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Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often very complex management endeavors. Analyzes the IT component of M&A for two financial institutions. Students are tasked with assisting Mike Farrell, the CIO of New Millennium Financial (NMF), a new company created through the merger of FinStar Financial and D&L Bank, in determining the optimal combined IT portfolio. To accomplish this task the strategic business objectives of the firm must be clearly understood and the IT projects in the pipelines of both institutions analyzed. Students must make an IT portfolio management decision and answer the question: What is the optimal IT strategy and project portfolio for NMF?

To apply a framework to manage a company's IT portfolio, i.e., understand the company's strategic context, develop business objectives that align with its strategy, assess IT investments, and develop a portfolio of IT projects that support the objectives. The framework is iterative, i.e., IT investments are assessed on a regular basis based on their performance and risk/return tradeoffs. Also to introduce a leading Web-based tool, ProSight, that helps managers organize IT portfolios.

This case study is intended to supplement postgraduate business learning with the facilitation of an academic practitioner. The case draws on a culmination of subjects, and the participants are encouraged to juxtapose the case information with their professional experiences; however, the primary focus of the case material will be centred on strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The primary audience for the teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes.

This case is about protagonist Ndabenhle Junior Ngulube, the cofounder of an innovative technology-enabled insurance intermediary company called Pineapple. The company has identified an opportunity to resolve the inherent conflict of interest within the insurance industry, as well as the grudge association of non-life insurance purchases. While the competitive landscape of the sector is traditionally dominated by a few large incumbent market participants, Pineapple's digital distribution strategy is more effective at converting ‘clicks-to-clients’, at a fraction of the typical customer acquisition cost. The peer-to-peer business model also allows for superior risk-selection, greater affinity, and lower incidents of fraudulent claims. Ndabenhle and the team develop the company's customer acquisition strategy by drawing on technological trends, reputation drivers, and a concentrated social media approach that focusses on trust, access, product, and value. But, as 2020 begins, Ndabenhle faces choices about the means and methods of scaling the business operation. The case documents the first few years of Pineapple's operations, with a strong focus on business model innovation, distribution, scalability, and technological integration.

To analyse the role disruptive technologies play within sectoral business model innovation

To evaluate the industry-specific competitive business landscape and complexities of building and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage within a niche market segment

To assess the strategic growth opportunities for an emerging market Insurtech disruptor

To critically appraise the entrepreneurial complexities faced by decision-makers when looking to challenge incumbent market leaders

The assignment is to design a plan that aligns patient satisfaction scores with quality care metrics. The instructor’s manual (IM) introduces models for designing and implementing a strategic plan to approach the quality improvement process.

This is a field research case. The author(s) had access to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and other members of the management team, meeting with them on numerous occasions. Cleveland Clinic Florida (CCF) provided the data included in the appendices. Additionally, relevant hospital data, also included in the appendices, is required to be made public on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) databases. Accordingly, all data and information are provided by original sources.

Osmel “Ozzie” Delgado, MBA and COO of CCF was faced with a dilemma. Under the new CMS reimbursement formula, patient satisfaction survey scores directly impacted hospital reimbursement. However, the CCF patient satisfaction surveys revealed some very unhappy patients. Delgado pondered these results that really made no sense to him because CCF received the highest national and state rankings for its clinical quality at the same time. Clearly, patients were receiving the best medical care, but they were still unhappy. Leaning back in his chair, Delgado shook his head and wondered incredulously how one of the most famous hospitals in the world could deliver such great care but receive negative patient feedback on CMS surveys. What was going wrong and how was the hospital going to fix it?

This case is designed for graduate Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), Master’s in Health Sciences Administration (MHSA) and/or Public Health (PA) audiences. While a healthcare concentration is useful, the case raises the generic business problems of satisfying the customer to increase brand recognition in the marketplace and displacing competition to increase annual revenues. Indeed, the same analysis can be applied in other heavily regulated industries also suffering from a change in liquidity and growth occasioned by regulatory change.

The case is designed to be used with the digital business model framework developed by Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Weill and Woerner, 2015) and is referred to as the W & W framework. This approach provides a useful structure for thinking through the strategic options facing environments ripe for digital transformation.

