In December 2021, Murat Ozyegin, Chairman of Fiba Holding, along with Omer Mert and Ä°hsan Elgin, engaged in discussions about the future of United Payment, a fintech company in which Finberg, a subsidiary of Fibabanka, held a 20% stake. Finberg, established in 2018 as Turkey's first fintech-focused corporate venture capital firm, had invested significantly in United Payment, contributing to its substantial growth in transaction volume from $352 million in 2019 to almost $865 million in 2020. With an offer from OYAK, Turkey's largest pension fund, to invest in United Payment, the leadership team deliberated on whether to accept the proposal or wait for further growth opportunities, considering the company's plans for international expansion and the competitive landscape in the fintech sector. The decision involved weighing the potential benefits of OYAK's investment against the risks of stiff competition and its implications on United Payment's competitive advantage and profitability.
Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of Vingroup, the largest private conglomerate in Vietnam, and Global CEO of VinFast, Vingroup's automotive subsidiary established in 2017, was contemplating VinFast's future strategy. Domestically, the EV market in Vietnam was in its infancy with many hurdles including a shortage of charging stations, potential electric overload, a lack of consumer incentives, poor road conditions, and traffic congestion. Internationally, VinFast faced fierce competition from more established EV makers. Should VinFast put more emphasis on the domestic market or the international ones? How could VinFast adjust its strategy and resource allocation for better growth?
Taffi was a tech-enabled fashion styling startup founded by Shahad Geoffrey in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Within three years of operating, Geoffrey had pivoted the business multiple times. In 2023, Geoffrey was attempting the business's most ambitious pivot yet, shifting away from a consumer facing online fashion stylist marketplace to a B2B model offering an AI-powered fashion styling advisor. The timing seemed right as the AI market in the region was booming, backed by the Saudi government. There was also virtually no competition. Moreover, large businesses had expressed an interest in signing up. The trouble was the AI was not ready yet, it could not generate styling advice on its own and still partially relied on input from the freelance stylists that Taffi attracted through the marketplace. Was this the right time for Taffi to pivot? The case chronicles the founding of Taffi, the pivots it made and why, and describes the challenges Geoffrey faced during her journey of entrepreneurship and how she addressed them. The case serves to provide a founder's account of setting up and operating a startup in Saudi Arabia. The case also explores how Saudi Arabia stimulated the development of a startup ecosystem through a multi-pronged approach, and provides a background venture funding in the region.
In 2022, Michael Steiner, Porsche's Executive Board Member for Research and Development, confronted a pivotal decision as the company aimed to shift over 80 per cent of new vehicle sales to full-electric models by 2030. In response to the global drive for sustainability, Porsche contemplated an innovative strategy: the eFuels concept, involving the production of synthetic fuels with near-carbon-neutral potential. This presented a solution to challenges such as market competition, technological changes, and varied global governmental impacts. However, Porsche grappled with the dilemma of embracing eFuels or focusing solely on electric vehicles, recognizing the decision's profound impact on its industry position. The company was faced with the choice of becoming a fuel provider, controlling the entire value chain, or collaborating with existing producers to leverage expertise and mitigate risks. The decision required careful consideration of long-term implications, with high stakes shaping Porsche's trajectory for years to come. Balancing electric engine development and the pursuit of eFuels, the company sought to strike a delicate equilibrium in navigating the complex landscape of sustainable mobility and emerging technologies.
