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From humble beginnings as a Levi jeans store, by 2000 Gap, Inc. had grown to become the world's leading specialist clothing retailer. Its CEO, Millard S. Drexler, the "merchant prince," was credited with transforming Gap into a global empire, leading the company through eighteen years of 21% p.a. growth to reach sales of $13.6 billion in 2000. Gap had expanded to 2,848 stores under its three brands: Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy, and controlled 6% of U.S. apparel sales. Drexel had also pushed Gap through a global expansion program, and international accounted for 12.5% of total sales in 2000. But as Gap entered the new millennium, dark clouds were building on the horizon. While sales in 2000 were up nearly 18% over the previous year, operating profits fell by 20%, only the second profit fall since 1984. Gap found itself plagued with concerns about fashion misses, logistics failures, the departure of senior managers, and increased foreign competition. New fast-fashion competition in the form of Inditex, H&M, and Club Monaco threatened Gap's market share both domestically and abroad. Drexler remained confident of recovery and promised to fix infrastructure problems and recent fashion misses while expanding the high-growth GapBody and BabyGap concepts. Would these changes be enough to keep Gap competitive in a new retail era?

"In 2000, Benetton was one of the leading mass fashion competitors in the world with approximately $1.9 billion in sales across 5,500 stores in 120 countries. But the company's fortunes seemed to be on the wane. Operating profits had fallen 9% from the prior year to $299 million. Having almost matched global leader, Gap Inc.'s revenues in 1985, Benetton was now only one seventh of Gap's size. Moreover, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) of Sweden had passed Benetton in 1996 and now claimed more than double the sales of Benetton. Inditex of Spain and Fast Retailing of Japan had also passed Benetton in revenues by 2000. To make things worse, Inditex and H&M had announced in 2000 that they intended to enter Italy, Benetton's heartland.<br> Chairman and co-founder Luciano Benetton was determined to fight back and toward this end had just launched a major new retail strategy to expand the size of Benetton's current stores, invest in large superstores and build greater control of the supply chain. The company also had high hopes for its new drive into sports equipment and apparel. Would this be enough to halt the rise of its mass fashion competitors?"

"Between 2000 and 2012, Gap, Inc. (Gap) ceded its world leadership position in specialty fashion retailing to Inditex of Spain and H&M of Sweden. These two companies, each less than a quarter of Gap's size in 2000, were now setting the pace in the global mass fashion market, and Gap appeared to be falling ever further behind. In the intervening twelve years, three CEOs had struggled to turn around the fading brand. While several temporary profit boosts appeared to herald a recovery, a sustained rally remained elusive.<br> Mickey Drexler, Gap's CEO since 1983, who had been responsible for Gap's rise to global prominence, was fired in 2002 after two years of double digit, same-store sales declines and a 75% drop in the stock price. His successor, Paul Pressler, appeared to have engineered a remarkable recovery, but was fired in 2007 after disappointing sales and another slump in profits. His replacement, Glenn Murphy, fresh from a successful turnaround at a Canadian drug-store chain, promised tighter price controls, lower administrative costs, and a leaner, more aggressive Gap, but sales continued to decline over his tenure. After four years of troubles, Murphy brought in former J. Crew President, Tracy Gardner, to consult with the Gap brand and Murphy began a bold program to close one fifth of Gap's North American store base. In 2012, sales had lifted 8%, same-store sales were strongly positive for all of Gap's domestic sub-brands, and the company's share price had lifted nearly 50% from the prior year. After 12 years of poor performance, had Glenn Murphy finally discovered the answers to Gap's problems?"

"On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the end of 2011. At $2.6 billion, Benetton's sales in 2011 were virtually the same as they were in 2000, but Inditex from Spain, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) from Sweden and Fast Retailing from Japan had all grown several times larger over the same period. What happened to this global retail giant?<br> Under the direction of four different CEOs since 2000, Benetton had attempted to move from being an Italian supplier of knitwear with licensed small retailers throughout the world to a vertically integrated global player by tightening management over its supply chain and rolling out directly operated superstores. These moves helped Benetton gain more control over its operations, but they also ate into its profitability. In 2012, Benetton found itself competing with fashion giants who could respond faster to market trends and deliver comparable clothes at half the cost. With Benetton under private ownership, would Harvard Business School graduate Alessandro Benetton be able to make the changes required to return the company to its former strength?"

This short case presents a series of brief accounts, observations, and quotations that challenge students to think about the role of the CEO - and of the CEO's (possibly strong) beliefs and convictions - in strategy. It focuses in particular on three issues and their practical implications: 1) when and why it is important that the strategy publicly reflects the (possibly strong) beliefs of the CEO and management; 2) whether and when you want the strategist (CEO or management) to have strong beliefs; and 3) why people tend to develop strategies in line with their background and past successes, and what the implications are.

