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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2017 (Revised January 2019)

  In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (A)

  Andy Zelleke and Brian Tilley

  By late 2016 and early 2017, Lotte Group, a South Korean chaebol (large family-controlled business group) had become embroiled not only in the domestic political turmoil surrounding President Park Geun-hye, but also—uncomfortably—in a four-country geopolitical storm. Amid rising tensions with North Korea, the South Korean government had agreed to deploy a U.S.-built anti-missile defense system known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). The THAAD deployment had been strongly advocated for by Washington, Seoul’s treaty ally, and equally vehemently opposed by China—South Korea’s giant neighbor, with which Seoul had developed close economic ties and, in recent years, much improved political relations. In late 2016, the Park government decided that THAAD should initially be deployed on a particular property then in use as a privately owned golf course. The golf course’s owner happened to be Lotte Group. The case highlights the multifaceted, complex decision facing Lotte Group’s leadership: how to respond to the Park government’s national security-based request to transfer the land, while also taking into account China’s outspoken opposition to THAAD—seen in Beijing as impairing China’s own national security. As of 2016, Lotte Group had extensive operations, and even bigger aspirations, in the massive China market. As Lotte Group’s leadership grappled with its imminent decision at the end of 2016 and into 2017, the costs of defying Beijing were becoming more apparent, with the Group’s Chinese supermarkets hit by consumer boycotts and a raft of citations by Chinese authorities for fire code and other infractions.

  Keywords: corporate social responsibility; politics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; National Security; International Relations; Decision Making; Government and Politics; Leadership; South Korea; China; Japan;

  Citation:

  Zelleke, Andy, and Brian Tilley. "In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (A)." Harvard Business School Case 318-022, December 2017. (Revised January 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018

  Recipe for Success: Growth and Evolution at Cafe Cupcake

  Anthony Mayo and Heather Beckham

  Café Cupcake (CC) is a fast-casual restaurant chain that offers artisan cupcakes and light fare throughout the southeastern United States and Texas. This case chronicles the growth and evolution of Café Cupcake. It also considers the specific human resource challenges the company's leaders face at the end of the case as they attempt to scale CC's business concept. By 2018, Café Cupcake had achieved several significant milestones. It operated 35 cafés with almost 700 employees. Its unique restaurant concept and distinctive cupcakes fueled rapid growth, which led to a more complex, vertically integrated organization. The original founding team of Emma Bisset and Aneisha Davis recently added Dr. Jonathan Patel, an expert in organizational behavior and human-resource management, who turned down a partnership offer at a leading consulting firm to become Café Cupcake's chief operating officer. The case looks at the organization from the partners' point of view. Anticipating continued rapid growth, the partners question how Café Cupcake should respond to strategic, human resource, and organizational challenges that lie ahead. What will best position the company for future success? What organizational practices should the partners sustain, drop, or add to enable this success? The Café Cupcake case highlights the organizational challenges that companies face as they grow and evolve. It can be used in an introductory undergraduate or MBA course to illustrate how to manage organizational change and scale new ventures. It is also appropriate for advanced electives in Organizational Behavior, Leading Change, Strategic Human Resource Management, and Entrepreneurial Management or in an Executive MBA program.

  Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Human Resources; Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry;

  Citation:

  Mayo, Anthony, and Heather Beckham. "Recipe for Success: Growth and Evolution at Cafe Cupcake." Harvard Business School Brief Case 919-509, October 2018.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | October 2018

  Recipe for Success: Growth and Evolution at Cafe Cupcake (Brief Case)

  Anthony Mayo and Heather Beckham

  Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-509.

  Citation:

  Mayo, Anthony, and Heather Beckham. "Recipe for Success: Growth and Evolution at Cafe Cupcake (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 919-510, October 2018.  View Details

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