The mathematical relationships predicting average waiting time as a function of arrival patterns, service time distributions, number and types of servers, and various queue disciplines are well known. In this note, we address the problem of managing queues by managing perceptions of waiting. Basic operations-management principles can easily address issues of fairness: form one line instead of many; apply first-come, first-served principles (unless an "express lane" can be formed in a way that everyone finds fair); do not allow line jumping. Innovative approaches to queue management, though, can alleviate or reverse the boredom and manage expectations, making the process less painful for customers and front-line employees through three mechanisms: (1) eliminating or reducing the wait, (2) managing expectations, and (3) enhancing the experience. We discuss numerous examples of innovative queue management that fit into this framework.

This case considers the association between a financial crisis and regime change. The setting for this case is 1861, when Virginians debate the question of secession from the United States, and when northwestern Virginians contemplated secession from Virginia. The proximate financial crisis was the panic of 1857.

Supplement to case UV7348. This case considers the association between a financial crisis and regime change. The setting for this case is 1861, when Virginians debate the question of secession from the United States, and when northwestern Virginians contemplated secession from Virginia. The proximate financial crisis was the panic of 1857.

The Regina Auto Racing Club (RARC) had been operating the Kings Park Speedway since 1967. In 2016, the race track and facilities were beginning to show their age and were in need of costly upgrading. Unfortunately, the club had also been suffering from declining attendance over the past five years, and the associated decline in ticket revenue had led to a shrinking race schedule. At the end of the race season in 2016, the club managed to break even financially and had a modest bank account balance. Although RARC was a non-profit organization, the continued financial viability of the club was at risk, and action was required to increase revenue. The club needed to decide among four non-mutually exclusive business strategies. Should it repair and rebuild the facilities to renew the appeal of the venue and attract more spectators? Should it increase its advertising and promotion activities to improve awareness of the club and events? Should it increase the number of race classes and special racing events, or should it introduce non-racing events to the facility to take advantage of other revenue-generating opportunities?

Safe Boat Trip Private Limited (Safe Boat Trip) of Kerala, India, is planning to launch a hydrofoil ferry service connecting the Port of Kochi, India, with two other ports in the state of Kerala by August 2016, to benefit from the tourism potential of the season in Kerala. The managing director has asked the principal superintendent of Safe Boat Trip to prepare a project plan for the boats to be commissioned into service, following approval from the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). The principal superintendent must also carry out a break-even analysis of the project investment. With these challenges before him, the superintendent must set out to devise a solid plan of action before the company's next meeting.

Safe Boat Trip Private Limited (Safe Boat Trip) of Kerala, India, is planning to launch a hydrofoil ferry service connecting the Port of Kochi, India, with two other ports in the state of Kerala by August 2016, to benefit from the tourism potential of the season in Kerala. The managing director has asked the principal superintendent of Safe Boat Trip to prepare a project plan for the boats to be commissioned into service, following approval from the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). The principal superintendent must also carry out a break-even analysis of the project investment. With these challenges before him, the superintendent must set out to devise a solid plan of action before the company’s next meeting.

On 27 July 2016, Swiber Holdings Limited, a Singapore Exchange-listed provider of offshore engineering, procurement, installation and construction services for oil and gas companies, filed for voluntary liquidation. Two days later, Swiber withdrew the liquidation application and filed for judicial management instead. Swiber's actions shocked its stakeholders and the market. Its total notes payable was about US$437 million as of 27 July 2016; its debts owed to suppliers and subcontractors were about US$264 million as of 31 May 2016. In contrast, Swiber's market capitalization had shrunk to about US$37 million at the close of 27 July 2016. This case chronicles the rise and fall of Swiber's fortunes, describes the company's financing strategy through the years, and discusses the warning signs that heralded the company's collapse during the prolonged downturn in the oil and gas industry.

The hotel industry is being disrupted by new digital players who have entered the market and challenge the conventional hospitality approach. The sharing economy in particular, with the Airbnb start-up in the lead, has created a major challenge, if not a threat, to established hotel chains. As a response, AccorHotels, Europe's leading hotel group, is going through a major digital transformation that impacts its corporate culture, organizational structure, value proposition, and overall business model. The goal is to turn the traditional asset-heavy company into an active player in the new hospitality economy, able to compete head-on with the industry's digital disruptors. Learning objective: The case discusses the strategic response of industry incumbents to the challenges coming from digital disruptors. Participants will be asked to compare the two business models from different angles: how do the different approaches deliver on the consumer proposition, and which are the strengths and weaknesses of each business model. Participants will further be asked to assess the strategic options of an asset-heavy incumbent to react to asset-light competitors in a context of digital disruption. The case serves as a basis to discuss the opportunities and challenges of industry incumbents to transform themselves and better compete in an increasingly digital business environment.

This is a condensed version of the cases EBX Group (A): Eike Batista and the X-Factor/EBX Group (B): Autopsy of a failure. It describes the boom and bust of the EBX Group and its founder, Eike Batista. The first part traces the history of the Brazilian conglomerate from its origins as a small gold-mining operation in the early 1980s to 2012 when it has become a diversified national and global player in multiple industries. It examines Batista's personal drive, motivations and choices, and how these influenced the strategy deployed by the company. Known for his huge 'risk appetite', Batista had an extraordinary ability to exploit gaps in the market when starting new businesses. The second part of the case recounts the "historic" downfall of the 'X Empire' which was of a magnitude and speed never seen before in the history. Batista's personal net worth of US$30 billion - making him the seventh wealthiest person in the world and the richest in Brazil - had plummeted to US$200 million as debts piled up and the stock price went into freefall. In January 2014, Bloomberg reported that Batista had "a negative net worth".

