<p align="justify">In response to the boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership attempted to placate dissatisfied consumers by reaffirming their support for conservative values and distancing the company from both the executive in charge of the promotional campaign and the transgender influencer it had partnered with. This course of action, however, not only failed to repair the company’s relationship with conservative consumers but also drew further criticism from liberal consumers who felt that the company’s response contradicted its core values of equity and inclusivity. This is the continuing B-case for product W36313.
<p align="justify">In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership faced a developing crisis in the United States after conservative backlash to a Bud Light promotional campaign in partnership with a transgender influencer led to a boycott of the brand. The promotional campaign aimed to appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience but ultimately resulted in Bud Light losing significant sales and market share. This put the brand at risk of losing its competitive advantage, brand value, and long-standing position as the leading beer brand in the United States. This case is the first in a continuing A-B case set.
In May 2022, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer), Albert Bourla, announced an initiative called “An Accord for a Healthier World” to supply less-developed countries with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and the oral antiviral drug Paxlovid. The program sought to reach 1.2 billion people in 45 countries with a focus on treating diseases that disproportionately affected low-income countries. The initiative was part of the company’s goal to reduce the number of people around the world who could not afford their medicines by 50 per cent. Bourla’s plan was to reach that goal by 2023.<br><br>The move was in response to criticism that Pfizer was not doing enough to get vaccines to people in less-developed countries. The CEO acknowledged the challenges of distribution, such as poor infrastructure, misinformation, and corruption and stated that solutions should address these underlying problems, rather than focusing on the cost of vaccines. He also stated that a vaccine patent waiver would not be effective because other countries did not have the necessary infrastructure or knowledge to safely produce high-quality vaccines. The waiver would also set a precedent for future endeavours, potentially making manufacturers reluctant to develop new treatments. However, how could Pfizer effectively communicate its efforts to address global health inequities?
In 2017, the new chairman of A. P. Møller-Maersk confronted one of the worst cyberattacks in history, which crippled the company's vast global shipping network that accounted for nearly 20 per cent of global container shipping. NotPetya was a particularly virulent strain of ransomware that, within seconds, destroyed Maersks’s servers and personal computers around the world. Maersk's senior system administrators had warned the company that its network was vulnerable, but the necessary upgrades were never completed. How can the company recover from this devastating event? And how can it protect itself from cyberattacks in the future?
In the summer of 2016, the unprecedented growth of Pokémon GO introduced augmented reality into mainstream gaming. Pokémon GO was developed by San Francisco-based Niantic, Inc. (Niantic), a highly successful spinoff from Google Inc., which partnered with the Japanese video game company Nintendo Co., Ltd. to bring the popular video game franchise into the mobile gaming sphere. Niantic's version included the innovative use of augmented reality, a technology that merged artificial reality with the real world. Although this strategy was a fresh approach, it also presented risks. Niantic was determined to shut down cheating apps and websites that were overloading the company's servers and giving some players unfair advantages. Some players were dismayed by Niantic’s actions and by the apps and websites themselves, while others predicted that the game's popularity would disappear as quickly as it had grown. By late 2016, Niantic needed to decide how to move forward. Should Pokémon GO continue to evolve as an augmented-reality game, with teams and live events, or should Niantic create a new gaming experience focused on features from the original Pokémon games? Alternatively, should the company partner with third-party developers, including those that had developed popular cheating apps and websites? Finally, how should Niantic fund its unexpected growth?
The senior vice-president for sustainable investing at the U.S.-based Pax World Funds, a leader in socially responsible investing, needed to identify and invest in companies for the company's Pax Ellevate Global Women's Leadership Fund, an investment fund that promoted labour rights through gender equality. The fund had more than US$200 million in assets under management, a 25 per cent one-year rate of return, and a three-year annual rate of return of 10 per cent. In June 2018, a newly hired analyst was asked to evaluate a company to determine its suitability as a potential gender-lens investment target for the fund, using specific socially responsible investing criteria. She wondered how she should evaluate the company. What characteristics would make it suitable as an investment target for the fund?
The founders of Flytenow, Inc. (Flytenow), a tech start-up dubbed the Uber of the skies, faced a crisis when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration determined that Flytenow's customers, namely private pilots, would be violating holding out regulations if they used the service. Flytenow had just completed a three-month mentorship program at Y Combinator, the most prestigious Silicon Valley-based new venture accelerator, which had already helped start Airbnb Inc., Reddit, and Dropbox. The news came on the eve of the company's most important funding round. Should the founders go ahead with their planned funding pitch, or develop a new strategy to address the sudden regulatory barriers?