This field-based case puts students in the role of Nikki Brown, a Black female police officer at the St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD). After repeatedly witnessing and experiencing acts of discrimination, favoritism, harassment, and racism within the SLCPD, Brown must decide whether to file a formal complaint or remain silent. Reporting illegal, immoral, or unethical behavior within a long-entrenched US police culture could cost Brown her job. Conversely, opting for silence could mean Brown is implicitly perpetuating unethical practices that often harm other officers and citizens like herself. With the pressure mounting, which should Brown choose her career or her conscience? This case has been taught at the Darden School of Business in the first- and second-year MBA elective Talent Management. It is ideal for graduate and executive MBA courses, especially those centered around organizational behavior; talent management or human resources; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The Midvale Healthcare System case explores the impact of complexity, uncertainty, volatility and ambiguity (CUVA) on leadership decision making and prioritization. Midvale, a traditionally stable healthcare provider, is experiencing an escalating cascade of internal and external challenges. These include shifting patient demographics, reimbursement uncertainties, workforce shortages and evolving competitive pressures. Amid this whirlwind, CEO Sarah Martinez must grapple with the uncertain future of healthcare policy and rapid technological advancements while striving to maintain Midvale's core focus on quality patient care. The case highlights the complexity of interconnected problems facing many business leaders today and the importance of recognizing, prioritizing and mobilizing to deal with emerging challenges and opportunities. It is a vehicle for exploring the key elements of strategic thinking, including pattern recognition, systems analysis, mental agility, structured problem solving, visioning and political savvy as presented in the book The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking.
RA Group, a technology consulting firm, introduced changes in 2019 that were impacting the organization and its employees. Employees were dealing with the transition to a new office location and resulting changes to the company’s transportation services, the less private office configuration, a surge of new employees lacking proper supervision, and increased turnover. Employees encountered numerous organizational problems during the change process and were experiencing frustrations with the transition from the way things had been before the changes, leading to an identity crisis and resistance to the changes.
Shein, a rapidly growing international e-commerce giant based in China, strategically positioned itself as a dominant player in the fast fashion industry by catering to Gen Z customers with stylish and affordable offerings. The brand benefitted from a forward-thinking digital business model that harnessed big data analysis and social media marketing, ensuring deep consumer insights and accurate market demand predictions. Moreover, its seamless integration with supplier networks bolstered its supply chain agility and enabled it to enhance customer experiences through tailored product recommendations. Despite its success, Shein faced scrutiny for labour exploitation, design infringement, and broader environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges inherent to the fast-fashion industry. Under pressure from investors and targeting a potential public listing, Shein embarked on an ethical transformation, aligning with international labour conventions and local regulations to improve its ESG standing. This case underscored Shein’s complex challenge as it strived to harmonize sustainability with commercial profitability. It also introduced the ESG strategies Shein had adopted until then. The crucial question remained: How could Shein leverage its digital innovations to transform into a sustainable and ethical global operator? Particularly within the context of Sino-US tensions, what strategies should the company employ to secure a higher valuation and establish itself as a responsible industry player while pursuing a successful initial public offering?
Financial service sector Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC) is the venture capital arm of the Korean government with a founding mission to build a domestic startup ecosystem that would be as competitive as Silicon Valley. KVIC manages a basket of funds-of-funds and has become an irreplaceable force in the venture capital market after nearly two decades of operations. As Korea's startup ecosystem matures and private venture capital increases, KVIC's management confronts the question of how to create new values using government resources.
In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of antitrust enforcement. The shift aligned U.S. antitrust enforcement policies closer to those being employed in the European Union, China, and India. These lawsuits built upon FTC Chair Lina Khan's belief that big technology firms had amassed excessive market strength and that U.S. anti-monopoly agencies needed to adjust their enforcement approaches to address industry.
Oak Street Health opened its first primary care center for seniors in underserved communities in 2013. By 2022 the company had 169 centers and a market valuation exceeding $10 billion. Oak Street created value by accepting risk-adjusted, capitated payments for Medicare enrollees and reducing the expected spending for these enrollees through high-quality, high-touch primary care. In 2023 CVS Health acquired Oak Street on the thesis of substantial synergies across its various businesses. Which among these synergies was most important to prioritize, and what tradeoffs might be created by pursuing these opportunities?
In the rapidly evolving environment of modern business, the digitization of economic activity and the ubiquitous integration of technology across industries are fundamentally altering how companies develop and implement strategy. The rise of digital technologies has not only intensified competition but has also opened new opportunities for collaboration, even among firms that may be direct competitors in certain markets. This shift is particularly pronounced in technology-focused industries, where the pace of innovation and the complexity of the technologies involved compel extending traditional strategic frameworks. This module note presents a framework that identifies five factors firms should consider when drawing the line between competition and collaboration on a given technology: 1) whether the market is winner-take-all, 2) the location in the technology life cycle (S-curve), 3) the location in the technology stack, 4) the level of industry competition, and 5) the level of social acceptance (including regulatory uncertainty) towards the technology.
