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This case is a continuation of "How Peloton Built the Foundation for Enduring Success (A)," CaseWorks case #210404A (CU274). Connected fitness company Peloton enjoyed triple-digit growth every year between FY 2014 and FY 2020, posted its first positive operating cash flow in FY 2020, and saw its market capitalization exceed $40 billion following its September 2019 IPO. Despite growing competition, founder and CEO John Foley believed Peloton's best days lay ahead. But was the company's business model robust and resilient enough to realize its founder's aspiration?

Handout for Case UV8670

Handout for Case UV8670

Handout for Case UV8670

Handout for Case UV8670

Supplements (A) case: The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan's Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion purchase price, and relied on Beam to fund repayment of that debt. In October 2014, Takeshi Niinami became Suntory's president and CEO, the first outsider to run the family business since its 1899 founding. Niinami immediately faced governance issues-not least relating to his relationship with Beam CEO Matt Shattock-and sought to enhance Beam's production quality and consumer focus without alienating either Beam management and staff or the family that had placed their trust in him to run Suntory.

Additional Supplement to accompany product 8B20E019.

In January 1933, German president Paul von Hindenburg confronted the dilemma of whom to appoint as chancellor in the midst of the Great Depression, polarization of voters, civil unrest, rumors of a pending revolution or coup d'état, and public distrust of the liberal democratic regime that arose out of the government collapse after World War I. His choice would determine the survival or demise of democracy in Germany. This case explores why an economic crisis might prompt abandonment of a constitutional democracy, as well as how authoritarian behavior by participants in a democratic government can destabilize democracy. The main task for the students is to recommend a course of action for Hindenburg that might preserve the democratic republic. This requires an appreciation of the reasons for the fragility of the German government, including the economic crisis that it faced.

Case (B) is set in January 2020 when CEO John Davison decided to step down as CEO by end of June 2020. It describes the specific actions of Zuellig Pharma's transformation and how they resulted in more than doubling the company's net profit between 2015 and 2019 These actions included: (1) driving operational excellence by successfully completing the ERP implementation and taking other steps to fix operational problems; (2) fostering the leadership team through selective changes and aligning it around an integrated regional strategy; (3) increasing head office control while ensuring that country operations had the autonomy needed to operate effectively; (4) resetting the relationship between the management and the board to create more alignment and trust; (5) strengthening relationships with key distribution clients; and (6) growing the solutions businesses which accounted by 2019 for over 20% of GOR and net profit. The case also describes the situation facing Zuellig Pharma as the Covid-19 pandemic began to unfold, and John Davison's initial thoughts on related key issues facing the company.

Case (C) is set in July 2020 when John Graham took over as Zuellig Pharma's new CEO and he needed to decide how to take the company forward. Prior to that, John Graham had effectively led the company's Commercial Solutions business. However, as the new CEO he needed to manage the entire portfolio of new solutions businesses and investments in digital startups. Zuellig Pharma had successfully navigated the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had benefited from its earlier efforts to increase the robustness of its supply chain as well as the resilience and dedication of its employees. The COVID-19 crisis had accelerated the roll-out of its new e-commerce platform, which allowed for online ordering and cash collection. At the same time, the company had suffered financially because some costs had significantly increased. Zuellig Pharma faced an even more difficult environment with new stakeholders (like patient groups and Ministries of Health) playing a more important role. Given these challenges, its leadership needed to decide how to take the company forward and ensure that it continues to thrive in the future.

Handout for Case IM1083

This case, which follows up on "The Evolution of a Practitioner to Leadership (A)"

Supplement for product 9B20D015.

By 2020, Bridge International Academies and its "school in a box" model had achieved great scale. By leveraging digital technology and public-private partnerships, they had reached one million children across Africa and India through hundreds of schools. However, the organization encountered controversy as well as unexpected challenges resulting from COVID-19.

The B case takes a closer look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the revenue losses that ensued for the company.

