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This case aims to study the growth, evolution, and social innovation of iThrive Games, a socially minded initiative that aims to create meaningful opportunities using technology for teens to enhance the knowledge, mindsets, and skills they need to thrive through development and across the continuum of mental disorder to wellness. iThrive's focus has been on creating “meaningful games”—that is, games that promote health and well-being of teen players. Founded in 2014 by Dorothy Batten, President of DN Batten Foundation, the organization's mission was to collaborate with game developers, partner with teens across the game development cycle (ideation to testing), and provide resources to foster teen thriving through gameplay. To do so, the organization took a unique social entrepreneurial approach. Drawing on a positive psychology framework and building the brand among key stakeholders including game developers, researchers, funders, youth, educators, and parents, the organization orchestrated a community dedicated to advancing the meaningful games field, and in doing so, have widespread impact.

Social science, Organizational behaviour.

The case is intended for bachelor or master level students as a part of HRM and OB curriculum and in particular organizational culture and change management topics as well as talent selection and innovation issues in the organization.

Adform, a fast-growing global ad-tech company, is well-known in the market as a workplace that nurtures creativity and innovation. Recently recognized as the Aon Employer of the Year 2016 in the Baltic States by OVC, the company strives to maintain the position and remain an attractive place to work at. However, when both the sector and the company is growing fast, it becomes a challenge to sustain corporate culture and implement shared values in daily activities. Creative and innovative employees are in high demanded in the whole ad-tech sector and competition for the best professionals is inevitable. The key issues Anna, head of HR Strategic initiatives, is facing to present are as follows: How to attract and retain the best talent in a highly competitive labour market? How to maintain corporate culture that promotes innovative thinking when the company is growing fast and the sector is developing even faster? How to manage conflicts between personal and corporate values when employees are in high demand in the market? The case is structured from three different perspectives – newly employed professional Simon, experienced Adformers Ingrid and Martin, and Human Resources department specialists Anna and Sandra – everyone has different challenges and issues to solve; however, they share common values and beliefs, which form a sound base for decision-making and prove the importance of corporate culture as a strong management tool at Adform.

Expected learning outcomes are as follows: to understand major components of corporate culture and its role in an organisation, to gain practice in assessing corporate culture and its types; to understand the role of corporate culture in attracting and retaining talented employees to help company grow and develop; and to recognize challenges a company may encounter sustaining a strong corporate culture in a fast-growing sector and to analyse means of strong culture maintenance.

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: 6: Human Resource Management.

The case presents a lot of information, directly and via references and Web-based links, about the economic consequences of the virus. Several themes are evident: As an opening theory-base, the decades-long stakeholder versus shareholder debate is invoked – but does this extend beyond “stakeholders” to the “public good”? There are contexts (generally wars) in which governments are empowered to instruct private companies to engage in the public good – but how far should/must they voluntarily go? The underlying macro-economic issue is: where will we get the capital? Central banks have not recovered from the 2008 global financial crisis and have limited “ammunition” to address the anticipated economic problems introduced by the virus. The case presents data on selected financial metrics (interest rates, debt levels, risk pricing, etc.) and outlines the conventional stimulatory steps used: lowering short-term rates (monetary policy) and investment in assets (fiscal policy) and the less-conventional Quantitative Easing “QE”.

The coronavirus appears to herald a devastating blow to lives and to the world economy – its impact is yet unknown, but likely to be comparable to war and pestilence of biblical proportion. This case focuses on the possible economic trajectories as a consequence of the virus, with emphasis on bailing-out (restructuring) struggling companies and restoring jobs. Within the framework of a world desperately in need of capital, it raises questions about accountability and responsibility. Should retrenched workers in restaurants, banks and airlines feel the consequences of their poor career choices? Must shareholders (read pensioners) shoulder losses to support the public good? Ought governments bail-out whole industries – using tax-payer money? Or do we allow central banks to conjure-up billions and hope for the best? The case does not attempt to provide answers to these questions but presents several vignettes and offers a context in which participants can debate the merits of these problems.

MBA and Exec-ed.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 1 Accounting and Finance.

This case applies a stakeholder analysis to examine the trade-offs between the firm’s strategy and the interests of different stakeholder groups. A PESTEL analysis supports an evaluation of the firm’s situation. Consumer behavior theories on psychological ownership and territoriality offer a framework for analyzing the conflicts that arise from the inhabitants’ protests.

