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The Ethics of Consulting
The consulting field, with its variety of different experiences and scenarios, often presents numerous challenges and conflicts for those involved. These vignettes, some based on actual situations, present a number of dilemmas in which the protagonists must determine the right course of action, often when that is not easily identifiable. These vignettes identify situations in which one's values, ethical judgment, and sense of fairness might be tested and where the road to a good resolution might not always be clear. -
Internal Control Review: The Practical Approach
A sound internal control system does not only help organizations satisfy their legal and compliance obligations. It also provides assurance that an organization can achieve its objectives and reduce financial losses through timely response to internal and external risks, failures and weaknesses. This case walks through the whole process of how consultants review the internal control system of an organization in practice, from understanding client's needs and setting project objectives, defining the scope of the review, evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of the controls, to identifying and remediating control deficiencies. -
The Importance of Culture and Support for Workplace Flexibility: An Ecological Framework for Understanding Flexibility Support Structures
Firms use flexible work arrangements (FWAs) to attract, retain, and satisfy human resource capital, while workers use them to manage work and nonwork demands and to reduce stress and conflict. Yet, even when firms have such policies on the books, employees often do not use them because they perceive a lack of support from their organization or their supervisor. Employees may even feel that they will be stigmatized for using such policies. Using an ecological framework, we examine factors that influence support for FWAs at multiple levels: the organization or business unit, the supervisor or work group, and the individual. We offer recommendations to address the mechanisms that affect FWA support at these levels of analyses and present ways organizational leaders may positively influence a work environment by supporting workplace flexibility. -
Bolstering the Female CEO Pipeline: Equalizing the Playing Field and Igniting Women's Potential as Top-Level Leaders
Females represent just 6% of Fortune 500 CEOs in the U.S. Which competencies, traits, motivations, and experiences drive female CEOs to the corner office? Our study includes interviews with 57 women, all current and former CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, in an effort to explore the common characteristics of female CEOs and record their experiences as well as actions organizations took that supported-and hindered-their leadership ascents. We found common themes of female CEOs' courage, risk taking, resilience, and ability to manage ambiguity. Women need not shy away from tough and unpredictable job assignments that will build these characteristics. To this end, we suggest steps organizations should take to cultivate a robust pipeline of female talent in the workplace. -
Evaluation of Workplace Lactation Support Among Employers in Two Pennsylvania Cities
A majority of mothers with infants less than 1 year old participate in the labor force. Employers can modify the physical and social environments at work to accommodate breastfeeding employees and enable continued participation in the labor force. The purpose of our article is to (1) characterize breastfeeding policies and programs offered at workplaces currently in two Pennsylvania cities and (2) identify improvement areas to support breastfeeding employees in the workplace. We partnered with two business groups on health in Pennsylvania and electronically administered a survey to their employer members. Responses were aggregated into a workplace lactation support score that included scores on physical space, time, policy, and resources. Higher scores indicate that employers offered a large number of workplace lactation supports. We conclude by offering specific improvement opportunities that include a written policy communicated to all employees and the formal communication of lactation services. Employers can utilize workplace lactation support scores to elect interventions that are feasible for implementation in their organizations. -
Workplace Incivility Against Women in STEM: Insights and Best Practices
As demonstrated by both empirical and non-empirical research, women are more likely than men to be a target of workplace incivility. This manifests in a variety of negative outcomes for female employees, including turnover intentions, poor performance, and higher levels of stress. The problem is exacerbated for women in STEM fields due to factors unique to these industries. Herein, we outline the unique characteristics of STEM organizations that can foster the creation and sustenance of an atmosphere promoting workplace incivility against female employees. Then, we provide five best practice recommendations geared toward reducing incivility, improving work climate, and promoting overall retention of women in STEM. -
Gender Diversity Issues in the IT Industry: How Can Your Sourcing Group Help?
