In April 2018, following an in-store incident in Philadelphia that resulted in the unwarranted arrests of two Black men, Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks) faced a severe public relations crisis. A video of the incident, posted on Twitter, quickly generated widespread attention, online criticism, and in-person protests from people who accused the coffee giant of having exhibited racial bias. Within a few days, Starbucks shared press releases that featured its chief executive officer personally apologizing and taking responsibility for the incident. The chief executive officer also announced that US Starbucks stores would close for an afternoon for racial bias training and education. Although many public relations experts and customers commended Starbucks for its response, others continued to criticize Starbucks, claiming that its response wasn't genuine, but merely an attempt to protect reputation and avoid losing business. Further, while the training may have yielded positive education for employees, was it enough to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future? What could Starbucks do to demonstrate its intentions were genuine? How could it correct its mistake, address the root cause of the incident, keep customers' trust, and thrive as the world's largest coffee retailer?
In the first quarter of 2019, A.T. Kearney Inc.'s managing partner had to find a strategy that would help the company move into the top tier of the world's management consultancy firms. The new leader was only the ninth managing partner in the firm's history, having succeeded the previous leader one year earlier. He was a member of the firm's board of directors and had previously led the company's global Communications, Media & Technology practice. He had also been named one of The Top 25 Consultants by Consulting magazine. After his appointment as managing director, he announced that A.T. Kearney Inc. would continue to be committed to helping its clients with their biggest and most important challenges. However, the firm faced a major challenge of its own: how to become a US$2 billion management consultancy titan as quickly as possible and compete against the industry's giants. A.T. Kearney Inc. had to determine what would be the best option for the future of the company.
AfreecaTV Co. Ltd. (AfreecaTV) was a pioneer in the business of live video streaming, as well as in using voluntary donations as a monetization strategy. In August 2020, AfreecaTV's co-chief executive officer (CEO) and its largest shareholder, was facing a strategic crossroads. After battling global live-streaming giant and Amazon subsidiary Twitch to a standstill in AfreecaTV's domestic Korean market, the co-CEO had to decide whether to pursue several risky strategic initiatives, including moving into foreign markets like the United States, further developing the company's video-on-demand service, expanding advertising on the platform, and generating new, proprietary content (e.g., the company's own K-pop group). He wondered which would be the best direction to take AfreecaTV in the coming years.
In February 2017, the chief executive officer of Conexus Credit Union, a local credit union headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan, was preparing to meet with the board of directors. He would be pitching his plan to build, staff, and operate a start-up venture program to be called the Cultivator. The Cultivator would create a stream of new regional high-technology businesses that would be well-placed, both for Conexus to serve and its members and the wider community to benefit from. The real question was how to operationalize this model: Should Conexus use the template of existing for-profit start-up accelerator programs to launch companies quickly and optimally to fail or scale? Or considering its community mandate, should Conexus take a different route?
<p style="color: white; background-color: rgb(3, 70, 56); font-size: 16px; display: inline-block; border: 0px solid rgb(197, 183, 131); padding: 4px 4px;"><a href="https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/01tOF000002kr3NYAQ" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"> AVAILABLE AS A DIGITAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE </a></p><br><br>In April 2018, following an in-store incident in Philadelphia that resulted in the unwarranted arrests of two Black men, Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks) faced a severe public relations crisis. A video of the incident, posted on Twitter, quickly generated widespread attention, online criticism, and in-person protests from people who accused the coffee giant of having exhibited racial bias. Within a few days, Starbucks shared press releases that featured its chief executive officer personally apologizing and taking responsibility for the incident. The chief executive officer also announced that US Starbucks stores would close for an afternoon for racial bias training and education. Although many public relations experts and customers commended Starbucks for its response, others continued to criticize Starbucks, claiming that its response wasn't genuine, but merely an attempt to protect reputation and avoid losing business. Further, while the training may have yielded positive education for employees, was it enough to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future? What could Starbucks do to demonstrate its intentions were genuine? How could it correct its mistake, address the root cause of the incident, keep customers' trust, and thrive as the world's largest coffee retailer?
In the first quarter of 2019, A.T. Kearney Inc.’s managing partner had to find a strategy that would help the company move into the top tier of the world’s management consultancy firms. The new leader was only the ninth managing partner in the firm’s history, having succeeded the previous leader one year earlier. He was a member of the firm’s board of directors and had previously led the company’s global Communications, Media & Technology practice. He had also been named one of The Top 25 Consultants by Consulting magazine. After his appointment as managing director, he announced that A.T. Kearney Inc. would continue to be committed to helping its clients with their biggest and most important challenges. However, the firm faced a major challenge of its own: how to become a US$2 billion management consultancy titan as quickly as possible and compete against the industry’s giants. A.T. Kearney Inc. had to determine what would be the best option for the future of the company.
