In January 2020 South Africa was once again suffering an electrical power crisis as a series of rolling blackouts, load-shedding, crippled the people and the economy. This was the latest in a series of power crises dating back to 2007. These chronic shortages were the result of failures on the part of the national electrical power producer, Eskom, and its owner, the South African government. The costs to the people of South Africa and the South African economy were enormous. Eskom was now suffering what many termed a death spiral. Its failure to produce sufficient and reliable electricity was causing its financial performance to deteriorate, calling for higher and higher electrical power rates, leading to more and more customers reducing demand and even leaving the grid. Now in the throes of leadership change, corruption investigations, and potential insolvency, it and the country was in trouble. The people of South Africa wondered when their never-ending power crisis - now in its thirteenth year - would end.

The Desertec Foundation was established in 2009 to pursue a lofty vision: to power Europe by harnessing the renewable energy of the deserts of North Africa. The Foundation hoped to organize governments and organizations throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa (EUMENA), to create a structure that would use both wind and solar power to generate electricity which would then be transmitted to Europe for distribution across multiple countries and markets. It was an extremely ambitious vision based on advances in technology in energy production and cooperation across many countries. It seemed a very good idea.

The European Union rarely saw hostile corporate takeovers. The structure of corporate ownership and governance across most of Western Europe made gaining control - without the cooperation of the target firm - exceedingly difficult. Despite the challenge, Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel producer, was determined to acquire Arcelor, the world's second largest steel maker. The very public hostile acquisition of Arcelor by Mittal Steel in 2006 was a study in the complexity of crossborder acquisitions. The fight-and it may be best described as a fight-involved Arcelor, a Luxembourg-based multinational steel company, deploying nearly every known defense mechanism to stave off Mittal Steel's hostile acquisition. Legal, societal, political, strategic, national, and even possibly ethnic differences and issues were deployed. In the end, despite larger-than-life personalities and the differences in corporate takeover law across countries, the outcome was driven by shareholder rights and returns.

This case deals with responsible business and the impact of firm actions on different stakeholders. In November 2019, the last operating units of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Page, Arizona, were shut down. The plant was losing money and was no longer economically viable or necessary for Arizona's power grid. As the largest coal-fired power plant west of the Mississippi and one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the continental United States, the closure was seen by many environmental groups as a success for sustainability and climate change. For the communities that depended on the plant and associated coal mine for jobs and taxes, the impact of the plant closure was less positive. Although the air would be cleaner and water resources better protected, the plant and mine closures meant that the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe faced large cutbacks in their budgets. The plant and mine workers, almost all Native American, lost their jobs. The closure left a legacy of health issues on the reservations and unknown environmental issues from the abandoned coal mine.

Apache Corporation had survived and excelled more than 50 years in one of the world's most challenging industries, the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. And it had done so in its own way, with a unique set of skills that allowed it to be one of the industry's lowest cost producers. But in 2019 its fortunes were clearly on the decline. Following the 2008 financial crisis most of the major oil and gas firms enjoyed an extended period of growth and profitability. But not Apache. The company's financial results and share price had been sliding for years. Beginning in 2015 the company undertook a change in direction, exiting most of its major international projects to focus on U.S. operations, specifically the Permian Basin. A major discovery in the Permian of West Texas in 2016, Alpine High, was expected to be the turning point. But three years later the company's performance continued to slide. Investors wanted to know what was next.

In June 2018 Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), the iconic American manufacturer of motorcycles-hogs as they were affectionately referred to - announced that it would shift some United States-based production to a foreign country. Harley explained it had little choice if it was to remain competitive in foreign markets, specifically, Europe. The EU (EU) had the previous month announced an increase in the import duty imposed on Harley-Davidson motorcycle manufactured in the U.S. in retaliation to President Donald Trump's imposition of increased tariffs on European steel and aluminum. But Harley's problems went much deeper than simply European import duties. Harley was suffering from a decade-long slump in sales and profitability. Would shifting production out of the U.S. be the appropriate solution?

The Chevron Corporation and Occidental Petroleum entered into a bidding competition in April 2019 for ownership and control of Anadarko Petroleum. Both companies wished to expand their acreage and reserves in the Permian Basin, the core assets of Anadarko, and the largest oil producing region in the world. Although Anadarko first announced that it was accepting Chevron's offer, Occidental quickly publicized its own offer which it argued was superior. After revising its offer to increase the cash component, Anadarko accepted Occidental's offer. Anadarko stockholders had to vote on August 8 to accept or reject the sale of their company to Occidental Petroleum.

On April 26, 2017, Suniva Incorporated, a Chinese-owned U.S. manufacturer of solar cells and panels, filed a Section 201 trade case seeking protection-specifically, temporary relief-from foreign manufacturers of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells and modules. U.S. trade law permits the president of the United States to grant some form of temporary relief against foreign imports that are found to officially injure a domestic industry. The filing ignited a firestorm of controversy in the solar industry inside and outside of the U.S. The sought-after protection was opposed by many renewable energy interest groups, including most of the U.S. solar energy industry itself. Opponents believed that a tariff on CSPV cells and modules would cost more jobs than they would save and, even with import protection, there was no future for CSPV manufacturing in the U.S.

On April 21, 2014 two companies, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Pershing Square, announced an unsolicited merger offer for Allergan Pharmaceuticals. The unsolicited offer quickly turned into a hostile acquisition. The following months saw a raging public debate over the future control of Allergan and its primary product, Botox, as well as the business strategies and philosophies of the two offering firms and their CEOs.

