As this case opens in 2019, CEO Daniel Skjeldam and his team have successfully reinvigorated Hurtigruten, a storied but struggling Norwegian ferry and cruise operator, and have established it as the leading provider of polar expedition cruises. They now face a critical decision: should they expand beyond the polar regions and begin operating expedition cruises extensively in warm waters? The case introduces students to relative cost analysis; illustrates how a market can be structurally unattractive despite a current boom; and explores the logic of expanding from one segment of a market into other segments.
Amazon's initial request for proposals for a second headquarters (HQ2), released in September 2017, attracted great attention and, ultimately, proposals from 238 cities and regions in North America. This case discusses the company's decision to split its HQ2 between two locations, and the ensuing response from local politicians and the public.
Great strategists rely heavily on numbers as they go about their work. This note offers an overview of the highbrow and lowbrow quantitative tools that individuals commonly encounter during strategy courses and in actual strategy work. The note focuses especially on simple calculations that often produce important insights.
In early 2006, BlackRock, Inc. is considering acquiring Merrill Lynch's asset management business. The asset management industry was in a state of transition. In the prior year, more than 130 mergers and acquisitions had taken place. The proposed deal between BlackRock and Merrill Lynch would change BlackRock from a chiefly U.S.-based fixed income asset manager for institutional clients, to a firm with a global footprint and a strong equities and retail business. Was this the right thing to do to grow BlackRock? Was the timing right? Was the price right?
On June 11, 2009, BlackRock, Inc., the world's fourth-largest asset manager announced it was acquiring Barclays Global Investors (BGI) for $13.5 billion in stock and cash. The deal would more than double BlackRock's assets under management (AUM), making it the world's largest asset manager. There was more than just a significant difference in investment philosophy that separated the two firms. There were also significant cultural differences between New York-based BlackRock and San Francisco-based BGI. There was doubt internally at BlackRock and externally (i.e., analysts) whether it was the right move for BlackRock, but the firm's co-founder and CEO Larry Fink was undeterred.
By the end of 2015, BlackRock had succeeded beyond any of the early dreams of its founders. The firm remained the world's largest asset manager, with more than $4.6 trillion under management, and other financial services companies used BlackRock's Aladdin platform to monitor an additional $12.9 trillion of assets. With its success, the firm had become far more complex. The scale and scope of BlackRock were helpful to clients when the parts of the company worked together, but that very same scale and scope made working together harder. BlackRock's leadership took stock of the investment landscape in early 2016 and what the firm would need to do in the future to continue to grow.
As the case opens in 1999, several key leaders at BlackRock, Inc.- then a relatively small asset management firm -- are trying to convince CEO Larry Fink and others that the firm should begin to offer Aladdin -- its proprietary analytics and trading platform -- to other asset managers. While some members of the senior team saw "selling our systems" as an opportunity, others likened it to "selling weapons to the enemy" or "giving away the crown jewels." What should Fink do? The case provides an overview of the asset management industry, the beginnings of BlackRock, and details around the Aladdin platform. This case includes videos.
This case, set in the 1920s and 1930s, discusses Harvard Business School (HBS) Professors Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger and their contributions to management research at the School and the rise of the Human Relations Movement in management research. The case focuses on an overview of their research program at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works manufacturing plant between 1927 and 1932, known as the Hawthorne studies, and the resulting insights, publications, course development, and influence on colleagues and research methodology. Brief biographical details of Mayo and Roethlisberger are given, along with a synopsis of early research at HBS and the general history of management studies during the mid-20th century.
In cities and towns across America, leaders in local governments, businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, labor unions, and other organizations are coming together in new ways to help their communities prosper. Why are such cross-sector collaborations arising now? What purpose do they serve? What key decisions must their leaders make? What principles might guide those decisions? This note suggests a way to think about such questions.
As the case opens in 1999, several key leaders at BlackRock, Inc.- then a relatively small asset management firm -- are trying to convince CEO Larry Fink and others that the firm should begin to offer Aladdin -- its proprietary analytics and trading platform -- to other asset managers. While some members of the senior team saw "selling our systems" as an opportunity, others likened it to "selling weapons to the enemy" or "giving away the crown jewels." What should Fink do? The case provides an overview of the asset management industry, the beginnings of BlackRock, and details around the Aladdin platform.
The chief executive of Barry-Wehmiller, a large maker of industrial equipment, has resolved to run the company via "truly human leadership" in which "success is measured by the way we touch the lives of people." With unusual people practices and a distinctive strategy, the company has generated enviable financial results. During the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the company went to great lengths to avoid layoffs. But as the case opens in 2013, one division of the company faces a sharp downturn, and the head of the division must decide whether to let employees go. In light of Barry-Wehmiller's people practices and strategy, what should he do?