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Business Case Studies

Case studies are written by professors at HBS and at renowned business programs worldwide and offer slices of business life, focusing on actual problems and decisions companies face.

Google's Project Oxygen: Do Managers Matter?

Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management...

Amazon.com, 2021

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit...

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

Provides an opportunity to examine leadership and entrepreneurship in the context of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition, a compelling story of crisis, survival, and triumph. Summarizes Shackleton's career as an officer in the British Merchant...

Independent Governance of Meta's Social Spaces: The Oversight Board

Julie Owono is a member of the Oversight Board, an outside entity with the authority to make binding decisions on tricky moderation questions for Meta's companies. She considers the Board's impact, and its future.

General Motors: Mary Barra's Leadership in the Electric Vehicle Era

Although Mary Barra, chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors Company (GM), had faced her fair share of challenges while leading GM, Tesla Inc. (Tesla) posed a tougher competitive challenge than anything that had come before. Despite...

Allianz: Improving P&L through Machine Learning

During an Allianz Benelux SA (Allianz) board meeting held in early 2019, Allianz's chief financier officer (CFO) had a profound discussion with Allianz's chief data and analytics officer (CDAO) on improving the company's profit and loss (P&L) statement...

Shopee: Hitting the Pause Button on International Expansion?

In May 2022, Shopee Pte. Ltd. (Shopee), the e-commerce division of Singapore-based Sea Limited (Sea), was at a critical juncture. Over the past several years, fuelled by the growth of its e-commerce business, Shopee had achieved rapid revenue growth...

To Catch a Thief: Explainable AI in Insurance Fraud Detection

White lies (inflated claims) cost the insurance industry billions of dollars every year. After investing heavily to automate workflows (from policy subscription to claims processing), digitization has ironically made fraud easier to commit and harder to...

Cloud Computing

This technical note provides a general overview of cloud computing and how businesses are using it to achieve their digital goals. Specifically, this note outlines the different service models that cloud computing supports, including...

Drive Capital: A New Road for Venture

Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital's mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting...

Ajax Health: A New Model for Medical Technology Innovation

This case teaches key success factors for both startups and established medtech firms. It examines how to structure a firm to maximize financial returns. Medtech entrepreneur Duke Rohlen is proposing a new model for innovation and business growth. From...

Allianz: Predicting Direct Debit with Machine Learning

In January 2021, the chief data and analytics officer (CDAO) at Allianz Benelux SA (Allianz) spotted a possible opportunity to optimize cash flow with direct debit. Direct debit was a pre-authorized financial transaction between two parties where the...

An Heir with No Spare: The Deitch Family Office

Joe and Matt Deitch, father and son, knew it was time to start their own family office. Matthew had recently joined his father at the family's three enterprises, and they both realized that their family's needs had grown increasingly complex over the...

Future-proofing HEINEKEN: The EverGreen strategy

Dolf van den Brink, CEO of HEINEKEN, left the company's global headquarters in Amsterdam for a company retreat. Over the next three days, the entire executive team would gather to discuss the company's future. The preliminary results for 2022, presented...

Artificial Intelligence in Business: Machines and Management

This technical note offers an overview of artificial intelligence (AI) and some ways in which machine learning is leveraged to build this type of intelligence. The note also explores two schools of thought around AI's potential, discusses the possible...

ROI vs. ROI: The Grupo Baoba Family Office

Fernando Scodro, a third-generation member of his family, mulled over the next step in integrating an ESG strategy into his family office's investment portfolio. While his family office, Grupo Baobá, had made excellent progress in incorporating his...

Pointillist: Building a Business in Customer Journey Analytics

Growth challenges in building a SAAS business using AI for Customer Experience analysis.

Allianz: Optimizing Customer Acquisition Strategy using Machine Learning

In October 2019, the regional chief data and analytics officer at Allianz AG, Belgium, attended a two-hour strategy meeting with the Allianz Benelux chief executive officer, who had expressed concerns about the company's digitalization strategy. A few...

