Supplement to case KE1110 This case series describes the startup of Farm to School of Park County, an emerging nonprofit organization in the US state of Montana. Case (A) describes the community, the need, and the origins of Farm to School in Livingston, Montana. The leaders of Farm to School face a budget crisis and need to evaluate four options to decide whether, when, and how it should become an independent organization. As Case (B) begins, Farm to School has decided to enter into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the local community foundation. The next task for the organization's leaders is recruiting founding board members. They need to decide whom to ask and how to do it. In Case (C), the board develops a strategic plan and establishes committees. However, the board members and leaders start to feel fatigue in the face of the demands of a startup organization, leading to questions about what is truly strategic and how work will get done. The Farm to School organization in Case (D) has just issued its first annual report, filled with meaningful accomplishments. The leaders of the organization begin to plan to build an organization that will outlast them and the founding board members.

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to make available high-value data sets for reuse is highlighted. The case recounts Kundra's experience at the state and local government levels in developing open data initiatives and the application of that experience to the federal government. The case demonstrates the benefits of making government data available in terms of both engaged citizens and the potential for new innovations from the private sector. Potential drawbacks of open access including security and privacy issues are illustrated. Issues related to the role of government in releasing data and the balance between accountability and private-sector innovation are explored.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) develops and presents scripted hero-versus-villain storylines featuring its wrestlers at hundreds of live events, on several weekly television shows, on its own over-the-top streaming service, and on social media, to millions of fans around the globe. In January 2018, buoyed by the $800-million-dollar company's strong prospects for further growth, WWE's chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon and her husband, Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, a WWE wrestler who also serves as the company's executive vice president of talent, live events, and creative, are discussing whether to add Ronda Rousey, who has made a name for herself as a judoka at the Olympics and as a mixed martial artist in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to WWE's roster. Should WWE try to sign Rousey, and, if so, what kind of offer makes the most sense? And is WWE well positioned for further success in the world of entertainment?

This case explores the various challenges that Senreve faced in hiring and retaining talent as a rapidly growing organization. The case first describes how the two co-founders developed a vision for their company, created a score card to use in their hiring process, and codified the values they wished to embody as an organization to assess cultural fit. The case illustrates how the co-founders applied their hiring philosophy through three vignettes. The first vignette addresses an early opportunity the pair had to hire a co-founder, who brought a unique set of skills and experience, but lacked other important qualities. The second vignette illustrates a situation in which the co-founders had to decide what to do with an employee who had made important contributions to the firm, but whose role no longer fit with the needs of the company as the company had evolved. The final vignette lays out a dilemma the co-founders faced when they found themselves in disagreement when evaluating a candidate for a key role at the company.

Drums Food International Pvt. Ltd. (Drums Food) launched India’s first Greek yogurt brand, Epigamia, in 2015. Experiencing initial success with Greek yogurt, Drums Food went on to add another unique offering, lactose-free artisanal curd, targeting consumers with lactose intolerance. With these launches, Drums Food was building a well-differentiated, healthy brand to successfully tap the value-added dairy products market. However, in 2018, the road ahead was not without hurdles. To succeed, Drums Food needed to change the consumer mindset to ensure constant patronage of Epigamia. It also needed to defend itself against competitors who could launch similar products at competitive price points, leveraging the scale of their existing dairy businesses. Could Drums Food sustain the brand and build strong brand equity, enough that it could extend the Epigamia brand to more categories?

Most board meetings don’t start with a chairperson screaming, “Let’s get ready to rumble.” But it’s not a bad idea. After all, proxy advisory firms and executive development experts say managers and directors need to be ready to defend themselves like never before as the Age of Disruption threatens to stretch shareholder patience to the limits. Thanks to regulatory advantages, Canada has long been considered the land of milk and honey for activist investors. As a result, the annual number of proxy contests has jumped significantly since the turn of the century. However, existing securities laws do not adequately address the fact that control of public companies, along with their cash and assets, can be won by storytellers willing to mislead shareholders and foster discontent. Today’s boards must understand the power of gossip and myth in order to prepare for the kind of populist revolutions they can ignite. The go-to source of information for mom and pop investors is online opinion—not court rulings, corporate documents, balanced media reports, or independent expert advice. Thus, getting the retail crowd onside and prepared to defend you requires a comprehensive retail investor relations program that actively counters misinformation while effectively helping all shareholders understand how the company is working to serve their interests. Communicating the firm’s story needs to be a priority year-round, not just an initiative tied to annual meetings.

America’s Business Roundtable (BRT)—currently comprised of nearly 200 CEOs, ranging from General Motors’ Mary Barra to Apple’s Tim Cook—recently issued a statement that says making money for shareholders is not the only responsibility of management. For decades, a shareholders-first model was widely considered corporate orthodoxy in the United States, where boardroom focus has long been influenced by University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman’s 1970 essay “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” In August 2019, the group of CEOs updated its thinking on the matter in a 300-word statement that doesn’t mention shareholders until the end of a list of commitments that starts with “delivering value to our customers” and “investing in our employees,” then moves on to “dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers” and “supporting the communities in which we work,” before finishing with “generating long-term value for shareholders.” The BRT’s shift in thinking comes at a time when corporate America faces distress due to global discontent over income inequality, harmful products, and poor working conditions. The BRT has diplomatically signaled that corporations should be more careful than they were in the past when the short-term financial interests of shareholders conflict with the interests of other stakeholders. This could have significant implications for dividend and share-buyback programs.

