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The stand-up comic, actor, and author talks about how her TikTok lip-synching of Donald Trump began, her books about tricks for success in business, and more.

Blackbird, a Delhi-based advertising agency, agreed to let a star designer leave to start his own firm and then became his first customer, enlisting his help as a contractor. Now other employees are asking for same arrangement--right in the middle of a crucial client project. How should Blackbird's HR director respond? This fictional case study by Rakesh Bohra and Jyotsna Bhatnagar features expert commentary by John H. Chuang, Craig Millon.

Blackbird, a Delhi-based advertising agency, agreed to let a star designer leave to start his own firm and then became his first customer, enlisting his help as a contractor. Now other employees are asking for same arrangement--right in the middle of a crucial client project. How should Blackbird's HR director respond? This fictional case study by Rakesh Bohra and Jyotsna Bhatnagar features expert commentary by John H. Chuang, Craig Millon.

The case analyses how Burberry developed and executed a strategy centered on millennial consumers, British appeal and distinctive digital capabilities, transforming the sesquicentennial brand into an international luxury powerhouse. Burberry's digital transformation was spearheaded by CEO Angela Ahrendts and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) Christopher Bailey. Between 2006 and 2014, the duo launched a multitude of initiatives, such as innovative social media campaigns, livestream fashion shows, and a new e-commerce platform, enabled by a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure and a closely connected organisational culture. When Ahrendts left to join Apple, Bailey assumed the position of CEO and CCO at Burberry. In May 2015, 10 months into his new dual role, Bailey prepared to report mixed results for the last financial year and reveal his plans to address the challenges presented by the changing competitive landscape.

In May 2021, Perch CEO Chris Bell needed to decide whether his e-commerce aggregator company, which bought and scaled Amazon Marketplace brands, should acquire up to three acquisition targets. The prospective acquisitions, Web Deals Direct, HomeCo, and Future Brands, were much larger in size and complexity than Perch's previous deals. Acquiring one or more businesses could help Perch grow but could also prove challenging from an operations and integration standpoint. In addition, Bell had decisions to make around financing the acquisitions. He had received a term sheet for $100 million from a private equity firm and an offer of up to $500 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. The offer from SoftBank might provide the level of funding Perch would need to achieve market leadership in a crowded aggregator space but could put pressure on Perch to grow too quickly in pursuit of being a category champion.

The case follows Ashraf Abu Issa, CEO and chairman of Abu Issa Holding (AIH), as he contemplated the fate of his company's regional expansion. AIH was a Qatari diversified holding company, whose primary business was luxury retailing and distribution. Abu Issa had set his company on a path of aggressive regional expansion since 2012, rapidly opening new stores in neighboring countries, most notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In July 2017, he woke up to the news that Saudi Arabia along with the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt had imposed a blockade on Qatar, cutting diplomatic relations with the country as well as closing all movements of people, goods and money between their countries and Qatar. A year into the blockade the situation was rapidly deteriorating, Abu Issa was at a crossroads: Should he wait for the blockade to end? Or was now the right time to exit and focus on the Qatari market at home? If he chose to exit, could he find a new investor to buy the business at a discount? Or should he close his shops and move as much as their inventory and staff as possible to Qatar? If he chose to exit, what would be the best way to do so?

In 2019, a decade after co-founding Nexleaf Analytics, CEO Nithya Ramanathan faced an important decision that would impact the ability of the small, but growing, not-for-profit organization to thrive for another decade. Their sensor technologies and big data analytics helped protect the planet and preserve human life by reducing pollution via smarter cookstoves and enhancing the vaccine storage process to help ensure millions of individuals across the developing world received effective vaccines. They had recently decided to relentlessly focus on these two core areas in which they faced growing competition from for-profit companies (especially in the vaccine domain), but an opportunity had arisen to expand into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) space. Although there were some similarities with their existing technology, it would be a large undertaking for the resource-constrained organization. Should they stay focused on growing their vaccine refrigeration efforts to new countries, partner with fridge manufacturers to vertically integrate their offerings, or jump head first into the NICU field which had numerous existing players (none of whom offered what Nexleaf could). Further, as a not-for-profit, should they open source their core intellectual property in the vaccine space in an attempt to become a keystone player for the entire ecosystem, increasing their ability to achieve their mission?

On is a Swiss SME founded in 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland, by three friends - Caspar Coppetti, David Allemann, and former pro athlete Olivier Bernhard. The startup invented an award-winning running shoe with an outsole that absorbs vertical and horizontal shocks, allowing for both a soft landing and an explosive take-off. Although On was launched as a premium brand for serious runners, it gained a dedicated following among nurses, casual walkers, and trendsetters. The business quickly expanded to the U.S. and Japan, the world's largest running shoe markets, growing from a startup with three founders to an international company that innovated constantly and brought new products to market. To support its growth, it had to recruit the right people, team up with the right partners, formulate the right strategy, and bring the right stakeholders and ambassadors on board. At the end of 2019, On had 500 employees, and its international headquarters and R&D were located in Zurich. In comparison, Nike had over 76,700 employees and Adidas some 57,000. By April 2021, On had increased its staff to 764 and aimed to have 1,000 employees by year-end. But how had this exponential growth affected On's corporate culture, and how could On stabilize its business model and ensure its sustainability in the face of intense competition?

