Case Study: The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Uber’s Founder Travis Kalanick

Travis Kalanick is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder of Uber Technologies Inc., a ride-hailing company that revolutionized the transportation industry. He was born on August 6, 1976, in Los Angeles, California. Kalanick grew up in a middle-class family and showed an early interest in entrepreneurship.

Kalanick attended the University of California, Los Angeles, but dropped out before completing his degree to pursue his entrepreneurial ventures. He co-founded his first startup, Scour, a peer-to-peer file-sharing company, in 1998. However, Scour faced significant legal challenges related to copyright infringement and was eventually forced to file for bankruptcy.

Kalanick went on to found several other startups, including Red Swoosh, a content delivery network, and Uber, which he co-founded in 2009 with Garrett Camp.… Read the rest

Business Ethics Case Study: Caterpillar Tax Fraud Scandal

Accounting fraud is the manipulation of financial statements in order to benefit the business financially or to create a false appearance of financial health. In the situation of Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) – a manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment, diesel-electric locomotives, diesel, and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines – the payment of federal income taxes on their earnings was avoided to boost the company’s financial status, saving the company billions of dollars and keeping its stock price high. CAT, having more than 500 locations worldwide – including the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East – is vast in size and an economic standpoint, with sales and revenues of $53.9 billion in the year 2019.… Read the rest

Case Study: Corporate Merger Between Volkswagen and Porsche

The German Dr. Ing. H. C. F. Porsche (Porsche) automobile manufacturer specializes in sports cars and a new line of all-terrain vehicles. In the mid-2000s, Porsche was recognized as a leading global brand for its consistent quality and cultural icon status with models including the 911, the Boxster, and the Cayenne. The company achieved strong financial performance cementing Porsche’s market dominance. Porsche’s operating profit increased from 1,204 million in 2002 to 1,832 million in 2006, representing a growth rate of 52.1%. The net profit of the company also increased to 1,368 million in 2006, an increase of 74.8% over 2005.

One of the central elements of Porsche’s business model is its low manufacturing depth, which means that it does not have huge centralized production plants.… Read the rest

Case Study: The Collaboration Between Sony and Ericsson

Nowadays, it’s very common for companies from different countries and sector to work together. In 2001, a joint venture company – Sony Ericsson Mobile communication has been established by a Japanese electronics company Sony Corporation and Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson. The aim of this cooperation is to produce the mobile phone with multimedia communication solution to customers all over the world. The initial for this collaboration is to associate the Sony’s multimedia consumer electronics expertise and Ericsson’s technical knowledge in telecommunications. Once Sony Ericsson established, both of the companies stopped their individual mobile business. The Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is a London-based 50:50 joint venture business.… Read the rest

Case Study of Rolls Royce: Innovating for the Future

Rolls Royce is a market leader in propulsion and distributed energy systems for both the defense and civil aerospace markets. Their commercial markets cover nuclear, gas turbine, and diesel technologies to power everything from small planes and trains to entire cities. The aerospace applications for innovation are where Rolls Royce has made significant investments and reaped interesting rewards. On the defense side of their business, they have over 16,000 engines in service. In the civil aerospace side of their business, they provide engines to airlines, private business and engines for helicopters.

Major Changes in Industry

The nature of the aerospace industry has relatively high barriers to entry as the cost for entry is high and requires specific skills and expertise.… Read the rest

Business Ethics Case Study: The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal

Over the last few decades, there has been great concern regarding the sustainability and conservation of the environment. Environmental pollution and globalization have become the concern of most environmental protection agencies. The harmful and mortal effects of nitrogen oxide, which is a pollutant found in car exhaust have led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten emission control considering the attention paid to conservation and saving the green. These concerns have made the EPA constantly announce restrictions for standard emissions for all types of vehicles the sports car, heavy-duty trucks, automobiles, and other types of cars. These stringent measures are necessary considering that nitrogen gas emitted is harmful to human health and results in diseases such as asthma, premature death, bronchitis, and respiratory and cardiovascular.… Read the rest