AfreecaTV Co. Ltd. (AfreecaTV) was a pioneer in the business of live video streaming, as well as in using voluntary donations as a monetization strategy. In August 2020, AfreecaTV’s co-chief executive officer (CEO) and its largest shareholder, was facing a strategic crossroads. After battling global live-streaming giant and Amazon subsidiary Twitch to a standstill in AfreecaTV’s domestic Korean market, the co-CEO had to decide whether to pursue several risky strategic initiatives, including moving into foreign markets like the United States, further developing the company’s video-on-demand service, expanding advertising on the platform, and generating new, proprietary content (e.g., the company’s own K-pop group). He wondered which would be the best direction to take AfreecaTV in the coming years.
Intel established the Emerging Growth and Incubation (EGI) Group in 2018 with a charter to build a disruptive innovation engine. The EGI Group was seen as essential-even existential-for Intel to expand beyond its core business, find new ways to add significant value to the company, and once again be perceived as an engine of growth. Given Intel's size and the perceived urgency of the need for growth, it was decided that EGI would incubate only businesses with perceived billion-dollar plus potential. By early 2021, the EGI portfolio included 14 ventures in various growth stages with a total valuation greater than $2 billion; revenue had tripled over two years, and one venture was already valued at more than $1 billion. EGI had provided a sandbox for exploration and experimentation, acted as a force multiplier, and had a tremendous impact on Intel's culture. This case documents the process, purpose, and progress of establishing and running the EGI Group.
The case is set in December 2018, when Ziad Oueslati, co-managing director and co-founder of AfricInvest, a leading pan-African private equity firm headquartered in Tunisia, was reflecting on the future direction of his firm. AfricInvest started as a traditional small and mid-cap private equity fund, but over the years had expanded into multiple adjoined investment strategies. At the end of 2018, the team saw an opportunity in the venture capital (VC) space, but while some were adamant about the need to raise a VC fund, others were reluctant to add yet another strategy to AfricInvest's diverse investment strategies. The case presents a detailed insight into AfricInvest's journey from a $10 million Tunisian fund, to becoming a prominent regional player operating throughout the African continent with $1.5 billion of assets under management. Among other issues related to the firm's growth, the case provides insights into the challenges of operating in such a wide and varied geography as the African continent. The case also offers details on their multiple investment strategies, ranging from small-cap SME focused funds, to sector-specific funds, cross-border funds, and private credit. The case explores the synergies and challenges associated with such a wide-reaching investment platform. This is described against the backdrop of the collapse of Abraaj, a leading emerging market private equity firm, in a scandal that shook the investment community in the region. The case also touches upon the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) as investors in emerging markets and the challenges of defining and measuring impact investing. The opportunity of launching a pan-African VC fund in the context of the recent collapse of Abraaj brings to the forefront several strategic questions for AfricInvest's co-founders: Should they keep expanding into new strategies, or would it be better to roll back their existing ones to focus only on their flagship private equity funds?
Under the rule of presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela experienced one of the worst economic and political meltdowns in modern history, culminating with a massive hyperinflation. Remarkably, during this dramatic times Automercados Plaza's had grown to become one of the most successful supermarket retailers in the country. Its management team had faced all kinds of challenges, including price indexation, price controls, scarcity and stockouts, informal competitors, and an ever-shifting set of government interventions. Showing resourcefulness and the flexibility needed to quickly adapt, Plaza's had managed to survive and even thrive. The future, however, looked very uncertain. Could Plaza's keep growing in an ever-shrinking economy? Would the (now larger) company manage to continue to avoid clashing with the government? Cheap financing in bolÃvares was no longer available, and other companies had learned to operate under high inflation conditions as well. While additional growth could help fend off new rivals if the economy improved, it was not clear when (or even if) that would happen. Despite increasing domestic and international pressure, President Maduro refused to resign. Even if he did, could Venezuela's economy recover after more than two decades of Chavismo?
The case describes the efforts of hedge fund Paulson & Co to influence corporate governance and improve performance in the gold industry. In an innovative move, the hedge fund led the creation of the Shareholder Gold Council, a consortium of large investors in gold companies to push gold mining companies to adopt higher levels of corporate governance. The case describes the motivation and process that led to the creation of the SGC and the initial work of the SGC. The case also discusses the variety of techniques that Paulson & Co uses to press for better performance at gold mining companies such as buying majority ownership and pursuing activist proxy contests in addition to its work at the SGC. The case serves as a vehicle for students to discuss how investors can engage with companies to drive their desired corporate governance goals. In particular, the case develops the idea of collective action by investors and the opportunities and challenges in doing so.
