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Tesla was founded in 2003 on the mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport through the production and sale of electric vehicles. The scope of this mission required staged business model development, beginning with low-volume production of a high-priced electric sports car and moving down-market gradually to produce higher volumes of more affordable electric vehicles. Tesla adapted its operating model at each stage and pursued innovations to unlock product performance and increased scale. With expansions into solar power, energy storage, and autonomous fleets, what business model change should Tesla pursue next?

In the midst of increasing press scrutiny of the bottled water industry's environmentally harmful practices, FIJI Water made a series of sustainability promises. The boldest of these was a pledge to go "carbon negative." The company said that not only would they offset or mitigate all of their carbon emissions, but would go further, making every purchase of their hip, luxury bottles a net benefit for the environment. The unusual methodology they used to calculate their environmental benefit drew skepticism, and FIJI executives needed to evaluate how to move forward with their sustainability agenda.

Yorgus, a Brazilian entrepreneurial maker of premium Greek yogurt, has hit its stride--and now it faces questions about the best path to achieve growth, including becoming independent of the context in which it was created. Founder Enrico Leta launched the company in mid-2014, and Yorgus grew against the backdrop of the Letas' large family business: Zona Sul, a high-end grocer with 36 stores. Enrico's father, Fortunato, leads Zona Sul, but conflicts in Fortunato's generation resulted in the prohibition of Enrico's generation from joining that business. This led Enrico, his brother Patrick, and other cousins to launch independent food businesses that benefited from some of Zona Sul's resources. Enrico developed Yorgus within Patrick's premium cheese business, Vitalatte, and the brothers collaborate on strategic decisions for both brands. Now Enrico is considering taking Yorgus independent, in part to scale more quickly than his brother would be comfortable attempting. But Enrico must ponder the possible effects of such a move on the current operating arrangement with his brother's business, as well as on his relationship with his brother, his father, and the broader family. The case illustrates common family-enterprise challenges, including independence versus autonomy, shared decision-making, and the alignment of risk appetites.

Lawrence Kellner, recently named Board Chair for the Boeing Company, is faced with assessing Boeing's strategic and financial condition in January 2020 as recent events potentially threatened the aerospace firm's survival. The most visible issue was the global grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX airliner fleet. Boeing also faced safety issues, production delays, and cost overruns that affected the remainder of its commercial airliner business, resulting in negative 2019 earnings, total debt almost doubling in one year to more than $27 billion, and negative 2019 stockholder equity. Boeing also was suffering competitively as its main commercial airliner competitor, Airbus, sold more commercial airliners than Boeing in 2019. The case seeks causes for the current crises by examining Boeing's history since it 1916 founding, its engineering leadership up to its 1997 merger with rival McDonnell Douglas, and the board's decisions since the merger. The board's decisions are examined regarding repeatedly forgoing expensive new product development while increasing dividends and stock buybacks to appeal to investors, and the effects of these decisions on Boeing's product line, culture, and ability to compete with Airbus. Data is provided to support assessing the financial, cultural, and competitive dimensions of the current situation, determining the board's role in Boeing's current competitive challenges with Airbus, and assessing how the board decisions contributed to Boeing's cultural changes and current strategic position. Information is also included to support an assessment of Boeing's current financial position and a determination of the board's role in creating the current situation. Critical decisions for discussion and response include what potential actions Kellner may recommend the board take to address Boeing's short-term and long-term issues as the company and he prepare for the upcoming 2020 Boeing Annual Stockholder Meeting.

In 2013, Jonathan Martin, a starting lineman for the Miami Dolphins, left the team. He cited the negative effects of the team's culture-specifically, bullying and mistreatment by several of his teammates-on his well-being, saying it had contributed to depression and thoughts of self-harm. The news of Martin's departure exploded across media channels in the following days. At the behest of the Dolphins' ownership, the US National Football League (NFL) hired a law firm to investigate. On February 14, 2014, the law firm's findings (called the Wells Report) were released to the public, and they were damning. There was clear evidence of harassment targeting Martin as well as others on the Dolphins team. But while some within the NFL reacted to the findings with dismay, others said that playing football was ""a man's job,"" and indicated that the behavior called bullying and harassment was simply part of the high-testosterone culture. This public-sourced case and its follow-up, ""A Dolphin Bullied: Jonathan Martin's NFL Experience in Miami (B)"" (UVA-E-0481) use the context of the NFL to expand student understanding of gender binaries as shaped by racial and socioeconomic factors, and to discuss possible interventions to diminish turnover and promote inclusion. They promote a discussion of how underrepresented individuals navigate a work environment where they are not prototypical. This case also allows for a discussion of mental health as part of a broader focus on wellness at work.

