Case Studies

Google's Project Oxygen: Do Managers Matter?

Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management...

Big Hit Entertainment and Blockbuster Band BTS: K-Pop Goes Global

Bang Si-Hyuk ('Hitman Bang') is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind BTS, a 'K-pop' band that has found unparalleled success around the globe-a remarkable feat given that most of their songs are in...

Cirque du Soleil

Retaining talent is an issue for any company whose success relies on the creativity and excellence of its employees. This is especially true for Cirque du Soleil, the spectacularly successful "circus without animals," whose 2,100 employees include 500...

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership

GE is faced with Jack Welch's impending retirement and whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the company's business...

Pinckney Street

Although inexperienced in real estate, Edward Alexander hopes in June 2013 that youthful enthusiasm and an $240,000 in savings and inheritance will help him enter the real estate business. His experience chronicles the process of finding, evaluating, and...

Army Crew Team

The coach of the varsity Army crew team at West Point assembled his top eight rowers into the first crew team and the second tier of rowers into the second team using objective data on individual performance. As the second boat continually beat the first...

Chase Sapphire: Creating a Millennial Cult Brand

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was enthusiastically received by millennial consumers,...

Trader Joe's

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). Based on a variety of metrics, Trader Joe's ranked as one of the most successful grocers in the United...

Amazon.com, 2021

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit...

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

Provides an opportunity to examine leadership and entrepreneurship in the context of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition, a compelling story of crisis, survival, and triumph. Summarizes Shackleton's career as an officer in the British Merchant...

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM): The AI Journey

Hurtigruten: Sea Zero

Hurtigruten was deciding whether the next ship they built should be fully electric. But such a vessels's battery, the size of electric cars, needed to be charged on the ship's multi-day voyage along the Norwegian coast. Before making such a $250 million...

AlphaGo (C): Birth of a New Intelligence

FIELD Immersion: Columbus, Ohio

Abiomed: Clinical Trials and Tribulations

Washington Enterprises, Inc.: Pro Forma Financial Statements

A newly hired analyst at a boutique investment bank, Jenny Smith, is tasked with preparing pro forma financial statements for Washington Enterprises, Inc. (WEI). Smith must construct these pro forma statements based on a set of standard assumptions...

Gender Lens Investing: Impact Investing for the Benefit of Women

Impact investing is an investment strategy that aims to generate attractive financial returns while achieving positive social and/or environmental impact. In 2007-with the aim to "rally private investment houses, and the private investment capital they...

Marcy's Foods, Inc.: A Second Serving

Marcy's Foods, Inc.-a wholesale supplier of ingredients for the New York City restaurant industry-has just completed its second year of operations, and founder Claire Marcy has hired local CPA Tom Hughes to prepare financial statements for the year...

Marcy's Foods, Inc.

In this fictionalized case, Claire Marcy has just finished her first year running Marcy's Foods, Inc., a wholesale supplier of ingredients for the New York City restaurant industry. During the past year, she worked hard to grow the business and build her...

At the Center of the Storm: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and the Response to Hurricane Maria Epilogue

Epilogue for BC0060

"Could it be that...?" A Peer-to-Peer Consultation Exercise, Session Worksheet

Session Worksheet for BC0044

"Could it be that...?" A Peer-to-Peer Consultation Exercise

The goal of the Peer-to-Peer Consultation Exercise is to facilitate feedback and advice from peers in an open and psychologically safe environment, inviting greater clarity and focus to challenges that peers face, especially leadership challenges. Some...

Djamo: Leveraging fintech to unlock cross-border financial services in West Africa

This case centres on the fintech Djamo, which is based in Côte d'Ivoire and enables financial inclusion for the country's largely unbanked population through a personal finance application as well as credit card distribution, made possible by a...

ESG integration at Prescient Investment Management: Becoming a quantitative responsible investor

This case follows a large South African asset manager, Prescient Investment Management (PIM), as it develops and integrates a responsible investing (RI) programme into its core business. Set in September 2022, PIM is facing increasing investor pressure...

Mpact packaging and recycling: Consumer pressure, sustainability, and the threat of plastic legislation in South Africa

This case deals with the two-pronged dilemma faced by Bruce Strong, CEO of publicly traded Mpact Limited - the leading and largest paper and plastics packaging and recycling business in Southern Africa. On a macro level, as plastics contribute...

WIllful Blindness at SynapGlobal: A Preventable Tragedy

This case provides a dramatic lens for examining the evolution of a crisis as fed by willful blindness (Heffernan, 2011). Organizational barriers impede grasping, acknowledging, and containing internal danger, despite vivid warning signals. As...

Choking at the First Signs of Crisis

Many crisis-based cases feature exceptionally dramatic warning signals and circumstances. This case regards what initially appears to be a relatively minor problem and manageable contingencies, similar to those more common experiences in organizations...

Noodle Analytics in 2024: Exploring the Frontiers of AI

In January 2024, Stephen Pratt, co-founder and long-time CEO of Noodle Analytics (Noodle.ai), reflects on the company's significant milestones as he prepares to transition to a strategic advisory role. Founded in 2016, Noodle.ai embarked on a journey to...

Scaling Up To Stand Still: The Nearpeer Conundrum

This case delves into the journey of Nearpeer, an edtech start-up founded by Shahrukh and Ammar, to revolutionise education by bridging the gap between traditional classroom learning and the digital age. It demonstrates how a start-up's ambitious pursuit...

