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The case is set in 2023. The protagonist is Elon Musk, CEO and Technoking of Tesla, Inc. The vertically-integrated clean technology company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells high-performance fully electric vehicles (EVs) and energy generation and storage systems. Tesla had sales of $81 billion and generated over $12 billion in net income in 2022. Tesla's stock market valuation peaked at over $1.2 trillion in early 2022. Tesla's market cap had fallen by more than 50% to $600 billion by spring 2023. When introducing Master Plan 3, Musk reiterated that Tesla would produce 2 million vehicles in 2023 and then increase its production rate by 10x to reach 20 million EVs annually by 2030. Tesla would also be prominent in transitioning the global economy to sustainable energy. The Tesla CEO was surprised that investors were not impressed with Master Plan 3, as Tesla's stock dropped by 6% the next day.

In this political strategy case, Oni K. Blair, newly appointed executive director of a Houston nonprofit advocating for more equitable transportation resources, faces a challenge: how to persuade a Texas state agency to substantially redesign a highway expansion project, already decades in the planning, in and around Houston? When Blair was appointed head of LINK Houston, in August 2017, the project-to expand, modernize, and re-route a 25-mile stretch of Houston's north-south highway, I-45, from the downtown center to the outer beltway north of town-was entering its final planning stage. Supported by powerful state leaders and stakeholders, the project was intended to address I-45's safety and capacity problems, but critics questioned the plan on several grounds, especially given its adverse impacts on Black and Latinx neighborhoods-communities that had also borne the brunt of Houston's highway construction in the past, a common pattern in American cities in the mid to late 20th century. This case, centering the perspective of Blair, was written in two parts. In the A case, students learn about the design of the project, the benefits claimed by its proponents, the dangers flagged by its critics, the history of highway development in Texas, and the perspectives of residents in the Black and Latinx neighborhoods that would be most adversely affected. It ends with Blair's realization that TxDOT's public participation process will never lead to a serious reconsideration of the project's design and poses the question, what should she do now? The B case picks up as Blair and her colleagues assess the political landscape. Who are the real decision-makers? And who might be in a position to influence them? It traces their battle within Texas to persuade the state to re-imagine the project-a battle that will eventually include a lawsuit, federal intervention, and a controversial political deal. HKS Case 2252.0

Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams, V-Ko went public in 2015. On the first day of trading, V-Ko's shares doubled in price, and the company closed the year with a market capitalization of approximately $2.5 billion. However, the company's growth began to slow as competitors entered the market. Though V-Ko's market share began to shrink, Williams continued to set aggressive sales targets that were increasingly difficult to reach. In 2018, the company missed its first-quarter earnings target. The company shifted its control systems and company culture, resulting in pressure on salespeople that led to the use of questionable tactics to meet sales and compensation goals. Following a tip from an anonymous employee whistleblower, V-Ko launched an investigation in 2020 that revealed overstated revenue and overstated inventory stemming from lax internal controls. Stepping into the perspective of new leadership at V-Ko, students will discuss the company's business model, sales practices and employee incentives, internal control systems, and financial reporting issues around revenue recognition (specifically sales returns) and inventory valuation (specifically obsolete inventory). Students will also consider what actions, if any, should be taken against those involved in the accounting scandal and how to improve corporate governance and rebuild trust with investors.

This case presents an inventory challenge. The goal of the case is to encourages students to redefine problem statements that Fizzy Fusion is faced with and to use innovative thinking to come up with solutions that can address the core underlying problem that the company is facing. The case encourages students to think from the perspective of the customer to solve data problems.

