Case studies

Teaching cases offers students the opportunity to explore real world challenges in the classroom environment, allowing them to test their assumptions and decision-making skills before taking their knowledge into the workplace.

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Case study
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Syeda Ikrama and Syeda Maseeha Qumer

Social implications are as follows: social activism; girls education; collaboration; collective action; and change agent.

Abstract

Social implications

Social implications are as follows: social activism; girls education; collaboration; collective action; and change agent.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are as follows: evaluate the role of a change agent in a nonprofit organization; understand collaborative partnerships in a nonprofit organization; examine how a nonprofit organization is promoting education in conflict-affected countries; understand the importance of education for girls as a basic human right; understand and discuss the threats to girls’ education in conflict-affected countries; analyze the role of Malala Yousafzai in supporting girls’ education globally; identify the challenges unique to educating girls; and explore steps that Yousafzai needs to take to ensure girls have equal access to the knowledge and skills they need to learn and lead in a world affected by the pandemic and climate change.

Case overview/synopsis

The case discusses social activist Malala Yousafzai’s (She) diligent efforts to promote girls’ education in conflict-affected regions globally through her not-for-profit organization Malala Fund. Co-founded in 2013, Malala Fund worked to ensure every girl globally could access 12 years of free, safe, quality education. The fund worked towards this goal by building creative partnerships and investing in its global network of education activists and advocates fighting for girls’ education in communities where most girls missed out. Malala Fund supported girls’ education programs in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Turkey and Lebanon. The Fund’s projects were aimed at addressing gender norms, promoting the empowerment of girls through education, imparting gender-sensitive training for teachers and raising awareness about the need for girls’ education. In 2016, the fund created the Education Champion Network to support the work of local educators and advocates to advance.

Complexity academic level

Post-graduate level students.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CCS 11: Strategy.

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Case study
Publication date: 12 September 2023

Syeda Maseeha Qumer

This case is designed to enable students to understand the role of women in artificial intelligence (AI); understand the importance of ethics and diversity in the AI field;…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

This case is designed to enable students to understand the role of women in artificial intelligence (AI); understand the importance of ethics and diversity in the AI field; discuss the ethical issues of AI; study the implications of unethical AI; examine the dark side of corporate-backed AI research and the difficult relationship between corporate interests and AI ethics research; understand the role played by Gebru in promoting diversity and ethics in AI; and explore how Gebru can attract more women researchers in AI and lead the movement toward inclusive and equitable technology.

Case overview/synopsis

The case discusses how Timnit Gebru (She), a prominent AI researcher and former co-lead of the Ethical AI research team at Google, is leading the way in promoting diversity, inclusion and ethics in AI. Gebru, one of the most high-profile black women researchers, is an influential voice in the emerging field of ethical AI, which identifies issues based on bias, fairness, and responsibility. Gebru was fired from Google in December 2020 after the company asked her to retract a research paper she had co-authored about the pitfalls of large language models and embedded racial and gender bias in AI. While Google maintained that Gebru had resigned, she said she had been fired from her job after she had raised issues of discrimination in the workplace and drawn attention to bias in AI. In early December 2021, a year after being ousted from Google, Gebru launched an independent community-driven AI research organization called Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) to develop ethical AI, counter the influence of Big Tech in research and development of AI and increase the presence and inclusion of black researchers in the field of AI. The case discusses Gebru’s journey in creating DAIR, the goals of the organization and some of the challenges she could face along the way. As Gebru seeks to increase diversity in the field of AI and reduce the negative impacts of bias in the training data used in AI models, the challenges before her would be to develop a sustainable revenue model for DAIR, influence AI policies and practices inside Big Tech companies from the outside, inspire and encourage more women to enter the AI field and build a decentralized base of AI expertise.

Complexity academic level

This case is meant for MBA students.

Social implications

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CCS 11: Strategy

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 11 September 2023

Shwetha Kumari and Jitesh Nair

This case is designed to achieve the following learning objectives: recognize the impact of personality traits on leadership style; identify the key elements in a turnaround…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

This case is designed to achieve the following learning objectives: recognize the impact of personality traits on leadership style; identify the key elements in a turnaround strategy; examine leadership best practices from a gender perspective; and assess the role of strategic decision-making on company growth.