PayPal: Maintaining Market Leadership in Digital Payments

Shortly after Rich Hagen joins Paypal as Strategic Director in 2021, the CEO Dan Schulman asks for his input to choose between two promising directions for the business: venturing into retail investing or launching a super app. As a brokerage sector...

Adyen: Reshaping the Payment Ecosystem

The Dutch company Adyen was founded in 2006 to provide online merchants with smooth online payments, regardless of currency, country, or payment method. Its services had attracted large online merchants, which struggled to reconcile different payment...

Disney+ and Machine Learning in the Streaming Age

Machine learning has been used to create value in various ways across a broad swath of industries. In this case, students will explore uses for machine learning in the context of the launch of the Disney+ streaming service in November 2019. At the time...

Sotheby's NFT Sales: Art, Auction, And Apes

"NFT"is a unique type of asset in the art as well as technology world. In 2021, a digital art collection of 101 cartoon apes was sold for USD24.4 million, setting a record high at Sotheby's online auction. This case first briefly introduces the auction...

Tesla's Battery Supply Chain: A Growing Concern

In October 2021, the fictional vice president of supply chain sustainability at Tesla is working on finding the best way to achieve Tesla's goal of 100% recycling for the batteries in its electric vehicles (EVs) as they reach their end of life. A major...

Red Bull: The anti-brand brand

In 2004, Red Bull found itself at a crossroad, challenged with defending its 70% worldwide market share of the €2.5 billion energy drinks category that it had pioneered. Through a combination of buzz marketing tactics, decentralised distribution and...

Ratios Tell a Story-2021

This short, engaging case challenges students to review a series of corporate financial metrics and match them to one of 13 listed industries. As such, students are to use their intuition and common sense pertaining to the distinctive characteristics of,...

Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

It is fall 2022, and open-source AI model company Hugging Face is considering its three areas of priorities: platform development, supporting the open-source community, and pursuing cutting-edge scientific research. As it expands services for enterprise...

ShotSpotter: AI and the Future of Law Enforcement Technology

ShotSpotter, Inc. is a company that leverages Internet of Things (IoT) technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide services to police departments. In 2022, ShotSpotter had over 20,000 sensors deployed in over 125 cities to alert customers when...

Rocket Learning: Evidence in Action

Founders of Rocket Learning, an India-based nonprofit which focused on early childhood education (ECE), received an invitation from MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), a development research organization, to test its intervention for ECE...

The Ford Foundation: Reimagining Philanthropy to Build a More Just and Fair World

This case profiles Ford Foundation president Darren Walker and his goal of reimagining philanthropy in order to build a more just and fair world. Specifically, it looks at how the Ford Foundation has reorganized so as to catalyze leaders and...

Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard: Beating Sony in Gaming and the Metaverse

In January 2022, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision) for US$68.7 billion. With a growing franchise of games, and with Microsoft's apparent ambitions for the games console market,...

Marriott International: Deploying AI Across Hotel Brands in Singapore

The case is set in 2021, amid accelerating digitalisation in Singapore, as Marriott International is facing pressure to innovate and review the AI strategy for its hotel brands. Marriott is the second largest hospitality player in terms of market share...

Young Lion Brewery: Leveraging Female Leadership?

This case features a woman entrepreneur whose early-stage company has achieved some regional success creating craft beer in a highly competitive, male-dominated beverage industry. Jennifer Newman, co-founder and CEO of Young Lion Brewing Company (YLBC),...

Enhancing Innovation through Organisational Learning and Empathy Culture: Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella

This case looks at the business and cultural transformation at Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella, who took over in 2014 when the company had fallen prey to political infighting and the dominance of Windows over all else. The Microsoft veteran drove...

TREW Gear: Is Amazon the Trail to Growth?

Chris Pew, an expert backcountry skier, was a founder and the CEO of 12-year-old TREW Gear, a premium niche brand for technical backcountry ski apparel. TREW Gear's products--snow bibs, jackets, pants, and accessories--were selling well through...

Responsible A.I.: Tackling Tech's Largest Corporate Governance Challenges

In 2017, Google announced that it would be an "AI first" company and prioritized the development of an ethical charter to guide the company when it came to AI. This case delves into the promise and rapid growth of AI, how companies have responded, and...

