Case Studies

This listing contains abstracts and ordering information for case studies written and published by faculty at Stanford GSB.

Publicly available cases in this collection are distributed by Harvard Business Publishing and The Case Centre.

Stanford case studies with diverse protagonists, along with case studies that build “equity fluency” by focusing on DEI-related issues and opportunities are listed in the Case Compendium developed by the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership at the Berkeley Haas School of Business.

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ETH18B

The Opioid Epidemic: Responses to the Crisis (B)

Ken Shotts, Sheila Melvin
2020
Between 1999 and 2017, almost 400,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose. An average of 130 died each day in 2017, six times the daily rate in 1999. These deaths were caused by both prescription opioids and illegal opioids like heroin and illicitly…
ETH22

Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Workforce Displacement

Jennifer Aaker, Fei Fei Li, Thomas Higginbotham, Zoe Weinberg, Wendy De La Rosa
2020
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to drive humanity towards a better future for all. But it also comes with risks and challenges. At its best, AI will boost global economic prosperity, stimulate job growth through innovation, and augment…
ETH21

Frameworks for Designing Artificial Intelligence

Jennifer Aaker, Fei Fei Li, Thomas Higginbotham, Zoe Weinberg, Wendy De La Rosa
2020
The past two years have produced incredible momentum within the industry and academia to manage the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI). These efforts have led to several frameworks that guide AI from design to deployment and beyond. This…
M386

Building Compassionate AI: Why Compassion Matters for Artificial Intelligence Design and Deployment

Jennifer Aaker, Katie Solomon, Thomas Higginbotham, Zoe Weinberg
2020
Compassion drives human beings to a deeper understanding of one another through perspective-taking and empathy. It is a fundamental is a tool for human connection but it seldom comes into conversation with artificial intelligence. This case explores how…
ETH24

Redefining Goals for Artificial Intelligence

Jennifer Aaker, Fei Fei Li, Thomas Higginbotham, Zoe Weinberg, Wendy De La Rosa
2020
Artificial intelligence (AI) has already transformed our daily lives—from Siri and Alexa to Google Maps or Netflix. It drives innovation across sectors through medical diagnostics, supply chain automation, or robotics manufacturing. Many technologists…
ETH23

Designing AI for All: A Primer on Bias in Artificial Intelligence Systems

Jennifer Aaker, Fei Fei Li, Thomas Higginbotham, Zoe Weinberg, Wendy De La Rosa
2020
Algorithms improve our daily lives by filtering spam emails and curating our social media feeds, but they’re also used to recommend prison sentences, identify top job candidates, or guide autonomous vehicles. With each application, the risk of…
M387

Zoom: Cultivating Human Connection in a Digital World

Jennifer Aaker, Susannah Shattuck
2020

In the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people turned to the Zoom digital communication platform each day to connect with colleagues, friends, and family. Collaboration has always been key to human survival, and Zoom offered a digitized human…

M388

The Customer in the Story: Every Mother Counts

Jennifer Aaker, Maile Lesica, Vinamarta Singal, Christy Turlington Burns
2020

Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit set up to help more mothers around the world survive childbirth, was looking for a way to reignite the discussion of maternal mortality, and help activate more Americans to get involved in supporting maternal health…

E726

2020 Search Fund Study: Selected Observations

Peter Kelly, Sara Heston
2020
The 2020 Search Fund Study reports on the financial returns and key qualities of search funds formed in the United States and Canada since 1984. This report updates the previous 2018 study with data through December 31, 2019.
M382

Play, Where the Real Work Happens: Virgin Unite

Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Jeffrey Conn, Jean Oelwang, Greg Rose
2019
The case describes Virgin Group CEO and Virgin Unite Foundation leader Richard Branson’s attempts to insert humor and levity into typically stressful and momentous business situations.
M381

You Get the Leadership You Inspire: Humor at Google with Eric Schmidt

Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Jeffrey Conn, Matthew Saucedo
2019
The case describes former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s general philosophy on the use of humor as a strategic communications tool and essential component of Google’s culture. It also provides the reader with a few tips for the effective use of humor in a work…
M378

Institutionalizing Levity at Coursera

Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Jeffrey Conn
2019
The case describes the company-wide impact of former Coursera CEO Richard Levin’s decisions to infuse levity into typically dry business processes and identify and empower humor-fueled culture bearers.
ETH18A