Rio Tinto, a major multinational mining company, signed a contract with the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee to supply all the gold, silver and copper for medals to be awarded at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Just three months before the opening ceremonies, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, titled Operation Greenwash Gold, combined with labour unions in Canada, Australia and around the world representing millions of workers to protest Rio Tinto's alleged environmental, human rights and labour relations abuses. A number of damaging social media campaigns aimed to get the Olympic committees to cancel Rio Tinto's contract were supplemented by street protests in front of the company's headquarters during its annual general meeting. Rio Tinto's chief executive officer must decide on a communications strategy in order to respond to its already tarnished reputation.

Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise with 127,000 employees of 153 nationalities in 140 countries generating $56.7 billion in 2012 revenues and $9.6 billion in net income, making the firm one of the world's largest and most profitable companies. CEO since 2010, Joe Jimenez had taken over from one of the merger's architects and visionary legacy CEO Daniel Vasella. He recognized that the global health care environment would create severe challenges for Novartis in the years ahead and that Novartis needed to make sure it had the right strategy, structure, talent and spirit to live up to its ambitions.

""Ten Years Later"is a series of one-page narratives that provide a glimpse of "what happened next" in the lives of a group of members of the INSEAD MBA graduating class of 2002. The narratives, recounted by female and male graduates of different nationalities and aspirations, give students a flavour of how life can turn out for people who have 'sat in their seats' before. "

Sweta Mangal, CEO of Ziqitza Health Care Limited, must decide how to respond to a government official who has demanded a bribe to release payment for the ambulance services ZHL provides. Bribery is commonplace in India, but there is also a growing anti-corruption movement. A new employee argues that the bribe is the only way for ZHL to make payroll and maintain its ambulances, which means more lives saved. Mangal insists that ZHL is committed to an anti-bribery stance. What is the right decision? How can it best be implemented?

In the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet empire, a wave of English-language newspaper emerged in Eastern Europe. Among the most significant was the Kyiv Post, which by the end of the decade had established a reputation as the leading independent news source in Ukraine. From its shoestring beginnings, by 2006 it had become a $US55 million enterprise. However, the newspaper's independence and survival was severely tested in the wake of the global financial crisis.

In the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet empire, a wave of English-language newspaper emerged in Eastern Europe. Among the most significant was the Kyiv Post, which by the end of the decade had established a reputation as the leading independent news source in Ukraine. From its shoestring beginnings, by 2006 it had become a $US55 million enterprise. However, the newspaper's independence and survival was severely tested in the wake of the global financial crisis.

In the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet empire, a wave of English-language newspaper emerged in Eastern Europe. Among the most significant was the Kyiv Post, which by the end of the decade had established a reputation as the leading independent news source in Ukraine. From its shoestring beginnings, by 2006 it had become a $US55 million enterprise. However, the newspaper's independence and survival was severely tested in the wake of the global financial crisis.

!Xaus Lodge is a community owned tourism facility in the Kagaladi Transfrontier Park, built to settle post-apartheid claims related to land seizures. The revival of the facility by Transfrontier Parks Destinations, a for-profit firm that also seeks to create a positive social impact, is the focus of the case.

The case illustrates how seeming good strategy (in terms of content) can fail in the process of implementation. A brilliant CEO strategist failed to convince his employees to buy into his strategic vision by trying to implement it too quickly.

This case traces the evolution of the personal networks of Russell Mehta, CEO of Rosy Blue, as he steps out of his father's shadow to run one of the largest diamond companies in the world. His challenge is to adapt his personal networks to drive his organization's success.

This is the spreadsheet supplement for case ElastoTherm: The Next Step(813030). This contains the electronic copy of exhibits 1 and 2.

This is a spreadsheet supplement for HBS case #807089 (Keggfarms). Includes Exhibit 1, Exhibit 4, and Exhibit 5.

This is the Spreadsheet Supplement for HBS Case #810065 (AME Learning). Includes Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 8, and Exhibit 9.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 808099.

Two female small-business entrepreneurs belonging to the poorer sections of rural and urban India were trying to arrange for funds in order to ensure the viability of their commercial ventures in the long term. They had formed self-help groups with the help of Indian government development schemes aimed at poverty alleviation and human development. The first woman experienced opposition not only from patriarchal village elders but also from her own family. She persisted in getting training and setting up a workshop to employ her female neighbours. The second woman was supported by her family but also had trouble finding a suitable venue for making and selling the work her group produced. In spite of government support and the allocation of funds to their enterprises, both women had trouble persuading the banks to loan money to them. The long-term viability of their groups was thus in doubt.