個案總覽

In late 2017, Zara, a major Spanish multinational retail clothing chain specializing in fast fashion, was the target of a negative campaign initiated by the workers of one of the company’s Turkish suppliers, Bravo Tekstil, who had been left without pay after their employer declared bankruptcy and disappeared overnight. Zara was in the media spotlight, and Clean Clothes Campaign, the garment industry’s largest alliance of labour unions, was pressuring the company to compensate for the workers’ losses and pay three months of wages and severance. Although not legally liable, Zara offered to pay about one-quarter of the Bravo Tekstil workers’ claims to limit its reputational damage. Bravo Tekstil’s workers remained largely dissatisfied with this offer and promised further actions against the Spanish multinational enterprise (MNE). In the short term, Zara had to decide how to respond effectively to these specific allegations, and over the longer term, it had to develop a more deliberate strategy for managing its suppliers’ potential irresponsibility.

In November 2021, Ashley Chapman, chief operating officer and vice president of Chapman’s Ice Cream, arrived at work to find several of his unvaccinated staff calling for a boycott of the company in response to its recent announcement of plans to increase the hourly rate of its vaccinated employees. The boycott efforts were buttressed by anti-vaccine groups, who urged their supporters to stop purchasing Chapman’s products. Students must adopt a marketing lens to determine whether the boycott is worth addressing and, if so, how to respond while minimizing negative impacts on the brand and product sales. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses of consumer behaviour are required to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of various marketing-driven responses.

In August 2020, Sterlite Copper, a mining company in India, was shut down for good by the Madras High Court following a lengthy legal battle with the local Indian community, who accused the mine of environmental pollution. This verdict was a blow for Anil Agarwal, the executive chairman of the mine’s parent company, Vedanta Resources Limited (VRL), because the mine’s closing not only caused serious economic losses but also damaged VRL’s reputation around the world. Subsidiaries of VRL had successfully operated in Ireland and Australia—both developed economies—but had faced strong opposition in developing economies such as Zambia, Namibia, and India. Although VRL publicly advocated for corporate social responsibility and had received awards for its sustainability practices, the company continued to experience a lack of social consent from the local communities surrounding its operations in developing countries. Why was VRL failing in those countries despite its profitable operations? Were there cleaner and more efficient ways of extracting minerals to improve the company’s sustainability? Or were there other environmental, social, and governance factors that made mining difficult in developing economies?

Aritzia Inc., a prominent figure in the fashion retail sector, cultivated a reputation for its stylish designs and boutique atmosphere, attracting both customers and prospective employees who sought to be part of its esteemed brand image. However, a July 2023 article on the global business news website Business Insider revealed allegations by former employees of a toxic work environment characterized by high-pressure tactics and racial discrimination. The article ignited reactions across social media platforms, prompting widespread discussion and company backlash. The current chief executive officer was tasked with addressing the allegations and improving workplace dynamics at Aritzia stores. Her need to manage the company’s reputation was particularly critical, based on its image as a champion of equity, diversity, and inclusion. She had to act quickly to uphold the company’s brand image and nurture positive relationships with stakeholders.

In January 2024, the LEGO Group (LEGO) welcomed a new chief sustainability officer. The role promised to position LEGO as an industry leader in sustainability but would also bring challenges. For instance, LEGO’s commitment to manufacturing its toy bricks entirely from sustainable materials by 2032 had encountered a setback (and media scrutiny) just months prior, when a promising material sourced from plastic bottles had failed expectations. The fervour evoked memories of the 2014 backlash from environmental activists for LEGO’s long-standing partnership with Shell plc, a global oil and gas corporation. Stube thus had to define a vision that would keep the company on track for its ambitious sustainability goals while avoiding past mistakes.

In May 2024, the National Company Law Tribunal of India approved the merger of Star India Private Limited (Star India) and Viacom18 Media Private Limited (Viacom18). Star India was a broadcasting service owned by The Walt Disney Company and Viacom18 was a media company owned by Reliance Industries Limited. The two companies had been working on an agreement to merge the two media and entertainment businesses since December 2023. A new subsidiary of Viacom18 was planned to integrate Star India with an immediate capital investment of US$1–1.5 billion. Facing financial challenges, Viacom18 and Star India saw this merger as a strategic solution to enhance competitiveness and address profit declines. However, questions about regulatory challenges and potential changes in content and service offerings had to be addressed before the deal to be finalized.

In June 2023, a recruitment scandal confronted India’s largest information technology (IT) outsourcing company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which had been integral to the nation's economic growth since 1968. TCS faced allegations of bribery involving nearly ₹1,000 million. The full extent of the fraudulent activities remained uncertain, but there was speculation that commissions amounting to ₹1 billion (approximately US$13.3 million) had changed hands. While the organization took measures to fortify its system and reinforce its commitment to a zero-tolerance policy against breaches of its code of conduct, the company’s chief human resource officer and executive director faced the dilemma of making an appropriate recommendation to the board of directors regarding strategies that would prevent a recurrence of such events. He had to decide whether TCS’s human resource (HR) practices for tightening corporate governance were adequate or whether there were additional improvements and steps the company could consider implementing.

