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In 2018, the legacy business of Somedia AG (Somedia)-traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and TV-was in structural decline. While its business portfolio still delivered positive financial results, it became clear that this would only be the case for a few more years. Susanne Lebrument and Thomas Kundert, the two main figures in charge as this pivotal moment in the firm's history emerged, tasked themselves with finding new business areas that would secure sustained profitable growth and, thus, compensate the declining legacy business. The firm had a rich history and was a well-respected institution in southeastern Switzerland; as such, Somedia's existing resources and capabilities would provide points of departure for new business development and diversification. Lebrument and Kundert's key strategic challenge was to change the current business trajectory toward sustained profitable growth that would compensate for the decline and eventual disappearance of Somedia's legacy business.

The Freedom Fund founded in 2013 to end modern slavery had raised more than half its intended target (by 2025) of $200 million. In 2021, impressed by its decentralized-partnering style of operations, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott awarded the Fund a gift of $35 million over 5 years. The beauty of the gift was that it came with no strings attached. It was completely unrestricted for use the way the company's management and staff deemed fit. Nick Grono, the organization's first CEO was wrestling with the question of how to put the money to best use.

The Freedom Fund (B) case describes the management's plan of how to use the windfall of $35 million granted by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. The case also describes the process by which the decisions were arrived at.

In 2022, after five years of pursuing a new "AI-first" strategy, Google had captured a sizeable share of the American and global markets for voice assistants. Google Assistant was used by hundreds of millions of users around the world, but Amazon retained the largest share of the smart speaker market, and Apple's share was quickly growing following a strategic shift towards affordability. In addition, Chinese companies including Baidu and Alibaba dominated the smart speaker market in China, and their products were increasingly popular in foreign markets. Google CEO Sundar Pichai needed to figure out how to gain new users and grow Google Assistant's market share. Second, he needed to determine how Google Assistant would, if ever, generate revenue.

This briefing sheet reviews a four-step "Be SURE" negotiation preparation framework. It was developed to complement educational and resource materials accessible through the HKS SLATE Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, and Leadership) Case Collection, including the Strategic Preparation Workbook and related cases. It is adapted from the Harvard Business Review article, "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," by Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, and a related HKS Case, "Self-Advocating in Early Career", by Hannah Riley Bowles and Zoe Williams.

When Covid-19 hit the US in 2020, the grocery retail industry underwent a greatly accelerated digital transformation as consumers' habits changed drastically in a matter of weeks. As Americans sought to avoid their risk of exposure to the coronavirus, the adoption of online grocery shopping, click-and-collect and self-checkout skyrocketed. By 2022, it appeared this shift was here to stay, changing the grocery business for the long term. Yet, while big supermarket chains were scrambling to capture this new wave of digital shoppers, Trader Joe's consciously decided not to invest in e-commerce or omnichannel solutions. The company doubled down on experiential retail, choosing to remain a pure brick-and-mortar player and to keep its stores low-tech. Can this maverick company maintain a competitive advantage by going against the macro-trend of digitalization?

Twelve years ago, in 2010, the private equity firm New Mountain Capital acquired a little-known Wisconsin software company, RedPrairie, for $565 million. In September 2021 it sold that same company, now named Blue Yonder, for $8.5 billion to Panasonic. About $5.7 billion of the gain had come from organic growth, not acquisitions. That success wasn't driven by any specific lucky break, technology breakthrough, or new product. Rather, it was the result of continual investment and improvement in the company's management, strategy, and governance--the same approach that best-in-class private equity firms have employed for years across dozens of industries and thousands of companies. By explaining how New Mountain transformed Blue Yonder, this article shows how private equity firms create value for businesses and for the economy. And it underscores how much the PE industry has evolved since its inception.

Traditionally, the most reliable way for a firm to find its next wave of growth was to apply the capabilities of its core business in an adjacent market. But recently a new pattern has begun to emerge. More firms are learning the art of building large second cores--what Bain's Zook and Allen call "engine twos." Given that in the past five years, 60% of big public companies have seen their growth stall out or stagnate--often because of technological disruption--finding an engine two has become increasingly imperative. What does it entail? Successful engine twos have four factors in common. They target markets where the profit pool is sizable and growing or shifting, as Amazon's cloud computing business did. They have a differentiated competitive advantage, which is often built up through acquisitions, as happened at Disney+. They adopt entrepreneurial approaches, like Bradesco's digital unit, Next, and leverage the scale and assets of the original core, as the industrial cleaning company Ecolab's new water-purification business did. In combination these four elements magnify one another's effects, often creating businesses that have much greater potential than firms' original cores.

