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In 2021, public accelerator program Start-Up Chile, which ten years earlier had created a global buzz, might be losing its competitive edge to similar programs or one-year visas for digital nomads offered by other countries. The case follows SUP's CEO, Angeles Romo, as she considers how Chile could remain appealing to world-class entrepreneurs in a post-pandemic world and how to ensure SUP's impact on Chile's economy.

Megan Murday, the founder of Metric, an environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) analytics startup, must decide which customer segment to target as a beachhead market. She received positive feedback from a Swiss venture capital (VC) firm, indicating their immediate interest in using Metric's software. However, Murday also considered private equity (PE) firms, impact investors, and startups as potential beachhead markets. PE firms had a large market size and a high willingness to pay, while impact investors were already aligned with Metric's mission. Startups were socially conscious and forgiving of early-stage challenges. This case provides background on the burgeoning ESG sector and the various standards and metrics being proposed to standardize reporting.

By July 2016, the Aldrich Capital Partners team had spent over two years trying to raise their inaugural growth-equity fund. They had pitched to over 140 investors, but none had committed. Managing Partners Mirza Baig and Raz Zia each had extensive experience in the growth-equity space, but they did not have an investment track record together. Investors seemed hesitant to commit to a "blind pool" of capital with a new team. Now, the partners were contemplating an investment in a company code-named "Hollywood." The deal had several risks and was not a perfect fit with their investment thesis, but the partners wondered if this deal could prove their abilities and strategy to investors. Should Aldrich invest in Hollywood?

This note surveys the international governance of global business from the nineteenth century until the present day, emphasizing and explaining its fragmented nature. In the nineteenth century a core principle of international law was that the property of foreigners could not be taken without full compensation. The expropriation of foreign direct investment by the Soviet Union in 1917, shattered existing international property law, and there was no consensus on a replacement. After World War II an International Trade Organization was envisaged alongside the IMF and the World Bank as the third leg of the Bretton Woods agreement, but the U.S. Congress refused to ratify the ITO Treaty. Various attempts by the United Nations and other bodies to create codes of conduct for multinationals failed due to divergent beliefs and policies between the West and developing countries. After 1979 there was a general relaxation of national controls over multinationals, while international agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF experienced a loss of legitimacy. The note goes on to discuss multilateral and bilateral investment treaties, the impact of the global financial crisis on tightening financial regulations, international governance on the natural environment and human rights, and the impact of digitalization on global regulation.

In May 2021, Perch CEO Chris Bell needed to decide whether his e-commerce aggregator company, which bought and scaled Amazon Marketplace brands, should acquire up to three acquisition targets. The prospective acquisitions, Web Deals Direct, HomeCo, and Future Brands, were much larger in size and complexity than Perch's previous deals. Acquiring one or more businesses could help Perch grow but could also prove challenging from an operations and integration standpoint. In addition, Bell had decisions to make around financing the acquisitions. He had received a term sheet for $100 million from a private equity firm and an offer of up to $500 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. The offer from SoftBank might provide the level of funding Perch would need to achieve market leadership in a crowded aggregator space but could put pressure on Perch to grow too quickly in pursuit of being a category champion.

New research shows that the more projects company builders have under their belts, the worse they are at anticipating delays.

When Roblox launched, in 2004, its user base was made up of friends, family members, and about 100 tech enthusiasts recruited via Google ads to serve as impartial advisers. The idea was simple but ambitious: create an online space where people from anywhere in the world could do anything--construct buildings, run businesses, battle enemies, play sports, attend concerts--together. Everyone agreed that user-generated content (UGC) would be the key to making the platform great. Sixteen years later Roblox boasts nearly 50 million active daily users and millions of developers, who have created experiences such as Let's Be Well, a game about recovering from depression, and Royale High, a virtual high school. Thanks to their own creativity, Robloxers can now walk fashion show runways, experience an eagle's flight, or figure out how to flee natural disasters with friends. The company's decision to embrace UGC opened it up to a whole new world of innovation, well beyond what its employees could envision or manage. Roblox achieved it with a culture that values long-term thinking, employees with a founder's mindset, a laser focus on end users, and an organizational structure that helps them stay creative and engaged.

