In-depth case studies breaking down the business models, marketing strategies, and growth stories behind the world's most successful companies.
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Global Brands Analysed
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Industries Covered
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Business Strategies
Real-world case studies from the companies shaping industries worldwide.
Hand-picked by industry experts who mentor at Meritshot — the case studies every student should read.
Most Popular“Starbucks' franchise-licensing hybrid is one of the smartest expansion models ever built. Every strategy student should study it.”
Vikram Mehta
Sr. Strategy Consultant, Deloitte
Top Pick“Zara's ability to turn runway trends into store-ready fashion in two weeks is a masterclass in brand agility. A must-read for any brand strategist.”
Sneha Kapoor
Brand Director, ex-L'Oréal
Trending“Discord's community-led growth is a blueprint for any platform business. The way they scaled without paid marketing is a must-study for growth roles.”
Arjun Nair
Growth Lead at Myntra
How Adobe killed its cash cow in 2012, forced 11 million perpetual-license customers onto Creative Cloud, and transformed a software company plagued by piracy and lumpy revenue into a $290 billion SaaS empire with 88% gross margins.
How Jeff Bezos refused to cut R&D during a 94% stock collapse, invented cloud computing, and built the world's most diversified tech empire from a Seattle garage — covering the Flywheel Effect, anti-fragility, and AWS economics.
How Lisa Su inherited a company with a broken CPU architecture, $2 billion in debt, and a stock price at $1.61 — and rebuilt it into a $300 billion AI powerhouse through the Zen redesign, TSMC partnership, and chiplet architecture.
How Apple went from 90 days away from insolvency in 1997, burning $1 billion per year with a bloated product line, to a $3.5 trillion ecosystem empire — the definitive study in strategic focus, brand resurrection, and platform lock-in.
How GlobalFoundries voluntarily exited the leading-edge node race at 7nm in 2018 — a decision that shocked the chip world — and pivoted to specialty semiconductors for automotive, 5G, and IoT, achieving profitability and strategic differentiation against TSMC and Samsung.
How IBM recorded the largest corporate loss in world history in 1993 ($8 billion), then Lou Gerstner refused to break it apart, pivoted from hardware to IT services, and planted the seeds for a hybrid cloud and AI infrastructure business generating $61.9 billion by 2024.
How a failed $1.3B acquisition attempt forced Lattice Semiconductor to pivot from commodity FPGAs to low-power edge AI — growing from $399M to $737M revenue, 5x the market cap, and owning a blue ocean that Xilinx and Intel couldn't easily enter.
How Marvell Technology rebuilt from a 2015 accounting scandal and 40% stock crash to become a $58 billion data infrastructure leader — through the $10 billion Inphi acquisition, custom ASIC hyperscaler relationships, and AI connectivity chips that power Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
How Meta's stock crashed 77% in 2022 — from $378 to $88 — after Apple's ATT update, TikTok's rise, and $36 billion in metaverse losses. Then Zuckerberg announced the Year of Efficiency, cut 21,000 jobs, open-sourced Llama, and drove the stock to $600+ with $50.7B in net profit.
How Micron survived a catastrophic 2015–2016 DRAM price collapse that wiped out 60% of its stock value — through counter-cyclical investment, HBM3E AI memory development, and becoming the preferred high-bandwidth memory supplier for NVIDIA's AI accelerators.
How Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft from a stagnant 'know-it-all' culture into a 'learn-it-all' organisation — pivoting to Azure cloud, acquiring GitHub and LinkedIn, investing $13B in OpenAI, and adding more than $2.9 trillion in market value in a single decade.
How Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers and crashed 77% in 2011 with the Qwikster blunder — then recovered through original content investment, global expansion to 190 countries, and world-class engineering infrastructure — reaching 301.6 million subscribers and $38.9B revenue by 2024.
How ON Semiconductor exited $1.5 billion in low-margin commodity revenue between 2019 and 2024, pivoted to Silicon Carbide power semiconductors for electric vehicles, and transformed gross margins from 35% to 47% while becoming a tier-one supplier to Tesla, BMW, and Hyundai.
