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The case examines the transformation of Best Buy under CEO Hubert Joly's leadership from 2012. Facing significant business challenges, including competition from online and physical retailers, Joly implemented the "Renew Blue" turnaround strategy, which focused on improving price competitiveness, enhancing the customer experience both in-store and online, partnering with major tech companies, and investing in employee training and engagement. The case further explores the development and execution of the "Building the New Blue" strategy, aiming to enrich lives through technology by addressing key human needs and expanding services such as in-home advisors and entering the health care market. The case highlights the approach Joly calls "Unleashing Human Magic," which focuses on the importance of aligning company purpose with employee motivation and customer needs to drive business growth and transformation.

The dueling fortunes of two hot sauce manufacturers demonstrate the power of strategic diversification in the areas of supply chain, products, customers, and channel. Managing risk on these multiple fronts early on, McIlhenny thrived while competitor Huy Fong Foods failed to follow suit, rendering the former market leader an also-ran in hot sauce.

Malaria, a deadly disease transmitted by the bites of infected mosquitoes, had been effectively eliminated from the developed world since the end of the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Eradication Campaign in 1969. In Africa, however, the disease remained a scourge through the early 2000s, killing close to a million people each year, most of them children under five. As a result, the international community set an ambitious goal: reduce malaria deaths in Africa to zero by the end of 2015. Rising to the challenge required the mobilization of a vast network of local, regional, national, and global actors in the for-profit, nonprofit, and public spheres. Local community groups in tiny African villages, national malaria control programs in malaria-endemic countries, national and international non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, foundations, individual philanthropists, research institutes, and huge multilateral bureaucracies like the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank would be required to work together with focus and vigor to meet the goal. This case describes the history of the global fight against malaria, and the role of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, the Global Fund, the President's Malaria Initiative, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, and other actors in collectively shepherding the effort. The Harvard Kennedy School Case Program has published three cases on the Mosquito Network. This case is adapted from "The Mosquito Network: Collaborative Entrepreneurship in the Fight to Eliminate Malaria Deaths (A)," HKS Case No. 2071.0, and "The Mosquito Network: Collaborative Entrepreneurship in the Fight to Eliminate Malaria Deaths (B)," HKS Case No. 2072.0, written by Gaylen Williams Moore.

Atijeevan Foundation was founded in 2013 with a mission to rehabilitate and empower victims of acid attacks. The founder, who was a survivor of an acid attack herself, wanted to ensure that the past traumatic experiences of survivors did not impede their opportunity to make a place in society and lead a meaningful and dignified life. She learned about the challenges through interactions with the survivors she trained and helped find employment. Many of them reported incidents of harassment, bullying, discrimination, and insensitive behaviour from co-workers. The founder was contemplating how to help. Should she support and encourage survivors to independently manage their own workplace challenges at work, which would align with her philosophy of self-advocacy and resilience? Or should she ask the human resources department in each organization to support survivors? She was also contemplating how each organization's equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives could be expanded to integrate the unique challenges and needs of survivors of acid attacks to foster their empowerment in the workplace.

BoAt Lifestyle (boAt), a digital-first consumer products company founded in New Delhi, India, by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta in 2014, had launched its first products (wired earphones and headphones) two years after a thorough market study. Over time, the company had entered various high-growth consumer lifestyle-focused product categories, offering its products online at affordable prices. It then attempted to move into the offline market, adopting an omnichannel strategy to engage with a larger customer base and increase its profitability. Despite tough competition from similar brands, it managed to build a reputation among its customers. However, customers and investors were less than happy with its strategy to procure most of its products from China and questioned the high valuation in its initial public offering. To add to the company's woes, sales its own online and offline channels were not satisfactory. At the end of January 2022, the company was facing an important question: What should boAt do to maintain its growth momentum, appease investor's patriotic sentiments, and expand sales from its own channels? Which of these challenges should be its priority in the short-run?