Retail Media Networks

In 2022, retail media was one of the fastest growing segments in digital advertising. A retail media network (RMN) allows a retailer to use its assets for advertising. Retailers set up an advertising business by allowing marketers to buy advertising...

Skills-First Hiring at IBM

This case reviews IBM's efforts to widen its hiring funnel and broaden its talent pool.

Kmind: The Strategy Consulting Service Model in China

Established in 2015 in Shanghai, China, Shanghai Kmind Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. was a strategy consulting firm that specialized in helping enterprises overcome market competition through the provision of its consulting services. It not only...

Haidilao: Creating and Sustaining an Emotional Culture for High Performance

The case charts the success of Chinese hot pot restaurant chain, Haidilao, from humble beginnings to international expansion, with a focus on how an emotion-based culture is created and sustained to deliver high performance. Chinese hot pot - a blend of...

Rock Pharmacy: Rocked?

Driven by a passion to develop his own brand, Sandeep Yadav started Rock Pharmacy in 2014 in a rented area of 700 square feet and with seed capital of US$6,665. His primary customers were patients who required medication regularly for conditions...

Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility (B)

This B case, set in summer 2022, was designed as a companion to "Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility," a case set in 2018. The purpose of this brief document is to unlock a discussion around how the Netflix culture can be used to weather...

Leading across boundaries: Lucia Fargolo at FoodCo

Lucia Fargolo is a dynamic high potential who joined FoodCo - a global fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company at the beginning of their digital transformation journey. After a promotion to department head, Lucia is preparing the global Social Media...

The case describes the founding, development, and scaling of Antler, an early-stage investment platform that invests in entrepreneurs pre-team and, in many cases, even pre-idea. The case explores the economics of venture capital investing at such an...

Rawbank's Illico Cash: Can "Fast Money" Overcome Cash Dependency in the DRC?

Thomas de Dreux-Brézé, the Head of Strategy and Project Management at Rawbank Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was perplexed as he reviewed annual adoption rates for the bank's launch of Illico Cash 2.0. As the bank's mobile money...

Dell: Roadmap of a Digital Supply Chain Transformation

Dell Technologies Inc. was founded in 1984 in Austin, Texas, and became a global company that designed, developed, and manufactured personal computers and a variety of computer-related products. In 2016, it merged with EMC Corporation to create the...

Out for Blood: Tyler Shultz and Theranos (A)

In early 2014, recent Stanford University graduate Tyler Shultz was in a quandary. He had been working at Theranos, a blood-diagnostic company founded by Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford-dropout wunderkind, for almost a year. Shultz had learned enough about...

AB INBEV: STILL THE KING OF BEERS AFTER ITS LEGENDARY CEO'S DEPARTURE?

AB InBev had been the world's number one brewer since 2004, a position largely attributed to its aggressive strategy of pursuing large, international mergers and acquisitions. The disruptive events of the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to upend the...

West Virginia: Finding the Right Path Forward

Envision Group

Based in China, Envision was one of the world's leading Greentech companies. Chief Executive Officer Lei Zhang had set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality across the company's global operations and supply chain by 2022 and 2028 respectively. As part...

Advent International and Walmart Brazil's Deal

Advent International, one of the world's leading private equity firms, must decide whether to acquire Walmart's subsidiary in Brazil or not. Although Walmart Brazil is losing cash at a rapid pace, Advent thinks it has a solid plan to recover the...

Naukri.Com (B): Corporate Venture Capital in India

Info Edge is the first Indian Internet company to list on the Indian stock markets (in 2006). It is a widely successful company with many lines of business - it operates a jobs classified (naukri.com), a real estate classifieds (99acres.com), a...

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Case Study: Glass Half Full

Image courtesy Ernesto Humpierres

I n classic engineer fashion, Ernesto Humpierres (MBA 2011) has always enjoyed building systems, whether it’s a Lego set with his twins or an e-commerce side hustle with their mother, Sarah Scott Mitchell. For their first venture together, Mitchell and Humpierres launched a line of microwavable heating pads filled with cherry pits. “It’s a very niche market,” Humpierres acknowledges, but once they saw that it was also successful, they decided to diversify.

