Lisa Mitchell, Deputy Vice President of Tech Operations at Albright Cancer Centers (ACC), is confronted with significant customer service issues. The current cloud system often malfunctions, causing disruptions for patients and their families. Founded in 1988 by Robert L. Albright after the heart-wrenching loss of his daughter to cancer, ACC has always prioritized compassionate care. By 2023, the center had expanded to over 2,000 staff across various cities. Their unique Guardian Standard combines traditional medical care with therapies aimed at enhancing the overall well-being of patients, emphasizing empowerment throughout their treatment journey. However, the present call system falls short of these standards. Recognizing this gap, Mitchell advocates for the exploration of advanced AI solutions. She launches the "Guardian Level of Call" initiative, aiming to transform the calling experience. With the help of consultant Alex Sanches, they undertake a thorough analysis of the customer journey. ACC's CEO, Dr. Fernanda Rivera, later introduces Air.ai, a state-of-the-art AI system, believing it could replace customer service reps and redefine ACC's customer service approach.
When many leaders talk about reskilling programs, they emphasize individual career progression and the acquisition of skills that benefit company strategy. But an experiment at Vodafone showed that a more direct message focused on career relevancy increased employees’ participation in a reskilling program. Use this advice on how to be reassuring but transparent with employees when discussing this critical workforce issue.
In this final article in a series of four, the researchers behind the 2023 MIT Sloan Management Review-BCG Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy Big Ideas research project explore how organizations should govern smart KPIs (KPIs augmented by or created with AI). They explain which functions should be involved and what pitfalls to watch for.
The case focuses on the precision agriculture industry, an emerging combination of technologies and solutions targeted at improving the economics and sustainability of the agricultural industry. Within the context of the industry transformation, the case specifically examines the strategic decisions made by John Deere, the leading agricultural machinery and equipment manufacturer in the world as it charts its course towards digitally transforming the company. The case provides an ideal platform to explore a broad spectrum of topics ranging from ecosystems and platforms, defining and delivering a unique customer value proposition, and leveraging contemporary tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), data analytics, and deep learning to revolutionize the old and tradition-bound agricultural business. John Deere has introduced a set of leading-edge tractors, sprayers, and farm equipment that promise to personalize agriculture at the plant level. The technologies embedded in its tractors along with cloud-based analytical capabilities provide farmers with real-time actionable data and advice. As it launches a new way of farming, the company confronts skeptical customers who think the equipment is too expensive and hard to repair, and the data streams too complex to comprehend and apply to their field-level decisions. There are other issues relating to data privacy and ecosystem management that Deere confronts as it aspires to emphasize its software platform as the way to the future. The reader is asked to assess the way the Leap Ambitions strategy has played out in the marketplace and suggest course corrections as needed to guarantee that Deere can ensure it derives the maximum value from the ecosystem.
The YouTube channel Digital Vidya Kendra (DVK) was launched by J. Singh in 2011 with a mission to develop future managers and researchers. However, the company soon encountered hurdles in its goal to fulfill its mission. DVK maintained a high level of quality in the content of its videos, but increasing the number of subscribers proved difficult. By November 2019, DVK had registered only 500 subscribers-half the minimum number needed to start earning money on YouTube. Its unique videos helped it to gain viewership from scholars, researchers, and academics. However, despite a potential for rapid global growth, DVK's growth rate started dropping in 2020. Something needed to be done to save the company; therefore, Singh tasked his digital marketing team to conduct surveys and research, using 67 of the company's videos, to investigate the issues and problems that had arisen. The DVK research team had to determine what information the numbers were revealing, what factors were affecting DVK's performance, what demographics were affecting business performance, and how cost effective Google Ads were in terms of user traffic, revenue, and hours watched.
In January 2022, Nicholas Chen had to decide whether to invest in one of two solar power systems to reduce the energy cost of the manufacturing company, Jamaica Macaroni Factory Ltd.'s (JMF). He could purchase a 100kW solar power system and generate some of the energy JMF used while also selling back electricity to the grid when the factory was not operating, or he could purchase a 230kW system, which would produce more energy but, due to regulatory restrictions, would not sell electricity back to the grid.
