Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)最新文献

{"title":"Cost of the Cold Chain: Perishable Shipping Solutions","authors":"Timothy M. Laseter, Ryan Ritchie","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3713327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3713327","url":null,"abstract":"As he closed the books on September 2020, Mark Nelson breathed a sigh of relief. He and his business partners had just successfully raised $8.7 million of capital for their business venture, Perishable Shipping Solutions (PSS). The company had only recently seen its first month of profitability, and the cash infusion was crucial. Nelson had his sights set on $80 million of revenue in the next year. The future looked bright for the small, Ohio-based e-commerce fulfillment company specializing in the “cold chain.” PSS had seen an explosion of growth in direct-to-consumer shipments of specialty foods offered by its 70 clients. Shipment volume had exceeded 56,000 orders the prior month, and while utilization at its current storage facilities was low, Nelson knew the company would need to build new facilities and capabilities to reach the $80 million target he had projected for investors. Even without a capacity constraint, he knew that shipping costs, which exceeded $13 per order, were a major cost element for end-customers. PSS charged almost $30 per order shipped, but Nelson expected pricing pressures would increase over time unless PSS could find another basis of competitive advantage. Accordingly, he and his team were considering several expansion options, which the new capital could fuel. His concerns were: Which expansion option would best position the company for growth? And how much cost improvement could be expected? \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-OM-1700 \u0000Oct. 9, 2020 \u0000Cost of the Cold Chain: Perishable Shipping Solutions \u0000As he closed the books on September 2020, Mark Nelson breathed a sigh of relief. He and his business partners, Danny Catullo and Ruben Garcia, had just successfully raised $ 8.7 million of capital for their business venture, Perishable Shipping Solutions (PSS). The company had only recently seen its first month of profitability. The cash infusion was crucial. Nelson had high hopes for rapid growth, with his sights set on $ 80 million of revenue in the next year. The future looked bright for the small, Ohio-based e-commerce fulfillment company specializing in the “cold chain.” PSS had seen an explosion of growth in direct-to-consumer shipments of ice cream, meat, cheese, and other specialty foods offered by its 70 clients. Shipment volume had exceeded 56,000 orders the prior month (Exhibit1), and while utilization at its current storage facilities was low, Nelson knew the company would need to build new facilities and capabilities to reach the $ 80million target he had projected for investors. Even without a capacity constraint, he knew that shipping costs, which exceeded $ 13 per order, were a major cost element for end-customers. PSS charged almost $ 30 per order shipped, but Nelson expected pricing pressures would increase over time unless PSS could find another basis of competitive advantage. Accordingly, he and his team were considering several expansion options, which the new capital could fuel. His concerns were: Which expansion opt","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128948389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"WillowTree: Project Driven with a Product Mindset","authors":"R. Nelson, Ryan T. Wright","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3713329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3713329","url":null,"abstract":"WillowTree began as a small digital products company in 2007. By 2020, it had more than 500 full-time team members operating out of offices in four locations, and it had launched hundreds of digital products, including mobile apps, websites, voice assistants, and TV experiences. But also in 2020, WillowTree was facing the most significant challenge in its 12 years of corporate existence—a global pandemic.By analyzing how WillowTree blends project and product management, students will gain insights into how a digital products services company integrates a product mindset within contract-based projects, and get the opportunity to brainstorm how WillowTree can further adapt to provide a unique value proposition during the pandemic and beyond. \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-S-0338 \u0000Oct. 2, 2020 \u0000WillowTree: Project Driven with a Product Mindset \u0000Introduction \u0000WillowTree began as a small digital products start-up company based in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2007. By 2020, WillowTree's more than 500 full-time team members had launched hundreds of digital products, including mobile apps, websites, voice assistants, and TV experiences. As WillowTree's website stated: \u0000We are driven by a simple goal: amaze our clients by delivering high quality digital products that solve their business needs, and ensuring our projects run smoothly, strategically and predictably. We not only create great products, we help our clients answer the strategic questions around what to build, and in what order. \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127113500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alisha