This case should be used after students have read "A Dolphin Bullied: Jonathan Martin's NFL Experience in Miami (A) (UVA-E-0477). It provides a brief update on actions taken by different stakeholders following the release of the Wells Report in 2014. The case also directly addresses issues of sexuality in the NFL.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people out of the office and into work-from-home setups. Use of video conferencing platforms, especially Zoom, skyrocketed during 2020 as meetings, presentations, and interviews started having to take place online. Virtual presence has become critical to professional success, but all too many people have made errors ranging from the silly to the disastrous in trying to adjust to virtual work. This technical note explores best practices for achieving success in virtual presence and virtual presentations. From testing your technology to optimizing your background, adjusting your expression and tone for video presentations, and engaging with your audience, it will help you bring your best self to Zoom meetings and beyond.

This case presents an ethical quandary faced by Rob Edwards, director of trust and safety of a large New Zealand-based C2C (customer-to-customer) online marketplace. Following a review of its animal welfare policy, Rob is considering regulating the marketplace's trade in pugs, English bulldogs, and French bulldogs, breeds that suffer from a condition called brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS). Via a dialogue between Rob and his team, the case explores several options for resolving the problem. The case highlights the complexity of moderating digital platforms in a way that balances openness with trust and safety.

In October 2020, the Inspector General of the United States Postal Service (USPS) conducted a survey of the American public and found that despite service challenges largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic-employee absenteeism, mail and package delays-91% of respondents held a positive opinion of the agency. Indeed, the percentage of respondents who said that the USPS provided excellent customer service rose seven points between 2019 and 2020, from 68% to 75%. But even as the public expressed its pride, support and satisfaction with the USPS, the agency posted a $9.2 billion loss in 2020. The General Accountability Office noted that USPS had lost $69 billion over the previous 11 fiscal years. This, despite steady revenue increases; in 2020, the USPS increased revenues by $2 billion over 2019, to $73 billion, which included new revenue from an 18.8% rise in package delivery. This case details the history of the USPS and its unique role as an independent agency of the US Federal government, with a focus on the financial, management and policy decisions that have contributed to its precarious position.

This is a game simulation case on Machine Learning (ML) and can be used in the classroom to introduce to students the foundational concepts of ML. The case begins with a brief background on ML, its origins, the objectives of its usage across various industries, and ends with a future outlook on the relevance of ML. At the end of the case, a link to the game simulation is provided, which can be played by students in the classroom. The main topics covered in the game simulation include: • An introduction to ML • Different categories of ML algorithms including unsupervised, supervised and re-enforcement learning (based on the differences in the way they process the data for decision-making). • Identifying applications and use cases of ML

Petrobras is a multinational oil and gas company publicly traded in Brazil and international stock markets including the New York Stock Exchange. The company's controlling shareholder is Brazil's federal government. Political influence was at the centre of Petrobras's participation in a massive corruption scheme revealed in 2014. Brazil's Federal Police launched Operation Car Wash, a series of investigations disclosing a wide-ranging corruption scheme involving Petrobras, many politicians, and the country's leading construction firms. The case focuses on how corruption spread at Petrobras and the company's responses to the crisis beginning in March 2014.

Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 ravaging the Island. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reported that all customers were without power unless they had their own generators. However, the mountain town of Adjuntas, the community center did have electricity powered by rooftop solar panels. Years earlier the community realized the risks of the national electricity grid and created a local electricity generation capacity. Maria proved the wisdom of their actions as residents were able to charge medical equipment, keep medications refrigerated and charge their cellphones. This case explores the strengths and limitations of two electricity supply chain approaches, a national electricity grid versus local power generation. A focus on the importance of infrastructure resilience frames the discussion. The case also explore the community capacity building needed for local power generation resilience.

Mastercard, the global payments company, is known as a leader in privacy by design; senior leaders promote data responsibility and employees follow strict ethical guidelines and robust frameworks to manage and protect data. The company views AI as a significant part of its strategy going forward, using it to fight fraud, improve the consumer payment experience, increase efficiencies and decrease costs in back-end systems. When Mastercard created its AI Garage in 2018, its vision was to become an AI powerhouse. Realizing the special attention AI development efforts need, several leaders in the organization co-created the AI Governance Council and a framework to structure the company's approach to governing AI. The application of this framework led to several significant decisions, including walking away from two acquisitions. Mastercard believes that the combination of a solid Privacy by Design process and additional governance specific to AI - "the AI governance framework" - is the right approach for the long term to maintain consumer trust. Yet, while being a trusted guardian of data with this robust AI governance framework, Mastercard also faces the costs of its high accountability stance - forcing it to make appropriate organizational and managerial choices as well as ensuring that AI governance does not result in a reduction in innovation. The speed of AI integration and need for ethics in data practices will only increase. What does this mean for Mastercard's business model, profitability and innovation capabilities in the future?

