In October 2017, the first ever commercial flight landed on St Helena, one of the world's remotest islands. There had been delays building,certifying, and opening the airport due to unforeseen wind conditions. Now that weekly commercial flights had finally begun, how should the island's Economic Development Board approach the next phase of the long-term strategy to boost St Helena's economy through tourism?
On July 7, 2015, a power fault during the evening commute led to a system-wide disruption on SMRT, Singapore’s heavily used mass rapid transit lines. Train service on both lines was shut down for more than two hours, affecting more than 413,000 commuters. The public was outraged at the scale of the breakdown and how ineffectively it was handled. Detailed investigations revealed the breakdown to be a result of maintenance lapses, and SMRT was criticized for its failure to provide clear and timely information and instructions to passengers. Following the breakdown, the company embarked on a service recovery process encompassing various new initiatives. This case illustrates the tensions SMRT faced during and after the breakdown, and its journey to recover the public’s confidence in is transit services.
Ecotricity Group Ltd., founded in 1995, had grown to be a major renewable energy utility service provider in the United Kingdom. In 2016, the company wanted to expand its "electric highway"—a network of charging stations for electric vehicles along major U.K. motorways. The expansion plans involved two chargers: Type A chargers, installed in public locations along the motorway, and Type B chargers, installed in suitable home garages owned by Ecotricity customers. To meet the projected traffic flow of electric vehicles in the future, the company needed to optimally expand the number of both types of charging points in each highway zone.<br><br>This case uses integer programming to determine the optimal number of Type A and Type B chargers that Ecotricity should install to expand its electric highway. The solution is obtained by using Microsoft Excel Solver and interpreting the results. The case also provides a platform for discussing optimal investment strategies, and for considering another topic not emphasized extensively in the case—how an operational strategy affects image building.
In early 2016, the country head for Seijing Motor Corporation (SMC) in India was worried about stagnant sales of the company’s Supreme pickup brand. The Supreme brand had gained only a single-digit market share over the past year, and SMC’s share of the growing large pickup market had steadily fallen, from 40 per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent in 2015. SMC’s Supreme brand was competing with the market leader in the pickup segment. The pickup needed to be repositioned immediately so that it appealed to customers; otherwise, its market share would erode even further. Should the company fight existing consumer perceptions or leverage them? Should the Supreme brand be repositioned, or should SMC offer new brands in other segments? Should it extend the Supreme brand name into those other segments, or should it introduce new brand names?
When the chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company made his maiden visit to India in August 2017, it was clear that he wanted the Indian branch of the company, Coca-Cola India Private Limited, to achieve many ambitious goals. These included reducing the sugar content in the company’s products, introducing more juice-based drinks and water, and making small entries into the dairy segment. For a company that had long stressed its carbonated and fruit-based drink segments, Coca-Cola India Private Limited was now indicating its strong intent to steer away from its core competency. The aim was to recast the company as a “total beverage company,” with possible ventures across all relevant beverage categories. Should the company take a chance and move away from its core competency? Should it tweak existing products, seek to extend its brands, or try to create entirely new offerings? How could Coca-Cola India Private Limited succeed in its shift towards “total beverage” solutions, and what challenges should it prepare for as part of this shift?
In 2017, United Airlines suffered a blow to its corporate reputation throughout the United States and international markets, including China, mainly due to an incident on United flight 3411, in which an airport enforcement officer forcibly dragged a passenger out of a plane. The inadequate public relations reaction following the incident and ineffective crisis management left the company reeling. The company became subject to scathing social media attacks, customer dissatisfaction, passenger anger, and a drop in its stock value. The airline, which had already been grappling with very low rankings in customer satisfaction indexes, realized the need to rebuild its brand and greatly improve its customer satisfaction ratings. To prevent such instances from occurring in the future, United needed to take steps to rebuild its tarnished brand image and consider some important questions: What service expectations did customers have of airlines such as United? How would these expectations develop over time? How important were customer satisfaction, client relationships, and passenger experience to United? How could an airline company conduct a root cause analysis for service failure? How could it analyze the different gaps in delivering good quality service?
