The case is set in 2023. The protagonist is Elon Musk, CEO and Technoking of Tesla, Inc. The vertically-integrated clean technology company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells high-performance fully electric vehicles (EVs) and energy generation and storage systems. Tesla had sales of $81 billion and generated over $12 billion in net income in 2022. Tesla's stock market valuation peaked at over $1.2 trillion in early 2022. Tesla's market cap had fallen by more than 50% to $600 billion by spring 2023. When introducing Master Plan 3, Musk reiterated that Tesla would produce 2 million vehicles in 2023 and then increase its production rate by 10x to reach 20 million EVs annually by 2030. Tesla would also be prominent in transitioning the global economy to sustainable energy. The Tesla CEO was surprised that investors were not impressed with Master Plan 3, as Tesla's stock dropped by 6% the next day.

The case is set in 2023. The protagonist is Laxman Narasimhan, Starbucks' CEO since April 1st, 2023. Starbucks is a multinational coffee company and restaurant chain with 36,000 locations worldwide, over $32 billion in revenues, and net income in 2022 of $3.3 billion. In the past five years, the company's performance has languished. CEO Narasimhan's task is to identify Starbucks' challenges as of 2023, prioritize them, and develop and implement a strategy to address them. With the U.S. in an economic downturn resulting from high inflation, Starbucks struggles to control costs. Low employee morale in the U.S. led to some 280 stores unionizing since 2021. Starbucks also bet big on China. With China lifting its zero-Covid policy, this country's revenue contribution will soon exceed 20% of Starbucks' total revenue.

The case is set in 2023; the protagonist is Chris Kempczinski, CEO of McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's is the world's largest hamburger fast-food restaurant chain, with 40,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, $23 billion in annual revenue, and a net income of $6 billion. Since being appointed CEO in 2019, Kempczinski launched the Accelerating the Arches strategic initiative (MCD, also the ticker symbol): maximize our Marketing, commit to the Core Menu, and double down on the 4 Ds of delivery, digital, drive-thru, and development. Although McDonald's has significantly outperformed the broader stock market for most of the past decade, Kempczinski wonders how long this can last. McDonald's faces significant headwinds, including recessionary pressure, high inflation, supply chain problems, rising wages, and significant labor shortages.

By the time Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019, OxyContin had accumulated $35 billion in sales. In a few short years before the bankruptcy filing, the Sackler family siphoned off $13 billion in profits, making them one of the world's wealthiest billionaires. The case discusses the ethically questionable tactics that the Sackler family employed to turbocharge the supply-induced demand for OxyContin, including creating a national pain movement, obtaining FDA approval, downplaying the risks of addiction, ignoring symptoms of addiction, ambitious sales representatives, targeting high prescribers, pampering physicians, addressing regulatory changes, and hiring McKinsey. Purdue Pharma coopted regulators, medical accreditation boards, hospitals, and doctors to do their bidding. As a result, over one million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 2000.

The case is set in January of 2023; the protagonist is Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber Technologies, Inc. Uber operates a diversified ride-hailing and transportation platform in over 70 countries, some 10,000 cities, and has 120 million active monthly users. The Uber online network lets users connect with drivers through a smartphone app to request rides and food or grocery deliveries. In 2022, although Uber had revenues of $32 billion, it lost more than $9 billion, bringing the total company net losses since 2016 to almost $30 billion. CEO Khosrowshahi recognizes several issues he needs to address: 1) how to achieve consistent profitability, 2) how to attain scale and scope economies within its widely-diversified technology platform, and 3) the risk of Uber experiencing a diversification discount.

The case is set in 2022, and the protagonist is Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Inc. - an online rental platform. As the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the U.S. in 2020, Airbnb faced an existential crisis. The travel company lost 80% of its bookings and 72% of its revenue in just eight weeks. Airbnb's market cap dropped to $57 billion, down 56% from its high of $130 billion just 18 months earlier. Before the pandemic, 80% of Airbnb's business was cross-border and short-term rentals. This case presents the strategic initiatives Airbnb implemented when executing an emergency pivot. It concludes with the challenges CEO Chesky faces post-pandemic, including a macro environment of high inflation and recession, lack of consistent profitability, and uncertainty as to whether pandemic travel trends and work arrangements are the new normal.

