Jennifer Aaker, Sara Leslie, Carole Robin
2010
The case is meant to provide an overview of research on happiness. It offers a definition for happiness and explains many of the determinants of happiness while dispelling some myths we hold about what makes us happy and how we can obtain happiness (ie…
Jennifer Aaker, Heidy Kwan, Sara Leslie
2010
In many ways, Alex Scott was a regular kid. Her favorite food was French fries; her favorite color, blue. She hoped to be a fashion designer one day. But in other ways—perhaps most ways—Alex was different. In 1997, just before her first birthday, Alex was…
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang
2010
In 2005, Jessica Jackley and cofounder Matt Flannery had started San Francisco-based Kiva because during a three-month work assignment in East Africa, Jackley had met Ugandan entrepreneurs and wanted to share their inspirational stories with friends and…
Jennifer Aaker, Ravdeep Chawla, Sara Leslie
2010
Community service had a long history of success at NIKE. Often, employees did not even see their work as “volunteering”—they felt like they were doing what they loved and making a difference to the people around them. Despite this enthusiasm, corporate…
Jennifer Aaker, Sara Leslie
2010
Community service had a long history of success at NIKE. Often, employees did not even see their work as “volunteering”—they felt like they were doing what they loved and making a difference to the people around them. Despite this enthusiasm, corporate…
Kathleen Kavanaugh, Jake Kraft, Baba Shiv
2010
The Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), Bob Joss, must decide whether to make the school’s new campus LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was an environmental certification awarded by the U…
Jennifer Aaker, Sara Leslie
2010
Tony Hsieh, originally an investor and advisor to the online footwear company, Zappos, joined the company in 2000, serving as the co-CEO. His partner, Nick Swinmurn, was intent on building the next internet retailing powerhouse and satisfying customers’…
Kirk Bowman, James Lattin, Claire Magat
2010
The case highlights the evolution of a wide-area-network (WAN) optimization company from its founding day to its potential IPO. It explores the various challenges faced by management along the way, both in terms of determining what characteristics are…
James Lattin, Mark Leslie, Brett Lang
2010
Vocera Communications (B) is a company update as of 2007, after a new CEO/Chairman was hired. The company had evolved over the years into a healthcare technology company, and several other significant changes had taken place, specifically regarding…
Jocelyn Hornblower, Mark Leslie
2010
These vignettes follow Mary Simmons as she progresses through her career in marketing at Proctor & Gamble and then later when she started her own consumer product company. In both vignettes, Mary is faced with an ethical dilemma regarding the marketing of…
Jocelyn Hornblower, Mark Leslie
2010
These vignettes follow Mary Simmons as she progresses through her career in marketing at Proctor & Gamble and then later when she started her own consumer product company. In both vignettes, Mary is faced with an ethical dilemma regarding the marketing of…
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang
2009
In early 2007, Barack Obama was a little-known senator running for president against Democratic nominee and household name, Hilary Clinton. But on November 4, 2008, Obama made history as the first African American to win the election against Republican…
Meredith Jensen, James Lattin
2009
With the competitive 2007 holiday season approaching, Gary Hawkins (CEO of Green Hills Market, an independent grocery retailer in Syracuse, NY) was looking for a promotional program that would keep his best customers coming to Green Hills for all of their…
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang
2009
Stories are all around us. Stories move us, make us feel alive, inspire us to be more than we would be otherwise. Our appetite for stories is a reflection of the basic human need to understand patterns of life — not merely as an intellectual exercise…
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang
2009
Case study B for How to Tell a Story contains various storytelling exercises.
Also see M323A: How To Tell A Story (A).
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang
2009
In early 2007, Barack Obama was a little-known senator running for president against Democratic nominee and household name, Hilary Clinton. But on November 4, 2008, Obama made history as the first African American to win the election against Republican…
Jennifer Aaker, Victoria Chang, Robert Chatwani
2009
Sameer Bhatia was a 31-year-old South Asian American Silicon Valley entrepreneur who had started a company called MonkeyBin in 2000, the first online community and consumer marketplace for barter or trade, and then a mobile gaming company, Octane…
David Hoyt, Hau Lee, Michael Marks
2009
Zappos was founded in 1999, during the Internet boom, to sell shoes online. The company’s founding premise was to provide the ultimate in selection to its customers—all brands, styles, sizes, and colors. Zappos organized all aspects of its business…
Arar Han, Wesley Hartmann
2008
American Securities Capital (AS), a private equity firm based in New York City, seeks to research and analyze the Chinese foodservice market, to assess opportunities for AS portfolio restaurant chains and identify additional restaurant related…
Wasim Azhar, Davina Drabkin
2008
In July, 1991, Irfan Mustafa, West Asia Area Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Cola Pakistan Incorporated (PCI), faced several dilemmas. First, as part of the 7-Up acquisition, Mustafa had to convince the remaining Pakistani 7-Up…
Mark Leslie, James Lattin, Bethany Coates
2008
Corey Leibow eased his car back onto Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. As president and CEO of Mercado, a company that provided the search and merchandising technology to power retail web sites, he had just met with another venture capital (VC)…
James Lattin
2007
In November 1997, Richard D. Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial Corporation, was reflecting on the success of his company since its initial public offering (IPO) in 1994. The success had come primarily from one business: credit cards…
Katherine Bose, S. Wheeler
2007
The protagonists are Lara Jackle and Lynn Graham, CEO and VP Marketing for Lightfull Foods respectively. Lightfull is a beverage start-up based in Northern California that is struggling with a major strategic decision which centers around its use and…
Wasim Azhar
2006
In late June 1987, Mr. Asad Ali, proprietor of Regal Electrogas, was confronted with an important decision regarding the pricing of his company’s desert coolers. The market price for this product had risen by approximately 5 percent in the wake of new…