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Amazon Go: Venturing into Traditional Retail
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Aurelia KarpCase IVEY-9B17M092-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn December 2016, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), the largest online retailer, entered the offline retailing industry by launching its first Amazon Go store in Seattle. Previously, the company had entered the food, diaper, and housekeeping product manufacturing industries with its Amazon Elements brand. The company had not been profitable until 2001 and was still facing some financial difficulties, but it was named the fourth most valuable public comp...Starting at €8.20
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Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Léo Guilbert; Andrew Jiro PoplawskiCase IVEY-9B17M137-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyOn April 1, 2016, fashion house Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) announced the departure of its creative director who had been responsible for successfully reviving the struggling YSL brand since 2012. Three days after this surprising departure, the company announced that its next creative director would be a relatively inexperienced, 36-year-old designer. After decades of leadership turmoil and financial instability at YSL, the incoming creative directo...Starting at €8.20
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EuropaCorp S.A.: A Second Attempt at a Turnaround
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Pierre JullienCase IVEY-9B18M174-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 2017, the French film producer and distributor EuropaCorp S.A. (EuropaCorp) announced a historical record loss of €119.9 million. The company had almost doubled its revenues between 2001 and 2010 by using an integrated studio model, but the recent lossStarting at €8.20
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Midea Group China: The Acquisition of German Robotics
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Ines Sanso CodinaCase IVEY-9B19M070-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn January 2017, the Midea Group Co. Ltd. (Midea), a China-based large manufacturer of electrical appliances, completed its acquisition of German-based KUKA AG (KUKA), a large manufacturer of industrial robots. To ease concerns about technologies fallingStarting at €8.20
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The Walt Disney Company: Sexual Harassment and Controversies on Social Media
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Yiwen ChenCase IVEY-9B20M147-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyBetween 2017 and 2019, The Walt Disney Company (Disney) faced two major scandals that threatened to damage its family-friendly brand image. Disney’s brand value decreased by 5 per cent from 2017 to 2018, although it remained the most valuable media brandStarting at €8.20
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Fnac-Darty Merger: From Bidding Wars to Entity Integration
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Hanna TayebCase IVEY-9B17M187-EEntrepreneurship, Finance, StrategyIn September 2015, Groupe Fnac (Fnac), a large French retail chain, announced it had acquired long-time competitor Darty Limited (Darty) in an effort to counter competition from online retailers, particularly American e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. Fnac’s first offer had been declined, but Fnac and Darty negotiated and agreed on a new offer in November 2015. Unexpectedly, in March 2016, a South African-based retail holding company, Steinhoff I...Starting at €8.20
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Bayer-Monsanto: The Challenges of a Mega Merger
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Gabrielle GatéCase IVEY-9B17M182-EFinance, StrategyIn September 2016, German-based Bayer AG (Bayer) and U.S.-based Monsanto Company (Monsanto) agreed to merge entities to create a global leader in agriculture. The combined entity would benefit from Monsanto’s expertise in seeds and traits, and from Bayer’Starting at €8.20
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Groupe PSA: Acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall—From Turnaround to Profitable Growth
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Yacine LahmaCase IVEY-9B18M151-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 2017, the French automaker Groupe PSA (PSA) agreed to buy loss-making Opel/Vauxhall units from General Motors Company. PSA had just recovered one year earlier from losses it had sustained since the global financial crisis. With the recovery, PSA had launched a new strategic plan with aggressive goals for sustainable profitable growth. However, PSA’s sales were continuing to drop in the important Chinese market due to fierce competition, and th...Starting at €8.20
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Banro Corporation: Recapitalization for Sustainability In the Congo’s Gold Mining
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Kabi Olivier KatabarukaCase IVEY-9B18M031-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn January 2017, Banro Corporation, a Canadian gold mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, underwent recapitalization to cope with financial distress, and to optimize its operations of mining assets. Since the commencement of commercial mining in 2009, unexpected social conflicts and operational challenges had led to significantly lower production than expected, with a large cost overrun, while the price of gold declined sharply from...Starting at €8.20
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Amazon Go: Venturing into Traditional Retail (Spanish version)
Wiboon Kittilaksanawong; Aurelia KarpCase IVEY-9B17MS092Entrepreneurship, StrategyIn December 2016, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), the largest online retailer, entered the offline retailing industry by launching its first Amazon Go store in Seattle. Previously, the company had entered the food, diaper, and housekeeping product manufacturing industries with its Amazon Elements brand. The company had not been profitable until 2001 and was still facing some financial difficulties, but it was named the fourth most valuable public comp...Starting at €8.20