This is the first of a three-case series that explores the challenges faced by Uniswap, a key player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Founded by Hayden Adams, the case traces Uniswap's rapid growth from a simple idea inspired by a Reddit post to becoming one of the leading decentralized exchanges in Web3, with trading volumes peaking at $6 billion in the summer of 2020. The case zeroes in on a critical moment when Uniswap is threatened by a "vampire attack" from SushiSwap, a rival that forks Uniswap's open-source code to launch a competing service, threatening to drain its liquidity. Adams faces the dilemma of how he should respond to the rise of SushiSwap. The case delves into the competitive dynamics of the DeFi ecosystem, challenges of open-source software, and strategic responses to market disruptions.
This technical note provides an overview of accounting for revenues. It discusses the five-step process to revenue recognition outlined in Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 606 and applies those steps to both a simple example of the sale by a bakery and a more complex example of the sale by a software company of a bundle of services.
Winter Storm Elliott was a major storm system that grounded air travel across the United States in the days before and after Christmas of 2022. While other major airlines recovered quickly and got passengers to their destinations, Southwest Airlines Co. struggled to recover, cancelling thousands of flights and stranding millions of people over the holidays. The president and CEO of Southwest, Bob Jordan, had only been in his position for about 10 months, and public pressures and media attention tested his leadership. This case explores Jordan's handling of the crisis and the internal and external responses it provoked. The case can be used for a discussion about the symbolic role of leaders during crises, as well as the impacts of making an authentic apology and working to restore trust.
Winter Storm Elliott was a major storm system that grounded air travel across the United States in the days before and after Christmas of 2022. While other major airlines recovered quickly and got passengers to their destinations, Southwest Airlines Co. struggled to recover, cancelling thousands of flights and stranding millions of people over the holidays. The president and CEO of Southwest, Bob Jordan, had only been in his position for about 10 months, and public pressures and media attention tested his leadership. This case explores Jordan's handling of the crisis and the internal and external responses it provoked. The case can be used for a discussion about the symbolic role of leaders during crises, as well as the impacts of making an authentic apology and working to restore trust.
In March 2020, the leadership team at Toronto General Hospital (TGH) needs to plan resources to accommodate the new influx of COVID-19 ICU patients. Key resources for ICU capacity include beds, physicians, nurses, and PPE. The current demand coming from two streams of patients (elective surgeries & emergencies) is expected to overwhelm the ICU capacity, but by slowing down elective surgeries, TGH can mitigate the situation. The optimal proportion of COVID to total ICU patients must be analyzed considering the impact on physicians, nurses, patients awaiting elective surgeries, and PPE. The case allows students to take the role of a hospital leader deciding on allocating capacity across resource pools and recommend an ICU action plan.
This case addresses managing critical mineral supply chains by focusing on cobalt used in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and the impact of mining operations in Central Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Minespider, a Berlin-based start-up, tackled these issues with a blockchain platform. Following blockchain's evolution since Bitcoin in 2009 and Ethereum in 2015, Minespider developed the digital battery passport (DBP). Minespider's broad industry application highlighted its potential for tracking materials, ethical sourcing, and supply chain transparency. In 2017, Minespider focused on understanding the market, identifying ideal customers for their unique blockchain solution and partnerships, optimizing supply chain management, and showcasing blockchain's value in this sector in order to make the most impact.
The Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 cricket league, underwent a transformative shift in 2022 as the IPL governing council conducted an e-auction for media rights, valuing them at US$5.64 billion. Viacom18 secured digital rights for $2.57 billion, highlighting the growing significance of online platforms. Disney Star invested $3.02 billion in exclusive TV and over-the-top rights, contributing to the IPL's global popularity and revenue. Special packages, including weekend matches, attracted diverse investors, elevating the league to the second-highest globally-after the US National Football League. Unbundling media rights increased competition, emphasizing the elevated value of digital rights. Amidst competition between Disney+ Hotstar and Jio, strategic evaluation became crucial for the IPL's position in the evolving sports broadcasting landscape, raising questions about global reach, digital engagement, revenue enhancement, and the pivotal role of media rights in sports property growth and valuation.
It was June 2023, when Dr. Himanshu Awasthi, founder of Prajiv Farm Solutions, considered expanding his business by addressing the challenges in the agricultural sector, particularly fodder production. Recognizing the issues faced by Indian farmers-low productivity, lack of technical knowledge, and reliance on monsoons-he had decided to specialize in cultivating green fodder crops for livestock feed. He understood that fodder crops improved soil fertility, reduced soil erosion, and diversified income streams. Starting in 2016, Prajiv Farm Solutions cultivated hybrid fodder crops including sorghum, berseem, and Napier grass on its 24-acre farm. Six years later, it was time to scale up. As a low-value, high-volume crop, the challenges differed for fodder cultivation. Delivery of green fodder was also a time-bound activity, and the company had found it challenging to reach distant markets. Awasthi wondered what the most suitable model would be for scaling up. Could he convince other farmers to take up fodder as a business? How could he reach more distant markets? Would a hub and spoke model be suitable? Awasthi also wondered whether forming farmer-producer organizations was a viable solution to address scalability. He had to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each option before deciding on the most feasible.
