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In May 2021, Warner Bros. Discovery was created as a merger of AT&T's WarnerMedia division with Discovery Inc. In mid-2022, this company would begin to operate as a standalone company, led by CEO David Zaslav and a 13-person board of directors. In this case, students will learn about the competitive dynamics driving the media industry, the major players, and the M&A process.

Founded in 1892, Boston-based General Electric (GE) has had a history of transformation, having pursued an impressive share of acquisitions, divestitures, and organic growth. From bolt-on acquisitions to enhance its existing platforms to sweeping changes in internal capabilities, GE has at times been considered the world's best-managed firm and at others, a large conglomerate in need of repositioning, rife for shareholder activism. In recent years, GE has faced critical decision point, with a growing pension deficit while funds were used for acquisitions, and a simultaneous series of management changes and growing investor concern. Since 2018, management has proposed a separation of the company into three entities. In this case, students are asked to analyze the businesses of GE, consider the pros and cons of a split, and make recommendations for the best path forward.

The media industry is explored in this paper, highlighting both ongoing changes and recent trends. Students will learn about large transactions in recent years that have changed the media landscape as well as the growth of new competition of subscription video.

In January 2022, Microsoft announced its $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a leading producer in the gaming sector, which has grown quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Activision was a main player in mobile gaming as well as cloud gaming, an emerging technology that allowed individuals to stream videogames via Internet-connected devices. In this case, students will learn about Microsoft's organic and acquisitive growth in gaming as well as discuss the strategic acquisition of Activision.

The B case takes a closer look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the revenue losses that ensued for the company.

Founded in 1947 as an affordable women's retailer, J. Crew launched a highly successful catalogue in 1983. J. Crew's brick and mortar operations and catalogue sales experienced healthy growth through the 1990s. Seeking a cash injection to further growth, and to compete with larger catalogue retailers, the company's founders sold a majority stake in 1997 to Texas Pacific Group. A controversial second private equity buyout in 2011 put the company in the hands of a subsidiary of Chinos Holdings, Inc.-a deal made at a time when there were signs that J. Crew was failing to adapt to changing customer trends. A series of debt restructurings dug an even deeper financial hole for the company-leading to J. Crew becoming the first retailer to file for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. In Case A students will learn of the retail trends and private equity-guided deals that led to J. Crew's distress.

At the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, following reports of dozens coronavirus infections among its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork-processing employees Smithfield Foods, Inc., the nation's largest hog-processing company, closed the plant "until further notice. Less than one month later, the plant was sanitized and retrofitted to the best of its abilities and reopened. This emergency situation opened the door for Smithfield and other meat processing plants to reevaluate capital expenditures on plant automation and related employee protection investments. Since meat processing was usually a low-margin business, companies were wary of overspending on equipment-- but people were sick and some workers had died.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, the largest company domiciled in Israel, is a multinational pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and distributes both patented and generic versions of ethical pharmaceuticals. In 2017, the company was in dire need of a turnaround plan based on a variety of factors: $17 billion in debt maturing in 2021; declining cash flows from its largest selling drug, Copaxone; intensified competitive challenges in its core generics business; and an inefficient organizational structure. In this case students are presented with detailed data on Teva's financial circumstances as well as an overview of the challenges facing the global pharmaceutical industry in order to determine whether the company can avoid the need for Chapter 15 protection.

In July 2017 Cumulus Media, owner of a nationwide network of 447 radio stations and a syndicated content provider to another 8,200 radio stations, was carrying over $2 billion of debt due to recent acquisitions and shifts in the radio broadcasting industry. Operating cash flow had shrunk by about a third for the 12 months ending March 31, 2017 versus the same period in 2016, following an additional two years of significant declines. Led by Mary Berner, an experienced media executive, Cumulus had established programs to improve employee satisfaction, attempted to refinance Cumulus's term loan, and revamped the company's sales strategy. But at the end of June 2017, it was not clear whether Berner's efforts would be enough to turn Cumulus around.