On February 1, 2013, the managing director of software development firm SYIT, sat in his office and gathered his thoughts on his new organization. Based in Islamabad, Pakistan, SYIT was a new entrant in the offshore software development industry. Its managing director had expended months of effort to move the entire project team from his previous employer to his newly formed company, but the real challenge lay ahead. SYIT needed to reduce the cultural gap between its team and its primary client, one of Denmark’s largest publishing houses. The managing director’s ultimate goal was to create an organization that was flexible and innovative—like the European clients that he wanted to continue to attract. How could he implement a strong company culture to ensure that all employees projected one consistent and effective working style across SYIT’s different projects and clients?
In May 2015, Qualtrics was a rapidly growing U.S.-based software-as-a-service firm, founded in 2002. After 10 years of operating with little capital, Qualtrics raised some venture capital funding, which enabled it to initiate a rapid international expansion. The management team intended to aggressively pursue global opportunities, but first needed to make some key decisions regarding how to develop the company’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regional headquarters, and its European operations. Key concerns included the company’s market selection and prioritization, and its best approach for developing a subsidiary and EMEA regional operations that could achieve significant scale in a short time frame.
In the spring of 2016, Mira Mehta (HBS'14), faced a difficult decision. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, and winning the second place in the HBS New Venture Competition-Social Enterprise Track, she had moved to Northern Nigeria, where she founded the tomato paste company Tomato Jos. Though her brand had gained traction, however, she had, in the face of endless foreseen and unforeseen obstacles, yet to produce any actual paste. As the Nigerian government pondered new tariffs to protect local alternatives against the competition of ostensibly cheap and low-quality "killer tomato paste," Mehta considered a job offer from a major agricultural company that would secure her financially, but at the cost of her independence, and, perhaps, of her dreams.
During the summer of 2014, Alan Knight, General Manager of Corporate Responsibility at the integrated steel and mining company ArcelorMittal, observed the unfolding of an Ebola epidemic in Liberia and other countries in West Africa with great concern. On the one hand was the sheer tragedy of the calamity that struck the poverty-stricken country, recently emerged from a long and painful civil war; on the other, the fact that ArcelorMittal's mining concession in Liberia was a crucial part of the company's business going forward. How was ArcelorMittal to face the mounting crisis? What response did it owe its employees? Its shareholders? Its stakeholders? Given the low state capacity in Liberia, ArcelorMittal helped organize a private sector response to the crisis, and, as a pandemic finally was averted, he wondered what lessons to draw from the experience.
This case examines Blue Haven Initiative (BHI), an impact investing fund and family office, and one of its investments, PEGAfrica (PEG). BHI founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons' motivations for using her family wealth to start a family office focused on impact investing, as well as BHI's approach and strategy, including direct and indirect investments, fund manager selection, total returns, sourcing and due diligence of direct investments, and other aspects. The case explores a specific investment decision in depth. In May 2017, Pritzker Simmons and BHI Director of Private Investments Lauren Cochran were considering whether to invest an additional $1 million in PEG's upcoming $5 million Series B round, at a $20 million pre-money valuation. PEG offered pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing plans that allowed customers to make small payments via mobile money to pay off financing for the solar equipment over time. The case details PEG's business model, growth strategy, financial structure, and the landscape of investment capital in West Africa during the time of the case.
Mark Bertolini, chairman and CEO of the health insurer Aetna, faces a number of questions as he seeks to transform Aetna from a classic insurance company, into a business that will engage much more deeply with its members around their personal health goals. His strategy depends on Aetna's ability to facilitate behavioral changes amongst its members to live healthier lives, and requires very significant investments in digital capabilities and on the ground community orientated health care resources. Will it work? Can he implement it? The case explores both the strategic issues inherent in this potential transformation and the organizational and leadership questions that it raises. Bertolini is a highly purpose driven leader, and the case allows for a rich discussion of the degree to which this changes both his strategic and his organizational options.
