Service systems are inherently subject to variability, whether through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. Yet customers demand excellence and consistency regardless of this variability. In general, there are two ways to handle this variability?through people or through processes. We use the concept of robustness to describe these two approaches, addressing when one or t
While some cases may focus on using social media to advance the interests of a business or brand, this case is best positioned as a springboard for exploring social media as it may coexist with or be embedded in organizational life. The case depicts a challenge for a young direct report, a relatively inexperienced manager, and the manager's supervisor when the direct report reveals a passionate po
This technical note gives students an overview of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in order to help them understand how these fields can contribute to the future of marketing. To provide context, students are first introduced to the history of AI and the basic parameters of AI, ML, and deep learning (DL). The differences between ML and statistical modeling are also described
This note on warfare summarizes treatises by Chinese (e.g., Sun Tzu, The Art of War, ca. 500 BC) and Japanese (e.g., Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, 1643 AD) warriors, reviews their philosophies and leadership lessons, and offers modern applications.
What specific actions can a school district take to spur dramatic improvement? This case details a partnership between the school board of one of the poorest-performing educational districts in New Mexico and the University of Virginia's Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education (Darden/Curry PLE). The Darden/Curry PLE turnaround approach helps transform low-performing schools into high-pe
To avoid significant global disruption, scientists assert that global warming must be kept below a 2-degree Celsius rise from pre-industrial levels—a goal formalized in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Meeting that challenge will require near total decarbonization of global economic activity by 2060.
Electricity generation and heat production account for a quarter of greenhouse gases emitted glob
The head of an R&D unit in a high-tech firm in India faces a tough decision about whether to recommend firing and replacing or investing even larger amounts of time and resources into training employees who have come up through India's "reservation system." Similar to "affirmative action" policies in the United States and Brazil (where the focus is on race), the reservation system in India is mean
The culture-strategy-execution framework, known as the Trio Model, offers organizations a powerful, adaptive approach to navigating today's complicated global issues. By considering culture as an integral part of strategic thinking, executives and practitioners adopting the model can take a holistic approach to solving practical problems.
This case illustrates how exchange rate shocks affect international businesses. The focus is on one recent stark example: the effect on Swatch Group of the Swiss National Bank's January 2015 decision to end its policy of putting a ceiling on the euro/Swiss franc exchange rate. It is useful for an introductory class that defines different exchange rate concepts, illustrates why managers should care
Tripp McLaughlin was senior director of brand management at Hilton Worldwide in McLean, Virginia, when the company decided to explore growth through the launch of a new midscale brand in 2015. McLaughlin and team spent a year strategizing. They developed a prototype midscale property called Tru by Hilton that would be simple, spirited, and grounded in value. By April 2016, the first Tru by Hilton
The effectiveness of manufacturing and service processes can be measured in many ways. Some key measures include throughput time, throughput rate, cycle time, and inventory. In this brief exercise, we define the relationships among these metrics, focusing specifically on a concept called Little's Law and distinguishing among throughput rate, throughput time, and cycle time—hence the title.
To avoid significant global disruption, scientists assert that global warming must be kept below a 2-degree Celsius rise from pre-industrial levels—a goal formalized in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Meeting that challenge will require near total decarbonization of global economic activity by 2060.
The transportation sector accounts for a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Electrificati
To avoid significant global disruption, scientists assert that global warming must be kept below a 2-degree Celsius rise from pre-industrial levels—a goal formalized in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Meeting that challenge will require near total decarbonization of global economic activity by 2060.
To avoid significant global disruption, scientists assert that global warming must be kept below
To avoid significant global disruption, scientists assert that global warming must be kept below a 2-degree Celsius rise from pre-industrial levels—a goal formalized in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Meeting that challenge will require near total decarbonization of global economic activity by 2060.
The transportation sector accounts for a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Electrificati
This technical note is used in Darden's first-year core marketing course as well as in the marketing analytics elective. It could also be used effectively in modules covering the topics of market research, web analytics, or advertising. The note pairs well with the case "Advertising Experiments at the Ohio Art Company" (UVA-M-0752), which includes a student spreadsheet and a teaching note for inst
In the summer of 2015, Los Angeles-based creatives Kate Dwyer and Penelope Gazin were fed up with the censorship of "risqu?" goods and artwork sold on the popular online marketplace Etsy. Even though they lacked technical experience and had never built a website before, the two friends committed themselves to building a censorship-free artists' marketplace, which they would call Witchsy.com.
Afte
This case is about the economy of Mexico as of 2018, and particularly the challenges it faces with respect to managing its currency and inflation, the renegotiation of NAFTA, and long-term growth. The case updates students on the current economic situation in Mexico, helps students weigh the economic pros and cons of protectionism via the classic tariff supply-and-demand diagram, and encourages st
This case examines the investment strategy decisions of a student portfolio management team in April 2017. The case is designed to provide a context for an introduction to the intuition of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and practical estimation methods. Students are invited to make investment recommendations based on the risk-return characteristics of a set of stock-investment alternatives
As Berkshire Hathaway had reported in its 2018, first quarter, 10-Q, it was "engage[d] in a number of diverse business activities." Maria knew that Berkshire Hathaway bought the stock of numerous other companies. She assumed that the company's holdings in the common stock of other companies represented various ownership percentages, and she wanted to explore that possibility more extensively.
