This note describes what leader character is, how leader character differs from leaders' personality traits and universal values, and how leader character relates to an organization's culture. Using Schein's classic definition of organizational culture, the note explains how leaders' strength of character can help to shape a culture of excellence. The note also follows Galbraith's model of organizational design to relate leaders' character to organizational-level constructs, such as strategy, structure, people, rewards, and processes.
This case tracks a woman named Jodi as she dreams of going back to school in her early 30s to become a nurse. Jodi had put off higher education for 15 years after she became pregnant with her son as a junior in high school. But now, with her son only a few years away from leaving the house for college himself, Jodi wants to improve both her future and the $30,000 income she currently earns as an administrative assistant at a small health clinic. Jodi calls her friend Tameka, a cashier at a local supermarket who had recently gone back to school to become a pharmacist. Tameka suggests that Jodi meet with a college adviser to learn more about her options. This case is best used in a non-MBA course on financial literacy, or in other educational settings wherein learners are exploring resilience, especially navigating returning to the educational system as an adult.
This case describes 23andMe CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki's founding story and her recent attempts to scale the company's direct-to-consumer genetic testing franchise while simultaneously expanding its pharmaceutical development aspirations.
Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to crowdsourcing - in which crowds without directly relevant knowledge are asked to address problems they're poorly suited to solve - is the cause of many crowdsourcing failures. Research suggests that three distinct types of crowdsourcing can be used to solve problems of differing scope and complexity and generate opportunities for innovation.
It is June 2019, and Lillian Lim of Mackor Consultancy, a third-party consultancy in Singapore, is at the newest warehouse of her client, KYY Group, a major third-party logistics provider. Headquartered in Singapore, KYY's business activities span Asia. In 2013, the company started construction of a US$200 million logistics hub. With two million square feet of warehouse space and a million square feet of office space, it would house the KYY Group's headquarters, as well as its research and warehousing facilities. The new logistics hub was due to open in late 2019, and would comprise the latest supply-chain and logistics automation technology. Lim's company was hired to do a study on the improvements that could be made to increase the profitability of KYY's warehouse operations at the hub. To do this, she needs to understand the expected pattern of supply and demand for goods at the warehouse, and the current process of storage and retrieval of inventory. She has to make a presentation on her preliminary findings in two weeks' time to KYY Group's senior management.
It is June 2019, and Lillian Lim of Mackor Consultancy, a third-party consultancy in Singapore, is at the newest warehouse of her client, KYY Group, a major third-party logistics provider. Headquartered in Singapore, KYY's business activities span Asia. In 2013, the company started construction of a US$200 million logistics hub. With two million square feet of warehouse space and a million square feet of office space, it would house the KYY Group's headquarters, as well as its research and warehousing facilities. The new logistics hub was due to open in late 2019, and would comprise the latest supply-chain and logistics automation technology. Lim's company was hired to do a study on the improvements that could be made to increase the profitability of KYY's warehouse operations at the hub. To do this, she needs to understand the expected pattern of supply and demand for goods at the warehouse, and the current process of storage and retrieval of inventory. She has to make a presentation on her preliminary findings in two weeks' time to KYY Group's senior management.
In 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation's $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and potential problems or tradeoffs to implementing such a program.
In 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation's $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and potential problems or tradeoffs to implementing such a program.
By 2019, Facebook Inc.’s (Facebook’s), popular social media and social networking service (known as Facebook) that launched in 2004, had emerged as one of the world’s largest market capitalizations. Over its 15 years, the company had experienced public relation incidents that led to controversies regarding its social media business model. Most criticism related to the unethical ways the company had handled its users’ personal data. By 2019, the level of mistrust from users had skyrocketed alarmingly. Many analysts questioned the company's willingness to deal with data privacy concerns, with some alleging that its business model was fundamentally unethical by design. Clearly Facebook's chief executive officer and his team needed to step back and reflect on the company’s next steps.
Amazon HQ2's vice president for workforce development, Ardine Williams, explains the rationale behind the company's strategy for upskilling its workforce even when the training it provides opens up new opportunities for its employees elsewhere.
With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the "valley of death," unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem. At the beginning, Prime's role as a financial intermediary involved seeking out the most promising market-based technology solutions to climate change and recruiting foundations or philanthropists to fund them. In 2019, Prime changed course, adopting a portfolio approach with its Prime Impact Fund. By the end of the year, Prime had raised $40 million in philanthropic capital for its new fund. Once the funds were invested in promising energy startups, Prime planned to try its hand at recruiting traditional investors to back the same companies. Could Kearney convince traditional investors that these investments were worth the risks?
Clayton M. Christensen's Theory of Disruptive Innovation has had an undeniable impact in business over the past two decades. In this Q&A with longtime collaborator Karen Dillon, he discussed the impact of disruption in today's tech-centric world and why theory is still such a powerful tool for decision-making, even as it continues to evolve.
In mid-2019, the owner of Ireland Renovations was contemplating the future of his renovation and construction company that operated in London and Middlesex County in Ontario, Canada. The owner’s youngest son was interested in working for the business, but the owner wondered whether the company could afford to hire him. His son had previously worked for the company part-time and had shown an interest in helping his father grow the business. The owner decided to project and analyze cash budgets for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to determine whether hiring his son would be a feasible option.
On September 24, 2018, two analysts were asked by the pension fund they worked for to evaluate the prospects of long-term investing in India’s banking sector. They set off to identify and select a bank stock that was fundamentally strong and should be included in an equity portfolio. For their research, the two analysts used the CAMELS analysis framework, a model that examined six factors—capital adequacy, asset quality, management quality, earning ability, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk. The two analysts narrowed their research down to HDFC Bank Ltd. stock for valuation and tried to determine the intrinsic price of the bank shares. The objective of the HDFC Bank Ltd. stock valuation was to identify a banking stock that would make a strong potential long-term investment for the pension fund’s equity portfolio.
Taikang Insurance Group was a leading Chinese insurance and financial services institution. It operated in the insurance, asset management, and health and senior care industries. Due to China's underdeveloped social welfare state, Taikang saw an opportunity for the private sector to offer a suite of lifelong services that would care for clients "From Cradle to Heaven." However, as Taikang broadened its brand from life insurance to lifestyle, the potential pitfalls facing the firm would proliferate, too. How could Taikang leverage its scale to ward off competitors? And, crucially, how could Taikang sustain strong relations with the state and regulatory bodies as the company moved into markets with great political sensitivities, such as health services and senior care?
This supplemental case tracks the results of the Colman and Taubman-Dye class action suit against Theranos as well as Theranos' other legal challenges, and chronicles the final demise of the company in 2019.
The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University. Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces a daunting and mounting set of challenges, most of which stem from financial and demographic changes that are far beyond its control. During Huntington's eleven-year tenure, the university has experimented with a number of efforts aimed at attracting and retaining students. But in 2019, with enrollment, retention, and graduation rates stagnating and the university once again running a deficit, Huntington must consider more drastic measures. What can he do to underscore the "Heidelberg difference" and ensure that the university survives?