The continued spread of AI has stoked fears of catastrophic job losses in which machines and algorithms run the world, but research by Accenture paints a more encouraging picture. Many old jobs are changing and new ones are emerging in the “missing middle,” where humans and machines work together. The authors see evidence of at least eight novel skills that draw on the fusion of human and machine talent within a business process to create better outcomes than could be achieved when working independently: 1) taking back your time and doing something positive with it (with AI systems taking over many rote tasks, workers must redirect their time to more distinctly human tasks like interpersonal interactions, creativity, and decision-making; 2) anticipating unintended consequences and normalizing the use of technology and AI; 3) utilizing human judgment (AI can get many things right, but it still doesn’t know how to read situations and people well enough); 4) asking the right questions of AI; 5) helping bots help workers extend their human capabilities, business processes, and even careers; 6) understanding how machines work and learn and adapting accordingly (i.e., melding); 7) being a willing learner from AI and teacher to AI; and 8) reimagining just about everything. For years, the dream was to create an AI that could rival the intelligence of people. Today, we’re seeing that practical AI is becoming a tool to extend our own human capabilities at work.

Future annual growth prospects for the Canadian economy remain under two per cent, which is a far cry from the over three per cent growth during much of Canada’s history. But it doesn’t have to be this way. All roads to productivity growth go through workers having the best, most innovative facilities and tools—that is, business investment. In Canada, consumer spending, at about 60 per cent of GDP, swamps business investment, at about 12 per cent. But it is business investment that shapes the economy for the longer term. Unfortunately, Canada’s record on business investment borders on serious neglect. The lamentable business investment situation has multiple causes. First, the economy has struggled since the 2008 financial crisis. Second, household credit is near a record 175 per cent of disposable income. Third, Canadian business investment is biased towards resource sectors like oil and gas. Fourth, when the Trump Administration cut the U.S. corporate tax rate, this ended a significant Canadian economic advantage. Fifth, Trump has gotten rid of many government regulations. Finally, Canada’s federal deficit is unfavourable to business investment. Government rhetoric on business investment must be backed up by monetary and non-financial incentives that will significantly change corporate behavior, such as a much bigger tax package. Unfortunately, business investment isn’t a headline story, which is why executives need to press the business investment agenda with the government at every opportunity.

SM-315 Michelin Group is told from the perspective of Florent Menegaux, COO of Michelin, and other senior leaders at the company. Michelin had recently undergone a company wide reorganization, and Menegaux was tasked with how to maintain the company's relevance and competitiveness in a changing global marketplace, particularly as customer needs and expectations around service were becoming more specific and demanding. Given that Michelin was a large French company with a long operating history, Menegaux and others pondered what would the best approach be to implementing changes throughout the company to adapt to a more digital and customer-centric business landscape while still preserving and embracing the company's rich culture and proud history. One necessary element was the need to hire more "entrepreneurial" talent from outside the company (as opposed to the company's tendency to promote from within) in order to pursue several initiatives outside, but still related to, the core tire business.

Future Retail Limited (Future Retail) had a unique business model and an aggressive growth strategy that helped to make it India's largest retailing organization. In 2017, Future Retail was expanding its network of stores, but a new retail landscape was emerging, as customers were shifting to e-commerce for large purchases, due to changing lifestyles and customer preferences, while continuing to shop at small mom-and-pop stores for smaller, quick purchases. Amid such changes, how would Future Retail be able to maintain its leadership position? As it sought a larger share of the retail pie, how would it deal with an increasing customer preference toward the convenience of online ordering? How would it handle the competition from omnipresent neighbourhood stores and cart vendors?

One of the fastest-growing areas in business is socially responsible investment (SRI), which incorporates environmental, social, and governance concerns. From 2007 to 2017, SRI increased from $2.71 trillion to over $21 trillion, and in 2017, 84% of all millennials were interested in SRI. Given these trends, how should an entrepreneur with a social mission proceed? One of the first decisions is choosing an appropriate legal entity. This technical note presents an array of legal entities that a business with a social mission could consider, with special emphasis on a relatively recent option: the benefit corporation.

Vincent Chin's first "temporary" job after high school was with the lawn crew of Holiday Lawn Service. Ten years later, Chin has become a trusted employee and the company's second-in-command. His boss, Sam Holiday, has decided to retire and has worked out a deal with Chin to take over the business. In preparing Chin for his new role, Holiday explains that there are important choices ahead related to capital expenditures (like lawn mowers) and their depreciation. Although Chin is determined to build on the company's success, accounting sometimes confused him, and the mention of terms like taxes and cash flow always intimidated him. Can Holiday help his successor better understand the links among accelerated depreciation, maintenance expense, salvage value, and tax liabilities to ensure that he's ready for his new business responsibilities?

