April 2023: Case (B) primarily discusses LUSTER 's finance-business integration reform: upgrading digital management systems, building data analysis and financial forecasting systems, and strengthening performance evaluation. At the end of Case (B), CFO Gu Baoxing proposed an internal marketization plan: each division would be able to dismantle barriers and share customers, while each product line and sales team could collaborate across divisions to discover the most advantageous partnerships. However, employees were resistant to the reform plan. Students are expected to assess whether LUSTER has the foundation for internal marketization based on the information in Case (B), and to suggest corresponding financial tools if necessary. This is a supplement to LUSTER: The Strategy of Value First (A), product # W37053.
<div style="font-size: 0.93em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">This is the B-case for product W37078. Lynda Oliver and her team at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University developed the new slogan, "The Intelligent Future," to emphasize analytics, interdisciplinary learning, and human judgment in decision-making. This rebranding effort, supported by Dean Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, was aimed at positioning Tepper as forward-looking and innovative. The comprehensive rebranding included a new voice and tone guide, updated visual design, and a digital advertising campaign that highlighted Tepper's unique strengths. The new branding, launched in September 2021, garnered strong support from stakeholders and prospective students, effectively positioning Tepper among the nation's elite business schools.
This case, which concludes the scenario set up in "Matteo Hill at Drawn, Inc. (A)" (UVA-OB-1293) and "Matteo Hill at Drawn, Inc. (B)" (UVA-OB-1459), reveals the outcome of the heated discussion about recently acquired start-up Drawn, Inc., sharing the raw data from internal pulse surveys.
This case, a follow-up to "Quarterly Earnings Report at T-Rex (A)" (UVA-BC-0304), continues the story of fictional company T-Rex Inc., an engineering equipment manufacturer, and its CEO, Maya Hoffman, as the company prepares for the Q2 2024 earnings call. On July 18, 2024, prior to the market opening, T-Rex released its quarterly earnings. Thirty minutes later, at 8:00 a.m., T-Rex's stock was down almost $2 in pre-market trading. Hoffman, the CFO, and the head of investor relations need to manage the earnings call.
This case portrays the entrepreneurial journey of two academic scientists who spent much of their careers addressing the problem of substance use disorder (SUD). Warren Bickel, a psychologist with a deep understanding of behavioral economics, had what he believed to be a valuable approach to fighting opioid addiction. It complemented clinical and pharmacological therapies that were the current standard of care. The case describes the journey that he and his colleague, Lisa Marsch, took to bring this digital therapy to the market. The context is one in which the offering is an avoidance product for may consumers, in a product category of interest to the public health sector, and relies on a indirect payment model. Market structure, technological development, partnership options and organizational structure uncertainties abound, making this case an excellent vehicle for students to learn tools and methods associated with opportunity identification and elaboration. The Learning Plan offers a method for identifying the full spectrum of uncertainties and managing them proactively.
Supplement to The Crazy Yang Bros (A): Revolutionizing Live Commerce with Comedy/ (B): Pioneering Livestream Clip Distribution. Case C introduces the launch of 'Everyone's Assistant' by the Yang brothers, a platform embodying a novel business model designed to address the saturation and competitive challenges in the livestream clip market. This platform brought a wide array of clip editors and livestreamers together for collaboration, thereby standardizing the industry and accruing significant benefits for both the Yang brothers and other stakeholders. However, this innovation also ignited discussions on the heightened competition and concerns about product integrity, prompting contemplation on the future trajectory of 'Everyone's Assistant': What strategies should the Yang brothers adopt to ensure sustainable expansion of this business segment?
Supplement to The Crazy Yang Bros (A): Revolutionizing Live Commerce with Comedy. Case B outlines the Yang brothers' clever solution: they began licensing their livestreams to clip editors, thus entering the livestream clip distribution market. This savvy strategy not only boosted their profits but also benefited the clip editors, consumers, and other stakeholders involved. However, the rapid increase in licensed editors eventually led to market saturation. The pressing question now is: What strategies should the Yang brothers employ to address this oversaturation?
This case focuses on the evolution of the hotel industry (red ocean and blue ocean perspectives) and the strategic and innovative creation of a leading boutique hotel brand - W Hotels. Emerging at a time when the industry was relatively stagnant, W Hotels stood out from conventional luxury competitors thanks to novel positioning and value innovation. Case (A) describes the origins and growth of the hotel industry, the standards used (star ratings) to assess properties at the luxury end of the market and other segments, and the competitive landscape in the late 1990s. Case (B) zooms in on W Hotels and its value innovation. Instructors can use the cases as the basis of group exercises, and to discuss other examples of value innovation in the hospitality industry, such as the citizenM and hotelFI brands.