Fastech Fashions Private Ltd. was founded in Rourkela, India in 2017 with the goal to elevate the livelihoods of traditional Odia weavers. By 2022 the company had experienced notable success, focusing on T-shirts, school uniforms, traditional handicraft products, professional attire, and athleisure. However, tension between the investors and one of the owners grew when the owner's commitment to reinvesting in weavers for broader societal impact interfered with the company's profits. Balancing profitability and philanthropy became a critical challenge. The emotional and logical complexities of decision-making had to be made while under constant pressure from investors. Strategic choices needed to be considered, as well as the delicate balance between business success and social impact.

The loss of the lease at their Michelin-starred Cyrus 1.0 in Sonoma County, California gives the partners an opportunity to shut down and rework a "broken" business model, one with labor intensive experiences six or seven nights a week, high burnout, high turnover-especially in the back of the house, low profits, and a lack of work-life balance. The case illustrates a novel planning process centered around (1) rethinking a gourmet dining experience using a model of how people entertain at home and (2) defining what people hate about something (in this case their jobs) and using that as a basis for describing an ideal solution before considering how to get there. The planning process still has to deal with the issues of work-life balance and how to achieve a three-day weekend for everyone and still reward investors.

The objective of improved work-life balance is achieved. However, it prompts a discussion of whether management should take on special events during what is now a long weekend in order to improve the bottom line even more. The case raises questions about other businesses to which the Cyrus planning process and profit model can be applied.

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk was owned by a charitable foundation, and since its founding in the 1920s had focused on producing insulin to treat diabetes. In 2017, however, it released Ozempic, a diabetes treatment with the revolutionary side effect of safe, effective weight loss. As demand in the U.S. reached a fever pitch, Novo faced opportunities and challenges. The case covers the markets in which Novo could expand, the manufacturing shortfalls it faced, the competition that was expected to arise, and the moral issues that came with selling a product that affected so many people worldwide.

Christina Stembel, the founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers Inc., has always emphasized quality, speed, and efficiency in her San Francisco-based online flower delivery company. Her teams have operated like assembly lines, shipping 10,000 bouquets daily during peak periods, which has ensured competitive pricing. Before the pandemic, Stembel expands Farmgirl Flowers Inc. to Ecuador, and when it is forced to close its San Francisco facility, she shifts all production to Ecuador.Valentine's Day 2023 poses a challenge, as shipping the flowers from South America takes three days, while South American prices are higher due to pandemic-related supply chain issues, ultimately resulting in customer dissatisfaction. Stembel aims to regain competitiveness by bringing operations back to North America. But the questions remain: how and where should this happen?

Soma Solutions was a small consulting firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Soma Solutions had provided face-to-face, on-site information and communications technology (ICT) training on SAP and ERP to state-owned enterprises. However, due to the nationwide lockdown and the need to curb the spread of the virus, the company could no longer conduct on-site training. The state-owned enterprises, its main clients, also had to close temporarily and shift to remote work. The economic upheaval left Soma Solutions facing uncertainty and instability. Despite having operated for only four years, it grappled with the decision to pivot or preserve its existing approach. The challenge was to remain relevant and competitive while navigating evolving norms and limited resources. How prepared was the company to transition to virtual training? What would pivoting look like for the company, and would it help sustain the business post-pandemic?

Spreadsheet supplement for case W36145

In 2021, General Motors (GM) announced an ambitious goal to sell only zero-emission cars and light trucks by 2035. This declaration was part of a broader initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and was also a highly significant development in the electric vehicle (EV) transition, as no other major traditional automaker had set such a target. Over the next two years, GM invested billions of dollars in retooling, battery, charging, and other EV technologies, securing third place in the EV market as of 2023.This case delves into the strategic challenges facing GM in September 2023. In the time since it embarked on its aggressive EV transition, consumer demand for EVs had not escalated, competition had grown, and financial risks and technical uncertainties loomed.Students are challenged to answer this question: Should GM adhere to its EV goal timeline or modify its strategy?

