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Lobbying at eCab
by Karthik RamannaErin Jones' ridesharing startup in her mid-sized hometown is finally picking up. She's hoping to reach a sustainable scale so that she can sell to a large player such as Uber in a year. But suddenly, she hits political roadblocks - the local Democratic mayor, facing a tough reelection and urged by the local taxi association - calls for more regulation of her business. Erin's board urges her to actively back the opposition Republican candidate through direct PAC giving, a Super PAC, and indirect lobbying. Erin, a lifelong Democrat, is opposed to the Republican on a number of personal issues. She must decide whether and how to engage in this election.
Cameron Trebbi at Taylor Lowell, LLP
by Karthik RamannaCameron Trebbi is a senior executive overseeing accounting policy at a large global auditing firm. His role is to lobby the firm's position with various accounting rule-making bodies worldwide. The firm is close to acquiring as new audit clients a consortium of Chinese state-owned enterprises. The consortium has asked Trebbi's firm to seek an exception for state-owned enterprises on a proposed accounting rule. But Trebbi thinks such an exception is unsound accounting policy. He must decide how he will lobby, knowing that his testimony is highly valued by the accounting rule-making body and is likely to be unchallenged.
Aura Light: from a Light Bulb Manufacturer to an Energy Savings Solutions Provider
by Elena Corsi Krishna G. PalepuA Swedish light bulb manufacturer reviews its strategy to better compete against large global multinationals.
Guiding Professional Accountants to Do The Right Thing
by Paul M. Healy V. G. Narayanan Penelope RossanoCase
Alibaba Goes Public (A)
by Krishna G. Palepu Suraj Srinivasan David Lane Charles C.Y. WangIn 2014 Alibaba debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, creating not only the largest IPO in history but this initial desire to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was denied due to the company's desire to preserve its partner's control over decision rights. Why did Hong Kong deny Alibaba's requests to list dual-class shares or to allow its partners to nominate a majority of the board of directors, and in the process turn away a superstar in Alibaba? Why did American stock markets approve of Alibaba's governance structures, despite the warnings of many governance experts? How can investors ensure that their capital would be deployed effectively by the company's top management?
Accor: Designing an Asset-Right Business and Disclosure Strategy
by Mozaffar Khan George SerafeimSebastien Bazin was now in charge of Accor, the world's largest French hotelier, a CAC 40 company with 3,600 hotels in 92 countries and a market cap of 10 billion. Previously as the European head of Colony Capital, one of the largest private equity groups and the largest shareholder of Accor, Bazin had since 2005 relentlessly pushed an asset-lite strategy from his perch on the Accor Board in the face of vigorous opposition from employees, senior management, and some Board members. Accor's stock price underperformance and the continuous fight over the strategic direction of the company had created turmoil and turnover in the C-suite and on the Board. After multiple CEO exits, and a failure by the Board to identify the next CEO in 2013, Bazin's offer to resign from Colony and assume the CEO position at Accor was met with incredulity from friends, alarm from Accor employees, and applause from the stock market. But would Bazin be able to deliver on his promises to investors and employees to pursue an asset-right strategy? Was an asset-heavy hotelier viable in today's economic environment? Could the market understand and appropriately value such a firm and what could be its disclosure strategy to ensure a fair valuation of the stock? How long would it be before he could deliver on his promises and show fruit from the restructuring?
Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (B)
by Natalie Kindred Robert L. SimonsThis case, an update on "Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (A)," describes Henkel's strong performance against its tough 2012 objectives, as well as the new objectives CEO Kasper Rorsted set for 2016.
Statoil: Transparency on Payments to Governments
by Paul M. Healy Jerome Lenhardt George SerafeimCase
Haier: Zero Distance to the Customer (B)
by Marshall Meyer Shelley Xin Li Dennis CampbellSupplement
Haier: Zero Distance to the Customer (C)
by Marshall Meyer Shelley Xin Li Dennis CampbellSupplement
Dana Hall: Excerpts from a Letter from Head of School Caroline Erisman, May 2015
by F. Warren McfarlanDana Hall is a private all-girls school in New England facing a crisis in its mission. As social norms shift away from single-sex education, the school's enrollment is falling and deficits are becoming the norm. At the same time, the modern vision for girls' education requires an even greater investment in science and sports--at a time when Dana Hall's resources are lower than ever before. Can the school stay true to its mission? How will it find the funding? Through the story of Blair Jenkins, head of school, this case examines the difficult mission and funding decisions facing many nonprofit organizations.
Kjell & Company: Electronics Accessories Retail in the Nordics
by Das Narayandas Krishna G. Palepu Kerry HermanSwedish electronics accessories retailer Kjell is considering several issues as it plots its next stage of growth. How should it balance opportunities to expand retail stores into a new market (Oslo, Norway) with additional growth in its home market-Sweden-with decisions about investments to build out its nascent online channel? Simultaneously, the company is piloting a new sales associate performance management system: should store associates be measured by monthly targets, or will daily targets prove to be more useful?
