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Christian (Chris) Viatte, head of service experience and innovation at Swisscom, market leader in Switzerland's telecommunications industry, strode into his office and dropped into his chair. Some of Swisscom's top executives would soon be holding a meeting to discuss the company's partnership with Mila, an on-demand home service marketplace start-up. Under Chris's leadership, Swisscom and Mila had created Swisscom Friends, a service solution connecting Swisscom customers with vetted, tech-savvy people in their neighbourhood who could help them with small service requests. By 2015, Mila and Swisscom had built up a service crowd of more than 1,500 active "Friends" throughout Switzerland, and Swisscom now had to consider the future of what was still a purely contractual relationship. Should Swisscom partially or even fully acquire Mila? Should it withdraw from the partnership and offer the service on its own? Should it become more involved in Mila's management? This two-part case discusses the development and management of the partnership between Swisscom and Mila, particularly how Mila grew from being a contractual partner to a fully owned subsidiary of Swisscom.

The case complements Pasta Serafina (A) by describing the aftermath of a town hall meeting in which management had publicly denounced the absenteeism problem and challenged the employees to find a solution. In spite of the initial mistrust against management, the fear of an imminent plant closure coupled with the relief associated with finally being able to be heard by management, pushes the employees to act to contain the problem themselves. Within a short time, absenteeism hits record lows. Management, however, is left wondering about the sustainability of the new culture.

In 2016 (A case), the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a cannabis retailing enterprise based in Toronto, needed to attract investors. The former Google Inc. employee had taken advantage of public policy changes in Canada and was modelling his retail business on Starbucks Corporation, which had educated North American consumers about coffee and captured a huge share of the coffee market. He needed investment capital in order to build his brand and needed to determine an appropriate valuation as part of his pitch for investment capital. By 2018 (B case), he had to address new challenges in his role as chief retail officer of Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy), the Canadian licensed producer of cannabis that had taken over the company he founded. How could he position Canopy as a world leader in retail cannabis?

This case discusses the situation of the Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche in July 2004, when co-founder Tabitha Karanja was debating whether to enter the Kenyan beer market. Doing so would mean direct competition with the multinational EABL in an industry and market where Keroche had no experience. It would also require significant investments in manufacturing capacity, technology, and marketing. The case asks whether Tabitha Karanja should enter the Kenyan beer market, and if so, whether she should continue to target the low- to middle-income consumers with whom she had built the Keroche business, or shift the company's focus toward the upper middle- and high-income consumers who had been customers of EABL. The case also describes how the company successfully rebounded from the plant closures, litigation, and media attacks of the previous year, including through court battles and an extensive public relations campaign.

This case discusses the Kenyan government's decision to increase excise taxes on wines in 2007. The tax increase would cause an average increase in price of 367% on Keroche's fortified wines. Meanwhile, Keroche's competitor EABL had effectively lobbied the government for its Senator beer to receive a zero-tax rating. Since Keroche's wines targeted low-income consumers, Tabitha Karanja knew they would no longer be able to buy its products after the price hike. To make matters worse, Keroche was in the middle of building a brewery, with plans to enter the beer business in 2008. Now Tabitha Karanja had to decide how to react to this tax increase. One option was to lobby the government for a repeal of the tax increase (a long and costly process). Another was to abandon the wine business altogether, either in favor of the vodka Keroche already produced or another alcoholic drink.

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja's decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government's 2007 increase in excise taxes on wine. In August 2007, Keroche introduced the vodka drink Viena Ice as a replacement for its fortified wines, and in August 2008, it entered the beer market with the launch of its Summit Lager premium beer. The case describes the success of Keroche's products in the Kenyan beer market, despite an initial intense advertising campaign by Keroche competitor EABL for its own Tusker beer.

This case describes Keroche's growth after entering the beer business in 2008. Although the company was operating at full capacity and not able to fulfill all of its orders, Tabitha Karanja had set a goal of growing Keroche's share of the Kenyan beer market from slightly over 1% to 20%. In 2010, Tabitha Karanja had invested US$2.5 million in a PET bottling line to increase capacity of Keroche's vodka drinks. However, in 2010, the government had passed a law requiring alcoholic drinks to be sold in glass containers, which made the PET investment obsolete. Now, in 2011, Tabitha Karanja sought new funding for a glass bottling line. The case asks whether, in the midst of these new investments, it was also time to expand beer capacity by building a new and larger plant.

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja's 2012 decision to invest in additional production capacity. In November 2012, with a loan from Barclay's bank, Keroche began constructing a new state-of-the-art beer brewery using German technology. The new plant, completed in March 2015, greatly increased Keroche's beer production capacity. The company also made investments to increase capacity for its Viena Ice and Crescent vodka drinks. The case describes Tabitha Karanja's aggressive production, marketing, and distribution strategy, and the company's resulting growth by 2017. It also describes Keroche's ongoing competition with EABL, including a 2016 EABL lawsuit against Keroche, and Keroche's continuing struggles with the Kenyan government.

Supplement to case W19534 In 2016 (A case), the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a cannabis retailing enterprise based in Toronto, needed to attract investors. The former Google Inc. employee had taken advantage of public policy changes in Canada and was modelling his retail business on Starbucks Corporation, which had educated North American consumers about coffee and captured a huge share of the coffee market. He needed investment capital in order to build his brand and needed to determine an appropriate valuation as part of his pitch for investment capital. By 2018 (B case), he had to address new challenges in his role as chief retail officer of Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy), the Canadian licensed producer of cannabis that had taken over the company he founded. How could he position Canopy as a world leader in retail cannabis?

