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This case uses Apple Inc. (Apple) and its Mac line of personal computers (PCs) to allow for an analysis of competitive positioning and the building of sustainable competitive advantage. In spring 2020, as Apple evolves its various product offerings, a product manager at Apple must think about how the Mac fits into its broader product portfolio. What is the future for desktops and laptops broadly and the Mac specifically? The case facilitates an exploration of Apple's underlying capabilities and broader market dynamics, in the face of uncertainty over the industry's future direction, and it highlights the way in which Apple made deliberate strategic choices for the Mac that have worked to alleviate the typical competitive pressures of the laptop industry. The case provides a historical summary and an overview of the current forces in the PC industry, including market-share trends, mobile computing, cloud computing services, the Mac portfolio of products, and competitors. The case offers the opportunity to conduct a five forces analysis as well as explore to competitive advantage and market position. Crucially, the case highlights the possibility of carving out a valuable competitive position even in an industry with difficult competitive dynamics. This case is used at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in "Strategic Thinking and Action," a required course in the first-year core curriculum of the MBA and EMBA programs, and the students' introduction to the discipline of strategic management. This case can be used to introduce or build upon the five forces framework and connect theory with action.

Jonathan Lachowitz founded a start-up venture in the Financial Planning industry called White Lighthouse Investment Management in 2006. He targeted a niche segment (US citizens living abroad) that had a critical problem that was not addressed by existing companies (e.g. US Tax Reporting). The organization has grown slowly and consistently. In 2015 the current form of organization is stretched to a maximum. There are several decisions Jonathan needs to make, he needs to decide whether or not to hire new employees or partners and he needs to come up with a strategy on what type of clients he should accept.

Philip Morris International (PMI) CEO André Calantzopoulos announced in 2016 a radical pivot in the Marlboro cigarette manufacturer's strategy: the company would shift to "smoke-free" products in more than 180 countries around the world. One of these products was IQOS, a new "heat-not-burn" (HNB) device aimed at providing the world's over 1 billion "adult smokers with better options." The innovation of the products which, PMI claimed, were less harmful than cigarettes was welcomed by many investors and PMI. Calantzopoulos and PMI's Board of Directors believed that its sustainability strategy was critical to the company's long-term success. Nevertheless, convincing important stakeholders that a tobacco company could be part of the solution to rid the world of cigarettes by offering better alternatives was a different matter. The United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), regulators, public health advocates, and some sustainable investors said that there was no safe level of use and no opportunity for effective engagement with tobacco companies. After a two-year wait, the US FDA issued an order authorizing the sale of IQOS in the US market of 40 million smokers. The FDA found that IQOS was "appropriate for the protection of health." PMI organized the 2020 Stakeholder Engagement Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland to convene key stakeholders to engage with PMI's smoke-free business transformation.

Over the past few decades, the market for used books had declined and many used bookstores around the world have closed. Sydney, Australia, where Ampersand Bookstore and Café was located, was no exception to this trend. Yet, Vangel Cvetkovski, co-owner and operator of Ampersand, has steered it towards financial success. Established as a bookstore café, a familiar environment accessible to most university students, this case examines how Vangel and his partner overcame the limitations of the used bookstore and café industries to create a hybrid business model and how they got it to work.

This case study, a companion case to "Ampersand Bookstore and Café (A): Surviving the Bookstore Apocalypse" (HBP Product ID: ST90), extends the main case (A) by taking the Ampersand story further. While the main case focused mainly on how Ampersand had previously succeeded, this companion case examines how the protagonist might continue to grow and expand the business. Thus, it is suggested to be taught as an extension to the main case (A).

WillowTree began as a small digital products company in 2007. By 2020, it had more than 500 full-time team members operating out of offices in four locations, and it had launched hundreds of digital products, including mobile apps, websites, voice assistants, and TV experiences. But also in 2020, WillowTree was facing the most significant challenge in its 12 years of corporate existence-a global pandemic. By analyzing how WillowTree blends project and product management, students will gain insights into how a digital products services company integrates a product mindset within contract-based projects, and get the opportunity to brainstorm how WillowTree can further adapt to provide a unique value proposition during the pandemic and beyond.

The case describes how Pret a Manger-a London casual-dining institution-was significantly adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they tried to pivot by launching several business experiments in fast succession. The long-term outcome of these experiments was far from certain, but the case provides a solid basis for evaluating their potential merits and pitfalls.