In the information technology (IT) industry, women constitute only 33% of employees at the entry level and 17% at the leadership level. In this article, we outline the status of women in the workforce and discuss issues that affect their participation, with a specific focus on the IT sector. We claim that U.S. corporations can influence gender diversity in the IT industry by leveraging their relationships with IT suppliers. To this end, we propose the application of Nudge Theory during the strategic sourcing of IT services. We begin our narrative by describing the current state of gender diversity initiatives. Then, we detail gender diversity initiatives in the sourcing process as revealed by a survey on the topic as related to IT suppliers. We then briefly define Nudge Theory and provide examples of this theory as applied to an organization's supplier base. Finally, we present the details of our recommendation, which suggests that sourcing groups should include questions regarding women's participation in the IT supplier's workplace during competitive market events. We conclude with a call to action and a call to research. -
Forget about 'The Ideal Worker': A Theoretical Contribution to the Debate on Flexible Workplace Designs, Work/Life Conflict, and Opportunities for Gender Equality
This study integrates insights from Self-Determination Theory and Boundary Theory to present scenarios on how flexible workplace designs can trigger multiple motivational processes underlying gendered work/nonwork integration behaviors, and how these affect work/life conflict. We disentangle processes underlying work engagement and work/life conflict, explaining the paradoxical outcomes found with regard to gender inequality in terms of work/life performance, satisfaction, and health. Policy makers and organizations need an increased understanding and a reconceptualization of these issues, realizing that the ideal worker does not exist. Instead, a long-term perspective is needed in order to truly realize the potential benefits of flexible workplace designs for all stakeholders. Organizations need to take responsibility for preventing individual workers' depletion and stimulating the regeneration of workers' resources. -
Am I an Entrepreneur? How Imposter Fears Hinder Women Entrepreneurs' Business Growth
Although participation of women in entrepreneurship continues to grow, a gender-performance gap persists. While the differential inputs and values perspectives have investigated both external and internal forces that help explain this gap, neither perspective has considered an important cognitive mechanism that captures gender differences: identity. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of impostor fears in shaping entrepreneurial identity and the desire for business growth. Entrepreneurship has long been associated with masculine notions of success, which may lead women to discount themselves as 'real'entrepreneurs or successful in the context of these masculine norms. Our goal is to draw attention to women entrepreneurs' imposter fears in order to understand how women think about and construct their identity as entrepreneurs and subsequently contemplate the success and growth of their ventures. We also propose mitigating factors that can disrupt gendered norms and facilitate self-efficacy for women entrepreneurs in the pursuit of business growth. -
Exploring Job Crafting: Diagnosing and Responding to the Ways Employees Adjust Their Jobs
Recent research has developed an in-depth understanding of how workers change their jobs on their own to improve their performance and well-being, a process called job crafting. This research suggests that managers, coworkers, and organizations need a better understanding of how to manage job crafting to capitalize on its benefits and reduce costs. This article will help organizations diagnose the occurrence of job crafting, recognize the differences between goal-oriented approaches to job crafting as opposed to withdrawal-oriented avoidance job crafting, and identify the seven specific types of job crafting: work role expansion, social expansion, work role reduction, work organization, adoption, metacognition, and withdrawal. We conclude with recommendations for managers, coworkers, and organizations on how to diagnose and manage job crafting. -
Toward a Better Understanding of Corporate Accelerator Models
Corporate accelerator programs-accelerators managed by or directly sponsored by one or multiple established firms-are becoming an integral part of startup ecosystems and an important startup engagement vehicle for established firms. Previous research focused either on independent accelerators or on corporate accelerator programs that one established firm operates internally. However, new accelerator models emerged recently, making the corporate accelerator phenomenon more diverse. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the different types of corporate accelerators, along with their objectives and characteristics in order for managers to better understand which type best fits their organization. Our insights on corporate accelerators emerged from secondary data and interviewees from companies and accelerator programs. We used these insights to categorize the programs into four corporate accelerator models that vary according to number of participants and the accelerator's management structure and explain how companies can select the right model for their objectives. -
Toward the Workplace of the Future: How Organizations Can Facilitate Digital Work
The workplace of the future focuses on how and what work is done, not where and when it is done. Thus, organizations increasingly provide new and innovative information technology (IT) to create the workplace of the future by effectively facilitating digital work. However, digital work means more than just using new, innovative IT. Along with increasing flexibility, employees also crave balance and structure when, for instance, it comes to the blurred boundaries between private and business life. Our article investigates how three organizations from diverse domains establish digital work. Based on our empirical results, we identify four major management challenges organizations need to overcome in order to introduce digital work environments effectively. Further, we identify lessons learned and derive eight recommendations for organizations to facilitate digital work. -
Resolving the Jeopardies of Consumer Demand: Revisiting Demarketing Concepts