The protagonist of the case is Bob Iger, who has been appointed CEO of Disney for a second term. During Bob Chapek's brief tenure as CEO (2020-22), Disney's streaming business lost $4 billion in 2022, and net income fell to $3 billion, down from $11 billion in 2019. Disney's stock has underperformed the S&P 500 index by 56 percentage points. Dubbed the streaming wars, Disney must contend with several competitors, some with deep pockets: Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube TV. As employee morale reaches a low point, Iger must decide which organizational structure to put in place to allocate resources and distribute content, given the diversified nature of Disney as well as the ongoing industry transformation.

The case is set in 2022. The protagonist is Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy-a consumer electronics retailer. Corie Barry is the fifth leader since the company was founded in 1966. She is the first female leader of Best Buy and one of the youngest CEOs of an S&P 500 company. Barry had to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, including furloughing employees, supply chain problems, and dealing with excess inventory. CEO Barry still confronts multiple challenges in ensuring a future for Best Buy, including demand collapsing with rising interest rates and inflation. To adapt and grow revenues, she is attempting to leverage Best Buy's customer service into digital healthcare. However, this corporate strategy initiative comes with unfamiliar competitors and may fail. At the same time, competitive pressures in the core business of electronics retailing are increasing.

The protagonist of the case is Robert Joseph (RJ) Scaringe, Rivian's founder and CEO. Rivian designs, develops, and manufactures electric adventure vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). From its peak, Rivian's market capitalization had fallen to $18 billion, down almost 90%. In 2022 alone, Rivian's stock had dropped 82% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index had fallen by 34%. To make matters worse, in the first nine months of 2022, Rivian lost over $5 billion, bringing the new venture's total losses to more than $11 billion. Given persistent post-pandemic supply chain challenges, combined with an adverse macro environment because of high inflation and recessionary pressures, he is fretting about how to produce 50,000 vehicles in 2023. Low employee morale and executive turnover complicate an already challenging situation.

The case is set in 2023. The protagonist of the case is Tim Cook, Apple's CEO since 2011. CEO Cook worries about how long Apple can sustain its superior performance. Many of Apple's challenges are tied to the iPhone, one of the most iconic product innovations of the 21st century. CEO Cook must address supply chain challenges, exposure to the Chinese market, lack of innovation, pivot towards services, and increased regulatory scrutiny. With sales in 2022 of $400 billion and $100 billion in profits, Apple was the first tech company to reach a market valuation of $3 trillion (01/2022). By designing category-defining products and embedding them in a service ecosystem, the Cupertino-based company has enjoyed sustained success while many other tech companies have floundered.

The case is set in 2023. The protagonists are Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, co-CEOs of Netflix, a subscription streaming service and content production company. In Q4 2022, Netflix gained 7.7 million new subscribers (223 million worldwide) after losing 1.2 million in the year's first half. The scale of subscriber defection (in Q1 and Q2) across all geographic regions other than Asia concerned investors. By mid-2022, Netflix's share price plummeted by over 72%. The streaming company's market capitalization fell from $306 billion in November 2021 to a low of $74 billion, a loss of $232 billion. Dubbed the streaming wars, Netflix must contend with a host of competitors, some of them with deep pockets: Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube TV, among others.

