Best Buy: Renew Blue (A)

Preabstract: The A Video Case should be assigned to students in advance of class. The B case is intended to be used in class by educators and the C case can be assigned to students during or after class. The product is designed as a low-prep case for students, with much of the case designed to be shared during class by faculty using the B Case interface.

Abstract: This video case features the history and development of Best Buy as a company looking for leadership. In summer 2012, Best Buy was the largest consumer electronics retailer in the world, with about 1,400 locations in the United States alone. Yet in 2011, comparable-store sales had fallen for the third year in a row, and Best Buy had lost $1.7 billion in Q4 during the critical holiday season. An executive search firm eventually reached out to Hubert Joly, a Frenchman and CEO of another Minnesota-based company and asked him if he would be interested in becoming chief executive of the ailing consumer electronics giant. Faculty can open class by asking students if Hubert should accept the offer and then play the first video to learn about how and what he decided. Subsequent videos detail the steps Joly took to turn the company around.