個案總覽

Center for Health Communication at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Director Jay Winsten spearheaded a national mass media campaign, the Harvard Alcohol Project, also known as the Designated Driver Campaign, to rapidly diffuse the "designated driver" into the American lexicon and culture. The campaign broke new ground in the process, most notably by harnessing on an unprecedented scale the Hollywood entertainment community's power to disseminate messages and facilitate social learning. Writers incorporated the campaign's designated driver message into the scripts of more than 160 prime-time television episodes during four television seasons. The campaign persuaded large numbers of Americans to adopt the practice of choosing a designated driver-i.e., a member of a social group who agrees to stay sober in order to safely drive others in the group who have been drinking alcohol. The campaign provided a model for a generation of advocates seeking to mobilize the power of Hollywood to advance social causes, and convinced funding organizations that media advocacy campaigns were worth supporting.

For roughly six weeks between late December 1936 and February 1937, a major strike at several critical General Motors (GM) plants in Flint, Michigan essentially halted the corporation's U.S. production and resulted in significant gains for the nascent United Automobile Workers of America union and the Committee for Industrial Organization, both of which had supported the strike. The Flint, Michigan Sit-Down Strike represented a stunning victory for organized labor in a context where New Deal era legislation - most notably the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 - created a labor-friendly environment in the short run, with possibly adverse consequences for the performance of the U.S. automobile industry in the long run.

After several years of effort, Dalian Zhongding Information Co. (DZI) had become the leading prepaid card distributor in Liaoning Province. When government regulations and the rise of online third-party payment options sent the prepaid card business into decline, DZI transformed itself into an online intermediary by building a regional e-commerce platform offering fast home delivery, mainly of supermarket products. Despite its marketing efforts, the company faced fierce competition, difficulty attracting users, and a low secondary purchase rate. In 2015, the company needed to adjust its development strategy. What practices should this regional e-commerce platform adopt to obtain traffic, increase purchasing conversion rate, and increase visitor retention?

Mary Kay (China) Cosmetics Co., Ltd. (Mary Kay China) was one of China's leading direct-enterprises in skincare products and cosmetics. In September 2015, the president of Mary Kay China was considering how best to continue to grow the company in the face of increasing e-commerce. The parent company and all its subsidiaries ascribed to the mission of enriching women's lives; its guiding principles emphasized relationships and connections between people. Mary Kay China's development was a testament to its success as a people-oriented culture that contributed to the environment and society. However, the Internet era had raised concerns about whether the connections among the company's people were strong enough to succeed against competitors who maintained a broad network developed through the Internet. Should Mary Kay China expand into e-commerce, or would relying on the Internet undermine the principles and values that grounded the company?

Netflix, Inc. (Netflix), the world's leading provider of subscription video on demand (SVoD), launched its Indian platform on January 6, 2016. Due to its huge population, India represented a lucrative market. Furthermore, the younger generation in India had dynamic consumption patterns that were comparable to those of Western consumers, giving Netflix another reason to invest in the country. However, six months after Netflix's launch in India, as the initial buzz surrounding the entry subsided, important questions loomed: Would the company be able to meet the diverse needs of Indian consumers? Was the Indian market and consumer seasoned enough to adopt a more sophisticated model of SVoD? How could Netflix get a stronghold in a market that was still grappling with basic infrastructure problems and low Internet penetration, as well as censorship issues? Even though Netflix was a formidable player globally, it was not the first mover in the Indian market and many of its competitors were already doing extremely well. How could Netflix compete and move forward in India?

In July 2014, WH Group faced the issue of attempting to launch an initial public offering for the second time, after having previously failed to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. WH Group originated from a merger between two meat-processing companies: China's Shuanghui International-a global leader in animal protein and the world's largest pork producer-and Smithfield Foods from the United States. Both Shuanghui and Smithfield Foods commanded top market shares of pork consumption in their respective countries; Shuanghui controlled 2 per cent in China and Smithfield Foods captured 26 per cent in the United States. With many challenges ahead, WH Group had some decisions to make about the company's future. Should the company try again to launch an initial public offering? Or should the company remain private?

In 2014, Alibaba-the Chinese e-commerce giant who, in September 2014, completed the largest initial public offering (IPO) in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) history-was preparing itself for an additional round of capital fundraising. This time, Alibaba focused its efforts on a new, large bond issue. Its chief executive officer would lead Alibaba's finance team in meetings with investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, and London to gather information about this pending bond issue. Although Alibaba was listed on the NYSE, an overwhelming majority of its revenues originated in China. Most U.S. investors had not heard of Alibaba until just a few months prior to its IPO in September 2014. Also, being a high-tech company, Alibaba was subject to the potential for large swings in valuations typical for the industry. Fluid valuations and matters related to country risk premia meant pricing the bond issue was going to be a challenge. How would Alibaba estimate the bonds' pricing? Further, how should the firm determine the location and timing of the new bond issue?