In 2015, Hubang chili sauce was launched in China's highly competitive emerging condiment and sauce market. Instead of undertaking direct competition and a costly price war in traditional retail channels already dominated by a market leader, Wenjin Lu, a local entrepreneur and the chief executive officer of Hubang, developed a unique strategy to achieve breakthroughs via online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery platforms, whose consumers were made up of a fast-increasing consumer base of Internet and mobile users. By 2020, Hubang had achieved an annual sales milestone of US$29 million and secured series A financing. Lu faced a new dilemma: Should Hubang keep strengthening its unique O2O channel through market penetration and product expansion, or should it reposition to enter the retail market with its existing products?
This case is about the dilemma faced by Elisabeth Vardheim, a C-level executive at Statnett, Norway's transmission grid operator. As a result of its participation in the Paris Agreement, Norway decided to greatly accelerate the national energy transition. An increased reliance on electricity, however, brings with it a pressing need for more high voltage power lines. As executive vice president for construction at Statnett, Vardheim must choose between two ways of increasing Oslo's electricity transmission capacity: string power lines on 40-meter-high towers or bury them underground. However, although the upgrade is indispensable, neither solution seems to have any chance of being approved. Vardheim has to contend with powerful stakeholders. There is the local population, which opposes overhead power lines due to their impact on the landscape - the "not in my back yard" effect. There is also the regulator, who must act in accordance with regulations that favor the most cost-effective solutions to keep electricity prices low for all Norwegians. The case is not just about choosing between two solutions. Obtaining the construction license also means having a good understanding of the forces involved, the licensing process and the applicable regulations. The student is taken on a journey that includes stakeholder management analysis, the decision-criteria perspective and real option valuation. Students are subsequently divided in two groups, each attempting to win the other over to their chosen option. This usually creates a stalemate and a lack of consensus which is then solved by an "Aha!" moment thanks to the use of an embedded option, an approach that will solve the case and lead to the attainment of the construction license.
Birth registration - considered a basic human right provided by government services - was still not working in many countries. One in four children worldwide is not registered. Yet, Zainab Siddiqui, head of sustainability at Telenor Pakistan, had a different idea. In 2013, she initiated the Digital Birth Registration Project in Pakistan in two provinces to replace the existing paper-based approach. Her entrepreneurial leadership was encouraged in Telenor, a global mobile network operator based in Norway, active in 8 markets with over 170 million subscribers. The company was an organization true to its original purpose of "promoting a country's prosperity" - by "empowering societies and connecting its subscribers to what matters most." What mattered most could be digital health, digital farming or digital banking services - several of the services that the company had launched over the years. Digital birth registration and its potential follow-on services - such as digital marriage certificates and digital driver's licenses - were considered good not only for what matters most but also potentially for the bottom line. After several years of successful implementation of the project, Zainab considered how Telenor Pakistan could take on full responsibility for the service from the Pakistani government. How would the company prepare and position itself for the eventual negotiations with the government for this potential growth opportunity?
This case is the third in a series that explores how the storied Swedish media company, Bonnier News, is transforming itself to succeed in the digital era. This case picks up from 2019 and follows the Bonnier News management team as it crafts and implements a strategy to succeed in the rapidly transforming media landscape and increasingly fraught geopolitical environment. Their goals as they do so are to sustain profitable digital growth for Bonnier News; increase the reach and relevance of their papers; bring more value to more readers; and become a leader in European business media while continuing to develop a successful, sustainable, and scalable business. Success was essential, even existential-indeed, in their view, democracy itself was riding on it.
Chai Point was an Indian food and beverage company focused on chai. It started in 2010 as a retail store network but soon expanded to corporate offices by developing an IoT-enabled automatic tea and filter coffee machine. By 2023, Chai Point had 170 stores and 5000 machines nationwide. However, it was still a fraction of India's vast tea market. With ambitions for greater scale, Chai Point launched a promising third vertical, MyChai Corner, to aggregate the unorganized chai market via a tech platform. MyChai Corner was in its pilot stage, but its expansion would require significant capital expenditure and an aggressive pricing strategy. How should ChaiPoint allocate its resources between its various verticals? Which vertical would help it achieve the maximum growth? How could the company create synergies between them?
