Supplement to case KS1231. This case traces the sexual assault scandal that rocked the United States Air Force Academy in 2003. Over a period of several months, dozens of current and former female students came forward to the media and government representatives about being sexually assaulted by their male peers on campus. Several victims also implicated the Academy's leadership for not doing enough to address the problem. When the scandal broke, Lieutenant General John Dallager was the Academy Superintendent (equal to President of a civilian university). The Academy's decade-old sexual assault program guaranteed confidentiality for victims of sexual assault. The program also offered a slew of prevention and support services. Many Academy staff regarded the sexual assault program as the "gold standard." But the rising number of allegations shined a harsh light on the Academy's culture and immediately cast doubts on Dallager's leadership. Why had he and other senior officials at the Academy failed to notice the scale of the problem? Or had they willfully ignored it? Case number 2098.1
In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10. To the surprise of no one, Congressional Republicans blocked the move, as they had a similar proposal the year before. Seeing little hope of federal action, wage activists turned their sights on state and local governments. Riding a tide of popular support, dozens of jurisdictions voted in hikes in their own state and city minimum wage levels between 2012 and 2016. Focusing especially on the American South, which had historically opposed the minimum wage, the case uses this wage struggle as the point of departure for a review of the issues and arguments raised in this longstanding public policy controversy. Presented as a friendly overview of economic thinking for non-economists, the case explains why liberals and conservatives view the issue of income inequality so differently, why they disagree about basic wage data, and why they vigorously dispute the impact of minimum wage laws on low-income wage earners. Case number 2099.0
This paper compares different types of shared mobility solutions, in particular carsharing and ride hailing, the two most prevalent forms today. It describes the major trends prompting OEMs to engage in the mobility industry, such as urbanization, shifting consumer preference from 'owning' to 'sharing', and various technological advances. With that understanding in mind, the authors examine the current state of the shared mobility industry in more detail, taking a closer look at growth, profitability, and strategies for the different solutions. The study also considers the impact that highly automated vehicles might have on these mobility businesses, and suggests that carsharing will ultimately fold into ride hailing. Based on those analyses, the paper discusses forward directions for automakers, such as investments vs. partnerships, criteria for market selection, and synergies with other industry trends.
Set in early-2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the leadup to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in relation to the years-long period of misconduct in sales. Subsequent investigations, terminations, compensation clawbacks, and other consequences are described.
This case provides four examples of organizations with very different business strategies: Walmart, Starbucks, Harvard Business School, and Google. To support their varying strategies, each of these organizations requires a specific configuration to provide the most value to their primary customer. Configurations examined include the Low Price, Local Value Creation, Global Standard of Excellence, Dedicated Service Relationship and the Expert Knowledge designs. Students are asked to analyze the configurations used in each of these examples and then to apply the analysis to a company with which they are familiar.
After a remarkable success in Japan, the producer of the Japanese female singing group AKB48 evaluates market opportunities overseas for his artistic creation. This case introduces the business model behind the AKB48 concept and allows students to identify what geographic market - China, Indonesia, Taiwan, The Philippines, Thailand or South Korea - is more suitable for AKB48's first move overseas. During the discussion, students also identify the geographic limits of a product and what changes, if any, should be done to adapt it to a chosen market. Given high levels of piracy in the music industry, students are not only able to explore the value creation aspects of AKB48 but also the value capture features of its business model.
After a remarkable success in Japan, the producer of the Japanese female singing group AKB48 evaluates market opportunities overseas for his artistic creation. This case introduces the business model behind the AKB48 concept and allows students to identify what geographic market - China, Indonesia, Taiwan, The Philippines, Thailand or South Korea - is more suitable for AKB48's first move overseas. During the discussion, students also identify the geographic limits of a product and what changes, if any, should be done to adapt it to a chosen market. Given high levels of piracy in the music industry, students are not only able to explore the value creation aspects of AKB48 but also the value capture features of its business model.
Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the largest managed care organization in the US with over 10 million members. KP evolved from a pre-payment or capitation model that focuses the organization around the efficiency of care and the health of the population it serves. This financial model is in stark contrast to the fee-for-service payment model for other health care organizations. Given the epidemic of obesity in the US, KP is facing an enormous potential liability from future costs of obesity and diabetes. Given low turnover in health plan membership, how should they respond to this crisis? How should they invest in the health of their covered population, their employees, and the communities they serve? The case details the origins and development of KP.