Contrary to what many people think, virtual health care, also known as telemedicine or telehealth, is much more than a cheap digital knockoff of in-person care. When used appropriately, it improves patient health, reduces costs, and makes care more equitable and accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Its use has soared during the Covid era--and the authors argue that providers around the world should aggressively strive to tap its full potential even after the pandemic abates. Pearl and Wayling take readers inside Kaiser Permanente and Intermountain Healthcare, two of telehealth's earliest adopters and most effective users in the United States. They show how telehealth can reduce expensive and unnecessary trips to the ER, reduce America's chronic-disease crisis, address disparities in care, make specialty care faster and more efficient, and provide access to the best doctors. And they outline what's needed to spur adoption to a fully telehealth-driven system. Employers, who currently provide health insurance coverage to nearly half the U.S. population, could drive such a change by banding together and designing new reimbursement and care delivery approaches. The resulting savings could amount to tens of billions of dollars a year.

Most people believe that business competition takes place between companies: Boeing vs. Airbus; GM vs. Toyota; and Amazon vs. Google. But the author argues that there is a better way to think about competition: It happens at the front line more so than at head office. Customers choose between products and services that hold the potential to meet their needs; and they have a limited amount of concern for who brings that product or service to their front line-let alone the layers between the product on the shelf and where and by whom it is made. He discusses four outcomes that must be addressed in every business strategy today, including 'the layers you should drop' and 'the products and services you should add.' In the end he provides a strong argument for proactively structuring corporate strategy from the front line back.

In recent years, leaders have had to tackle global challenges that even the most forward-thinking among them could never have fathomed. As a result, organizations once resistant to change have had no choice but to transform. Based on Accenture research, the author argues that six signals stand out as being essential to the future success of organizations. All present opportunities - and incentives - to embrace change and find new ways to grow and evolve.

This case follows the decision-making of Connie Ovalspot, fictional head of human resources at Squarespace. Ovalspot is being called on to advise the CEO and board members on how to address white supremacy on the company's platform following a domestic terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. After the event, employees reached out to Squarespace executives to protest the existence of extremist and hate-related groups on the company's platform. They asserted that Squarespace had a responsibility to remove these profiles. Ovalspot is tasked with determining the most appropriate and prudent course of action, including drafting a corporate response to the Charlottesville tragedy. This case examines the intersection of a firm's responsibility to its strategy, employees, customers, and values, viewed through both a legal and social lens.

On January 4, 2021, Mike Patriquin was contemplating the tumultuous year of 2020 and the impact it had had on operations at Hell’s Basement Brewery (HBB), the first brewery to open in Medicine Hat, Alberta, since the early 1900s. Recent events both within and outside the brewery had affected his business. Management had recently restructured financially after buying out some of the original partners, and the remaining owners and management were still dealing with the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The brewery had also had some unexpected media coverage. Patriquin was considering the next steps for HBB given the volatile nature of the industry in these unprecedented times.

In April 2020, the head of the corporate social investments (CSI) division of Investec South Africa (Investec SA), was working to ensure that Investec SA CSI could continue to create opportunities for young people to become active economic participants in society while it also salvaged the school year for students already enrolled in its flagship education program, Promaths. To save the school year, he would have to shift the entire curriculum online, and this presented both an opportunity and a dilemma: How could he harness the crisis of the pandemic to scale up the Promaths program and reach more learners by using quality and affordable program delivery? How could he adapt quickly to make a greater impact with the online Promaths program? He knew that this had to happen fast, but he also saw this as an opportunity to amplify the reach and impact of the Promaths program.

In October 2021, the fictional vice president of supply chain sustainability at Tesla is working on finding the best way to achieve Tesla's goal of 100% recycling for the batteries in its electric vehicles (EVs) as they reach their end of life. A major challenge in this effort is that the current global capacity for lithium-ion recycling is in a nascent stage. Although the immediate need is relatively low since almost all batteries in present-day EVs have a lot of life left, by 2030 there is a forecasted need for about 1.2 million pounds of batteries to be recycled each year. Also by 2030, the first two million Tesla vehicles will be between 10 and 18 years old, meaning that hundreds of thousands of those are likely to have left the road and required decommissioning. Further complications are the general need for lithium-ion batteries to be recycled due to their high content of toxic and heavy metals; the fact that some substances in the batteries are conflict minerals; and the requirements and expectations for Tesla regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance and investing. The case introduces students to the history of EVs, the components of EV batteries and the battery supply chain, the process for EV battery recycling, and a general overview of ESG, as well as how it applies to Tesla.

