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During December 2012, Jorge Paulo Lemann, a co-founder and partner at 3G, proposed to Warren Buffett that 3G and Berkshire Hathaway acquire H. J. Heinz Company. Lemann and Buffett, who had known each other for years, jointly decided that the Heinz turnaround had been successful and that there was significant potential for continued global growth. 3G informed Heinz CEO William Johnson that it and Berkshire Hathaway were interested in jointly acquiring his company. Johnson then presented the investors' offer of $70.00 per share of outstanding common stock to the Heinz board.

After much discussion, the Heinz board and its advisors informed 3G that without better financial terms they would not continue to discuss the possibility of an acquisition. Two days later, 3G and Berkshire Hathaway returned with a revised proposal of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction value of $28 billion (including Heinz's outstanding debt).

Following a forty-day “go-shop” period, Heinz, 3G, and Berkshire Hathaway agreed to sign the deal. But was this, in fact, a fair deal? And what might be the future consequences for shareholders, management, employees, and citizens of Pittsburgh, the location of the company's headquarters? Last, what was the role of activist investors in bringing Heinz to this deal stage?

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the influence of investment bankers on M&A transactions

• Consider synergies that drive M&A

• Consider the role of activist investors in corporate strategic decision-making

• Understand the impact of M&A on key corporate stakeholders

• Apply core valuation techniques to support M&A valuation

Understand the influence of investment bankers on M&A transactions

Consider synergies that drive M&A

Consider the role of activist investors in corporate strategic decision-making

Understand the impact of M&A on key corporate stakeholders

Apply core valuation techniques to support M&A valuation

This case involves the March of Dimes (MOD) Foundation, the “leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health.” MOD’s mission was to support medical research, organize volunteer workers, and provide community services and education to save babies’ lives (www.marchofdimes.org). The strategic issue in the case involves creating awareness of both the mission and services of MOD and the critical issue driving that mission – premature births. The organization must create a desire for various target markets to take action in response to the problem. The main protagonist is Doug Staples, Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications.

Data were collected via personal interviews with the primary protagonists, Doug Staples, and Mike Swenson of the Barkley agency. The MOD provided quantitative Gallup studies they commissioned, as well as documents unveiling the roll-out in the San Jose, CA region. The Barkley Agency provided qualitative data from a study which consisted of eight focus groups conducted in two markets and ten personal interviews. Secondary research was used to provide a support for industry and market data, to supplement organizational facts provided by the MOD, and to identify and link marketing theory to the situations provided in the case. The organization, facts and characters in this case were not disguised. MOD was consulted throughout the case development process.

This case study is recommended for marketing courses at the undergraduate level. It is most appropriate for marketing management, introductory marketing, or marketing strategy classes. Additionally, this case is a good fit for courses focused upon not-for-profit marketing issues.

The strongest opportunities to apply theory using this case relate to branding (see De Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, 1998 for a content analysis of the brand literature). These theories include brand image and personality (Aaker, 1997; Belk, 1998; Grohmann, 2009), brand awareness (Aaker, 2002), brand involvement and customer loyalty (Brakus et al., 2009), brand engagement (Sprott et al., 2009), brand relationships (Breivik and Thorbjornsen, 2008), and brand equity (Aaker, 2002, 2008). Specifically, question 2 addresses brand personality, and questions 3 and 4 explore relationships with the brand such as the emotional power of the brand and brand association. Question 6 focuses on positioning strategy.

This case is based on primary archival research. The original reports from MSCI, Sustainalytics and S&P 500 formed the foundation of the case in addition to the 144-page Tesla’s 2021 Impact Report. Secondary sources were used to provide contextual information. All sources are cited as endnotes.

In June 2022, Tesla, Inc., the Austin, Texas-based electric car company faced a number of challenges that called into question its environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. Questioning the company’s corporate governance practices, SOC Capital, a watchdog organization publicly released a letter that it had sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission where it had demanded that the agency sanction the company for not replacing an independent director at its next stockholder meeting. The State of California’s Department of Fair Housing and Employment filed a lawsuit alleging various counts of discrimination at Tesla’s manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. S&P Global removed the company from its index of ESG companies. This action had negative consequences for the company’s stock price. Tesla’s board of directors, led by Robyn M. Denholm, had to address Tesla’s overall approach to ESG in light of these challenges.

The case is suitable for an upper-level undergraduate or an MBA course on strategy or strategic management.The issues in the case involve the stakeholder perspective, corporate governance and the purpose of a firm. Instructors face two choices here: using this case early in the course introduces the broader stakeholder perspective early on without addressing it as an afterthought at the very end of the course. The other choice is to use it at the end because most strategy textbooks cover these topics at the back end.

This case was developed from interviews the author held with Nathan Baumeister, the protagonist in the case and Towny CEO; Hannah Franzen, a Towny marketing employee discussed in the case; and Mallory Franzen, Hannah’s sister-in-law and the company representative for Boomn, the digital marketing agency discussed in the case. In addition, secondary research on the USA retail industry was performed by the author. The case was class-tested four times by the author, with Hannah Franzen and Mallory Franzen initially visiting as case protagonists. This resulted in the case of refinements based on student discussion.

Towny: A new business model for a mobile economy shares the context and issues surrounding CEO Nathan Baumeister in the spring of 2018 at Towny, a unique business helping local businesses connect with their consumers over mobile devices. The company began going to market based on the vision of its owner and Nathan’s boss, Don Shafer. It had quickly approached local business clients and consumers in five key markets. The purpose of the case is to allow students the opportunity to discuss key new venture creation concepts and scenarios such as customer value proposition, competitive advantage and digital marketing.

