AllDrinksSoft (ADS), a US-based manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, began its journey into Business Analytics (BA) by developing two performance dashboards: one for its branches and one for its sales staff. By recounting the development and implementation of these two applications, and considering how improvements to them might be prioritized, this case explores ADS's journey into BA. In so doing, it highlights questions about the meaning of BA, the various ways in which analytics solutions can be designed and implemented, what the stages of BA maturity look like and how organizations might progress along this maturity trajectory.

This case describes the development of the HealthCare.gov website front-end, systems and databases supporting the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. In late October 2013, US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner appear before a Congressional subcommittee to apologize about system glitches. The case gives students an opportunity to consider project risks that affected this huge systems development effort, and to consider how to ensure that millions of uninsured or underinsured Americans would be able to sign up for affordable health insurance

Business Process Management (BPM) is a topic that has received immense attention in information systems research and practice. While its adoption has been increasing rapidly, many companies struggle to find BPM professionals with the appropriate skills, hence BPM education has been an area of increasing interest as well. One big challenge for BPM education is the lack of teaching resources. Appropriately written BPM teaching cases derived from real-life case scenarios has been recognised as a valuable means to address this gap. Yet, teaching cases that are rich in context dedicated to BPM are still scarce. This teaching case, specifically developed for business process improvement education purposes, is designed as a rich resource to address this gap. Teaching notes with an extensive set of multimedia ancillary material are also available to instructors upon request. This case study is based on a real-life patient-care process of a national Ayurvedic hospital in Sri Lanka. With its position as the leading national institute for Ayurvedic research and teaching, the hospital has the potential to make striding impacts with Ayurvedic innovations both nationally and globally. This narrative describes the current patient-care process in detail, challenging students to analyse the current process and derive justifiable high-impact creative/innovative recommendations that are feasible to the case's context and improve business processes at the hospital.

SolBridge, a young business school in South Korea, acquired an open-source learning management system (LMS) in early years of its operation. It switched to an on-premises proprietary LMS a few years later. However, before renewal of its annual license SolBridge was caught in a typical dilemma of information systems acquisition (IS acquisition), i.e., keeping the costs lowest while maximizing user and organizational benefits. The decision was made more complex by newly available cloud-hosting options. SolBridge CIO analyzed the total cost of ownership (TCO) and benefits of several options before recommending one of them to school management. This case provides senior undergraduate or graduate students with an opportunity to assume the role of SolBridge CIO and analyze TCO for its next LMS. Not only will they realize the managerial challenges involved in selection and acquisition of enterprise information systems but they will also learn about the economic feasibility of on-premises and cloudhosting options. It also becomes visible to them that organizations grapple with unceasing technological and organizational changes. Therefore, flexibility and scalability emerge as key elements of modern IT infrastructure.

The author's first overseas business assignment came when he was 29 and a sales manager at Xerox, running a team in New York City. The company sent him to Puerto Rico to turn around its failing business there. Because he didn't know the culture or the market, he arrived without an agenda and just listened to people for two weeks. He learned a few important phrases in Spanish so that he could relate to his new team. His experience there helped him later in his career, when he had to manage people across a variety of cultures. In 2002 SAP hired McDermott to head its North American business, which was struggling. He viewed the company's belief that it could simply transfer its strategies for the German market to the U.S. market as part of the problem. "Leading in any country is all about reading the room, respecting the culture, and understanding the nuances of how people perceive information," he writes. "You have to care about what the culture needs instead of just focusing on your agenda and how to get it done." In one illustration of that, although he and his wife have kept the family home in Philadelphia, he moved into a house in Heidelberg to demonstrate to his employees that being a part of the German culture is important to him.

This is a challenging time to be a CEO. Around the world, economic growth is slow, political uncertainty undermines attempts to develop long-term plans, and shareholder activists have become powerful critics of business leaders. These forces help explain why the C-suite sometimes appears to have a revolving door. Is it any wonder so many CEOs focus on the short term? Against this backdrop, it's heartening to see some top executives implement long-term strategies and establish lasting track records. HBR's ranking of the world's 100 best CEOs is intended to highlight these individuals. It's based on performance on both financial and ESG measures over leaders' entire time in office--which comes to 17 years, on average, for the CEOs on the 2016 list. This group has delivered impressive results, producing an overall financial return of 2,091%, on average. But as the variety of the people on the list shows, there is no single path to success. Consider the three men at the top of the ranking: Lars Rebien Sorensen studied forestry before he joined Novo Nordisk more than 30 years ago and climbed through various operational roles to become CEO. Martin Sorrell earned an MBA and spent a decade in the ad industry before buying a stake in a shell company and building WPP--now the world's largest marketing-services firm--through a series of acquisitions. Pablo Isla studied law and worked in Spain's treasury ministry before taking the helm of the fast-fashion retailer Inditex. In this issue we feature an interview HBR editor Adi Ignatius did with the three leaders in late summer, in which they explore what it takes to fight short-termism and lead with a long view in today's turbulent environment.

