On October 31, 2017, Terry Hay, patriarch of the Hay family and leader of the family business, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and given three weeks to live. This grim prognosis placed the Hay family on an unexpected trajectory and forced them to confront Terry’s health crisis while grappling with the impending transition of their family business, Scandinavian Building Services Ltd. (SBS), based in Edmonton. Although the family had already planned for leadership succession, Terry’s sudden illness forced them to accelerate their plans and adapt to unforeseen circumstances. How could the family navigate the leadership transition while responding to the urgency of Terry’s illness? What strategic decisions would they need to make to stay competitive and grow market share? Most importantly, how could they preserve Terry’s legacy and solidify the business’s future across generations?
Bigship Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Bigship), an Indian courier aggregator start-up, made its mark in the industry as late entrant during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2023, the chief executive officer and co-founder was struggled with emerging issues during internal and external crises: The company’s employee attrition rate had reached 100 per cent, customer loyalty was in question, and rising levels of fraud were putting pressure on profitability. To add to these problems, another co-founder had sacked all of the company’s marketing staff due to disciplinary issues. With a plethora of problems, the CEO and her team now had to determine whether to focus first on tackling internal issues or aggressively follow growth volumes. In which direction should they steer the company’s strategy?
The latest offering by Reliance Brands Limited (an undertaking of Reliance India Limited) under the aegis of the Jio brand was Jio World Plaza (JWP), an ultra-luxurious mall with breathtaking architecture and an upscale range of brands and services, signalling that India had arrived on the global luxury market. Providing an eclectic mix of Western and Indian wearable and lifestyle brands, JWP had the potential to transform the luxury sector by the effective usage of brand management strategies. In November 2023, Jio’s management faced the question of whether to shape its brand architecture as either a branded house or a house of brands.
When he became CEO, facing limited growth prospects, a low valuation, and therefore a stagnating share price, Menegaux and his team launched a set of initiatives to reposition Michelin. These included (1) articulating a clear purpose ("We care about giving people a better way forward"), (2) formulating a strategic vision-the "Michelin in Motion" strategy aiming to generate 20%-30% of revenue from non-tire activities by 2030, a significant leap from less than 5% in 2020, (3) introducing a new leadership model-I CARE-and reshaping the company's values around the idea of respect for all its stakeholders, and (4) introducing the dream for Michelin to be recognized by 2050 as a critical innovation leader that helped humanity conquer new frontiers. The overall plan centered on driving performance across profit, people, and the planet. Despite challenges, by 2024, these changes had begun to show results, with the company's share price rising by 23% since the beginning of his tenure, although Menegaux believes this does not fully reflect the company's potential.
This article explores the effects of open innovation on innovation performance in military bureaucracies. While the understanding of how bureaucratic organizations can benefit from open innovation is still limited, this study discovered that open innovation can have a negative effect on innovation performance. However, leveraging an innovative culture can lead to improved innovation performance in organizations characterized by high levels of structure and hierarchy, especially those where secrecy and security are of vital importance.
In March 2023, Daikin India had reached the milestone of US$1 billion in turnover. It aimed to surpass $2 billion in the next three years. It had fared poorly in the Indian market since its entry in 2000, but after joining the company in 2010, Kanwal Jeet Jawa, the first Indian and inpatriate on the Japanese board of directors, had turned around Daikin's Indian subsidiary. Did Daikin's decision to make India an export hub and to replicate the Indian model for Africa and the Middle East make sense? What role should India play in Daikin's response to the "China plus one" strategy? Given that the AC industry grew through incremental innovation, how could Daikin compete with its rivals and grow sustainably in India and other emerging markets?
On October 31, 2017, Terry Hay, patriarch of the Hay family and leader of the family business, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and given three weeks to live. This grim prognosis placed the Hay family on an unexpected trajectory and forced them to confront Terry's health crisis while grappling with the impending transition of their family business, Scandinavian Building Services Ltd. (SBS), based in Edmonton. Although the family had already planned for leadership succession, Terry's sudden illness forced them to accelerate their plans and adapt to unforeseen circumstances. How could the family navigate the leadership transition while responding to the urgency of Terry's illness? What strategic decisions would they need to make to stay competitive and grow market share? Most importantly, how could they preserve Terry's legacy and solidify the business's future across generations?
