Recent research suggests that how new business ideas are presented may matter more than the quality of the ideas themselves.

When the author agreed to accept the top job at UPS, the global shipping service, in late winter of 2019, she expected to steer the company toward a brighter future. She had no idea that she would have to do it during a global pandemic that made her organization an essential service but kept most people at home and pushed demand for shipped goods to holiday levels year-round. When she officially took over, in June 2020, she gathered her top team .....more

Conventional wisdom says it takes three to five years and tens of millions of dollars to digitize a corporation''s supply chain. However, a few companies have reaped major benefits--including higher revenue and customer retention--with a faster, cheaper approach. It involves assembling available data; using analytics to understand and predict customers'' and suppliers'' behavior and optimize inventory, production, and procurement; .....more

Intenseye was a Turkey-based technology startup that deployed machine learning algorithms to workplace camera feeds in order to identify unsafe worker actions and unsafe working conditions, in order to help improve worker safety. The case describes how Intenseye''s technology solution was developed, how it works, and their target clients. The case highlights the tradeoffs associated with facial recognition and privacy, and the challenges measuring .....more

In June of 2021, KKR''s executive team convened to prepare for an upcoming board meeting. From a small, three-person partnership that started in 1976 and invested only in U.S. LBOs, the firm 45 years later was a public company that employed over 1,600 people and managed $252 billion across 21 offices around the world. As a public company, KKR needed to maintain growth to be competitive, and the executives wanted to envision what KKR would .....more

The Apax Digital team faced important decisions as they contemplated raising a second fund. Apax Digital Fund I was a $1.1 billion vehicle focused on mid-market growth equity and growth buyouts in the technology sector. The fund had performed well, and the Managing Partners Marcelo Gigliani and Dan O''Keefe felt that demand from investors would be strong for ADF II. However, raising a bigger fund would come with several strategic implications .....more

In July of 2021, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) contemplated the future of its growth investing practice, known as "Century." While still relatively new as a focused initiative, BVP''s growth investing already had significant momentum. The fund''s investment pace had been faster than expected, and the initial investments looked strong. But many of their VC competitors had already been operating growth funds, a new wave of .....more

This case explores how a family business builds a board that includes independent directors that helps to professionalize and strengthen governance in the company. The case relates to One Family Textiles, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered manufacturer of garments. The company was founded in 1975 by Adnan Kalam and his elder brother Ali Kalam; two Kenyan nationals with Indian roots. The company enjoyed impressive growth, and by the early 1980s had several .....more

In March 2021, Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of Israel-based Mobileye, was preparing to meet with Intel''s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, to review plans for the future. Mobileye had been acquired by California-based Intel in 2017, but still operated independently. Mobileye was the global leader in vision technology for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) with a 70% market share and $1 billion in revenue. However, for Shashua, ADAS was .....more

Just before Warren Buffett''s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, acquired H. J. Heinz Company on February 14, 2013, rumors had been circulating that the Omaha investing oracle had set eyes on the condiment giant. By the time the official acquisition was announced, questions had arisen about some unusual trading activity in financial markets. A very profitable trade was made on the option market just a few days before the announcement: a $90,000 .....more