Info Edge is the first Indian Internet company to list on the Indian stock markets (in 2006). It is a widely successful company with many lines of business - it operates a jobs classified (naukri.com), a real estate classifieds (99acres.com), a matrimonial classifieds (jeevansaathi.com) and a higher education classifieds (shiksha.com). Info Edge also has a very successful corporate VC arm, which at different points owned ~50% of Zomato (restaurant listings and food delivery) and Policy Bazaar (insurance comparison shopping). We have related Info Edge's 30-year journey across two cases - Naukri.com (A): the Business of Internet in India and Naukri.com (B): Corporate Venture Capital in India. Both cases have separate teaching notes and are designed to be used either independent of each other in 90-minute sessions, or to be used one after the other in two 90-minute sessions This case examines Naukri.com's fight for relevance in a world that is increasingly being dominated by the three largest Internet aggregators - Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft). It touches upon strategic aspects involving Internet marketplaces and social media networks, which are hotly debated topics in business media and various discussion forums as of 2022, and hence, you should expect strong participation from a typical MBA or executive MBA class

Info Edge is the first Indian Internet company to list on the Indian stock markets (in 2006). It is a widely successful company with many lines of business - it operates a jobs classified (naukri.com), a real estate classifieds (99acres.com), a matrimonial classifieds (jeevansaathi.com) and a higher education classifieds (shiksha.com). Info Edge also has a very successful corporate VC arm, which at different points owned ~50% of Zomato (restaurant listings and food delivery) and Policy Bazaar (insurance comparison shopping). We have related Info Edge's 30-year journey across two cases - Naukri.com (A): the Business of Internet in India and Naukri.com (B): Corporate Venture Capital in India. Both cases have separate teaching notes and are designed to be used either independent of each other in 90-minute sessions, or to be used one after the other in two 90-minute sessions This case examines Naukri.com's internal investments in other online classifieds - 99Acres, Jeevansaathi, and Shiksha, its attempts at vertical integration - Allcheckdeals and Quadrangle, as well as its corporate venture capital arm that makes financial investments in other startups like Zomato and Policy Bazaar. This case touches upon strategic aspects involving venture capital and popular consumer Internet startups in India, which are hotly debated topics in business media and various discussion forums. The case examines the strategic background of venture investments in great detail and ends by questioning the parameters of defensibility of venture funds. The case also discusses Info Edge's investment decision-making framework and valuation framework and examines the differences between financial venture capital and corporate venture capital.

In August 2019 CEO David Craig was considering the likely benefits and challenges of merging his company, financial-markets data and infrastructure provider Refinitiv, with the London Stock Exchange Group. Craig had led a turnaround of Thomson Reuters' Financial & Risk division (F&R), then used investment from a private equity consortium led by Blackstone to carve out F&R from Thomson Reuters and create Refinitiv as an independent company. The carve-out had been successful, but global financial markets were evolving fast. Initial industry reaction to the proposed deal was positive; however some analysts questioned whether it would be approved by regulators and expressed concern over the complexity of integrating the two companies. With the industry changing so quickly, could the momentum created in Refinitiv be maintained in the new combined entity?

The Hatsu brand of tea beverages and healthy food products emerged from the idea of two Colombian entrepreneurs in 2010 and evolved, in just over five years, to capture the interest of the leading company in the Colombian beverage market, Postobón SA (Postobón), which acquired it. In this context, Hatsu faced the challenge of consolidating itself in the tea beverage market while also venturing into other product categories (e.g., cereal bars, nuts, infusions, and sodas) and multiplying its sales without losing the lifestyle concept on which it was built and through which it had succeeded. By late 2020, Postobón’s premium business unit director needed to determine how Hatsu could be turned into a megabrand without losing its essence.

Breastcancer.org (BCO), a small, Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization with a $5.4 million annual budget in 2020, was looking ahead several months to the start of Pink October (also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Unlike the many non-profits that focused on medical research to find a cure for breast cancer, BCO was dedicated to helping patients and their caregivers make sense of complex information, and it had established a digital community that became a trusted source of information and stories. BCO’s vice-president of partnerships and development was preparing for the 2019–2020 fiscal year-end review with the chief executive officer and the board of directors. While BCO was not at risk of closing, it had to find ways to increase revenue beyond individual donations and corporate sponsorships. The organization needed funding from additional revenue streams to expand its program offering, and the vice-president had just a few weeks to complete her assessment of BCO’s assets and revenue strategy, which she would present to the board.

