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In October 2021, Facebook changed the parent corporation name to Meta and announced plans to build a metaverse, a 3D virtual world for work and fun. This case explores whether Meta's metaverse is likely to be a blue ocean utopia for people and society at large or some form of dystopia. It is designed to create a lively classroom discussion and dives into issues ranging from the difference between value innovation and technology innovation to the potential danger of Meta, already one of the most powerful companies in the world, expanding its unfettered influence and control even further across its already three billion users. The case challenges students to explore the social, economic, and environmental implications of Meta's proposed metaverse along with potential business models. The theory and tools of Blue Ocean Strategy are used in the analysis.

When the Covid pandemic struck in the spring of 2020, HBS pivoted to remote instruction while maintaining the interactive and engaged discussions which distinguished the case system pedagogy. In fall 2020 HBS adopted a hybrid approach, fitting out its classrooms with monitors and technology to enable some students being in-person and others remote, investing significant time and resources. The senior leadership of the school believed that this was a sound long-term investment with rewarding payoffs for several years to come. Dean Datar in 2022 now has to decide how best to leverage the hybrid classroom and whether remote learning for MBA students, Global alumni and Executive Education participants was feasible and financially viable. Study from Anywhere seemed possible, but was it the right thing for HBS to offer, and if so to whom, and how?

In December 2020, Daytoy Group, a leading global furniture and home furnishings retailer, asked the small Chinese candle supplier Dalian Talent Co. Ltd. to become its sole supplier of aromatic and unscented candles. Daytoy Group was offering the supplier a large amount of new production volume after terminating its relationship with its only other candle supplier in the Asia-Pacific region due to a corporate social responsibility issue. The supplier had to consider the cost of the additional supply chain management, manufacturing technique, and production capacity that would be needed to comply with the new request. The company already had enough orders from other reliable clients to fill its schedule until April 2022. Expanding production capacity and adding work teams to meet the request would take one to two years. How should the supplier respond to the request? What impact would the new arrangement have on its operations? How would it affect its long-time collaboration and future partnership with Daytoy Group?

The case describes the international acquisition of the South African firm Beruc by an Indian, family-owned firm, Tega Industries Limited. Primarily a supplier of equipment to mining companies, Tega was a prominent player in the business of selling solutions to consumers in liners, mill liners, screening equipment and conveyors, apart from wear and flow equipment. Ten years after the acquisition, the benefits were not without problems. The issues facing the founder of Tega included declining financials of the subsidiary, labour-related problems, matters related to supply chain, concerns from clients in South Africa and sustained tensions between the local leadership and the corporate headquarters in India. With several changes in the leadership of the South African subsidiary (including Indian South African origin leaders), the ride was not smooth.

The case describes the lead-up to the offer to acquire Baxalta Inc by Shire PLC in the summer of 2015, weeks after Baxalta was spun out of Baxter's BioScience business. The setting is the biopharmaceutical sector - the fastest-growing in the global pharmaceutical industry in 2014, when M&As reached a record $219.4 billion. Shire, a leader in the treatment of rare diseases whose share price had quadrupled since 2010, had sustained strong sales growth. Baxalta was specialised in haematology, immunology and oncology, with product sales of $6 billion in 2014. After a private proposal to Baxalta's management in July 2015 was rebuffed, Shire considered making a public tender offer at $45.23 per share in August, valuing Baxalta at $30.6 billion. It estimated annual cost synergies to be $500 million, with additional tax and revenue synergies. The case puts students in the shoes of Shire's senior management as they decide whether to pursue the acquisition on the terms envisaged. Instructors can obtain a discounted cash flow (DCF) Excel template (for an in-class valuation exercise) as well as the model solutions on request from [email protected]

The vice-president at Tencent LeXiang (LeXiang), the enterprise social networking platform of Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), had been overseeing the development of the platform from its inception. Since its official launch in 2017, LeXiang had been successfully adopted across a wide range of multinational corporations; it was also popular internally at Tencent, with many employees engaging with their fellow co-workers on the forums. The vice-president was preparing for a meeting with Tencent's leadership about the future of LeXiang and how the platform could bring value internally to the company. As part of her preparations, she received a data set that included many posts and replies within Tencent's own LeXiang platform. While she thought there was significant value in the insight the platform provided about Tencent's own employees, she was unsure how to organize the wide-ranging posts and demonstrate their potential value to Tencent's leadership.

