This (B) case describes the aftermath of Unilever's February 2017 rejection of Kraft Heinz Company's (KHC)/3G Capital's (3G) unsolicited $143 billion takeover offer. In an effort to defend itself against future attempts by KHC/3G or other suitors, Unilever announced on April 4, 2017, a program of enhancing its long-term shareholder value with a series of aggressive restructuring moves. The program included targeted improvements to its operating margin, a significant stock repurchase, aggressive new savings targets, and other measures. The case allows for discussion of the takeover offer's role in catalyzing Unilever's announcement and the divergent approach to value creation embraced by Unilever and KHC/3G.
On December 10, 2013 more than 90,000 South Africans gathered at the FNB Stadium in Soweto outside of Johannesburg to mourn the death of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela. At the stadium, several dignitaries addressed the mourners, which included United States President Barack Obama and then-current or former heads of state or government from over 100 countries-one of the largest assemblages of world leaders in history. Obama took the podium to eulogize Mandela: "[His] passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life," he said. "But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or our circumstance, we must ask: 'How well have I applied his lessons in my own life?'" This case provides students with a short history of South Africa followed by a contextualized biography of Nelson Mandela-from birth through death-that emphasizes the key events and actions that served to shape his life and reflect his values and leadership. Mandela demonstrated adaptability and malleability and many shifts in strategy, emerging from the impetuousness of youth to become a Zen-like elder statesman. Over the course of his life, though, his core values did not change. Mandela showed ability to navigate and negotiate with different stakeholders. How did he get power from both sides while maintaining legitimacy in both camps? How was he able to avoid the neither/nor that can alienate both sides? These are the key questions students will grapple with during the class discussion. Case number 2104.0
Over the past five years, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. (Patanjali) had emerged as a major player in India's fast-moving consumer goods industry. Building on the capabilities of its two founders, the company had differentiated its products with a unique mix of Indian nationalism, yoga spiritualism, and natural/Ayurvedic ingredients. In combination with its low-price and low-cost position, this strategy had challenged the incumbent multinational and conventional Indian competitors. In October 2016, Patanjali’s two co-founders considered adding blue jeans to the company’s business portfolio and expanding its current products into international markets. However, some observers doubted whether Patanjali's successful strategies could be successfully extended to fashion. Others believed the jeans initiative would be problematic because Patanjali had more compelling growth opportunities, such as increasing sales of its existing products within India and abroad. Patanjali's founders needed to decide on the appropriate priorities for their company's continued growth and success.
A well-known lingerie retailer in Colombia, Leonisa is a family-owned company that barely survived a second-generation succession crisis. Brothers JoaquÃn and Julio Ernesto Urrea founded the firm in 1956, and over 50 years built one of the most recognizable brands in Latin America. While they each had an equal stake in the company, their respective families were not of equal size: JoaquÃn had 11 children including nine boys, Julio had three daughters. While the girls were interested in design and fashion, the boys were keen to create satellite ventures around the core brand. When one of the co-founders died, a family dispute erupted over whether the dividends should be plowed back into the business or distributed to the shareholders. A mediator obliged the warring branches to reach a settlement that would allow Leonisa to survive. The ousted sisters eventually had their own success story by launching a new business based on their core competencies.
This case explores the changes wrought by the "sharing economy", examining the innovations and controversies surrounding the online ride-hailing service Uber. It provides a unique overview of the challenges posed by new business models like Uber's, which use the internet to link individual providers of goods and services to customers. Raising significant economic, social and environmental sustainability issues, it asks: what are the responsibilities of "sharing economy" companies? More specifically, are they merely "technological platforms" facilitating transactions for private individuals or do they have the same responsibilities as real-world companies such as transportation businesses, hotels and employment agencies?
This case examines how a drug price increase by one small company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, became the focal point of a controversy that engulfed the entire drug industry. Turing's decision to raise the price of its anti-infection drug Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 per dose, is emblematic of the debate about the responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies and business more generally. The case asks: Do pharmaceutical executives have a responsibility to patients when setting drug prices, or are they beholden only to their shareholders? More broadly, what are the responsibilities of companies to shareholders relative to other stakeholders? And what role should be taken by public policy makers in this domain? While set primarily in the United States, the case raises questions of corporate social responsibility and public policy for the global healthcare industry and business more generally. It provides an opportunity to explore the potentially conflicting demands of shareholders and stakeholders, the limits of industry self-regulation and the need for government-imposed price controls, notably in the context of patent monopolies.
In 2011, Partners Group is nearing the end of a year-long quest for a new mandate from a European pension fund, Future Plan. The fund has struggled with its 6-year old PE programme, consistently falling short of its target allocation to the asset class and generating poor returns, seemingly always one step behind the opportunity in the market. Future Plan has built its PE programme by investing in closed-end funds of PE products managed by two executives, one focused on European markets, the other on global markets. But the fallout from the global economic crisis wreaked havoc with Future Plan's PE programme and something has to change. With an interest in expanding its PE activity to include secondary and direct investment strategies, Future Plan begins a manager search process with one goal in mind: to achieve the target return to the asset class by 2014. The case charts Partners Group's role in the selection process and how its expertise and services, along with a novel holding structure, offer a way to achieve Future Plan's goals. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/partners-group to access supplementary material.
