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This public-sourced case is based on a 2017 blog post by a former Uber employee, Susan Fowler, in which she was brutally honest about the sexual harassment, the sexism, the bro culture, and the failures of HR and in senior management at the ride-share company. All thoughts by and conversations between the characters in this case are entirely fictional, but the events described are drawn from Fowler's post, which went viral within hours of her posting it. Fowler was forced to disable the comment section because there were too many, positive and negative, to keep up with. The accusations hit Uber's management like an earthquake, and the press covered every development. Students are placed directly in the case as Uber's recently hired CHR, within days of a company-wide meeting to discuss the post. They will be expected to sit side-by-side with Ariana Huffington-founder of the Huffington Post and the only woman on Uber's board-and with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. The meeting was billed as "self-reflective," as being about "clearing the air" and "being honest." This fictional narrative based on a real-life experience offers the opportunity to discuss organizational culture, gender, power, leadership, and difficult conversations with superiors.

Well suited for MBA and undergraduate marketing programs, this case uses product positioning and placement during the early growth stages of a start-up's brand in the food industry to unfold circumstances that allow for an analysis of the firm's positioning and food marketing decisions. All products are plant-based foods distributed nationally in the United States. Seeking to target mainstream tastes and low price, tensions among the three pillars of the brand's marketing strategy, which are quality, accessibility, and sustainability, leave the case open to explore uncertainty, positioning, marketing mix, and consumer behavior. The B case brings in another twist as Just announces plans to publicly launch a meatless product line.

Well suited for MBA and undergraduate marketing programs, this case uses product positioning and placement during the early growth stages of a start-up's brand in the food industry to unfold circumstances that allow for an analysis of the firm's positioning and food marketing decisions. All products are plant-based foods distributed nationally in the United States. Seeking to target mainstream tastes and low price, tensions among the three pillars of the brand's marketing strategy, which are quality, accessibility, and sustainability, leave the case open to explore uncertainty, positioning, marketing mix, and consumer behavior. The A case opens with Josh Tetrick, Just's founder and CEO, facing an obstacle to the brand around accessibility. Target delisted all Just products in its stores after receiving an unverified, anonymous letter claiming that some of the products were unsafe and mislabeled. Although it only accounted for a small percentage of sales, losing Target affected Just's ability to meet its distribution goal to reach price-conscious consumers where they shopped and its greater goal to build a food system where everyone could eat well.

Written using public sources, this case uses Hewlett-Packard's (HP) purchase of Autonomy Corporation (Autonomy) to analyze the accounting treatment for the acquisition and subsequent goodwill impairment. While the case focuses on the accounting for mergers and acquisitions, it also provides for a variety of other discussion topics such as the effect of managerial incentives and CEO succession on accounting outcomes, managerial "spin" on disclosure of bad news, strategy in changing institutional environments, and financial reporting limitations of new economy firms with heavy investments in intangible assets. The case opens during the fall of 2011 (when HP purchased Autonomy). Some analysts applauded the shift in strategy that the Autonomy purchase signaled for HP. Others were unsure how Autonomy's cloud computing software fit HP's businesses. From there, events at HP suggested a sense of division and frustration between HP leadership, the board, and Autonomy executives. The board replaced HP CEO Leo Apotheker with Meg Whitman. For the next few quarters, Autonomy missed expected results, and by May 2012, HP removed Autonomy's CEO Michael Lynch. Shortly after, HP announced an impairment charge of $8.8 billion related to the Autonomy acquisition, driving the company to report a loss for the year, the first in 10 years. The HP disclosure emphasized the Autonomy acquisition (which occurred prior to Whitman's tenure as CEO) and accused Lynch and Autonomy executives of cooking the books to inflate the purchase price. However, analysis of the financial statements and related footnote disclosures reveal that this $8.8 billion was less than half the $18 billion total impairment that HP recorded in 2012.

Student spreadsheet to UV7253.