Why do some transformative technologies dominate the market quickly, while others take decades to catch on? It's a function not just of the technologies themselves, say the authors, but also of their broader ecosystems (electric cars, for example, need a network of charging stations). The ecosystems of the legacy technologies matter too--they can sometimes be improved enough to prolong the life of the old technology. Analyzing the ecosystem dynamics in your industry can help you predict how quickly technological change will occur. For example, if the new technology is surrounded by viable complements and there's little room to improve the old technology's ecosystem, substitution is rapid ("creative destruction"). When the opposite conditions hold--the new technology's ecosystem needs work and the old technology can capitalize on improvements in the established ecosystem--the pace of substitution is very slow ("robust resilience"). The authors describe two other possible scenarios: "robust coexistence" of the two technologies, and the "illusion of resistance" (the old technology seems competitive for some time but quickly succumbs once the new technology's ecosystem is ready to roll). If you understand which scenario applies to you, you can better assess the threat of disruptive change--and use the authors' insights to respond effectively.

In the digital age, software has enabled innovators like Uber and Tesla to gather crucial data about customers and create revolutionary offerings to serve them. Meanwhile, many well-resourced incumbents struggle to develop extended digital relationships with customers. That's partly because it's hard for companies to change their established business models. But the authors point out another inhibitor--there are repercussions up and down the value chain. The authors explain that successful upstarts do not just capture and use new data effectively; they also break from traditional reliance on outside partners for sourcing inputs and distributing and servicing products. They keep more functions in-house--a necessary part of launching an innovation. But if incumbents do likewise in their own efforts to take advantage of digital technology, they risk upsetting longtime relationships with suppliers, distributors, and other collaborators. To navigate this new world, the authors advise managers in traditional companies to think about the macro trends that will shape their industry in the future, agree on a digital strategy to address customers' needs in the long term, and develop better metrics to monitor progress. Incumbents must also create new business opportunities for partners so that everyone benefits from the new ecosystem.

In an increasingly digital and connected environment, leaders of established companies frequently find themselves facing opportunities that they--or even their industries--cannot seize alone. Instead of relying on start-ups to create innovations and then buying in to them, organizations are taking part in a process that the authors call "ecosystem innovation," collaborating to develop and then commercialize new concepts. Cisco Hyperinnovation Living Labs (CHILL) differs from seemingly similar approaches, such as R&D alliances, because it focuses on the fast and agile commercialization of ideas without a complicated intellectual property agreement. It also differs from traditional partnership efforts, because it brings multiple partners together at a very early stage all at once. In this article the authors discuss how large companies can develop their own ecosystem innovation capabilities, using Cisco's process as an example. They describe the basic principles and the process, identify the most common traps, and explain how leaders can capture valuable opportunities. The process allows companies to bring extremely diverse ideas, skills, and resources together to solve ecosystem-level problems at an astonishing speed.

Chances are you've experienced at least one company reorganization. Reorgs can be a great way to unlock value: Two-thirds of them deliver at least some performance improvement, and with change accelerating in the business environment, they are becoming more and more common, the authors say. But most reorgs aren't entirely successful: According to a survey conducted at McKinsey, more than 80% fail to deliver the value they are supposed to in the time planned, while 10% cause real damage to the company involved. More important, they can be miserable experiences for employees. Research suggests that reorgs--and the accompanying uncertainty about what the future holds--may cause greater stress and anxiety than layoffs, leading to noticeably reduced productivity in about 60% of cases. That's because the leaders of reorgs don't specify their objectives clearly enough, miss some of the key actions (for example, focusing on reporting lines and forgetting processes and people), or do things in the wrong order (such as deciding on the way forward before assessing the strengths and weaknesses of what they have already). To help maximize the value and minimize the misery of reorgs, the authors have developed a simple five-step process for running them.

Performance reviews are awkward and biased. They stick people in boxes and leave them waiting far too long for feedback. It's no wonder that by the end of 2015, at least 30 of the Fortune 500 companies had ditched them altogether. But even when companies get rid of performance evaluations, ratings still exist--employees just can't see them. Ratings are done subjectively, behind the scenes, and without input from the people being evaluated. Employees' contributions to the organization over time need to be assessed in some way. Decisions about pay and promotions have to be made. In the absence of formal evaluations, those decisions are made in a black box. Facebook has chosen to hang on to evaluations despite their costs to help ensure fairness, transparency, and talent development. When the company analyzed its performance management system a few years ago, it conducted focus groups and a follow-up survey with more than 300 people. The feedback was clear: 87% of people wanted to keep performance ratings. They wanted to know where they stood. Evaluations were put into place for good reasons; getting rid of them might be an overreaction to poor execution. Leaders at Facebook think it's more constructive to mitigate the risks by building a culture that recognizes and rewards growth.

