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In 2013, three friends from college came together to found Zenatix, an Indian energy data analytics company. Based on Internet-of-things technology, the team built WattMan, a hardware-based product that could monitor the usage and performance of electrical assets such as air conditioners and refrigerators. It saved energy costs by suggesting corrective action. Zenatix faced challenges in identifying the right target market for WattMan and matching the product features to its clients' needs. By 2016, it had made two shifts in target markets and Zenatix had to convince investors of the potential of its latest target market, especially after adding a new control feature in WattMan III. With funds running low, this was a make-or-break situation for Zenatix.

Founded in 1989, Orpea Group (Orpea) was a French nursing care company that had successfully expanded into 10 European countries with a network of about 700 facilities. In early 2016, Orpea opened its first establishment in Asia in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Seeing an increased demand for elderly care in China, the Nanjing government encouraged the company. However, Orpea was facing several challenges, including cultural and legal differences between China and Europe, as well as competition with local companies. Orpea needed to determine how best to test the company's Nanjing facility in the Chinese market and whether or not to pursue further expansion in China.

In 2017, Chinese clothing manufacturer Qingdao Kutesmart Co. Ltd. (Kutesmart) had been transformed into a customer-to-manufacturer platform company, where customers could order individualized products directly from the makers over the Internet. Since 2000, Kutesmart had been upgrading its information system as its business strategy evolved, and the company had become a widely known, successful case study of mass-customization-based manufacturing in China. However, as the company leaped forward into the age of digitization and globalization, its founder faced a number of questions: How could Kutesmart extract more value from its data resources and technology? The company was assessing and pursuing a platform strategy; could this strategy help Kutesmart take its business to the next level? What were the opportunities and challenges?

In March 2019, two senior managers attending an executive education program had been assigned the task of applying their learnings from readings in order to estimate the costs of capital for Walmart Inc. (Walmart). They also needed to discuss why the cost of capital was such an important topic. The managers had with them background information, including a recent Walmart balance sheet and income statement; a U.S. Department of Treasury yield curve; Walmart's earnings, dividend, and stock price information; historical U.S. capital market returns; interest rates; and a detailed description of a long-term Walmart bond. Based on this information, the managers needed to estimate Walmart's cost of capital and be sure they understood why this mattered.

Student spreadsheet to case W19208

This case describes the journey of a Chinese snack food company, LYFEN, as it developed supply-chain processes and capabilities to compete successfully in a highly competitive market. It provides detailed information about LYFEN's quality-control processes and supply-chain management practices. A particularly interesting aspect of the case is the challenges faced by the company to deliver on customer expectations for food safety and the associated implications for brand image. The question of concern for the company president was how she could keep up with a quickly expanding market while ensuring quality through supply-chain management.

In January 2019, a second-year master of business administration student has come up with an idea for a new venture: sourcing products from her social contacts, using Instagram to direct traffic to her company website, and utilizing the postal service to deliver goods. Does a viable business opportunity really exist, or are there too many unknowns?

Henry Franklin works at Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine), a three-year-old, fast-growing organic orange juice manufacturer near Charleston, South Carolina. Before his employment at Sunshine, Franklin worked for about two decades in his family's business, Franklin's Hardware. Franklin learned a great deal during his time in the hardware business and hopes to use some of his insights to help Sunshine, which has been struggling to become profitable. This A case introduces inventory generally and highlights differences between "last in, first out" (LIFO) and "first in, first out" (FIFO) accounting. Franklin's manager asks him to prepare a LIFO/FIFO analysis for Sunshine based on real data so that he can present it in a management meeting.

Supplement to case UV7749 The B case in this series picks up after the protagonist, Henry Franklin, has delivered his recommendation to use "first in, first out" (FIFO) accounting to the management of Sunshine O.J. (Sunshine). CEO Don Sanchez is impressed with Franklin's idea and asks him and his boss, Virginia Silverstein, to look into another problem at the company: inventory stockouts.

This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens subsidiary Healthineers. The March 2018 offering of the health care technology firm was heavily anticipated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was Germany's largest IPO in more than 20 years. Healthineers was one of Siemens' most successful businesses, and its management board had a keen interest in its long-term success and in the valuation that financial markets would place on the company. The case allows students to learn about the IPO process, understand Siemens' strategic rationale, and estimate the value of Healthineers.