How Oracle was dismissed as a 'database dinosaur' stuck in on-premise infrastructure — then Larry Ellison's conviction, the $28.3 billion Cerner acquisition, and OCI Gen2's AI supercluster bets drove a market cap explosion from $170 billion to over $460 billion.
How Qualcomm simultaneously lost Apple, fought off a $117 billion hostile takeover by Broadcom, battled an FTC antitrust lawsuit, and emerged as the most important semiconductor company in the age of on-device AI — through IP strategy, Snapdragon platform expansion, and automotive and PC diversification.
How Elliott Management, Starboard Value, and Inclusive Capital forced Salesforce to cut 8,000+ jobs, expand operating margins from 0.3% to 30.5%, and generate $12.6B in free cash flow — then Agentforce AI accelerated the comeback, driving the stock from $140 to $290+.
How Samsung Semiconductor recovered from its worst-ever quarterly operating loss of KRW 14.88 trillion in 2023 — through counter-cyclical investment, HBM4 development that received industry praise, and a landmark $16.5 billion Tesla foundry contract — to post $18.6B in operating profit in 2024.
How Sony lost roughly $6.4 billion in a single year (2012), sold its VAIO laptop and TV businesses, restructured PlayStation into a subscription platform, dominated CMOS image sensor supply to Apple's iPhone, and posted record revenues of $108.5 billion and net income of $10.9 billion by 2024.
How STMicroelectronics lost its single largest customer (Nokia's wireless division collapsed in 2012) and transformed that crisis into the most profitable pivot in European semiconductor history — exiting low-margin consumer electronics to dominate Electric Vehicle silicon carbide power chips and Industrial IoT MEMS sensors.
How Texas Instruments made the counterintuitive decision to exit the smartphone chip market and focus entirely on analog and embedded semiconductors — building a business with 64% gross margins, $60.9B market cap, and 100,000+ products with 20-year lifecycles that no Chinese competitor has replicated.
How TSMC maintained $2.6B in capital expenditure during the 2008 financial crisis while competitors cut 30–50% — accumulating technology leadership through the downturn and emerging as the irreplaceable manufacturer of the world's most advanced chips, growing from $9.3B (2009) to $90.2B (2024) in revenue.
How Cree — a profitable LED lighting giant commoditised by Chinese manufacturers — made a company-defining decision to exit LED entirely, rebrand as Wolfspeed, and bet its entire future on Silicon Carbide power semiconductors for Electric Vehicles. A story of a 90%+ stock drop, $6B Mohawk Valley Fab, first-mover advantage, and the brutal capital intensity of deep-tech manufacturing.
How Arm Holdings — acquired by SoftBank for £24.3B in 2016, subject to a blocked $40B NVIDIA takeover, and re-listed in the largest tech IPO of 2023 at $54.5B — transformed its IP licensing model to capture royalties from AI chips, automotive, and IoT while shipping 9 billion chips per year and generating ~85% gross margins.
A professional-grade analysis of Nintendo's Wii U disaster and Switch triumph through six strategic lenses: Blue Ocean Strategy, hybrid product design, IP monetisation, innovation from constraint, platform lifecycle management, and franchise value compounding.
How NVIDIA survived a catastrophic first chip failure in 1997, made an all-in bet on CUDA in 2006 when no one believed in GPU computing, and built the backbone of the global AI revolution — creating more shareholder value than any company in history.
How Intel lost manufacturing supremacy to TSMC, ceded the AI accelerator market to NVIDIA, and fell behind AMD in consumer CPUs — and how CEO Pat Gelsinger's IDM 2.0 strategy and the $8.5B CHIPS Act grant are mounting the boldest semiconductor comeback in history.
The complete story of how Tesla survived two near-death experiences — the 2008 bankruptcy scare and the 2018-19 production hell — to become the world's most valuable automobile company, worth more than Toyota, Ford, and GM combined.
How Siemens survived a $1.6 billion bribery fine across 77 countries, built the world's best corporate compliance system, and transformed from hardware manufacturer to industrial digital platform — creating €150B+ in combined corporate value.
