Rather than try to follow a set of simple rules ("Don''t lie." "Don''t cheat."), leaders and managers seeking to be more ethical should focus on creating the most value for society. This utilitarian view, Bazerman argues, blends philosophical thought with business school pragmatism and can inform a wide variety of managerial decisions in areas including hiring, negotiations, and even time management. Creating value .....more

To succeed, a new company must rally investors, staff, customers, and the media around a good story. But often that narrative turns out to be wrong, and entrepreneurs realize they need to change direction. How that shift is communicated can have a huge impact on a venture''s future. Through extensive research with founders, innovation chiefs, analysts, and journalists, the authors have identified stratagems for maintaining stakeholder support .....more

To make it through the downturn and return to growth, companies will need to rewire operations, reallocate resources, and in some cases reinvent business models. Joint ventures and partnerships can help many firms with those efforts. In this article, three consultants outline how companies can shore up their existing JVs through capital-raising, cost-reduction, and synergy-tapping techniques that often aren''t available to wholly owned entities. .....more

In 2015, Airbnb, Inc. began to explore entry into the Chinese market. In August of that year, it announced a partnership with two of its China-based investors to help it navigate the expansion. By January 2016, the company was facing a number of fundamental questions. First, how should it best position itself in China to ensure a successful expansion? Should it work with a local competitor and, if so, who? If it chose to instead continue expanding .....more

In 2012, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice-an NGO dedicated, in large part, to criminal justice reform-led a campaign to enact a new state law in New Jersey known colloquially as "Ban the Box," which barred employers from automatically screening out persons with a criminal record when filling a job opening. The Institute had tried to pass such a law four years earlier, but in the face of concerted opposition from the business lobby, .....more

Supply chain management impacts the delivery of both products and services for public and private sectors. Road salt for winterization illustrates the challenges associated with supply chain management from snowfall variability to product availability, sourcing, ordering, lead time, storage, and application aspects. Decisions involving service levels associated with road salt that public entities make directly impact the safety and lives of their .....more

Spreadsheet supplement for case KS1325.

In 2017, the general manager and head of business conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra Limited (M&M)''s largest factory in Igatpuri, Maharashtra, faced several challenges related to the company''s goal of achieving zero-waste-to-landfill certification from an environmental agency. Since the Mahindra Group''s chief executive officer had decided to focus on sustainability as a key to long-term growth, M&M had to find practical .....more

In the fall of 2019, Sprint''s Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom''s efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions in-house to enhance the company''s ability to respond to the market in real-time. Early results suggested the plan was working, but Sprint continued to face .....more

This case describes the evolution of Lenovo from its origins in China in 1984 through the onset of the coronavirus crisis in early 2020. It focuses on four phases of growth, each bringing massive change and risk. Its most recent change puts the company at the intersection of globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As challenging as these developments have been, the coronavirus, with its origins in China and worldwide spread, represents .....more