Student spreadsheet to case UV7866

Crafting a Founders' Agreement is an important component of startup infrastructure as it documents a complex set of decisions that build a company's roots. Its four key elements are: roles and responsibilities, rights (decision rights, rewards, position on board), commitments (time invested, IP, capital contributions) and contingencies (vesting, stock restrictions etc.). The note indicates how to initiate a conversation with a co-founder, and provides a checklist of questions that can serve as a conversation guide to draft the Founders' Agreement together. An Agreement is a framework, not a rigid set of rules set in stone, and should be created with flexibility and conditionality. The process of creating and revising the Agreement can bring clarity and commitment to the founding team and enable them to anticipate conflicts before they hurt the business. A Sample Agreement is included.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 519097.

Millennials are redefining what it means to develop future leaders. In business organizations, leadership development-defined as "the expansion of a person's capacity to be effective in leadership roles and processes"-has traditionally been the work of corporate development programs for select employees handpicked and cultivated by senior management. With the millennial generation of leaders, however, leadership self-development is becoming far more common. This note embraces the movement towards leader self-development. It also recognizes that, for it to be successful, those who are now in the driver's seat-the high-potential and emerging leaders themselves-must be equipped to succeed. The note lays out the PACE Model for leadership self-development, grounded in research, to help developing leaders forge systematic habits to accelerate self-development and success.

Blockchain technologies are benefiting from significant interest in both societal and business contexts. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have grown rapidly in user adoption over the past 8 years. However, blockchain technologies, which fuel cryptocurrencies, have the potential to extend to other business applications even more profoundly. Blockchain can be leveraged to drive innovation and increase efficiencies in new domains-including digital arts management, supply chains, and healthcare-but there remain technical, organizational, and regulatory headwinds that must be overcome before mass adoption can occur. In this article, we provide a brief history of blockchain and identify some of the key features that have enabled its popular uptake in the world of cryptocurrencies. We discuss how blockchain technologies have evolved from traditional software and web technologies and then examine their underlying strengths and evaluate new, noncryptocurrency use cases. We conclude with a look at the limitations of blockchain and present several important factors for managers considering blockchain implementation within their organizations.

In a global marketplace, customers are often unaware of the exact sources of the products they purchase and consume. To address this lack of awareness, blockchain technology can be implemented in supply chains to increase customers' knowledge of products' provenance. Provenance knowledge-information about products' origin, production, modifications, and custody-enables customers to be assured of their purchasing decisions. This assurance comes from information on the origin, authenticity, custody, and integrity of the product that helps reduce risk perceptions. We develop a provenance knowledge framework and show how its application can enhance assurances and reduce perceived risks via the application of blockchain. We present a guide on how to implement blockchain to establish provenance knowledge and close with a kind warning on the importance of demonstrating the value of blockchain to customers.

Much of the attention surrounding blockchain today has focused on financial services, with very little discussion about nonfinancial services firms and how blockchain technology may affect organizations, their business models, and how they create and deliver value. In addition, some confusion remains between Blockchain (capital letters) and blockchain (lower case), distributed ledger technologies, and their applications. Our article offers a primer on blockchain technology aimed at general managers and executives. The key contributions of this article lie in providing an explanation of blockchain, including how a blockchain transaction works and a clarification of terms, and outlining different types of blockchain technologies. We also discuss how different types of blockchain impact business models. Building on the well-established business model framework by Osterwalder and Pigneur, we outline the effect that blockchain technologies can have on each element of the business model, along with illustrations from firms developing blockchain technology.

The ongoing discussion on blockchain technologies is mainly focused on cryptocurrencies, but blockchain features and functionalities have developed beyond financial instruments. As the technologies provide new functionalities, the associated value proposition changes as well. This study explores the relationship between blockchain technologies and their underlying value drivers. Four identified distinct blockchain stages of increased maturity are analyzed and discussed. This covers the evolutionary technology types focused on transactions, smart contracts, decentralized applications, and the introduction of artificial intelligence supporting decentralized decision making. In addition, we address management issues around appropriate blockchain adoption through the use of a blockchain value driver driver-focused framework that gives decision makers actionable questions and recommendations. We provide practitioners with a method for assessing suitable blockchain adoption that addresses the specific value creation associated with a given organizational strategy. For academics, we critically identify and assess the characteristics of the blockchain stages and their strategy implications and provide a structured approach conceptualizing blockchain technology evolution.