Bhandari and Laxar Industries","authors":"B. Parmar, Jenny Mead","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3705719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3705719","url":null,"abstract":"Alisha Bhandari, vice president of operations at a successful and well-respected global supplier of paints, coatings, specialty materials, and optical products, had watched during her ten years at the company a subtle disintegration of workplace culture. Her own observations, coupled with a recent employee survey, had revealed an overall mindset of complacency, lack of motivation, inflexibility, and a general malaise and unwillingness to be flexible to new ideas in the company. Some managers admitted to being fearful of suggesting changes and a distaste for deviating from the normal routine or even considering embracing anything innovative. Bhandari had also noticed greater stress and tension in various departments, and believed that this was already affecting company performance. She worried that the more motivated employees might be lured away by competitors and general malaise would grow larger and more problematic. For the sake of workplace efficiency, employee mental health, and the future success of the company, Bhandari knew that things needed to change, but she was uncertain what steps to take and strategies to put into place. \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-E-0466 \u0000Sept. 29, 2020 \u0000Alisha Bhandari and Laxar Industries \u0000Despite the sunny late-May afternoon, Alisha Bhandari left her office with a nagging headache. Vice president of operations at Laxar Industries (Laxar)—a global supplier of paints, coatings, specialty materials, and optical products—she had an all-day meeting the next day with senior management to discuss declining morale and attitudes at the company. In an effort to take the workplace temperature, the company had conducted an anonymous survey of its 1,000-plus managers the past fall, in 2018, and the recently reported results had been less than stellar. The overall mindset revealed in the survey results was one of complacency, lack of motivation, inflexibility, and a general malaise and unwillingness to be flexible to new ideas. Some managers admitted to being fearful of suggesting changes and a distaste for deviating from the normal routine or even considering embracing anything innovative. \u0000Bhandari was not surprised. She had been with Laxar for 10 years, rising through the ranks, and had watched a subtle disintegration of the culture in that time. There was tension in many of the departments, resentments over lack of promotion or opportunity, and a general listlessness that she thought would ultimately harm the company. Several talented executives had left, citing an increasingly moribund workplace and work ethic, and had gone to Laxar's competitors. The company CEO had tasked Bhandari with leading a group of senior management members to come up with ways to address the negative mindset and growing lack of motivation that seemed to pervade management at Laxar. While Bhandari remembered, when she first joined the company, that there were a few unmotivated managers, it was nothing like it apparently was now. She had noticed greater stress ","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"101 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115164322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Acting and Speaking with Power: Oliver North and the Iran–Contra Deal—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly","authors":"Peter Belmi, Gerry Yemen","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3705725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3705725","url":null,"abstract":"How leaders behave in difficult situations are an important part of controlling their narrative. This public-sourced case provides students an opportunity to examine how one leader behaves while under scrutiny. The material presents a short history of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver \"Ollie\" North, a US national security adviser under US President Ronald Reagan. North testified before Congress, and an analysis of his testimonies provides an opportunity to view how he conducted himself under pressure. This case is meant to be paired with another case presenting the story of the former president of Stanford University, Donald Kennedy, who was accused of overbilling the government for indirect costs on research contracts: \"Acting and Speaking with Power: Donald Kennedy and Stanford Accounting—Indirectly Accused?