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Between 1985 and 2007, Danaher has been one of the best-performing industrial conglomerates in the U.S. This case examines the corporate strategy of this diversified, global corporation. It describes the firm's portfolio strategy and the Danaher Business System-a systematic and wide-ranging set of organizational processes the firm has developed to drive growth and create value. In 2008, the firm confronts various challenges in sustaining its impressive historical performance. First, can it continue to balance organic and acquisition-led growth? Second, what will be the impact of increased competition from private equity players? Third, for how long can its strategy of "continuous improvement" continue?

This case describes the trials and tribulations that tested Yung Kee Restaurant, a Chinese roast goose restaurant in Hong Kong. The former Michelin-star eatery, founded by Kam Shui-fai, received several other accolades, including recognition by Fortune magazine as one of the world's best restaurants. Unfortunately, with the passing on of Kam Senior in 2004, a bitter feud over the ownership and management of Yung Kee erupted among his children; the public dispute tore the family apart. At one point, Kam family members refused to even acknowledge one another in social settings. In July 2010, the elder Kam brother, Kinsen, applied to the Hong Kong High Court to liquidate Yung Kee Holdings, if his younger brother, Ronald, refused to buy out his stake. In 2015, the court instructed Yung Kee Holdings to close its business, which could spell the end of the restaurant, which was its crown jewel and a culinary institution in the city. Fast forward to 2020, Yung Kee has survived the ordeal. A third-generation member of the Kam family became Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the restaurant and helms the family business. What could have been done better in terms of corporate governance? In what other ways could the family business be organised?

HCL Technologies Ltd., one of the big four information technology companies in India, had established a corporate entrepreneurship function within its enterprise technology office (ETO). As part of its aspiration to scale up its corporate entrepreneurship activities, the ETO had adopted an ecosystem innovation strategy, and in 2020, the ETO team was deliberating how to standardize and institutionalize its corporate entrepreneurship practices, enhance the platform technology, and build a culture of innovation to leverage the newly adopted ecosystem innovation strategy.

Angus MacIntyre, CEO of Dumbarton Bearing Supply, LLC (Dumbarton), is deciding whether to introduce a new ceramic ball-bearing product line and whether to produce those bearings by refitting an existing production line or by building a new production line. The initial analysis favors a refit-despite a much higher variable cost, the investment is relatively small, and as a result this approach poses little risk. However, this analysis does not recognize the possibility that Dumbarton could abandon the new product line and recoup much of its investment in scenarios where demand for the new bearings is low. The ability to abandon the product line at a later date is a classic "real option." When properly recognized, this real option flips the conclusion on the production choice-it allows Dumbarton to capture the benefits of a newly built line's very low marginal cost while mitigating the risk created by a larger investment. The case provides insights into option-like features of decisions without any use of option-pricing tools. This case has been used successfully to introduce real options in Darden's core finance curriculum, a specialty master's degree program in data analytics, and an Executive Education program. It would be appropriate either in a sequence of cases covering optionality or as a later case in a sequence of cases on net present value (NPV) analyses. Any student with an understanding of basic NPV analysis can execute the required work, so the case can be used in a wide variety of settings. The emphasis can be easily shifted from technical modeling (advanced techniques in valuation) to intuition (strategic choices) as needed.

This note explores the selection of investment managers and the performance-measurement tools associated with this important task. In selecting investment options for a firm's 401(k) plan, identifying possible managers to oversee a portion of an endowment's or foundation's investment portfolio, or a retail investor's decision of which fund to choose for their regular investment account, investment performance is likely to play an important role. In this technical note, we explore a number of different performance measures that may be used to select managers, including total return, alpha, and information ratio, and a key risk measurement used in this approach, tracking error.

Unconventional monetary policy has become the norm since the 2008 financial crisis. Central bank balance sheets have swelled and new tools for interest rate control have now emerged. This technical note provides a framework to help students understand the nature of unconventional monetary policy and interpret recent changes in how short-term policy rates are controlled. It can serve as a technical supplement to an event-study case on monetary policy responses to the 2008 financial crisis and/or the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also complement a case on monetary policy in a world with central bank digital currency. Alternatively, it can form the basis of its own tool-building class ahead of such cases.

This technical note aims to guide discussion on three strategic moves that are designed for multipoint competition: thrust, feint, and gambit. It will examine how these moves might be applied for multipoint competition within the pet food industry. In the 1980s, pet food companies competed across many different subsegments of cat and dog food, requiring complex and creative multipoint competition strategies to win market shares.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Technical Note UV8357

China's gold jewelry market was for a long time very homogenous: brands all offered very similar products and provided discounts to gain a competitive advantage. For many years, even Chow Tai Fook (hereinafter 'CTF'), an industry leader that boasted superior product design and craftsmanship, suffered from low profit margins and sluggish sales growth. Furthermore, CTF's competitors constantly tried to mimic its pricing and sales strategies to seize market share. It was against this backdrop of fierce competition that CTF launched the HUÁ Collection in September 2017. The new collection targeted the high-end market and was a resounding success, as well as an industry game-changer. However, as the HUÁ Collection gained market share and production scaled up, this gave rise to new challenges: How could CTF disrupt the homogeneous gold jewelry market through brand innovation? How could it maintain HUÁ's brand value while scaling up production? Moreover, how could it respond to an endless stream of imitation products and plagiarism?