Research for this case was conducted through face-to-face interviews with the protagonist, as well as through a review of their business planning documents and other data and documentation provided by the founder. Some of the market and industry data were obtained using secondary research and industry reports. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed to ensure accuracy.

The case follows the story of Kurt Waltenbaugh, a Minnesota entrepreneur who shared the dream of using data analytics to reduce costs within the US health-care system. In early 2014, Waltenbaugh and a physician colleague founded Carrot Health to bring together their personal experience and expertise in both consumer data analytics and health care. From the beginning, they focused on how to use data analytics to help identify high-risk/high-cost patients who had not yet sought medical treatment. They believed that they could use these insights to encourage early medical interventions and, as a result, lower the long-term cost of care.

Carrot’s initial success found them in a consultative role, working on behalf of insurance companies. Through this work, they honed their capabilities by helping their clients combine existing claims data with external consumer behavioral data to identify new potential customers. These initial consulting contracts gave Carrot the opportunity to develop its analytic tools, business model and, importantly, to earn some much-needed cash flow during the start-up phase. However, they also learned that, while insurance companies were willing to purchase data insights for one-off market expansion projects, it was much more difficult to motivate them to use data proactively to eliminate costs on an ongoing basis. Waltenbaugh believed that Carrot’s greatest potential lay in their ability to develop predictive models of health outcomes, and this case explores Carrot’s journey through strategic decisions and company transformation.

This case is intended for either an undergraduate or graduate course on entrepreneurial strategy. It provides an effective introduction to the unique structure and constraints which apply to an innovative start-up within the health-care industry. The case also serves as a platform to explore the critical criteria to be considered when developing a digital transformation strategy and exposing students to the digital business model developed by Weill and Woerner (2015) at MIT (referred to in this instructor’s manual as the W&W framework). The case was written to be used in an advanced strategy Master of Business Administration (MBA) class, an undergraduate specialty health-care course or as part of a health-care concentration in a regular MBA, Master of Health Care Administration (MHA) or Master of Public Health (MPH). It may be taught toward the end of a course on business strategy when students are building on generic strategy frameworks and adapting their strategic thinking to the characteristics of specific industries or sectors. However, the case can also be taught as part of a course on health-care innovation in which case it also serves well as an introduction to the health-care payments and insurance system in the USA. Finally, the case can be used in a specialized course on digital transformation strategy in which case it serves as an introduction to the MIT W&W framework.

The case is particularly well-suited to students who are familiar with traditional frameworks for business strategy and business models. The analysis builds on this knowledge and introduces students interested in learning about the opportunities and challenges of digital strategy. Equally, the case works well for students with clinical backgrounds, who are interested in how business strategy can influence changes within the health-care sphere. Finally, an important aspect of the case design was to develop students’ analytical confidence by encouraging them to “get their hands dirty” and to carry out some basic exploratory data analytics themselves. As such, the case requires students to combine and correlate data and to experience the potentially powerful combination of clinical and consumer data. Instructors should find that the insights from these activities give students unique insights into the potential for of data analytics to move health care from a reactive/treatment ethos to a proactive/intervention ethos. This experience can be particularly revealing for students with clinical backgrounds who may initially be resistant to the use of clinical data by commercial organizations.

The first three years of operation of the West Kendall Baptist Hospital (WKBH) in Miami, Florida provided a “poster child” for efficient and cost effective healthcare delivery to the West Kendall community that it served. The hospital leadership and management team exemplified a quality-oriented staff that moved as a cohesive and dedicated organization. WKBH exceeded every budget prediction and showed a profit in year 3, well before expected. Then came the winds of regulatory change. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the attendant imposition of new reimbursement metrics, the picture at WKBH changed almost overnight. By the first quarter of 2016, WKBH started to lose money in excess of budget predictions despite its increased patient admissions, careful financial planning, expense reductions, quality service, and excellence in patient care delivery. A serious financial crisis was looming with little relief in sight. The hospital management team began to search for solutions.

