In 2020, Numenta''s co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, completed his pathbreaking research on artificial intelligence. His co-founder and CEO, Donna Dubinsky, had to find a business model to monetize the technology. This case explores the challenges of building a business around intellectual property.

When customers seek out online deals, it seems like a win for everybody: Brands, retailers, dealers, and distributors sell more goods, and buyers get a bargain. What''s not to like? Here''s the problem: Lured by rock-bottom online prices, customers often end up dealing with disreputable digital resellers that mistreat them, which can erode brand equity and undermine authorized sellers. For brands selling in the United States and Canada, .....more

In 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation''s $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and .....more

Arredondar was a nongovernmental organization (NGO) whose objective was encouraging the culture of donation in Brazil through acts of micro-donations. Any shopper could donate at the retail stores that partnered with Arredondar. The process was simple: customers could round up the total value of their purchase to the next whole value, and the difference in cents would be donated to carefully selected NGOs. Arredondar offered a simple, accessible, .....more

Burj Al Hamam was one of the oldest oriental restaurants in Lebanon. The restaurant was founded by Fawzi El Khoury in 1958 and has been in the family ever since. The company was passed down to the second generation as a single-high-end restaurant. More than 60 years later, it had 14 locations across the Middle East and North Africa. At its height, the business boasted 170 full-time employees and revenues of $6 million, nearly $5 million of which were .....more

Brothers Andr and Daniel Albuquerque founded the company Terra Nova in 2001 to mediate land disputes between poor families illegally living in urban areas and the official landowners-with the aspiration to improve the lives of the poor. A business-led approach to the issue, like Terra Nova''s, was innovative and contested amid the widespread belief that land disputes fell solely within the public sector''s purview. After struggling .....more

Korea Telecom has committed $4billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Hwang and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new products and services in development. The top five sectors identified by KT''s team include Internet of Things (including connected cars and smart city/homes), media, health, energy, and .....more

The case concerns the sale of Mae Terra, one of Brazil''s leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mae Terra''s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mae Terra''s B Certification, which attests to its commitment to having a positive social and environmental impact, and what internal governance mechanisms will enable MaeTerra .....more