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While violence against children in Turkey was widespread, people across the country were shocked by the news of seven atrocious child molestation cases,one after another over the course of a week in April 2010. Ayşen Özyeğin, Founder and President of the Mother Child Education Foundation (in Turkish, Anne Çocuk Eğitim Vakfı-AÇEV), a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting disadvantaged children and their families and promoting early childhood education, called a Board meeting to discuss whether the organization should assume a role in addressing the child protection crisis. ACEV's leaders prepared to present recommendations to their fellow Board Members and to consider decisions critical for both the agency's future and for Turkey's children.

While violence against children in Turkey was widespread, people across the country were shocked by the news of seven atrocious child molestation cases,one after another over the course of a week in April 2010. Ayşen Özyeğin, Founder and President of the Mother Child Education Foundation (in Turkish, Anne Çocuk Eğitim Vakfı-AÇEV), a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting disadvantaged children and their families and promoting early childhood education, called a Board meeting to discuss whether the organization should assume a role in addressing the child protection crisis. ACEV's leaders prepared to present recommendations to their fellow Board Members and to consider decisions critical for both the agency's future and for Turkey's children.

This case asks students to step into the role of Adalberto Flores, co-founder and CEO of Kueski, one of the first companies to develop a proprietary algorithm for online loan approval in Mexico. Mexico lacks a standardized credit scoring system, making it difficult for many Mexicans to get approved for a loan or credit card. This, together with the fact that Mexicans generally do not trust traditional banks, makes Mexico an attractive opportunity for fintech companies. Growth, however, could require fintech companies to partner with traditional banks. Students assume the role of Flores to think about the benefits and risks associated with a partnership between Kueski and traditional banks. Students are also challenged to compare the structure of U.S. financial services markets with the Mexican structure and consider the implications on the sustainability of fintech companies in the two markets. The teaching note analyzes the Mexican financial market and the benefits and threats it holds for fintech companies, and outlines a framework for evaluating the risk associated with partnerships.

The protagonist of the case is Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO. The case opens with her reviewing the company's Q3 2017 earning data in preparation for the ensuing investors' call. Notably, the company continued a strong run in the mobile ad space and significant revenues that Facebook had generated. As COO, she is looking to take the company to the next level: not only continued growth in mobile ads, but dominance in the digital ad space. For this to occur, Facebook would somehow have to top Google in both display and search ads, despite only having notable presence and expertise in display ads. In 2017, Facebook was the fourth most valuable company on the planet, with a market capitalization of almost $500 billion (just behind Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft, but ahead of Amazon).

Longfor, a real estate company in China, treats every customer as an individual with distinctive tastes, preferences and needs; the homes it designs emphasize aesthetics, comfort, landscaping and lifestyle in a holistic way. Likewise, its organizational culture emphasizes equality and professionalism in a country where hierarchy and deference to authority are the norm. Its approach to HR (recruitment, training, evaluation, compensation, role-modeling) is completely at odds with common practice in China. The case asks: Is it possible to succeed in business with an organizational culture that is alien to the society in which the company operates? How can emotional capital be generated and embedded in a company to facilitate strategic innovation?

Consumers Union is attempting to address the competitive forces being presented by the Internet.

Disruption from artificial intelligence (AI) is here, but many company leaders aren't sure what to expect from AI or how it fits into their business model. Yet with change coming at breakneck speed, the time to identify your company's AI strategy is now. MIT Sloan Management Review has partnered with The Boston Consulting Group to provide baseline information on the strategies used by companies leading in AI, the prospects for its growth, and the steps executives need to take to develop a strategy for their business.

In recent years, "design thinking"has become popular in many industries as established companies have tried to apply designers'problem-solving techniques to corporate innovation processes. Key elements of the design thinking methodology include fast iterations; early and frequent interaction with customers; agile process design with less hierarchy; and a learning-by-doing approach that involves building prototypes and creating mock-ups of any kind as early as possible in the process. Over the past seven years, the authors have helped more than 20 companies pursue more than 50 design thinking initiatives and have found that such initiatives rarely proceed according to the textbook model. Innovation, they note, is an inherently messy process that conflicts in many ways with established companies'processes, structures, and corporate cultures. For example, they note, many established companies punish failure, which discourages the risk-taking design thinking requires. What's more, the design thinking methodology calls for egalitarian, self-organized teams, but this isn't how most large companies work. In fact, the design thinking teams the authors studied tended to have clear process and project owners, usually senior managers who often supervised 12 to 15 design thinking projects at a time. The authors argue that companies need to take five steps to take full advantage of the potential of design thinking. They recommend that companies (1) encourage top managers to champion design thinking initiatives, (2) balance intuitive and analytical thinking on design thinking teams, (3) set ground rules that give design thinking teams the autonomy they need to function well, (4) integrate design thinking into the company's product development processes, and (5) focus on learning rather than on profits as metrics for design thinking projects.

