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AMC Networks Inc.: The Walking Dead Problem
Ram SubramanianCase IVEY-9B18M203-EStrategyIn August 2017, AMC Networks Inc. (AMCN), a New York City–based cable television provider, faced a lawsuit from the creative talent behind the hit show The Walking Dead. The lawsuit charged that AMCN used its vertical integration into content development to reduce the profits available for distribution to participants. For AMCN, which was originally a content distributor, expanding into content creation through its AMC Studios had several benefit...Starting at €8.20
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eBay Inc.: The Portfolio Decision
Ram SubramanianCase IVEY-9B20M113-EStrategyIn January 2019, eBay Inc. (eBay), a California-based e-commerce company, faced an activist campaign centred on its portfolio of businesses. Elliott Management Corporation, the hedge fund leading the campaign, believed that StubHub and Classifieds, two ofStarting at €8.20
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Etsy: A B Corp Start-Up Takes on Amazon
Ram SubramanianCase IVEY-9B16M074-EStrategyAWARD WINNING CASE - This case was one of the winners of the 2016 John Molson MBA Case Writing Competition. When Etsy proceeded with an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2015, it was the second U.S. company to go public as a certified B Corporation. Etsy’s status as a B Corporation meant that social responsibility was ingrained in its mission. However, as an online marketplace for artisanal goods, Etsy faced a number...Starting at €8.20
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Viacom, Inc.: Corporate Governance in a Controlled Company
Ram SubramanianCase IVEY-9B17M036-EStrategyViacom, Inc., a New York City-based media company, owned Paramount Pictures and popular television channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. Viacom was controlled by Sumner Redstone and run by his hand-picked second in command. In 2016, the 92-year-old Redstone, facing a claim of mental incompetency because of his advanced age, stepped down from his role as executive chair of the board. This led to several issues regarding corporate ...Starting at €8.20
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First Solar: The Module Recycling Opportunity
Ram SubramanianCase IVEY-9B16M042-EStrategyIn 2014, the vice-president and director of recycling at the Arizona-based First Solar, Inc., the world's leading solar energy company, was considering a business plan to convert its solar panel recycling initiative from a cost centre to a profit-making business. Although the company pre-funded the recycling of photovoltaic solar panels by adding the recycling cost to the end-customers’ purchase price, Europe had recently enacted laws requiring t...Starting at €8.20
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Founders Factory
Rayport, Jeffrey; Barnett, JamesCase HBS-821009-EEntrepreneurshipIn January 2020, Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox, co-founders of Founders Factory, a venture capital fund with an accelerator and incubator program funded by investment from corporate partners, consider international expansion strategies.Starting at €8.20
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Redesigning the Wedding Dress Experience: A Podcase with Leslie Voorhees and Calley Means of Anomalie, Teaching Note
Rayport, Jeffrey; Lafkas, JohnTeaching Note HBS-7226-EEntrepreneurshipTeaching note for 7125.Starting at €0.00
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Delivering the Goods at Shippo
Bussgang, Jeffrey J.; Rayport, Jeffrey; Hull, OliviaCase HBS-817065-EEntrepreneurshipLaura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo's e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates between shipping providers and print package labels, has been steady in the nine months since it went live. But traction with the firm's developer-friendly product, an API that allows la...Starting at €8.20
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Swagbucks
Rayport, Jeffrey; Preble, MatthewCase HBS-817068-EEntrepreneurshipIn early 2016, Chuck Davis, chairman and CEO of Prodege LLC, parent company of the brand promotion business Swagbucks, and Josef Gorowitz, Prodege's founder and president, must decide whether to acquire MyPoints, a competitor to Swagbucks, after a significant cultural transformation that the company has just gone through. Over the preceding two years, Davis and Gorowitz had grown Swagbucks from a relatively small venture staffed by people from G...Starting at €8.20
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Chewy.com (A)
Rayport, Jeffrey; Preble, MatthewCase HBS-818079-EService and Operations ManagementIn late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and CEO of the fast growing online pet food and pet products retailer Chewy.com, has to make a "bet the company decision"-whether to keep working with Chewy's third-party logistics (3PL) provider to fulfill customer orders, or whether to take this critical function in-house. Cohen worries that the company's 3PL will not be able to serve Chewy's customers as it continues to grow, and reaching scale is essential ...Starting at €8.20