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The case was developed from secondary sources. This descriptive case was classroom tested in undergraduate organizational behavior courses.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which honored movies released in 2021, was held on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Prior to Chris Rock announcing the winner in the category of best documentary film, Rock was assaulted on stage by Will Smith. On April 8, 2022, the Academy’s board of governors met to discuss disciplinary actions for Smith’s behavior. The Academy’s board decided to ban Smith from all Academy events for the next 10 years. Theories of individual behaviors and social processes can provide explanations for behaviors of Chris Rock, Will Smith, the producers and the Academy.

This descriptive case is most appropriate for undergraduate-level organizational behavior courses. The primary topics in this case align well with individual behaviors relative to emotional intelligence (EI) and motivation. The secondary topics in this case align well with social processes relative to decision-making, conflict and culture.

This case is a relatively straightforward exercise in valuing a potential acquisition target. The case affords students an opportunity to use both discounted cash flow and multiples in their analyses. In addition, at the instructor's discretion, students can do a simple valuation of an option contract and analyze currency choice in a debt issue. The latter two objectives arise if the case is used as an examination. Case Exhibit 1 poses the relevant questions for student preparation.

Sustainable development; business, government, and society.

The case is designed to be taught to students at MBA and MA level.

In February 2009, Justin Smith, manager of the good business journey at Woolworths, a leading South African department store, was a worried man. Woolworths had launched its five-year sustainability strategy just under two years before. After undertaking an impact assessment, Smith was concerned that the original targets – which covered transformation, social development, the environment and climate change – had been set without a clear understanding of exactly what it would take to achieve them. Woolworths had recently identified ten key risk areas that impacted on the achievement of its original goals. If the sustainability goals were not reached, Woolworths could lose credibility among its shareholders, staff, and consumers. What did Woolworths need to do to ensure that it achieved its sustainability goals? And had the company been too ambitious in the targets it had set initially, he wondered?

To examine the differences, if any, between sustainable development in South Africa and other developing nations and sustainable development in developed nations; to impart an understanding of sustainability in its broadest sense; to investigate the challenges in implementing sustainability strategies in business; to look at ways of measuring the success of sustainability strategies; and to explore whether and how sustainability strategies should differ across industry sectors and across companies.

Teaching notes.

Lauren Tate began a new career at a new organization. Based on information she learned in a recent MBA Leadership course, Lauren approached her new workplace with the goal of being more strategic in her interpersonal interactions. She focussed on identifying and building sources of power in this new career and proactively managed her evolving relationships. At some levels, she was very successful and effective but some relationships were characterized by stress. The case asks students to analyze Lauren's actions to determine which were effective and how her actions could have been even more effective.

Two recently graduated MBA students are tasked with developing an ad-serving learning algorithm for a mobile ad-serving company. The case illustrates the way in which hypotheses can be tested in an A/B format or “horse race” in order to establish customer preferences and superior profitability. The case was written for a course elective covering hypothesis testing.

In late 2009 Toyota became the subject of media and U.S. government scrutiny after multiple deaths and injuries were attributed to accidents resulting from the unintended and uncontrolled acceleration of its cars. Despite Toyota's voluntary recall of 4.2 million vehicles for floor mats that could jam the accelerator pedal and a later recall to increase the space between the gas pedal and the floor, the company insisted there was no underlying defect and defended itself against media reports and regulatory statements that said otherwise. As the crisis escalated, Toyota was further criticized for its unwillingness to share information from its data recorders about possible problems with electronic throttle controls and sticky accelerator pedals, as well as braking problems with the Prius. By the time Toyota Motor Company president Akio Toyoda apologized in his testimony to the U.S. Congress, Toyota's stock price had declined, in just over a month, by 20 percent---a $35 billion loss of market value.

Understand the strategic and reputational nature of crises Recognize the challenges of managing a crisis Learn the requirements for building trust in a crisis Understand the challenges of managing a crisis that may not be the company's fault Identify the strategic business problem in a crisis Understand how corporate structure may help or hinder effective crisis management Understand the media landscape and its impact on crisis management

The learning outcomes are as follows: to demonstrate the phenomenon of strategic inertia in organizations and the impact this has on the type of renewal process that is undertaken; to differentiate between environmental and organizational adaptation strategies and synergies; to apply practical steps of renewal by outlining the influential forces and distinct stages of the process; and to create a practical framework that organizations can use as a guideline for sensing and reacting to changes in the business environment.

