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In March 2013, Apple Computer has a very large cash balance, and is under pressure to return cash to shareholders. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn thinks Apple can "unlock value" by issuing perpetual preferred stock, dubbed iPrefs. Henry Blodget, CEO of Business Insider, disagrees, saying "you can't just wave your magic wand and make something of nothing." This short case is designed to support a discussion of "perfect" markets and the Modigliani-Miller capital structure irrelevance propositions. The case focuses on two questions: (1) From a shareholder's perspective, how is Apple's cash different from cash in a bank or money market account? (2) Can Apple create significant value for shareholders by splitting each common share into an iPref plus a common share?

The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged in its wake. The leaders of Russia, the USSR's successor, struggled to reestablish central authority while also seeking to avoid further disintegration, establish a democratic polity, and institute a market economy across the next several years. Russia would navigate further economic crisis and a swiftly evolving geopolitical order as it returned to the world stage. The case examines the different governance approaches adopted by Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, and concludes with a discussion of Russia's strategic challenges and opportunities in 2019. The case focuses on problems of state authority; fiscal capacity; institutionalization of political parties; relations between the federal center and provincial governments; relations between the state and big business; economic policy; international relations; and models of economic development.

The CEO of Eco Tasar, a socially responsible company based in India has to decide how to deal with a customer request that may jeopardize his corporate values.

The case is set in September 2019 and the protagonist is Tim Cook, the CEO at Apple, Inc. In 2019, Apple had revenues of $260 billion; yet, net revenues were down by 7 percent over the same period. Much of the decline in Apple's revenues is a result of decreased sales of the iPhone, which contributed 62 (!) percent of Apple's total revenues in 2018, and declined to 54 percent in 2019. The case highlights the problems Tim Cook faces as demand of the iPhone slows, and Apple has failed to introduce any major new product since the iconic iPhone was launched in 2007. Trade tensions between the United States and China, moreover, are also negatively impacting the company. Over the past few years, the Chinese market accounted for 25 percent of Apple's total revenues. Apple is exposed to the trade tensions in two ways in particular. Moreover, the threatened imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods by the United States would further hurt Apple by raising the effective cost of Apple products in the United States because almost all of their manufacturing is done in China by Foxconn. Finally, Apple recently entered the video-streaming market, with its Apple TV+ service, which will develop original programming as well as act as a pipeline for other channels. This is a crowded market with strong existing players such as Netflix, Hulu (controlled by Disney), and AT&T's HBO. Other notable new entrants into the content streaming market include Disney+.

In 2017, Constellation Brands, the U.S. based beverage company, acquired a 9.9% equity interest in the Canadian marijuana company, Canopy Growth. In 2018, Constellation announced a subsequent investment in Canopy-taking its ownership interest to 37%. However, Canopy's performance had been volatile and net losses had increased since the investment. In an effort to get into the cannabis market early, had Constellation Brands been too early?

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune Magazine described as "arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America" in 2014, UTC's CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill Ackman) to break the company into three standalone businesses in the spring of 2018. The activists claimed that a breakup would create at least $20 billion of incremental value (on top of a current market value of approximately $100 billion) and possibly a lot more. Hayes must decide whether a breakup makes sense-will it create value and, if so, how much value and why? What factors determine whether a conglomerate trades at a discount or a premium, and how big are those discounts and premiums likely to be?

For decades, Chile enjoyed the stability of being the world's largest producer of copper. Keynes would have advised that this period of growth would have been the time for the government to save, that "the boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury." If this wisdom has proven true on multiple occasions since Keynes's statement in 1937, why do countries continue to conduct procyclical fiscal and monetary policies? Economists have documented this phenomenon across countries and found that particularly for emerging markets, capital inflows tend to coincide with expansionary macroeconomic policies while periods of capital outflows correspond with contractionary policies. Why is it so difficult for governments of emerging market countries to save during economic booms? By analyzing economic and social factors that contributed to unrest in Chile, students will wrestle with economic and ethical questions about balancing the needs of current and future generations.