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), an Indian automotive giant, was pursuing strategies to retain the leading position in the domestic automotive space. Traditionally an SUV manufacturer, M&M created a new vertical-Advanced Technology Solutions (ATS)-to spearhead technology development as a means of competing with the multinational companies entering India. ATS's technology pursuits had already translated into several successful products; however, by 2019, the head of ATS had reasons to be concerned about the unit's future. The major areas of concern included investing in frontier technologies, bridging the time lag between technology conceptualization and deployment, and holding the team together into the future.

Selling oneself is something that we have to do every day in both professional and personal settings. We face it when we apply for a job, advocate for a promotion or a raise, vie for a leadership position, attempt to land a new client, write a dating profile, or meet a new friend. In today's world driven by a sharing economy reliant on one's personal reputation as currency, populated by so-called influencers, and with all of our day-to-day lives captured, packaged, and shared on social media, we are all brands, and thus we need to understand how to market ourselves. This note is designed to help you better understand how to identify, clarify, communicate, embody, and strategically manage your personal brand so that it strongly and clearly signifies and signals the unique value you have to offer. Personal branding allows you to own and tell your story - empowering you to make the difference you wish to achieve in your life and in the greater world.

Online retailers may assume that customers value speed above all else when it comes to the delivery of goods ordered, but research shows that customers value other things when it comes to attended home delivery. This article explains why it's important to analyze customer data to determine actual preferences before making costly decisions to optimize delivery networks.

Honorable Mention; DEI Global Case Writing Competition. COVID-19 had been one of the deadliest pandemics ever seen, causing nearly two million deaths and 100 million cases worldwide. With no vaccine in sight for the public until at least January 2021, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer of British Columbia (BC), had to steer the Canadian province through the COVID-19 pandemic. Had Dr. Henry overlooked the implications that factors such as ethnicity, language, and race had for the fight against COVID-19? Public health messaging destined for racialized and diverse communities was inherently complex, and social media had already erupted with posts from many frustrated members of visible minority communities. Dr. Henry wondered what communications strategy, if any, should be urgently set in motion to help curb the increase in COVID-19 cases. Who should the communications strategy target? What message should be delivered and through what channels? The lives of BC residents were in Dr. Henry's hands.

This case explores the role of deposit insurance in financial stability, including the importance of risk-adjusted insurance premiums and the complementarity between capital requirements and deposit insurance when risk is imperfectly measured by the insurer. The case is intended to follow a class on maturity transformation (e.g., as presented in ""The Economics of Maturity Transformation"" [UVA-GEM-0191]). It begins with a fictional cryptocurrency exchange, Koble, which proposes to conduct maturity transformation outside of the current purview of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The chair of the FDIC, Jelena McWilliams, now faces a huge normative question: should deposit insurance be extended to Koble? Her answer could change the trajectories of both the FDIC and the cryptocurrency market. The case reviews the history of deposit insurance in the United States and concludes with a series of questions for McWilliams to ponder, specifically questions that connect Koble to the historical lessons.

This case explores private and public proposals for digital forms of money that bypass the commercial banking system. A private proposal comes from Facebook's Libra. A public proposal comes from central bank digital currency (CBDC). The case begins with Mark Zuckerberg's vision for Libra and the ensuing pushback from policymakers. One of the main concerns-financial stability-is revisited during a tour of the arguments for and against a CBDC. The introduction of the first official CBDC by the Central Bank of the Bahamas is then discussed. The case closes with Zuckerberg pondering the economics of Libra in a bid to bring policymakers on board. The case is intended to follow a class on the economics of cryptocurrency (e.g., as presented in "The Economics of Cryptocurrency" [UVA-GEM-0190]). Prior exposure to the causes of and responses to the 2008 financial crisis is also strongly recommended to permit a substantive discussion of financial stability risks.

The case describes the patrimonial situation of Marcela and Jorge Mansilla. The siblings descend from a family of landowners with fields in the province of Buenos Aires. They developed gastronomy and real estate activities and diversified risks. However, the bifurcation of destinations and businesses generated constant friction between the siblings. Frequent discussions made the situation very tense, and they are determined to do something to prevent money issues from affecting their relationship. The solution they intend to explore is to share the assets where each of them has the most control. For this, it is necessary to value the various businesses that the family holds.

Jinfeng (David) Huang founded Yatsen Holding Limited in 2016 and launched the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) cosmetic brand, Perfect Diary, in 2017. Perfect Diary used social influencers or key opinion leaders (KOL) to successfully build brand awareness and to grow sales. By 2020, Perfect Diary was the second largest cosmetics brand in China behind Maybelline. Yet, as more brands used social influencers, Perfect Diary is facing increasingly fierce KOL competition. In resolving the problem, Huang has decided to build a multi-brand company by expanding into skincare. Could Yatsen compete with large legacy companies like L'Oréal and P&G in skincare? Huang needs to assess if the company could continue to grow using KOLs who helped successfully build Perfect Diary.

This background note is intended to provide context for a discussion of the strategies for big integrated oil companies in light of both oil's current role in the global energy system and the uncertainty about changes going forward.

Orchadio, a direct-to-consumer grocery business, needs to conduct its first two A/B tests-one to evaluate the effectiveness and functioning of its newly redesigned website, and one to market-test four versions of a new banner for the website. To do so, it will rely on a technology management platform designed by Split Software, whose feature flags allow Orchadio engineers to (1) turn specific software features on and off and (2) to limit access to those features to specific groups of website visitors. These capabilities in turn enable A/B feature testing. Split also offers data analytics to allow Orchadio to assess how its tests affect a plethora of Orchadio's business, software, and operating metrics. Orchadio managers now need to decide how to design their experiments for maximum impact, including whether or how to sequence them.