How Sea Limited's stock fell 90% from $372 to $36 as Garena gaming collapsed, Shopee's losses mounted, and global interest rates surged — and how disciplined retreat from 10+ markets rebuilt a stronger business.
How Charles Schwab used the most dramatic single strategic act in US brokerage history — eliminating all trading commissions — to force TD Ameritrade into distress, acquire it for $26 billion, and build America's largest retail broker with $8.5 trillion in client assets.
How Figma's $20 billion Adobe acquisition was blocked by EU and UK regulators in December 2023, and how the company rebuilt its independent strategy around Dev Mode, FigJam, and enterprise expansion.
The complete story of how Nintendo turned the Wii U disaster into the Nintendo Switch — the best-selling gaming console of its generation — using Blue Ocean Strategy, IP monetisation, and the $1.36 billion Super Mario Movie.
How James Gorman rebuilt Morgan Stanley from near-collapse by pivoting from trading to wealth management — creating a $5.7 trillion client asset empire through acquisitions of Smith Barney, E*TRADE, and Eaton Vance.
How Jamie Dimon built the world's most profitable bank by preparing obsessively for crises in good times — acquiring Bear Stearns at $2/share, WaMu for $1.9 billion, and surviving the London Whale to reach $49.6 billion net income.
How Goldman Sachs converted to a bank holding company in 72 hours, secured Warren Buffett's $5 billion vote of confidence, and transformed from trading powerhouse to global investment bank — while navigating 1MDB and the post-crisis regulatory era.
How Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion, followed by 80% workforce cuts, advertiser exodus, and a controversial rebrand to X, became one of tech's most studied cautionary tales.
How CEO Larry Culp made the most audacious corporate decision of the 21st century: not to save GE, but to break it into three independent companies — and why that deliberate destruction created $165 billion in hidden value.
How Ericsson survived a triple crisis of revenue collapse, $2 billion bribery fines, and leadership failure — then bet the company on 5G infrastructure and emerged as the dominant Western supplier.
How Deutsche Bank survived a 94% stock collapse, exited global equities trading, wound down €280B in risk-weighted assets, and rebuilt as a profitable European corporate bank under CEO Christian Sewing.
How Credit Suisse cycled through five CEOs in seven years, survived Archegos, Greensill, and a decade of scandals — then collapsed in 72 hours and was sold to UBS for CHF 3 billion.
We are working on this case study. Check back soon for an in-depth analysis of the brand's business model, marketing strategy, and growth story.
A comprehensive case study of Pinterest — from a simple idea-bookmarking tool to a $2.8 billion visual discovery engine. Explore its unique business model, advertising strategy, and growth story.
How Citigroup fell from a $274 billion valuation to receiving $45 billion in government bailout, navigated 2,400 legal entities and a 13-year consent order, and rebuilt as a global transaction bank.
A comprehensive case study of Uber — from a simple idea to hail a cab via phone to a $150 billion mobility and delivery platform. Explore its disruptive business model, growth strategy, and global expansion.
How Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis made two disastrous acquisitions — Countrywide and Merrill Lynch — nearly destroyed the bank, and how Brian Moynihan rebuilt it into a $100B profit machine.
How Reddit's aggressive API pricing sparked the largest community protest in internet history — 8,000 subreddits going dark — and how the company converted that crisis into a successful IPO and AI licensing strategy.
How Barclays became the first bank to settle the LIBOR manipulation scandal, rebuilt its culture under RISE values, pioneered ringfencing, and created a dual transatlantic banking model.
How Alibaba survived a $2.8 trillion market cap wipeout, regulatory crackdown, and Jack Ma's disappearance — and why its AI pivot could define the next decade of Chinese tech.
How AIG's Financial Products Division accumulated $441 billion in Credit Default Swaps and nearly triggered a global financial collapse — and what the 15-year recovery teaches about systemic risk.
How Google responded to the existential threat of ChatGPT with a code-red, the Bard stumble, the Brain-DeepMind merger, and the Gemini family that re-established its frontier AI credentials.