This case focuses on Purple Innovation Inc. (Purple), a company that started out in the Direct to Consumer (DTC) mattress space. After a successful launch and IPO, with sales predominantly originating from its website, in late 2018 Purple was looking to sustain its growth momentum by partnering with traditional bricks & mortar players, such as Mattress Firm and Bed Bath and Beyond. Although the move had the promise of expanding the relevant customer base, it presented a marketing challenge: Could the company continue to rely on its previous digital advertising approach to drive offline sales? If so, how, and, if not, what other media outlets and messaging should be considered? The case forces students to analyze the digital strategy the company had previously used to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in online sales, and then propose a communication plan for generating 30% of sales offline. In doing so, students grapple with delineating the customer journey for buying a mattress online and in stores. The case can also serve as a vehicle to discuss the scaling challenges many disruptor DTC brands face.

In mid-2019, a year after German conglomerate Bayer Group closed its acquisition of U.S.-based seeds giant Monsanto, the leadership of Bayer's Crop Science division (which absorbed Monsanto) is reflecting on the opportunities ahead. Some observers have questioned Bayer's decision to buy Monsanto, citing potential reputational and financial liabilities; in the last year, Bayer's stock price has suffered. However, the leadership team expects the combination of Monsanto's and Bayer Crop Science's seed, crop protection, and digital agriculture technologies and expertise to deliver huge value to farmers and shareholders. A key focus is The Climate Corporation, Monsanto's (and now Bayer's) digital agriculture unit, which collects data from farmer-customers' operations and uses it to provide tailored farming advice and to inform internal research and development. Bayer Crop Science is digitizing its entire R&D operation in order to fast-track innovation, with the goal of producing the game-changing products needed to feed the growing global population while protecting the environment. The Bayer team aspires to lead the digital transformation of agriculture. Is this achievable, and is Bayer the right firm to lead it? Will farmer distrust, competition, merger-related challenges, or other hurdles prove insurmountable?

After losing market share to low-priced competitors such as Harry's and Dollar Shave Club for several years, Gillette decided to fight back by launching new products and increasing advertising. When these efforts failed to stem the losses, Gillette decided to cut the prices on its razors and blades in April 2017. Bonnie Herzog, an equity analyst at Wells Fargo, must assess how the recently announced price cuts are likely to affect Gillette's earnings and its parent company's earnings (Procter & Gamble owns Gillette). As part of her analysis, Herzog must estimate the price elasticity of demand for Gillette's razors and blades. The case contains scanner data which allows students to calculate both price elasticities for a sample of Gillette products, and sufficient data to estimate the financial impact.

This case introduces students to the history of women in the venture capital industry. It explores the impact of gender diversity on both company performance and fund returns, describes the lack of funding for female founders, and highlights examples of women-led venture capital firms.

For 160 years, Singapore Post had been one of Singapore's main postal service providers, delivering trusted and reliable postal services to homes and businesses. However, in 2019, Singapore Post was plagued by recent service lapses and operational problems, which had elicited customer complaints and concern from various stakeholders. Singapore Post was also facing increasing pressure from rising customer expectations, surging mail volumes, and the growing popularity of e-commerce. In response, Singapore Post pursued several initiatives to improve service operations and maintain its competitiveness in the postal industry. However, the company needed to devise a long-term plan to address recent problems, market changes, and deeply-rooted operational issues-and to regain consumer confidence over the long term.

In March 2017, the director of operations at Namratha Oil Refineries Pvt. Ltd., a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality packaged coconut oil in southwest India, faced a challenge. Because of inefficiencies in the company's packaging division, pouches, jars, and bottles were being overfilled with coconut oil, leading to an "oil giveaway" that had weakened the company's bottom line. The director analyzed the current processes and discovered improper data recording, frequent breakdowns, poor allocation of the maintenance crew, and an improper inventory management system. His experience told him that the existing production facilities were sufficient to meet the company's requirements, and therefore, the existing processes needed to be streamlined to ensure minimal or no loss of oil. What strategy should he recommend to reduce losses and restore the company's profitability?

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to leverage product and brand opportunities to drive growth against multiple audience segments; understand the relationship between managing and maintaining strong brands, sustaining brand image clarity, and pursuing revenue growth; understand the key sources of customer value and develop a sustainable value proposition.