In June 2021, the pair launched Neutrall , an e-commerce company with a line of upcycled drinking glasses. To acquire the raw materials, the founders identified a partner in the Houston area that had relationships with local bars and restaurants. Now, instead of tossing empties in the municipal recycling bin—a service for which the restaurateurs must pay a fee—they leave them in bins that are collected for free by Neutrall’s partner.

“In the process of building an American carbon-neutral supply chain, our partners essentially allowed us to build and scale a private, local recycling network,” notes Humpierres. And 80 to 90 percent of the bottles Neutrall receives can be turned into usable products. The company ships the glasses in carbon-neutral packaging, with an additional carbon offset to guarantee the product’s neutral environmental impact.

The market for glassware in the United States currently hovers around $4 billion. “It’s not huge,” Humpierres concedes. But glass is a rare material that, while energy-intensive to create, can be reused literally for centuries. Given that, he sees a unique opportunity to build a storied brand with the potential to become a lasting household name.

Humpierres was originally committed to bypassing Amazon and relying instead on Shopify as an online storefront and on ShipBob for fulfillment. Then came the cold shower of reality: Customer acquisition beyond Amazon can prove very expensive. He decided to offer Neutrall’s products there for near-term profitability while the company continued to build the brand through other channels. But now he wonders whether to break it off.

Sticking with Amazon means a simplified supply chain. The Fulfillment by Amazon program handles fast fulfillment and, with free shipping, the economics are quite favorable. Convenience cuts both ways, though: “If you buy from me on Amazon, I don’t have your email, and I can’t respond to feedback or create direct dialogue with you because Amazon owns the customer data,” Humpierres acknowledges. That might be fine if you’re selling widgets, but he envisions a brand with strong principles and potential product extensions that would justify the heavy investment necessary to build a brand outside of Amazon. The question is whether there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Should Humpierres risk leaving Amazon in order to retain more control of the brand and build something bigger? Or should he allow it to remain a nice, profitable Amazon play, albeit with limitations?

I’ve been in a similar situation, and I think there’s no wrong answer. I did both initially but pulled out of Amazon to build the brand on Shopify. Amazon is easier to execute (no third-party logistics, no customer service) with more limited upside (no chance of brand extension, no reselling to existing customers), but you have to pay for customer acquisition even inside Amazon. Shopify requires you to invest in many things beyond product development and inventory—like creating content, designing and building a brand identity, and customer acquisition.

If you are building a brand, my advice is to keep Amazon while you build out your Shopify ecosystem, and then make the move. It may not be relevant in your business but buying inventory can keep the supply chain happy, and you can learn what sells while organically building through Shopify and social channels with influencer gifting. Consider investing in a PR/marketing agency if you aren’t good at content curation and creation. Then, after you have a brand identity and foothold, you can also consider wholesale or consignment. The cost to acquire a customer today is so high that wholesale becomes attractive at some point, depending on your margins. Protect those, and you’ll have more options. Finally, selling on Shopify and Amazon is much more than twice the work. Choosing to do one or the other, or both, is also a lifestyle choice. — Sarah Ford (MBA 2007) , founder and CEO, Ranch Road Boots

Neutrall is a great idea, currently focused as a D2C venture using Amazon, social media, and other online marketing initiatives to build the business. After the pandemic, however, that’s an increasingly expensive and cluttered approach with diminishing returns. (There’s a joke among CMOs: Where’s the best place to bury a body? Answer: The second page of Amazon or Google results. Nobody goes there.) It’s also a high-maintenance approach for a small venture because it requires ongoing knowledge of the algorithms and demographics of multiple, changing social-media venues. (For instance, how many of us could spell TikTok correctly even two or three years ago?)

