In April 2010, the eruption of a volcano wreaked havoc in the airline industry and placed Aer Arann on the brink of liquidation. For founder, sole owner and chairman Padraig O'Ceidigh, the airline has been a personal as well as business passion. The case provides a number of options for addressing the crisis. It also places the story in the context of Padraig's life journey and search for multi-dimensional success.
This case deals with supplier difficulties faced by WildChina - a travel service provider in China. WildChina is a classic case of a company that is trying to bring a local, within-country product to a market outside the country (in this case, travelers to China from around the world). In doing so, startups have to build competences to deal with local suppliers and global customers. The case describes the operations of WildChina, providing detailed information on how they evaluated suppliers to determine their appropriateness, given WildChina's customers. The decision in the case revolves around what the founder should do when faced with a supplier who is trying to bypass WildChina to reach customers directly - a common problem faced by intermediaries.
In 2008, Blue Man Group's three co-founders are facing the prospect of losing not just a business but a way of life they have built together. The case follows the story of Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton as they pursue their creative passion, and build the Blue Man Group from street performers to a performance arts empire with a global brand. The story has a personal as well as professional dimension to it, including the launch of the Blue School, to provide their and other people's children with the kind of education they wish they'd had. The immediate challenge is to find a way to survive a major economic downturn. The case is complemented by a video (HBS. No. 810-704) with co-founder commentary, and extensive live footage of Blue Man performances and the Blue School.
This case examines a successful 64-year old as he considers his goals, and how he should be spending his time, at this stage of his life. It briefly recounts his life story, and provides a special focus on personal financial planning and wealth management issues.
This note provides an analytical framework for assessing potential opportunities in the context of an entrepreneur's life. The framework has two parts -- a business analysis and a personal analysis -- each comprised of a set of yes/no questions for critical assessment criteria. The note also offers perspectives on entrepreneurship, observations about combining an entrepreneurial career with your personal life, and comments about the pursuit of opportunities in general.
The case follows the professional and personal lives of John and Andrea Rice, illustrating the challenge of "juggling" the multiple aspects of life (career, family, community, self) in the pursuit of a personal vision of success. Particular attention is paid to the role of entrepreneurship. The case is set in mid 2007. John Rice, founder and CEO of Management Leadership for Tomorrow, is passionate about the nonprofit's commitment to minority leadership development, and access to opportunity. But he also is excited about launching a new for-profit venture, CareerCore, with his wife. He must decide what role to play in each of the organizations going forward.
WildChina (A) tells the story of Mei Zhang, a Chinese-born HBS alumna, and her pursuit of a dream: to share her passion for travel, her appreciation of China's beauty and culture, and her desire to start her own business. Describes the startup of WildChina, a tour company targeting a high-end clientele with unusual and high-quality products, and its survival of two business crises. The focus is on Zhang's decision to bring in a COO, transition him to CEO, and assume the position of Chairperson. Also describes communication and control challenges faced when Zhang moves to Los Angeles with her family, and tries to remain involved in her Beijing-based business. The decision Zhang faces is how to proceed when, in the midst of sales and operational problems and financial pressures, her CEO announces that he will be leaving the company in a matter of months.
What does it take to build a successful career over time? Describes Amy Schulman's career progression and role as a star senior litigator and top executive at one of the world's largest law firms. It focuses on different stages in her career and what she did to be successful at each stage. The demands on her time--client development, casework, firm leadership responsibilities, mentoring her people, managing her team, spending time with her family--were changing over time. After being chosen to sit on the firm's Global Board as well as its Executive and Policy Committees, Amy Schulman feels that there are things that are being left undone. She must decide how to allocate her time.
Provides an overview of the two-part video: 1) bake-off participant interviews with managers from Gillette and its advertising agency for Dry Idea, and 2) creative presentations by the two bake-off competitors.
Provides an overview of video contents and three attachments: 1) chart discussed at meeting shown in video, 2) historical Dry Idea copy strategies, and 3) graphic comparison of Dry Idea share trends and airing history.
Presents the second of two cases describing the struggle to find "the right advertising" for the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO). The case begins with Gillette's November 1983 decision to stage a bake-off placing BBDO in competition with a second agency to "cook up" a breakthrough advertising campaign for Dry Idea. It then proceeds to describe the six-month bake-off implementation period, provide a report of bake-off copy test results, and pose the question facing product manager Carole Johnson late in April of 1984: who won the bake-off?
Presents the first of two cases describing the struggle to solve creative problems on the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne). Provides company and industry background plus a historical brand review, and focuses on the issue facing product manager Carole Johnson in October of 1983: how to get good creativity fast?
Presents a sequel to the (A) case, which features a diary-style account of "a day in the field" with Ray Burnett, a field sales representative for Waters Chromatography Division.
Provides background information on the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) industry and the Waters Chromatography Division, an operation engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of HPLC instrument systems and chemical products. An overview of Waters' marketing effort in general and sales/service operations in particular provides a lead-in to the focus of the case: a diary-style account of a day in the field with Ray Burnett, a Waters field sales representative. Includes information on Ray's background and his current supervisor, a general description of Ray's job responsibilities, and a detailed account of one day's customer calls. Written for use in the communication section of the first year marketing course taught at HBS. The primary teaching objective is to show how one company executes the selling function.