Bigship Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Bigship), an Indian courier aggregator start-up, made its mark in the industry as late entrant during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2023, the chief executive officer and co-founder was struggled with emerging issues during internal and external crises: The company's employee attrition rate had reached 100 per cent, customer loyalty was in question, and rising levels of fraud were putting pressure on profitability. To add to these problems, another co-founder had sacked all of the company's marketing staff due to disciplinary issues. With a plethora of problems, the CEO and her team now had to determine whether to focus first on tackling internal issues or aggressively follow growth volumes. In which direction should they steer the company's strategy?
The latest offering by Reliance Brands Limited (an undertaking of Reliance India Limited) under the aegis of the Jio brand was Jio World Plaza (JWP), an ultra-luxurious mall with breathtaking architecture and an upscale range of brands and services, signalling that India had arrived on the global luxury market. Providing an eclectic mix of Western and Indian wearable and lifestyle brands, JWP had the potential to transform the luxury sector by the effective usage of brand management strategies. In November 2023, Jio's management faced the question of whether to shape its brand architecture as either a branded house or a house of brands.
Surana & Surana International Attorneys (S&S) is a multispecialty law firm. Since its inception in 1971, it had declined to serve clients who were in the industries of meat, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling (M-TAG). In early March 2023, a large opportunity arose from a world leader in the alcohol business. Sanjay Mehta, Head of Business Development, met Vinod Surana, CEO and Partner at S&S, to convince him about bringing change to its deep-rooted tradition of sticking to no M-TAG. Kartik and Keerti,CEO's two sons would join S&S soon after finishing their legal education. Surana had a dilemma whether to stick to the existing business philosophy of "no M-TAG" clients or be flexible, considering growing competition and the business requirements.
In December 2022, Dr. Tomislav ("Tom") Mihaljevic, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, was reflecting on the last few years at the hospital, marked both by unprecedented challenges and remarkable achievements. Cleveland Clinic had recently been ranked the world's second-best hospital. Dr. Mihaljevic was especially proud of the special recognition given to Cleveland Clinic's COVID-19 pandemic response and attributed this to the hospital's 77,000 "caregivers" (defined as all clinical and nonclinical personnel at the hospital). Despite ongoing challenges, from an anticipated operating loss in 2023 to extreme burnout for caregivers across the hospital enterprise, Dr. Mihaljevic was contemplating ambitious Objective Key Results (OKRs) for 2023, particularly for caregivers. Dr. Mihaljevic and his executive leadership team grappled with the latest pressing issues in their weekly team meeting. They had missed their caregivers targets two years in a row, but Dr. Mihaljevic still thought it was best to set stretch goals for 2023. As they thought about the need to attract and retain caregivers, they recognized how imperative it was to accelerate their digital journey. The executive team was now considering how to achieve this by leveraging technology and data to improve patient and caregiver experiences. It was not clear what 2023 would bring for the hospital, but Dr. Mihaljevic remained optimistic about the year ahead and delivering on Cleveland Clinic's four care priorities: patients, caregivers, organization, and community.
Surana & Surana International Attorneys (S&S) is a multispecialty law firm. Since its inception in 1971, it had declined to serve clients who were in the industries of meat, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling (M-TAG). In early March 2023, a large opportunity arose from a world leader in the alcohol business. Sanjay Mehta, Head of Business Development, met Vinod Surana, CEO and Partner at S&S, to convince him about bringing change to its deep-rooted tradition of sticking to no M-TAG. Kartik and Keerti,CEO's two sons would join S&S soon after finishing their legal education. Surana had a dilemma whether to stick to the existing business philosophy of "no M-TAG" clients or be flexible, considering growing competition and the business requirements.
Companies that are serious about sustainability tend to ignore one of the most powerful tools available to them: lobbying to advance climate policy. Yet, without a business case for doing so, companies fail to invest adequately in advocacy. To change this, they first need to identify the most applicable business rationale for investing in advocacy. This article explains what leaders need to know about building a business case and strategy for climate policy advocacy.
