個案總覽

Spreadsheet supplement to case 719455.

Founded in 2008, Khan Academy was a global educational nonprofit with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere in the world. By 2018, the organization had expanded into numerous content areas, product areas, and geographic markets. However, a newly minted 3-year strategic plan called for greater focus and prioritization to enable the young organization to maximize its impact. It also called for increased fundraising efforts to ensure long-term sustainability. The case poses several questions: how to balance Khan Academy's far-reaching aspirational vision for transforming education globally with the short term need for greater focus? Would the priorities set in the strategic plan enable Khan Academy to create systemic global change? How should donors evaluate the attractiveness and impact of a potential investment in Khan Academy relative to other organizations in the educational market? Was Khan Academy on the right path to ensuring long-term sustainability?

This note provides general information about climate change and its implications for business. Included is an overview of climate change science and a number of its impacts, including rising sea levels, changing weather patterns and extreme weather, pressure on water and food, political and security risks, human health risks, and impact on wildlife and ecosystems. Next, responses to climate change are outlined, including improvements in energy efficiency, moving away from fossil fuels, changes in land use and agriculture practices, and geoengineering. The note concludes with the debate over how much should be spent to mitigate and adapt to climate change, who should pay, and the implications for the private sector.

This case explores Ontario's Fair Hydro Plan, a 2017 policy of the Government of Ontario that aimed to reduce consumer electricity rates by borrowing to provide subsidies. This borrowing was to be repaid through increased rates levied on future consumers in the province. This policy was accounted for using the principles of rate-regulated accounting. The impetus for these changes was the rapidly rising electricity rates.

Marcos Galperin, a graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business, founded Mercado Libre in 1999 with a vision to build an e-commerce company focused on serving the nascent but fast- growing Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets in Latin America. In the spirit of a Silicon Valley start-up, the company was started in a garage in Buenos Aires. By 2006, Mercado Libre hosted the largest online trading platform in Latin America. Just prior to the company's 2007 IPO, Mercado Libre achieved what eluded most internet start-ups―profit. It had recorded $52 million in revenues and $1.1 million net income for the full year in 2006. The IPO itself raised $289 million. By 2019 Mercado Libre was largest online commerce ecosystem in Latin America based on unique visitors and page views. It operated in 18 countries across Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and El Salvador. Over the past 20 years, Mercado Libre had developed a diversified business model, one aimed at boosting electronic commerce. With the Mercado Libre Marketplace as the hub and engine, the company developed additional business units to provide payment solutions, logistics, financing, advertising and software services. The Mercado Libre ecosystem was designed to provide users with a complete portfolio of services to facilitate commercial transactions and to provide buyers and sellers with an environment that fostered the development of a large e-commerce community in Latin America, a region with distinctive cultural and geographic challenges. Mercado Libre had penetrated Latin America; however, Mercado Libre faced a formidable competitor - Amazon. Amazon entered Latin America in 2012 and was rapidly expanding.

Razorpay is one of the leading Indian business-to-business (B2B) payment solution providers. Its growth has been based on its technological leadership and service differentiation. While it has worked in a matured market so far, the company has recognised the need to enhance its business model and service offerings. It intends to reduce its dependence on its core payment gateway by launching multiple products covering payment processing and disbursement. It also plans to move to a more platform-centric business model by launching a digital lending marketplace. The case provides details for discussing the challenges involved in transforming the product and market strategy of Razorpay in an evolving B2B payment market.

This case focuses on Cindy Padnos's and Aileen Lee's experiences founding their own VC firms. It introduces some of the tradeoffs and challenges facing both founders. In particular, the case highlights some of their early investing experiences as women VCs and how those experiences shaped decisions with their funds.

A large-scale study in Europe of funding decisions finds that VCs evaluate male and female entrepreneurs by different standards. Savvy entrepreneurs can anticipate potentially biased responses to their pitches and plan accordingly. Certain tactics keep audiences engaged and confident of the idea's potential, positioning the petitioner to succeed.

The Peruvian government saw the opportunity to leverage digital technologies to increase transparency, rebuild trust, competence and credibility, and get closer to its constituents. In October of 2016, with the mandate to "bring the Government closer to its citizens through innovation," the government launched the Innovation Unit. In Peru, there was an increasing disconnect between society, markets, and public institutions. Lower than expected economic growth, a growing number of middle class citizens with unmet aspirations, and corruption had widened the gap between government and its constituents. In 2015, almost 94% of Peruvians perceived their central government as corrupt (vs OECD average of 65%). With digital transformation leaders who included Daniella Raffo, Heidi Uchiyama, and Zoila Palma, the Peruvian government saw an opportunity to use digital technologies as one tool to tackle the challenge. Case number 2171.0

This case is primarily about the opportunity for mid-career professionals to return to work after a career break. It focuses on the company iRelaunch, which helps companies develop and implement career re-entry programs and connects employees and employers. The case protagonist is Carol Fishman Cohen, co-founder of iRelaunch. The case also touches on the different types of return to work programs and includes a vignette on Chevron which highlights the experience of three women participating in the company's pilot return to work program.

The case describes TG Capital Limited (TG is the fictitious name of a real company) as a global investment fund founded in 2014. Having successfully invested in a few technology start-ups across Southeast Asia, Mainland China, and Hong Kong by working with major companies in these regions, TG is known for its technological expertise and investments. In 2019, when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city's de facto central bank and banking regulator, announced the issuance of another four virtual-banking licenses in addition to the first four. TG's management, which was committed to being the first to review all the latest technology-related opportunities and to moving into fintech, had to decide whether to step into the virtual-banking business by applying for a license.

In 2017, the chief information officer (CIO) of Midwest Health System (Midwest), a major health care provider in a central town in the United States, noticed that incorrect billing, data theft, waste, fraud, and abuse in the health care industry had increased over the years. Compliance requirements related to various rules and regulations had also posed increasing challenges. The CIO wanted to meet with his colleagues in the information systems and audit groups to review risks related to information technology and the billing and collection process-the most critical process in terms of its impact on Midwest's operations and financial statements. His plan was to modify and strengthen existing controls and to institute new ones to mitigate the significant risks identified. The CIO believed that better controls would enable Midwest to improve patient satisfaction and reduce loss of revenues due to incorrect billing, fraud, and other factors by ensuring better security processes while complying with various rules and regulations.

Supplement to 717028. The UK was due to leave the EU in March 2019 after a referendum vote in June 2016. Following additional extensions and multiple failed attempts to reach an agreement with Parliament, Theresa May stepped down as Conservative Party leader and was replaced by Boris Johnson. Johnson claimed that Brexit would happen "come what may". This case outlines the major controversial issues and compares Theresa May's agreement to Boris Johnson's.

Recent years have seen the dramatic rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands by several startups. Many of these brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, Harry's, Glossier, and Allbirds, entered mature markets dominated by established companies, and yet they grew rapidly to attain valuations over $1 billion. At the same time, some DTC brands such as Casper saw a significant drop in their valuations after going public. Are these DTC brands fads or the dawn of a new era? And how should incumbents respond?

This article examines the cardinal tenets of design thinking using the research, theory, and insights of social psychology. People's intuitions are often incorrect and, moreover, it is often difficult for people to revise their thinking. There are four principles common to many design thinking approaches: observe and notice; frame and reframe; imagine and design; and make and experiment. For each of these design thinking prescriptions, this article analyzes the social-psychological phenomena involved and illustrates practical applications from a real design thinking project at IDEO. Design thinkers and their companies can use these insights from social psychology to inform and inspire the design thinking process.