From an open-concept 90's-style stone and wood cabin in Dublin, New Hampshire, Ryan Serhant reflected on his career as a real estate broker. As Ryan stared into the fireplace that featured prominently in the center of the house, he wondered whether the period of selling real estate at record highs in New York was over. A few short months earlier, the United States had begun to shut down to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. New York City was unsure of its future under this newly defined threat. New York also faced a real estate crisis, as loyal residents started to leave the city in search of more space and distance from other people. Many experts feared that New York City real estate was "in a worse state than after September 11th and the 2008 financial crises." Students step into Ryan's shoes as he faced a decision in March 2020 at the height of Covid-19: Should he stay at his current real estate brokerage, launch his own brokerage in a pandemic, or enjoy the flexibility to start new ventures and spend time with family? As part of the discussion, students reflect on Ryan's time management techniques including the 1,000-minute rule, Task Triage and Finder, Keeper, Doer methodologies, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of these various time and prioritization strategies.

La Biennale of Venice, which organized festivals in different disciplines, pondered how to remain relevant in front of fading boundaries across arts.

In February 2024, the world was looking to Google to see what the search giant and long-time putative technical leader in artificial intelligence (AI) would do to compete in the massively hyped technology of generative AI. Over a year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a text-generating chatbot that captured widespread attention. OpenAI would offer a range of new generative AI products as both user-facing applications and developer-facing application programing interfaces (APIs). In January 2023, Microsoft and OpenAI signed a $10 billion deal extending their exclusive partnership. Microsoft would continue to supply OpenAI with seemingly unlimited computing power from its Azure cloud, and Microsoft hoped that OpenAI's technology and brand would keep Microsoft at the center of the new generative AI boom. Microsoft announced that it would soon begin deploying OpenAI's technologies throughout its suite of products, from its Microsoft 365 productivity apps to its search engine Bing. Google needed to decide how to respond to the threat posed by OpenAI and Microsoft. Google had a decade of experience developing and deploying AI and machine learning (ML) technologies in its products, but much of their AI work happened in-house and behind the scenes. Google researchers had invented the transformer architecture that made the generative breakthroughs demonstrated by GPT possible. Breakthroughs in AI had been quietly supercharging Google products like Search and Ads for years, but most of the product work was internal and little of it had penetrated the public consciousness. Until 2022, Google leadership had been deliberately cautious about revealing the extent of their AI progress and opening Google's experimental AI tools to the public.

Octavian Graf Pilati, rising generation member of an Austrian princely family, prepared to sell the palace his family had held for over three hundred years. In recent years, the Pilati family lands had been leveraged as loan collateral for an international venture that had become entangled in a case of suspected management fraud. Between banks unwilling to restructure debt obligations, the complexities of multi-jurisdictional legal enforcement, and intransigent family members, Octavian found himself in the impossible position of being tasked with resolving the crisis yet with little formal power to follow through on his designated responsibilities. Realizing he and his family's centuries-long legacy was at an impasse, should the family choose to fully divest its long-held assets in the face of possible financial ruin? Could they bounce back from failure - either in this generation or future ones - or should future generations seek to start anew?

Levels is a highly innovative startup in the health care space. They intend to revolutionize health by linking behavior-eating, exercise, sleeping, etc.-to changes in metabolism. They believe metabolic health can be managed through careful monitoring of changes in variables like blood glucose levels using digital monitors. The company is, however, more interesting for its management model and organization structure. Founded prior to Covid, Levels is a 'native remote' company. All the management processes are designed to function without employees regularly interacting face-to-face. There is a great emphasis on information being prepared to support asynchronously. The company makes extensive use of tools that allow employees to generate effective content. It also practices radical transparency internally and externally, with the vast majority of its strategic documents, research agenda and product development agenda accessible freely to outsiders. Even more interestingly, the work process are designed to maximize employees' opportunity to engage in 'deep work.' Deep work is a concept associated with the writing of Georgetown computer scientist, Cal Newport. It is based on the premise that humans are singularly bad at context shifting and that they require extended period during which they can apply themselves to difficult tasks without interruption or distraction. The Levels management model minimizes the number of meetings (i.e., no more than two a week for most people, many of those optional), real time communities, etc. Levels adherence to a native remote/deep work model provides a fascinating basis for evaluating innovative management structures and the challenges in running a distributed workforce.