In 2019, Toyota launched KINTO, its new mobility services brand, in Europe - to address the increasing shift in consumer preferences from ownership to on-demand usership. KINTO was only the third brand to be launched by Toyota in its history (after Toyota and Lexus). This signaled to the market that the world's largest automaker was serious about transforming from a car manufacturer to a mobility company. The case describes how, under the leadership of Tom Fux, the fledgling company grew through market-by-market deployment of KINTO-branded services across Europe. To build a robust foundation and spur progress, KINTO leveraged the strengths of various Toyota enterprises, including Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Insurance Services, and technological partner Toyota Connected Europe. Toyota's retailer network also played a crucial role. KINTO enabled the retailers to go beyond their traditional sales and maintenance role to offer new mobility services to give customers access to their preferred vehicles when and where they want, for as long as they like. Over time, KINTO's services expanded into car subscriptions, car sharing, carpooling and multi-modal solutions tailored to private individuals, businesses and cities. By 2021, KINTO was well placed to address the demand for smart, innovative and flexible mobility services depending on the maturity of different markets. As Tom Fux moved to his next role in Toyota, Miguel Fonseca took charge as the new CEO of KINTO Europe. He pondered how he could launch the company on its next growth trajectory. • How could KINTO become a one-stop-shop for future mobility solutions? • How could the company scale up its services in different countries? • How could the leadership balance organic and inorganic growth to secure new business opportunities?

The GSK Consumer Healthcare (GSK CH) case study deals with building a community of practice (CoP) in a merged, complex organization and a virtual environment. The case focuses on the introduction of a CoP by Marcus Chambers, a GSK senior executive, to address the need for greater alignment, collaboration and learning amongst the global Research and Development (R&D) Project Managers to drive the innovation pipeline in the new venture. GSK Consumer Health was created through the merger of the consumer healthcare divisions of Pfizer and GSK in August 2019 to create the world's largest consumer healthcare company. As the merger was announced, so too was the announcement of the intention to spin off the newly created 25,000 persons organization within three years, adding pressure to deliver on the anticipated value of the joint venture. The case focuses on the global R&D Project Management organization, which has primary responsibility for leading cross-functional innovation projects to drive growth. Their role is complex requiring foresight to plan and steward projects and flexibility to deal with the inevitable firefighting of innovation amongst diverse and multiple stakeholders. In addition to the inherent complexity of the role was the need to co-ordinate efforts of 78 project managers from GSK (45%), Pfizer (35%) and new hires (20%) across three regional hubs and four category hubs globally - against the backdrop of the pandemic. This topical case covers the 2-year period from August 1, 2019, when the joint venture was announced to August 2021. It recounts how the newly created GSK Consumer Health addressed the need to build capability, reduce inconsistencies and deal with frustrations to realize the promise of new innovations through the introduction of a community of practice during the pandemic.

Supplement to HBS Case No. 720-454, "Apple Inc. in 2020."

Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led the architectural development of the new Geely SEA platforms for its new family of BEVs. The new car would be part of the Zeekr premium lineup. He knew that smaller cars on a given platform inevitably suffered from costs problems, while larger vehicles suffered from less than premium attributes. They could emphasize meeting cost targets on the low end, but that might have a negative impact on the high end. Which platform should they choose? This case explores the platforms and derivatives strategies used by global auto manufacturers, and some of the changes wrought by the shift from internal combustion vehicles to battery electric. It emphasizes the importance of achieving volume and scale in reaching competitive costs and selling prices, and offers an opportunity to explore the potential impact of open standards and modular interchangeability on the structure of the industry.

By early 2020, Mindee Barham, vice-president of development at the microfinancing organization Grameen America, which focused on empowering low-income female entrepreneurs by offering them microloans to develop and grow their own businesses, had overseen the successful implementation of the first year of Grameen America's ten-year Lifting America campaign for strategic growth. This campaign was intended to increase membership to 400,000 people; to issue loans amounting to $12 billion; to raise $300 million, including $100 million in philanthropy and $200 million in debt capital; and to enter new locations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly derailed the funding and implementation of the campaign, and given the pandemic's large impact on Grameen America's vulnerable members, it threatened the existence of Grameen America itself. How should Grameen America respond to the pandemic? What would become of the Lifting America campaign? And what could Grameen America do to support its members through the COVID-19 pandemic without jeopardizing the organization's future plans?

The case, based on WeLab Bank (WLB), is set in February 2021, following the Chinese New Year holidays in Hong Kong. WLB, one of eight new virtual banks in Hong Kong, began operations in July 2020 amid a global pandemic. The de facto central bank in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which has been gradually implementing measures to support the development of digital banking in Hong Kong, including the introduction of Open Application Programming Interfaces (Open APIs), which, in principle, would allow Third Party Service Providers (TSP), including fintechs, to gain access to banking customers' data and utilize that data to provide more targeted and innovative services to those customers. Traditionally, banks extended their services to customers at their brick-and-mortar outlets, taking in deposits for which they provided interest earnings and generating income on a variety of loan products for which they charged higher interest than on its deposits. Virtual banks, by contrast, extended their services exclusively via digital channels, including mobile banking. With lower overheads, they could provide some services for free or with minimal charges, while offering financial products with higher earnings for customers. With a growing base of customers accessing financial services remotely, the opportunity existed to find new and innovative ways to serve customers through digital-only channels. The challenge facing WLB and its manager for growth operations and strategy, Ms. Janice Chung, was how to firmly establish itself in a nascent virtual banking market in Hong Kong, while competing with strong traditional banks that were also moving to digitize their banking services. In assessing its strategic options, it could leverage its strong technology infrastructure, open APIs, and the examples of predecessor virtual banks and fintechs in other markets, such as Starling Bank in the UK, Tinkoff Bank in Russia, and Grab in Singapore.

