London-based activist hedge fund PrimeStone Capital identifies a potential investment in Swiss security company Kaba. PrimeStone believes that the company is undervalued because it has been pushing back various financial targets, and thinks it can help by proposing a new, incentivized executive compensation plan. The company's performance improves, and PrimeStone needs to decide whether its presence can continue to add value or if it should exit the investment.
In April 2017, Victoria Sopik and Jennifer Nashmi, CEO and CFO (respectively) of Kids & Company, a Canadian childcare provider that they had co-founded in the early 2000s and developed into a nearly 100-unit enterprise, are discussing how the company should proceed with its planned U.S. expansion. Kids & Company already has five U.S. childcare centers in and around Chicago, Illinois, and one under construction in Boston, Massachusetts, but before going any further, the two leaders plan to discuss what they have learned so far from their U.S. experience, and how that should inform their strategic growth decisions moving forward. Unlike Canada, the U.S. already has other large, for-profit childcare providers, so Kids & Co. will have to grow in a more mature market, albeit one where Kids & Company's leaders still see substantial opportunity. Company leaders also believe that the company's "boutique" childcare centers, which maintain a strict focus on customer service and flexible childcare options, would be well-received by U.S. consumers, and help it stand out from the existing, more-standardized options. The question now is how, and how fast, to grow. Should it just replicate the exact model it has developed in Canada-which has proven somewhat challenging thus far in the few years it has operated in the U.S.-or adjust elements of its model? Should it look to acquire established providers, or possibly even franchise the brand?
Great strategists rely heavily on numbers as they go about their work. This note offers an overview of the highbrow and lowbrow quantitative tools that individuals commonly encounter during strategy courses and in actual strategy work. The note focuses especially on simple calculations that often produce important insights.
This case, set in 1990, describes the history of Walmart and asks what competitive strategies Kmart might adopt in response to Walmart's success. It discusses the strategy and organization of both companies in terms of HR practices, store location, distribution, information technology, procurement, pricing, and company culture. This (A) case is the first in a multi-part series that goes on to describe the results of Kmart's competition with Walmart, as well as Walmart's later grappling with ecommerce and Amazon.
John Rogers Jr., the founder and CEO of Ariel Investments, an enormously successful finance firm with $12 billion of invested capital, is one of the few African Americans in the asset management industry. As one of the high profile leaders in the black business community, John has decided to encourage Fortune 500 companies and major foundations to increase the volume of business that they do with black and other minority-owned companies. His encouragement comes in the form of public criticism of these organizations. He challenges them to stop paying "lip service" to inclusion, diversity, and fair business opportunity and sincerely commit to these ideals through action and results. A member of John's Board of Directors has advised him to cease his leadership of this effort because it could be detrimental to Ariel Investments. Is the board member right? Is John being reckless? Is there a model that can be created to determine if and when John and other leaders should publicly express their opinions?
The National Football League (NFL) was both the most popular spectator sport in the U.S. and a major economic entity, taking in roughly $10 billion a year in revenue. However through the early twenty-first century, an increased understanding of the long-term effects of head injuries on NFL players indicated a serious threat to the long-term viability of the game. Particularly concerning was the indication that some deceased professional football players had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)-a neurodegenerative disease which had a strong influence on a person's mental and physical health-most likely as a result of repetitive hits sustained during their football careers and which may have contributed to their deaths. Over 4,000 retired players had jointly sued the NFL over the head injuries they had sustained during their time in the NFL and the resulting health problems they attributed to these injuries. In part, the lawsuit alleged that the NFL had not been forthcoming with players about the health risks of head injuries. The two sides had reached a tentative $765 million settlement in 2013, the bulk of which would go to compensating retired players suffering from such diseases as Alzheimer's or dementia. While this settlement compensated retired players, it was not applicable to current or future players. Could the NFL preserve the sport by making it safer through new rules or equipment changes, or was football an inherently physical game that no amount of new rules or equipment could make completely safe? Were current and future players, now knowing full well the potential long-term health implications of football, tacitly accepting the risks involved? As a team owner, is now the time to sell while franchise value and fan support are at their peaks, or will the business of the NFL be viable for years to come?
The case tells the story of a first generation entrepreneur, Dhirendra Singh, and his struggle for 15 years to establish a mango pulp based beverage marketing company without any external support and funding. The case highlights the travails that Dhirendra goes through in marketing an undifferentiated product, a mango drink. He survives, largely due to his grit and some lucky breaks, until an external funding agency notices him 15 years after he started his journey. With growth and stability (in 2017, it was the fourth largest packaged beverage in India) come new issues for the enterprise to grapple with. The case leaves the reader to reflect upon these challenges that the company encounters. Can the company overcome these hurdles and thrive? How, is the question that remains unanswered.