US-registered Emerging Markets Development Group (EMDG), a small but successful international consulting firm that provided development assistance in emerging and post-conflict regions, bet big on a project in Southeast Asia in 2008 that was financed by a Small Business Administration (SBA)-guaranteed loan issued by a local bank. The project failed, with catastrophic results. After seven years of attempting to dig themselves out of the hole, the principals were out of cash and needed to either significantly restructure the balance of EMDG's outstanding loan or shut the firm down. Complicating the situation was the possibility that a former partner, who had left the firm over nine years before, might be held liable for the current debt.

Case A explores the transformative role of data analytics in the sports industry through the lens of Infosys, an innovative tech company. Infosys aims to showcase its AI and analytics expertise by partnering with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Recognizing the potential of data to reshape the experience of fans and to advance the business of tennis, Infosys strategically selects tennis as its focus. By becoming the official Digital Innovation Partner for the ATP, Infosys aims to enhance fan engagement, aid players and coaches, and transform tennis through data-driven insights. The ATP, which governs men's professional tennis, operates within a multifaceted business model reliant on data to drive engagement and revenue. In its quest for a technological partner, ATP aligns with Infosys to tap into its expertise. Leveraging ATP's data repository, Infosys revamps the player zone app, creating a versatile hub for players and coaches. The case underscores the power of data-driven decision making and its potential to redefine the sports landscape.

Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital's mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting investors, sourcing talent, and building entrepreneurial ecosystems, but by 2022, the firm had invested in over 90 portfolio companies and had assets under management of over $2 billion, making it the largest VC firm outside the coasts. In the Winter of 2022, cofounder and CEO Chris Olsen contemplated an investment into Forge Biologics, an Ohio-based gene therapy contract development and manufacturing company. The partnership weighed the pros and cons in the context of the fund's overall portfolio and macroeconomic headwinds facing the industry.

In September 2021, Adam Demuyakor (MBA 2017) was faced with decisions about how to launch his venture capital (VC) investment firm. His previous investment activities were a series of angel investments and special purpose vehicles alongside two part-time general partners (GPs). After hearing investor feedback that the firm was not institutional enough, Demuyakor created a successor firm on his own, Wilshire Lane Capital (WLC), and sold a GP stake to private equity firm Nile Capital to help with operational expenses, infrastructure support, and fundraising. Under WLC, Demuyakor sought to raise a $75 million fund mainly focused on Series A PropTech deals. However, he received conflicting advice on three strategic decision vectors-fund size, stage of deals, and subsector area of focus. Some potential investors were also concerned about Demuyakor running the fund as a solo GP instead of with a full-time partner. While the characteristics of the new fund were based on Demuyakor's background, preferences, and goals, he knew he had to align his strategy with the approach that would earn the confidence of investors. Thus, he had some decisions to make.

Julie Owono is a member of the Oversight Board, an outside entity with the authority to make binding decisions on tricky moderation questions for Meta's companies. She considers the Board's impact, and its future.

The KIWA: INTERNATIONAL TRADE WITH A PURPOSE case tells the story of Kiwa, an Ecuadorian company competing in the snacks industry, whose central purpose is to help small farmers in the country get out of poverty and fight climate change through alternative agricultural practices. To do this, it designed a business model that avoids intermediaries and transfers these fees to farmers, who get a higher price for their raw materials. The company exports to 16 countries where retailers or food-processing companies buy its products under private-label agreements, in bulk or under Kiwa brand. However, private-label and bulk sales are increasing steadily, in detriment of Kiwa products that communicate the social and environmental efforts of the firm to final consumers.