This case follows up on "The IndiGo Story: 'On Time, Hassle Free'" (UVA-OM-1505). The airline passenger industry in India was a mess in 2013, but the low-cost carrier, IndiGo, was making money. This relatively new company had managed to work against the odds and grab market share from more-established flyers. But, the weak rupee was still sending a chill wind through the aviation sector, and grow
The legal availability and use of marijuana is on the rise. More than half the states in the country allow its use for medical purposes, eight of which also permit it for recreational purposes. The manufacture, sale, and use of marijuana is largely a cash business because it is still against the federal Controlled Substance Act. Most banks will not allow such businesses to open a bank account as a
This case aims to study the growth, evolution, and social innovation of iThrive Games, a socially minded initiative that aims to create meaningful opportunities using technology for teens to enhance the knowledge, mindsets, and skills they need to thrive through development and across the continuum of mental disorder to wellness. iThrive's focus has been on creating "meaningful games"?that is, gam
With an ever-growing world population, rising living standards, pollution, and climate change's uncertain weather patterns, it became almost a platitude that "the previous war was about oil, the next war will be about water." Of all water-related situations that might lead to war, the Nile basin tension was probably most likely to escalate. In the early 2000s, Ethiopia conceived a plan to build th
The Giving Voice to Values (GVV) video series presents a framework for helping people to act on their values. GVV starts from the premise that most of us already want to act on our values, but are unsure of how to do so. Whether we are leaders or employees, every one of us has been confronted with a situation that has challenged our values. This three-hour video series focuses on ethical implement
This technical note is designed to introduce the Creative Brief, a document that plays a crucial role in the process of converting marketing strategy into implementation. Many creatives believe that briefs are generally poorly written, which then leads to poor advertising messages. This note will help strategists better understand the criticality of developing well-crafted, carefully considered, a
In February 2018, Jerome Powell had taken over as chair of the FOMC. At first glance, the macroeconomic conditions inherited by Powell appeared favorable for continued stability: unemployment and inflation were low and the economy had been steadily growing for nearly a decade. Yet despite the appearance of stability, the economy faced significant risks that required the Fed Reserve's attention. Wa
This technical note is part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. To see other material in the GVV curriculum, please visit http://store.darden.virginia.edu/giving-voice-to-values.
This note provides an overview of a sample "Giving Voice to Values Workshop" as it may be taught to current and future business practitioners and suggestions on how an educator can prepare for the delivery o
Blue Ridge Bike and Hike (Blue Ridge) was expanding. Financing the recent growth had been accomplished with little planning. Blue Ridge had increased long-term borrowing to cover some needed investments in store infrastructure (display structures and leasehold improvements), and annual income was able to finance much of the needed investment in inventory (a major commitment of resources). However,
This case explores the considerations of an executive compensation analyst as he finalizes a report to the compensation and benefits committee of Charter Communications (Charter), a leading broadband and communications company, on the appropriate compensation structure for Charter's CEO, Thomas Rutledge.
Charter's board clearly wanted to retain Rutledge, but in the world of executive compensatio
While managers of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations often focus on their area of specific expertise, true success comes only from taking a complete enterprise perspective. Organizations must focus on global, not local, optimization across all functional areas, not just one. In this note, we present a model based on nine interrelated areas that when jointly considered will increase t
In early 2017, Tatsumi Kimishima, the latest CEO of Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Nintendo), felt confident in the company's newest offering: a home/portable console hybrid appropriately named the Switch. But despite conservative yet positive forecasts within the company, there was still uncertainty, as with any innovative product. Nintendo had come a long way since its origins as a playing-card company, bu
This case uses France's labor market and regulation reforms in 2018 to illustrate how deregulation and labor market reforms can affect an economy's potential GDP. The case discusses President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to boost economic growth through economic liberalization, focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises. The material allows for an examination of the effects of regulation on labo
Ebony Jones manages asset allocation for Colorado's Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA). She is worried that some asset price measures are approaching levels observed prior to the Great Recession, and she is pondering whether she should shift PERA's asset allocation toward cash and fixed-income investments as a precaution. To put the current market situation in perspective, she looks bac
Senior Change Manger Fredrick Martin and the UVA HR leadership team are tasked with the implementation of Ufirst, a project that will merge more than 70 HR programs and 11 distinct HR offices in both the academic division and the health system into a single, seamless HR. Ufirst will also leverage new technology that will provide self-serve HR to approximately 30,000 employees.
It is an ambitious
Set in January 2009, this case summarizes the events surrounding the financial crisis of 2008 as well as leading theories of its origin. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson must brief the incoming Obama administration on what initiatives have been taken to fight the financial crisis and on what remains to be done. This is an exercise in self-evaluation: What should he say? The case highlights eight n
This case introduces salauno, a for-profit company founded by two young entrepreneurs, Javier Okhuysen and Carlos Orellana, who wanted to eliminate needless blindness in Mexico. Untreated cataracts and complications from diabetes were the leading causes of blindness in Mexico as of 2017, and the entrepreneurs aimed to build an inclusive business focusing on low- and middle-income people who were e
This note shapes a framework of competing policy priorities for governments in responding to a financial crisis: rescue, relief, recovery, and reform. The dominant considerations are where, when, how, and why governments should choose the order of these policy priorities. The second part of the note highlights six hurdles to policy making: ideologies, interests, incentives, institutions, innovati
Among only a handful of early adopters of a new revenue recognition mandate for calendar year 2017 annual reports, beginning of the year retained earnings for Ford Motor Company (Ford) was adjusted $36 million higher while General Dynamic's was adjusted down by $301 million, both a result of their early adoption of the new revenue recognition guidelines.
A new revenue recognition mandate, she not