In the year 2016, after more than a decade of loss-making, Air India posted an operating profit of INR 1.05 billion. Over the years, Air India's greatest problem has been its crippling debt. At the end of fiscal 2014-15, the airline had a total debt of INR 513.67 billion. While the airline managed to phase out more than INR 50 billion of debt from its books during the year 2015-16, its total debt still stood at INR 460 billion. In order to facilitate the revival of Air India, Ashwani Lohani, known as the "turnaround man", was appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Air India. As Lohani piloted Air India towards revival, efforts were being made to convert INR 100 billion of Air India's debt into equity, a move that would substantially reduce its interest burden and give banks a major say in its functioning. Lohani was in talks with banks and investors who could play a critical role in Air India's debt restructuring. Lohani mulled over the various options related to debt restructuring. It remained to be seen whether Lohani's image as the "turnaround man" coupled with Air India's operating profits would increase investor confidence and help Air India deal with its debt burden. While Air India's modest operating profit was good news, it remained to be seen if it could provide relief to the sick airline's actual financials. It also remained to be seen whether Lohani's attempts at improving employee relations with the organization and the operational changes he was introducing to Air India could help turn the tide for the ailing airline. As of July, 2017, two questions remained: Had Air India really turned the corner under Lohani's leadership? Could Air India's short-term progress help it to overcome the huge debt that had become the "elephant in the room"?
In the #MeToo era, allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct pose difficult issues for employers, particularly when allegations surface about incidents that occurred prior to an employee's term at the company. This case, fictionalized but based on real events, centers on the challenge that the founder of a biotech company faces when he receives an email alleging that a new employee (male) raped an acquaintance prior to joining his firm. This case brings up questions of how to deal with the person lodging the allegation, the employee concerned, other employees who become aware of the allegation, police, human resources and legal players.
Supplement to case SM299A. In the #MeToo era, allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct pose difficult issues for employers, particularly when allegations surface about incidents that occurred prior to an employee's term at the company. This case, fictionalized but based on real events, centers on the challenge that the founder of a biotech company faces when he receives an email alleging that a new employee (male) raped an acquaintance prior to joining his firm. This case brings up questions of how to deal with the person lodging the allegation, the employee concerned, other employees who become aware of the allegation, police, human resources and legal players.
Supplement to case SM299A. In the #MeToo era, allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct pose difficult issues for employers, particularly when allegations surface about incidents that occurred prior to an employee's term at the company. This case, fictionalized but based on real events, centers on the challenge that the founder of a biotech company faces when he receives an email alleging that a new employee (male) raped an acquaintance prior to joining his firm. This case brings up questions of how to deal with the person lodging the allegation, the employee concerned, other employees who become aware of the allegation, police, human resources and legal players.
Supplement to case SM299A. In the #MeToo era, allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct pose difficult issues for employers, particularly when allegations surface about incidents that occurred prior to an employee's term at the company. This case, fictionalized but based on real events, centers on the challenge that the founder of a biotech company faces when he receives an email alleging that a new employee (male) raped an acquaintance prior to joining his firm. This case brings up questions of how to deal with the person lodging the allegation, the employee concerned, other employees who become aware of the allegation, police, human resources and legal players.
In the fall of 2017, Beneficial State Bank, a triple bottom line community development bank serving areas of California, Oregon, and Washington, had completed its fourth successive year of normalized profitability while continuing to fulfill its mission of promoting social justice and environmental sustainability. Having grown roughly 20 percent organically by loan and deposit growth annually, as well as through three aligned acquisitions, Beneficial State Bank was well on its way to proving its beneficial banking model as well as the impact of its operations on individuals, communities, and the banking system at large. At the same time, husband and wife creators of the bank, Tom Steyer (MBA '83) and Kat Taylor (JD/MBA '86), found themselves at a crossroads. As the sole providers of capital to the bank during the formation and, as a result of the bank's unique organizational structure, the couple remained the only investors in the bank almost a decade after its founding. With the bank's assets approaching $1 billion, the team envisioned scaling the business for both economic viability and impact to nearly five times the current size in the coming years. In order to achieve this goal, however, the founders would have to consider the introduction of additional investors. This case describes the motivating factors for changing the bank's existing capital structure and includes a discussion of a potential investment option to fulfill these goals. Additional topics include prospective investors, existing capitalization and growth prospects, and the role of mergers and acquisitions.