OpenAI Inc., a prominent artificial intelligence (AI) research company, found itself at a defining moment following the controversial termination of its chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Altman by the board of directors on November 17, 2023. The decision, citing a lack of transparency, disagreements over the firm’s direction, and concerns about Altman’s management style and alleged “history of manipulative behavior,” ignited a backlash from the public, employees, and investors who put pressure on the board to reinstate him. Over 700 employees signed a letter demanding Altman’s reinstatement, threatening to leave if their demands were not met. Key investors like Microsoft Corporation also worked behind the scenes to reinstate Altman.<br><br>Founded in 2015 as a non-profit research lab aimed at developing safe and beneficial AI, OpenAI restructured as a capped-profit company in 2019 to compete effectively against its competitors. Under Altman’s leadership, OpenAI celebrated breakthroughs like the popular ChatGPT model, released in late 2022. However, there were tensions between the founding mission of developing safe and beneficial AI and the financial pressures to commercialize its technologies. Following stakeholder pressure, Altman was reinstated as CEO in November 2023. A new board was appointed, led by chair Bret Taylor, which now had to navigate the fallout from Altman’s termination and rebuild trust with stakeholders. The board faced difficult choices about how to reform OpenAI’s governance, balance the company’s founding mission with the realities of commercialization, and maintain its leading position in the fiercely competitive AI landscape.

In early 2024, The Body Shop International Ltd. (Body Shop) filed for administration, the UK equivalent of a bankruptcy. Aurelius Group (Aurelius), a private equity firm, owned Body Shop and, soon after acquiring it, filed for Body Shop’s bankruptcy. Experts have criticized private equity firms for destroying the value of firms, especially in the retail industry. The FRP Advisory Group (FRP), which Aurelius appointed to oversee the administration, asserted that it was “exploring all options to take the business forward.” The British high-street fashion chain Next was intending to acquire Body Shop. Experts also recommended that Body Shop appeal to younger shoppers to compete with companies like Lush and other competitors that offered a similar value proposition as Body Shop. Should FRP have considered selling the restructured Body Shop to Next or back to Aurelius? Which company could provide better corporate parenting advantages? How could Body Shop be revived?

Amid turbulent financial times and fierce competition, Joanna Geraghty assumed the role of chief executive officer at JetBlue Airways Corporation (JetBlue) in February 2024. Facing significant losses and gender barriers in a male-dominated industry, Geraghty embarked on a mission to steer JetBlue towards stability and success. Hindered by setbacks such as the failed acquisition bid of Spirit Airlines Inc. and pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, Geraghty focused on enhancing reliability and cost control to fortify JetBlue’s position. This case explores Geraghty’s strategic decisions and leadership approaches in overcoming challenges, with implications for navigating complexity in the airline industry.

The World Economic Forum and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company collaborated with academics to create the concept of lighthouse factories in 2018. The concept represents a vision for manufacturing in the digital age, in which cutting-edge digital technologies are designed and deployed to enable innovative manufacturing practices to be implemented at large scale. The concept has since become a global standard for digital manufacturing. For McKinsey & Company, and other consulting firms, this vision brings significant opportunities but also requires these organizations and their consultants to obtain an in-depth and nuanced understanding of lighthouse factories and the underlying business models, practices, technologies, and cases.

In November 2017, Students for Fair Admissions Inc. filed a complaint alleging that Harvard College violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in institutions that received federal funding. The complaint alleged that Harvard College engaged in intentional discrimination against Asian American applicants in its admissions process. Harvard College acknowledged its use of race in the admissions process but maintained that it was only one of many factors the school considered. It also claimed that using race as a “plus factor” was supported by the law. Both sides used a large set of data to plead their cases and both hired econometrics experts to argue their positions, who reached opposite conclusions. The trial judge needed to assess the two experts’ findings and reach a decision about the story the data was telling.

In 2020, Ford Motor Company (Ford), a global automaker, embarked on a transformative journey toward electrification with the introduction of the Ford Electric Vehicle Strategy. This case examines Ford’s approach to meeting the electrification challenge, particularly in response to California’s Executive Order N-79-20, which mandated the phase-out of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. The case provides insights into Ford’s activities and highlights the challenges and opportunities inherent in the electrification space.

In February 2024, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner announced that the company planned to test dynamic pricing at select US locations sometime in 2025. However, the company’s announcement generated a significant negative public reaction, to such an extent that Wendy’s felt compelled to offer US$1 burgers as part of a special “March Madness” promotion. As the company looked toward 2025, how should Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner plan to implement dynamic pricing in its stores?