The Maggi Noodle Safety Crisis in India (B)
by Karthik Ramanna Radhika KakThe local government in Delhi has ordered a ban on Nestl 's flagship product in India - Maggi Noodles, citing excessive lead content per government lab tests. Nestl disputes the government tests, noting that internal and third-party tests show the product to be safe. There is considerable confusion in the media and amongst Nestl 's customers, and Maggi sales begin to plummet. Other local governments and India's federal food-safety regulator also consider bans. Nestl must decide how to respond - options include suing the regulators and withdrawing the product, which could impact up to 25% of Nestl 's India sales.
IKEA in Saudi Arabia (A)
by Karthik Ramanna Marc Homsy Jerome LenhardtA Swedish newspaper reveals that IKEA has erased all images of women from its catalog for Saudi Arabia. The article sparks criticism of IKEA from the Swedish government and its customers in the West. Critics contend that IKEA is not living up to its own commitments to gender equality. Some threaten a boycott. IKEA must respond. Reissuing the catalog with women included risks running afoul of Saudi censors who can impose harsh penalties. The company has had a presence in Saudi Arabia for nearly 30 years.
IKEA in Saudi Arabia (B)
by Karthik Ramanna Marc Homsy Jerome LenhardtSupplement to case 116015. A Swedish newspaper reveals that IKEA has erased all images of women from its catalog for Saudi Arabia. The article sparks criticism of IKEA from the Swedish government and its customers in the West. Critics content that IKEA is not living up to its own commitments to gender equality. Some threaten a boycott. IKEA must respond. Reissuing the catalog with women included risks running afoul of Saudi censors who can impose harsh penalties. The company has had a presence in Saudi Arabia for nearly 30 years.
IKEA in Saudi Arabia (C)
by Karthik Ramanna Marc Homsy Jerome LenhardtSupplement to case 116015. A Swedish newspaper reveals that IKEA has erased all images of women from its catalog for Saudi Arabia. The article sparks criticism of IKEA from the Swedish government and its customers in the West. Critics content that IKEA is not living up to its own commitments to gender equality. Some threaten a boycott. IKEA must respond. Reissuing the catalog with women included risks running afoul of Saudi censors who can impose harsh penalties. The company has had a presence in Saudi Arabia for nearly 30 years.
A Challenger's Strategy: Pinar Abay at ING Bank Turkey
by Paul M. Healy Gautam Mukunda Esel CekinIn 2013, Pinar Abay was appointed as the CEO of ING Bank Turkey. At 34, she was the youngest bank CEO in Turkey's history. Her appointment raised eyebrows because of her youth and because her career at McKinsey had given her no day-to-day bank management experience. ING, however, wanted a younger leader who could relate to Turkey's young and digitally savvy population. Upon her appointment, Abay determined that major changes were required in operations, personnel and culture. She adopted a variety of innovative approaches to making these changes, ranging from non-traditional hires to sitting for hours in call centers to personally answering customer complaints on Twitter. As Turkey's 12th largest bank, however, ING Turkey lacked scale, so Abay and her team considered a number of non-traditional ways to organize distribution and market the bank to promote growth.
Alibaba Goes Public (B)
by Krishna G. Palepu Suraj Srinivasan David Lane Charles C.Y. WangUpdate on Alibaba Group's share price performance and related events in the year following its September 2014 IPO.
Stephen Richards: Addressing FAQ
by Eugene SoltesStephen Richards, former global head of sales at Computer Associates, addresses frequently asked questions from "A Letter from Prison."
ESG Metrics: Reshaping Capitalism?
by George Serafeim Jody GrewalIn the past twenty-five years, the world had seen an exponential growth in the number of companies reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) data. Investor interest in ESG data also grew rapidly. A growing belief that increasing levels of social inequality and natural environment degradation were pressing problems that the capitalist system was failing to resolve had led many stakeholders to advocate for changes in measurement and corporate reporting as a potentially powerful "lever" that could move the discussion from "Reimagining" to "Reshaping" Capitalism. Some suggested that increased transparency could change corporate behavior, increase corporate accountability and lead to better outcomes for employees, customers, the environment and local communities. Others suggested that ESG data were value relevant from an investor standpoint and that firms "doing good would do well." According to this view, investors that used ESG data would be able to make better investment decisions and widespread disclosure of such data would improve market efficiency. However, some commentators doubted the sincerity of company ESG disclosures and suggested that firms that did good were less competitive, and therefore earned lower returns for their shareholders. As the business community entered the second half of the second decade of the twenty first century, whether the widespread adoption of ESG metrics would happen -- and whether, if it did, it would lead to systematic change -- was very much an open question.