The case study examines the strategic renewal processes of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) for the period 2012–2019. Amplats is the world’s largest producer of platinum group metals (PGMs). Despite the adversarial business environment of the South African PGM mining industry, six years into its new strategy, the organization had emerged debt-free and was poised to be sustainable. This posed a unique dilemma in strategic decision-making, namely, how to maintain a strategic renewal process. Chris Griffith, CEO of Amplats, was about to retire, but realized that the organization had yet to fulfil its potential. The ambition of the organization was to redefine the industry benchmark for performance across multiple pillars of value for different stakeholders, and to become the most valued mining company by 2023. Set in 2019, the case invites students to look back at the symptoms of strategic inertia at the time of Griffith’s appointment as CEO, and to define the nature and stages of the renewal that the organization underwent. This will provide insights that will enable an examination of the application of a framework for continual strategic renewal.

Postgraduate business students

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

This case serves as an introduction to the concept of economic value added (EVA). The student is placed in the position of Valmont's CFO to decide whether EVA can live up to its promise to motivate managers to act like shareholders and ultimately lead them to make value-enhancing decisions that can reverse Valmont's weak earnings and lackluster stock-price performance. The case works best if students are acquainted with the concepts of cost of capital and net present value. The teaching note that is available for registered faculty explains how to incorporate the accompanying six-minute video supplement.

This case has been tested twice in the classroom of 40 students in two leading Indian institutions, IIM Ahmedabad (among a group of 40 faculty development programme participants) and Central University of Kashmir (among a group of 40 MBA marketing students). The teaching note has been well prepared and all modifications in both the main case as well as teaching note stand updated.

The data for the case was collected using both primary and secondary sources. The author managed to have a face-to-face interview with the company's Vice President, Mr Sheroy Mehta at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and get the preliminary data for the case. The author could also manage to carry out personal interactions with PureMax mineral water owners, a leading brand in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Some of the supplementary data were sourced from secondary sources and properly referenced.

The discussion questions invite students to consider several environmental challenges often faced by entrepreneurs. Students are encouraged to demonstrate their practical and theoretical knowledge by addressing genuine challenges across a typically broad entrepreneurial management spectrum, including product design, positioning and sustainability. This case was written following extensive interaction with the founding entrepreneurs at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, using a critical marketing perspective and the author's primary research. This case is targeted at postgraduate and undergraduate management students taking a marketing, strategic management or entrepreneurship course.

This case study is relevant for marketing management and brand management courses and could also be used for strategic management classes. This case was written to view the general requirement of the MBA marketing syllabus in most Asian universities in general and Indian universities in particular. This case can also be used for undergraduate students of business management and commerce.

The following theoretical concepts are applicable to the case and its learning objectives: Stakeholder Power-Interest Matrix and Carroll’s Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Information was obtained in three separate interviews with PSEG. In February 2018, an introductory phone conference was conducted with a number of senior managers within PSEG, including the Director of Development and Strategic Issues, Kate Gerlach. In April 2018, an onsite interview was conducted with Gerlach, who connected the author with Scott Jennings. A phone interview was conducted with Scott Jennings in May 2018 and follow-up communication with him was handled via e-mail. The information obtained from these interviews was supplemented by material obtained from secondary sources. None of the information in the case has been disguised.

Scott Jennings, a Vice President at PSEG, the diversified New Jersey-based energy company, was the project leader for a large commercial wind farm that was to be built off the coast. The project, Garden State Offshore Energy, a joint venture between PSEG and Deepwater Wind, an experienced developer of offshore wind projects, had been announced over six years earlier, in late 2008. In the time that had passed, the Garden State Offshore Energy project team had waited for the New Jersey Bureau of Public Utilities, which had been tasked by Governor Chris Christie to evaluate the project costs before it could authorize the actual construction of the wind turbines. Justifying the project on a cost basis proved to be difficult; despite the growing public sentiment in favor of projects that utilized renewable energy sources such as wind power, the Garden State Offshore Energy team was unable to move the project forward. Scott needed to decide whether it made sense to continue to hold regular meetings with the Garden State Offshore Energy team. Scott’s colleagues suggested that Scott speak with senior management at PSEG to find out if the resources that had been dedicated to the Garden State Offshore Energy project could be shifted to other projects that might be more feasible.

This case is suitable for courses in Sustainability. It is appropriate to use the case in undergraduate courses to illustrate decision making in a regulated industry. Sufficient information is presented in the case to debate both sides of the offshore wind authorization issue.