Frédéric and Fiona Bonner follows the relationship and careers of an investment banker and a tech entrepreneur as their personal and professional lives unfold. It hinges on the dilemma they face ten years into their marriage and with two young children, as job opportunities pull them to different sides of the United States. The case invites students to explore their opinions about Frédéric and Fiona's life and careers to date, their successes, failures and trade-offs, and their options going forward. By doing so it creates a space for students to reflect on and discuss their experiences and expectations of "managing" the interplay between work, love, and family in their lives. The case challenges students to examine how they define success professionally and personally; how, with, and for whom they make major decisions; whether they can "have it all" and what that might look like.

On 30 May 2017, Amazon shares traded at a record high - above $1,000 - surpassing the share price of Google parent Alphabet. Started as an online bookstore 22 years earlier, Amazon has achieved uninterrupted growth by becoming the largest internet bookstore, the largest online marketplace, a media company, and the most successful IT service provider. Amazon recently expanded into the bricks-and-mortar retail business, launching Amazon Books across the US and beta-testing Amazon Go in Seattle. As of May 2017, Amazon was ranked the world's most innovative company and the fourth largest company by market capitalization. The case explores Amazon's path to growth and its successes and failures along the way. Successful strategic moves include Amazon Marketplace, Prime, Amazon Web Services, and Kindle. Failures included Auctions, A9 Search Engine, Endless, and the Fire Phone. Identifying commonalities and differences among them, the case shows the causes and consequences of Amazon's at-once stellar performance and severe setbacks. It applies Blue Ocean Strategy concepts to analyze its market-creating logic for future growth. The case comes with teaching note, a one-page summary and lectures slides. Teaching materials can be downloaded from https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/teaching-materials/amazon/ The case is also available in Chinese and Korean.

The case documents the emergence of Artsy, a digital solution to the sale of artwork. Once the preserve of the elite, the art market has been democratized by the founder Carter Cleveland, who in 2012 created an online catalogue of painting, photography, sculpture, film and video, and design. The curated platform features works by 70,000 artists, including Pablo Picasso and even a drawing by Vincent Van Gogh. How the young Princeton graduate became the go-to art player for museums and major auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's is attributed to a business model based on a network of gallery owners, museum curators, art fair organizers and auctioneers, and the creation of a unique database that renders artwork accessible. A truly global powerhouse, Artsy offers art lovers a secure portal to the world's leading purveyors of art.

Should the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament gamble most of its player budget on superstar player Rafael Nadal, even after the event's previous two editions saw Nadal and Roger Federer pull out at the last moment due to injury, leaving the tournament without any top-five players? That is the question that Richard Krajicek, former Wimbledon champion and current tournament director, is debating with Jolanda Jansen, the director of the venue that hosts the event. It is June 2017, and earlier in the day, Nadal won the French Open ('Roland Garros') for a record tenth time. Krajicek's plan for the upcoming edition was to focus his recruiting efforts on five exciting, mostly younger, players, and assemble a group of top-20 players around them-but after Nadal's record-breaking performance Krajicek is now considering pursuing the Spanish superstar for the 2018 tournament after all. What is the best course of action?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 218020.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 218021.

This supplements the (A) case by summarizing key developments in the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry after the fire at Tazreen Fashions factory, including formation of the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord ("Accord") and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety ("Alliance") in response to the Rana Plaza factory collapse; legal and policy changes in Bangladesh; and independent assessments of safety standards and subcontracting in the industry.

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the acquisition of the asset-origination operations of Shanghai-based Quark Finance, augmenting Dianrong's asset management and credit evaluation capabilities across China, as well as a new initiative to develop the first blockchain platform for supply chain finance in China. The goal was to provide capital to smaller suppliers in the supply chain, and provide enhanced visibility and transparency of supply chains for large multinational manufacturers. The company had also made several recent forays into other related sectors, with their creation of "DR Group" as an umbrella corporate structure that included all wholly-owned businesses, joint ventures, and partnerships. This rebranded group structure encompassed the various aspects of "The New Finance," leveraging FinTech innovation to deliver value for borrowers, lenders, and investors. Case protagonist Soul Htite, Founder and CEO of Dianrong, and the former CTO of Lending Club, must decide how to execute on the firm's aggressive diversification plan. Recent advances at the company, while promising, were complicated by the uncertainties in the political and regulatory landscape. How should the company leverage its advantage in technology and position itself in the market? Which sectors within its larger umbrella structure were the most promising avenues to focus on? Was Dianrong tackling too many sectors and problems at once? Htite's view was that in order to truly succeed in China a technology company had to "create" much of the ecosystem and infrastructure oneself, as opposed to in the US where companies could simply "provide add-ons" to existing firms and capabilities. But the reality of trying to excel in so many different areas was daunting.

Varsity Brands, the leading manufacturer of cheerleading uniforms in the U.S., obtained copyright protection for certain designs of stripes, chevrons, color blocks and lines on cheerleading uniforms. Star Athletica, a newcomer in the field, used those designs in its own uniforms and was promptly sued by Varsity for copyright infringement. Star countered that cheerleading uniforms were useful articles and, as such, were excluded from copyright protection. In a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue of whether certain designs of or on a useful article were sufficiently separable from the article's utilitarian aspects. If they were separable, then they may be eligible for copyright protection. The outcome of the case could provide the more than $300 billion U.S. fashion industry with long sought protection from knock-offs.