Founded in 2010, Worldreader was an international nonprofit organization that promoted reading to children around the world. For many years, Worldreader distributed e-readers to under-resourced communities and funded its operations primarily through philanthropic donations. In 2019, Worldreader launched the BookSmart mobile reading application, and soon thereafter came the idea of a new, self-perpetuating funding structure: the "flywheel." .....more

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at wholesale and sold them to end-consumers at retail. As the coronavirus pandemic spread in 2020, Mary Kay worked to equip its Consultants with digital tools and strategies to help them .....more

GSH Conserves was an artisanal jam producer in Singapore that specialised in using tropical fruits, such as dragon fruit, lychee, mango, etc., to handcraft high-quality jam in small batches. Founded in 2013 in a home kitchen, the demand for GSH Conserves jam and bottled fruits had grown organically through word-of-mouth over the years. In 2016, GSH Conserves moved to a new factory that could cater to a larger production capacity in order to meet .....more

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case SMU960

This case explores how a creative agency in Southeast Asia created the region''s first virtual influencer. The client, a prominent global sports and lifestyle brand, wanted someone to run a campaign to promote its new line of sneakers. Because Southeast Asia is an incredibly diverse region, the agency struggled to find an influencer who would appeal across all markets. Eventually, it decided to create its own influencer, using artificial .....more

In February 2017, four co-founders were deciding whether or not to launch their new custom suit business, Hudson St. Clair. The company would manufacture made-to-measure suits in Detroit, Michigan, and sell them online, across the United States. The co-founders approached Hulin Partners, a private equity company to see if it would be interested in investing in the idea, but the company offered instead to buy the business. The four founders need .....more

As companies respond to intensifying competitive pressures and challenges, they ask more and more of their employees. But organizations often have very little to show for the efforts of their talented and engaged workers. By selecting fewer initiatives with greater impact, companies can make their strategies more powerful. A strategic initiative is worthwhile only if it does one or more of the following: (1) It creates value for customers by raising .....more

Twenty five years after it was initially proposed, Clay Christensen''s theory of disruptive innovation continues to be a major reference for entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors. However, the term "disruptive innovation" is often used in ways and contexts that are not consistent with Christensen''s original theory, which argues for initially accessing the market from the low end. For example, there has been .....more

Spreadsheet supplement for cases 721440 and 721441.

The central theme of this case is corporate restructuring; in particular, its thematic unit is the process of financial stress within an organization. The courses and programs are for undergraduate courses such as Finance iii and Financial Strategy, with emphasis on financial analysis and modeling; for postgraduates such as the Masters in Finance in courses such as Financial Analysis and Corporate Finance; in the MBAs in the Financial Management course. .....more