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United Airlines: Frequent Flyer Program
Won-Yong OhCase IVEY-9B16M037-EStrategyFrom 1980 to 2010, frequent flyer programs (FFPs) had evolved from simple customer reward programs to independent profit-generation business models. The airline industry had seen enormous success with FFPs, which had become businesses of their own. In June 2014, however, United Airlines announced that as of March 1, 2015, it would move from awarding miles based on distance flown to awarding miles for dollars spent per ticket, following in the foo...Starting at €8.20
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Nordstrom: Expansion into Canada
Won-Yong Oh; Duane MyerCase IVEY-9B16M185-EStrategyIn August 2016, it had been almost two years since American fashion retailer Nordstrom opened its first Canadian store in Calgary. Nordstrom believed Canada to be an ideal location for its global expansion. Executives identified the country as a potential US$1 billion opportunity with no language barrier and a population with a higher average income than in the United States. Despite this enticing potential market, Nordstrom executives entered Ca...Starting at €8.20
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Amazon.com: Evolving Into Offline Retail
Won-Yong OhCase IVEY-9B18M026-EStrategyIn late 2015, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) opened its first brick-and-mortar Amazon Books store in the United States. Amazon had invested heavily in expanding in the United States through new projects, from establishing Amazon Prime Now to setting up Amazon Books and Amazon Go locations. By 2017, a rumour suggested that Amazon might acquire Whole Foods Market Inc., a natural and organic foods supermarket. Could Amazon be as successful in offline ret...Starting at €8.20
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Porter Airlines: We Want to Fly You Further
Won-Yong Oh; Minsoo Seo; Michelle JinCase IVEY-9B16M194-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 2013, the chief executive officer of Porter Airlines, a Toronto-based regional airline, announced an expansion project to expand the airline’s destinations. The project required that Porter Airlines expand its fleet of jets to accommodate longer distances, and that its transport hub, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, be renovated. The airport was governed by a tripartite agreement between the federal government, the City of Toronto, and P...Starting at €8.20
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Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry
Won-Yong Oh; Duane MyerCase IVEY-9B16M092-EStrategySprint Corporation, a major U.S. wireless carrier, had been losing customers and suffering financially since its merger with Nextel in 2005. Sprint was also ranked the lowest among major U.S. carriers in terms of network speed and data performance. But a new opportunity emerged when the SoftBank Group acquired Sprint in 2013. The new chief executive officer (CEO), appointed in August 2014, publicly gave himself three to five years to turn around ...Starting at €8.20
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Zenefits Board of Directors (C)
Paine, Lynn Sharp; Hurwitz, WillCase HBS-319036-EIn early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words "benefits," reflecting its human resources technology products, and "zen," loosely defined as a state of calm, the past few years were not entirely zen. Once heralded as one of the fastest growin...Starting at €5.74
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Snap Inc. Goes Public (A)
Paine, Lynn Sharp; Hurwitz, WillCase HBS-318042-ESnap Inc.'s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company's unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. The case is set in early 2017 following the public availability of Snap's IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It describes the company's meteoric rise from its conception by its young founders in 2011 to its multi-billion dollar valuation. When Snap filed for ...Starting at €8.20
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Snap Inc. Goes Public (B)
Paine, Lynn Sharp; Hurwitz, WillCase HBS-318049-ESnap Inc.'s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company's unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. The case is set in early 2017 following the public availability of Snap's IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It describes the company's meteoric rise from its conception by its young founders in 2011 to its multi-billion dollar valuation. When Snap filed for ...Starting at €5.74
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Las Vegas Construction: Ethical Contracting
Won-Yong Oh; Youngkyun ChangCase IVEY-9B17M047-EStrategyIn December 2015, the head of supply chain management (SCM) at Las Vegas Construction Inc. was tasked with reducing operating costs by 25 per cent in order to deal with the fallout in Nevada’s construction industry from the global economic downturn. The SCM head had engaged the manager in charge of subcontracting to help with cost reductions. The subcontracting manager did find a way to reduce costs, but it turned out to be a questionable way. He...Starting at €8.20
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Apple: Corporate Governance and Stock Buyback
Won-Yong Oh; Seoyeon ParkCase IVEY-9B14M165-EStrategyAn activist shareholder who invested a significant amount in Apple’s stock proposed a share repurchase program. If this proposal were approved at the annual shareholder’s meeting, Apple would be in a position to buy back a significant number of its shares on the stock market, which would drive up the stock price. However, the executives and board of directors opposed the proposal and recommended that the shareholders vote against it. Apple’s subs...Starting at €8.20