In October 2013 GT Advanced Technology closed a deal to supply industrial-sapphire material to Apple; the material was to be used to improve the quality of iPhone screens. Prior to this deal, GTAT had been a leading supplier of equipment used to create industrial-sapphire, not a producer of the material itself. Apple helped to finance the scaling up of GTAT's industrial-sapphire manufacturing facilities by providing GTAT with a prepayment that was secured by an equipment lien; however, their agreement did not stipulate that Apple had an obligation to purchase any of GTAT's industrial-sapphire output. In September 2014 Apple announced that its production plans had changed and its new iPhone would not have a sapphire crystal screen. Soon thereafter, GTAT filed for bankruptcy. This case asks students to consider why GTAT took on the terms of such a risky deal, how their risk might have been mitigated, and what options were open to both GTAT and Apple in the aftermath of the deal.

In 2013 Sharp Electronics shareholders expressed their outrage in the face of the company's unmet technological challenges, plunging share price, and governance missteps. To turn Sharp around, President Kozo Takahashi would be forced to undo decisions that his predecessors had made and break with past traditions concerning Sharp's corporate governance. Would Takahashi be successful in steering Sharp away from insolvency and towards a more competitive position in the worldwide consumer electronics industry?

In 2014 Time Warner announced its intention to spin off Time, Inc.'s family of print titles, thought to hold limited profit potential. As Time Warner Entertainment Company, it would face a worldwide marketplace with increasing amounts of discretionary time that could be spent on entertainment that was accessible from an ever-wider variety of distribution media. However, some industry observers questioned whether this was a strategic divestiture or simply an attempt to raise the value of Time Warner's shares. This case asks students to consider the motives behind this move and its implications for Time Warner.

Infosys, which had achieved meteoric growth by providing software outsourcing to US companies, had continued to hire despite the slowdown sparked by the 2008-09 credit freeze. In 2011, facing higher costs and emerging technological challenges such as cloud computing, its new management embarked on Infosys 3.0, a plan that included restructuring along several industry verticals. In this case students examine Infosys' historic growth; its culture, services and financial statements; and its 2011 strategic plan in order to discuss what strategy would fuel continued growth.

In March 2008, Motorola, Inc. announced that it would split itself into two publicly traded companies by spinning off its largest division - the unprofitable mobile devices handset unit. However, Motorola was so deeply identified with its cell phone products that many people did not know much about its other lines of business. In this case, students review Motorola's financials and organizational structure in order to analyze the reasons for the spinoff and to consider how the firm must prepare for this momentous shift in strategy.

Following a successful split-off of Conoco in 1999, management at DuPont engaged in a decade-long challenge to reposition the company from a mature worldwide petrochemical firm to a leader in biotechnology. In 2010, president and CEO Ellen Kullman considered how to structure her organization and how to position DuPont for future growth. In this case, students consider Dupont's six business segments at this point in time - agriculture and nutrition, electronics and communications, performance chemicals, performance coatings, performance materials, and safety and protection - and how to evolve a strategy that would create the most value for the company and for its investors.

This case presents a way to test the efficacy of a firm's corporate diversification strategy or its corporate advantage. In this context, the performance of several lines of business is considered simultaneously within a corporate family; comparisons are made with other diversified firms that compete with the firm for capital. This case expands upon the corporate advantage paradigm of Collis & Montgomery through six tests that consider the underlying and moderating forces of fit and intervention in operations in order to arrive at a corporate strategy which is balanced on all dimensions and creates the desirable outcomes of superior competitive advantage.

In today's world of little or no economic growth and rapid technological change, many companies are faced with declining product demand beyond their control. A study of the strategies of over 95 companies that confronted declining markets suggests that companies can often be very successful if they analyze all the characteristics that shape competition in the end game and act in accordance with their own needs. Strategic alternatives for declining business include leadership; niche; harvest; and quick divestment.