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...

Bridgit: Persevere or Pivot?

In late 2012, Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Lake, two young women in their final year of college, founded Bridgit, a technology startup that developed solutions to simplify vital but laborious processes within the construction industry. In the Fall of 2013,...

The PGA Tour (B)

To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8...

The Political Money Machine and Senator Cruz

This caselet explores campaign finance rules in U.S. elections, as illustrated through a fundraising memo for Senator Ted Cruz.

The PGA Tour (A)

To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8...

Vibrant Health

This case is about nutritional supplements company Vibrant Health, among the 100 largest Black-owned businesses in the U.S. After acquiring the company from its white founder in 2007, co-owners Ted and Paige Parker significantly grew its sales. Set in...

Broadening the New York Times Bundle

Three Vignettes of Early Careers in the Life Sciences

The PGA Tour (C)

In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8 million in prize money; by the 1994 season, the total prize purse had...

Steem versus Hive: Testing Blockchain Governance

AI vs Human: Analyzing Acceptable Error Rates Using the Confusion Matrix

This technical note introduces the confusion matrix as a foundational tool in artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) for assessing the performance of classification models, focusing on their reliability for decision-making. A...

So You Want to Change the World?: A Personal Reflection on Systems Change

Managing the Demise of Tip Credit

Silicon Valley Bank: Gone in 36 Hours

This case examines factors contributing to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023, an event as unpredicted as it was quick. SVB funded nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed startups and at the end of 2022 held $173 billion in deposits,...

A Brief Note on U.S. Presidential Transitions

This note provides background information on the U.S. presidential transition process, including the history of presidential transitions, the modern transition process, and the responsibilities of the executive branch. It includes a brief overview of the...

Giving Up on a Passion: Elizabeth Rowe at the Boston Symphony Orchestra

For 20 years, Elizabeth Rowe was a world-renowned principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But in 2024, Rowe decided to leave her position to pursue a new full-time career as a leadership coach. At 50, Rowe was well under the typical...

Getting into the Arena (A): Shelane Etchison

This case explores the political campaign of Shelane Etchison, a pioneering U.S. Army veteran and double-degree Harvard graduate who ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in North Carolinas Ninth Congressional District in 2024. Seeking office for the...

TELEXISTENCE Inc.

A case about a Japanese robotics startup aiming to enter the U.S. market with its robots that combine AI and human intervention to complete restocking tasks in retail stores.

Mercado Libre: The Best Is Yet to Come

In 2024, Marcos Galperin, CEO and co-founder of Mercado Libre, reflected on its 25-year rise as Latin America's largest marketplace, fintech leader, and most valuable public company. With operations spanning 18 countries and a robust ecosystem combining...

Expanding the Culture of Learning at Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) was an American food company formed in 2015 by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc and the H.J. Heinz Company. The company sold food products like Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Kool-Aid, and Philadelphia cream cheese...

Cheerful Music

Established by Snow Jiang in 2019 in Shenzhen, China, Cheerful Music was a record label company that had created many hit songs in China. "Yi Xiao Jiang Hu," its most famous hit song, gained 50 billion views on TikTok as the background music for the...

Perplexity: Redefining Search

By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a trailblazing ""answer engine"" valued at $9 billion. Led by founder Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity AI had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor aiming to redefine search...

Brief Note on Congressional and Down-Ballot Races (2024)

This brief note explains the other elections that occur in the United States at the same time as the presidential election.

#FutureFresenius: "Committed to Life" in 2024 and Beyond (B)

From February 2024 onward, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA continued to make progress on the #FutureFresenius transformation that CEO Michael Sen had initiated in October 2022. The company had completed the initial "reset" phase and moved into the "revitalize"...

#FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the companys transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of €22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through...

Launch Africa Ventures

Cambridge Associates and Groton School

"Bugs" Burger Bug Killers

In the height of its success, Bugs Burger Bug Killers (BBBK; Burger has a soft g - it rhymes with merger) was the largest independent extermination company in America, growing at more than 20% per year. BBBK built its business on the promise of pest...

Unleashing Opportunities in Brazil's Favelas

Sportradar (B): Innovative Resilience and Beyond

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 vesselss battery, the size of electric cars, needed to be charged on the ships 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