The chief executive officer of Scotbar Proprietary Limited (Scotbar) in Queensland, Australia, decided to develop a process to convert sandstone to sand, a technique that large multinational mining companies failed to perfect. The stakes could not have been higher, with global environmental disaster looming and the world quickly depleting its reserves of construction sand, severely affecting coastal communities and destroying marine ecosystems in the process. After spending years and millions of dollars on research, Scotbar appeared to have developed a process to produce construction sand, although more expensive than natural sand. Scotbar decided not to patent its process in hopes that more companies would adopt it and thereby reduce the harmful impact of mining on the environment. Was Scotbar’s approach to sustainability through innovation an effective response to the environmental legacy of more traditional mining processes? Was the company’s approach to intellectual property appropriate in this context?
In 2015, the chief content officer at Netflix was responsible for the company’s globalization strategy, which included $5 billion in new content and an expansion to nearly every part of the world by the end of 2017. Although original programming helped Netflix to grow its subscriber base, it was also very expensive. As a result, Netflix earnings were declining even as the company added new subscribers. The company's chief financial officer warned that the financial situation would only worsen due to the high fixed costs associated with content development and international expansion. See supplement 9B16M119.<br><br>The case is a sequel to “Netflix lnc.: Streaming Away From DVDs” (9B12M040), which provides a history of Netflix, examines its U.S. strategy, and familiarizes students with both the impact of disruptive technologies and the link between technology and business model viability. This case can be used to build on the lessons outlined in the previous case. It also works as a stand-alone case, either to focus on international market entry and globalization or to examine the challenges that digital media companies face, particularly piracy and content regulations.
The case supplement focuses on the implementation of Netflix's global expansion in early 2016. As criticism of its strategy mounts, the company's share price declines and Netflix encounters problems with censorship and content laws in various countries. ln some locations, governments attempt to block the service. This is a supplement to 9B16M118.
The investment manager for Norfund, a Norwegian development finance institution, is seeking additional investors for a private equity fund focused on the African nation of Angola. After several large development banks reject the investment opportunity, the European Investment Bank agrees to conduct due diligence before making a potentially significant investment in the fund. The investment manager sees Angola as an investment area with high potential, but faces skepticism by investors who worry about potential risks after previous failed attempts to invest in the country.
Google Skybox designed and managed small satellites that captured high-definition images of the Earth's surface. The company then sold the images or the analysis of the images to commercial and government customers.<br><br>The founders initially intended to use the satellites for societal purposes, such as monitoring carbon emissions, but quickly refocused on profit-making applications when they realized that the viability of the project depended on the ability to sell products to commercial customers. Over time, the company has been increasingly diverging from its original purpose. The dilemma facing the founders is how to do the right thing, but also make a profit.
Nypro, Inc., a global leader in manufactured precision plastic products headquartered in Clinton, Massachusetts, had one of the largest employee stock ownership plans in the United States and was often held up as an example of best practices in that area. However, in early 2012, its president and chief executive officer became increasingly concerned that a market downturn might turn into a liquidity crisis. During the 2008 recession, a small percentage of the company’s employee shareholders had decided to cash in their shares, which the company was required to repurchase. Although the stock redemptions were draining the company of the funds needed to pursue valuable market opportunities, it somehow still managed to outperform many of its competitors. However, some believed that the company’s current trajectory was unsustainable. Its visionary leader had vowed never to sell the company or take it public, but when an offer was made to buy the company, many felt it was time to make this move. See supplements 9B14N029, 9B14N030 and student spreadsheet 7B14N028.
In May 2013, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, proposed to create the Churches’ Mutual Credit Union as an alternative to payday lenders. His chief target was Wonga.com, an online provider of short-term loans that was founded in 2006 in the United Kingdom and quickly grew to become the largest payday lender in the country. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, short-term lenders saw a rapid increase in business as banks tightened their lending standards. However, they often charged as much as 5,000 per cent interest or more. Customers were frequently unsophisticated borrowers, and Wonga’s advertising appeared to be directed to vulnerable populations and children. The archbishop did not feel that regulation was the answer to payday lenders and instead sought to compete with them. Is his strategy viable?
Knauf Gips is a global leader in gypsum and related products. In 2009, the country manager for Iran was arrested for participating in anti-government protests during the “Green Revolution.” At the time, news media were reporting an increasing number of cases of imprisonment, torture and death of anti-government activists at the hands of Iranian security forces. Shortly afterward, Knauf’s regional director received a communique from Iranian officials demanding that Knauf direct all its employees to refrain from anti-government activities. In exchange, the country manager would be released. Also available is case supplement 9B14M092.