In March 2017, Airbnb needed to make some important decisions regarding its strategy for the Airbnb Business Travel Vertical (ABTV) in Asia. Despite a short history of less than three years since the formal announcement of its launch, the ABTV had exhibited promising performance. The business travel market offered many attractive characteristics, including its large size. Despite the attractiveness of the business travel segment, two issues related to the choice of countries and the choice of segments were of concern. Another key issue related to identifying the specific corporate clients to approach-whether to leverage existing relationships with multinational customers or to approach Asian corporate clients directly.

In 2013, L'Oréal SA had become the largest cosmetics manufacturer in the world by understanding different markets and offering products to those consumers that met needs they may not have realized they even had. In India, L'Oréal spent more than 20 years studying its target consumers and developing products to cater to their specific needs. However, developing localized products was not the only criterion for success in a new market. L'Oréal needed to also localize every aspect of its operations, from research and development to marketing and outreach. As well, the company needed to deal with intensifying competition as global and local players challenged L'Oréal's efforts to penetrate and dominate the hair-care, skincare, makeup, and professional hair-care segments in the value-conscious and largely unorganized but fast-growing beauty market in India. What localization and market development strategies should L'Oréal implement?

In early summer 2012, Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. (Brookfield), a Calgary-based residential property developer with holdings throughout North America, had an opportunity to develop a vacant site in the inner-city community of Scarboro, in the southwest quadrant of Calgary. Brookfield did not own the site but was working with the landowner to request that the city of Calgary rezone the site from single family to Direct Control to allow a proposed 52-unit project. Brookfield's proposed housing development project was planned by following the policies set out in Calgary's Municipal Development Plan. The plan was focused on the densification of Calgary's population, particularly in the inner city and along established public transportation routes. The question was, how could Brookfield proceed to get buy-in for its project from Scarboro and the surrounding communities?

The president of the Engineering and Research and Development Services (ERS) division at HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL) congratulated the Boeing Company (Boeing) on the maiden flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet airliner on December 15, 2009. Out of the many companies working on the 787 Dreamliner project, HCL was the only Indian information technology services firm to be selected for the project. As part of the project, HCL worked closely with Boeing, and some of Boeing's tier-one suppliers, in developing various onboard mission-critical software systems, such as the electrical power generation and distribution system and the pilot controls. The multi-million dollar deal had important implications for HCL and its future in the US$644.3 billion aerospace and defence industry. HCL ERS had to make a crucial strategic choice: should the division continue to offer great value to its customers by helping them optimize costs and improve delivery time, or should it move up the value chain by investing more in research and development capabilities, thereby emerging as a leader rather than a follower in this highly complex and technology-driven industry?

The case is written from the perspective of McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook. Easterbrook assumed office in March 2015, and the case highlights the company's recent and dramatic decline in performance amidst increasing competition. In addition, the case details Easterbrook's strategic initiatives in an attempted turnaround of McDonald's' fortunes. With some $25 billion in sales (in 2017) and some 45,000 restaurants globally (thereof 27,000 in the U.S.), McDonald's remains the largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain. At the same time, McDonald's has been struggling on several fronts in recent years. Attempting to be "everything for everybody," McDonald's fell victim to being "stuck-in-middle," without a clear strategic position. With such a large global installed base of restaurants and franchisees, any changes coming from the McDonald's headquarters require significant leadership, investment, and potential risk.

