On July 10, 2023, a Snow Valley Resorts co-owner was reviewing his organization's first quarter financials for fiscal year 2022-23. Snow Valley Resorts was founded in 1993 in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, when the first of the group's four resorts, Snow Valley Resorts Manali, was built among the Himalayan mountain range with panoramic views and pleasant weather. The co-owner had set a goal to increase the organization's revenue growth rate to nearly twice the previous year's rate, but he realized several issues had to be addressed first. Technology and operations at the four resorts needed to be integrated. Communications and transactions had to be smoothened. Actions had to be taken to address various issues raised in the customer feedback. Service quality had to be improved at each of the four resorts. Overall, the ripples of customer complaints had to be converted into guest satisfaction by taking appropriate measures.
Employer branding doesn't get the same attention as consumer branding, but its a critical way to attract talent to your organization. By following five steps identifying the talent you need, tuning in to talent perceptions and preferences, defining your employer proposition, communicating your brand, and keeping your promises you can enhance your employer brand and meet the challenge of talent acquisition.
This case is designed to help students understand how to manage diverse employees with unique strengths and weaknesses. It features the Dialogue in the Dark ("DiD") China organization, a social enterprise franchise that employs visually impaired people to guide visitors as they experience daily life tasks in pitch-black. After briefly introducing DiD's origins in Germany and DiD China's founding story, this case describes how its founder, Shiyin Cai, managed the organization with an emphasis on selecting the right employees, providing training for their personal development, and giving employees opportunities to build self-confidence. Furthermore, this case explores how Cai considers the diverse perspectives of her employees and establishes personal relationships with them to develop enabling conditions that can help them thrive in both this organization and society at large. On December 16, 2021, the tenth anniversary of DiD China, Cai reflected on her past experiences. A month prior, had falsely reported to authorities that DiD Shanghai's operation was in violation of the fire code, an accusation that intensified the existing financial struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the ups and downs, Cai reflected on the challenges and rewards she experienced with founding DiD China. More importantly, on a personal level, she acknowledged her ongoing journey of learning and growth as a leader.
This case delves into the journey of Bosch (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Bosch China") as it looked to establish a coaching culture across three distinct phases: "initiation, development, and one step further". It presents the background, challenges, reflections, and strategies entailed in this pursuit while exploring the way forward for its coaching culture as Bosch China approached the fifth anniversary of its Coach Club. In mid-2016, Bosch China introduced the "Coaching Practice of Leadership" course to facilitate its transition from traditional manufacturer to IoT-oriented tech firm while nurturing the required talents. However, the initiative met skepticism from executives right from inception. Through partnerships with external coaches, engagement of internal business executives, and operations of the coach club, Bosch China managed to get more and more employees to embrace the concept of "coaching". As the company continued its journey, industry changes and pandemic disruptions posed substantial challenges, prompting Bosch Group to scale back China investments. Faced with slashed training budgets, Bosch China internalized coaching courses. It introduced team coaching to extend the reach of coaching leadership to a broader group of mid-level managers and business divisions. While the coaching culture took shape, the company made several trade-offs, exemplified in sections like "local identity vs. global alignment", "independence vs. ICF accreditation", and "taking proactive action vs. responding to needs". After five years of exploration, Bosch China's efforts to foster a coaching culture yielded tangible outcomes. Internally, this practice garnered recognition from executives like Han Dongli, Vice President of Bosch Intelligent Manufacturing Solutions China, and contributed to business growth in the divisions concerned. Externally, it earned accolades like the Ram Charan Management Practice Award and the ICF Germany Prism Award.
The case profiles the economic development of the Gothenburg region in Western Sweden, and the efforts of the regional economic development agency. During this period the region's traditionally strong automotive cluster started to transform towards e-mobility technologies. The case discusses the role of Business Region Göteborg (BRG), the regional economic development agency, in this process. The case includes exhibits with some key facts about the regional economy, the institutions engaged in economic development in the region, and the structure of BRG.
