The 2023 release of live-action film Barbie, and its accompanying marketing blitz, incited a worldwide Barbie craze. Suddenly Barbie was everywhere, a celebrated icon reinstated at the forefront of cultural conversation. This goodwill stood in contrast to decades of criticism of the Barbie brand. Although proponents celebrated Barbie for her promise to "inspire the limitless potential in every girl," detractors felt that the doll promoted a narrow beauty standard and perpetuated gender stereotypes. Past efforts to diversify the Barbie doll had met mixed reactions. Did the movie's superlative success mean that Barbie's dark days of controversy were behind her? In a fast-changing, turbulent industry, Mattel executives need to decide how to sustain Barbie's positive momentum, and whether the strategy can be replicated across other brands in Mattel's portfolio.
This case explores retailer Best Buy's decision to enter health care. Best Buy Health aims to enable care at home across three prongs: consumer health, active aging, and virtual care. A key pillar of Best Buy Health's strategy is leveraging the Geek Squad-the company's technical support agents who install technology and media products in the home-to set up remote patient monitoring devices for people with a chronic disease or those enrolled in a hospital-at-home program. Set in April 2023, the case finds senior company leaders reviewing the results of a pilot with Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System evaluating whether Geek Squad agents can safely expand timely access to care.
This case is about TPG Rise Climate, a $7.3 billion climate impact fund launched in 2021 by alternative asset manager TPG. Climate investing is a complex, capital-intensive endeavor; entering it has forced TPG to think and act differently. Relative to other funds, Rise Climate's investments take longer to mature, require far more capital, and are more vulnerable to swings in commodity markets and fickle government policies. Set in December 2023, the case finds TPG considering the future for Monolith, a Rise Climate portfolio company with significant impact potential but an uncertain business model.
This case tells the story of Microsoft's 2018 acquisition of GitHub and the subsequent launch of GitHub Copilot, a tool that uses generative artificial intelligence to suggest snippets of code to software developers in real time. Set in late 2021, when Copilot was still in beta, the case asks how Microsoft and GitHub should roll out Copilot to the public.
This supplement provides background on abortion in the U.S. It is meant to accompany "Hey Jane: Delivering Abortion Pills to the Doorstep" (case no. 724-408) and would be especially useful for students new to the U.S. healthcare context.
This case tells the story of Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic founded in 2020 that provides virtual medication abortion services to eligible patients in nine U.S. states. By January 2023, the company had served more than 20,000 patients and raised nearly $10 million in venture capital, all while navigating an ever-evolving regulatory landscape. At the time of the case, Kiki Freedman, Hey Jane's CEO and founder, is considering expanding the company's holistic support model to another highly stigmatized reproductive health need-maternal mental health.
Founded in 2015, ReUp Education helps "stopped out students"-learners who have stopped making progress towards graduation-achieve their college completion goals. The company relies on a team of success coaches to engage with learners and help them reenroll. In 2019, ReUp developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to help coaches better tailor the support they provide. A disappointing 2021 experiment showing limited utility of the algorithm, however, causes ReUp's senior leaders to question the value of AI for such a personalized, nuanced task like success coaching.
This case covers the events leading up to the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Using GameStop as an illustrative example, the case explores the rise in retail trading, increased financial information sharing on social media, and the gamification of investing enabled by trading applications (apps) such as Robinhood.
Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants. The case finds Year Up's founder and CEO considering strategies to scale the program in a cost-effective manner and working to broaden the non-profit's focus to system and practice change among employers. But these new efforts risk diluting the core program and, in turn, diminishing the benefits delivered to participants.
This case reviews Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter's decision to involve the community in the process of hiring his cabinet members. Rather than relying on an executive recruiting firm or choosing cabinet heads from his own network, Carter recruited 100 community members and asked them to vet, screen, and interview candidates for ten city directorships, with Carter reserving the right to make final decisions. While his choices aligned with the panels for seven positions, they diverged for the remaining three. In January 2018, as Carter prepared to announce his decisions, he hoped his choices would not undermine belief in the participatory hiring process and his credibility as a mayor who valued community voices.
This general experience case tells the story of SearchLight Cures, a fictional biotechnology startup. Having discovered a new therapy for a rare disease, the company's co-founders find themselves at an impasse over a pricing disagreement.
Set in early 2020, this (B) case provides an update to the (A) case (no. 622-009) and provides additional context regarding the challenges facing Somatus.
When Dr. Ikenna Okezie founded Somatus, a value-based kidney care provider, his goal had been nothing short of transforming kidney care delivery in the United States. Rather than relying on dialysis, a costly and intensive treatment for late-stage kidney disease, the Somatus model called for early identification of patients at high risk along with active management of the underlying conditions that accelerated kidney damage. But he had struggled to find health plans willing to take a chance on his unproven startup, especially in the highly concentrated dialysis treatment market. Thus, in 2017, Somatus agreed to manage traditional dialysis services for a group of hospitals in Virginia, focusing on improving the quality of care. In 2018, Somatus won its first contract with a health plan, finally allowing the startup to implement its full care model. But the contract generated just 10% of Somatus's revenues. Now, in December 2019, Okezie must decide whether to prioritize improving traditional dialysis services or continue to chase health plans willing to implement Somatus's innovative kidney care model.