The case is written from the perspectives of Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. The case focuses on opportunities and challenges faced by Alphabet's largest business unit, Google. Competition in Google's advertising space has intensified, mostly by the way of Facebook. This poses a threat because Google still secures more than 90 percent of Alphabet's profits and revenues. The case also highlights challenges of managing a multi-business conglomerate pursuing an unrelated diversification strategy. As Alphabet continues to implement an M-form structure to administer unrelated diversified, the adjacent business units will have a significant impact on Google. Most notably, the Waymo subsidiary has the potential to enter a multibillion-dollar market. The uncertainty of this venture along with Google's core competencies present new opportunities and challenges to the firm. There is also the question if Alphabet can manage this new structure while securing future growth and profitability.

This is a condensed version of the cases EBX Group (A): Eike Batista and the X-Factor/EBX Group (B): Autopsy of a failure. It describes the boom and bust of the EBX Group and its founder, Eike Batista. The first part traces the history of the Brazilian conglomerate from its origins as a small gold-mining operation in the early 1980s to 2012 when it has become a diversified national and global player in multiple industries. It examines Batista's personal drive, motivations and choices, and how these influenced the strategy deployed by the company. Known for his huge 'risk appetite', Batista had an extraordinary ability to exploit gaps in the market when starting new businesses. The second part of the case recounts the "historic" downfall of the 'X Empire' which was of a magnitude and speed never seen before in the history. Batista's personal net worth of US$30 billion - making him the seventh wealthiest person in the world and the richest in Brazil - had plummeted to US$200 million as debts piled up and the stock price went into freefall. In January 2014, Bloomberg reported that Batista had "a negative net worth".

On 30 May 2017, Amazon shares traded at a record high - above $1,000 - surpassing the share price of Google parent Alphabet. Started as an online bookstore 22 years earlier, Amazon has achieved uninterrupted growth by becoming the largest internet bookstore, the largest online marketplace, a media company, and the most successful IT service provider. Amazon recently expanded into the bricks-and-mortar retail business, launching Amazon Books across the US and beta-testing Amazon Go in Seattle. As of May 2017, Amazon was ranked the world's most innovative company and the fourth largest company by market capitalization. The case explores Amazon's path to growth and its successes and failures along the way. Successful strategic moves include Amazon Marketplace, Prime, Amazon Web Services, and Kindle. Failures included Auctions, A9 Search Engine, Endless, and the Fire Phone. Identifying commonalities and differences among them, the case shows the causes and consequences of Amazon's at-once stellar performance and severe setbacks. It applies Blue Ocean Strategy concepts to analyze its market-creating logic for future growth. The case comes with teaching note, a one-page summary and lectures slides. Teaching materials can be downloaded from https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/teaching-materials/amazon/ The case is also available in Chinese and Korean.

The hotel industry is being disrupted by new digital players who have entered the market and challenge the conventional hospitality approach. The sharing economy in particular, with the Airbnb start-up in the lead, has created a major challenge, if not a threat, to established hotel chains. As a response, AccorHotels, Europe's leading hotel group, is going through a major digital transformation that impacts its corporate culture, organizational structure, value proposition, and overall business model. The goal is to turn the traditional asset-heavy company into an active player in the new hospitality economy, able to compete head-on with the industry's digital disruptors. Learning objective: The case discusses the strategic response of industry incumbents to the challenges coming from digital disruptors. Participants will be asked to compare the two business models from different angles: how do the different approaches deliver on the consumer proposition, and which are the strengths and weaknesses of each business model. Participants will further be asked to assess the strategic options of an asset-heavy incumbent to react to asset-light competitors in a context of digital disruption. The case serves as a basis to discuss the opportunities and challenges of industry incumbents to transform themselves and better compete in an increasingly digital business environment.

In July 2015, the founder of YourStory Media Private Limited (YourStory) needed to make key strategic decisions to scale up her business. YourStory was a top-ranked online media platform that focused on developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India by publishing news stories about entrepreneurs and start-ups and by organizing entrepreneurial conferences and events. Since its inception in 2008, the company had grown slowly and steadily using its own funds. However, it needed to expand rapidly in order to attract venture capital funding. YourStory's founder knew that potential investors would translate their initial interest into actual investments only if she was able to demonstrate that YourStory had a coherent, comprehensive, and consistent story of its own. She had identified various strategic growth alternatives: given the evolving online media marketplace, which should she pursue to meet her expansion goal?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 718422.

This brief note explores the emerging possibilities of virtual reality and its potential as a gaming platform.