This case uses Japan's low-growth episodes since the 1990s to analyze economic policy in an environment featuring excess capacity, low growth, and low inflation. The case discusses the rationale behind "Abenomics"-Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's three-pronged approach to stimulating Japan's economy. In the case, Haruhiko Kuroda, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), is tasked with making the case to stick with Abenomics after five years under the policy. Were the three prongs of policy changes on course or was one or more of the prongs failing to reenergize growth? The answer would be especially topical during the upcoming general election, which many viewed as a referendum on Abe's economic policies.

Yi Hua, the leader of an impact-investing initiative at Goldman Sachs, was examining a new financial arrangement in a proposed public-private partnership called the Rikers Island Social Impact Bond (SIB). The proposed SIB was the result of a partnership between Goldman Sachs, the New York City (NYC) Department of Correction, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and three nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)-MDRC, Osborne Association (Osborne), and the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera). The investment that Goldman Sachs was considering would finance the implementation of a cognitive behavioral therapy program for teens (aged 16 through 18) incarcerated at Rikers Island. The goal of the program was to lower the likelihood of those teens returning to jail following their release (i.e., recidivism). If predetermined outcome-based metrics, which focused on lowering recidivism, were reached, the NYC government would repay Goldman Sachs its contributed capital along with a return. The case helps students develop an awareness of the growing innovative financial structure that attracts private capital to finance governmental efforts to address social issues: SIBs. Alongside SIBs, the following related issues could be discussed: financial and social returns, models of investing for social impact, measuring social impact, private-sector financial resources used for public benefit, and private debt vehicles. This case can be used as an introduction to SIBs in an MBA course or in undergraduate electives dedicated to impact investing, public-private partnerships, or other related courses covering the role of business in society. The material can also be used in executive education around issues of cross-sector collaboration to address social issues.

This is a collection of four caselets that aim to provide a rich discussion around why experimentation in business is important and how it can be properly designed to improve short-term tactical and long-term strategic decisions. Specifically, this document presents four different business problems that could be resolved with proper experimentation techniques. The decisions range from the initial evaluation of whether an experiment is needed to how it can be designed, implemented, and evaluated to how it can be improved and sustained. This case would be best used alongside the technical note ""To Understand Consumer Behavior, Think Like a Marketplace Scientist"" (UVA-M-0950), as learnings from that note can be leveraged and applied to tackle the issues here. Ultimately, this reading allows MBA students and industry professionals alike an opportunity to practice being effective designers, analyzers, and proponents of experimentation.

This case can be taught alone or as an epilogue to "Impact Makers (A): The Newman's Own of Management Consulting" (UV7805). The case is based on Impact Makers, an IT consulting company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The company focus on creating value for a community led to an innovative corporate structure where original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, while the cash flow rights belong to two nonprofits, setting the stage for a Newman's Own model of management consulting. The case asks students to evaluate whether a board member should invest in Impact Makers' growth effort. The case opens with Impact Makers seeking up to $3 million in preferred-equity financing to grow its geographic presence, expand areas of practice, and convert intellectual property into tools that would increase margins and profits in digital health care markets. The protagonist, David Wade, is a rational mainstream investor. Yet he is a strong supporter of the company who had participated in previous company (bridge financing) debt offerings. The material requires students to explore the expected return of the proposed offering and evaluate the implicit and explicit discounts Wade would be making if he invested.