As Tesla's first overseas factory and China's first wholly owned foreign automotive factory, Gigafactory Shanghai has developed rapidly, thanks to the series of industrial reforms in China and strong support from the Shanghai local government. Gigafactory Shanghai has bolstered Tesla's manufacturing capacity rapidly and significantly, enabling the company to tap into the growing global demand for electric vehicles, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Tesla's investment has also contributed to the advancement of China's electric vehicle industry and aligned with the broader goal of technological development and carbon neutrality. Nevertheless, Tesla's investment has risks, such as the deterioration of US-China relations, changes in government regulations and policies, competition from other automakers, and the threat of technological obsolescence. The student question revolves around Tesla's ability to defend its leading position in both the Chinese and global electric vehicle markets, with a view to creating a mutually beneficial partnership with the Chinese government. This case allows students to explore how host country industrial policies affect corporate investment decisions and how to deal with the uncertainties of foreign direct investment. After studying this case, students will be able to discuss the intricate relationship between industrial policies and foreign direct investment.
In September 2022, The Commons Project Foundation (TCP) CEO Zhenya Lindgardt and her team met on a Zoom call to discuss building tools to help Rwandans manage their health data. They believed that helping Africa build digital infrastructure would improve much-needed healthcare service delivery. TCP had started in the U.S. with health data, building tools and protocols that would allow people to access, store, and share their medical information. This was difficult given privacy concerns, obsolete storage methods, interoperability problems among providers, and strict legal requirements. Leaders in less-developed markets in Africa saw the value of TCP's person-centered approach to health data. TCP considered how to reach its goal and scale, and how to fund its ambitious vision. Who should pay for digital infrastructure that was a public good? Were the answers the same in the U.S. and in Africa?
The case describes how Patricia Heidtman, chief innovation and sustainability officer and member of the executive board at Sika, creates a roadmap for sustainability, including a net zero pledge. Sika deliberately put Patricia - also a trained chemist - in charge, unlike many companies that assign the sustainability agenda to the CFO, the head of PR or legal, or even a designated CSO. Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in developing and producing systems and products for bonding, sealing and damping, as well as reinforcement and protection in the construction and automotive industries. The company had over 27,500 employees and sales of CHF 10.49 billion in 2022. In her role, Patricia faces four main challenges. First, the regulatory environment for a global, publicly listed company like Sika changes fast and significantly, as the measurement standards are still developing. Second, scope 1 and 2 emissions count for only about 2% at Sika; 98% are related to scope 3, which the company does not control directly. Third, Sika has over 100 subsidiaries worldwide, and each market and customer segment is very different, requiring a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach. Finally, Sika's growth trajectory estimates a 300% revenue increase by 2050. Given this growth rate, reducing emissions by 75% would not decrease any emissions in nominal terms. An important step in implementing this commitment across the organization is a series of regional net zero workshops, with the aim of bringing everyone to the same level of understanding, since net zero affects every part of the business in different ways. At the same time, sharing the learnings and obstacles created valuable input for the regional and global pathway to net zero. This input will serve as a foundation for Sika's 2028 strategy. Through peer discussions instead of top-down mandates, Patricia wanted to create strong alignment between departments and regions on key decarbonization levers.
Managers are struggling, with more and more varied responsibilities than ever before. A recent survey showed that 54% suffer from work-induced fatigue and stress; meanwhile, only one in two employees believes that their manager can help their team succeed. Although any solution will need multiple facets, a new study from the research and advisory firm Gartner points to an essential first step: Organizations need to put the right people into the role to begin with. But promoting on the basis of performance as individual contributors is no longer a viable tack. By letting people nominate themselves for a role, conducting a rigorous and anonymized application process, equipping potential managers for the hardest parts of the job, and letting them opt out without stigma, organizations can build a robust and diverse pipeline of people ready to step into the role whenever needed. Those new managers will be more than twice as likely as others to find the job more manageable and to lead higher-performing teams.
Researchers discovered a silver lining when a fire at a supplier's factory forced a temporary shutdown at the plant of a consumer goods manufacturer: The downtime led to a flood of employee ideas for improvements.
In July 2022, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Alex Mashinsky acknowledged that Celsius had grown its assets "faster than the Company was prepared to deploy [them]" and as a result had made "certain poor asset deployment decisions." Two months after filing, Celsius initiated a marketing and sale process to identify potential buyers for its assets. By April 2023, the field was reduced to NovaWulf and Fahrenheit, LLC. Both bidders proposed reorganizing Celsius' business as a going concern and giving its creditors and 1.7 million customers near-total ownership of the reorganized company. However, the ultimate fate of Celsius' many stakeholders remained anything but clear.