• May 2025
• Case

In late 2023, CEO Bruce Broussard reviewed health insurer Humana’s transformation into a value-based care ecosystem. Under its CenterWell brand, the several millions of members in Humana Medicare Advantage plans now had access to Humana-provided primary care, home care, behavioral health, and mail order pharmacy services. Innovative partnerships with private equity firms had helped finance the acquisition and operations of key CenterWell assets. Broussard and his top team now convened to review the merits of a potential acquisition of a large group of primary care clinics. The discussion centered on how best to build further on and integrate Humana’s successes to date in value-based care delivery.

• March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
• Case

By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a trailblazing "answer engine" valued at $9 billion. Led by founder Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity AI had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor aiming to redefine search altogether. Through innovative AI orchestration—combining custom-built indexes, real-time retrieval systems, and advanced language models—Perplexity delivered concise, accurate, and unbiased answers to complex queries, challenging the dominance of traditional search giants like Google. The company differentiated itself by emphasizing user-centricity, speed, and quality, intentionally foregoing advertising-based monetization to preserve a distraction-free user experience. Innovations such as Deep Research, Pro Search, and Comet (an AI-native web browser) underscored its vision to redefine how individuals and enterprises consume information, making significant inroads into both consumer and enterprise segments globally. Yet, as Perplexity scaled, critical strategic crossroads loomed ahead. The company faced tough choices in preserving its ad-free, user-centric approach versus exploring new monetization strategies, such as advertising. Maintaining user trust and platform simplicity was becoming increasingly complex in the fiercely competitive AI search market. Additionally, high execution velocity and expanding into enterprise markets required significant investment in security and infrastructure, intensifying the pressure to stay ahead of formidable competitors like OpenAI and Google. The case illustrates the tension between maintaining a trusted, unbiased product experience and pursuing monetization strategies such as advertising. It emphasizes the importance of aligning revenue models with core brand promises to sustain long-term user trust and growth.

• March 2025
• Case

In 2013, guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars’ co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were considering several exit options including selling to a competitor or to a private equity firm. The co-founders decided, instead, to embark on a seven-year process to transfer 100% of the ownership of the company from themselves and third owner partner Andy Powers to Taylor Guitars employees. The co-founders felt an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) would best preserve the company’s values and distinct culture. In 2024, the co-founders, Powers (now president and CEO), CFO Barbara Wight, and Vice President of Human Resources Shaun Paluczak took time to reflect on the ESOP. Many employees were still unclear about what the ESOP meant for them, with some likening it to a retirement plan. The challenge for the leadership team was how to activate employees’ sense of ownership in the company to enhance Taylor Guitars’ performance.