This case requires students to evaluate alternative dual-share-class corporate structures that allow companies and entrepreneurs to pursue profit with purpose. The case explores Impact Makers, an IT consulting company based in Richmond, Virginia. While original founders of the firm hold all voting rights, the cash flow rights belong to two nonprofits setting the stage for a Newman's Own model of management consulting. The case discusses whether and how the alternative corporate structure aids the firm's overall strategy to attract top-quality employees, pay them competitive salaries, and provide superior service to its clients while donating 100% of its lifetime value to charitable causes, largely through partnerships with various nonprofit organizations. More importantly, the case asks students to evaluate how such a dual-share-class and dual-purpose company can raise capital to fund continued growth. The case opens with CEO Michael Pirron reminding himself of all the questions he had run through to execute a strategy to further grow Impact Makers' consulting business both through expanding a menu of services and through conquering new geographical markets. To do either, or both, the company needed a cash infusion. Internal cash was limited, as up to 40% of it flowed to charitable partners, demonstrating Impact Makers' commitment to its mission. Raising debt for a company without fixed assets was challenging and time consuming. Complicating it all was that being structured as a nonstock corporation rendered equity raising difficult. Could Impact Makers raise money to grow and stay true to community values at the same time?

This case describes a common situation in old buildings, namely the decision as to whether intall an elevator. In this armchair case, we have an apartment building in Budapest with 3 towers, each containing 24 homeowners, with a possible interest in adding an elevator to each tower of the walk-up building. The case begins by discussing serveral ways to fairly distribute the cost if the elevators are approved. One way is an equal split. The second way is to have the homeowners living on higher levels pay more. A formula that effectively implements the Shapley value is proposed. Next, the case describes the pivot mechanism as a way to bypass the free riding problem that would arise if homeowners were simply asked about their willingness to pay. The question for discussion is whether the homeowners would agree to use the pivot mechanism. In particular, how to explain to the homeowners the penalties that would result from implementing the mechanism and how those penalties are applied to those homeowners who are pivotal. The challenge for students is how to market the pivotal mechanism.

Who doesn't want the ability to wield influence, and build or possess some sort of power? The A case describes the ascent of a blogger at the top of the list of the most influential luxury fashion writers worldwide. He had made his way to front-row seats at fashion events, created a signature pose, garnered the attention of those who mattered in the high-end fashion business, lived lavishly, and was deemed a de facto representative of the Philippines. Yet Bryanboy seemingly had no boundaries on pitching a message of individualistic narcissism and misbehavior alongside his designer goods. People responded to him in a variety of ways, ranging from hostility to apathy to engagement. How did Bryanboy achieve the power to define for the world what's stylish, beautiful, elegant, and inspiring? And why did so many people loathe him? The single paragraph B case, to hand out in class, shares that despite evidence that allegations made against Bryanboy in the A case were true, powerful people in the industry continued to admire and defend him.

Student spreadsheet for case UV7464.

The case evolves around the Powerball lottery and the rule changes implemented in 2015, which, among other things, changed the chances of winning the jackpot from 1 in 175 million to 1 in 292 million. What is the impact of such rules on lottery revenues? The expected value rule is unable to explain why people play in the first place and fails to give the appropriate weight to the factors that explain the attractiveness of a lottery. This case is ideal to introduce the notion of decision weights as put forward by Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory. By calculating decision weights, we obtain a reasonable prediction for the willingness to pay for the lottery as a function of different jackpot amounts. Using past data, we can correlate lottery revenues with predicted willingness to pay for a ticket. Quantitative-inclined audiences can then develop a simulation model of how likely it is that the jackpot grows, which, coupled with the prediction of revenues as a function of the jackpot, would give the evolution of the revenues under the new rule. The accompanying spreadsheet provides data for students to work out various scenarios to narrow objectives and maximize revenue from Powerball tickets.

India-based firm, Jain Irrigation Systems (Jain Irrigation), and its acquisition of NaanDan Irrigation Systems (NaanDan) offers an opportunity to explore supply chain sourcing and coordination as well as shupply chain management and global innovation. At the time of the case, Jain Irrigation's supply chain focus was mainly in India and the United States. While Jain Irrigation had deep knowledge of and production capabilities in the agriculture industry, Jain Irrigation believed that it would benefit from an Israel-based drip-irrigation company's technology and supply chain, so it arranged a meeting to talk about a joint venture. From its humble beginnings on a kibbutz in 1930, NaanDan had become a major manufacturer of micro irrigation with a global presence. NaanDan had manufacturing facilities in Israel, the United States, Chile, Brazil, Spain, and Australia. With its vast supply chain, NaanDan could get its product anywhere in the world. What the company leaders wanted was to create a competitive advantage through an investment in technology. In early 2007, NaanDan announced on its website that it was looking for a partner. The question was, should it sell the company to a large global firm such as John Deere, which had formed its own micro- and drip-irrigation business in 2006, seek private equity firms that had industry-specific knowledge and global networks, or pursue opportunities with competitors?