The case is set in the fall of 2022. The protagonist is Barry McCarthy, who replaced John Foley, Peloton's founder, as CEO earlier that year. Peloton Interactive, Inc. (Peloton) is a fitness and media company specializing in internet-connected exercise equipment such as stationary bicycles and treadmills. Over the 2018-2021 period, Peloton grew its revenues at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 110%. Yet, by 2022, Peloton was in crisis. Total revenues remained flat at $3.6 billion, and Peloton lost almost $3 billion that year. Its market cap had fallen 94% from a peak of nearly $50 billion (2021) to less than $3 billion (2022). Barry McCarthy's strategic intent is to pivot Peloton to a subscription-based content business. Previously, when serving as chief financial officer at Netflix and Spotify, Barry McCarthy successfully implemented a content-based subscription model. Can he achieve similar success at Peloton?

The case is set in January 2020 and the case protagonist is Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Inc., a fully integrated sustainable energy and transportation company. The case sets up real-world, factual problems that Elon Musk and Tesla face, including how to scale-up production profitably while launching several new models at the same time. Future demand in Tesla's key markets-the United States, China, and Europe-is also uncertain. Tesla, Inc. employed about 50,000 people worldwide and boasted a market capitalization of $150 billion, an appreciation of more than 6,000 percent over its initial public offering in 2010. This made the electric vehicle startup more valuable than GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler combined and the second most valuable auto company globally, only behind Toyota Motor Corp. but ahead of the Volkswagen Group, the world's two largest car manufacturers. To put Tesla's stock market valuation in perspective, in 2019, GM and Ford combined made more than 10 million vehicles while Toyota and Volkswagen each made over 10 million. In comparison, Tesla made less than 370,000 cars.

The case is set in early 2019; and the protagonist of the case is Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Inc.-an online platform that offers global hospitality services. The co-founder and CEO wonders when he should take Airbnb public, and perhaps more importantly, how going public would change the community-based company. In 2019, Airbnb had 5 million listings in over 81,000 cities in 190 countries. Airbnb offers more accommodations than the three biggest hotel chains combined: Marriott, Hilton, and InterContinental. In the same year, Airbnb was valued at $31 billion, making it the third most valuable private company in the world, behind Uber ($72 billion) and Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing service, ($56 billion). Airbnb's $31 billion valuation was just shy of that of Marriott, the world's largest hotel chain, that was valued at $37 billion (in early 2019). Airbnb's revenues to reached $4 billion (in 2018), while being profitable for the past few years.

The case is set in November 2019, and the protagonist is Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. From humble beginnings as an online book retailer, Jeff Bezos has built Amazon into one of the most valuable companies globally with a market cap of some $900 billion in 2019. Amazon has continued to diversify by integrating online and brick-and-mortar retail, hardware and software, products and services, and as well as original content creation and delivery via online streaming. Amazon Prime delivers content to over 100 million subscribers in the U.S. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest provider of cloud computing services, with $35 billion in sales and a 26 percent profit margin. Amazon's microtargeted online advertising services are growing rapidly. Yet, Amazon's retail business continues to display low profitability with thin margins of two percent, following years of losses. Amazon's overwhelming dominance in online commerce as a direct participant and as a provider of backend services to other firms is leading to calls for it to be broken up or to be regulated as a utility. Other strategic issues Jeff Bezos must address include continued diversification and international competition. Amazon's hard-charging workplace culture is also discussed.

The case is set in September 2019 and the protagonist is Tim Cook, the CEO at Apple, Inc. In 2019, Apple had revenues of $260 billion; yet, net revenues were down by 7 percent over the same period. Much of the decline in Apple's revenues is a result of decreased sales of the iPhone, which contributed 62 (!) percent of Apple's total revenues in 2018, and declined to 54 percent in 2019. The case highlights the problems Tim Cook faces as demand of the iPhone slows, and Apple has failed to introduce any major new product since the iconic iPhone was launched in 2007. Trade tensions between the United States and China, moreover, are also negatively impacting the company. Over the past few years, the Chinese market accounted for 25 percent of Apple's total revenues. Apple is exposed to the trade tensions in two ways in particular. Moreover, the threatened imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods by the United States would further hurt Apple by raising the effective cost of Apple products in the United States because almost all of their manufacturing is done in China by Foxconn. Finally, Apple recently entered the video-streaming market, with its Apple TV+ service, which will develop original programming as well as act as a pipeline for other channels. This is a crowded market with strong existing players such as Netflix, Hulu (controlled by Disney), and AT&T's HBO. Other notable new entrants into the content streaming market include Disney+.