In April 2020, the head of the corporate social investments (CSI) division of Investec South Africa (Investec SA), was working to ensure that Investec SA CSI could continue to create opportunities for young people to become active economic participants in society while it also salvaged the school year for students already enrolled in its flagship education program, Promaths. To save the school year, he would have to shift the entire curriculum online, and this presented both an opportunity and a dilemma: How could he harness the crisis of the pandemic to scale up the Promaths program and reach more learners by using quality and affordable program delivery? How could he adapt quickly to make a greater impact with the online Promaths program? He knew that this had to happen fast, but he also saw this as an opportunity to amplify the reach and impact of the Promaths program.

The case is about Ashok Kumar Pandey, the principal of Ahlcon International School (AIS) in Delhi. The school was established in 2001. Pandey joined the school as its principal in 2003 and held the position until 2019. This period coincided with the rapid expansion of the school in terms of infrastructure and student enrolment, as well as in terms of accolades and awards. The school became well known for Pandey's academic leadership and various initiatives to support and encourage teacher development. Pandey had asked for teachers' feedback on various activities the school had undertaken for their overall development. After analysing the feedback, Pandey contemplated what the best way to move forward was.

In late 2021, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Chairman and former CEO Ajaypal "Ajay" Banga considered how Mastercard could best position itself for continued success in the years to come. Since Mastercard's initial public offering in 2006, the company had grown and transformed, driven in part by a core strategy of "Grow-Diversify-Build" and vision of a "World Beyond Cash." During Banga's recent tenure as CEO, Mastercard had invested in creating a strong culture, recruiting top talent, driving innovation, partnering with would-be competitors, and launching new services. Now, with Miebach at the helm as Mastercard's CEO, the payments landscape was experiencing increasing democratization of the banking system, the rise of blockchain and cryptocurrency, and increasing nationalism, among other shifts. Miebach and Banga needed to identify the most pressing threats and opportunities in the ever-evolving payments landscape and determine how to take advantage of them. As they looked ahead, they asked themselves: Was Mastercard well positioned for the next 10 years?

This case explores the economic, cultural, and environmental implications of the creation of the Kraken, the National Hockey League's (NHL) newest expansion team in Seattle, Washington. It follows the responsibilities and decisions facing brothers Tod and Tim Leiweke, the former Kraken's CEO, and the latter a founder of the Oak View Group, a development and investment company for sports and entertainment that owned and redeveloped the Kraken's arena. Newly tasked by Amazon with making the Kraken's new home, Climate Pledge Arena, go carbon neutral, the Leiwekes faced their greatest challenges yet: achieving what no other sports arena had accomplished in sustainability, controlling the costs of doing so to ensure continued profitability, and maintaining their reputations as competent leaders in managing national sports teams and venues. The case presents the increasing focus on sustainability by national sports leagues and the NHL in particular. With Seattle as the setting for this bold endeavor to be carbon neutral, the case describes the financial commitments and early outcomes involved in achieving it, and the long-term reporting requirements to which the Leiweke brothers were bound to ultimately demonstrate their success.

Ebidding, Shanghai Huizhao Information Technology Co., Ltd.'s key product, was China's only "Internet+" integrated bidding and procurement service provider, integrating supply chain management consulting, project implementation, and electronic bidding platform operation. Its main business was to provide enterprises with a full-process electronic bidding and procurement solution. The Ebidding team had developed a full-process electronic bidding platform in 2012, and it had been upgraded and developed regularly since then. A business expansion opportunity emerged for Ebidding as a result of shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of precautions to combat COVID-19, offline bidding and procurement across China were severely curtailed. Electronic bidding procurement projects were also stalled due to the inability of experts to evaluate online bids. To seize this market opportunity, gain competitive advantage, and grow its business in the face of significant uncertainty, Ebidding would have to determine how to quickly develop a remote decentralized bid evaluation system, gain acceptance for it, and lead customers to accept the new system.