Joneja Bright Steels Private Limited (JBS) was one of many major players in India's bright steel industry, serving almost every automobile manufacturer in Northern India. After the business launched in 2002, the automobile market expanded, leading JBS to an early strong position. But in fiscal year 2014/15, the company experienced working capital management issues. JBS considered using credit policies as a way of improving profitability-shifting from a strict credit policy of net 45 days to a flexible credit policy with a 2 per cent discount for accounts paid within 10 days (2/10 net 45 days). Should JBS implement a cash discount for fiscal year 2016/17? The discount could potentially increase the burden caused by already declining sales, but could also improve the company's cash position.

Founded in 1997, Allegiant Airlines (Allegiant) was one of the most profitable ultra-low-cost airlines in the United States. Allegiant maintained high profit margins by targeting the uncaptured market segment for leisure travel and using a unique way of managing cost and revenue drivers. Allegiant avoided direct competition with traditional airlines and captured the new market of price-sensitive leisure travelers. After employing extreme cost-reduction and revenue-enhancement strategies, Allegiant achieved one of the highest profit margins in the industry. In 2015, despite inexpensive airfares, Allegiant received low scores on customer satisfaction. The airline also faced labour and safety issues by the end of 2015, but it took several steps to resolve the issues in 2016. With increasing competition, rising costs, and low customer satisfaction, maintaining long-term profitability remained a challenge for Allegiant. How could the airline sustain its position in the market?

It was mid-December, 2016 as Alexandra (Alex) Willis read with satisfaction that The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) had won yet another award for its use of social media to reach its fan base. As the organizer and host of "The Championships, Wimbledon," the oldest of tennis's four Grand Slams, the AELTC prided itself on tradition and decorum. Widely regarded as the most prestigious professional tennis tournament in the world and contested each year over two weeks in late June and early July, Wimbledon, in many ways, had changed little over the years. Its showcase venue―the 15,000 seat "Centre Court," complete with a "Royal Box"―was built in 1926. Slazenger had been the official and only supplier of tennis balls since 1902. A strictly enforced ban on any player clothing other than white dated back to the 1800s. And, whereas other tournaments referred to their Men's and Women's Championships, at Wimbledon, these events were referred to as the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Championships. It was against this "steeped-in-tradition" background that Willis, hired by Wimbledon in 2012 and promoted to Head of Digital and Content in 2015, had to figure out the proper role for digital and social media at Wimbledon. The motivation behind the push into digital was one of communicating and engaging with fans and potential fans around the world, as noted by Richard Lewis, Chief Executive of the AELTC.

In September 2014, Tom Montgomery (SVP of strategic initiatives at the De Beers Group) and his team launched a pilot program in the United States to explore the $1 billion diamond market for pre-owned (recycled) diamonds. According to Montgomery, the motivation for the pilot program was to improve the consumer reselling experience and to enhance "diamond equity". Somewhat paradoxically, consumers typically received very low prices when they tried to sell diamonds (5-20% of the original retail price) leaving them reluctant to purchase diamonds in the future and making them into ambassadors of ill will. At a meeting scheduled for November 2015, the De Beers Executive Committee would have to decide whether to end the pilot program, extend it for another year to gather more information, or convert it into a new standalone business unit. Because De Beers had historically focused on producing rough diamonds (the "upstream" business), yet the new business unit offered an opportunity to enter and enhance the market for polished diamonds (the "downstream" business), the decision was particularly noteworthy.

At the end of 2003, Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a diversified media group with revenues of $8.9 billion, could claim leadership positions in all three of its main businesses. Clear Channel Broadcasting was the largest radio-station operator in the world, with sales of $3.7 billion and EBITDA of $1.6 billion. Clear Channel Outdoor was the largest outdoor advertiser in the world, with revenues of $2.2 billion generating EBITDA of $581 million. Clear Channel Entertainment was the world's largest live-entertainment promoter with revenues of $2.6 billion and EBITDA of $191 million. Media entrepreneur L. Lowry Mays (MBA 1962) had built Clear Channel through a concerted campaign of acquisitions over 30 years by consolidating fragmented media businesses, delighting shareholders in the process. But maintaining the pace of acquisitions was proving challenging, and the synergies he had hoped for between his businesses had proven elusive. Shareholders were upset. How might Mays return Clear Channel to its former glory?