This case relies on secondary sources, including news reports, social media sites and company websites. This case has been classroom tested with undergraduate students in a strategic management course in January 2019 at the University of Cologne, Germany.

In November 2016, Google announced its intentions to rent a building in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin to open a Google Campus, a business incubator for tech start-ups that would offer entrepreneurs support, workshops and access to networks. Following the announcement, dissatisfied local communities organized protests, in which leaders complained that “It is extremely violent and arrogant of this mega-corporation, whose business model is based on mass surveillance and which speculates like crazy, to set up shop here” (Business Times, 2018). Berlin’s Government supported the Google Campus plan; inhabitants rejected it with fierce and persistent protests. In face of this challenge, was it still possible for Google to continue its plans in Berlin?

This case qualifies for use in strategic management classes at undergraduate and MBA levels. Its focus aligns well with stakeholder analyses, PESTEL analyses and business strategy. In addition, for courses on organizational communications or public relations, this case provides a way to explore the relationship between Google and its stakeholders, especially protesters, in detail. Moreover, this case is well suited for consumer research and public policy courses (e.g., transformative consumer research) centered on discussions of territoriality.

In early 2004, residents of Inglewood, California, a working-class community just outside Los Angeles composed primarily of African- and Hispanic-Americans, were preparing to vote on a referendum that would change the city charter to allow Wal-Mart to build a supercenter on a huge, undeveloped lot in the city. Walmart had put forward the measure after the city council refused to change the zoning of a sixty-acre plot on which it held an option to build. Numerous community and religious groups opposed Wal-Mart's entry and campaigned against the referendum. Walmart promised low-priced merchandise and jobs, but these groups were skeptical about the kinds of jobs and compensation that would be offered, the healthcare that would be provided to employees, and the broader impact Walmart would have on the community. Inglewood was a pro-union community, so there was also opposition based on Walmart's anti-union position. On April 6 Inglewood residents voted to reject the referendum by a margin of 60.6 percent to 39.9 percent. Though smaller, less organized, and with fewer resources than Walmart, this coalition of community and religious leaders had defeated the global retailing behemoth.

After students have analyzed the case they will be able to (a) appreciate the importance of nonmarket factors to execute growth and market entry strategies, (b) understand how the decisions of political institutions depend on the issue context and the alignments of coalitions of interest, (c) formulate and assess strategies to overcome nonmarket barriers to entry.

On April 4, 2007, Don Imus, one of the company&s most popular talk show personalities made comments on the air regarding the Rutgers women&s basketball team. According to the transcription from Media Matters for America, Imus said, “ That&s some nappy-headed hos there. I&m gonna tell you that now, man, that&s some … woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like … kinda like … I don&t know.” At first, the comments did not seem out of the ordinary for one of radio&s “shock jocks.” However, as the public reaction grew, the situation changed considerably. Under pressure from the public, Moonves reluctantly suspended Imus. But it was too little too late. By the end of the day on April 11, analysts estimated that $2.5 million in advertising revenue was lost. On April 12, Moonves terminated Don Imus& contract.

After Moonves fired Imus, there was still a lot to consider. He really wanted a way for the company to meet the demands of the company&s stakeholders. In addition, he wanted to avoid any more distractions from the firm&s normal day-to-day operations.

Students comprehend the importance of the transformational idea and apply it in their leadership. Students can analyze how to spread the transformational idea across the team and the organization. Students understand the value of working with different stakeholders (partners, headquarters). Students can analyze the role of focusing on a client and apply client-centric way of thinking. Students can apply the concept of the transformational idea to create (synthesize) possible solutions for the presented dilemma.

This case tells the transformation story of the logistics company Ekol Ukraine, which began in 2013. This company was the most successful branch of Ekol Logistics, an international corporation operating in 13 countries. From 2013 till 2021, Ekol Ukraine experienced a crisis related to the start of a conflict between Ukraine and Russian militants. It proved its ability to cope with challenges, gained almost complete autonomy from the head office, transformed the business model and culture and achieved considerable success in building an ecosystem.

Having this stage of transformation completed by 2021, the company reached a plateau and had to decide what the following changes would be. In 2021, only 14% of Ukrainian businesses used outsourcing logistics services (like the ones Ekol Ukraine provided). The remaining 86% had in-house logistics and were not ready to change the model. So, Ekol Ukraine faced a problem: how could a logistics provider grow in a market that was not mentally ready to outsource?

MBA programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.