In the business world, the word “debrief” frequently has a negative connotation, probably because it is used only after a mistake or negative outcome. But such a fear-based approach is the opposite of how Blue Angels pilots structure their training, practice, and subsequent success. On the contrary, their goal is to drive fear out of the organization. When the author was a member of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, they used the debrief tool at the end of each day. Based on the Blue Angels model, a successful debrief consists of two main parts: the general-safe statements (providing a general overview and a safety note) and the specific details that each member contributes. Each day’s debrief was defined by ensuring five specific interpersonal dynamics: providing a safe environment so everyone feels free to share essential information; checking your ego at the door; laying everything on the table and suspending hierarchical thinking in the interest of getting results; owning and fixing problems by assuming responsibility; and adopting a “glad to be here” mindset. Various studies have confirmed a correlation between gratitude and positive results. Gratitude is a social emotion; it binds us together and strengthens our bonds, regardless of the nature of our relationships. With this mindset, teams can more easily process negative feedback and turn it into positive results.

In February 2018, the owner of Jump Gymnastics Inc. was preparing for her company’s upcoming strategic planning cycle. The privately owned children's recreational sport business located in Vancouver, British Columbia, delivered gymnastics programs designed to prepare children for lifelong sport participation and healthy living. In 10 years, the owner had successfully grown the company based on her passion for helping children reach their full physical potential. Now operating in two locations, the company had expanded into hosting birthday parties and other special events. An expert in her field, the owner had also started to engage in outside consulting work. She wondered what additional opportunities laid ahead. Should she pursue growth through new locations or new programs, expand her consulting and public speaking practice, launch a coaching certification program, or focus on the company’s core operations? She wanted to consider not only the best use of her time and energy but also the option that would provide the most financial security.

The case describes the position of Marks & Spencer (M&S), a leading high-street retailer in the UK. The retailer decided to enter China's retail market in 2008 is based on perceived synergies between the company's products and an increasingly affluent Chinese middle class. Upon entry, M&S encounters myriad challenges that are not part of its original strategic calculations: errors in basic shop keeping, an evolving Chinese retail environment, and the emergence of e-commerce. M&S's difficulties in China among foreign retailers are not unique, however. Numerous high-profile retailers, such as Tesco, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Asos, find China's retail market inhospitable, leaving shortly after entry. Although M&S experiences challenges similar to those these firms faced, it also encounters a shifting retail landscape that even some experienced local retailers find difficult. After eight years in China experimenting with different business models and deteriorating financials, M&S faces a key decision: should it stay or leave?

In Hong Kong as elsewhere in the world, Uber operates in a grey area. Thousands of passengers are using Uber service in the crowded city on a regular basis; many drivers make money through Uber by providing quality service and idle vehicles. On the other hand, taxi drivers have voiced strong oppositions to Uber on the ground of unfair competition and unlawful businesses, and staged several protests that were widely reported. Officially, Uber service is illegal in Hong Kong, as the government clarified explicitly that Uber drivers broke the law by offering car hiring services without any license or third-party insurance. The public is often puzzled: Uber seems such a nice thing that benefits both passengers and drivers, especially because the traditional taxies have such a poor quality and are often unavailable during peak hours. Why shouldn't we allow a healthy competition from a new and promising business model that seems to benefit everybody except the competitors? Isn't competition a good thing in general? So the question is, should the government allow Uber to operate legally? This case enables the instructor to go through the uniqueness of the taxi industry and the necessity to regulate the traditional taxi industry. The case provides evidence of what will happen if the industry is deregulated. Once the uniqueness of the industry is illuminated, the instructor can guide the students to discuss whether Uber's new business model is able to overcome the two major problems of the traditional taxi industry: adverse selection and tragedy of the commons. This case can be used for courses that cover public policy at both MBA and the UG levels. It can also be used for an economics course. Finally, the case can be used to discuss the new business models.

Glossier's proclaimed strategy was "born from content, fueled by community". The digital-first, direct-to-consumer beauty brand had experienced rapid growth, with sales up 600% in 2017 and a customer portfolio that grew by threefold. But, its founder, Emily Weiss, was not complacent. Instead, she dreamed of creating the world's first socially-driven brand that inserted its community into the buying experience so that the company was merchandising people, their opinions, and their content, just as much as they were merchandising products. As her team debates marketing strategies for 2018, they recognize the opportunities and challenges associated with managing Glossier's rapidly scaling brand community. While the community's support had emerged organically in the past, the team was now debating whether the company's next phase of growth would need to be fueled by a greater emphasis on paid peer-to-peer sales representatives, professional influencer marketing, paid media, and a physical market presence.

In April 2018, the De Beers Group launched a pilot project called GemFair to create a new supply of ethically and environmentally sourced diamonds from artisanal and small-scale mines (ASM) in Sierra Leone. Whether this project would yield a meaningful supply of rough diamonds for De Beers, improve its ability to track diamonds accurately from African mines to consumers around the world, and simultaneously improve both the working conditions in mines and the prices received by local miners remained to be seen. This case is intended to be used in conjunction with and to follow another HBS case: The De Beers Group: Exploring the Diamond Reselling Opportunity (HBS #717-430).