The objective of this case study (in two parts, A and B) is to provide a systematic methodology for capturing metrics crucial for patient experience and hospital performance, defining a framework to design an enterprise technology strategy map, and examining the readiness, deployment, and sustainability of technology solutions to help achieve superior patient satisfaction. Part A (Identification and Prioritization of Key Focus Areas) of this two-part case study takes the reader through the exploration of Avantika Raghu, Chief Experience and Technology Officer at the KG hospital, where she uncovers various pain points. It describes Raghu's observations during her Gemba walks covering key departments at the hospital, learnings from her focus group meetings with stakeholders, and insights from examining the hospital's quality and performance parameters. The case concludes with Raghu identifying patient satisfaction as a core challenge in the current setup and considering technological solutions that can help improve patient satisfaction while enabling hospital expansion to meet the goals of Vision 2025.

The objective of this case study (in two parts, A and B) is to provide a systematic methodology for capturing metrics crucial for patient experience and hospital performance, defining a framework to design an enterprise technology strategy map, and examining the readiness, deployment, and sustainability of technology solutions to help achieve superior patient satisfaction. Part B (Tech Strategy Design and Implementation ) of this two-part case study is a follow-up to Part A, and it takes the reader through Avantika Raghu's journey of solving the problems identified in Part A. Part B of the case study describes her efforts to address prioritized metrics by identifying technology solutions (both in-house and external vendors). It follows her as she assesses candidate solutions on a host of parameters: need, desired outcome from the implementation, staff awareness, availability of technology, investment opportunity, ease of implementation, product features, vendor engagement, time to market, end-user experience, and barriers to adoption. The case study closes with an unexpected twist, as her grandfather challenges her robust proposals with a series of pointed questions on how an enterprise technology strategy and an effective change management framework for championing organizational and individual change should be designed.

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.

In 2022, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, and his team looked back at a difficult but ultimately successful past year. The global pandemic had posed enormous challenges, but the company had weathered the storm successfully, raising same-store sales growth, long anemic, by 8%. The team was particularly proud of Walmart's performance in online sales. Walmart+, the company's $98 membership program that offered free shipping, had attracted more than 15 million households. Investors remained skeptical, however. The company's share price remained flat. Would the post-pandemic era finally bring the hoped-for change? What were the most significant opportunities the company faced in its 60th year in business? Was it even possible to substantially grow Walmart's U.S. operations, a behemoth with more than 5,000 stores and over $350 billion in sales? As McMillon and his team debated Walmart's capital allocation, they carefully considered three growth opportunities: a continued build-out of the company's e-commerce operations, an upscaling initiative, and a renewed effort to capture market share in urban markets. Would any of these strategic initiatives sway Wall Street?

All innovation begins with the imagination. But before your imagination can be harnessed, it must be ignited. In an excerpt from their book of the same title, the authors argue that three things spark the imagination: accidents, anomalies and analogies. However, for any of these types of surprises to impact us, our minds must be prepared, and that means improving our abilities in three areas: noticing; comprehending; and interpreting. They describe how to develop and improve upon each skill, along the way explaining the importance of paying attention to our frustrations, how to draw analogies and how to immerse ourselves in new worldviews.

Goal-based mission and vision statements have been around for decades and are widely accepted as a required practice for corporations. But as the post-pandemic economy takes shape, that definition of purpose has expanded significantly. The author argues that duty-based purpose - anchored in explicit values -has become critical for organizations to thrive. She describes the three pillars of duty-based purpose: values, social service and stewardship, providing rich examples. She then explains how to marry the goal and duty-based aspects of an organization's purpose. In a world where viruses can paralyze economies, climate change ravages communities, and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, she makes it clear that this expanded conception of purpose must become a foundational aspect of every organization.

We have entered a new era for business in which sustaining competitive advantage requires companies to transform their business models for sustainability. As a result, leaders need a systemic understanding of sustainability challenges-and how their companies can play a part in addressing them. The authors-current and former senior consultants at Boston Consulting Group-introduce the concept of Sustainable Business Model Innovation (SBMI) and the four steps required to achieve it: Expand the business canvas; innovate for resilience; link to drivers of value; and scale the initiative. Many examples of companies large (3M, BASF, PepsiCo) and small (Ajinomoto, Indigo AG, Veolia) that have achieved SBMI are provided throughout. In the end, the authors show that it is not only possible-but increasingly critical-to create social and business value with one business model.