Nova Pioneer was a private school system in South Africa and Kenya that offered preschool through secondary education for students ranging in age from 3 to 19. The earliest of Nova Pioneer's precursors was Pioneer Academies, founded in South Africa by Chinezi Chijioke in 2013. Pioneer was started to offer the affordable, quality education needed to develop Africa's next generation of leaders and innovators. In 2015, Pioneer Academies merged with Nova Academies, a newer school in Kenya founded by a team of experienced education entrepreneurs, creating Nova Pioneer. This case covers the next set of expansion plans for Nova Pioneer - to expand into additional countries and fulfill Nova Pioneer's vision of becoming a pan-African school system.
This technical note provides step-by-step instructions for leveraging social network analyses to understand a team’s dynamics and thereby enhance a team’s collective effectiveness. More precisely, this note explains the basic terminology of social networks, the mapping of social relationships in an adjacency matrix, and the use of an adjacency matrix to create a graph that represents social interactions. This note also explains how to derive further insights into a team’s interpersonal relations by exploring the unique characteristics and personal situations of each actor.
This technical note provides step-by-step instructions for leveraging social network analyses to understand a team's dynamics and thereby enhance a team's collective effectiveness. More precisely, this note explains the basic terminology of social networks, the mapping of social relationships in an adjacency matrix, and the use of an adjacency matrix to create a graph that represents social interactions. This note also explains how to derive further insights into a team's interpersonal relations by exploring the unique characteristics and personal situations of each actor.
The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. Fink's letters focused on the importance of corporate purpose and investing considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The case also discusses Blackrock's plans for a new model of shareholder engagement to help drive the changes proposed in the letters. The case presents the opportunity to discuss the governance role played by major institutional investors as well as how the responsibilities and actions of one large investor, BlackRock, should evolve in this role going forward. It is not clear whether BlackRock should play such a role and, if so, whether they have the ability to enforce corporate compliance and to carry out this role given they are primarily an index investor. The case is likely to generate spirited debate about the merits of BlackRock's pronouncements and the importance of corporate investments in ESG themes and allow for discussions on measurement and disclosure strategies that can judge progress on these dimensions.
It is July 2019, and the business of esports and gaming is booming. Tyler Blevins-better known as Ninja-has risen to stardom playing the immensely popular shooter game Fortnite. He has become the most followed streamer in the world and, helped by his management company Loaded (a division of esports technology and services company Popdog), has become the first esports player to cross over into the mainstream. So far, Ninja has worked with Twitch, owned by Amazon, as his exclusive partner for live streams. However, with that contract coming up for renewal in the next month, other platforms were hoping to lure Ninja away. Mixer, a much smaller service owned by Microsoft, was leading the charge. Leaving Twitch would come at a significant risk: the few star gamers who had attempted to switch platforms in the past had failed to convince most of their followers to come along, and had quickly seen their hold on the market disappear. But Mixer was a promising alternative. How should Ninja approach the choice between platforms? Was it time to leave Twitch and jump to a different platform? And how could Ninja best position himself for long-term success?
The President of Harvard University is facing growing pressure from students, alumni, and other climate change activists that are urging the university to divest its multi-billion dollar endowment from fossil fuel companies. The case summarizes the arguments for and against Harvard divesting, examining past examples of Harvard's investment decisions and the financial implications of divestment.
Facing sizable skills gaps in their current and future workforces, companies have stopped waiting for the traditional education system to supply the workers they need. Amazon, AT&T, and others have stepped in with their own solutions to fill those gaps. These companies may be shaping the future of not only their own workforces, but of yours as well.
This case provides an overview of the founding and scaling story of British health and wellness company Clinova. The case outlines the fledgling company's early marketing successes signing up-and-coming athletes and sports franchises, as well as the difficult capital allocation, strategic and structural decisions Clinova's founders Arsalan Karim and Charles Ebubedike must make between scaling their consumer product lines or building their illness diagnosis mobile application.
This case explains the technological changes in mobile communications, with a special focus on the fifth generation (5G). It describes the evolution from the first generation (1G) to the 5G; core technologies, distinct capabilities, key products, and major players in the 5G era. It can be used to illustrate how each generation of technological change offers opportunities for different types of firms and how they respond. It can also be used to discuss the technological, market, and institutional uncertainties associated with emerging technologies, as well as how firms and entrepreneurs can mitigate such uncertainties and exploit emerging opportunities. The case can also be used to debate first-mover vs. late-mover advantages in the 5G era.
Ballard Power Systems Inc. (Ballard), a Canadian disruptor in the clean energy sector, developed and produced hydrogen-powered fuel cells. The company had been revolutionary, but after many years in business the company was still research-oriented and doing more demonstration projects than selling fuel cells to customers. Revenues and stocks were sagging and employees, many of whom had been with the company for years, were disaffected. The energy company with a proud history of being a disruptor was, itself, at risk of being disrupted. The job of the new chief executive officer (CEO) was to motivate the staff and create in them a disruptive mindset that would carry the company forward into a new customer-focused future. There was an entrenched belief that Ballard was skilled at developing good ideas and that new technology needed to give way to the new ethos of being a customer-centred, disruptive, problem-solving organization. How could the CEO embed the changes and ensure the new values drove Ballard’s growth?
In the fall of 2019, Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are facing increased scrutiny on multiple fronts. Regulators from around the globe are threatening the company with punitive measures. Users are organizing against it. But there is little consensus around what, precisely, Facebook has done wrong, or what strategies Zuckerberg and his team should put in place for the future. "Facebook Faces the Regulators" traces the trajectory of the pioneering social media company up to this critical moment and considers its future, focusing on the core questions of governance that have recently engulfed it. Has Facebook simply become too powerful, the case asks? Has it violated the spirit of many countries' most sacred laws, if not the actual letter? Most fundamentally, what kinds of rules should be imposed on firms that run the world's social media markets? And who should make them?
P. N. Gadgil Jewellers Private Limited, based in India, was formed from the most recent separation of the original Gadgil family business, whose origins dated back to the 18th century. The company's gold, silver, and diamond jewellery were all sold under the P. N. Gadgil (PNG) brand. The company expanded from six stores and revenue of ₹13 billion in 2012 to 26 stores and revenue of ₹21 billion in 2016. Although the company focused on professionalizing the business operations by recruiting professionals and adopting new systems and processes, more work was needed to fully achieve a separate identity. Repeated instances of unsatisfactory customer experiences, which had occurred at the other Gadgil family businesses, were having a negative impact on the company's brand image. What strategy could the company follow to differentiate its own PNG brand from the other Gadgil businesses? Should it pursue an expensive brand valuation and hold the other family business to a contractual agreement that disallowed the use of the PNG brand name? Would the other businesses consent to such an agreement?
In May 2016, three scientists from Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology were preparing for a meeting with several managers from the institute's technology transfer department. The three scientists were planning to commercialize a new technology they had created, and hoped to use their invention to launch a new company as a spinoff from their work at the institute. However, because the scientists had created the technology while working at the institute, the technology was legally owned by the institute. The focus of their meeting with the institute's management was (1) to plan for the protection of their invention by registering relevant patents and (2) to discuss the terms for a suitable agreement between both parties. The scientists wanted to clarify how they might be able to use the technology to launch their spinoff company. Specifically, they were eager to determine their rights to the patents that would be registered for their intellectual property. They hoped the meeting would clarify any conflicts between the interests of the scientists and those of the university, and would determine the party responsible for costs related to protecting the intellectual property.