Stress is a fact of professional life, but extreme and unrelenting pressures can lead to the debilitating state we call burnout. Three symptoms characterize burnout: exhaustion; cynicism, or distancing oneself from work; and inefficacy, or feelings of incompetence and lack of achievement. Research has linked burnout to many health problems, including hypertension, sleep disturbances, depression, and substance abuse. Moreover, it can ruin relationships and jeopardize career prospects. Resolving burnout often requires changes at the job, team, or organizational level. But you can also take steps toward recovery and prevention on your own: Prioritize your health, shift your perspective to determine which aspects of your situation are fixed and which can be changed, reduce exposure to the most stressful activities and relationships, and seek out helpful interpersonal connections. It's important to ward off burnout on your team as well: Insist on time for rest and renewal, set realistic work limits, boost your team's sense of control, provide meaningful recognition, and ask people what help or training they need to succeed.

When Walker Farms is hit with a surface-water allocation of zero for a third straight year because of the state's ongoing and extended drought, it must decide how to respond. Continue to let 6,000 of its 23,000 acres lie fallow? Drill more wells? Shift to higher-yielding organic crops? Or lease the land to a solar power company to find some revenue that isn't water dependent? With commentary by Kim Morison, of Blue Sky Water Partners, and Ken LaGrande, of Sun Valley Rice.

Marina Abramovic has for decades pushed the boundaries of performance art--hurling herself against walls, cutting herself with razor blades, sitting motionless for 750 hours. Although she started with fringe shows, she eventually worked her way up to performances and exhibitions at premier venues, such as the Venice Biennale and New York's Museum of Modern Art.

When Walker Farms is hit with a surface-water allocation of zero for a third straight year because of the state's ongoing and extended drought, it must decide how to respond. Continue to let 6,000 of its 23,000 acres lie fallow? Drill more wells? Shift to higher-yielding organic crops? Or lease the land to a solar power company to find some revenue that isn't water dependent? With commentary by Kim Morison, of Blue Sky Water Partners, and Ken LaGrande, of Sun Valley Rice.

When Walker Farms is hit with a surface-water allocation of zero for a third straight year because of the state's ongoing and extended drought, it must decide how to respond. Continue to let 6,000 of its 23,000 acres lie fallow? Drill more wells? Shift to higher-yielding organic crops? Or lease the land to a solar power company to find some revenue that isn't water dependent? With commentary by Kim Morison, of Blue Sky Water Partners, and Ken LaGrande, of Sun Valley Rice.

The managing director of Sathavahana Ispat Limited (SIL) was relieved when his company’s expanded manufacturing facilities commenced operations on April 1, 2015, after a delay of more than a year. Though he had a reason to rejoice, the managing director also had concerns about SIL's rising borrowing costs and dwindling liquidity. Accordingly, he approached the Indian Women's Bank to replace the company's high-cost debt to the extent of ?3 billion and to raise a corporate loan of ?1 billion. Would the proposal be sanctioned? Or would it be rejected due to SIL's weak financials, subdued market conditions and the ongoing global economic slowdown?

Teamwork is a hot topic these days as corporate North America spends more time than ever trying to understand how to build productive, cohesive working groups. Much of the increased focus on teamwork is attributed to millennial employees, who reportedly crave collaboration. Yet teamwork isn’t always a good thing, especially when the task at hand is relatively simple. While many complex undertakings benefit from being assigned to strong teams, the reverse can be true. Companies such as software and Internet firms lend themselves better than others to team projects. But even at these firms, teams are often created for projects better suited to individuals. The growing number of millennial workers and gravitation toward the creation of a team for every task will increase this problem unless more managers stop to think. <br><br> As teamwork is about the efficient allocation of resources, leaders must figure out when it’s appropriate to deploy more than one employee to a task. They must realize that how teams work together is often more important than the team’s composition. In forming teams, most firms can benefit from employing both collaborators and independent workers. Leaders must set clear expectations and goals and should guide teams, not take away their empowerment. To reinforce pride in team membership, the development of an internal brand that team members can stand behind is recommended.

Canara Bank has been one of the top five public sector banks in India since its founding in 1906. After lagging behind its competitors for some years, it has finally started to recover from non-performing assets and low profitability. Its new chief executive officer has brought vision, strategic direction, and motivation to achieve a remarkable turnaround in 2013/14, but now he faces several key questions. Should the bank launch an ambitious expansion of its branches, online services, information technology, and human resources, based solely on the recent encouraging results? Is the management committee’s optimism justified, given that several new initiatives are still at various stages of implementation? Will this growth overstretch Canara Bank’s already constrained resources? In order to regain its position and improve reach and profitability in a highly competitive market, an expansion program has to be launched or an opportunity will be missed.

By June 2012, Stephan Aarstol felt that he had successfully passed the first critical stage of his ecommerce business. As the founder and CEO of a standup paddleboard (SUP) business, he had built a strong relationship with Asian manufacturers, built a small warehouse and fulfillment center, designed an innovative line of inflatable SUPs, and built an ecommerce website that sold boards and accessories to consumers. After the rising trend in interest for the sport provided a strong wave of growth in sales, Aarstol contemplated the next stage at Tower Paddle Boards. Should he partner with Amazon to sell his full line of boards--manufactured under his brand--and accessories--manufactured by other brands? Should he sell to Amazon? Should he sell on Amazon marketplace? Or should he avoid the powerful online retail giant altogether?