One of the fastest-growing areas in business is socially responsible investment (SRI), which incorporates environmental, social, and governance concerns. From 2007 to 2017, SRI increased from $2.71 trillion to over $21 trillion, and in 2017, 84% of all millennials were interested in SRI. Given these trends, how should an entrepreneur with a social mission proceed? One of the first decisions is cho
This case uses the experiences of a Finnish craft chocolate company to analyze the impact of supply chain transparency on suppliers and consumers. The case discusses the rationale behind entrepreneur Jukka Peltola's business committed to social responsibility and purpose over profit. It describes Goodio's efforts toward transparency and follows Peltola as he asks what more he can do to advance tra
Mark Kim, CFO of DC Water, believed building green infrastructure in Washington, DC, was an innovative way to improve the performance of the city's aging sewer system and save money. In considering the options to fund a pilot program, Kim was especially intrigued by a new financing structure: social impact bonds (SIBs). Partnering with Eric Letsinger of Quantified Ventures, they built on SIBs to d
Vincent Chin's first "temporary" job after high school was with the lawn crew of Holiday Lawn Service. Ten years later, Chin has become a trusted employee and the company's second-in-command. His boss, Sam Holiday, has decided to retire and has worked out a deal with Chin to take over the business. In preparing Chin for his new role, Holiday explains that there are important choices ahead related
After much research and discussion about where the company's responsibility lay in addressing the alarming issues of femicide and violence against women, the leadership of the South African Breweries (SAB) and the African branch of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) decided to form a partnership and launch a movement and campaign, #NoExcuse. For the campaign, the company partnered with, among others,
Alarmed by the recent statistics of violence against women (a woman in South Africa was murdered every four hours, and half of them were killed by their partner or spouse), leaders of the African arm of global beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) and the South African Breweries (SAB) wanted to address the problem. AB InBev's biggest seller in South Africa was Carling Black Label (Carling), a
Andre Johnson is a young, African American district manager for a national motel chain who oversees six regional managers that are all at least twice as experienced, and all white. One day, when the regional managers go out for drinks without Johnson, one of them—Ted Simmons—rants against Johnson, using serious racial slurs. The others just quickly switched the topic and left. However, three of th
This is a Japanese translation of the December 6, 2017, version of UVA-M-0915.
This case examines the public controversy that erupted over the increasingly high price of EpiPens. Mylan Inc. (Mylan), a generic drug maker, bought the EpiPen product line from Merck in 2007. Since that time, the company both invested in marketing to raise awareness for the drug and dramatically increased the price, l
This mini-case set describes the challenges facing the new leadership of Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) to revitalize and save the Museum. Alex Nyerges and Michael Taylor arrived in 2006 at a key point in the institution's history. Membership was flagging at around 5,000, and a major construction project was $20 million over budget. Residents of Richmond felt increasingly disconne
This mini-case set describes the challenges facing the new leadership of Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) to revitalize and save the Museum. Alex Nyerges and Michael Taylor arrived in 2006 at a key point in the institution's history. Membership was flagging at around 5,000, and a major construction project was $20 million over budget. Residents of Richmond felt increasingly disconne
Since its launch out of a garage in 1976, Apple Inc. had transformed from a computer-manufacturing company to the undisputed leader in diversified consumer electronics and media. Unparalleled financial performance along almost every metric followed, and in September 2018, Apple's market capitalization topped $1 trillion, the first time a US publicly traded company reached that mark. Using the comp
Business partners Parker and Miles have just launched their local landscaping company, GreenThumb Lawn and Design (GreenThumb). Their meetings with potential customers have resulted in multiple job offers varying by geographic location, services required, pricing, and the potential for follow-on business. The partners must now decide whether to accept all the work offered given their business stra
Friends Parker and Miles are brainstorming the possibilities of a local start-up—a landscaping venture that leverages their love of the outdoors and their self-taught green thumb skills in planting, mowing, edging, trimming, landscape design, and the like. Without any formal professional or business training, however, they strategize and slowly work through their "next steps," taking into account
This exercise is intended to demonstrate key concepts of design and interpersonal dynamics within and between coordinating teams. It is based on the example of the "Gimli Glider," an Air Canada aircraft that ran out of fuel and crash-landed in 1983 because of a series of errors caused by an incorrect fuel calculation when converting between the metric system (kilos) and the imperial system (pounds
This exercise is intended to demonstrate key concepts of design and interpersonal dynamics within and between coordinating teams. It is based on the example of the "Gimli Glider," an Air Canada aircraft that ran out of fuel and crash-landed in 1983 because of a series of errors caused by an incorrect fuel calculation when converting between the metric system (kilos) and the imperial system (pounds
When Ben Smith's call-center job is outsourced, he and his wife, Jane, decide to open a catering company to build on Jane's cottage business selling baked goods. They have an opportunity to cater a holiday party hosted by Ben's former employer; however, the Smiths are new to the business and are unsure of the price they should put on their labor. An out-of-state friend in the catering business rec
The dean of a prominent business school has learned that the system that his and many other business schools use to help select and notify MBA students has been hacked. The hacker posted instructions for applicants to gain access to schools' decisions ahead of time. During the 10 hours MyMBA's system was compromised, several hundred applicants viewed their admission status at multiple top-tier sch
When a consumer purchases an item, the presumption is that the benefit obtained from it exceeds the price paid—we can think of this difference as the consumer profit. How do consumers calculate this profit, especially when they do not immediately consume the purchased item? This technical note presents a model of mental accounting that gives insights into the process that consumers follow to calcu
Alaska Airlines (Alaska) acquired the small but sleek and much beloved Virgin America (Virgin) at the end of 2016. Alaska's executives had to set a strategy to take all the good in Virgin, integrate it into the larger company, and present the unified commercial carrier in a digestible way to its customers and affected employees. But taking over Virgin's fleet and operations without keeping its bra
When we introduce macroeconomic models, we assume that goods and services are exchanged within a single country but not across countries. This assumption is useful for understanding some of the primary determinants of output, inflation, and interest rates. In reality, however, economies trade with each other, and the presence of international markets has implications for national economies. In thi
This field-based case explores the University of Virginia's Body Imaging Division (BID) along with the group's new director, Arun Krishnaraj, who is trying to assess and ameliorate the frustrations, confusions, delays, and other issues BID and its patients are dealing with.
The case challenges students to address issues related to change management, in this case in a health care setting. If the i
The goal of this technical note is to give students tools for thinking about how exchange rates will move over a period of five years into the future. While forecasting exchange rates is arguably more art than science, managers, policymakers, and investors are nonetheless often required to form opinions about the future evolution of exchange rates. Specifically, this note defines the real exchange
When Justin Thomas began as principal of Shining Star Academy, an elementary school in Alabama, the school had been failing for eight years and was in serious risk of state takeover. One of Thomas's innovations was to implement data-driven instruction, but teachers struggled to change their routines. As hard as everyone was working, progress was minimal after a year. Thomas was heartbroken, and he
Maxine Hall, the new principal at Northwest Middle School, knew when she started that the school was suffering from a sense of distrust between teachers and administration, as well as a high degree of student disengagement and absenteeism. To unlock student achievement and instill much-needed consistency and alignment across the school, Hall implemented data-driven instruction, but her efforts wer
When Justin Thomas began as principal of Shining Star Academy, an elementary school in Alabama, the school had been failing for eight years and was in serious risk of state takeover. One of Thomas's innovations was to implement data-driven instruction, but teachers struggled to change their routines. As hard as everyone was working, progress was minimal after a year. Thomas was heartbroken, and he