Supplemental to case 120036 This case describes the growth of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) under the leadership of Leonard Glenn Francis. GDMA provided ship husbanding and logistical support services to the United States Navy when Navy ships visited various ports in Southeast Asia. The case details the role of ship husbanding in U.S. Navy operations and the contracting process for procuring ship husbanding services. In order to help win contracts, Francis developed relationships with an extensive network of U.S. Navy officers, often by treating them to lavish meals and luxury accommodations during port visits. He used this network of contacts to acquire confidential information about U.S. Navy ship operations and port visits, giving GDMA an advantage in bidding for contracts. The case relates how Francis and GDMA came under investigation for these tactics and allows for discussion of whether these tactics were potentially illegal and/or unethical. The (A) case concludes with Francis' arrest by U.S. authorities. The (B) case describes the aftermath of Francis' arrest, including the prosecution and sentencing of his co-conspirators and the termination of U.S. Navy contracts with GDMA. The (B) case further describes a U.S. Navy audit of contracting practices and changes implemented to prevent future unethical or corrupt contracting as had occurred on a widespread basis between GDMA and the U.S. Navy. This case supports a discussion of internal control practices to contain risk of fraud and misconduct.

In March 2013, pymetrics CEO Frida Polli visited Harvard Business School to listen to a section of MBA students from the class of 2013 to discuss her business plan and provide feedback on the tests they had taken to identify career opportunities. Polli had developed a series of neuroscience-based tests to measure brain function and map this to the profiles of successful executives. She believed that these could collect much more data than conventional psychographic tests in much less time, and it would be much more difficult for the candidate to "game" the system. Polli's goal was to help companies recruit more effectively. In preparation for the class, the MBA students had all taken the tests. She looked forward to discussing the results.

In August 2018, pymetrics, a solution offering neuroscience-based recruiting tests, closed a $40 million funding round that valued the business at $160 million. Over 60 companies around the globe were using pymetrics tests in their recruiting process, including Unilever, Hyatt, and Accenture. Clients were seeing real impact, including time and cost reductions-75% reduction in time-to-hire and 25% reduction in recruiting costs, as well as significant increases in diversity (in some cases over 100%)-and new-hire performance through metrics like retention. In addition, 1 million job candidates around the world had played pymetrics games to obtain career guidance. pymetrics tools offered significant advantages over traditional personality tests such as Myers Briggs because they measured brain function rather than responses to self-administered questionnaires. They also collected a lot more data very quickly and measured critical brain functions associated with effective executives, ranging from analytical capacity and risk aversion to attentiveness, resolve, ability to interpret emotions, speed of learning, and capacity for trust. In early 2021, the company was expanding rapidly. It employed nearly 100 people and operated out of four offices around the world. CEO Frida Polli was contemplating next steps. What should the priorities be? Was it more important to add more clients or develop more services to build current clients? How many global offices should the company operate, and how should these be organized? And could the company make more of its bias-free recruiting processes in a world where regulation against discrimination was becoming increasingly important?

In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including bidding for a $2.5 billion contract to manufacture, service and maintain 1,000 diesel locomotives for state owned Indian Railways (IR). The deal, which would have been "the largest deal on the planet" for the transportation business, had been under discussion for six years, and many within GE had given up hope that it would materialize, but Jain persisted. In February 2015, when IR requested companies to submit a financial bid in six months, Jain quickly built an autonomous team, sequestered from the rest of GE, with people from multiple businesses and functions. His team overcame internal resistance from people at headquarters and stiff competition to help GE win the deal by a narrow margin. Jain was then tasked with executing the deal. As many of his earlier team members had moved on, Jain hired new people and built a new diverse yet integrated team for execution, with members able to put aside their many differences, look beyond their functional silos, and focus on the project deliverables. However, 2017 brought a series of challenges. GE changed India's organization structure, making India business leaders report only to their respective global business leaders instead of reporting to both their business leaders and the India country leader. Jain's mandate was expanded to include the entire international operations of GE's transportation business. And, sub-optimal company performance forced GE to announce cost cuts of $2 billion. In the face of this turmoil, Jain wonders, "Have I created an agile team that can succeed in GE's matrix environment and deal with the internal challenges? Do the team members have the maturity and motivation required for the project to succeed?"

Supplemental to case W19471 With his primary research on the Kenyan agricultural market completed, the entrepreneur needed to analyze the new data using design-thinking frameworks, and then formulate a value proposition that used his resources and processes to address the large-scale improvements identified in Case A.

In this B case, the follow-up to UV7854, Marissa Levine, the Virginia Commissioner of Health, considers reports for and against the merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia, as she decides whether to issue a waiver to allow it. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

This optional C case follows UV7854 and UV7856, and describes the results of decisions on whether to allow a merger of two health care entities in rural Virginia. This case set explores the differences in and conflicts among the interests of for-profit health care systems, of rural, low-income residents, and of federal, state, and local governments. It allows students to engage in an in-depth discussion of the sometimes emotional issue of rural healthcare. It is suitable for students in a classes spanning health care management, nonprofit management, public policy, governance, ethics, and the social sector.

This case serves as a complement to the case "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (A)".

This case serves as a complement to the case "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (A)".

Care.com was an online platform designed to match caregivers with individuals seeking care for themselves, others, and pets, through job postings, caregiver profiles, and directories of local day care centers. In March 2019, the Wall Street Journal had just published a 2,900-word investigative piece detailing potential trust and safety concerns of customers of Care.com. The success of Care.com's business model required individuals to trust the platform enough to leave their children or elderly relatives with caregivers found through Care.com. If unaddressed, the claims in the Wall Street Journal might undermine that trust. Care.com's leadership team had to decide how to respond to the article and evaluate whether Care.com's existing safety measures were sufficient. The (B) case describes the company's response, and subsequent developments.