At this stage, Neutrall should choose the least expensive and time-consuming approach to minimize transaction costs. But to scale, the founders should start to develop B2B channel partnerships with, for example, eating establishments (there’s brand value for bars and restaurants to promote sustainable glassware to ESG-conscious patrons), gifting services (many now provide platforms where Neutrall can maintain its brand and get end-user data), and perhaps certain municipalities where Neutrall products could help lower growing recycling costs (start with Houston and Austin). Any sales to customers like that can also help Neutrall’s D2C efforts on its own website or on Amazon. — Frank Cespedes , MBA Class of 1973 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing

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Amazon.com (D)

• Format: Print
• | Pages: 12

About The Authors

Jeffrey F. Rayport

William A. Sahlman

More from the authors.

• March 2024 (Revised March 2024)
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Supercell: Clash of Plans, Restructuring the Mobile Game Development Company

• February 2024

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• November 2023

Khanmigo: Revolutionizing Learning with GenAI

• Supercell: Clash of Plans, Restructuring the Mobile Game Development Company  By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and George Gonzalez
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7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach—and Why

Explore more.

• Case Teaching
• Course Materials

FEATURED CASE STUDIES

The Army Crew Team . Emily Michelle David of CEIBS

ATH Technologies . Devin Shanthikumar of Paul Merage School of Business

Fabritek 1992 . Rob Austin of Ivey Business School

Lincoln Electric Co . Karin Schnarr of Wilfrid Laurier University

Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth . Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School

The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron . Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School

Warren E. Buffett, 2015 . Robert F. Bruner of Darden School of Business

To dig into what makes a compelling case study, we asked seven experienced educators who teach with—and many who write—business case studies: “What is your favorite case to teach and why?”

The resulting list of case study favorites ranges in topics from operations management and organizational structure to rebel leaders and whodunnit dramas.

1. The Army Crew Team

Emily Michelle David, Assistant Professor of Management, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

“I love teaching  The Army Crew Team  case because it beautifully demonstrates how a team can be so much less than the sum of its parts.

I deliver the case to executives in a nearby state-of-the-art rowing facility that features rowing machines, professional coaches, and shiny red eight-person shells.

After going through the case, they hear testimonies from former members of Chinese national crew teams before carrying their own boat to the river for a test race.

The rich learning environment helps to vividly underscore one of the case’s core messages: competition can be a double-edged sword if not properly managed.

Executives in Emily Michelle David’s organizational behavior class participate in rowing activities at a nearby facility as part of her case delivery.

Despite working for an elite headhunting firm, the executives in my most recent class were surprised to realize how much they’ve allowed their own team-building responsibilities to lapse. In the MBA pre-course, this case often leads to a rich discussion about common traps that newcomers fall into (for example, trying to do too much, too soon), which helps to poise them to both stand out in the MBA as well as prepare them for the lateral team building they will soon engage in.

Finally, I love that the post-script always gets a good laugh and serves as an early lesson that organizational behavior courses will seldom give you foolproof solutions for specific problems but will, instead, arm you with the ability to think through issues more critically.”

2. ATH Technologies

Devin Shanthikumar, Associate Professor of Accounting, Paul Merage School of Business

“As a professor at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, and before that at Harvard Business School, I have probably taught over 100 cases. I would like to say that my favorite case is my own,   Compass Box Whisky Company . But as fun as that case is, one case beats it:  ATH Technologies  by Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard.

ATH presents a young entrepreneurial company that is bought by a much larger company. As part of the merger, ATH gets an ‘earn-out’ deal—common among high-tech industries. The company, and the class, must decide what to do to achieve the stretch earn-out goals.

ATH captures a scenario we all want to be in at some point in our careers—being part of a young, exciting, growing organization. And a scenario we all will likely face—having stretch goals that seem almost unreachable.

It forces us, as a class, to really struggle with what to do at each stage.

After we read and discuss the A case, we find out what happens next, and discuss the B case, then the C, then D, and even E. At every stage, we can:

see how our decisions play out,

figure out how to build on our successes, and

address our failures.

The case is exciting, the class discussion is dynamic and energetic, and in the end, we all go home with a memorable ‘ah-ha!’ moment.

I have taught many great cases over my career, but none are quite as fun, memorable, and effective as ATH .”