Anna Bender, VP of product at Workaround, a large human resources (HR) software firm, had just been presented with a number of different recommendations from her employees on how to integrate the functionality and data from a recently acquired software company that had a leading chat app into Workaround's offerings. Although she was impressed by many of the suggestions, Bender was also ethically conflicted about some of them. The business opportunities and ethical implications of each of the three proposals weighed on Bender's mind as she prepared to meet with the senior leadership team the next day. Before doing so, however, she had to identify the potential ethical issues with each suggestion and analyze ways they might be minimized, particularly with regard to privacy and potential antitrust concerns. The worst possible outcome would be getting dragged up in front of Congress. Yet, more broadly, she wanted her decision to reflect the core values of Workaround's business and her own personal values.

The Board of ICICI Bank was meeting on January 30, 2019, to decide the action to be taken against the Bank's former MD & CEO, Chanda Kochhar, in response to an independent investigation report that found her guilty of violation of the Bank's code of conduct pertaining to conflict of interest. The non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, Girish Chandra Chaturvedi, must decide the possible actions the Board might consider against Kochhar. Punitive action against Kochhar would be a reversal of an earlier decision of the Board to allowing Chanda Kochhar to resign without any cause (Termination Simplicter). Maintaining status quo on the decision could hurt the credibility of the Board and the reputation of the Bank. While evaluating the choices, Chaturvedi must maintain professional integrity and be fair to Kochhar. He had to frame the justifications for the choices he would put before a possibly divided Board.

The case, based on extensive interviews with top executives and two generations of Dachser family owners, documents the genesis and spectacular growth of the global logistics specialist, a group that now has close to 400 locations on all five continents and employs 30,000+ people. Despite its global footprint, Dachser stayed loyal to both its core business - intelligent logistics - and to Kempten, a picturesque town of 70,000+ inhabitants and the center of gravity for Dachser's operations and the place the Dachser family owners call home. Dachser received the IMD Global Family Business Award in 2019

This brief B case dives into how the governance model withstood the COVID-19 crisis.

Victory City International Holdings Ltd. was principally engaged in the textile businesses and had subsidiaries in mainland China that manufactured and sold its own products. The company was founded in 1983 in Hong Kong, and it was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK: 539) in 1996. On 22 February 2021, Victory City announced that, on 22 January 2021, Deloitte had obtained two credit reports as evidence that two of its main subsidiaries in mainland China had outstanding bank loans in the aggregate amount of CNY946m (USD148m). According to the credit reports, Victory City's mainland subsidiary signed bank facilities of CNY994m (USD156m) on 11 December 2020 with mainland banks, and a substantial portion of these loan amounts was not recorded in the consolidated financial statements of the company. If Deloitte's findings were valid, the company's management had possibly committed accounting fraud and embezzled funds by transferring a substantial portion of the unrecorded loan of CNY946m (USD148m) to their own pockets. After 22 January 2021, Deloitte, as the whistleblower, suggested remedial actions that the company should take, but no significant governance response was received and the management in Hong Kong denied any knowledge of the bank loans or the location of the funds. On 11 February 2021, Victory City filed a winding-up petition; it stated as one of the reasons that it had defaulted on a scheduled bank loan repayment of approximately HKD290m (USD37m) to a syndicate of banks in Hong Kong. On 19 March 2021, the Hong Kong government's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) initiated an investigation into Victory City's financial statements to determine the extent of the unrecorded loans. In addition, FRC was investigating whether Deloitte had conducted its work in accordance with the relevant auditing standards. Victory City requested that the trading of its shares be suspended at SEHK, effective 22 March 2021. On 27 April 2021, the

The Flint water crisis, which began in 2014, is widely regarded as a textbook example of structural racism and injustice. This teaching case provides a close examination of the building blocks of the catastrophe, some all-too-familiar in American history and others, more particular to the time, place, and circumstance of Flint in the 2010s. The case begins by tracing the economic and racial history that made Flint especially vulnerable to the crisis, then describes the string of decisions that resulted in the dangerous contamination of city tap water, followed by the battle by residents of Flint (and later, by outside allies and scientific experts) to force official government recognition of the disaster followed by changes to the city water system. The voices of the Flint residents are featured, alongside the decision-makers. The first section of the case summarizes the intertwined events, familiar to students of American racial, urban, and industrial history, that led once-booming Flint to become financially strapped and majority-Black. It describes the nature (and criticisms) of Michigan's evolving Emergency Management system. It explains the Flint water system and the reasons behind the fateful choices both to change the source of Flint's drinking water and to bypass standard safety precautions in making that change. The case then details the battle by local residents to force government officials to recognize and address the contamination of the drinking supply amid a cascade of devastating revelations about bacteria, carcinogens, and high lead levels in the water. The case ends in October 2015, with the announcement by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder that Flint would be re-connected to its previous safer and pricier water source, Detroit's Lake Huron system.