In June 2023, SundaySky CEO Jim Dicso considers growth strategies. The software-as-a-service company provided software to create advertising videos, customer service videos, and other videos, like employee training modules, and had begun to pilot a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.
Set in June 2023, the C case explores Plug Power's recovery from its financial restatements, how it benefited from government subsidies, and new strategic alliances.
Set in early 2023, the case exposes students to the challenges of managing open source software at Google. The case focuses on the challenges for Alex Spinelli, Vice President of Product Management for Core Machine Learning. He must set priorities for Google's efforts in open source communities. An important priority is the TensorFlow framework. Released by Google in 2014, it supports many advances in modern artificial intelligence and continues supporting it. Spinelli must also manage open source activities in additional areas, such as the Android operating system for mobile handsets and cloud computing. The choices and strategies have consequences for Google's position as a technological leader among programmers who use and write code and for the safety and transparency of the code Google uses and supports. The case frames questions about what, if anything, Google should change with the explosion of interest in generative AI.
In 2020, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, co-founders and co-CEO's of the fintech company Brex, needed to determine how to balance their vision with the desires of their investors. They intended to expand Brex's offerings to include other products that served the financial needs of their startup, but some of their investors believed the focus should be on improving existing features to meet customer base needs. While Dubugras and Franceschi oversaw development of existing products and considered new ones, they were also trying to raise a Series D round from the same investors who voiced concerns on expansion. How should they balance their vision of a one-stop financial shop for businesses, with the investors' desire to be cautious and offer features to keep up with the competition?
Set immediately after a December 2019 short-seller attack, the case explores Plug Power's long challenging history. It then focuses on two key issues raised in the short-seller report related to lease accounting and stock warrants that Plug purportedly used to boost profits.
The case is set in spring 2021, immediately after Plug Power made financial restatements dating back to 2018. The case describes the restatements, which revealed that Plug was reclassifying expense items to boost gross profits.
In October 2022, Quigley-Simpson & Heppelwhite CEO Carl Fremont considers how the advertising agency will integrate artificial intelligence tools into the business.
In November 2021, Ford Motor Company offered a $2.5 billion green bond to finance investments in electrification. Issuance of green bonds significantly increased into the 2020s, and to date, the Ford Motor Company green bond was the largest such bond offered by a non-financial corporate institution. How would investors assess the attractiveness of the bond?
In September 2022, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO Alex Oshmyansky considered the future of the company. Cost Plus Drugs was a retailer for more than 340 generic oral medications, selling their drugs at significantly lower prices than typical pharmacies. Oshmyansky could focus resources on adding brand-name drugs to its medication portfolio or focus on the company's ongoing development of a facility to manufacture sterile injectable drugs.
In August 2022, EnergyNow co-founder and CEO Stuart MacWilliam (MBA 2015) considers the company strategy for building solar panels to provide power in South Africa's recently deregulated energy market.
In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world's third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay disparity and sexual harassment allegations.
In May 2022, streaming entertainment company Netflix lost customers for the first time in more than 10 years. Once a first mover in the streaming landscape, Netflix was facing competition from Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and others. A key component of Netflix's prior success was its unique "freedom and responsibility" culture, in which the company eschewed hierarchical decision-making, performance reviews, and vacation and expense policies. Employees were expected to maintain high performance or else get cut from the "dream team." While some employees reported appreciation for Netflix's culture, others described it as "cutthroat." Given the company's performance in spring 2022, was Netflix's "no rules rules" culture still an asset or was it now a liability?
At its headquarters in Attendorn, Germany, Viega's chairwoman Anna Viegener gathered the company's leadership team to discuss their progress on formalizing purpose-driven leadership as a strategic driver within the organization. Viega manufactured and distributed plumbing, heating, and pipe-joining systems, and had been experiencing rapid growth and financial success during the past decades. Annual sales had doubled in 10 years, and the company had expanded its international presence to include offices around the globe. Still, with growth came an evolution in management and concerns about the ability of executives to instill in employees the values that had been key to the company's success since its founding by Anna and Walter's family in 1899. They wondered how they could continue cultivating the company's purpose: Installing lifelines for the buildings of tomorrow. To do so, Viegener developed a measurement system to quantify managers' adherence to the company's purpose and values, with plans to tie managers' bonuses to this values-based measure.
In March 2021, the weather company Tomorrow.io announced a new project to develop satellites equipped with radar for weather monitoring and launch them into Earth's orbit. Company leadership considers execution strategies.
In June 2021, Darden Restaurants CEO Gene Lee contemplates how to position the world's biggest full-service restaurant more than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2021, online education platform edX considers how to achieve financial sustainability without compromising its mission to provide universal access to high-quality education.