Case Studies

Google's Project Oxygen: Do Managers Matter?

Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management...

Big Hit Entertainment and Blockbuster Band BTS: K-Pop Goes Global

Bang Si-Hyuk ('Hitman Bang') is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind BTS, a 'K-pop' band that has found unparalleled success around the globe-a remarkable feat given that most of their songs are in...

Cirque du Soleil

Retaining talent is an issue for any company whose success relies on the creativity and excellence of its employees. This is especially true for Cirque du Soleil, the spectacularly successful "circus without animals," whose 2,100 employees include 500...

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership

GE is faced with Jack Welch's impending retirement and whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the company's business...

Pinckney Street

Although inexperienced in real estate, Edward Alexander hopes in June 2013 that youthful enthusiasm and an $240,000 in savings and inheritance will help him enter the real estate business. His experience chronicles the process of finding, evaluating, and...

Army Crew Team

The coach of the varsity Army crew team at West Point assembled his top eight rowers into the first crew team and the second tier of rowers into the second team using objective data on individual performance. As the second boat continually beat the first...

Chase Sapphire: Creating a Millennial Cult Brand

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was enthusiastically received by millennial consumers,...

Trader Joe's

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). Based on a variety of metrics, Trader Joe's ranked as one of the most successful grocers in the United...

Amazon.com, 2021

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit...

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

Provides an opportunity to examine leadership and entrepreneurship in the context of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition, a compelling story of crisis, survival, and triumph. Summarizes Shackleton's career as an officer in the British Merchant...

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

The Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their...

teamLab: International Art Collective

Proantioquia: A Businesses Approach to Regional Development

In May 2025, Jorge Mario Velásquez, chairman of Proantioquias board, faced a pivotal decision: how to ensure the continuity and relevance of a foundation that for 50 years had embodied Antioquias tradition of business-led civic leadership. Antioquia was...

"In That Crucible, You Find Innovation": Public Safety Transformation in Albuquerque (Abridged)

In summer 2020, Albuquerque, New Mexico Mayor Tim Keller faced multiple city issues including an understaffed police force that had strained relationships with communities of color; anti-racism protests; and high rates of crime, gun violence (including...

The Commerce Department's China Strategy

The decisions, programs, initiatives, and mandates of the U.S. Department of Commerce have played a central role in shaping the trajectory of U.S.-China relations. Under the Trump and Biden administrations, the Department emerged as a core instrument of...

Microsoft's Performance Across Three CEOs

This case traces Microsofts evolution from its founding through 2024. Students analyze how changes in operating segments both reflected and shaped Microsofts strategy, culture, and financial communication. The case provides rich quantitative exhibits...

Beyond Freight Factoring: Triumph's Strategy for Payment Innovation

The Evolution of Eleven Madison Park

Southern Company: Powering the Future

In 2025, Southern Company faced an inflection point as electricity demand in Georgia surged at its fastest pace in decades, driven by hyperscale data centers, manufacturing growth, and electrification. CEO Chris Womack and his leadership team had to...

Despegar: Will AI Power the Next Takeoff?

In August 2025, Despegar, Latin America's leading online travel agency, was closely monitoring AI's development and its impact. As agentic AI threatened to reshape travel distribution by potentially bypassing intermediaries, Despegar's CEO, Damián...

Omio: Mapping the Future of Global Travel

In 2025, Naren Shaam, founder and CEO of Omio, a Berlin-based multimodal travel platform, must decide how to steer the companys next phase of growth. After rebounding from the COVID-19 collapse to reach profitability and over one billion users annually,...

IBM: Arvind Krishna and the Unlocking of Potential

A Great Greek Leap? AI as a Catalyst for Education, Entrepreneurship, and National Prosperity

In September 2025, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined executives from OpenAI in announcing an innovative education project for Greece. Under the terms of the agreement, Greece would pilot ChatGPT Edu across upper-secondary schools-beginning...

FooSpace: Balancing Growth and Unit Economics

This case explores how a fast-growing startup can achieve sustainable growth while maintaining viable unit economics. Through the example of FooSpace-an IoT-enabled smart fridge network offering ready-to-eat meals-the case examines the tension between...

To Launch or Not to Launch a Nonprofit, a Startup Decision Problem

This case follows Brent Walmsley, a middle-school teacher in East Los Angeles, who considered leaving his stable career to launch a nonprofit tackling childhood obesity and food insecurity. Inspired by his 75-pound weight loss and years teaching in...

Innovakit: The Challenge of Seeking Funds to Scale Impact on Coffee Farms in Developing Countries

Innovakit, a social enterprise that made tools for coffee production and taught growers in Colombia how to use them to improve productivity, faced the challenge of growth. Innovakit's social impact and the organic growth during the last years endorsed...

The AI Chip Depreciation Debate

In May 2002 a conference on the Valuation of Emerging Markets was held at the Darden School. The speakers and presenters included some of the most influential individuals in this field. This double CD set contains video interviews of the conference...

Northern Paper

This case provides a straightforward introduction to assessing cash flows, cost of capital, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, and the net present value (NPV) associated with a capital-investment decision. The case works well for all audiences who are...

COAR Maps: A Systematic Process to Design an Executable Business Model

Effective execution of a business model does not always require the latest technology or resources. In fact, some of the most innovative business models have been designed around off-the-shelf components. Higher profit with lower execution risk is rooted...

Purity Life: Perfecting the Perfect Order Rate

Nathan Woodard, the Distribution Manager at Purity Life's Acton distribution centre in Ontario, Canada, faced a persistent operational challenge: a steady stream of credit requests from customers due to incorrect or damaged items in shipments. Although...