Rob Taylor, Founding Chairman, and Tracy Hackland, CEO of Columba Leadership, an award-winning South African non-profit organization, pondered a strategic question in March 2018. Columba Leadership was a non-profit values-based youth program that had facilitated individual change since 2009. By February 2018, Columba Leadership had organized 449 residential academy programs and graduated 5,211 high schoolers and 1,260 educators from 169 schools in some of the more disadvantaged areas. Columba Leadership had also pioneered the use of the Social Return on Investment methodology in South Africa. Columba Leadership's value proposition consisted of a six-day residential academy where high schoolers received training in 21st-Century leadership skills (critical thinking, leadership, problem-solving, communication, etc.) based on a framework of six values, including awareness, focus, creativity, integrity, perseverance, and service. Since its inception in 2009, Columba Leadership's focus had been on facilitating positive individual change. However, in 2017 Columba Leadership's executives observed how some schools, that they called "catalytic", had produced higher performance rates and the institutionalization of youth leadership after some of their students had attended Columbia Leadership academies. The systematic impact of these high schools prompted an internal reflection at the Board level, while the organization was also experiencing substantial pressure to change externally from funders. Should Columba Leadership keep its existing approach to youth development and focus on running more residential academies in a broader geographical area? Alternatively, was it time to re-evaluate the residential program and develop a more systemic approach that involved working more with schools in order to scale their impact? What were the key arguments in favor of the different approaches to scaling? What potential objections could the Board raise?

Eric Gomez, CEO maxiaNET Inc., an international brand management and consumer packaged goods distribution company from San Diego had a new opportunity to export disposable diapers into Venezuela. Gomez had experienced success exporting products into the country and understood first-hand the extreme shortages in basic goods and the economic and political crisis facing the country. Diapers were increasingly non-existent or only offered for purchase on the black market. maxiaNET had a strong local partner and access to distribution channels, however many strategic issues remain to be solved. Gomez needed to develop an appropriate business model that would cover costs, while at the same time offer extreme discounts and enable widespread product distribution and sales. Ultimately, he needed to decide on whether and how to proceed with importing diapers into Venezuela.

On September 9, 2019, thousands of Amazon.com Inc. employees threatened to join the global climate strikes planned for the week of September 20-27, 2019. Employees were protesting the e-commerce giant's customer-centric approach and its lack of transparency regarding its carbon footprint. Pressure for more transparency was mounting-not only from employees but also from various non-governmental organizations, politicians, and competitors. However, transparency could reveal environmental issues that might lead to a boycott of the company's products and services. Furthermore, transparency and environmental initiatives could work against Amazon's customer-centric approach, and would likely not be approved by the shareholders. Amazon.com Inc. needed to make a decision. Should the company adopt a confrontationist approach and steadfastly pursue its customer-centric approach in the interest of shareholders? Or, should it adopt a co-operative approach and change the company's business model to minimize environmental damage?

In 2016, new CEO Chris Linthwaite had been brought in to turn around Fluidigm Corporation (Fluidigm), a biotechnology company based in San Francisco. Following a year of missed earnings, strong currency headwinds, product backorders, strong competition, and a lag in product demand, Fluidigm's stock had collapsed 87% in 10 months. Fluidigm was burning through cash; it had posted yet another quarter of losses; employee morale had plummeted; and the company had mounting cash flow issues. Linthwaite was preparing his turnaround strategy to present to his board of directors. He had many levers he could pull to right the ship, including cost cutting and restructuring, launching new products, and making an acquisition. This case is intended for a first-year MBA course in business strategy. The course develops students' ability to evaluate, design, and execute a firm's strategy by analyzing the competitive and organizational factors essential to sustained success. The case is used in the latter half of the course and is about selecting an appropriate growth strategy for a company in turmoil. It is used to introduce the basic tradeoffs between pursuing organic growth strategies, such as R&D and innovation, and pursuing other possible strategies, such as inorganic growth through acquisitions, cost cutting, and restructuring.

This case describes how Transsion Holdings ("Transsion"), a company with Chinese origins and strong advantages in the low-cost production of quality products, has used disruptive innovation to drive its many achievements in African and other emerging markets (such as India). As a startup with few resources, it was able to surpass global mobile phone brands (such as Samsung and Nokia) and take the lead position in the African mobile phone market (in terms of market share by volume). However, Transsion has been facing fierce competition in recent years. In January 2019, Xiaomi, a well-known Chinese smartphone brand, also entered the African market after gaining a firm foothold in the Indian market, and thus became a threat to Transsion's efforts to retain its lead position in Africa. In India, Transsion has to compete against Xiaomi as well as aggressive local competitors. Furthermore, due to consumption upgrading, the development of feature phones is making way for that of smartphones. How can Transsion, as the world's largest feature phone brand, expand its business in such an environment? Based on the disruptive innovation theory proposed by Dr. Clayton M. Christensen, this case will lead a discussion on why Transsion successfully entered Africa and achieved a leading position there and how Transsion should act in other emerging but competitive markets. By doing so, it aims to explore the implications of technology-based companies' growth strategy in emerging markets.

Analytics Pros (AP) is a consultancy that gives elite and global brands the most accurate picture of their digital landscape. In particular, Analytics Pros analyzes any interaction an online- customer experiences with websites, mobile apps, marketing efforts and more. The firm leverages primarily the leading software platforms Google Analytics 360 Suite which is part of the Google Marketing Platform to generate insights that help customers better understand their own customer journey from marketing acquisition and purchase through to retention and loyalty. Founded by young entrepreneurs at the start of the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 with limited experience on how to run a business and no capital funding, AP reached $4.5m in revenues by 2014. A subsequent acquisition was considered to propel the company's growth but almost ruined the company if the CEO had not pulled the trigger to fire herself.