Companies should focus on not just what they give employees but also how their offerings make employees feel.

New research shows that the more projects company builders have under their belts, the worse they are at anticipating delays.

Info Edge is the first Indian Internet company to list on the Indian stock markets (in 2006). It is a widely successful company with many lines of business - it operates a jobs classified (naukri.com), a real estate classifieds (99acres.com), a matrimonial classifieds (jeevansaathi.com) and a higher education classifieds (shiksha.com). Info Edge also has a very successful corporate VC arm, which at different points owned ~50% of Zomato (restaurant listings and food delivery) and Policy Bazaar (insurance comparison shopping). We have related Info Edge's 30-year journey across two cases - Naukri.com (A): the Business of Internet in India and Naukri.com (B): Corporate Venture Capital in India. Both cases have separate teaching notes and are designed to be used either independent of each other in 90-minute sessions, or to be used one after the other in two 90-minute sessions This case examines Naukri.com's fight for relevance in a world that is increasingly being dominated by the three largest Internet aggregators - Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft). It touches upon strategic aspects involving Internet marketplaces and social media networks, which are hotly debated topics in business media and various discussion forums as of 2022, and hence, you should expect strong participation from a typical MBA or executive MBA class

Info Edge is the first Indian Internet company to list on the Indian stock markets (in 2006). It is a widely successful company with many lines of business - it operates a jobs classified (naukri.com), a real estate classifieds (99acres.com), a matrimonial classifieds (jeevansaathi.com) and a higher education classifieds (shiksha.com). Info Edge also has a very successful corporate VC arm, which at different points owned ~50% of Zomato (restaurant listings and food delivery) and Policy Bazaar (insurance comparison shopping). We have related Info Edge's 30-year journey across two cases - Naukri.com (A): the Business of Internet in India and Naukri.com (B): Corporate Venture Capital in India. Both cases have separate teaching notes and are designed to be used either independent of each other in 90-minute sessions, or to be used one after the other in two 90-minute sessions This case examines Naukri.com's internal investments in other online classifieds - 99Acres, Jeevansaathi, and Shiksha, its attempts at vertical integration - Allcheckdeals and Quadrangle, as well as its corporate venture capital arm that makes financial investments in other startups like Zomato and Policy Bazaar. This case touches upon strategic aspects involving venture capital and popular consumer Internet startups in India, which are hotly debated topics in business media and various discussion forums. The case examines the strategic background of venture investments in great detail and ends by questioning the parameters of defensibility of venture funds. The case also discusses Info Edge's investment decision-making framework and valuation framework and examines the differences between financial venture capital and corporate venture capital.

In August 2019 CEO David Craig was considering the likely benefits and challenges of merging his company, financial-markets data and infrastructure provider Refinitiv, with the London Stock Exchange Group. Craig had led a turnaround of Thomson Reuters' Financial & Risk division (F&R), then used investment from a private equity consortium led by Blackstone to carve out F&R from Thomson Reuters and create Refinitiv as an independent company. The carve-out had been successful, but global financial markets were evolving fast. Initial industry reaction to the proposed deal was positive; however some analysts questioned whether it would be approved by regulators and expressed concern over the complexity of integrating the two companies. With the industry changing so quickly, could the momentum created in Refinitiv be maintained in the new combined entity?

This case study follows the career of world-renowned orchestra conductor Marin Alsop. As a gay woman in a blatantly male-dominated (and often sexist) field, Alsop faced significant challenges in her rise to the top of the profession. At virtually every turning point on her unconventional path, Alsop received the message that she should not or could not advance - and yet she did, relying on a nuanced mix of perseverance, self-awareness, and willingness to upend the status quo.

This case study follows the career of world-renowned orchestra conductor Marin Alsop. As a gay woman in a blatantly male-dominated (and often sexist) field, Alsop faced significant challenges in her rise to the top of the profession. At virtually every turning point on her unconventional path, Alsop received the message that she should not or could not advance - and yet she did, relying on a nuanced mix of perseverance, self-awareness, and willingness to upend the status quo.

This case study follows the career of world-renowned orchestra conductor Marin Alsop. As a gay woman in a blatantly male-dominated (and often sexist) field, Alsop faced significant challenges in her rise to the top of the profession. At virtually every turning point on her unconventional path, Alsop received the message that she should not or could not advance - and yet she did, relying on a nuanced mix of perseverance, self-awareness, and willingness to upend the status quo.

After rising up the corporate ladder to become the first Indian American woman to make partner at Deloitte, Deepa Purushothaman took her career in a new direction, as an author and cofounder of the nFormation community for women of color. In an interview with MIT Sloan Management Review, Purushothaman discusses how women of color experience the corporate world and suggests ways we can all work to combat issues like bias and discrimination in the workplace.

This case study follows the evolution of plant-based meat alternatives industry, focusing specifically on the major competitors namely Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. It provides a good snapshot of the way in which the new industry has evolved and the manner in which key industry forces have begun to shape the competitiveness and profitability of this nascent industry. It builds on an analysis of the industry to explore the fortunes of the rising stars in the business and concludes with several key questions about the potential future trajectory of the Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods in the face of new competitors and the defensive strategies deployed by the established meat producers. The case sets up the backdrop for a spirited debate relating to the viability of the strategies of the established rivals versus the emerging new players in the midst of unclear consumer trends and preferences.