The case traces the evolution of ITC Limited (ITC) from its inception in 1910 as a cigarette marketing company and a subsidiary of British American Tobacco Limited (BAT) to an independent ''Indian'' diversified company-a wide range of businesses that apart from tobacco business, includes hotels, paper, packaging, agricultural commodities, information technology, packaged foods, and personal care. The case is located in 2021 as ITC .....more

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley''s hottest social-media startups to lead its ''Series A'' funding round, in a deal that values the startup in the nine figures. Lyons has been instrumental to Andreessen Horowitz''s efforts to secure the deal: he created and led The Cultural .....more

In May 2020, Andreessen Horowitz secures an agreement with Clubhouse, one of Silicon Valley''s hottest startups, to lead its ''Series A'' funding round. One of the factors that insiders saw as pivotal in the race to be Clubhouse''s VC firm of choice was Andreessen Horowitz''s ability to secure celebrity appearances on the app, most notably by stand-up comedian and actor Kevin Hart, a limited partner in the VC .....more

First Place Winner; DEI Global Case Writing Competition. With Johnnie Cochran Jr. and John Wooten, civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri formed the Fritz Pollard Alliance to advocate for National Football League coaches of color. Their efforts resulted in the NFL adopting the Rooney Rule prior to the 2003 NFL season in order to increase representation of coaches of color in the head coaching ranks. Subsequently, Mehri lobbied the NFL to improve the rule .....more

In 2020, just after closing a $34 million Series B financing round, Dave Salvant and Songe LaRon consider how to adjust their business, Squire Technologies, to the new realities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their barbershop technology, including tools to run a shop and a mobile app for customers was growing swiftly, but with nearly all barbershops shut down to prevent the spread of the disease and no revenue coming in, should they cut back, or .....more

Megan M za is a half-Mexican female entrepreneur who quit her high-paying job in marketing to launch Bandida, a cold-brew horchata beverage brand. As a social enterprise, Bandida aims to manufacture its product using only partners that are women and people of color. M za soon struggles with issues of cultural identity and ponders whether she can launch her product if she hasn''t met all of her social goals. As M za strategizes how to break .....more

Identifying the next big thing is often treated as an exercise in analyzing trends. But that''s misleading. By the time a trend is established, any opportunities it presents have probably been captured by competitors. And although a company may need to reflect trends in its business plans, that may mean catching up with rivals rather than gaining a competitive edge. To take advantage of emerging trends, companies must identify them when they .....more

In January 2020, Ashwani Gupta took over as COO at Nissan Motor Corporation, and several weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nissan''s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) had been key to the resilience of Nissan''s supply chain. It had enabled Nissan to recover from past supply chain disruptions, mainly natural disasters, sooner than its competitors. This case describes the BCP, within the context of Nissan''s production methods, .....more

In March 2020, the director of Shikshaa Public School (SPS), a privately owned school with 785 students, located in Chennai, India, and his wife and co-founder were reviewing the school''s performance and deciding its strategy going forward. The Indian education sector was highly regulated and competitive. Government schools, government-aided schools, and private schools all competed for new student enrolments to obtain a portion of the US$101.1 .....more

The case is about Krishna, who has just started his professional career and is wondering what strategy to follow to maximize his after-tax wealth. He did not have any experience in managing his finances and wanted to plan for his taxes and increase his after-tax wealth. The case includes Krishna''s income statement, balance sheet, profile, goals, assumptions, and tax rules. The tax rates are standard in structure but differ in important ways .....more