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was backed by the government in India as an innovative solution to onboard numerous small-scale retailers and other businesses to participate in the digital commerce ecosystem comprised primarily of e-commerce platforms, on-demand food delivery, and ride-sharing platforms, through standard technology and processes, policies, and entrepreneurship. ONDC was officially incorporated in December 2021 under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade as a non-profit section 8 company. As a set of protocols to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable networks, ONDC-enabled communication among various players or entities of an e-commerce transaction. Functions of typical e-commerce such as discovery, matching, order fulfillment, or delivery were unbundled so that multiple players could execute each of these steps independently. ONDC had onboarded seller-side apps (applications interacting with merchants), buyer-side apps (applications interacting with consumers), logistics providers, and customers over the past two years, but the scale of ONDC’s growth was limited compared to existing players. Also, there were considerable questions on ONDC’s decisions pertaining to continual subsidy offerings for sellers and discounts to customers.<br><br>Some success was seen in areas of hyperlocal mobility through apps developed on ONDC such as Namma Yatri and hyperlocal delivery of restaurant food, but order volume was an impending issue. Technology service provider firms stepped forward to help sellers in building and managing services. In the latter half of 2023, Antler Innovation Private Limited ONDC was launched to fund, train, and onboard promising participants in the network. ONDC now had to strategically address areas in which it needed to make investments, whom to subsidize and charge, how to enable scaling, and formulate effective governing policies.

Vedanta Limited (VEDL), an Indian conglomerate, operated in natural resources business segments, including aluminum, power, steel, oil and gas, and base metals segments such as copper, zinc, lead, silver. In September 2023, the company’s market value was approximately half of its intrinsic value, as its individual business segments were estimated to be worth significantly more operating independently.<br><br>The chair of VEDL needed to take the necessary steps to enhance shareholder value by unlocking conglomerate discounts. The combined segments were perceived to generate negative synergies for the conglomerate, as indicated by the trading multiples of comparable companies. In looking for viable ways to eliminate the discount, he had to choose among the following options: (1) a share repurchase, (2) divestiture, (3) a spinoff of one or more segments, or (4) a spinoff of all segments.

In March 2023, Gopuff, a player in the quick commerce (Q-commerce) industry, was experiencing intense competition and was also unprofitable. Gopuff’s vertical integration model was different than other e-commerce or marketplace companies like Amazon or Instacart, as it purchased products directly from consumer product companies and wholesalers and stored them in micro-fulfillment centres for quick delivery on demand. The company intended to achieve profitability by reducing spending, scrapping off its lower-performing warehouses, and emphasizing higher-margin revenue streams like advertising. Did Gopuff have a feasible business model? Could it earn a competitive advantage over its competitors? What strategies could its co-founders consider to make Gopuff financially feasible?

Despite the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) managed to increase its sales and retain its title as the world’s top-selling carmaker for three consecutive years from 2020. However, the gradual shift in global market trends toward battery electric vehicles (BEVs) threatened to leave Toyota lagging behind, particularly in China, the United States, and Europe. In response to the threats from BYD Auto and Tesla in Toyota’s main markets, Koji Sato was appointed president of Toyota in April 2023. Under Sato’s leadership, Toyota announced plans to establish a BEV Factory, with the goal of producing 1.5 million BEVs by 2026. Despite Toyota's commitment to hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, exemplified by the Mirai, the company struggled to increase sales in this category due to infrastructure challenges. With Toyota’s Hydrogen Factory scheduled to open in July 2023, Sato emphasized Toyota’s intention of preserving hydrogen as a viable option for achieving a carbon-neutral society. The company faced the challenge of determining whether it was a solid strategy to develop and maintain both battery and hydrogen options in pursuit of a zero-emissions environment. Both endeavours demanded tremendous financial investments and time-consuming efforts, thus potentially slowing Toyota’s battery development. While other carmakers focused solely on BEVs, Toyota’s ability to compete in this category once the BEV Factory commenced mass production in 2026 while also investing in hydrogen remained uncertain.

In March 2024, Boeing Company’s (Boeing) chief executive officer, Dave Calhoun, and chair of the board, Larry Kellner, announced their departure from the company by the end of 2024. Their resignations came in part owing to several safety issues experienced by Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft, and the decline of Boeing's market capitalization owing to internal and collaborative problems with suppliers like Spirit AeroSystems and regulators. Experts advised reintegrating Spirit AeroSystems with Boeing and considering filing for bankruptcy for the commercial division or nationalizing. How can Boeing resolve both leadership and operational challenges? Should it reintegrate Spirit AeroSystems? What strategic choices can Boeing pursue?

BOE Technology Group Ltd. (BOE) was a leading semiconductor display company worldwide. This case study examines BOE’s journey from facing near bankruptcy to becoming a major player in the display industry and subsequently transitioning into the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The company leveraged effective knowledge management to streamline resources; accelerate knowledge sharing, flow, and application; improve internal management and operational efficiency; mitigate the impact of industry cycles; enhance profitability and innovation capabilities; and support development at each stage. Meanwhile, the firm also faced many challenges. How could BOE further upgrade its capability and transform into a leader in the IoT age?