McDonald's newly appointed CEO Chris Kempczinski, who assumed office on November 4, 2019, is the protagonist of the case. With $21 billion in sales (in 2019) and 45,000 restaurants globally (thereof 27,000 in the United States), McDonald's remains the largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain. Attempting to be "everything for everybody," McDonald's fell victim to being "stuck-in-middle," without a clear strategic position. Kempczinski must confront several challenges if he is to return the company to its former glory, including: 1) How to balance the need to introduce new items while addressing "menu bloat"? 2) How to re-establish the reputation for quality products? 3) How to appeal to Millennials? 4) How to upgrade the customer experience through all channels and locations (in-store, delivery, and drive-through)? 5) How to reignite growth?

The case is set in January 2020 and the case protagonist is John Donahoe, Nike's new CEO. Nike is the largest company worldwide in the athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment business. The case focuses on the challenges Donahoe faces as he attempts to drive Nike to the goal of $50 billion in annual revenues by 2021. The case focuses on Nike's competition, the convergence of technology with apparel and footwear, as well as the company's corporate social responsibility issues. Donahoe has to address internal as well as external challenges. Donahoe was appointed CEO at a time when the Oregon sports and apparel company faces a number of controversies, including when Nike-sponsored athletes were caught up in scandals; the ban of Alberto Salazar, Nike's top running coach amid doping allegations; as well as continued concerns about Nike's workplace culture after an internal employee survey leaked describing the company as run by a boys club that is hostile towards women. Nike faces tough competition in all of its market, as well as along the value chain. Rapid advances in mobile technology and the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) could fundamentally change the industry. Nike is also moving further into ecommerce to offset the "Amazon effect." The fast-growing Chinese market, moreover, may provide an avenue for needed future growth.

The case is set in September 2019, and the protagonist of the case is Sheryl Sandberg. The case opens with her contemplating the new ventures on which Facebook is embarking, such as its transformation into a mega-app, the launch of its Libra cryptocurrency and the roll-out of its dating site, so as to continue its growth and to fend off competition. More than 99 percent of Facebook's revenues come from advertising and, along with Alphabet's Google, it dominates the digital advertising space. However, Facebook and other big tech companies are coming under increasing attack from governments and civil society groups for this dominance. Antitrust investigations and possible break-ups of these big firms are being proposed. Sandberg is facing other challenges as well. Concerns about how Facebook uses data it gathers from its users have come to the forefront. It has fallen afoul of privacy laws in Europe and the United States and been subject to large fines. Facebook's role as a vehicle for propagating fake news has been under scrutiny. Elections in the United States have been impacted and civil unrest (with occasionally fatal results) has occurred in other countries. Libra itself is facing problems, as governments and regulators voice objections to its introduction, applying pressure on potential partners. In 2019, Facebook was the fifth most valuable company on the planet, with a market capitalization of $540 billion (behind Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet).

In June 2019, Best Buy appointed Corie Barry as new CEO. Her predecessor, CEO Hubert Joly, had successfully tackled BBY's two main problems-declining comps and margins-and engineered a financial turnaround within his first five years on the job. Despite its surviving as a retailer, Best Buy and Corie Barry confront multiple challenges. Best Buy is still a predominantly bricks-and-mortar store with an online presence (just 20.9 percent of sales are generated online in 2018 compared to 17 percent in 2015). Additionally, the United States is no longer the world's largest consumer retail market, and Best Buy has retreated to North America after failing to expand to China and Europe. Further, consumer electronics are caught within trade disputes between China and the United States. Under Joly, Best Buy balanced providing differentiated service with trained staff at competitive prices involves. However, Corie Barry needs to consider whether that balance can be maintained going forward, or whether Best Buy needs to further adapt.