COVID-19 infections were still climbing across the U.S. and many other parts of the world in September 2020, and it seemed that every time Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck & Co. consented to an interview in recent months he always seemed to hear the same question, "Where's Merck?" The company, a leader in the global vaccine business had a low public profile even though it was working assiduously on two vaccine candidates for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The U.S. Government had initiated a high profile program-Operation Warp Speed (OWS)-to accelerate the development of vaccines, but Merck was notably absent. Should Merck seek or accept funding from OWS, and what terms might accompany such an agreement?

Since its founding in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL), India's eight-week Twenty20 (T20) cricket competition, had become one of the most popular and lucrative sporting leagues in the world. In 2019, the IPL attracted 462 million TV viewers and 300 million digital viewers, and the total IPL ecosystem was estimated to be worth $6.8 billion. Key to the IPL's success was its league structure, which shared central revenues with its eight permanent franchises, set strictly enforced salary caps, and ensured transparent player purchasing. The basic logic was that these steps would maximize the level of competition throughout the league, making each match an unpredictable and unmissable event, which, in turn, would grow the value of the league's media rights. Equally important was the league's conscious efforts to market itself as entertainment for the whole family. Besides high-stakes cricket, IPL matches featured everything from dancing and singing to fireworks and fan competitions. This "integration of Bollywood and cricket" expanded the league's addressable market from what was traditionally a sport dominated by male viewers; indeed, 42% of the IPL's TV audience were women. The net result of these decisions was that the IPL was one of only two professional sports leagues in the world - the other was the National Football League (NFL) in the United States - in which all teams were profitable. The IPL's rise seemed unstoppable, but then, on April 15, 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the IPL would be postponed indefinitely due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. There was little doubt that the pandemic would have financial repercussions for the league and its teams. However, some viewed it as an opportunity to rethink how the league was positioning itself to navigate the major changes underfoot in the world of sport - from how fans engaged with their favorite teams and players to the rise of esports and sports betting.

In October 2019, the interim chief executive officer of Air Traffic and Navigation Services SOC Limited (ATNS) in South Africa faced a dilemma regarding talent management. ATNS's talent pipeline was unbalanced, and there was insufficient progression into more senior positions within the air traffic controller division. ATNS had been recruiting from disadvantaged communities through a bursary program, which trained recipients to become air traffic control officers (ATCOs). However, it took a minimum of eight years to become qualified at the highest level of ATCO, which was a requirement for more complex tasks and leadership roles at ATNS. Many bursary recipients preferred to remain in the lower levels due to the time it took to progress and also because of their potential to earn at lower levels due to the pay structure within the division. ATNS also faced the prospect of losing the highly skilled upper-level ATCOs to international air traffic services. Should ATNS redesign its talent pipeline?

Eagles Nest Association of Waterdown (Eagles Nest) was a not-for-profit organization (NFP) in Waterdown, Ontario which focused on assisting women and children fleeing abusive situations. They closed a transitional home because the lease was not renewed on the property and the lease on their thrift shop was not being renewed. That left a centre which provided support to families. The executive director had to recommend a new strategy, one that left Eagles Nest less reactive to environmental factors. Should Eagles Nest look for another property for the transitional home? Should it move the thrift shop or find another source of funding? Should it just focus on The HOPE Centre; and if so, should it expand the Centre's programming?

The president of Atotam Productions, a media production company near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was dedicated to helping industry meet its social licence to operate by creating positive stories of existing and mutually beneficial media projects. He wanted to show that partnerships among industry, the government of Canada, First Nations communities, and the Canadian public could exist, and Indigenous people could be consulted and engaged in major industrial projects. Though he was aware of the long-standing and inherent disconnect among these groups, he understood how changing market conditions in the oil and gas industry in Alberta could influence a First Nation member-owned media. Should his company continue pursuing work with the oil and gas industry or consider branching out into other industry sectors? If the company branched out, which sector(s) could it focus on? He wondered how industry could best convey to the communities that worthwhile benefits could be shared through cooperative and collaborative approaches in industrial development projects. How could the First Nations communities be assured that industry would take their culture and history seriously? More specifically, how could Atotam Productions best address the need for meaningful and respectful communication and knowledge sharing among these groups in the context of market volatility and change?

The global rise of responsible investing in the last decades (boosted by the increasing debates around climate change, business ethics and distribution of wealth) urged the development of coherent and reliable methodologies gauging the effect of business on Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) aspects. However, existing ESG rating methods not only differs greatly among themselves, but they are also typically based on companies' own practices (outputs), not on the final impact (outcome). To measure the latter, a Geneva-based company called Impaakt developed a digital platform, using the 17 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as benchmark, engaging the collective intelligence of the global community (on a Wikipedia-like model) to achieve this ambitious goal. This case explores the strategies behind the design of such a platform, investigates the importance of scale and sides, and analyses to what extent social and environmental impact can be measured objectively.