\" (UVA-OB-1338). Used together, the cases present an opportunity to compare two very different approaches to speaking and acting with power. \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-OB-1337 \u0000Sept. 23, 2020 \u0000Acting and Speaking with Power: \u0000Oliver North and the Iran–Contra Deal—the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly \u0000From the command-and-control environment that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North had worked within the United States Marine Corps to the covert operations he ran through the National Security Council in the mid-1980s, North would withhold information, create his own airline delivery service, set up operations with a shell company to exchange money, arrange for missiles to be delivered to Iran, and provide money to rebels known as Contras fighting their government in Nicaragua—all against the explicit laws of Congress, but with his boss's knowledge. When the whole affair unraveled, North was to appear in front of a joint congressional hearing in July 1987 to answer questions and reveal details about his role in what had become a public and international affair. While preparing for the hearing, North had several decisions to make about how he would present himself during the hearing. One thing was a certainty: he would be sure to show up looking sharp in his Marine Corps uniform. \u0000The Contras \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117264181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Siemens and Healthineers: Valuing the IPO","authors":"Robert S. Harris, P. Holtz","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3697552","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3697552","url":null,"abstract":"This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens AG subsidiary Healthineers. The case offers the opportunity to discuss IPOs and to value the company. In contrast to \"Healthineers: A Strategic IPO\" (UVA-F-1881), which provides some base case valuation analysis, this version of the case is designed to be used when a primary teaching objective is to have students perform more of the analysis. The material is set in 2018, when CEO Joe Kaeser and the management board of Siemens planned an IPO of its Healthineers subsidiary to support the company's continued success and spur entrepreneurial independence. The IPO would position Healthineers to compete successfully in the global health care market, which was quite different from other sectors in which Siemens, a global technology conglomerate, operated. While Siemens would maintain a substantial equity interest, Healthineers would become a separate public company with increased flexibility and autonomy. In the immediate term, the management team was especially interested in what value financial markets would place on Healthineers once it was a public company. \u0000 \u0000Excerpt \u0000 \u0000UVA-F-1913 \u0000 \u0000Rev. Feb. 24, 2020 \u0000 \u0000Siemens and Healthineers: Valuing the IPO \u0000 \u0000By early March 2018, CEO Joe Kaeser and the management board of Siemens AG (Siemens) had been focused on the progress of its Healthineers subsidiary for several years. Management planned an initial public offering (IPO) of Healthineers in mid-March to support the company's continued success and spur entrepreneurial independence. The IPO would position Healthineers to compete successfully in the global health care market, which was quite different from other sectors in which Siemens—a global technology conglomerate—operated (see Exhibit 1). Though Siemens would maintain a substantial equity interest, Healthineers would become a separate public company with increased flexibility and autonomy. \u0000 \u0000Because Siemens would be a long-term shareholder, Kaeser and the board had a keen interest in Healthineers's strategy and performance. Would the company continue to drive profitable growth in the short term? Tap into adjacent growth markets in the medium term? Be a market leader in health care? In the immediate term, the board was especially interested in what value financial markets would place on Healthineers once it was a public company. \u0000 \u0000Siemens Healthineers AG \u0000 \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129372630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Johnson Lumber: Bet on the Upside or Avoid the Downside?","authors":"Brad Rourke, G. Fairchild","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3687484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3687484","url":null,"abstract":"James Baker is general manager of a large lumber mill in rural Virginia, Johnson Lumber. While on a business trip with the owner (the founder's grandson) and the owner's son, he receives the news that the company's planing mill has caught fire and is burning down. Baker, the owner, and the owner's son must decide what to do in the wake of losing the planing mill. Choices include rebuilding, seeking partnerships with other mills to use their facilities to fulfill existing business, or possibly closing shop and simply taking current profits. If they rebuild, Johnson Lumber will have to shut down for a year, risking the loss of customers and putting several people from the struggling community around the mill out of a job. If Johnson Lumber closes entirely, it will put its workers in an even worse position. But would it be feasible to use other mills' facilities? What if the other mills turned them down? On top of everything, the owner and his son have differences in their attitudes about and goals for the business. Baker must consider the options carefully and balance the pressure to please both the current and future owners of Johnson Lumber with what would be best for the business and the local community whose families it helped support. \u0000 \u0000Excerpt \u0000 \u0000UVA-ENT-0196 \u0000 \u0000Rev. Feb. 18, 2020 \u0000 \u0000Johnson Lumber: Bet on the Upside or Avoid the Downside? \u0000 \u0000Friday, March 9, 2006 \u0000 \u0000The ringer on James Baker's phone seemed overly loud. Perhaps that was because it was 4:00 a.m., and he was