Dorsay Logistics: A Family Succession

This business case is specifically designed to be taught as a role play to an audience belonging to the family business governance ecosystem. It highlights the importance of a thorough collective decision-making process within the family council...

Canvas and Tent: Segmentation and Expansion

Canvas and Tent (C&T) is a medium-sized manufacturer and distributor of tents, primarily constructed from canvas. The company has been producing tents for military and mining clients since the 1960s. Their recreational and luxury tent business is newer,...

The Unintended Consequences of Sri Lanka's Fertilizer Ban

During 2021-2023, the small country of Sri Lanka faced a serious economic, political, and food-shortage crisis. The roots of this crisis were multi-faceted, but at least one large part of it can be explained using the basic "supply and demand" framework...

Birkenstock: The Leveraged Buyout of a Family Legacy

Executive Briefing publication: TRANSFORMING CULTURE: An Executive Briefing on the Power of Learning This Darden publication presents the papers drawn from management educators to learning theorists to business executives that have to do with creating a...

Bargaining Under Bilateral Monopoly

This is a book and CD-ROM packaged together as one product. CD is attached to inside back book cover. $39.95. This is a collection of accounts on how, when, and why private investors across the country transformed angel investing from what was often...

Rocksmith Machine Tools: Artificial Intelligence and the Dividend Decision

AUDIO CD: 29:58 minutes. Radio talk show. Professor Jim Clawson is a firm believer that creative thinking is absolutely essential in furthering business innovation. Michael Gelb and Chic Thompson join Clawson in a lively discussion about the creative...

The Financial Detective, 2026

AUDIO CD The Batten Institute's Speakers Series on Business Innovation aims to present speeches by leading business innovators and to stimulate discussion of innovation best practices among thoughtful practitioners. These free events are open to all...

Expertise Disrupted? Consulting Confronts Generative AI

This case places students in the shoes of a partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc. (McKinsey), as she grapples with how the firm should respond to generative AI. Although management consulting was resilient during disruptions like the rise of the internet...

A Birdie or a Bogey Next for Golfchamps? Founder Challenges of a Fantasy Sports Business in South Africa

The GolfChamps teaching case puts students into the shoes of founder Nick Fourie. Nick co-founded GolfChamps with two friends, Mike Hunt and Finn Laxley, creating the first real-time fantasy scoring golf game. GolfChamps started as an email thread with a...

Paths to Power - Omar Williams

Leveraging the fictitious characters of Omar Williams, Suzanne Cave, and Dr. Anya Sharma, we examine how individuals can gain power in organizations-either by challenging, bending, or upholding norms and collectively established standard operating...

Paths to Power - Dr. Anya Sharma

Leveraging the fictitious characters of Omar Williams, Suzanne Cave, and Dr. Anya Sharma, we examine how individuals can gain power in organizations-either by challenging, bending, or upholding norms and collectively established standard operating...

Philip Morris International's Business Transformation: Building Credibility for Smoke-Free Tobacco

Philip Morris International (PMI), one of the world's leading tobacco companies, began introducing smoke-free products (SFPs) in 2016. With an ambitious goal to generate two-thirds of its net revenue from SFPs by 2030, PMI invested heavily in R&D,...

Orion Medical: Structuring, Funding, and Commercializing Cross-Business Digital Innovation

In early 2025, Thomas Greer, director of Digital Platforms at Orion Medical (a disguised name), was trying to decide how Orion could best use two new digital platforms that supported virtual surgical planning and robotic-assisted procedures. The...

avika Mind Health: Technology Strategy for Digital Product Development

avika Mind Health, a Hyderabad-based start-up founded in January 2024, was pioneering technology solutions for mental health challenges in India. Cofounders Sasha P. and Srinivas Atreya seed-funded the venture through family and friends, but early...

'Big Fix' at Starbucks: Will customers come back? The new CEO's first year

In September 2024, Starbucks' then-CEO was abruptly fired after 17 months in the role; the decision followed three quarterly drops in consumer traffic and declining operating revenues. The board then turned to Brian Niccol, a veteran fast-food company...

Aer Cosmetics and the Sustainable Road to Success

In October 2024, Paige DeAngelo, founder and CEO of Aer Cosmetics, faced a critical decision about how to market her young sustainable beauty venture during the upcoming holiday season. After launching a refillable, waste-free mascara earlier in the...

The price of innovation: Will Medacta compromise its DNA by embracing robotics?

Medacta Group SA is a rising star in the orthopedics market, achieving global success through innovative products and techniques, with a particular emphasis on minimally invasive techniques that bring meaningful value to its patients. With its approaches...

The Humans in the Q-commerce Supply Chain

This case explores the operational model and human labour behind India's booming Quick Commerce (Q-commerce) industry, with a particular focus on picker-packers in dark stores. Through interviews conducted with a manager and picker-packers in a dark...

edForce: Reinventing Corporate Learning for a Skills-driven Future

edForce, an IT enterprise Learning and Development (L&D) firm offering flexible, scalable, and outcome-driven IT skill training solutions, has experienced meteoric growth since its incubation in October 2021. By providing engaging instructor-led training...

Dorsay Logistics: A Family Succession, Briefing For Participants

This business case is specifically designed to be taught as a role play to an audience belonging to the family business governance ecosystem. It highlights the importance of a thorough collective decision-making process within the family council...

Société Générale Case: Intrinsic Valuation of a Bank

This case proposes an intrinsic valuation of Société Générale, or SocGen colloquially called in English-speaking countries, is one of the 3 listed French banks, based on a Dividend Discount Model (DDM). The purpose of is threefold. On the one hand,...