個案總覽

In late 2021, Netflix leadership had to deal with some fierce employee and public blowback after airing The Closer, a comedy special by comedian Dave Chappelle. In the special-the last of six that Chappelle was contracted to make for Netflix-his targets included the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, plus others (LGBTQ+) community, particularly the transgender and nonbinary segments of that population. Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings were caught by surprise by the reaction, particularly from Netflix employees, to the special. While supportive of Chappelle despite his often-incendiary remarks over the years, Sarandos and Hastings knew they had to do major damage control. Had they made the wrong decision in allowing this particularly strident special to air? Should they take it off the platform? What was the future of Netflix's relationship with Chappelle? And-very importantly for a company that prized its workforce and had tried to create a culture of inclusion and diversity-how would they deal with Netflix's many disaffected employees?

Supplement for product W33795.

Supplement for product W33795.

Supplement to 218084, "Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier".

As 2017 was drawing to a close, birddogs' founder and CEO, Peter Baldwin, was working with his CFO Jack Sullivan to prepare for 2018. Their task at hand? To predict the demand for their product in the coming season, determine the appropriate investments in working capital, and explore financing options. birddogs was a nascent direct-to-consumer apparel brand that had carved its niche in men's athletic shorts. The firm was coming of a stellar year, having more than doubled its sales over the previous year. This swift expansion, however, wasn't without its fair share of challenges-primarily in managing working capital, with inventory being the chief concern. The speed of birddogs' growth caught its inventory management off-guard, resulting in out-of-stock situations for about one-third of its products during 2017. Historically, the company had followed a conservative approach to inventory investment, which often led to stockouts. Baldwin, had always favored this prudent approach to ensure the company did not overextend itself. Yet, times were changing. Encouraged by the prospect of increased visibility from upcoming publicity, Baldwin and Sullivan began to entertain the idea of a bolder, more aggressive investment strategy. The future was bright, and they were prepared to seize it.

Dr. Zhang, CEO of Super Quantum, an AI-driven hedge fund, is considering an investor's request to withdraw their funds as the markets experience volatility. Should he pull the investor's funds?

The case is set in spring 2021, immediately after Plug Power made financial restatements dating back to 2018. The case describes the restatements, which revealed that Plug was reclassifying expense items to boost gross profits.

In September 2021, Apple decided to delay updates to iOS and iPadOS that included features to fight child sexual abuse. While many-including prominent privacy and security experts-praised Apple, others were opposed. They saw Apple introducing features that risked undermining the privacy of all Apple users-privacy that Apple had strongly championed. Shortly thereafter, prompted by security concerns related to the war in Ukraine and the spread of online child sexual abuse and pornography, legislation was proposed in the United Kingdom to give the government the right to demand the removal of encryption. In response, some tech companies with encrypted messaging apps contemplated pulling out of the U.K. Should Apple CEO Tim Cook do the same, reintroduce the updates to iOS and iPadOS, or something else?

The case describes Arla's history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The case, and its data supplement, highlight Arla's use of a data score card and regression analysis model to track CO2 emissions across dairy farms in multiple European countries.

In mid-2008, hedge fund manager Steve Maiden was riding high. The self-assured Maiden had launched his own fund in late 2006 and it was substantially outperforming the market. Investors wanted in, and Maiden's personal wealth exceeded even his own lofty expectations. But then things began to fall apart. The global financial crisis hit and several of Maiden's large investments were imploding. His efforts to capture some value hinged on reaching an agreement with several partners. To buy time until an agreement could be reached, Maiden began to falsify his fund's returns to investors. He continued to do this for over two years. In May 2013, Maiden pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was given a seven-year prison sentence, leaving behind his wife and two young children. The Steve Maiden case series (consisting of UVA-OB-1437, UVA-OB-1438, and UVA-OB-1439) provides an inside look at the rise, demise, and resurrection of an ambitious young man whose profile is not unlike that of many MBA students. It gives students a unique opportunity to witness events as they unfolded, and read Maiden's own words about his thoughts and feelings as things unraveled, as well as his candid reflections on what he learned from the experience.

In mid-2008, hedge fund manager Steve Maiden was riding high. The self-assured Maiden had launched his own fund in late 2006 and it was substantially outperforming the market. Investors wanted in, and Maiden's personal wealth exceeded even his own lofty expectations. But then things began to fall apart. The global financial crisis hit and several of Maiden's large investments were imploding. His efforts to capture some value hinged on reaching an agreement with several partners. To buy time until an agreement could be reached, Maiden began to falsify his fund's returns to investors. He continued to do this for over two years. In May 2013, Maiden pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was given a seven-year prison sentence, leaving behind his wife and two young children. The Steve Maiden case series (consisting of UVA-OB-1437, UVA-OB-1438, and UVA-OB-1439) provides an inside look at the rise, demise, and resurrection of an ambitious young man whose profile is not unlike that of many MBA students. It gives students a unique opportunity to witness events as they unfolded, and read Maiden's own words about his thoughts and feelings as things unraveled, as well as his candid reflections on what he learned from the experience.