Case overview/synopsis

The case study describes how Lisa Su (Su), the first woman CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, helped turn around the debt-laden semiconductor firm within a decade through her transformational leadership, vision and values. The case first touches upon Su’s early life and education and the influence of her parents in shaping her personality. It then focuses on the first half of Su’s career, during which she was working on semiconductor projects and was involved in research and product development, and how she made the gradual shift to a people management role in her stint of over a decade at IBM followed by a leadership opportunity at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. The case then describes Su’s move to AMD in 2012 as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s global business divisions at a time when AMD was nearly US$2.5bn in debt and revenues had increased only once in the previous five years. There were also rumors of bankruptcy and spin-offs after the company lost more than US$1bn in the year 2012. The cas

Complexity academic level

This case is meant for MBA students as part of their Organizational Behavior, Leadership, and Strategic Management curriculum.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes Student feedback details.

Subject code

CCS 11: Strategy.

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 11 September 2023

Jennifer Cherneski

This case presents some of the entrepreneurial challenges faced by a female leader in the technology sector who conceived a new product based on her passion to help others…

Abstract

Social implications

This case presents some of the entrepreneurial challenges faced by a female leader in the technology sector who conceived a new product based on her passion to help others especially those most disadvantaged.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to prepare supply chain and distribution analysis that considers ethics and sustainability, integrate philanthropic efforts as part of an organizational strategy and recognize strategies to promote equity within and beyond an organization.

Case overview/synopsis

Connie Stacey (she/her) is an entrepreneur and president of Growing Greener Innovations, an award-winning battery energy storage company based in Alberta, Canada, with a mission to end energy poverty globally. With the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic in 2020, Stacey turned her attention to an innovation called Project Rescue, a ventilator that uses non-identifying patient vitals to track data. It serves as a pandemic early warning system, addressing two key challenges: pandemic data are prone to error, and real-time information is non-existent after the pandemic has spread. This new product was conceived based on her passion to help others, especially those most disadvantaged. This multi-faceted case focuses on the many challenges that Stacey and her team needed to address. The dilemma in this case centres on establishing supply chains amid a pandemic, as well as prioritizing the corporate social responsibility elements of philanthropy and equity within her organization (and beyond).

Complexity academic level

This case is appropriate for third- or fourth-year undergraduate or graduate-level students.

Supplementary materials

In addition to “call out boxes” throughout the case and teaching note, additional readings/links/videos are outlined below. (These supplementary materials, “Teaching Tips”, are included in the teaching notes as well.)

Subject code

CCS 11: Strategy.

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 12 May 2022

Syeda Maseeha Qumer and Syeda Ikrama

This case is meant for MBA students as a part of their leadership/information technology and system curriculum. It is suitable for classes in both offline and online mode.

Abstract

Study level/applicability

This case is meant for MBA students as a part of their leadership/information technology and system curriculum. It is suitable for classes in both offline and online mode.

Subject area

Human resources management/information technology and systems.

Case overview

The case discusses how Poppy Gustafsson (Gustafsson) (she), Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Darktrace plc, one of the world’s largest cyber-AI companies, is reinventing enterprise security by using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and respond to cyberthreats to businesses and protect the public. Darktrace’s technology leverages the principles of the human immune system to autonomously defend organizations from cyberattacks, insider threats and AI warfare. In addition to leading a cutting-edge cybersecurity company, Gustafsson evangelizes gender diversity at Darktrace where 40% of employees and four C-level executives are women, a number nearly unheard of in the tech sector.The case chronicles the journey of Gustafsson and how she led the company to growth and success. Under her leadership, Darktrace has grown into a market leader in the AI cybersecurity space serving 5,600 customers in 100 countries, as of June 2021. Gustafsson not only redefined the cybersecurity space but also inspired women to pursue a career in the field of cybersecurity. She also collaborated with a social enterprise called WISE to encourage more girls to consider STEM careers.However, along the way, she faced several challenges including growing competition, procuring funds from investors, cybersecurity talent shortage and training personnel. Going forward, some of the challenges before Gustafsson would be to meet the changing cyber protection demands of customers; hire, train and retain highly skilled cybersecurity personnel; beat the competition in a saturated cybersecurity services space; sustain revenue growth; and post profits as Darktrace had incurred losses every year since its inception.

Expected learning outcomes

This case is designed to enable students to: understand the issues and challenges women face in the field of cybersecurity; understand the qualities required for a woman leader to lead a technology firm; study the leadership and management style of Gustafsson; understand the importance of transformational leadership in management; understand the role of Gustafsson in Darktrace’s growth and success; analyze the traits that Gustafsson possesses as a tech leader in an emerging cybersecurity space; understand the importance of gender diversity in cybersecurity; and analyze the challenges faced by Gustafsson going forward and explore ways in which she can overcome them.