Demarketing is a way for managers to cope with excess and/or undesirable demand for their products or services. In this article, we revisit the original framework and modify the classification scheme of demarketing concepts introduced by Kotler and Levy to reflect more contemporary issues. Previously, general demarketing topics addressed ways to curb excess demand due to temporary shortages, chronic overpopularity, and product elimination-all from a microenvironmental perspective.Herein, we add macroenvironmental concepts of protective demarketing and preventive demarketing. Formerly, selective demarketing addressed either undesirable or unprofitable consumption of the legitimate product/service; today, however, many firms across several sectors are fighting against the undesirable consumption of illegitimate products/services, such as pirated and counterfeit goods. We thus introduce the notion of combative demarketing. We conducted personal interviews with several industry experts to provide insight regarding current demarketing tools. Our discussions highlighted various measures that managers can employ to manage consumer demand, including using smaller packaging to reduce sugar/fat content, increasing the price of water, limiting visitor access to national parks, and educating consumers to identify counterfeit goods. -
Rising Sun Towers: Private Equity Investment in Residential Real Estate
In December 2010, Shridhar Sethuram was evaluating an investment in a joint development of residential flats in Gachibowli, an information and technology (IT) hub near the city of Hyderabad in central India. Sethuram and his team at AMII Advisors, a private equity (PE) investment firm, had recently raised US$170 million with a mandate to invest the funds in the real estate market in India. Sethuram, on behalf of his investment firm, had to decide whether to invest in the Gachibowli project and how to structure the investment deal. This case is written from the perspective of a decision maker at a private equity investment fund. It provides a look at the manner in which a private equity real estate fund evaluates an opportunity and structures a real estate investment in a developing country. The case is set in India, where a large corpus of capital sourced from the US has been deployed since the early 2000s. -
Patanjali Ayurved: Valuation of an Unusual FMCG Company in India
An investment analyst at a fictional wealth fund (SWF) is concentrating on India's high-growth, high-potential fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector and selects a few strong performers in both public and private markets to recommend to the management as an investment. The Indian FMCG sector has been trading at high market multiples compared to other sectors, and thus, he also needs to analyze if these high valuation levels are justified. In valuing Patanjali, a privately-held company that is a very strong performer with an unusually rapid growth trajectory, he needs to factor in both tangible and intangible information, giving special attention to the company's unusual origins and atypical management. -
The Indian Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry
Background note for "Patanjali Ayurved: Valuation of an Unusual FMCG Company in India", case ISB178. -
JTC: Stronger Together with Shared Ownership
Nigel Le Quesne, CEO of Jersey-based financial services firm JTC, firmly believed that "shared ownership" was at the heart of his company's successful track record. The firm had seen its revenues, profits, and number of clients and staff grow steadily throughout its over 30-year history, and management attributed much of its competitive edge to its culture in which engaged employee owners had fully aligned interests and collaborated for the greater good of the firm. Le Quesne had seeded the first employee benefit trust with some of his own equity when becoming CEO in 1998, making all employees-from the receptionists to top executives-direct shareholders in the firm. Over time, the employee owned equity had grown from 5% to 23% and the trusts created significant value that had already been directly distributed to employees in two past pay-out events. In 2018, after JTC's successful IPO, Le Quesne and his leadership team have to decide if and how to adjust the shared ownership tools to their new public markets environment. -
Siemens and Healthineers: Valuing the IPO
This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens AG subsidiary Healthineers. The case offers the opportunity to discuss IPOs and to value the company. In contrast to "Healthineers: A Strategic IPO" (UV7866), which provides some base case valuation analysis, this version of the case is designed to be used when a primary teaching objective is to have students perform more of the analysis. The material is set in 2018, when CEO Joe Kaeser and the management board of Siemens planned an IPO of its Healthineers subsidiary to support the company's continued success and spur entrepreneurial independence. The IPO would position Healthineers to compete successfully in the global health care market, which was quite different from other sectors in which Siemens, a global technology conglomerate, operated. While Siemens would maintain a substantial equity interest, Healthineers would become a separate public company with increased flexibility and autonomy. In the immediate term, the management team was especially interested in what value financial markets would place on Healthineers once it was a public company. -
Samsung: The Internet of Things
In 2014, the Internet of things (IoT) was still considered in its infancy stage. Over the next two years, the IoT matured and represented a considerable amount of uncertainty for the entire electronics industry. In 2016, the industry was at an inflection point regarding the technology, and its largest competitors had to make a choice: risk investing in research and development for a potential return (or failure), or stay the course and let competitors assume the risk. The chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung), Boo-Keun Yoon, was in a position to take a stand in regard to the IoT and invest US$1.2 billion, which could have a major impact on the company's future. It was up to Yoon to decide. -
Digital Transformation at GE: What Went Wrong?
As recently as 2017, General Electric (GE) had been touted as an example of how established companies could pre-emptively transform their businesses digitally, without waiting to be forced to do so by their competition. But in 2018, the wheels appeared to fall off GE's transformation, amid a crisis that included leadership changes, dividend cuts, credit downgrades, and a stock price crash. The company announced that it would sell GE Digital, the newly built-up organization at the heart of its celebrated transformation. This case examines the digital transformation that GE had been attempting and the challenges it encountered. Students will develop ideas about what happened and what GE's experience means for digital transformation initiatives within other established firms.