個案總覽

Supplement to case 523037 Volt Lines was a next-generation transportation service in Istanbul, Turkey. The company was trying to disrupt the traditional corporate transportation market by developing software that allowed it to offer subscription-based transportation. Under the subscription model, Volt Lines pooled employees from different clients to ride on the same bus and charged its clients using a per-seat pricing model instead of the traditional per-bus model. In 2020, when the pandemic hit and companies pivoted to working from home, the need for corporate transportation almost disappeared overnight. While this drop in demand put tremendous pressure on Volt Lines as a startup with negative cash flow, it also allowed the company to leverage its software infrastructure and offer even more flexible pricing models. Such flexible pricing models could help Volt Lines clients that now had their employees show up at the office only a few days a week cut costs. The three cases (Volt Lines A, B, and C) follow the journey of Ali Halabi, the company's founder and CEO, as he moves from trying to survive in the early days of the pandemic to seeing the pandemic as a unique opportunity to gain market share.

Supplement to case 523037 Volt Lines was a next-generation transportation service in Istanbul, Turkey. The company was trying to disrupt the traditional corporate transportation market by developing software that allowed it to offer subscription-based transportation. Under the subscription model, Volt Lines pooled employees from different clients to ride on the same bus and charged its clients using a per-seat pricing model instead of the traditional per-bus model. In 2020, when the pandemic hit and companies pivoted to working from home, the need for corporate transportation almost disappeared overnight. While this drop in demand put tremendous pressure on Volt Lines as a startup with negative cash flow, it also allowed the company to leverage its software infrastructure and offer even more flexible pricing models. Such flexible pricing models could help Volt Lines clients that now had their employees show up at the office only a few days a week cut costs. The three cases (Volt Lines A, B, and C) follow the journey of Ali Halabi, the company's founder and CEO, as he moves from trying to survive in the early days of the pandemic to seeing the pandemic as a unique opportunity to gain market share.

This case is a follow-up to "Crisis at Away (A)" (UVA-S-0361), which explores the lifestyle-brand start-up Away as it grapples with a public-relations crisis. Its CEO has made serious missteps in a public forum and the board of directors must come to a decision about whether (and how) to implement a CEO transition amid an unexpected crisis. This case presents what the board chose to do next, and provides an opportunity to discuss the longer-term leadership challenges that followed the initial crisis.

B case to case 723011 Sitting quietly in the heart of the New Mexico desert in the summer of 2014, Spaceport America (SA) housed little of the activity its supporters anticipated when opening its hangar doors in 2011. Despite $1 million in annual rent from Virgin Galactic, British billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism company and SA's anchor tenant, the spaceport was still heavily reliant on government funds. Flight delays and a crash on Halloween of 2014 that left one pilot dead and stalled Virgin Galactic's testing and development meant that the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) was not receiving critical user fees to run spaceport operations. As a result, state and local taxpayers were bearing much of the cost of the underutilized spaceport, even after having invested $218 million from local and state funds. With the 2015 session of New Mexico's congress looming, the fate of the world's first "purpose-built" spaceport was in question.

Supplements the (A) case, describing actions taken by SolarWinds as well as by regulatory agencies in the aftermath of the immediate crisis. The case also includes reflections by SolarWinds managers on the choices they made with respect to disclosure, media relations, cybersecurity preparedness, and the sometimes-contending agendas of companies and government agencies SolarWinds interacted with.

Supplement to 723363.

Eve Burton founded HearstLab in 2015 to support female entrepreneurs and cultivate a new entrepreneurial mindset within Hearst Corporation. Since the Lab's inception in 2015, the Lab team had reviewed over 6,000 companies and made investments in 48 of them, deploying nearly $50 million of capital. Now Burton was ready to take the Lab to the next level with "Lab 2.0" and "Lab 3.0." In each of these phases, the Lab would write bigger checks and look for ways to integrate female-founded startups into the fabric of existing Hearst businesses. In doing so, Burton hoped to solidify her legacy as a leader who relentlessly supported women entrepreneurs.

