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Target: Creating a Data-Driven Product Management Organization
Siegel, Robert; Kingbo, DavidCase SGSB-SM308-EStrategyAs retail shopping has changed with the rise of e-commerce, Target Corporate, one of the largest retail stores in the United States, made the strategic decision to invest in developing a core data science and technology team to remain competitive in its physical and online shopping experiences. The company hired a team of technologists who initially worked at enhancing the company’s digital and mobile solutions, but soon began influencing the com...Starting at €8.20
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Glassdoor: The Fundraising Journey (A)
Siegel, Robert; Orleans, AmadeusCase SGSB-E673A-EEntrepreneurshipFrom his time as a young engineer at Microsoft in 1993, to the challenge of building Glassdoor from the ground up until it reached a valuation of over $1 billion, in 2018, Robert Hohman had come a long way. Now, from his spacious office with a picturesque view of Richardson Bay in Mill Valley, California, Hohman confronted one of the most important decisions of his life. Glassdoor, the company he cofounded in 2007 with Rich Barton and Tim Besse,...Starting at €8.20
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23andMe: A Virtuous Loop
Siegel, Robert; Conn, JeffreyCase SGSB-E688-EEntrepreneurshipThis case describes 23andMe CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki’s founding story and her recent attempts to scale the company’s direct-to-consumer genetic testing franchise while simultaneously expanding its pharmaceutical development aspirations.Starting at €8.20
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Tender
Siegel, Robert; Mansfield, ImogenCase SGSB-E752-EEntrepreneurshipThe Tender case follows the journey of Miles Parker from his early days of joining an equipment financing company as a partner to the company’s founder, through pivoting the company’s product, and working with several different investors including high-net-worth individuals and private equity.Starting at €8.20
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Assessing Private Equity Performance
Chaplinsky, SusanTechnical Note DARDEN-F-1895-EFinanceAssessing the performance of private equity (PE) investments is a challenging task. It starts with the fact that the assets are privately held and illiquid. By contrast, public equity valuations are determined in a vast open market populated largely by disinterested investors acting on publicly available information. Therefore, to make an informed assessment about PE performance, investors should be aware of the areas where general partners’ disc...Starting at €8.20
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Convertible Notes: A Form of Early-Stage Financing
Chaplinsky, Susan; Becker, Joseph M.Technical Note DARDEN-F-1925-EFinanceConvertible notes are often used to raise early-stage financing for start-up companies, frequently due to their advantages related to delayed valuation, greater speed, and lower cost of completion compared to venture capital financing. As a result, there has been a large increase in the number of early-stage companies raising capital through convertible notes over the past decade. Investors have made this form of financing more available, believi...Starting at €8.20
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Dow Chemical Polyolefins and Elastomers R&D: Sustaining High Performance (Abridged)
Horniman, Alexander B.; Cross, TomCase DARDEN-OB-0918-ELeadership and People ManagementOnce considered a candidate for divesture, Dow Chemical Polyolefins and Elastomers has had 12 successful years in a row. The company has set the standard of excellence for new-product innovation, having launched an average of one new-product line each year with 10 of the 11 launches being a success. After winning awards and receiving recognition for his speed in developing and launching chemical products, the company’s COO now had a new concern t...Starting at €8.20
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Smoke and Mirrors (A)
Cross, TomCase DARDEN-OB-0948-ELeadership and People ManagementThe CEO of Exhaust Tech, the worldwide leader in exhaust systems, has directed the newly appointed head of marketing to advertise and market a new product that is less expensive to manufacture but has no real consumer benefits other than the lifetime guarantee that no longer offers any competitive differentiation. The head of marketing prefers another product and feels he is being pressured into inventing something out of nothing to launch this n...Starting at €8.20
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James Madison and "The Business of May Next" (B)
Cross, Tom; Newell, Terry; Rice, PeterCase DARDEN-OB-0969-ELeadership and People ManagementOn May 30, 1787, the second day of the Convention held in the Pennsylvania State House, six states voted “aye” and one “nay” to the proposal to establish “a national Government … consisting of a supreme Legislative, Executive and Judiciary.” In that moment, delegates who had gathered merely to revise the Articles of Confederation agreed to abolish it. In that moment, James Madison earned the title of Father of the Constitution, although he had no...Starting at €5.74
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Investure, LLC, and Smith College
Chaplinsky, Susan; Harris, Robert S.; Kelly, Dorothy C.Case DARDEN-F-1537-EFinanceAlice Handy, an investment professional with 30 years' experience as head of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company, has opened a new asset management firm targeted at midsize endowments and nonprofit institutions in January 2004. Her business, Investure, LLC, offered outsourced investment services to institutions with $150 million to $1 billion in assets and access to top-performing managers at lower cost than a fund of funds (...Starting at €8.20