Trimster was a premium men's personal care e-commerce start-up founded in 2015. In India, where trust deficit was a primary reason for the failure of new brands, most customers preferred cash on delivery (COD) modes of payment. Companies, however, preferred prepaid orders not only because they guaranteed the customer's intent to purchase but also because COD orders were much more likely to result in returns that would take a heavy toll on Trimster's reverse logistics costs, reducing the company's profit margins and leaving less money for the company to invest in marketing to acquire new customers. In an increasingly competitive market, Trimster's senior vice president of sales and marketing needed to decide on the best payment modes to pursue in order for the company to achieve sustainable growth.
Owner and general manager of Hunter Steel, is struggling to decide what to do about Ontario's labour shortage as a result of COVID-19. The steel company is categorized as Tier 2, and requires general labourers and saw mechanics within each warehouse in order to efficiently run operations. Currently, each of his 5 warehouses are short 2 general labourers. This is unsustainable and poses a threat to meeting demand, Hunter must decide a course of action. He can either invest into partial automation eliminating the need for as much labour to be employed, pursue a labour government assistance program, continue status quo and hope, or pursue a marketing campaign that markets to consumers and potential hires.
In 2020, Cathy Siskind-Kelly and Rob Kelly, co-founders and co-owners of Black Fly Beverage Company were deciding whether they should undertake a major expansion of their company's production facility. Black Fly was started in London, Ontario in 2005 and had grown to be one of the largest ready-to-drink brands in the alcoholic beverage industry. Part of Black Fly's business relied on a co-packer for their canned products, and increasing challenges including supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic made their reliance on the co-packer increasingly risky. The move would not only allow them to massively increase their capacity, but bring their can production in-house, as well as become a co-packer for other beverage companies
This technical note provides an overview of accounting for property, plant, and equipment and depreciation expense. It discusses determining what costs related to the asset should be capitalized and what should be expensed, determining what amount should be recorded on the income statement each period as depreciation expense (including alternative depreciation methods), determining if and when a change in the value of an asset should be recorded, and determining when to dispose of a fixed asset and how to reflect that in the financial statements.
In 2013, Trumpf, a global market leader machine tools from Germany, acquired the majority shares in JFY, a smaller machine tool manufacturer from China. With this acquisition, Trumpf wanted to enter the fast-growing low-cost segment of the market. Until then, JFY had performed very well on the Chinese market, but the company's success increasingly waned after the acquistion. Other Chinese competitors performed significantly better. After JFY even had to report losses for the first time in 2019, Trumpf changed the management at JFY. Under the new management, initial successes were achieved, but even two and a half years later, JFY still did not reach the profit targets which all business units at Trumpf had to meet. In a Trumpf management meeting in October 2022, a decision was therefore to be made as to whether JFY should remain part of Trumpf or be sold off again.
Companies that encourage teams to move fast and experiment must take care that new initiatives get sufficient oversight and remain aligned with the overall corporate strategy. Some have established a portfolio team made up of top executives to monitor and adjust the mix of fledgling projects that might fall outside of existing corporate structures like R&D or business lines.
The case describes how the Danish company Zirq Solutions, a subsidiary of Norwegian NG Group, brought circular economy thinking to the pharmaceutical industry. Under CEO Thomas Morch and the inventive CTO Jesper Vinther Dueholm, Zirq Solutions established the only industrial process in the world capable of recovering materials from used medical pens (to inject insulin or for fertility treatment) - and recycled them to make new products. Encountering multiple roadblocks on the journey towards establishing the new circular business model, they found that the best way to overcome them was partnerships.
Christina Stembel, the founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers Inc., has always emphasized quality, speed, and efficiency in her San Francisco–based online flower delivery company. Her teams have operated like assembly lines, shipping 10,000 bouquets daily during peak periods, which has ensured competitive pricing. Before the pandemic, Stembel expands Farmgirl Flowers Inc. to Ecuador, and when it is forced to close its San Francisco facility, she shifts all production to Ecuador.<br><br>Valentine’s Day 2023 poses a challenge, as shipping the flowers from South America takes three days, while South American prices are higher due to pandemic-related supply chain issues, ultimately resulting in customer dissatisfaction. Stembel aims to regain competitiveness by bringing operations back to North America. But the questions remain: how and where should this happen?