Nykaa E-Retail Limited (Nykaa) has come a long way since its founding in 2012 by Falguni Nayar in Mumbai, India, establishing itself as a prominent participant in the e-commerce and retail industry. Not only has Nykaa revolutionized the field of online shopping in India for beauty and personal care products, but it has also played an essential role in the development of an ecosystem within that field. Nykaa has curated an offering of assorted beauty products spanning a variety of categories, including make-up, skincare, haircare, bath and body, fragrance, grooming equipment, personal care, and health and wellness. The company offers an enormous selection of over 2,400 legitimate brands. Nykaa has been able to maintain consistent growth because of its unrelenting concentration on the requirements of its customers and its close working relationships with other companies. However, feedback and reviews from customers have indicated a disconnect between client expectations and Nykaa’s performance. An increase in customer complaints, encompassing technical issues and problems related to customer assistance, exchanges, returns, and refunds—essentially, the entire customer experience—is revealing opportunities for improvement. Nykaa’s leadership has expressed concern over the increasing number of incidents of consumer dissatisfaction, an issue that is coming to light amid an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
Contrary to the typical practice of cutting operating expenses by compromising on employees’ benefits, the chairman of Zentaku Kogyo Company Ltd. (Zentaku), David Wu Chongrang, aimed to improve the standard of living of his staff by steadily raising their salaries and benefits. In fact, the key performance indicator David had set for himself was to raise his employees’ salaries regularly to a preset target benchmark. Contrary to conventional approaches, over the past sixteen years (2006–2022) David had reduced Zentaku’s revenue by 28 per cent and the number of employees by two-thirds, while raising the annual gross profit per employee to 239 per cent. Zentaku had achieved more with less by transforming itself through the rigorous implementation of lean production, inspired by the famed Toyota Production System, but Zentaku’s future leadership now faced challenges in sustaining the success Zentaku had achieved. Were the management methods adopted in the past applicable to the younger generation of workers? How could the current management pass the enterprise to the younger generation while ensuring employees remained fulfilled in the workplace?
This case study explores the various digital interventions (DIs) used by the Asude Foundation (Asude) in delivering education to students from low socio-economic sections in Aurangabad, India, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact on students' learning outcomes. Asude used an approach of recombining resources and leveraging the available digital and human capabilities, thus it provided a holistic and practical solution to the challenges created by the pandemic coupled with various institutional voids. The case study considers how Asude should plan in 2022 for growth and sustainability.
Nykaa E-Retail Limited (Nykaa) has come a long way since its founding in 2012 by Falguni Nayar in Mumbai, India, establishing itself as a prominent participant in the e-commerce and retail industry. Not only has Nykaa revolutionized the field of online shopping in India for beauty and personal care products, but it has also played an essential role in the development of an ecosystem within that field. Nykaa has curated an offering of assorted beauty products spanning a variety of categories, including make-up, skincare, haircare, bath and body, fragrance, grooming equipment, personal care, and health and wellness. The company offers an enormous selection of over 2,400 legitimate brands. Nykaa has been able to maintain consistent growth because of its unrelenting concentration on the requirements of its customers and its close working relationships with other companies. However, feedback and reviews from customers have indicated a disconnect between client expectations and Nykaa's performance. An increase in customer complaints, encompassing technical issues and problems related to customer assistance, exchanges, returns, and refunds-essentially, the entire customer experience-is revealing opportunities for improvement. Nykaa's leadership has expressed concern over the increasing number of incidents of consumer dissatisfaction, an issue that is coming to light amid an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
This case study explores the various digital interventions (DIs) used by the Asude Foundation (Asude) in delivering education to students from low socio-economic sections in Aurangabad, India, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact on students’ learning outcomes. Asude used an approach of recombining resources and leveraging the available digital and human capabilities, thus it provided a holistic and practical solution to the challenges created by the pandemic coupled with various institutional voids. The case study considers how Asude should plan in 2022 for growth and sustainability.