Cold Call

In his case, “JUUL and the Vaping Revolution” (co-authors: John Masko and Sarah Mehta), Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel discusses the controversy surrounding the exponential growth of JUUL Labs in 2018, in particular the success of its e-cigarettes with teenage high school students who had never smoked. The company’s success had thrust it into the spotlight, with some advocacy groups and public policy makers speculating that the company had purposefully marketed its products to minors — an allegation JUUL Labs’s executives strongly denied. The company now faced an FDA probe and investigations by at least two state attorney generals. It needed a strategy to deal with its mounting regulatory and public relations problems.

Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones, an expert in business history, discusses the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 in a U.S.-backed coup in support of the United Fruit Co. (now Chiquita Brands International). Jones examines the impact and role of the company in the Guatemalan economy in his case, “The Octopus and the Generals: The United Fruit Company in Guatemala” (co-author: Marcelo Bucheli).

Stephane Kasriel, the CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, considers different pricing solutions and ways to improve the matching process as part of a business model redesign. Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie discusses his case, “Upwork: Creating the Human Cloud” and is joined by Michael Cusumano of MIT Sloan School. Along with Annabelle Gawer, they co-authored the book, The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power.

Khan Academy is an online global education nonprofit launched in 2006 by Sal Khan with the mission to “provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” After a dozen years, expansion into 40 class subjects, and more than 15 million monthly visitors from 190 countries, Ginny Lee (formerly of Intuit), joins the company to help balance Sal Khan’s aspirational vision with the company’s short-term need for greater focus and prioritization. Harvard Business School professor Bill Sahlman discusses collaboration, balance, and tradeoffs in his case, “Khan Academy 2018.”

Israel celebrated its 70th anniversary in May of 2018, but its brand image internationally was less than ideal. Market research revealed that many people associated Israel only with military conflict. Harvard Business School professor Elie Ofek discusses efforts to rebrand the country, and whether these efforts to shift perceptions are starting to show success, in his case: “Israel at 70: Is it Possible to (re)Brand a Country?”

Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta explores the infiltration of Amazon into dozens of industries including web services, grocery, online video streaming, content creation and, oh, did we mention physical bookstores? What’s the big plan? Is the company spread too thin, or poised for astronomical success? Learn more about this discussion in his case, “Amazon 2019.”

Challenges related to managing religion in the workplace are on the rise, as are religious discrimination claims and monetary settlements, in the United States and around the world. Harvard Business School professor and director of the Forum for Growth & Innovation, Derek van Bever discusses two examples that made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court in his case, “Managing Religion in the Workplace: Abercrombie & Fitch and Masterpiece Cakeshop.”

For listeners interested in more detail about these Supreme Court cases:

Editor’s note: This episode was updated May 21, 2019.

Toronto is experimenting with smart city concepts envisioned by Google spin-off Sidewalk Labs. Harvard Business School professors Leslie John and Mitch Weiss discuss the tradeoffs of using technology to improve modern city life at potential costs to digital privacy from their case, “Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up.” Is it worth it?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a “crucible moment,” a point in his life that would test him and potentially shape him as a leader, in March 2018 when it was discovered that Cambridge Analytica had accessed data from 87 million Facebook accounts. Harvard Business School professor, and former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, Bill George discusses his case, “Facebook Confronts a Crisis of Trust” — why Zuckerberg handled the crisis as he did, the importance of earning and keeping user trust, the role of companies in protecting privacy, and the pros and cons of regulation.

Fishbowl’s founders have built a social media platform allowing professionals to connect anonymously and with candor within their companies and industry. But the app is still largely limited to the consulting industry. Can they extend the app into other sectors? What’s the winning business model? Will adding employers to the mix pay off or kill the value? Harvard Business School professor Leslie John discusses her case study exploring the boundaries of social media and personal privacy, entitled “Fishbowl.”