The case uses the backdrop of a bitter battle between Nelson Peltz, the activist shareholder and founder of Trian Partners and the management of Procter & Gamble. The battle focused on the future strategic direction of the company. While Nelson Peltz identified a host of concerns ranging from poor brand management and innovation failures to weak corporate governance and P&G's insular culture, the management of P&G countered that it had a sound strategy in place that it was executing and that the initial results were indeed quite positive. The case explores the major strategic questions that P&G confronts at the time of the battle. It offers a wealth of information about trends in the fast moving consumer goods sector globally allowing for a nuanced discussion of strategic options available to competing firms. Combined with a discussion of management imperatives at P&G, the case provides the basis for the key decisions that the reader is expected to make regarding the proxy battle.

Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 29, 2017. The bankruptcy arose from billions of dollars of cost overruns on four nuclear power plants (NPPs) it was designing and building for two utilities in the United States. The cost overruns were a direct result of a completely new NPP design, the AP1000, and its innovative modular construction. Although WEC's core engineering intellectual content would live on (that was in part the objective of the chapter 11 process), many questioned whether WEC's failure didn't signal the end of nuclear energy for electrical power generation.

The discovery of Volkswagen's intentional deception on the NOx emissions of its diesel engine products in September 2015 resulted in nearly an instantaneous loss of 30% of the company's value. In the weeks and months that followed, VW found itself under attack from nearly every possible government regulator, consumer interest group, and environmental action interest worldwide. It faced $18 billion in potential financial penalties, and possibly of more import, irreparable damage to its global reputation. Out of the hundreds of news stories and investigative committees two questions were repeated: How did this happen and how could it be rectified?

CEMEX of Mexico closed its acquisition of The Rinker Groups of Australia in April 2007 after raising its offer to US$15.85 per share. This represented a 54% premium over Rinker's closing price prior to the initiation of the hostile offer. CEMEX, in-line with its customary acquisition process, financed the entire purchase with debt. But within a year CEMEX was struggling to service its sizeable outstanding debt as business conditions and financial results declined with the financial crisis of 2008. The company was facing debt service of $5.5 billion in 2009, money which it did not have. CEMEX would need to propose a strong and convincing financial restructuring plan to its creditors if it wished to survive.

CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: CX) - Cemex - had made a name for itself in the global marketplace for two things - excellence in execution and rapid growth through acquisition. In an era in which globalization was a practice for multinational firms calling highly industrialized countries home, Cemex broke the mold. It was a multinational player calling a lower income country, Mexico, home. Led by Lorenzo Zambrano, the grandson of the founder, Cemex had followed a rapid growth trajectory through repeated acquisitions. Now, in 2006, it was once again on the prowl, stalking the Rinker Group of Australia. But Rinker was not for sale.

Mylan and it's CEO, Heather Bresch, were under attack for a multitude of large price increases in their life saving pharmaceutical, the EpiPen. The U.S. Congress, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), and millions of people considered at risk and in need of access to EpiPen injectors, wanted to know why and how those price increases had happened.

Ferrari - the prancing horse - had opened at the top end of its target price range - $52 per share in the U.S. - raising nearly $1 billion for Ferrari's owner, Fiat. Like most IPOs, the share price of RACE (the ticker symbol for Ferrari), settled in the weeks following the launch. But now many analysts and mutual fund managers were all asking the same thing: was Ferrari a promising equity or simply another of the equity eye candy IPOs to hit the market in recent years?

CH2M Hill was an employee-owned and controlled professional engineering services firm providing engineering, construction, consulting, design and design-build, procurement, engineering-procurement-construction (EPC), operations and maintenance, program management and technical services to customers all over the world. A large portion of the company's project business was funded by governments. With $5.9 billion in sales in 2015 and 25,000 employees worldwide, the company was a global player. But in 2014 CH2M Hill posted record losses. A multitude of project and contract cost overruns around the world had resulted in losses that threatened the firm's very survival. A private capital equity injection had provided critical refinancing - but at the loss of pure employee ownership and control. Now in 2016, after returning to profitability, many of the firm's core owners, its employees, questioned whether the firm's unique employee ownership structure would survive.

Electrolux's valuation team was trying to finish its valuation of GE Appliances in August 2014. The GE Appliance valuation team was working out of Electrolux's corporate headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Its task was to complete both a valuation and suggested final offer for GE's appliance unit. The team's challenge was in separating the value of GE's appliance unit from its value to Electrolux, for the two were quite different. GE knew this, and would be building that differential into its asking price. At the same time, GE's new industrial strategy, to move away from consumer products and financial services, left no place for appliances in its corporate future.

Argentina's default on its foreign currency denominated sovereign debt in 2001 had proved to be a never-ending nightmare. Now, in June 2014, 13 years after the default, the U.S. Supreme Court had confirmed a lower-court ruling which would now force Argentina to consider defaulting on its international debt obligations once again. But the story was a tangled one, which included investors in both the United States and Europe, international financial law, a battle between hedge funds and so-called vulture funds (funds which purchased distressed sovereign debt at extremely low prices and then pursued full repayment through litigation), and State of New York and European Union courts. Time was running out.

Nigeria's oil industry was in decline. Nigerian crude was having trouble finding customers, fuel shortages plagued the domestic economy, and power plant outages were rising. NNPC had failed to develop one of the world's largest reserves of natural gas, Nigeria's four refineries were operating at a fraction of capacity, and the company was considered inefficient and corrupt. Many voices were now calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, newly elected in May 2015, to reform Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or sell off the national treasure for an estimated $75 billion.