<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="" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"> DIGITAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE COMING SOON</a></p><br><br>Kurt Preston, Vice President of Global Sourcing & Product Operations at Sonos Inc. (Sonos), had been considering a Joint Development Model for future Sonos products. In 2022, Sonos began to expand their product offering to target value-conscious consumers and grow market share with more modest price points. Historically, Sonos designed every aspect of their products in house and used Contract Manufacturers (CM) for production. A Joint Development Model (JDM) approach offered an opportunity to partner with the supplier to potentially decrease the product development time and cost. However, JDM meant giving up control of several aspects of the product design and this had many at Sonos very worried.
The case centres on the pricing and business model challenges facing Peloton Interactive Inc.’s new CEO, Barry McCarthy. With the decline in demand post-pandemic, McCarthy must make pricing and product decisions that balance revenue, profitability, and changing consumer dynamics. The case prompts students to assess McCarthy's options through a behavioural lens, considering the importance of behavioural biases in consumer decision-making and the alignment of the business model and marketing efforts with the target consumer’s decision-making process.
This exercise is designed to take students through the steps of creating a project scope document for a course project. The students have the opportunity to practice defining a project scope using a scenario with Friendship Coffee. The project scope document is often used in the workplace, and defines the project requirements, deliverables, and process at the onset of the project. It sets the project up for success and ensures all team members understand the important milestones and due dates, as well as the final deliverable.
In the spring of 2019, Grant Robertson, New Zealand’s finance minister, was in the process of developing New Zealand’s first-ever Wellbeing Budget. The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, had spoken publicly about her vision to rethink how the government identified and set its priorities. Ardern was poised to push against a decades-old practice of using a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for the well-being of its citizens. Consequently, Robertson was tasked with developing a new budget that addressed growing concerns about the need for more holistic well-being metrics. What nuances of life in the modern world did GDP miss? What would it mean for New Zealand to place less emphasis on GDP when making policy decisions? What should be measured and included in the Wellbeing Budget in place of GDP?
In May 2022, BharatPe, a startup,announced a revamp of its governance framework to address any potential risks associated with suspicious transactions in response to a prolonged dispute with its Co-founder and former Managing Director (MD), Ashneer Grover. The company, in December 2022, filed a civil case at the Delhi High Court, and a criminal complaint with the Economic Offenses Wing alleging misappropriation of funds, embezzlement, and other misconduct. As the controversy unfolded, BharatPe's board, primarily comprised of multinational venture capital funds, came under scrutiny, with governance experts questioning their responsibilities and level of accountability. Did the board allow governance issues to persist for an extended period?
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put theatre company AMC's already perilous financial situation under even further strain. The company's high levels of debt resulted in a monthly cash-burn which left it facing an imminent Chapter-11 filing in the absence of significant capital raises. This case raises practical and ethical questions about the measures taken by management to stave off bankruptcy, including at-the-market equity issues and preferred share issues. Should a management team issue equity if market prices seem overvalued, as was the case when AMC was characterized as a meme stock? If common shareholders do not approve an increase in shares outstanding, can managers issue preferred shares if permitted by the corporate charter? Should insiders sell their own shares while issuing shares to the public?
The case describes how Allbirds, a U.S. eco-startup that entered the booming footwear market in China, met with challenges in putting their global perspective into local practice. This teaching note is designed for a 90-minute teaching plan, where students could impersonate the protagonist in this case, Brandy Yu, managing director of Allbirds China, and follow her footprints with the new venture's market expansion in China since she joined in 2021. Allbirds was a San Francisco-based startup founded in 2015, which innovated the ways how shoes were made and sold. The company opened its first store in April 2019 at Shanghai, China, also the first in Asia. Brandy Yu in this case could inspire students through the decision-making processes in various challenging scenarios, such as where to find "China Charlie" and how to engage them, how to channel constrained resources into building product leadership and customer intimacy, whether they could "copy-paste" Allbirds' Go-to-Market strategy in China, and most essentially, how to maintain a sustainable balance between localization and internationalization in both marketing strategy and organizational management.
