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

  FJ Management Inc.

  Lynda M. Applegate and Matthew G. Preble

  In late 2015, Crystal Call Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, is working with her investment committee to help set the company’s strategic direction. Maggelet, daughter of the company’s founder, has led FJ Management since 2009 when she stepped in as CEO following an unexpected bankruptcy. At that time, FJ Management was known as Flying J. Flying J owned and operated hundreds of truck stops—which it called Travel Plazas—nationwide and was a growing multi-billion dollar business, but broader problems in the oil and credit markets in late 2008 forced it to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maggelet, who had been serving on Flying J’s board, became its new CEO and was able to successfully manage competing stakeholder demands, keep the business running, and ultimately paid back every dollar it owed to its creditors by selling the company’s core assets—its travel plazas—to its main competitor in 2010. Since that time, the company had returned to a healthy financial position, diversified its holdings, and made investments in diverse industries to determine how to grow the company, since renamed FJ Management. In 2015, Maggelet now wants to set a clear path forward for the company.

  Keywords: turnaround; family business; transformation; Volatility; change management; entrepreneurship; ethics; moral sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Cash flow; insolvency and bankruptcy; financial liquidity; financial management; governance; corporate governance; governance controls; company history; leadership; leading change; crisis management; negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; family ownership; business and stakeholder relations; Business Strategy; Family Business; Transformation; Volatility; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Cash Flow; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Governance; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Leadership; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Family Ownership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Travel Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Utah;

  Citation:

  Applegate, Lynda M., and Matthew G. Preble. "FJ Management Inc." Harvard Business School Case 818-028, September 2017. (Revised January 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018 (Revised December 2018)

  Endeavor Turns 20

  Lynda M. Applegate

  Citation:

  Applegate, Lynda M. "Endeavor Turns 20." Harvard Business School Case 819-056, October 2018. (Revised December 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2017 (Revised July 2018)

  Entrepreneurship for All

  Lynda M. Applegate and Julia Kelley

  Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) is a Lowell, Massachusetts–based nonprofit that hosts business accelerators for entrepreneurs in underserved communities. By mid-2017, EforAll has five office locations in Massachusetts, and its leadership and the Board of Directors must decide whether EforAll is ready to open its first out-of-state office. Students are asked to consider a variety of factors—including funding, hiring, population demographics, and distance from Massachusetts—to determine whether EforAll has the capacity to expand, and if so, which new city it should expand to first.

  Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions;

  Citation:

  Applegate, Lynda M., and Julia Kelley. "Entrepreneurship for All." Harvard Business School Case 818-007, July 2017. (Revised July 2018.)  View Details

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