Appointed to his position in 2015, Christophe Weber, a French national and president and CEO of Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals, had begun transforming the company into a global player. He knew that, if the business was to survive, he would have to accelerate its transformation and globalization, and he believed the solution was the acquisition of Shire, an Irish pharmaceutical company and a similar-sized firm. If successful, this would be the largest cross-border acquisition ever negotiated by a Japanese company. Weber had known that the acquisition would be costly - and controversial among the company's shareholders, who could challenge his leadership. Although he was confident in his proposal, his bid did not go as planned. Despite his best efforts to keep the deal secret, using Japanese whisky-inspired code names for Shire and Takeda, the details had leaked before he had had a chance to inform Shire's board of his attempt and discuss it with them. On April 8, 2018, Shire's board rejected his offer. At the time, many questions remained as to how Takeda should proceed.

Christian (Chris) Viatte, head of service experience and innovation at Swisscom, market leader in Switzerland's telecommunications industry, strode into his office and dropped into his chair. Some of Swisscom's top executives would soon be holding a meeting to discuss the company's partnership with Mila, an on-demand home service marketplace start-up. Under Chris's leadership, Swisscom and Mila had created Swisscom Friends, a service solution connecting Swisscom customers with vetted, tech-savvy people in their neighbourhood who could help them with small service requests. By 2015, Mila and Swisscom had built up a service crowd of more than 1,500 active "Friends" throughout Switzerland, and Swisscom now had to consider the future of what was still a purely contractual relationship. Should Swisscom partially or even fully acquire Mila? Should it withdraw from the partnership and offer the service on its own? Should it become more involved in Mila's management? This two-part case discusses the development and management of the partnership between Swisscom and Mila, particularly how Mila grew from being a contractual partner to a fully owned subsidiary of Swisscom.

Christian (Chris) Viatte, head of service experience and innovation at Swisscom, market leader in Switzerland's telecommunications industry, strode into his office and dropped into his chair. Some of Swisscom's top executives would soon be holding a meeting to discuss the company's partnership with Mila, an on-demand home service marketplace start-up. Under Chris's leadership, Swisscom and Mila had created Swisscom Friends, a service solution connecting Swisscom customers with vetted, tech-savvy people in their neighbourhood who could help them with small service requests. By 2015, Mila and Swisscom had built up a service crowd of more than 1,500 active "Friends" throughout Switzerland, and Swisscom now had to consider the future of what was still a purely contractual relationship. Should Swisscom partially or even fully acquire Mila? Should it withdraw from the partnership and offer the service on its own? Should it become more involved in Mila's management? This two-part case discusses the development and management of the partnership between Swisscom and Mila, particularly how Mila grew from being a contractual partner to a fully owned subsidiary of Swisscom.