Cases in this issue
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Egg production: Conventional or cage-free? Target audience: | Carlos Trejo-Pech and Susan White | Eggs produced by cage-free birds while more expensive than conventionally produced eggs are gaining in popularity among consumers who want only eggs that are produced more humanely. Major distributors, including Whole Foods, McDonalds and Starbucks have pledged to sell only cage-free produced eggs by 2025. Several states including California, Oregon and Michigan have passed laws limiting conventional egg production. The case provides costs and industry information and needed to project free cash flows and the risk-adjusted opportunity cost of capital and perform break-even capital budgeting analysis of the two egg production alternatives |
| Lockheed Martin acquisitions: stay the course or change strategy Target audience: graduate (MBA) or undergraduate strategy course. Specialized courses in Mergers and Acquisitions | Susan White and Protiti Dastidar | This case is an interdisciplinary case containing aspects of strategy and finance. Lockheed Martin made a strategic move in 2016, to divest its Information Systems and Global Strategies Division (IS&GS), which engaged in government consulting, primarily in the defense and aerospace industries. Lockheed wanted to reassess its decision to divest consulting, given the high growth rates expected in this business, particularly in cybersecurity consulting. On the other hand, if Lockheed decided to maintain its hardware focus, it wanted to expand its offerings. In addition to strategy analysis, two possible target firms can be analyzed: Fortinet and Maxar |
| Governing changes in government: The Water Story of Mahabubnagar Target audience: Undergraduate public management courses or change management and innovation management courses | Harikrishnan Varma, James Poovathingal and Ram Kakani | Mahbubnagar is a land-locked, arid and largely agricultural district in Telangana state, India. When the existing dug wells dried up, the farmers of Mahabubnagar shifted to boreholes. However, the unscientific extraction of groundwater beyond the tolerance limits resulted in the depletion of the groundwater table. Eventually, the government had to intervene realizing that this would become a massive water crisis. The government appointed a multi-disciplinary task force to investigate and solve the problem. In its journey, the task force hit upon the idea of tapping the excess water from the fields using a cheap and efficient farmer-centric discharge-water harvesting method which showed spectacular results in less than six months. Though the farmers adopted it initially and gained immensely from it, they soon gave up the innovation. When the task force met two years later to evaluate the program success, they were shocked by the unenthusiastic response and behaviour of the farmers |
| Fall of a Titan: understanding the Jet Airways crisis Target audience: undergraduate strategic management courses, executive education | Shashank Kathpal and Asif Akhtar | A carefully crafted business strategy can make the business competitive. The fall of Jet Airways has demonstrated the penalties of a poorly crafted business strategy. Jet Airways suspended all its operations on April 17, 2019, due unavailability of required funds and reached on the verge of bankruptcy a year after. This case was intended to study the challenges Jet Airways faced due to poor strategic decisions made by the company. This endeavor aimed at highlighting the importance of strategic analysis and the effective utilization of resources. This case took the illustration of Jet Airways, on how one of the best Indian airline company touched the verge of bankruptcy. The case discussed the concept of Porter’s five forces model, PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis and Merger and Acquisition to understand the company’s business environment |
| Assessing value of a digital company: Uber’s IPO 2019 Target audience: Undergraduate, graduate (MBA) or executive level finance courses | Olga Kandinskaia and Francisco López-Lubián | In 2019, Uber, the famous ride-sharing company, made waves in financial markets as the most controversial IPO valuation. With a wide range of proposed values, Uber puzzled investors, once again living up to its fame of a rebel and a disruptor. When Uber finally went public in May 2019, its IPO valuation stood at US$82.4bn. The heated discussion in the media continued even after the IPO: “Is Uber worth this amount? Is there an upside potential for the investors who bought shares at the IPO price? What if this is a hype and markets are simply embracing higher valuations?” |
| Starbucks in China: What lessons can Starbucks learn from Luckin? Target audience: Undergraduate entrepreneurship or business strategy courses, international entrepreneurship/business courses | Heidi Bertels and David Desplaces | While Luckin’s stock tanked due to an accounting scandal in 2020, the Chinese coffee company had not gone unnoticed by coffee powerhouse Starbucks. Luckins had seen explosive growth since its inception in Bejing in 2017. The company’s strategy focused on convenience using technology, as well as cost by limiting physical stores and had allowed the company to gain traction in the Chinese market. The case allows students to develop a business model canvas for existing companies, deduce the generic strategy the companies are pursuing based on the business model canvas and develop recommendations moving forward |