The Opioid Epidemic (A)

Ken Shotts, Sheila Melvin
2019

This case provides an overview of the history and causes of the U.S. opioid epidemic. It begins with a history of opium and pain management, leading into a description of the current epidemic, its stages, and its scale. The case then presents possible…

M377

How to Cultivate Purpose (and Autonomy, Collaboration, and Excellence) in Companies

Sophia Pink, Sara Gaviser Leslie, Jake Poses, Debra Schifrin, Jennifer Aaker
2019
How do companies foster a sense of meaning and purpose – for employees and for customers? There were multiple benefits to this approach, including increased job satisfaction as well as greater customer engagement – this could translate into company…
M374

The Power of Humor in the Olympic Journey

Jordan Raney, Wendy Reicher, Vanessa Lide, Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker
2018
There was nothing humorous about an athlete’s dreams of Olympic gold, or the mission statement and values of USA Water Polo, a nonprofit that trained elite athletes to compete in the highest levels of competition worldwide. This case study looks at the…
M375

Mary Roach: Finding Levity in Heavy Subjects

Paricha Duangtaweesub, Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker
2018
Mary Roach established a name for herself with a series of humorous articles on the human body, then became a best-selling author of books like Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. How did she choose…
M376

Mike Nemeth: Niche Humor and Six-Word Stories

Scott Katalenich, Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker
2018
Mike Nemeth was a sophomore at West Point on 9/11. The atmosphere in the weeks that followed was somber, but Nemeth soon launched an underground humor factory, taping his mildly subordinate newspaper to the inside of latrine stall doors. Nemeth and his…
E662

2018 Search Fund Study: Selected Observations

Peter Kelly, H. Irving Grousbeck, Austin Yoder, Sara Rosenthal
2018

Since 1996, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford Graduate School of Business has conducted a series of studies on the performance of search funds. These studies endeavor to gather data and gain insight into all known search funds. The…

M367

Leading with Humor: Leslie Blodgett (BareMinerals), David Hornik (August Capital), Anne Libera and Kelly Leonard (The Second City)

Debra Schifrin, Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Leslie Blodgett, David Hornik, Kelly Leonard, Anne Libera
2018

“Leading with Humor” explores two major themes: 1) Why businesses should embrace and foster humor in the workplace, and 2) how individuals can bring humor and levity into their own organizations. The first section details the research on the benefits of…

M371-1

Humor Saves America: Jenn Bane (Cards Against Humanity)

Peter Seibert, Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker
2018

This set of Humor: Serious Business “Caselet Studies” follows three visionaries (Dick Costolo – Partner at Index Ventures and Former CEO of Twitter, Gregg Spiridellis – CEO and co-founder of JibJab, and Jenn Bane - mastermind behind the Cards Against…

M371-2

Designing Physical Space to Activate a Mindset of Levity: Gregg Spiridellis (JibJab)

Peter Seibert, Sophia Pink, Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas
2018

This set of Humor: Serious Business “Caselet Studies” follows three visionaries (Dick Costolo – Partner at Index Ventures and Former CEO of Twitter, Gregg Spiridellis – CEO and co-founder of JibJab, and Jenn Bane - mastermind behind the Cards Against…

M371-3

Using Humor to Break the Status Barrier with Dick Costolo

Peter Seibert, Sophia Pink, Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker
2018

This set of Humor: Serious Business “Caselet Studies” follows three visionaries (Dick Costolo – Partner at Index Ventures and Former CEO of Twitter, Gregg Spiridellis – CEO and co-founder of JibJab, and Jenn Bane - mastermind behind the Cards Against…

M373

On Humor and Honey Badgers: Steve Reardon (Bill4Time)

Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Steve Reardon
2018

Steve Reardon, CEO of Bill4Time, loved a good practical joke. But humor was more than just a side passion—it helped shape how Reardon operated as a CEO, and helped define the office culture he hoped to build. While most people might assume that…

M370B

Bigger Than Bullsh*t: Brian Fugere (Deloitte)

Jennifer Aaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Peter Seibert
2018
This set of Humor: Serious Business “Caselet Studies” follows three visionaries (SPANX CEO Sara Blakely, Deloitte Partner Brian Fugere, and Friend of a Friend Productions CEO/Founder Eric Gurian) as they examine their strategic use of humor in the…
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