Cold Call

Not many Chinese companies open manufacturing facilities in the U.S., but automotive glass maker Fuyao is considering just that. Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih examines the factors that go into deciding where companies should locate production facilities. The case, “Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision,” focuses on the world’s second largest automotive glass producer as it expands from China into the U.S. and explores a core question facing managers who want to produce physical products for world markets. To meet a very aggressive cost target, management is faced with two options: fulfilling its contract with its new Ohio factory or its factory based out of Tianjin, China. Unlike the Ohio factory, the Chinese factory produces below the cost target, but it also incurs extensive shipping costs and requires a far greater amount of inventory holding.

Harvard Business School professors Ethan Rouen and Charlie Wang explore whether capitalism is broken and if JUST Capital’s performance evaluation rubric and strategies for exerting influence are likely to be effective in improving corporate behavior. Their case is titled, “Measuring Impact at JUST Capital.”

Mexican convenience store chain OXXO dominated its market — until its chief rival doubled in size almost overnight. Harvard Business School professor Tatiana Sandino discusses how CEO Eduardo Padilla responded by creating an agile organization based on a team culture and strong management systems in her case, “OXXO’s Turf War Against Extra.”

Should large institutional investors divest or engage if they have an issue with a company? Harvard Business School professor Vikram Gandhi discusses why and how CalSTRS, the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers, chooses to engage with gun makers and retailers in California in his case, “CalSTRS Takes on Gun Violence.”

Harvard Business School professor Geoff Jones discusses his case, “Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany,” which explores the options and responsibilities of multinationals with investments in politically reprehensible regimes. The case considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937, and opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company in 1922 and, like other American companies, found itself operating after 1933 in a country whose government violently suppressed political dissent and engaged in intimidation and discrimination against Jews.

In 2014, Neel Ghose (MBA 2019) created The Robin Hood Army, an organization entirely based on volunteer work that used food redistribution as a medium to bring out the best in humanity. By the end of 2018, the Robin Hood Army was present in twelve countries, was serving over 500,000 meals per month, and had helped more than 750 children enroll in public schools. All of it without raising a single rupee, in line with their “golden rule” of being a zero-funds organization. Harvard Business School’s Susanna Gallani and Ghose discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with fast growth and international expansion of a startup that operates with no monetary assets, including how to attract, retain, and motivate workers.

Launched in the midst of the financial crisis in 2009, Goldman Sachs’ “10,000 Small Businesses” program provided free business education, a network of support, and access to capital for small businesses across the United States. The company committed $500 million to fund the program and nine years later had graduated 7,300 participants, just shy of its goal. Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger discusses the success, impact, and future of the program in his case, “Goldman Sachs: The 10,000 Small Businesses Program.”

Harvard Business School professors John Deighton and Jeffrey Rayport discuss their case, “Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup,” and how two former public radio producers launch a podcast network, entering the last frontier of digital media. Can they turn a content supplier into a disruptive platform?

Children’s Hospital & Clinics COO Julie Morath sets out to change the culture there by instituting “Blameless Reporting,” a policy which mandates that employees report anything that goes wrong or seems substandard without fear of reprisal for the act of reporting. Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson discusses getting an organization into the “High Performance Zone” by creating an environment of psychological safety and high accountability in her case, “Children’s Hospital & Clinics.”

Stefan Thomke, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on business experimentation, explores the innovative mindset at Booking.com. He reveals how traditional intuition can hinder innovation, advocating for a culture of experimentation and learning from failure. The discussion covers bold redesign experiments that echo Google’s simplicity and emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making. Thomke illustrates how constant testing and decentralized employee-driven experiments can drive success in the competitive online travel market.