Culture happens in big and small ways in organizations. Leaders at any level can be culture builders by finding ways to link their company’s “big-C†culture â€" its official set of values â€" with the “small-c†culture that plays out in daily patterns of interaction. In a study of one Fortune 100 company, managers who were attentive to both the culture of the entire organization and the more narrow culture within their span of influence saw better retention numbers and team performance.
This note introduces cybersecurity what it is, why it is needed, and current practices and solutions. While the broad issue of information security is a concern for governments and individuals, this note focuses on internet-related risks facing private-sector enterprises. Cybersecurity is, or should be, front and center in the minds of leaders at companies that are adopting and applying digital technologies to transform how their companies operate. Those technologies continue to advance in some cases at mind-boggling speed. Think artificial intelligence (AI), cloud solutions, enterprise integration, 5G communication, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and more. While these technologies promise to increase an enterprises efficiencies and deliver better customer services, they also introduce a new business risk: cyber risk. Cyber risk means risk of disruption of an enterprises operations, damage to its reputation, or both, caused by the deliberate actions cyberattacks of outsiders (cybercriminals) or enterprise insiders. Once thought to be the responsibility of an enterprises information technology (IT) department, cybersecurity the prevention of and response to cyberattacks is now every employees responsibility, from hourly workers to the board of directors. At the Darden School of Business, this note is taught in the second-year elective Digital Operations class; it would also be suitable in a module covering cyber risks.
In 2022, Michael Steiner, Porsche's Executive Board Member for Research and Development, confronted a pivotal decision as the company aimed to shift over 80 per cent of new vehicle sales to full-electric models by 2030. In response to the global drive for sustainability, Porsche contemplated an innovative strategy: the eFuels concept, involving the production of synthetic fuels with near-carbon-neutral potential. This presented a solution to challenges such as market competition, technological changes, and varied global governmental impacts. However, Porsche grappled with the dilemma of embracing eFuels or focusing solely on electric vehicles, recognizing the decision's profound impact on its industry position. The company was faced with the choice of becoming a fuel provider, controlling the entire value chain, or collaborating with existing producers to leverage expertise and mitigate risks. The decision required careful consideration of long-term implications, with high stakes shaping Porsche's trajectory for years to come. Balancing electric engine development and the pursuit of eFuels, the company sought to strike a delicate equilibrium in navigating the complex landscape of sustainable mobility and emerging technologies.
Tesla, an extraordinary innovator in the automotive industry and pace-setter for manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs), was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning with the vision of creating a car manufacturer that was also a technology company. Tesla set out to integrate innovative battery technologies, computer software, and a proprietary electric motor system to produce highly attractive, zero-emission vehicles. The case introduces the history and challenges faced by the early EV industry and how Tesla reshaped it, revolutionary innovations initiated by Tesla, and its sustaining strong performance. The challenges of traditional automotive companies' transitions to EVs is discussed, especially with regard to driving range and charging, and how Tesla changed the game by introducing its Roadster in 2008. During the next 14+ years Tesla achieved the distinction of producing the first best-selling global vehicle powered by batteries. Included in the case is how Tesla questioned traditional assumptions in the automotive business model - and how it leveraged digital technology capabilities to introduce the next practices in vehicle design, manufacturing, sales and service, pricing, and customer engagement. The case explores the transformation in customer experience and vehicle management as Tesla made its automobiles "connected" with software and sensors, and introduced new capabilities in remote tracking, vehicle intelligence, remote servicing, and the potential for autonomous driving. The case concludes by highlighting some of the challenges Tesla faced with wide adoption of EV technology including the market valuation of its stock, and the emergence of several competitors such as new EV manufacturers and traditional automakers switching to EV.