SI122
William Meehan III, Davina Drabkin
2013
In 2007 a group of eight friends wanted to give. With so many charities out there, the friends wanted to know which ones were doing the most good. They had two basic questions: (1) what did the charitable organization do with donors’ money and (2) what…
P82
Steven Callander, David Hoyt
2013
In 2011, The Walt Disney Company and other content owners aggressively lobbied Congress to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The intent was to prevent unauthorized copying and transmission of copyrighted materials. This had been largely eliminated…
F279
Michael Kennedy, Debra McCoy, William Meehan III, Sheila Melvin, Paul Pfleiderer
2013
This case describes the formation and operation of Leopard Capital, a “Frontier Market Private Equity Fund” from its establishment in 2007 up through the end of 2012. The case focuses on the fund’s founder, Douglas Clayton, and his history doing business…
E491
H. Irving Grousbeck, Sara Rosenthal
2013
The MobiChair case describes the story of Lucy Ahn and Josh McKinnon, graduates of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business who are also in a relationship, who take on the role of co-CEOs of a power wheelchair company after being offered the position by a…
E478B
Robert Siegel, Austin Kiessig
2013
The La Boulange: Exiting to a Large Strategic Buyer case follows the evolution of the La Boulange bakery and café chain and its eventual buyout by Starbucks Corporation. First, the case relates the founding story of La Boulange by its CEO Pascal Rigo….
E478A
Robert Siegel, Austin Kiessig
2013
The La Boulange: Exiting to a Large Strategic Buyer case follows the evolution of the La Boulange bakery and café chain and its eventual buyout by Starbucks Corporation. First, the case relates the founding story of La Boulange by its CEO Pascal Rigo…
E455
Jim Ellis, Justin Randolph
2013
The case profiles the protagonist, Ilana Stern, founder of Weddington Way (http://weddingtonway.com)—a wedding-related e-commerce site—during the company’s early formation stage.
The case begins with an introduction of Stern’s professional background…
E450
Peter B. Kelly, Lacey Wismer
2013
The Vestige Capital case follows a search fund team comprised of two 2009 Stanford GSB alumni as they decide to raise a search fund in Mexico, procure search capital from U.S. and Mexican investors, and source deals over the ensuing two years. The case…
E467
George Foster, David Hoyt
2013
In early 2009, following the collapse of the housing market, Doug Brien and Colin Wiel began buying single family homes (SFH) to renovate and rent. SFH rental had previously been a mom-and-pop business due to scaling difficulties—buying and managing…
E464
George Foster, Sara Rosenthal
2013
This case profiles the launch and growth of Tough Mudder, a startup founded by Will Dean and Guy Livingstone in the mud run/adventure challenge space. Dean, an avid triathlete and marathoner, found these solitary endurance events boring, and wanted to…
ETH-03
Ken Shotts, Sheila Melvin
2013
On June 27, 2012, the storied British bank Barclays admitted that it repeatedly attempted to rig the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) over a four-year period from 2005-2009. In its settlement, Barclays agreed to pay $453 million in fines and…
F283
William Meehan, Paul Pfleiderer, Sheila Melvin, Debra McCoy
2013
Zephyr Management was founded in 1994 with the goal of specializing in emerging markets, both in marketable securities and private equity. Having decided to expand in Asia, it chose India as the best location for a global PE firm with its skill sets and…
E476
Rob Chess, Peter Reiss. Justin Randolph
2013
The case profiles the protagonist, Chas Eggert, CEO of OPXBIO—a bio-based, renewable chemicals startup—as he decides on the job positions and specific individuals and candidates to hire after a recent successful round of venture financing. The case…
E469
H. Irving Grousbeck, Justin Randolph
2013
The case is a series of four short, fictional vignettes. Each vignette shines a light on the case’s macro-theme of ‘’motivating others in a management context,” and discusses the considerations involved in getting subordinates to achieve specific company…
A210
Maureen McNichols, Nate Blair
2013
In July 2011, the European Banking Association (EBA) published EU-wide stress test results for 91 banks, which collectively represented 65 percent of the total assets of the European banking system. The aim of the test was to provide transparency…
SM192B
Jesper Sorensen, Debra Schifrin, Kevin Hettrich
2013
“Health Leads (B): Entering the ‘Proof Period’” presents the decisions the health care nonprofit made in 2009 - 2010 about its expansion options, and the success it had in raising millions of dollars in 2011-2012 to support that strategy. The (B) case…
E475
Jonathan Levav, Russell Siegelman, Justin Randoplh
2013
The case profiles the protagonist, David Neeleman, a serial “airline” entrepreneur (previous founder and CEO of the US Airline, JetBlue), as he develops the concept for Azul Airlines International – a low-cost, customer service-centric Brazilian airline…
E487
Jim Ellis, Katherine Rudolph Bose
2013
For the last year, Mountain Hardware (MH), a leading hardware retailer in the Rocky Mountain region, had evaded bankruptcy and liquidation. The week prior, John Preston, the company’s CEO, learned that the acquisition offers he had…
E473
Shai Bernstein, Arthur Korteweg, Sara Rosenthal
2013
It was the spring of 2010 and Cindy Padnos had just been named to Fast Company’s list of “The Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010.” Cindy had worked in the venture capital (VC) space for over a decade, launching her own firm, Illuminate Ventures…
M353
Jennifer Aaker, Sarah Joyce
2013
Circle Du Soleil was one of the most successful entertainment companies in the world, a cross between a vibrant acrobatic show and a compelling narrative musical framework that captivated audiences since 1984. However, building one of the world’s…
SM222
Robert A. Burgelman, Steve W. Chung, Jon F. Nathanson, Won-yoh Lee
2013
The case details the strategic decisions that SK Planet, a leader in web and mobile services in its home country of Korea, needed to make regarding the best way to carry out an aggressive global expansion—most importantly into the United States. The $1…
SM204B
Robert Burgelman, Martina Ludescher
2013
The case discusses the post-IPO strategies, opportunities and challenges for Swiss global trading company DKSH, the leading market expansion (MES) provider with a focus on Asia. DKSH was well positioned to capitalize on three key MES industry trends: 1)…
SI121
William Meehan, Davina Drabkin
2013
When Jacob Harold became head of the Hewlett Foundation’s Philanthropy Program, he began to see GuideStar as much more than just a website. GuideStar was the result of founder Arthur “Buzz” Schmidt’s vision of bringing transparency and accountability to…
E427
Stefan Reichelstein, Sara Rosenthal, Anshuman Sahoo
2013
In 2012, KiOR was in the process of starting biofuels production at its first plant in Columbus, Mississippi. This initial plant was to provide a commercial scale proof-of-concept of KiOR’s production technology, and the company expected to build another…
