's success in the pharma business. Would Kodak be able to establish its mark in the US pharma industry? What challenges was Kodak likely to face?
On June 8, 2020, Sembcorp Marine Ltd. (SCM) announced a S$2.1 billion recapitalization plan to be followed by a demerger from Sembcorp Industries Ltd (SCI). SCM’s business had been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapse in oil prices, resulting in a critical need for liquidity. The recapitalization would be done through a rights issue. The demerger would be conducted through a subsequent share distribution of SCI’s stake in the recapitalized SCM to SCI’s shareholders.<br><br>The case seeks to provide a reasonable valuation of SCM based on its past financial performance and other relevant market information. It also analyzes the rationale of the demerger and the impact of the demerger on shareholders of SCM and SCI.
On May 29, 2020, the World Health Organization launched the COVID-19 Technologies Access Pool (C-TAP) with the aim of making pandemic-related technologies-specifically, vaccines and treatments-available to its participants. Although the initiative was positively received in many developing countries, it was not well received by pharmaceutical companies, who viewed C-TAP as a threat to the patent system and, therefore, as a threat to the companies' future research and development. Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported the initiative because it was expected to help poorer countries and income groups access a vaccine. Companies, NGOs, and national governments had to decide how to engage in the process.
In October 2015, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tender Greens faced his most difficult decision yet: should the company continue to pay a premium price for sustainably sourced beef, or should it switch to conventionally raised beef to boost profit margins and improve the company's prospects for national growth? Tender Greens, a thriving fast-casual restaurant chain in California, was ready to expand its operation to the East Coast with backing by equity investors. As the expansion plans grew closer, the CEO began to address the foreseeable supply chain issues that his company would face with the next level of expansion. The company had faced sustainably raised beef supply shortages before, but this time the CEO had more stakeholders to satisfy. He faced a dilemma, one that required him to weigh competing stakeholder interests, the company's stated values, and significant financial implications to arrive at the best long-term outcome for the company. What would be the best way for the company to achieve scale while maintaining a commitment to food that was local, sustainable, and affordable?
Elon R. Musk, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), was on a mission to provide people in rural and remote areas with affordable, reliable Internet access. Starlink-a constellation of 12,000 satellites to be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO)-was to provide a seamless web of high-speed, low-latency Internet access to anyone with a coordinating ground station. If revenue from the project materialized as forecast, the income stream could help fund Musk's bigger mission: getting people to Mars. The project was not without its challenges, however. LEO satellites had failed in the past, and the market emphasis was the launch of the fifth-generation mobile network (5G) and extending that service to rural areas. Further, competition was increasing, as other companies were entering the segment. Another problem was the clutter and light pollution that the satellites created in orbit. How could Musk increase demand for Starlink's services, and how should he prioritize and tackle the challenges his project faced?
A government's impact on the economy is not limited to taxes, spending, and monetary policy. As any manager can attest, regulations dramatically impact the way managers think about production. An effective regulatory environment will allow both new and existing firms to grow and innovate. Burdensome regulations can lower economic productivity and employment, and are associated with higher levels of informal economic activity and employment. This technical note addresses the annual Doing Business report published by the World Bank, which aims to capture the differences in regulations between countries. Doing Business summarizes these finding in an absolute score and a relative ranking. The doing business score measures how a given country's regulatory environment compares to the global best practice. Scores can range between 0 to 100, with 100 corresponding to the best performance. Those scores are then sorted to give the final ease of doing business ranking, in which countries are ranked from 1 (best score) to 190 (worst).