The chief financial officer (CFO) of AngloGold Ashanti Limited (AngloGold Ashanti), one of the world’s largest gold mining companies, had for one year served as the company’s interim chief executive officer (CEO). In the summer of 2021, she accepted an invitation to speak at a luncheon for young female business leaders in the mining industry prior to learning of the unsuccessful outcome of her attempt to secure the permanent CEO position. The company .....more

Teaching note for product W27812.

In early 2021, McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) agreed to pay US$573 million to end US state-level investigations into claims that it had helped exacerbate the global opioid crisis. Tom Peters, an influential and highly respected management guru, was upset by how far his former employer had been willing to go in helping US drug maker Purdue Pharma LP increase sales of OxyContin, a narcotic-based painkiller that helped drive an opioid epidemic responsible .....more

Teaching note for product W27694.

Perfect Day was a rising cellular agriculture company specializing in lab-based milk. Its founders had created and patented a formula for an ingredient that could produce authentic-tasting non-dairy products. At the beginning of 2020, the US-based firm received US$140 million in funding, and the founders had to navigate a complex operating and stakeholder environment to map out a growth strategy. The complex situation required them to answer related .....more

Boursify, a young start-up based in Montreal, Quebec, developed stock market simulation software based on fictitious, custom-designed scenarios. It based its simulations on an event-driven format, which differentiated its software from standard stock market simulation software, but required specific logistics for its implementation. The start-up made technological investments in its platform and carried out simulations for several segments, including .....more

Teaching note for product W25123.

The exercise directs students to watch specific scenes from the movie Hidden Figures, which is loosely based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the story of three African American women who were mathematicians working at the Langley Research Center in Virginia in the 1960s. The women encountered racism and sexism as they attempted to contribute to the Center’s work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its space .....more

Teaching Note for product W25262.

In January 2019, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the French air transport group Air France–KLM SA (Air France–KLM) was tasked with developing the firm’s vision for the upcoming meeting of the board of directors. Faced with several challenges, such as low profitability, falling prices, and increasing competition, Air France–KLM had gone from leading the European market in 2004 to fourth position in 2019. At the same time, the European air transport .....more