Mr. Nuno Ãvila, General Director at Deimos Engenharia (Deimos), a private Portuguese Aerospace Engineering company and a key player in the European space sector, faced a crucial strategic decision. In the past, Deimos easily secured research grants from their funding sources to conduct path-breaking projects. However, these agencies now require applicants to specify market applications for their projects to qualify. This was an unknown concept for Deimos, a company steeped in cutting-edge scientific research. Ãvila's objective was to build a market-driven innovation culture-a difficult prospect in a company that prides itself on its technological advancements. Ãvila found himself faced with several options for how to proceed. With the annual board meeting scheduled in six months, he needs to make some decisions soon about what markets to pursue with the company's MyFARM software service. He is unsure about the Board's willingness to adopt a new strategy, so he invites the Value Creation Wheel team to address this challenge. With their help, Ãvila prepares a set of recommendations that if successful, will enable Deimos to transform itself from a science- focused company to an international player that makes the perfect bridge between technology and market needs in the space sector.
Essex Farm, in the town of Essex, New York, employs both traditional and innovative agricultural methods to support the environmentally friendly production of healthy foods, an innovative business model, and a variety of educational initiatives. Its owners, Mark and Kristin Kimball, have become leaders and role models in the movement to revive family farms across the country, revitalize small towns, and reinvent a sustainable food system in the face of climate change and environmental degradation. An experiment in sustainable agriculture, in food entrepreneurship, and in community building, Essex Farm raises important questions about the economic sustainability of the new food movement, and about the future of agriculture in general. The case describes this experiment and addresses key questions that arise when diversified organic farming is proposed as both a lifestyle and an alternative to large-scale industrial farming.
Sunny Bee is a real-world example of a recent business student putting his learning to work to build a successful social venture in his home country of India. The case includes: -A base case that provides background on the material and addresses the entrepreneurial process. This case should be assigned first. -Four follow-on cases that can be taught in any order: -A lean supply chain case -A sustainability case -A business analytics case -A digital innovation case
The first rule of customer service--when something goes wrong, apologize--can backfire. New research based, uniquely, on videos of actual customer interactions shows that after a point, apologies only heighten unhappy customers' frustration. Employees should worry less about displaying empathy and instead focus on creative, energetic attempts to solve the problem at hand.
The idea behind performance feedback is that to help people grow, we need to shine a light on the things they can't see about themselves. But a recent study shows that when employees receive critical appraisals from their peers, it mostly makes them seek out colleagues who will give them positive reviews instead.
This book is about Business Analytics (BA)-an emerging area in modern business decision making. The first part provides an overview of the field of Business Intelligence (BI), which uses historical data to better understand and thereby improve business performance, as well as create new strategic opportunities for growth. Business analytics (BA) is about anticipated future trends of the key performance indicators used to automate and optimize business processes. The three major categories of business analytics-the descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics along with advanced analytics tools are explained. The flow diagrams outlining the tools of each of the descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics are presented. We also describe various terms related to business analytics. The second part of the book is about descriptive analytics and its applications. It discusses Data, Data Types and Descriptive Statistics, Data Visualization, Data Visualization with Big Data, Basic Analytics Tools: Describing Data Numerically-Concepts and Computer Applications. Finally, it presents an overview and a case on descriptive statistics with applications and notes on implementation. Chapter 1 provides an overview of business analytics and why these techniques are important.
This book is about Business Analytics (BA)-an emerging area in modern business decision making. The first part provides an overview of the field of Business Intelligence (BI), which uses historical data to better understand and thereby improve business performance, as well as create new strategic opportunities for growth. Business analytics (BA) is about anticipated future trends of the key performance indicators used to automate and optimize business processes. The three major categories of business analytics-the descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics along with advanced analytics tools are explained. The flow diagrams outlining the tools of each of the descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics are presented. We also describe various terms related to business analytics. The second part of the book is about descriptive analytics and its applications. It discusses Data, Data Types and Descriptive Statistics, Data Visualization, Data Visualization with Big Data, Basic Analytics Tools: Describing Data Numerically-Concepts and Computer Applications. Finally, it presents an overview and a case on descriptive statistics with applications and notes on implementation. Chapter 2 discusses analytics, business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) as decision-making tools in businesses today. Although these terms are used interchangeably, there are slight differences in the terms of the tools they use. The connection between BI and BA tools combined with the applications in the computer science and information technology are critical for the success of BA in a company. This chapter discusses the broad meaning of the terms-BI, BA, data analytics (DA), computer and information technology, and how they are used in business decision making. The chapter also distinguishes between BI and BA, and the specific tools used in each case. provides an overview of business analytics and why these techniques are important.