This case is the second of a two-part series that follows Ramez Sousou and his team at TowerBrook Capital Partners as they face a challenging investment decision in February of 2013. It is intended to be distributed at the end of the discussion of "TowerBrook: ESG in Action (A)" (HBS No. 221-046). This case describes the outcome of the investment decision and the steps that TowerBrook has taken since 2013 to systematically address ESG considerations across the life cycle of their deals. It also discusses TowerBrook's B Corp certification process.

This is a two-part case. Case A is set in October 2018, when Zenn Lee, Senior Analyst at a Shanghai-based securities brokerage, was working on the investment advisory to his clients on Kweichow Moutai (KM), the maker of the super-premium Moutai brand of baijiu, a Chinese spirit. The day before, KM's share price had hit the 10% daily limit down and wiped out US$9.3 billion from its valuation. The Moutai brand commanded a premium price in the market because of its iconic image as the 'national drink', its distinct taste, and five-year-long production process that kept the supply depressed against the incessantly soaring demand. In 2012, the Chinese government's 2012 austerity measures had stymied KM's momentum, but by 2017, KM had managed to recoup its revenue growth by adjusting its marketing mix. The comeback was extraordinary; it overtook Diageo to become the world's most valuable liquor company. By 2018 third quarter, KM's prospects had grossly diminished due to the US-China trade spat, economic slowdown, and dampened consumer sentiments. The situation was exacerbated by graft allegations, the government's intervention in pricing matters and a likely tax on alcohol consumption. With the lowest sales growth since 2012, KM's third-quarter results shook its stronghold, and its share price plummeted. Lee speculated on the options ahead of KM to turn around its fortunes - How could it further its revenue and thereby its profitability? Should it pursue opportunities overseas? Case B is set after the 2019 results of KM, when sales had expanded that year by 15.5%, and net profit had increased by 17%. Though not yet matching the level of its pre-2012 growth rate, it was a satisfactory growth rate that had defied the gravity of the broad-based slowdown and dampened consumer sentiments. Lee had to give, once again, his rating for KM's stock, and he wondered what fundamentals were driving the sales of Moutai regardless of the broader economic realities.

While Ping An is so successful to transform and reinvent itself to a tech giant, it discovered the demand of small and medium sized financial institutions to deploy technology. In December 2015, Ping An set up OneConnect, a fintech spinoff, to export its internal technology and repackage them as services to other banks and insurance companies in China. Case (B) is about how Ping An incubated OneConnect and development of OneConnect. OneConnect is in an expansion phase, growing from its Chinese client base to offer its cloud-based services across Asia. At the beginning it relied very much on Ping An in terms of technology, people and other resources, and became more and more independently later on. OneConnect turned out to be a unicorn and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2019.

Case (C) is about Autohome, which is the only unicorn Ping An acquired, rather than built from the ground up. After acquisition by Ping An, Autohome was transformed form a pure automobile website to develop four key offerings - content, transaction, finance, and lifestyle - all powered by AI, big data, and cloud technology. After the acquisition, in the span of three and a half years, Autohome's stock price quadrupled.

In 2015, Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (Mapletree), a real estate and capital management company headquartered in Singapore, was due to launch its new Five-Year Growth plan. The key decisions that the company needed to take were: should Mapletree extend its reach geographically outside Asia? Should it also consider going into any of the new asset classes-student accommodation, corporate housing and data centres-that it was currently evaluating? The case is divided into two parts. Case A is set in December 2014, and discusses the strategic decisions the company needs to take for future growth. It has several possible options - grow in the existing markets, expand its product portfolio, or enter a new market. Adopting a hybrid strategy, Mapletree decided on a mixed approach that included some geographical diversification as well as a strong push for new products in existing markets. Case A also discusses how Mapletree put together its initial five-year plan and expanded in Asia before venturing into Western markets. Case B is set in 2019 and focuses on how Mapletree achieved its second phase of growth. The key takeaway here is how the company organised itself internally to deliver growth. Discussion points in the case are around the elements of shared incentives, clearly aligned plans, and a team culture of successful execution. The case also elaborates on how Mapletree put together its new five-year plan with a clear and ambitious goal of doubling its assets under management (AUM), and then backed it up with specific geographic and product market initiatives.