Spotlight on

The case describes the business model of Spotify, setting it against the backdrop of a music industry that has faced steep revenue declines since the advent of digital formats in the late 1990s and the rise of illegal file sharing. The case also presents the competition Spotify is facing from the likes of Pandora, Google and Apple and eventually poses the question of whether Spotify has a viable long-term business model despite explosive user and revenue growth as of 2014. The case also considers whether Spotify's model could eventually return the industry to a path of global growth, as has occurred in some of the markets the company has entered....

The case details the work of Samsung's Product Innovation Team in Europe, the PIT EU, established in 2010 to fuel consumer-driven innovation (as opposed to technology-driven innovation). By 2013, projects created by the team had contributed an estimated half a billion dollars to Samsung's profits. The case covers the first three years of the team and shows how the founders set up their team to make success more likely. Among other topics, the case describes how the team works to find new and valuable insights by studying consumers, how they create useful metrics for innovation, and how they "sell" their ideas to the rest of the company (a frequent problem for innovation units). The case also describes three of their innovation projects in detail: a new function for video camcorders, an app for transferring data to Samsung phones, and a revolutionary new type of refrigerator. The Teaching Note includes a PowerPoint deck with details and visuals on Samsung, the team setup and the three projects mentioned in the case. The slides also include a link to video footage that can be shown in class. ...

These vignettes, which are framed as appeals from local citizens to their legislator, serve to facilitate discussion of some of the issues surrounding immigration reform, including taxes, business operations, and education....