Few cases allow the student to understand the relationship between brand strategy, marketing strategy, implementation, and analysis. While some conceive of the process as being sequential, this case demonstrates that in fact, this process is more fluid, and that implementation and analysis impact subsequent strategy. This field-based case provides a rare glimpse into the turnaround of a brand that was all but dead. After Buick suffered more than five decades of declining business results and an inferior brand image versus all rivals, few thought that the brand could be resuscitated. This case provides a valuable under-the-hood look at how the Buick team, over time, progresses through a series of marketing improvements all anchored on an evolved strategy. Specifically, Buick introduced a shift in brand strategy behind an evolved brand essence statement (i.e., brand positioning), improved product lineup, new-to-the-world innovation, enhanced dealership service, and more compelling advertising. The results led to a record number of product awards, significantly improved advertising measures, improved service ratings, and better business results. Despite significant improvement across multiple dimensions of the business, Buick still trailed key competitors on one of the most important measures Buick tracked-the brand momentum rating-suggesting that there was still more work needed to complete the brand turnaround. The case introduces Molly Peck, the new marketing director on Buick, who is wondering what more, if anything, Buick should do. The material allows for instruction around marketing strategy and the process of converting it into implementation through the use of a creative brief.

Series of scenarios each presenting a situation that asks the student to decide how to proceed.

Who doesn't want the ability to wield influence, and build or possess some sort of power? This case describes the ascent of a blogger at the top of the list of the most influential luxury fashion writers worldwide. He had made his way to front-row seats at fashion events, created a signature pose, garnered the attention of those who mattered in the high-end fashion business, lived lavishly, and was deemed a de facto representative of the Philippines. Yet Bryanboy seemingly had no boundaries on pitching a message of individualistic narcissism and misbehavior alongside his designer goods. People responded to him in a variety of ways, ranging from hostility to apathy to engagement. How did Bryanboy achieve the power to define for the world what's stylish, beautiful, elegant, and inspiring? And why did so many people loathe him?

The strategic and tactical problems of managing the operations function in a service environment can be examined through the context of the Walt Disney Company (DIS) opening Shanghai Disneyland. The company and its investors were excited about the Shanghai opening for a good reason: demographics. The resort would be located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, easily the wealthiest of all of China's districts. A massive 330 million people lived with a three-hour driving radius of the resort site, compared with 19.6 million who lived within the same radius at DIS's most profitable park, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Still, risks remained. Construction complications had delayed the opening almost a year longer than expected and cost overruns and alterations had increased the final price tag of the project. The Chinese economy had also hit a rough patch following the Chinese stock market slump in the summer of 2015. With the world watching, could the classic Disney theme park experience be delivered with the right cultural balance to appeal to its largely Chinese customers? Could DIS get it right?

There are change efforts, and there are change efforts. Edna Adan Ismail, referred to in the Western press as the Muslim Mother Teresa, created a small revolution when she founded the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. From securing buy-in and permissions from Siad Barre's government, acquiring land and struggling to keep it, and designing and constructing a new building, to educating a health care workforce, attracting physicians, and attending to the health care needs of a poor population, the case sets the stage for an analysis of change management. As Edna Adan Ismail feels the impact of globalization and the demands of global standards of care from the developed world, she faces some complex problems. How would she continue to add and improve hospital operations, educate the local population of health care providers and patients, and meet the objectives and standards of international actors? The material in this case presents complex problems around efforts to innovate and implement change on a grand scale.