Dan Doctoroff and the Power of Collaboration: Target ALS Accelerates the Race Against a Deadly Disease

The case study examines Dan Doctoroff, an innovative leader in the public and private sectors, and his efforts to turbo-charge philanthropy and find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Doctoroff served...

Development Diplomacy in Action: The CASA-1000 Electricity Grid

This eight-party development diplomacy simulation, set in late 2024, places students in a complex negotiation to revive the stalled regional energy infrastructure project known as CASA-1000. This transmission line seeks to create a regional energy market...

Tesla: Branding Strategies for New Products

This case focuses on branding strategies for hypothetical new products being considered by Tesla, a leader in electric vehicles and sustainable energy technology. In the case, Tesla is exploring four new products to drive growth: an electric motorcycle,...

To the Journey: Financial Planning for Young Professionals

Peter and Irene Hansen, two successful young married professionals, felt fortunate to have been able recently to buy a house in a prosperous Chicago suburb in which to raise their toddler and the sibling they had just discovered was on the way. Checking...

Living Space, a Family's Frontier: Whether or Not to Buy a First Home

In June 2023, Irene and Peter Hansen agreed they could definitely use more space. The two-bedroom apartment the couple had been renting in downtown Evanston, Illinois, was beginning to feel a bit cramped. This resulted partly from the ever-increasing...

BigBasket and Quick Commerce: The Basket is big, but can it get Quicker?

BigBasket, an online grocery platform launched in 2011, established itself as a leader in India's fast-growing e-commerce market, capturing a 37% share of the online grocery segment by 2021. With a robust supply chain, diverse product assortment, and a...

Taylor Swift's Blue Ocean Strategic Moves: How She Stood out and Succeeded in the Crowded Entertainment Industry

How did Taylor Swift elevate herself from a country music singer performing in a Nashville café to a billion-dollar force in the global entertainment industry? While talent, timing, tenacity, and luck have played a role, a closer look reveals that...

Sogrape: The Art and Science of Blending in the World of Wine

The case describes how Sogrape has grown to become Portugal's largest wine company, with 35 own brands, 500 agency brands, 1,200 employees worldwide, and turnover of €333 million in 2023. From its origins in the Douro Valley, the family-owned company...

Boosting and sustaining operational excellence

The case explores the principles and challenges of operational excellence through the experience of Magdi Batato, former EVP of Operations at Nestlé. It examines how he implemented Mission-Directed Work Teams (MDWTs) to empower front-line workers, align...

Nespresso: Strategy reset for growth: The youth market (Abridged) (B)

Nespresso, the global leading brand in portioned coffee, is facing an existential threat. The company's current market base, which consists primarily of aging consumers, is likely to decline in the medium to long term. To compensate for the certain...

Nespresso: Strategy reset for growth: The youth market (A)

Nespresso, the global leading brand in portioned coffee, is facing an existential threat. The company's current market base, which consists primarily of aging consumers, is likely to decline in the medium to long term. To compensate for the certain...

Qapita: Designing and Managing Global LTIP Schemes for Employees

Qapita is a global equity management platform that serves over 2,000 clients and manages over USD 55 billion in equity. Founded in 2019, it aims to create infrastructure for private markets by providing a comprehensive platform for managing ownership,...

Ninasam: Perform or Perish, That is the Question

This case is about a small organisation in remote part of Karnataka working in the arena of performing arts and culture. The case asks essential question of sustainability for organisations without a strong economic model, while having a zone of...

Arali Ventures

Arali Ventures is a venture capital (VC) fund management enterprise planning to raise its second fund. The partners Rajiv Raghunandan and Arun Raghavan who co-founded the enterprise had limited investment experience when they floated their first fund...

Posco in Odisha: Non-market Stakeholders (Missed) Management

POSCO, the South Korean steel maker, wanted to set up its subsidiary in the state of Odisha, India. It signed an FDI agreement with the Odisha government in 2005. The project was the biggest ever FDI proposal at that time and was welcomed by both the...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: Can she deliver again? (C)

This case explores the leadership challenges faced by Susan Wojcicki as CEO of YouTube in 2014, as she navigates the complexities of achieving profitability in the rapidly evolving online video industry. Despite YouTube's $5.6 billion revenue in 2013,...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: Can she deliver again? (B)

This case explores the leadership challenges faced by Susan Wojcicki as CEO of YouTube in 2014, as she navigates the complexities of achieving profitability in the rapidly evolving online video industry. Despite YouTube's $5.6 billion revenue in 2013,...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: Can she deliver again? (A)

This case explores the leadership challenges faced by Susan Wojcicki as CEO of YouTube in 2014, as she navigates the complexities of achieving profitability in the rapidly evolving online video industry. Despite YouTube's $5.6 billion revenue in 2013,...

thyssenkrupp: Reinventing the German industrial giant

As of early 2024, Miguel Ángel López Borrego, CEO of the German diversified industrial giant, thyssenkrupp, was assessing his first six months in the role and debating how he could advance the company?s three main priorities: continue the green...

Hella: Industry 4.0 in China

HELLA, one of the world's leading suppliers to the automotive industry, collaborated with leading car manufacturers and played a major role in lighting technologies, one of its core strengths. In addition to Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, a key market,...

Critical fractile

A former CEO of Inditex once remarked that "fashion is like yoghurt, it goes off in a few days". For perishable products with a relatively short life cycle, it is critical to balance the gain of having enough stock to meet demand against the loss of...