For the past ten years, dacadoo, a healthtech and insurtech start-up based in Switzerland, has been developing and operating its digital health engagement solution, including mobile applications, exploring ways to monetize the patented and AI-based health score it developed. Dacadoo has a dual objective: It aims to help users achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles with its proprietary "health score" and a digital health engagement solution, while at the same time it seeks to drive digital transformation of the insurance industry, with a focus on life and health insurers. As dacadoo has moved from being a start-up into a high-growth phase, this case series explores which business model(s) will help the company grow to its full potential. In 2010, Peter Ohnemus, a serial entrepreneur who had already built sixteen companies, took some well-deserved time off after the sale of his last successful venture. During this "between ventures" break in Verbier, he noticed his health had improved after two weeks of ski touring, but he could not quantify exactly how much he had progressed. That is when a new idea came to him: How to score human health holistically, encompassing physical health, mental wellbeing and lifestyle. Peter came down from the mountains and started a new company, which led to dacadoo.

For the past ten years, dacadoo, a healthtech and insurtech start-up based in Switzerland, has been developing and operating its digital health engagement solution, including mobile applications, exploring ways to monetize the patented and AI-based health score it developed. Dacadoo has a dual objective: It aims to help users achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles with its proprietary "health score" and a digital health engagement solution, while at the same time it seeks to drive digital transformation of the insurance industry, with a focus on life and health insurers. As dacadoo has moved from being a start-up into a high-growth phase, this case series explores which business model(s) will help the company grow to its full potential. In 2010, Peter Ohnemus, a serial entrepreneur who had already built sixteen companies, took some well-deserved time off after the sale of his last successful venture. During this "between ventures" break in Verbier, he noticed his health had improved after two weeks of ski touring, but he could not quantify exactly how much he had progressed. That is when a new idea came to him: How to score human health holistically, encompassing physical health, mental wellbeing and lifestyle. Peter came down from the mountains and started a new company, which led to dacadoo.

When one of On's co-founders stepped into the elevator at the brand new On Labs headquarters in Zurich, a fellow co-worker asked whether it was also his first day at On. He was speechless. Less than a decade earlier, the 5 partners regularly went for lunch runs with some of the other 30 team members. And now in April 2023, On was a publicly listed multinational company with more than 1,800 employees, some of whom did not know or recognize the founders. This was disconcerting and the five partners reflected on the recent developments. The IPO in 2021 had been a great success and the company had been able to raise $746 million. The funds raised allowed On to further accelerate its growth, and the company had recently passed the CHF 1 billion revenue mark. During the pandemic, 500 new employees had joined the company. To accommodate the growing workforce, a new campus for product development, design and innovation - On Labs, with office space for 1,000 employees - was created in Zurich. After a period of exponential growth, and a number of employees being hired annually - some of them from On's close competitors - the company was facing new pressures and felt at a crossroads. Although the IPO had had a limited impact on the company culture so far, the partners wondered whether the continued dramatic growth would affect the company culture. Were they going to be able to retain their unique culture and keep it from being diluted, while continuing to grow to achieve their mission? The three founders had a unique opportunity to rethink their role and how they could best contribute to On's future success.

The two-part case follows the story of Pav Gill, the whistleblower who helped uncover one of Europe's largest corporate frauds at Wirecard, the German fintech that went bankrupt in 2020. Founded in 1999, Wirecard grew from an inconspicuous company to a listed firm on the blue-chip DAX, Germany's main stock index in 2018. Wirecard's meteoric rise to fame was questioned by some but largely acclaimed by investors who knew little about its murky dealings beneath its successful façade. Part (A) begins in 2018 with Gill joining Wirecard's Singapore office as the Head of Legal for the Asia Pacific region. Within a few months, Gill discovered multiple instances of falsified accounts, forgery, back-dated invoices, round-tripping, and questionable hiring practices. Despite escalating the matter to the Munich headquarters, his efforts on speaking up for justice backfired. Even after he left Wirecard, he was stalked by strangers and sabotaged at job interviews. At that point, he had to decide if he should remain silent or expose the scandal, and if so, how. Part (B) describes the frustration of Sokhbir Kaur, Gill's mother, at Wirecard's harassment and threats to her son's life, before resorting to take matters into her own hands. She initiated contact with well-reputed journalists to expose the scandal-a move that stunned Gill. The Financial Times eventually interviewed them and published the story in January 2019, which spelled the beginning of the end for Wirecard.