This case follows the financial-statement forecasting decisions of a Deutsche Bank research analyst for the natural and organic retailer Whole Foods Market in May 2014. Students evaluate the associated financial ratios with the forecast to ascertain whether the industry dynamics and company strategy are consistent with the forecast. The case expressly focuses on the asset side of the balance sheet as a preview for other cases using free cash flow forecasting. The forecast exercise exposes students to the mechanics of financial statement modeling and sensitivity analysis. Using a supplementary exhibit, the case can also be used to explore techniques in firm valuation with students debating whether the analyst should recommend a "buy" or a "sell."

The two-part case study describes two attempts to empower the crews of two nuclear submarines of the US Navy. The case highlights the challenges as well as the weaknesses and strengths of the empowering process. While not against the operational principle of command and control on board a submarine, empowerment is in contrast to the traditional leadership doctrine of the US Navy which relies on the leader-follower principle. The case is based on the personal account of co-author L. David Marquet, Captain, US Navy (Ret.) and former commander of the USS Santa Fe. He authored the bestselling book "Turn the Ship Around!" that provides a more detailed account of the events described in the A and B cases.

The case is set in 2014, from the perspective of Pyra, a Singaporean subscription box company for beauty products. Subscription-box services are a fairly new business model that involves the delivery of product(s) to the consumer on a periodic basis. A more recent variant of subscription-box services personalises the selection of products delivered, by closely matching products with customers' preferences. The company, in essence, becomes a personal shopping assistant for the customer. Pyra falls squarely in this last category. Pyra relies on data analytics and proprietary algorithms to personalise its selection of products. Given that customer data is central to the operation of the business, a platform that provides ease and convenience to customers in the provision of their feedback and preferences is paramount. Pyra developed a mobile app for this very purpose. The fact that its target segments are millennials and centennials, consumers who are tech savvy and always connected, makes this a sensible move. The app also makes it easy for customers to share the curated boxes they received on social media. Pyra was launched in early 2013 and has had reasonable success in its first year of operations, with double-digit month-on-month growth in customer base. There are nagging doubts, however, about whether the business will continue to be viable in the longer term. For one thing, retention of customers might prove to be a challenge, as customers' interest in accessing novel products could wane with time. In addition, with the entry of direct competition becoming an imminent event, there are looming questions about the sustainability of Pyra's competitive advantage.

The case opens in November 2015, after the Turkish military's shooting down of a Russian military airplane over the Turkish-Syrian border. The incident threatened to undermine the countries' political and economic ties, and starting from late 2015, the dialogue between Ankara and Moscow was suspended for several months. The case explores the initial steps toward rapprochement in June 2016. The central dilemma is this: whether in light of the existing uncertainties companies operating in both countries can resume their investments and commercial activities, or should decisions be put on hold? What is the best strategy during such turbulent times? Can companies bet that a reunion would last?

In October 2016, Nevzat Aydin, co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, the Turkish online food-ordering company, was looking over the company's quarterly results and projections for the upcoming year with his management team. It had been almost a year and a half since Aydin had agreed to sell the company's shares to Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based global leader in online and mobile food ordering, for $589 million. In 2016, the company had had grown to include more than 13,000 member restaurants servicing six million users and achieved a 41% year-on-year growth. Yemeksepeti operated with an EBITDA margin of over 50%. Although the company had introduced other revenue streams over the years, commissions remained as the main source of income. Aydin believed that, while there was plenty of room to grow by taking market share from phone orders, much could be done by revenue diversification; the company simply had too much valuable data to be ignored. What should the company do to take advantage of its data analysis capabilities and the new technologies on the market? What kind of outside-the-box solutions could create additional revenue streams and vertical growth capabilities? What about the cohort analysis and data generated from order histories? He motivated his the management team to come up with new ideas to put the vast amount of transaction data to use. The case describes potential avenues for a company to monetize its data, illustrates the pros and cons of each option. The case will help students think about how to prioritize growth over diversification, and forward think with regards to new technologies and customer trends.

This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

In late 2015, South African telecommunications giant MTN was fined US$5.2 billion by the Nigerian authorities for a mass of improperly registered subscribers-the largest fine of its kind ever imposed in the industry anywhere in the world. MTN was an emerging-market multinational corporation with a track record of successfully operating in some of the toughest, riskiest emerging markets. Thus, it was surprising that MTN had been unable to avoid a fine of this magnitude. Three factors had preceded the fine and changed the business environment in Nigeria leading up to 2015: the first was the war against the Boko Haram movement in Nigeria, which led security forces to demand the registration of prepaid phone cards; the second was the economic crisis caused by the impact of falling oil prices; and the third factor was a change in government. In light of these political risks and government regulations, how could MTN recover and move forward from this difficult situation?