The case introduces various forms of real estate investment trusts ("REITs") existing in different markets in the world such as REITs in the United States, Japanese REITs (J-REITs) and Singapore REITs (S-REITs). The development Hong Kong's REITs (H-REITs) market started in 2005 when Link Real Estate Investment Trust listed its shares on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK), following the promulgation of the REIT Code in 2003. Development was slow. There were 11 REITs listed between 2003 and 2013, with one being suspended for trading; there was no listing of new REITs for six years, until December 2019 when China Merchants Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust listed its shares on the SEHK. REITs had developed rapidly in overseas markets such as Australia and the United States since the 1990s and had emerged in other markets like Japan and Singapore since the 2000s. And mainland China was developing its REIT market and could soon become one of the world's largest. Under the presence of strong competitions from neighbourhood markets and the potential opportunities from mainland property firms' fundraising needs and the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, students take on the role of the SFC to consider how to better develop the Hong Kong's REITs market and make Hong Kong a capital formation centre for REITs.
Ken Edwards, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tristar Hotel Group (Tristar), was reviewing the financial performance for his bustling hotel portfolio. In the spirit of the risk-taking and experimental mindset that Edwards brought to Tristar, adopting automated robotic service delivery was top of his mind. Earlier in the year, he had authorized a pilot project to evaluate the costs and benefits of using a robot named ARCHIE; now he needed to determine whether to proceed and implement ARCHIE for room service delivery on a full-scale basis at one of Tristar's hotel properties.
In Nepal, which primarily relied on the use of oral therapy for the treatment of chronic respiratory conditions, Nirparaj Joshi, country manager for Nepal at Cipla Limited (Cipla), had been successful in creating a market plan for the inhaler brand, Seroflo. After consistent efforts, Seroflo had risen to the top market position in fiscal year (FY) 2019-20. This had established the brand not only as a category leader in the respiratory segment but also as a leader in the overall Nepalese pharmaceutical market. Joshi had planned a massive outreach campaign in FY 2020-21 to further push the absolute sales, increase the prescriber base, and boost patient enrollment. However, when everything seemed to be on the right track, the entire world was gripped by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This forced Joshi to re-strategize so as to adapt the brand to the "new normal" and sustain brand leadership. He was faced with many challenges and needed a revised roadmap to navigate the crisis. He was also evaluating whether or not this was the right time to transition to an Agile marketing approach.
Ken Edwards, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tristar Hotel Group (Tristar), was reviewing the financial performance for his bustling hotel portfolio. In the spirit of the risk-taking and experimental mindset that Edwards brought to Tristar, adopting automated robotic service delivery was top of his mind. Earlier in the year, he had authorized a pilot project to evaluate the costs and benefits of using a robot named ARCHIE; now he needed to determine whether to proceed and implement ARCHIE for room service delivery on a full-scale basis at one of Tristar’s hotel properties.
In Nepal, which primarily relied on the use of oral therapy for the treatment of chronic respiratory conditions, Nirparaj Joshi, country manager for Nepal at Cipla Limited (Cipla), had been successful in creating a market plan for the inhaler brand, Seroflo. After consistent efforts, Seroflo had risen to the top market position in fiscal year (FY) 2019–20. This had established the brand not only as a category leader in the respiratory segment but also as a leader in the overall Nepalese pharmaceutical market. Joshi had planned a massive outreach campaign in FY 2020–21 to further push the absolute sales, increase the prescriber base, and boost patient enrollment. However, when everything seemed to be on the right track, the entire world was gripped by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This forced Joshi to re-strategize so as to adapt the brand to the “new normal” and sustain brand leadership. He was faced with many challenges and needed a revised roadmap to navigate the crisis. He was also evaluating whether or not this was the right time to transition to an Agile marketing approach.
On January 2, 2019, Canada-based Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick) and Randgold Resources (Randgold) merged to become the largest gold mining company in the world. Following the merger, Barrick’s new executive team communicated a financial strategy that emphasized a long-term focus, particularly on sustainability. Barrick’s executive performance scorecard—a key management tool used to direct executive attention and evaluate performance—had been introduced in 2013, after an overwhelming majority of shareholders voted against a proposed compensation plan at the annual general meeting. No changes had been made to the scorecard since 2015, despite changes in the organization and in the mining industry overall. An external human resources professional who was proposing a new executive scorecard for the company faced several questions: Should she emphasize the short-term or long-term incentive plan? Which metrics and weightings should be changed? Were the existing financial and non-financial measures still appropriate, and did they adequately reflect Barrick’s sustainability goals? Was Barrick doing enough to satisfy regulators, institutional investors, and the many guidelines and standards that had been released in recent years?