in a hotel room on a business trip. It was never good news when the phone rang at that hour. \u0000 \u0000This case was no exception. It was Janet McAleer, the security guard at Johnson Lumber's planing mill facility in Ladysmith, Virginia. “The mill has smoke in it,” she said. A fire in a lumber mill, which was by definition filled with fuel, was to be taken seriously. \u0000 \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127826857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the Impact of Executive Education","authors":"Mark E. Haskins","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3669530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3669530","url":null,"abstract":"Harry Miller, the new CEO of a large and growing multinational transportation and logistics company, has asked Allison Freeman, his CHRO, to brief him on the impact that their off-site custom executive education program has had. In turn, the CHRO has enlisted Jack Drake, the program's faculty leader, to collaborate with her in responding to the CEO's request. Students are asked to step into the role of the faculty leader, who has formulated a general framework to do so, and must fill the framework with as many potential ideas regarding the impact as possible. \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-G-0650 \u0000Aug. 5, 2020 \u0000Assessing the Impact of Executive Education \u0000Introduction \u0000Jack Drake, a senior faculty member at the Gail Palmer Ashton Graduate School of Business and a frequent executive education custom program faculty leader for the school, distractedly looked at the caller ID and picked up his phone on the fifth ring. “Allison, hi, how are you?” Drake asked as his attention immediately shifted to Allison Freeman, CHRO at one of the school's largest executive education corporate clients, on the other end of the line. “I hope you are doing well and finding time to enjoy the arrival of spring,” Drake sincerely stated. \u0000“Hi, Jack, I'm glad that I caught you in the office, and yes, I had my first spring mountain biking trek this past weekend, and it felt really good to be out in the hills and woods. It even feels great today to have sore legs and arms from the pounding they took on those rugged trails.” \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128096072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Divestment as an ESG Tool: Calpers and Tobacco Stocks (A)","authors":"R. Evans, Gerry Yemen, Michael J. Kellett","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3626119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3626119","url":null,"abstract":"This case uses the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to set the stage for unfolding an analysis of economics and values in the decision to divest tobacco stocks and bonds from the internally managed portion of the CalPERS portfolio. Written from public sources, it offers a discussion about fiduciary responsibility for long-term retirement security and investment policies around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for the public pension fund. The material includes financial data that further allows calculations and discussion on tobacco investments outperforming the broader market. This A case opens with the CalPERS investment committee having made a decision to recommend removing tobacco investment restrictions. The CIO reflects on whether supporting investment in tobacco firms conflicts with CalPERS's member health and health care mission. Did supporting continued divestment mean CalPERS was putting its own social priority and ideals ahead of its clients' investment goals? The case data should lead most to conclude the fund was breaching its fiduciary duty. \u0000Excerpt \u0000UVA-F-1948 \u0000Jun. 4, 2020 \u0000Divestment as an ESG Tool: CalPERS and Tobacco Stocks (A) \u0000As he prepared for the December 2016 Investment Committee meeting, Ted Eliopoulos was conflicted. As the chief investment officer (CIO) of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), he oversaw an investment office of over 300 employees and was responsible for investment policies, risk management, corporate governance standards, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for the public pension fund. At a time when some worried that the rising numbers of California retirees put significant burdens on pension funds, Eliopoulos was under pressure to shore up long-term retirement security while also staying true to the state's ESG principles. He knew this would require some difficult decisions. \u0000California's promise to pay pension benefits in future decades entailed a fiduciary obligation to ensure that as market conditions changed, the balance between risk and return on CalPERS's investments was appropriate. In 2014, CalPERS had initiated an investment strategy review under the Policy Revision Project, and by the spring of 2016, this had led the investment committee to revisit the organization's restrictions around tobacco investments. Over 15 years earlier, tobacco stocks and bonds had been divested from the internally managed portion of the CalPERS portfolio, though they were still permitted in externally managed portfolios. The belief at the time was that the tobacco industry would not survive the heavy regulation headed its way, nor would it recover from the immense