Subject code

CSS: 11 Strategy.

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 10 May 2022

K.B.S. Kumar

MBA/MS/Executive Training.

Abstract

Study level/applicability

MBA/MS/Executive Training.

Subject area

Business and society; sustainability; women business leaders.

Case overview

This case is about the development of sustainable viticulture in Israel. Michal Akerman, a viticulturist and agronomist, implemented out-of-the box ideas at Tabor Winery, Israel, and was successful in developing organic and sustainable vineyard. However, she faced challenges in terms of improving the quality of grapes as she looked forward to growing some of the best quality French grapes in Israel in the challenging conditions of the Negev desert region.

Expected learning outcomes

The expected learning outcomes are: to analyze the environmental impact of viticulture and sustainable viticulture through Tabor’s example, to examine how leaders can drive businesses to be involved in sustainable practices and challenges involved in implementing sustainable practices and to develop a framework for female leaders working in male-dominated business environments.

Social implications

This case captures Michal Akerman’s (Michal) endeavours to develop organic and sustainable viticulture at Israel-based Tabor Winery. The traditional practices followed to grow the vineyards were proving adverse to the biodiversity. Unsustainable practices wiped out rare plants, and micro-organisms, which were essential for cultivation of grapes. The imbalance and unnatural ecosystem ultimately posed a threat to the very sustenance of the vineyards. As a seasoned viticulturist, Michal was of the view that a stable, diverse and balanced ecosystem prevented diseases among plants, and improved the quality of grapes.

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 4: Environmental Management.

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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Case study
Publication date: 9 May 2022

Burcu Keskin

The case would be relevant to undergraduate level or an introductory master's level course in operations management (OM), supply chain management and production.

Abstract

Study level/applicability

The case would be relevant to undergraduate level or an introductory master's level course in operations management (OM), supply chain management and production.

Subject area

The case can be used as part of a core OM course in the MBA curriculum or any OM or supply chain elective.

Case overview

As a highly diversified manufacturing services company, Jabil's S&OP solution supports customers across many industries such as automotive, cloud computing, consumer packaging, healthcare, mobile, retail and telecommunications. Jabil's customers expect a rapid and accurate response to their demand within hours. Previously, Jabil used a series of legacy disconnected planning tools, unsynchronized data required time-consuming manipulation with Excel. Processes were conducted in siloes leading to a “load and chase” approach, which resulted in excess inventory, component shortages and inadequate capacity. The case focuses on one of the Jabil executives, Lizet Tymon (she). Struggling with the issues caused by the disconnected planning tools, Lizet champions implementing a fully integrated suite of services (built on top of the Kinaxis' RapidResponse software platform). The technology solution proposed by Lizet was ultimately implemented across the company, and the project received high marks, and it opened up career opportunities for her. However, it was not a smooth ride at the very beginning. The case focuses on the issues experienced by Lizet, as she is introducing a new technological solution approach and trying to earn support from her team, her peers, her immediate supervisor, her customers and her higher-level executives.

Expected learning outcomes

The teaching objectives include: understanding and appreciating the supply chain complexities experienced by a global contract manufacturer; helping students think critically regarding the issues around the sales and ops planning; identifying the data needs for the operation and management of a worldwide, connected supply chain; investigating agile solution approaches for information sharing, decision-making and decision-sharing; and exposing the challenges associated with a large-scale technology adaptation.

Social Implications

This case study describes the supply chain challenges experienced by a global manufacturing solutions provider and illustrates the technology adaptation led by a female executive.

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics

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Case study
Publication date: 3 May 2022

Amy Fisher Moore and Tracey Toefy

The case can be used at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in management development programmes or in Executive Education programmes.

Abstract

Study level/applicability

The case can be used at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in management development programmes or in Executive Education programmes.

Subject area

Social entrepreneurship, social inclusion, business model innovation, sustainability, strategy design and strategy execution.

Case overview

The case explores the development of MITTI Café, an organisation that trains and employs individuals with intellectual, physical and/or psychiatric disabilities to work in inclusive kitchens and cafes in India. The protagonist is the founder of the café, Alina Alam, who has won several international awards for her work. The case highlights Alam’s approach and how she is trying to challenge societal and business perspectives relating to disability. From 2017 to 2021, Alam has scaled and operationalised the business, building her core team, leveraging several partnerships with stakeholders and putting into place offerings, processes and procedures that created a sustainable business model and blueprint.MITTI Café aligns itself with several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with sustainability and social impact at the core of its strategy. As Alam considers the future in July 2021, what else needs to be taken into consideration to scale either within India or abroad?