3. Fabritek 1992

Rob Austin, Professor of Information Systems, Ivey Business School

“This might seem like an odd choice, but my favorite case to teach is an old operations case called  Fabritek 1992 .

The latest version of Fabritek 1992 is dated 2009, but it is my understanding that this is a rewrite of a case that is older (probably much older). There is a Fabritek 1969 in the HBP catalog—same basic case, older dates, and numbers. That 1969 version lists no authors, so I suspect the case goes even further back; the 1969 version is, I’m guessing, a rewrite of an even older version.

There are many things I appreciate about the case. Here are a few:

It operates as a learning opportunity at many levels. At first it looks like a not-very-glamorous production job scheduling case. By the end of the case discussion, though, we’re into (operations) strategy and more. It starts out technical, then explodes into much broader relevance. As I tell participants when I’m teaching HBP's Teaching with Cases seminars —where I often use Fabritek as an example—when people first encounter this case, they almost always underestimate it.

It has great characters—especially Arthur Moreno, who looks like a troublemaker, but who, discussion reveals, might just be the smartest guy in the factory. Alums of the Harvard MBA program have told me that they remember Arthur Moreno many years later.

Almost every word in the case is important. It’s only four and a half pages of text and three pages of exhibits. This economy of words and sparsity of style have always seemed like poetry to me. I should note that this super concise, every-word-matters approach is not the ideal we usually aspire to when we write cases. Often, we include extra or superfluous information because part of our teaching objective is to provide practice in separating what matters from what doesn’t in a case. Fabritek takes a different approach, though, which fits it well.

It has a dramatic structure. It unfolds like a detective story, a sort of whodunnit. Something is wrong. There is a quality problem, and we’re not sure who or what is responsible. One person, Arthur Moreno, looks very guilty (probably too obviously guilty), but as we dig into the situation, there are many more possibilities. We spend in-class time analyzing the data (there’s a bit of math, so it covers that base, too) to determine which hypotheses are best supported by the data. And, realistically, the data doesn’t support any of the hypotheses perfectly, just some of them more than others. Also, there’s a plot twist at the end (I won’t reveal it, but here’s a hint: Arthur Moreno isn’t nearly the biggest problem in the final analysis). I have had students tell me the surprising realization at the end of the discussion gives them ‘goosebumps.’

Finally, through the unexpected plot twist, it imparts what I call a ‘wisdom lesson’ to young managers: not to be too sure of themselves and to regard the experiences of others, especially experts out on the factory floor, with great seriousness.”

4. Lincoln Electric Co.

Karin Schnarr, Assistant Professor of Policy, Wilfrid Laurier University

“As a strategy professor, my favorite case to teach is the classic 1975 Harvard case  Lincoln Electric Co.  by Norman Berg.

I use it to demonstrate to students the theory linkage between strategy and organizational structure, management processes, and leadership behavior.

This case may be an odd choice for a favorite. It occurs decades before my students were born. It is pages longer than we are told students are now willing to read. It is about manufacturing arc welding equipment in Cleveland, Ohio—a hard sell for a Canadian business classroom.

Yet, I have never come across a case that so perfectly illustrates what I want students to learn about how a company can be designed from an organizational perspective to successfully implement its strategy.

And in a time where so much focus continues to be on how to maximize shareholder value, it is refreshing to be able to discuss a publicly-traded company that is successfully pursuing a strategy that provides a fair value to shareholders while distributing value to employees through a large bonus pool, as well as value to customers by continually lowering prices.

However, to make the case resonate with today’s students, I work to make it relevant to the contemporary business environment. I link the case to multimedia clips about Lincoln Electric’s current manufacturing practices, processes, and leadership practices. My students can then see that a model that has been in place for generations is still viable and highly successful, even in our very different competitive situation.”

5. Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

Gary Pisano, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach these days is  Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth .

I love teaching this case for three reasons:

1. It demonstrates how a company in a super-tough, highly competitive business can do very well by focusing on creating unique operating capabilities. In theory, Pal’s should have no chance against behemoths like McDonalds or Wendy’s—but it thrives because it has built a unique operating system. It’s a great example of a strategic approach to operations in action.