Since its establishment in 2005, Hamburg's Martini Klinik had single-mindedly focused on prostate cancer care with a commitment to measure long term health outcomes for every patient. A wholly owned subsidiary of the University Hospital Hamburg, Martini Klinik was a "hospital in a hospital" in close proximity to other medical departments and services. By 2019, Martini Klinik had become the largest prostate cancer treatment program in the world with 8,000 outpatient cases and more than 2,500 surgical cases annually. Patients came from all over Germany and from around the world. A new and expanded facility was under construction to have the capacity to manage more patients with prostate cancer.

Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and CEO of the food and beverage company Danone, believed that humankind had only ten years to bend the curve on climate change and restore the biodiversity that the global food and agricultural ecosystem was critically dependent on. Upon becoming CEO in 2014, he had built on Danone's long history of CSR-engagement to give a boost to the company's mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible. In September 2019, he reflected on the progress achieved thus far, including efforts to support regenerative agriculture through new contract types for famers in their milk division. Still, many questions remained in his journey to fix what he saw as the food industry's broken system: How could they manage the desired long-term transition to a sustainable system while also meeting the company's short-term financial targets? What was the role of the private sector? What economic model could support an inclusive transition? How to engage partners and consumers to embark on this journey?

Malcolm Turner becomes the new athletic director at Vanderbilt University, tasked with increasing athletics-related revenue and improving on-field performance, while maintaining Vanderbilt's academic rigor for student-athletes.

Set in February 2019, Stark Resorts Hotel ('Stark Resorts') is a case based on the real-world experiences of the authors. The hotel, a USD155 million investment, had been plagued by insects since its grand opening 15 months earlier. Of even more concern was the avid social media influencer who had stayed in the resort a year ago and was diagnosed for Dengue fever, which she allegedly caught at the hotel poolside. It didn't take time for the negative word of mouth to spread. While the staff tried their best to handle the problem and were vigilant about initiating and overseeing the administration of pest control, even they were losing confidence and morale. Stark Resorts' revenue rate per available room (RevPAR), a key hotel metric, had fallen 6% over the past six months. Other resorts in the area had pest problems as well, but they did not seem to be experiencing the same reputational and financial damage. Jack Lim, the manager at Stark Resorts has his work cut out for him - he has to tackle the pest issue at hand, repair the reputational damage, and win over customer loyalty of his guests.

The case describes how the Italian multinational Enel Group, one of the largest power utilities companies in the world, embraced the transformation of the energy sector, combining open innovation with sustainability - or what the company calls "Innovability"). CEO Francesco Starace believes that technology and business model innovation are the key to reducing CO2 emissions and creating a more sustainable future by boosting renewable energy production. From 2014, he makes innovation and sustainability his strategic pillars, embracing the notion of 'open innovation' - harvesting ideas externally (rather than just in-house) from an ecosystem of start-ups, SMEs, universities, researchers, suppliers, other corporations, and employees.

"The case describes how three INSEAD alumni founded a fintech company called Prodigy Finance and created a new market of international student loans by solving a long unaddressed problem in the finance industry. Lack of access to financing was a major barrier impeding international students' pursuit of advanced education outside their home countries, especially for those aspiring to study in "high-earning advanced degree programs" at top universities where tuition fees were steep and few scholarships were available. Traditional banks were oblivious to the burning need of the international student population as their practice focused on domestic borrowers and their local past credit records. The founders of Prodigy Finance challenged the assumptions of the finance industry by creating a lending platform based on a forward-looking and cross-border risk assessment model, thereby effectively connecting international student borrowers with individual and institutional investors. Prodigy Finance has so far helped over 11,200 students from 132 countries, who have borrowed more than US$538 million. The strategic move of Prodigy Finance constitutes an illustrative example of new market creation through nondisruptive creation, a concept coined by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, authors of international bestsellers Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift. By identifying and solving a burning problem that had never been addressed before, Prodigy Finance created a new market beyond existing industry boundaries, unlocking and capturing a burgeoning new demand without challenging or displacing the existing businesses of the finance industry. This case comes with a teaching note and three short videos. The latter can be downloaded for free for teaching purposes from https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/