Expected learning outcomes

Following reading and exploring the case, students should be able to identify how social exclusion and inclusion manifests in a business context, and how social entrepreneurship ventures such as MITTI Café can address this challenge; identify capabilities in the context of people with disabilities; recognise how stakeholder relationships can be leveraged as a force for good and for growth, and address SDGs through social enterprise; identify and categorise resources and capabilities within organisations; evaluate opportunities for growth and scale.

Social implications

The case explores how the protagonist is challenging the concept of “ability” and through her work with the differently abled providing scalable opportunities for social inclusion and dignity.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.

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Case study
Publication date: 23 June 2021

Arpita Agnihotri and Saurabh Bhattacharya

Case can be taught at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, including executive Master of Business Administration programs.

Abstract

Study Level/Applicability

Case can be taught at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, including executive Master of Business Administration programs.

Subject Area

This case is intended for courses in strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation at the undergraduate or postgraduate level.

Case Overview

The case is about challenges faced by Linda Portnoff, the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Riteband, a Sweden-based fintech startup. In March 2020, Portnoff was conducting beta testing of Riteband’s app, which experts considered the world’s first stock exchange for music trading. After completing a PhD, Portnoff who was working as a Research Analyst, left her job to pursue entrepreneurship. Through Riteband, Portnoff helped to resolve pain points of artists who were forced to give the copyright of their music tracks or albums to distributors, in lieu of funds or promotional campaigns that distributors arranged for them. Portnoff invested in developing a patent-pending machine learning-based algorithm that based on several parameters could predict the likelihood of a music track or an album to become a success. Based on this prediction and royalty that artists were interested in sharing with fans, shares were issued to investors, who were also fans of the artists. As Portnoff identified an innovative business opportunity to trade music on a stock exchange based on Riteband’s machine learning algorithm, competition in Riteband’s strategic group was also becoming intense. Consequently, Portnoff was facing challenges of establishing competitive advantage of Riteband. Furthermore, as women in general faced challenges in raising funds for their startups, and even though Portnoff obtained some funding for Riteband, but overall, funding was a challenge for her as well. Moreover, as machine learning was a technical aspect for artists and potential investors, Portnoff also faced challenges to monetize on its machine learning algorithm.

Expected learning outcomes

By the end of the case study discussion, students should be able to: understand the principles of cross-industry innovation and explain the creation of new business opportunities based on cross-industry innovation; differentiate between direct and indirect competitors through strategic group analysis and further critically analyze the competitive advantage of business over other direct competitors; determine ways of reducing gender biases in venture capital funding; describe how machine learning works and further formulate ways to monetize a business through machine learning; and demonstrate the application of the value proposition canvas and business model canvas.

Subject codes

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship; CSS 11: Strategy.

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Case study
Publication date: 23 June 2021

Ela Unler and Didem Yildiz

Students from undergraduate and graduate levels.

Abstract

Study level/applicability

Students from undergraduate and graduate levels.

Subject area

Leadership, implicit leadership theories, decision-making, gender stereotypes and discrimination.

Case overview

Defne was working as a sales manager in Diel Turkey, an international technology company. Diel focuses on software, hardware, network and business consultancy services. Defne had worked as a computer engineer before starting to work in the sales department. In her leadership, she gave importance to long-term relationships and justice. Defne had two meetings this week. The first one was with T&X, a big scale fast moving consumer goods company; and the other one was with Q-Coding, a medium-scale technology company. Defne had negotiated with T&X two years ago, and the project got canceled. Defne worked on T&X new contract very cautiously, as this time she wanted to finish the project and make the deal. Defne had to deal with prejudices during the T&X meeting. Implicit beliefs are grounded in the cultural background of the country, which determines the perceptual framework for the society. Male-dominated countries have implicit beliefs that women’s priorities should be their families, thus being successful at work is not expected. Defne faced male-oriented stereotypes, which challenged her in doing business. Even though she was a successful manager, these subjective beliefs made her perform poorly. During the meeting with Q-Coding, Defne discussed the prejudice for women leaders with a women entrepreneur Suzan.

Expected learning outcomes

This case is trying to achieve two main objectives: first, to make all students be aware of implicit leadership theories and beliefs, which are rooted in the countries’ cultural background; second, to make female students be aware of these dysfunctional coping behaviors and increase their self-efficacy without thinking about their gender roles.

Subject code

CSS 7: Management science

Details

The Case For Women, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2732-4443

Keywords

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