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Egg production: Conventional or cage-free? | Carlos Trejo-Pech and Susan White | Eggs produced by cage-free birds while more expensive than conventionally produced eggs are gaining in popularity among consumers who want only eggs that are produced more humanely. Major distributors, including Whole Foods, McDonalds and Starbucks have pledged to sell only cage-free produced eggs by 2025. Several states including California, Oregon and Michigan have passed laws limiting conventional egg production. The case provides costs and industry information and needed to project free cash flows and the risk-adjusted opportunity cost of capital and perform break-even capital budgeting analysis of the two egg production alternatives |
| Lockheed Martin acquisitions: stay the course or change strategy | Susan White and Protiti Dastidar | This case is an interdisciplinary case containing aspects of strategy and finance. Lockheed Martin made a strategic move in 2016, to divest its Information Systems and Global Strategies Division (IS&GS), which engaged in government consulting, primarily in the defense and aerospace industries. Lockheed wanted to reassess its decision to divest consulting, given the high growth rates expected in this business, particularly in cybersecurity consulting. On the other hand, if Lockheed decided to maintain its hardware focus, it wanted to expand its offerings. In addition to strategy analysis, two possible target firms can be analyzed: Fortinet and Maxar |
| Governing changes in government: The Water Story of Mahabubnagar | Harikrishnan Varma, James Poovathingal and Ram Kakani | Mahbubnagar is a land-locked, arid and largely agricultural district in Telangana state, India. When the existing dug wells dried up, the farmers of Mahabubnagar shifted to boreholes. However, the unscientific extraction of groundwater beyond the tolerance limits resulted in the depletion of the groundwater table. Eventually, the government had to intervene realizing that this would become a massive water crisis. The government appointed a multi-disciplinary task force to investigate and solve the problem. In its journey, the task force hit upon the idea of tapping the excess water from the fields using a cheap and efficient farmer-centric discharge-water harvesting method which showed spectacular results in less than six months. Though the farmers adopted it initially and gained immensely from it, they soon gave up the innovation. When the task force met two years later to evaluate the program success, they were shocked by the unenthusiastic response and behaviour of the farmers |
| Fall of a Titan: understanding the Jet Airways crisis | Shashank Kathpal and Asif Akhtar | A carefully crafted business strategy can make the business competitive. The fall of Jet Airways has demonstrated the penalties of a poorly crafted business strategy. Jet Airways suspended all its operations on April 17, 2019, due unavailability of required funds and reached on the verge of bankruptcy a year after. This case was intended to study the challenges Jet Airways faced due to poor strategic decisions made by the company. This endeavor aimed at highlighting the importance of strategic analysis and the effective utilization of resources. This case took the illustration of Jet Airways, on how one of the best Indian airline company touched the verge of bankruptcy. The case discussed the concept of Porter’s five forces model, PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis and Merger and Acquisition to understand the company’s business environment |
| Assessing value of a digital company: Uber’s IPO 2019 | Olga Kandinskaia and Francisco López-Lubián | In 2019, Uber, the famous ride-sharing company, made waves in financial markets as the most controversial IPO valuation. With a wide range of proposed values, Uber puzzled investors, once again living up to its fame of a rebel and a disruptor. When Uber finally went public in May 2019, its IPO valuation stood at US$82.4bn. The heated discussion in the media continued even after the IPO: “Is Uber worth this amount? Is there an upside potential for the investors who bought shares at the IPO price? What if this is a hype and markets are simply embracing higher valuations?” |
| Starbucks in China: What lessons can Starbucks learn from Luckin? | Heidi Bertels and David Desplaces | While Luckin’s stock tanked due to an accounting scandal in 2020, the Chinese coffee company had not gone unnoticed by coffee powerhouse Starbucks. Luckins had seen explosive growth since its inception in Bejing in 2017. The company’s strategy focused on convenience using technology, as well as cost by limiting physical stores and had allowed the company to gain traction in the Chinese market. The case allows students to develop a business model canvas for existing companies, deduce the generic strategy the companies are pursuing based on the business model canvas and develop recommendations moving forward |
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