Climate change has risen to board level on the corporate agenda. Under pressure from institutional investors, companies are reformulating their strategies for a low-carbon world. A novel aspect of the emerging corporate response is that executive compensation is being linked to climate performance. This article examines the different ways that climate-linked incentive pay is used at European and U.S. energy majors, and it develops a framework - aimed at companies in "hard-to-decarbonize" sectors - to understand the benefits, challenges, and key design options. It also makes recommendations on how this organizational practice might be refined over time.

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail locations in four states. However, some decisions that fueled their rapid growth were double-edged swords. Licensed partnerships with Disney raised the brand's profile, but necessitated expanding production. The factory they built was expensive and introduced new logistical challenges. And the native New Yorkers were unhappy with a pricey West Coast expansion. In March 2020, they filed for bankruptcy, disappointing the venture capital investors they had attracted and the legions of fans who did not understand why the popular brand was not turning a profit. The protagonists' story continues in The Social (HBS No. 822-074), which tells the story of their second ice cream venture.

This case features the same protagonists as Ample Hills Creamery (HBS No. 822-073), and can be used as a continuation of that story. Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail locations in four states. However, some decisions that fueled their rapid growth were double-edged swords, and the couple filed for corporate and personal bankruptcy in 2020. After ruminating on their mistakes, Smith and Cuscuna decided to start another premium ice cream brand, at a much smaller scale, using the lessons they learned in their Ample Hills experience.

The social enterprise Apni Shala Foundation (ASF) provided social and emotional learning programs to disadvantaged communities in Mumbai, India. Since its founding in 2013, ASF had engaged with more than 16,000 students. Before February 2020, ASF was directly engaged with more than 4,600 students, 1,000 parents, and more than 500 teachers at 35 government schools and non-profit organizations. However, on March 31, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced ASF to shut its office and discontinue operations, and its mission of equipping children, educators, and parents with skills to support improved mental well-being stopped abruptly. Amrita Nair, the co-founder of ASF now faced a dilemma regarding resuming the foundation’s social and emotional learning programs: If ASF did continue, which categories should it choose to serve, and why? How could it transform its offerings and operations without compromising much on the quality of programs?

The social enterprise Apni Shala Foundation (ASF) provided social and emotional learning programs to disadvantaged communities in Mumbai, India. Since its founding in 2013, ASF had engaged with more than 16,000 students. Before February 2020, ASF was directly engaged with more than 4,600 students, 1,000 parents, and more than 500 teachers at 35 government schools and non-profit organizations. However, on March 31, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced ASF to shut its office and discontinue operations, and its mission of equipping children, educators, and parents with skills to support improved mental well-being stopped abruptly. Amrita Nair, the co-founder of ASF now faced a dilemma regarding resuming the foundation's social and emotional learning programs: If ASF did continue, which categories should it choose to serve, and why? How could it transform its offerings and operations without compromising much on the quality of programs?

Reframing your B2B company as a business-for-business company can increase revenues, customer retention, and employee morale. The authors describe how Luker Chocolate of Colombia made this strategic shift and has grown by helping its customers succeed.

Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with flight activity at levels not seen since the 1970s. Although the virus overshadows everything, three senior managers discuss a more long-term trend: the steadily declining revenues of the airport’s shopping mall. Over the past number of years, consumer interest in food, beverages, and tax-free items has continuously decreased, posing considerable challenges to CPH’s business model. About 80 per cent of the airport’s profits are generated by the non-aeronautical business, of which the shopping mall is the biggest part, and CPH needs that income to continue investing into the airport’s status as an important hub for airlines. What could CPH do to deliver better existing services, and what new services would merit serious consideration? Could CPH launch new products or services that would be attractive to both passengers and shopping mall tenants, or would it need to redevelop its entire business model? Since the commercial business was key to driving the airport’s further development, the managers knew that finding answers to these questions was important to sustaining CPH’s position as a leading hub in Northern Europe. The case is not about the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for the aviation industry. This is a case about the long-term trend of declining revenues in the airport’s shopping mall.