The case raises the issues on diversifying the workforce in a male-dominated industry. The dilemma before the protagonist, Rahul Maitra, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is how to meet the objective of 10% women in its workforce by 2022.This case focuses on the Indian cement sector, where women's representation in the Indian workforce has always been less than 3%. In a bid to bridge the gender gap, Ambuja Cement, the largest player in cement in India, further, faced a setback in hiring due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The CHRO, Rahul Maitra, was under pressure from the parent company, LafargeHolcim, to deliver results within 2022. While companies had taken steps to bridge the divide, gender diversity in the cement industry remained low and a concern. Achieving the target of 10% women in the workforce by end of 2022 was an uphill task for Maitra given that the factories were set in remote locations, making it unattractive for women, and the current workforce was not fully prepared to respond to an inclusive and diverse environment. Maitra had to decide what immediate actions had to be taken to reach the target within the time frame to address the diversity challenges of the company.

Stayfilm is a representative case of a Brazilian digital startup trying to compete and succeed in the global market. In 2016, Stayfilm's application (app), which customers used to convert photos and videos into films, faced a decline in the number of registered users, app downloads, and films produced. After opening some offices overseas, the partners realized that operating a global business in more stable and tech-developed countries would benefit their success; hence, they decided to move the startup headquarters to a different country. By February 2017, they were considering moving Stayfilm's headquarters to London (U.K.), Toronto (CA), or Miami (U.S.). This case asks students to select a city where the company should establish its headquarters based on information provided in the case. The story presents a successful example of an emerging market digital startup attempting to expand globally. The case provides an exciting context for studying digital startups' attributes, business models, and internationalization processes.

As an introverted leader, Susan Duffy was well aware of the misalignment between her quiet, often lead-from-behind style and society's definition of leadership (gregarious, direct, extroverted). Over her 35 years, as she progressed into increasingly senior roles, she had developed strategies to address that misalignment: flexing, managing others' perceptions, negotiating the conditions she needed to contribute. By doing so she had successfully innovated, built support for her ideas, and executed in health care, construction, nonprofits, and academia. Duffy was now considering her next career move and wanted to be strategic about it. By reviewing her career history, she planned to identify the metrics essential for that next position. Specifically, who was she as a leader; and what job elements did she need to be motivated and satisfied? The third determinant, where, was the most salient for Duffy: where would she find an organizational culture that would recognize, value, and support her quiet introverted leadership style? Finding that organizational fit would be critical in enabling her to lead and make her best contribution.

Alex Tripp was the newly hired interim Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Synapse, a not-for-profit organization serving the Florida entrepreneurial community. Tripp learned at her first meeting with her new bosses that she had less than 80 days to execute an urgent marketing need: sell 5,000 tickets for upcoming annual event in January 2019. The goal of the yearly event was to connect the members of the innovation economy who included three targeted attendees: students, entrepreneurs, and corporations. Alex knew to launch a successful social media promotion campaign to sell tickets in a short time frame with her limited budget, she needed to determine the following: Which social media platforms should she use to reach each of her targets? How much paid social media should she incorporate? What kind of organic social media content would drive ticket purchases? How much of her $10,000 budget she should allocate for each of her target audiences?

In the seaside town of La Jolla, a community conflict revolves around a coastal cove known as the Children's Pool. A colony of seals took up residence in the pool, which previously was enjoyed by children. The feud escalated from public outrage to death threats and arrests. In a narrow sense, Children's Pool is a binary conflict between those who want the cove to remain a sanctuary for seals and those who do not. In a larger sense, it is a multiparty conflict among numerous stakeholders. For some, the conflict impacts their livelihoods, property values, and quality of life. Others fight to defend the rights of the wildlife. There are also those looking for a hybrid solution. A native La Jollan, Jim Thomas, grew increasingly concerned about the ongoing conflict among neighbors. The parties to the conflict attempted to solve it through litigations and other adversarial approaches, but none stuck for long. Jim believed it would prove more productive to initiate a mediation. But in what format? The case guides the students through two parallel mediation simulations, a two-party one and a multiparty one, that explore the pros and cons of each approach helping Jim to make an informed decision.