litigation against tobacco companies. Despite these threats, by 2016 the tobacco industry had outperformed the broader market substantially, with significant cumulative returns. \u0000Outside observers had wondered if the tobacco divestment had been a breach of CalPE","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130661088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Best Self or Best Company? Peloton Searches for a Voice","authors":"M. Murray","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3682608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3682608","url":null,"abstract":"Peloton had redefined many things about the boutique exercise experience, bringing it into members' homes and eliminating per-class fees of roughly $34, instead charging $40 per month. Rather than chatting with a pal beside the gym locker for a few moments before class, customers had Peloton's online community of hundreds of thousands of people who interacted with one another digitally throughout the day. The instructors themselves were part of Peloton's cult following. They were expected to lead and inspire, not just teach a class, and each had a large social media following and minor celebrity status. The company was poised for an IPO in 2019 by identifying a new opportunity in a constantly evolving fitness space, by defining its business broadly, and by capitalizing upon the energy of celebrity and personality that online communities could bring to a brand. But how could a business built on a social community pivot to a position in the public marketplace? \u0000 \u0000Excerpt \u0000 \u0000UVA-M-0977 \u0000 \u0000Oct. 29, 2019 \u0000 \u0000Best Self or Best Company? Peloton Searches for a Voice \u0000 \u0000Cycle with a DJ \u0000 \u0000It wasn't often that a fitness club could justify the hassle and expense of hosting a class with a live DJ. But by spring 2019, it had become a core element of Peloton's cycling studio, with riders relying upon the energy of a DJ's music two-and-a-half times every month, on average. Peloton had redefined many things about the boutique exercise experience, bringing it into members' homes and eliminating the per-charge class fee of roughly $ 34 to instead charge $ 40 per month. Unlike common rhythm-based classes, Peloton used metrics to drive motivation at any given moment. Rather than require customers to get to a particular studio at a specific time to join 30 other acquaintances, they could select from a library of thousands of classes at any time. Yet these customers didn't miss out on socializing with their friends by exercising at home. Rather than chatting with a pal beside the gym locker for a few moments before class, customers had an online community, created by Peloton, of hundreds of thousands of people who interacted with one another digitally throughout the day. \u0000 \u0000Cofounder and CEO John Foley encountered difficulties in creating a business model, raising capital, and designing a product—difficulties shared by many start-ups. But Peloton evolved from a struggling idea in 2012 to a company valued at over $ 4 billion that was poised for an initial public offering (IPO) by spring 2019. It did so by identifying a new opportunity in a constantly evolving fitness space, by defining its business broadly, and by capitalizing upon the energy of celebrity and personality that online communities could bring to a brand. \u0000 \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116414201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bob's Baloney","authors":"Michael J. Schill","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3682598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3682598","url":null,"abstract":"This case examines the financial performance of Bob's Baloney, a leader in the ultrapremium bologna market. While the business appears to be doing well with respect to most of its stakeholders, its largest equity investor has recently expressed strong dissatisfaction with the company's financial performance. Students are invited to examine the financial statements and ratios associated with the business to understand the source of the underperformance and to provide recommendations for business policy changes. \u0000 \u0000Excerpt \u0000 \u0000UVA-F-1942 \u0000 \u0000Mar. 18, 2020 \u0000 \u0000Bob's Baloney \u0000 \u0000Upon entering the executive conference room in early 2021, Amanda Spangler had to pinch herself to be sure that she was really in an executive meeting at headquarters. After completing an MBA degree, Spangler had landed her dream job as a lead manager at one of the premier brands in the American food industry, Bob's Baloney (Bob's). \u0000 \u0000Spangler's first months on the job had been all that she had hoped. She had wrestled with important business decisions, experienced the genius of some favorite foody legends, witnessed the drama of marketing a true premium brand, and even hobnobbed with several celebrities. It had been truly amazing. But her biggest surprise was what was going on right then in the conference room. It was clear that things were not well at Bob's. \u0000 \u0000The Company \u0000 \u0000. . .","PeriodicalId":121773,"journal":{"name":"Darden Case: Business Communications (Topic)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129635183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}