In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and nine association and non-profit boards of directors. As CEO of Frontier Communications, a U.S. telecom company with over $25 billion in assets, Wilderotter executed three major acquisitions, transforming the company's business mix and more than doubling its size. This case explores Wilderotter's career, examining the personal characteristics that made her such a successful executive and board member. The case also looks at the turning points in Wilderotter's career; the decisions she made and the way in which she built her skills.
This case requires students to evaluate alternative dual-share-class corporate structures that allow companies and entrepreneurs to pursue profit with purpose. The case explores Impact Makers, an IT consulting company based in Richmond, Virginia. While original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, the cash flow rights belong to two nonprofits setting the stage for a Newman's Own model of management consulting. The case discusses whether and how the alternative corporate structure aids the firm's overall strategy to attract top-quality employees, pay them competitive salaries, and provide superior service to its clients while donating 100% of its lifetime value to charitable causes, largely through partnerships with various nonprofit organizations. More importantly, the case asks students to evaluate how such a dual-share-class and dual-purpose company can raise capital to fund continued growth. The case opens with CEO Michael Pirron reminding himself of all the questions he had run through to execute a strategy to further grow Impact Makers' consulting business both through expanding a menu of services and through conquering new geographical markets. To do either, or both, the company needed a cash infusion. Internal cash was limited, as up to 40% of it flowed to charitable partners, demonstrating Impact Makers' commitment to its mission. Raising debt for a company without fixed assets was challenging and time consuming. Complicating it all was that being structured as a nonstock corporation rendered equity raising difficult. Could Impact Makers raise money to grow and stay true to community values at the same time?
This case can be taught alone or as an epilogue to "Impact Makers (A): The Newman's Own of Management Consulting" (UV7805). The case is based on Impact Makers, an IT consulting company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The company focus on creating value for a community led to an innovative corporate structure where original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, while the cash flow rights belong to two nonprofits, setting the stage for a Newman's Own model of management consulting. The case asks students to evaluate whether a board member should invest in Impact Makers' growth effort. The case opens with Impact Makers seeking up to $3 million in preferred-equity financing to grow its geographic presence, expand areas of practice, and convert intellectual property into tools that would increase margins and profits in digital health care markets. The protagonist, David Wade, is a rational mainstream investor. Yet he is a strong supporter of the company who had participated in previous company (bridge financing) debt offerings. The material requires students to explore the expected return of the proposed offering and evaluate the implicit and explicit discounts Wade would be making if he invested.
The owner of Hamilton's has provided his CPA with all the company's invoices, bank statements, and a lot of other miscellaneous business-related information for the company's second year. He has asked the CPA to reconstruct, in summary form, all the company's second-year transactions and to create an income statement for its second year of operations and a balance sheet at the end of that year.
Audio Advice was a brick-and-mortar audio specialty retailer with two stores in North Carolina. Traditionally, audiophile components were only sold through specialty stores. However, this practice was shifting, with a growing portion of sales occurring online. Audio Advice wanted to capture a portion of this growing channel, so started online as an Amazon Marketplace seller. Though this channel resulted in quick revenue growth without a great deal of initial investment, it was not suitable long term. Audio Advice's management had a bigger vision. In planning their transition to their own e-commerce site, Audio Advice needed to consider branding: should they extend their existing brand, use a sub-brand, or develop a new one? How would each option affect in-store sales, Audio Advice's reputation, and the willingness of audiophile brands to allow online sales of their products?
The overarching goal of the revenue recognition chapter is to help readers understand better the substance and implementation challenges of the joint FASB/IASB revenue recognition standard.
Audio Advice was a brick-and-mortar audio specialty retailer with two stores in North Carolina. Traditionally, audiophile components were only sold through specialty stores. However, this practice was shifting, with a growing portion of sales occurring online. Audio Advice wanted to capture a portion of this growing channel, so started online as an Amazon Marketplace seller. Though this channel resulted in quick revenue growth without a great deal of initial investment, it was not suitable long term. Audio Advice’s management had a bigger vision. In planning their transition to their own e-commerce site, Audio Advice needed to consider branding: should they extend their existing brand, use a sub-brand, or develop a new one? How would each option affect in-store sales, Audio Advice’s reputation, and the willingness of audiophile brands to allow online sales of their products?