This article explores Nordic countries' and companies' sustainability practices. It explores how nations like Denmark, Finland, and Sweden and companies such as Novo Nordisk and Ørsted achieve top sustainability rankings through their distinctive approach to stakeholder cooperation. It discusses the historical and cultural context that has shaped the Nordic approach, emphasizing the importance of long-term vision, stakeholder engagement, and cooperative strategies. It provides insights into how these practices contribute to achieving sustainable development goals and offers valuable lessons for global businesses seeking to integrate sustainable practices into their operations.
Founded in 2010, Supercell was a Helsinki, Finland-based mobile gaming company that had developed and launched five global hit mobile games: Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Brawl Stars, and Boom Beach. The company's early philosophy was that it could produce hits by designing the company with a structure and culture that would prove compelling to the world's top developer talent. Developers worked in small, autonomous groups called cells with little oversight. The formula was a success. Supercell had nearly $2 billion in annual revenues, and Clash of Clans alone had generated gross revenues of over $10 billion since inception. However, the company had not released a hit game in five years. In early 2022, Paananen asked in a blog post whether Supercell's best days were behind it. As a result, in summer 2023, he and Supercell's leadership decided to restructure the company into two divisions-New Games and Live Games. The New Game cells would retain the small team structures, which were largely flat and non-hierarchical, but the Live Game cells would add more traditional structure and hierarchy to exploit franchise hits. Now, Paananen wondered if Supercell could continue to attract top talent despite its shift to more traditional ways of managing the business. As importantly, what would it take to restore the company's winning streak by originating more new games and growing its global blockbusters?
DIGITAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE COMING SOON. Kurt Preston, Vice President of Global Sourcing & Product Operations at Sonos Inc. (Sonos), had been considering a Joint Development Model for future Sonos products. In 2022, Sonos began to expand their product offering to target value-conscious consumers and grow market share with more modest price points. Historically, Sonos designed every aspect of their products in house and used Contract Manufacturers (CM) for production. A Joint Development Model (JDM) approach offered an opportunity to partner with the supplier to potentially decrease the product development time and cost. However, JDM meant giving up control of several aspects of the product design and this had many at Sonos very worried.
This exercise is designed to take students through the steps of creating a project scope document for a course project. The students have the opportunity to practice defining a project scope using a scenario with Friendship Coffee. The project scope document is often used in the workplace, and defines the project requirements, deliverables, and process at the onset of the project. It sets the project up for success and ensures all team members understand the important milestones and due dates, as well as the final deliverable.
In the spring of 2019, Grant Robertson, New Zealand's finance minister, was in the process of developing New Zealand's first-ever Wellbeing Budget. The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, had spoken publicly about her vision to rethink how the government identified and set its priorities. Ardern was poised to push against a decades-old practice of using a country's gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for the well-being of its citizens. Consequently, Robertson was tasked with developing a new budget that addressed growing concerns about the need for more holistic well-being metrics. What nuances of life in the modern world did GDP miss? What would it mean for New Zealand to place less emphasis on GDP when making policy decisions? What should be measured and included in the Wellbeing Budget in place of GDP?
In May 2022, BharatPe, a startup,announced a revamp of its governance framework to address any potential risks associated with suspicious transactions in response to a prolonged dispute with its Co-founder and former Managing Director (MD), Ashneer Grover. The company, in December 2022, filed a civil case at the Delhi High Court, and a criminal complaint with the Economic Offenses Wing alleging misappropriation of funds, embezzlement, and other misconduct. As the controversy unfolded, BharatPe's board, primarily comprised of multinational venture capital funds, came under scrutiny, with governance experts questioning their responsibilities and level of accountability. Did the board allow governance issues to persist for an extended period?