This case series was developed around QuMei's takeover bid for Ekornes ASA, a company headquartered in Norway. QuMei, the Chinese furnishings manufacturer established in 1993 and listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2015, was the promoter of the takeover bid. In the same year, it introduced its "New QuMei" strategy, pivoting from a pure furnishings supplier to a content and service supplier in the furnishings industry. The target company, Ekornes, was a prime Norwegian furnishings manufacturer with four affiliate brands, including "Stressless", known as the "most comfortable chair in the world". It also had vast market bases in Europe and America. Case A mainly discusses the reasons behind QuMei's takeover of Ekornes. First, it explores why QuMei opted for acquisition rather than organic growth. Second, having decided to take the acquisition route, how did it choose Ekornes as its target. Finally, the case examines the feasibility of the takeover and potential ensuing risks. Based on case discussions, students are given the chance to analyze the logic behind takeovers, how target companies are selected, how takeovers take different forms depending on purpose, and how to analyze and avoid potential risks that may be involved. Case (B) focuses on the transaction arrangements in QuMei's takeover of Ekornes: was Ekornes suitably valued? How would QuMei reach a consensus with the target company's shareholders regarding the reasonable consideration for takeover? Then, after valuation, how should the transaction be funded and structured? By the end of 2017, QuMei's assets were at ¥2.1 billion, while its overseas sales were a mere ¥4.87 million. In contrast, Ekornes's assets were valued at over ¥4 billion. This case therefore can be reference for practical problem-solving in acquisition of snake swallowing elephant.

Case A reviews Amazon's location choices from its founding in 1994 to 2017, explaining how it moved its offices from Bellevue, Washington, to various Seattle locations, eventually establishing campuses in South Lake Union in 2010 and then in downtown Seattle in 2016. The case then explores Amazon's strategic plan to establish a second headquarters in another North American city, illustrating the complex relationship between cities and major corporations. Case B describes Amazon's cancellation of its New York project, how the company was affected by local zoning laws and urban politics, and how various local interest groups responded to its plan. The subject of the case is business-government relations at the city level.

The rapid, sprawling growth of the Mexico City megalopolis-combined with industrialization, a fast-expanding fleet of gas-fueled vehicles, and a location vulnerable to deadly thermal inversions-led to a serious air pollution crisis in the city in the mid 1980s. Having neglected air quality for many years, government officials prioritized it in the mid 1980s, attacking poor air quality with some energy and a five-year package of reforms to address the problem from different angles. They recognized, however, that most of these reforms would require several years, at least, to yield results. Eager to do something with more immediate impact-and keen, too, to signal to motorists the serious negative consequences of driving-they decided to add a driving restriction program to their package: the Hoy No Circula ("No Driving Today") program. This policy required all private car owners to refrain from driving one workday per week, based on the last digit of their vehicle's license plate. The simplicity of the approach was its selling point. It could be implemented almost at once at very little cost, and, policymakers reasoned, should result in an immediate 20 percent reduction in traffic, Monday through Friday. In fact, the idea was so appealing that many other developing countries followed Mexico's lead, enacting their own versions of Hoy No Circula in the years that followed. In this two-parter, the A case introduces Mexico City's air pollution problem at the time, and provides the rationale for enacting Hoy No Circula. The B case explains what happened once the policy was enacted, and how policymakers responded to some of its unforeseen consequences.

This case provides an account of Laura Rodriguez's career trajectory and the obstacles she has faced and still faces as a female-identifying professional. Laura is portrayed as a hardworking, achievement-oriented individual who has excelled academically and professionally. But as she reaches the middle of her career, she is challenged in attaining her career objectives and does not receive a critical advancement opportunity given to her less-qualified male colleague. Part A of the case describes Laura's pre- and post-MBA career and the beginning of building her family. In Part A, she also learns she was not selected to participate in her firms Leadership Pathway advancement program. Part B of the case describes Laura's leadership self-assessment and the development approaches she is contemplating.

This three-page case is the second update to Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (A). In this supplement, dated 2015, managers discuss the problems that are emerging with the company's performance management system and offer several potential solutions that students can discuss and consider.

In May 2016, venture-backed Beam Dental was on the brink of financial collapse. Cofounder and CEO Alex Frommeyer weighed the unattractive terms of a bridge loan offered by Beam's largest investor. Frommeyer needed to decide whether to accept the terms or concede defeat and close the company. This case is the second case in a two-part series (original case 723-355); the A case has two supplements (723-374 and 723-375).

Early pitch deck (one of two). This case is a supplement to Beam Dental (A) 723-355.

Early pitch deck (two of two). This case is a supplement to Beam Dental (A) 723-355.