The research methodology includes collecting quantitative data: original financial statements and financial data from WKBH, as well as qualitative data: interviews of hospital administrators and historical information.

Graduate capstone course in a finance course; masters in health administration; and/or the MBA program.

While it is clear that the ACA was designed with all good intentions, it has created substantial and perhaps, unanticipated financial burdens for caregivers. These issues are not only faced by WKBH. Most hospitals could relate to one or more of the four questions examined as part of this learning process. Graduate MBA students worked with the hospital to identify, define, focus, and resolve difficult quantitative and qualitative issues faced by the hospital as a result of major changes in the regulatory environment with the passage of the ACA. This case focuses upon the current reimbursement environment that has only recently emerged as a result of the implementation of the ACA.

This case was developed to explore what social entrepreneurship looks like in an emerging market context. It tells the story of Neil Campher, a self-identified social entrepreneur working in South Africa, a country that has recently been awarded middle income status by the World Bank despite sharing a ranking with Syria on the Human Development Index. In environments of deep market failure, what does social enterprise look like? and can you sustain change in communities of extreme poverty? The case looks at the academic characteristics of social entrepreneurs and applies them to Neil to see if he “qualifies”. It has a particular focus on the bricoleur social entrepreneur. It explores concepts of poverty, and looks at sustainability, achieved through asset-based community development. It explores the need for organisations to transition in response to the environment and provides a tool to assess sustainability. The value of the paper is in exploring what social entrepreneurship looks like in an emerging market context. It also raises important questions on sustainability in environments which are inherently constrained.

This case study is aimed at students of social entrepreneurship, development studies, sustainable livelihoods and asset-based development. It is written at an Honours level and is therefore appropriate for use in customised or short programmes. The case study is a good introduction for students with a background in business (e.g. Diploma in Business Administration/MBA/custom programmes) who are wanting to understand social enterprise and blended theories of social and economic change.

The case study follows self-identified social entrepreneur Neil Campher in the grime and crime-ridden township of Helenvale, outside Port Elizabeth, in South Africa. Campher has given up his glitzy career as a financier in the economic hub of Johannesburg and returned to his home town, drawn by a need to give back. Helenvale used to be where he and his school friends would hide from the apartheid police, but as an adult, his friends are focused on strengthening and progressing the community. Campher’s entry point to change is a small waste recycling project, and the case study looks at how he uses this as a lever to achieve deeper structural change in the community. The teaching case exposes several questions around social entrepreneurship and change: what is social entrepreneurship in an emerging context and is Campher a social entrepreneur? What is community led change and can it be sustainable? Campher’s dilemma is around sustainability – has his extensive involvement of the community been enough to achieve progress in Helenvale?

The case study gives insight into social entrepreneurship in a developing country context. It highlights the nuances in definition and introduces the importance of context in shaping the social entrepreneur. The case is an opportunity for students to interrogate ideas on poverty and classical interpretations of social entrepreneurship and relate them to a small community that mirrors the macro country context in South Africa. The case study shows how asset-based approaches to development are interlinked with basic principles of social entrepreneurship. It shows that sustainability is more than a secure and predictable income stream and the need for community engagement and commitment to the solution. In tackling these issues, the case questions sustainability potential and the need for the organisation to transition to respond to opportunity and the changing environment.

Video X1 5minute video interview with Neil Campher 5min: YouTube Video of Campher from Interview 1 www.leadingchange.co.za (live from 01 April 2016) Video News report of gang violence in Helenvale 3min: YouTube. This is a quick visual introduction to Helenvale. It is a news clip, so is particularly focused on the angle of the story. It includes interviews with residents. The site www.youtube.com/watch?v=TluLpTuEq8I Northern Areas burning 2min: YouTube is a collection of video footage from a local reporter which shows Helenvale and its surroundings. The site www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCW-Hp24vMI shows the Text Global Competitiveness Report: South Africa; the first page gives additional information on social and economic development in South Africa, highlighting developed/developing country attributes. It also highlights how Helenvale is a microcosm of the negative social development indicators in South Africa (http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/economies/#economy=ZAF). 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.