This case was developed to be used in an undergraduate course in entrepreneurship. The particular course, new venture finance: the entrepreneur’s perspective, teaches the general subject of entrepreneurial finance through financial models such as free cash flow and valuation, case discussions with entrepreneurs visiting as facilitators and protagonists and business concept planning and forecasting. This case helps train students on how to incorporate online marketing costs into their business concept plans. Relevant courses and topics also include small business management and entrepreneurial financial management.

LifeBank is primarily focused on tackling the challenge of maternal mortality in Nigeria and other African countries by providing women access to blood, thereby tackling the challenge of gender inequality. The company employed both men and women at its workplace providing equal opportunities for men and women.

Discuss how women entrepreneurs are solving social problems in developing countries using technology and innovation.

Analyze the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in getting the right human capital, raising funds and managing growth for their social business.

The case discusses how social entrepreneur Temie Giwa-Tubosun (Temie) founded LifeBank, a medical distribution company, to provide access to blood, medical oxygen and vaccines to hospitals in Nigeria. The company used technology to provide information to health providers about which blood bank stored the blood type they needed and delivered it quickly and safely to help save lives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the complexities and challenges involved in retailing luxury motorcycle brands in India.

This study has been developed by carrying out in-depth interviews of company officials of Triumph Motorcycles. The researchers also reached out to various distributors of luxury motorcycles in Tiers I and II cities, and through the interview process, tried to understand the problems/issues faced while selling luxury motorcycles.

There has been a marked increase in the branding and marketing of luxury products in the recent years. Although the two wheelers account for 80 per cent of the domestic demand, the luxury motorbike market in India is still in its introductory stages. This study discusses the challenges faced at Triumph Motorcycles and raises questions on what should be done to increase the market share of Triumph Motorcycles in India. Readers would get insights into the activities carried out to build customer connect and would be able to suggest marketing strategies and customer relationship programmes for luxury motorcycle brands.

This study can be used for the core course on marketing management or for elective courses on customer relationship management, brand management or consumer behaviour course in MBA programme.

The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how Dianne Savastano, founder and CEO of Healthassist, Inc., a US-based health-care advocacy firm, successfully led her clients and team through the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. To gather the data for this case study, the authors interviewed the protagonists, the members of her team and two clients. The authors read Healthassist Newsletters and the firm’s documents; and in fact, they included one Newsletter and several documents in the Exhibits of the case study. The authors conducted a literature review for articles in newspapers and journals about the newly developing field of “health-care advocacy,” a field which Savastano helped to create.

The authors illustrate how Savastano, using the five practices of exemplary leadership by Kouzes and Posner, in The Leadership Challenge, led her team through the pandemic of 2020. This is a story of a woman leader, using traits such as warmth, empathy, analysis and decisiveness, keeps her small business afloat when so many other firms collapsed in 2020.

The authors conducted seven interviews and literature searches on the topics of health-care advocacy; women leaders; leading through a crisis; and COVID-19.

The case study illustrates how a woman founder and CEO can lead her firm through a crisis.

This is an example of how a woman leader managed through the 2020 pandemic.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

This trio of cases is appropriate for upper-level undergraduate classes or for postgraduate programs in non-profit management, leadership and community development, international development, global studies, women’s and gender studies and social entrepreneurship. It allows the instructors and students to engage with classical leadership tenets and emerging social entrepreneurship literature. Upon completion of the case study discussion and assignments, students will be able to: identify diverse obstacles that African women face in starting social enterprises; understand the ways that African women leaders build a social dimension to their enterprise; and identify characteristics of women’s leadership and critique the value of women’s leadership for establishing sustainable social enterprises.

The case stories of the three African social enterprises portray how female leaders have fostered sustainable organisations through prioritising social, over economic and governance investments. Martha Letsoalo, a former domestic worker, founded the Heartfelt Project in South Africa, which now employs fifteen women, ships products all around the world and enriches the community of Makapanstad with its workshop, training and education centre. Victoria Nalongo Namusisi, daughter of a fisherman in rural Uganda, founded Bright Kids Uganda, a thriving care facility, school and community centre that educates vulnerable children, empowers victims of gender-based violence and distributes micro-loans to female entrepreneurs. Gertrude, abandoned in Lusaka, Zambia, founded Chikumbuso, a home of resilience and remembrance to educate children and offer women employment in a cooperative business. Each case documents the founding years of the social enterprise and outlines some of the shared women’s leadership approaches. The case dilemma focuses on why and how women start social enterprises in socially and economically difficult contexts.

This trio of cases is appropriate for undergraduate or graduate-level programs in non-profit management, leadership and community development, international development, global studies and social entrepreneurship.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Set in September 1992, this exercise provides teams of students the opportunity to negotiate terms of a merger between AT&T and McCaw Cellular. AT&T, one of the largest U.S. corporations, was the dominant competitor in long-distance telephone communications in the United States. McCaw was the largest competitor in the rapidly growing cellular-telephone communications industry. Prior to the negotiations, AT&T had no position in cellular communications. This case and its companion (F-1143) are designed to allow students to be assigned roles to play. The case may pursue some or all of the following teaching objectives: exercising valuation skills, practicing strategic analysis, exercising bargaining skills, and illustrating practical aspects of mergers and acquisitions.