In 1978, Jaipur Rugs was founded in a small village in Rajasthan, India. Over the next 40 years, Jaipur Rugs developed into a global business with strong social responsibility. Right from the start, the founder looked beyond profits to provide a source of livelihood and dignity of life to thousands of women in rural villages without formal education and no opportunities outside their homes. Over time, Jaipur Rugs grew into an empire that empowered 40,000 women weavers from some of the most economically disadvantaged areas of India. In 2022, Jaipur Rugs was planning to expand internationally, with high acclaim and demand for its products. However, traditional weavers and their families were losing their original motivation. Younger family members of veteran weavers were opting instead for more lucrative opportunities in India's urban centres. With an evolving socio-economic environment across India, how would Jaipur Rugs retain its weavers and attract new artisans?

While ethics guidelines are abstract, people must apply them to concrete, pressing dilemmas. This requires skill, not just good intentions. How can people learn to wisely put a company ethics guidelines into action? Using real-world lessons from health care leaders, this article outlines three practices that can help decision makers handle tough ethics scenarios. The authors also share four ways leaders can cultivate employees ethical expertise.

Previous technology breakthroughs did not upend organizational structure, but generative AI and LLMs will. We now face a challenge like that of the original railroad operators: how to rebuild an organization around a fundamental shift in the way work is done, organized, and communicated. What is your organization’s vision about how AI makes work better, not worse? Managers must start answering that question. To guide your thinking, use these three principles for reorganizing work around AI.

Digital platforms are often characterized as enablers of new ecosystems. However, platforms are sometimes introduced into pre-existing ecosystems, where a platform's ability to harmonize with the ecosystem is critical for its success. This article draws on the case of digital healthcare platforms and introduces the concept of platform grafting, which denotes the process of integrating a new platform into a pre-existing ecosystem, leading to a coevolutionary process of adapting both the platform and the surrounding ecosystem. Dynamic capabilities are critical for successfully integrating the platform into the ecosystem, and this article provides a capabilities framework for understanding platform grafting.

Beginning with an exploration of insurance player Ping An's evolution to contrast with HDFC ERGO's strategy adaptation to the Indian market, this case sheds light on HDFC ERGO's strategic shift towards a mindshare-centric ecosystem from its roots as a digitised insurance provider in India. The case starts with Ping An, which is perhaps the best-known successful example of an insurance-based multi-product (and multi-actor) ecosystem. It looks at Ping An's journey, emphasising its digital transformation, ecosystem expansions and technology integration. It then turns to HDFC ERGO, which aimed to create its own ecosystem, and considers the similarities and differences. Drawing parallels and contrasts with India's burgeoning startup ecosystem and the transformative India Stack, HDFC ERGO crafted unique strategic principles. It emphasised avoiding direct competition, offering tangential value, filling market voids and balancing mindshare with value. Utilising internal capabilities and market insights, HDFC ERGO focused on healthcare, leveraging data and digital infrastructure. The development of the 'Here' app exemplifies the company's strategic prowess, aligning healthcare solutions with customer preferences. The case illuminates HDFC ERGO's meticulous approach to tailoring an ecosystem strategy amid shifting market dynamics and technological landscapes, and shows how it built its multi-actor ecosystem in various verticals to support its multi-product ecosystem play. It showcases the company's adeptness in adapting strategies while embracing innovation, resonating with market needs to forge a unique path in the evolving digital insurance realm. This case study stands on its own, offering valuable lessons on strategic planning and execution in the rapidly evolving digital and consumer landscapes. However, when taught in conjunction with its sister case "HDFC ERGO: A product ecosystem built on mindshare" (LBS CS-24-009), students can gain a comprehensive understanding of both the macro-strategic vision and the micro-level steps that underpin HDFC ERGO's ecosystem approach. This complementary perspective enriches the learning experience, illustrating not just the 'why' and 'what' of HDFC ERGO's shift towards ecosystem building but also the 'how' of its implementation, which is what this case focuses on. This case sheds light on two sets of topics that are not covered in the previous case. First, it looks at the choices a firm needs to make as it builds an ecosystem: Which parts of it need to or should be built by itself?