Seven years ago, two of the three partners of a company worked in tandem to remove the other partner through legal trickery. Now, if they are to save their company, they need to resolve their differences with the partner they expelled, who is still angry with them. The case depicts a real-life story of a negotiation between former partners where there is a lack of trust, hurt feelings, and an equal potential to create value on the one hand, and misunderstandings and further conflict on the other. It provides the possibility to negotiate either one on one (cases A and B), or in teams of two (cases C, D, E), thereby allowing the instructor to explore the negotiation team dynamics.
Seven years ago, two of the three partners of a company worked in tandem to remove the other partner through legal trickery. Now, if they are to save their company, they need to resolve their differences with the partner they expelled, who is still angry with them. The case depicts a real-life story of a negotiation between former partners where there is a lack of trust, hurt feelings, and an equal potential to create value on the one hand, and misunderstandings and further conflict on the other. It provides the possibility to negotiate either one on one, or in teams of two, thereby allowing the instructor to explore the negotiation team dynamics.
Seven years ago, two of the three partners of a company worked in tandem to remove the other partner through legal trickery. Now, if they are to save their company, they need to resolve their differences with the partner they expelled, who is still angry with them. The case depicts a real-life story of a negotiation between former partners where there is a lack of trust, hurt feelings, and an equal potential to create value on the one hand, and misunderstandings and further conflict on the other. It provides the possibility to negotiate either one on one, or in teams of two, thereby allowing the instructor to explore the negotiation team dynamics.
Seven years ago, two of the three partners of a company worked in tandem to remove the other partner through legal trickery. Now, if they are to save their company, they need to resolve their differences with the partner they expelled, who is still angry with them. The case depicts a real-life story of a negotiation between former partners where there is a lack of trust, hurt feelings, and an equal potential to create value on the one hand, and misunderstandings and further conflict on the other. It provides the possibility to negotiate either one on one, or in teams of two, thereby allowing the instructor to explore the negotiation team dynamics.
Seven years ago, two of the three partners of a company worked in tandem to remove the other partner through legal trickery. Now, if they are to save their company, they need to resolve their differences with the partner they expelled, who is still angry with them. The case depicts a real-life story of a negotiation between former partners where there is a lack of trust, hurt feelings, and an equal potential to create value on the one hand, and misunderstandings and further conflict on the other. It provides the possibility to negotiate either one on one, or in teams of two, thereby allowing the instructor to explore the negotiation team dynamics.
Supplement to case NTU111. With its success in the US, Uber has expanded beyond its borders into major cities around the world. However, Uber's aggressive "move fast and break things" expansion strategy cannot be replicated in its entry into international markets. The unique institutional context in each city requires Uber to tailor its strategies to deal with these local challenges. The case thus explores Uber's competitive manoeuvres as it responds to these challenges in its global expansion.
CNS Worldwide has long been the market share leader in the IaaS cloud server market, yet it has remained unprofitable for years. Industry capacity utilization is low, and prices have declined over 70% over the last decade. CNS is considering withdrawing from the market if it cannot find a way to increase prices. As a large public bid is about to be held, CNS must decide whether to bid and, if so, at what price. This case is intended for use an introductory marketing management course that involves an in-depth analysis of pricing. It can also be used in courses on pricing, business-to-business (B2B) sales, or competitive strategy. The case introduces students to specialized pricing mechanisms, oligopolistic markets, the challenges of avoiding a price war, the concept of price leadership, and the possible effects of a firm taking this role, including what it needs to do to succeed. There is a direct analogy to the airline industry that can be discussed during the last part of the class.
After the contentious firing of an office manager, the leadership at Fresh to Table, a software-as-a-service provider for luxury hotels and restaurants, make an unpleasant discovery. While reviewing the office manager's internal electronic communications, company leaders discover that several key employees, including two that were recently promoted, had been spending substantial time on internal social media channels disparaging other employees, citing days when they skipped work, and referring to other instances of unprofessional behavior. This 5-page case explores issues related to electronic communications, termination and disciplinary procedures, and leadership, culture and values. It can be used in General Management, Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Management Communication, Leadership, and Employee Relations courses. The case also allows students to consider how technology affects organizational interactions and culture.
Over 20 years as a public company, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has taken Amazon.com from an online bookstore to the largest online retailer and comparison-shopping site in the world. Bezos has followed the trend of integrating hardware and software, products and services, and online and brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon diversified into cloud computing (with Amazon Web Services, or AWS) and content delivery and original content creation. Still, Amazon continues to display low profitability, reflecting Jeff Bezos investment in Amazon and increased competition from Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Walmart. Investors are expecting profits will come, but this is uncertain and something Jeff Bezos must manage.
This case examines the career of Raj Kapoor, the legendary Bollywood filmmaker of the postwar decades. It explores how Kapoor built RK studios after 1948 by releasing a series of movies that combined romance with social messages focused on the fate of the common man in a world of social injustice. The case discusses how women were depicted in Kapoor's films and enables a discussion of the role of cinema in propagating gender stereotypes and contributing to the challenges faced by women in rural India today. The case also explores the huge success of Kapoor's films in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in the Communist world. During the postwar decades there were two global worlds. In the Western world, Hollywood provided a stream of cinematic entertainment. In the Communist world, Bollywood provided the same service. They each provided alternative visions of the world.