How Cisco survived the dot-com apocalypse, wrote down $2.25 billion in inventory, and transformed from a hardware networking giant into a software and services leader.
How Discord declined Microsoft's $12 billion acquisition offer, expanded beyond gaming through Nitro and community features, and quietly grew to 200 million monthly active users — entirely without advertising.
How H&M's €4.3 billion inventory crisis, the 'coolest monkey' controversy, and the existential threat of ultra-fast-fashion forced Sweden's fashion giant to rebuild its business model around sustainability, data, and digital transformation.
How Snapchat survived Instagram's feature cloning, Kylie Jenner's tweet that wiped $1.3 billion in market cap overnight, and pivoted to AR and subscriptions to find a path forward.
How McDonald's reversed years of declining same-store sales through the Experience of the Future kiosk rollout, all-day breakfast, McDelivery, and a $300M technology acquisition — transforming the world's largest fast food chain for the digital age.
How Notion went from near bankruptcy in 2018, a team of two rebuilding the product in a Kyoto apartment, to a community-driven $10 billion valuation — one of the most remarkable product-market fit stories in modern SaaS.
How LinkedIn went from a stagnating public company to Microsoft's most successful acquisition — transforming professional networking into a three-pronged revenue machine of talent, marketing, and learning.
How Starbucks survived three major strategic crises — the 2008 over-expansion, the COVID shock, and the 2024 customer traffic collapse — through the recurring intervention of charismatic leadership and a return to its founding identity.
How Zara's 80% store closure and €3.9 billion net loss in 2020 forced the world's largest fast fashion retailer to accelerate digital transformation, deploy RFID across its global network, and close 1,200 stores to fund e-commerce dominance.
How Airbnb survived an 80% revenue collapse in 8 weeks, refunded $1 billion to guests, eliminated 1,900 jobs — and then executed one of the most remarkable IPOs in technology history just nine months later.
How Louis Vuitton responded to brand dilution and the 2008 financial crisis by tightening distribution, eliminating product lines, and using artificial scarcity to paradoxically grow the most valuable luxury brand in the world.
How Nike's DTC obsession, abrupt wholesale cuts, and underestimation of On and Hoka led to its biggest market share loss in decades — and how Elliott Hill's return is engineering the recovery.
How Uniqlo's disastrous UK expansion — 16 of 21 stores closed within 3 years — forced Fast Retailing to abandon trend-chasing, develop HEATTECH and AIRism technology, and build a genuinely differentiated global retail brand.
How Mastercard transformed from a crisis-hit card network into a $400 billion data intelligence and multi-rail payments platform — powered by AI, strategic acquisitions, and a radical redefinition of its total addressable market.
Case studies our graduates found most valuable for interviews and real-world projects.
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Financial Advisory, Deloitte
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Associate, Avendus
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Senior Analyst, HSBC
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Strategy Consultant, EY
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Priya Sharma
Financial Analyst, Morgan Stanley
“The DCF and M&A case studies prepared me for every technical interview question. Now working on live advisory deals at Deloitte.”
Arjun Mehta
Financial Advisory, Deloitte
“The pitchbook creation labs were exactly what I needed. I walked into my interview with real portfolio work that set me apart from every other candidate.”
Sneha Nair
Associate, Avendus
“From knowing nothing about finance to building professional-grade models. The mentors were always available and the lab sessions made everything click.”
Karan Singh
Senior Analyst, HSBC
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Strategy Consultant, EY
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IB Analyst, Kotak Mahindra
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SDE, Flipkart
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Vikram Patel
IB Analyst, Kotak Mahindra
“The program was incredibly rigorous and practical. The mentors have real IB experience, and the case studies are from actual deals. I cracked Goldman Sachs in 6 months.”
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IB Analyst, Goldman Sachs
“Meritshot completely transformed my career. The 1:1 mentorship and real-world projects gave me the confidence to crack Amazon's interview.”
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Full Stack Developer, Amazon
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Data Scientist, Microsoft
“Nothing compared to Meritshot. The small batch size meant I got personal attention, and the mock interviews were exactly like the real thing.”
Abhishek Singh
SDE, Flipkart