2. The case shows how a strategic approach to human resource and talent development at all levels really matters. This company competes in an industry not known for engaging its front-line workers. The case shows how engaging these workers can really pay off.

3. Finally, Pal’s is really unusual in its approach to growth. Most companies set growth goals (usually arbitrary ones) and then try to figure out how to ‘backfill’ the human resource and talent management gaps. They trust you can always find someone to do the job. Pal’s tackles the growth problem completely the other way around. They rigorously select and train their future managers. Only when they have a manager ready to take on their own store do they open a new one. They pace their growth off their capacity to develop talent. I find this really fascinating and so do the students I teach this case to.”

6. The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron

Francesca Gino, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach is  The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron .

The case surprises students because it is about a leader, known in the unit by the nickname Chaos , who inspired his squadron to be innovative and to change in a culture that is all about not rocking the boat, and where there is a deep sense that rules should simply be followed.

For years, I studied ‘rebels,’ people who do not accept the status quo; rather, they approach work with curiosity and produce positive change in their organizations. Chaos is a rebel leader who got the level of cultural change right. Many of the leaders I’ve met over the years complain about the ‘corporate culture,’ or at least point to clear weaknesses of it; but then they throw their hands up in the air and forget about changing what they can.

Chaos is different—he didn’t go after the ‘Air Force’ culture. That would be like boiling the ocean.

Instead, he focused on his unit of control and command: The 99th squadron. He focused on enabling that group to do what it needed to do within the confines of the bigger Air Force culture. In the process, he inspired everyone on his team to be the best they can be at work.

The case leaves the classroom buzzing and inspired to take action.”

7. Warren E. Buffett, 2015

Robert F. Bruner, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business

“I love teaching   Warren E. Buffett, 2015  because it energizes, exercises, and surprises students.

Buffett looms large in the business firmament and therefore attracts anyone who is eager to learn his secrets for successful investing. This generates the kind of energy that helps to break the ice among students and instructors early in a course and to lay the groundwork for good case discussion practices.

Studying Buffett’s approach to investing helps to introduce and exercise important themes that will resonate throughout a course. The case challenges students to define for themselves what it means to create value. The case discussion can easily be tailored for novices or for more advanced students.

Either way, this is not hero worship: The case affords a critical examination of the financial performance of Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, and reveals both triumphs and stumbles. Most importantly, students can critique the purported benefits of Buffett’s conglomeration strategy and the sustainability of his investment record as the size of the firm grows very large.

By the end of the class session, students seem surprised with what they have discovered. They buzz over the paradoxes in Buffett’s philosophy and performance record. And they come away with sober respect for Buffett’s acumen and for the challenges of creating value for investors.

Surely, such sobriety is a meta-message for any mastery of finance.”

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Emily Michelle David is an assistant professor of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Her current research focuses on discovering how to make workplaces more welcoming for people of all backgrounds and personality profiles to maximize performance and avoid employee burnout. David’s work has been published in a number of scholarly journals, and she has worked as an in-house researcher at both NASA and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Devin Shanthikumar  is an associate professor and the accounting area coordinator at UCI Paul Merage School of Business. She teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive-level courses in managerial accounting. Shanthikumar previously served on the faculty at Harvard Business School, where she taught both financial accounting and managerial accounting for MBAs, and wrote cases that are used in accounting courses across the country.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Karin Schnarr is an assistant professor of policy and the director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where she teaches strategic management at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Schnarr has published several award-winning and best-selling cases and regularly presents at international conferences on case writing and scholarship.

Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean of faculty development at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. Pisano is an expert in the fields of technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation, and competitive strategy. His research and consulting experience span a range of industries including aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, health care, nutrition, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Francesca Gino studies how people can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author, most recently, of  Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life . Gino regularly gives keynote speeches, delivers corporate training programs, and serves in advisory roles for firms and not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Robert F. Bruner is a university professor at the University of Virginia, distinguished professor of business administration, and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States, at INSEAD in France, and at IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management, and teaching. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management.

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