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Bolstered dignity eases the path to constructive problem-solving and collaboration. Four interrelated practices to sustain dignity can help people navigate conflict resolution: deepening acknowledgment, strengthening agency, building reciprocity, and ensuring clarity of path.

DSM (A) and (B) tell the remarkable story of how Helen Mets, EVP of DSM's Resins & Functional Materials business (DRF), generated considerable value for DSM by pursuing a radical sustainability strategy, steering DRF to a 12.4x multiple when it was sold to Covestro. DSM (A) discusses DSM's path to greater sustainability, highlighting the environmental issues caused by the chemical industry and, in particular, its impact on the environment with chemicals of concern, GHG emissions, and waste. It describes how Mets set DRF on a visionary pathway to sustainability with a new strategy and roadmap and the steps she took to achieve this, including changing the culture and mindset within the organisation and identifying maverick thinkers such as Sjoerd Dijkstra, who did much of the work on chemicals of concern identification and building the roadmap. Case (A) closes with Met's dramatic step of announcing the new strategy in public at the European Coatings Show. Had Mets gone too far in making the announcement public? Could DRF live up to its promises? How would the industry respond? DSM (B) picks up immediately with Mets leaving the stage having made the announcement in April 2019. Mets continued to pursue the strategy on returning to the Netherlands. A few months later, Covestro, a competitor and customer of DRF approached DSM to acquire DRF. We learn that Covestro was particularly interested due to DRF's focus on sustainability and that the acquisition price was much more than if DSM had tried to sell DRF prior to its sustainability strategy.

DSM (A) and (B) tell the remarkable story of how Helen Mets, EVP of DSM's Resins & Functional Materials business (DRF), generated considerable value for DSM by pursuing a radical sustainability strategy, steering DRF to a 12.4x multiple when it was sold to Covestro. DSM (A) discusses DSM's path to greater sustainability, highlighting the environmental issues caused by the chemical industry and, in particular, its impact on the environment with chemicals of concern, GHG emissions, and waste. It describes how Mets set DRF on a visionary pathway to sustainability with a new strategy and roadmap and the steps she took to achieve this, including changing the culture and mindset within the organisation and identifying maverick thinkers such as Sjoerd Dijkstra, who did much of the work on chemicals of concern identification and building the roadmap. Case (A) closes with Met's dramatic step of announcing the new strategy in public at the European Coatings Show. Had Mets gone too far in making the announcement public? Could DRF live up to its promises? How would the industry respond? DSM (B) picks up immediately with Mets leaving the stage having made the announcement in April 2019. Mets continued to pursue the strategy on returning to the Netherlands. A few months later, Covestro, a competitor and customer of DRF approached DSM to acquire DRF. We learn that Covestro was particularly interested due to DRF's focus on sustainability and that the acquisition price was much more than if DSM had tried to sell DRF prior to its sustainability strategy.

In October 2021, UnaBiz Pte. Ltd., a Singapore service provider of Internet of Things technology for the aviation industry, secured US$25 million in series B funding. In April 2022, it acquired the French start-up Sigfox and later doubled its series B funding. The company's managing director was then planning a series C funding round for June 2023 but had to make a decision regarding the company's future growth and expansion from two potential paths. The first option was to focus on the aviation sector, in which the company could leverage major clients such as Changi Airport Group and Airbus SE. However, there were serious concerns regarding vulnerability and regulatory challenges in the aviation sector. The second option was a broader strategy that involved diversifying into logistics and supply chain, with aviation as a subset. This option presented significant market opportunities but required convincing stakeholders to adopt new technologies and to navigate a fragmented landscape. The managing director had to make a critical decision before presenting his expansion strategy for UnaBiz Pte. Ltd. to potential investors.

BluPlanet Recycling Inc. (BluPlanet), was a successful recycling service provider based in Calgary, Alberta, that faced the challenge of maintaining its balance between social, environmental, and economic objectives amid rapid growth. Its chief executive officer was considering plans regarding the expansion of the company while preserving its social and environmental commitments. The options included diversifying from waste collection and transportation into waste processing, particularly organic waste, and expanding geographically into Western Canada or the Northwestern United States. Additionally, he was interested in exploring how BluPlanet could be more innovative and introduce new technologies. With the company's annual strategy retreat approaching, he sought to present clear plans for sustainable growth to his top management team.

In 1998, after closely monitoring the development of the Chinese agricultural machinery market, Kubota Corporation established Kubota Agricultural Machinery Suzhou Co. Ltd. (Kubota) as its first wholly-owned subsidiary, in Jiangsu, China. Kubota's market entry process began with semi-feed rice harvesters. It was followed by the gradual introduction and development of various other models of agricultural machines. The business grew continuously along with the development of the Chinese market economy, earning it a place among China's leading companies in the paddy field market. Kubota then took steps to enter the dry field farming industry and become a comprehensive agricultural machinery enterprise. However, the results fell far short of expectations. The rise of domestic competitors continued to erode Kubota's share of the paddy field machinery market. The company then faced more challenges related to intense competition, technological innovation, and the Chinese government's introduction of the National IV environmental policy. Could Kubota regain its competitive advantage in China's agricultural machinery market?

In late 2020, Maria Judice and the other members of the senior leadership team of Code Tenderloin (CT), a Black-led, nonprofit community support organization based in San Francisco, were wrestling with several challenges, especially around hiring to expand the senior leadership team and restocking the organization's advisory board, which had been sorely depleted following the COVID-19 pandemic. Judice knew that CT was at an inflection point: the decisions they made about hiring and how to reshape their service offerings to a troubled and varied clientele would determine CT's path for years to come.

In job interviews, many candidates are savvy about giving answers they think the interviewer wants to hear, but meaningful answers can't be found in a cookie-cutter script. The author presents eight essential questions hiring managers should ask prospective hires and provides multiple alternative ways of phrasing them to get to the heart of what they need to know about interviewees to make better hiring decisions.

Brooke Boyarsky Pratt (HBS '13) enjoyed considerable success in her early career, quickly climbing the ranks to associate partner at McKinsey, and later becoming an executive vice president at Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company. Throughout these years, she had also felt a strong desire to follow her passion and make a difference but had never been able to determine what that meant for her. However, as someone who had struggled with her weight since she was young, a routine visit to the doctor in 2020 where she experienced weight stigma yet again turned into a clarion call, and led Boyarsky Pratt to consider finding some way to address the problem of obesity care. After wrestling with the idea for nearly two years, Boyarsky Pratt quit her job at Berkadia to start knownwell, an integrated weight and primary care provider that had made business model and service design choices to specifically support people with obesity. In December 2022, knownwell raised a $4.5m seed round, and in the spring of 2023, opened its first weight-inclusive clinic in the Boston area to glowing and touching patient reviews. Looking to the future, Boyarsky Pratt had to make a fundamental decision on how she wanted to grow knownwell. Should she grow slowly and build a small footprint of clinics in the area over the next few years? Or should she scale fast to potentially help millions of people across the U.S. struggling with their weight feel better served by their doctor? This decision had both professional and personal implications. Which path should she take?

This case study explores the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation journey of French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard. As part of the transformation, the company launched four key digital programs (KDPs) aimed at using data and artificial intelligence to automate processes and drive data-driven decision-making. The case primarily focused on two of these: D-STAR, a sales recommendation system, and Matrix, a tool that optimized the allocation of advertising spend across brands. The company's future direction with the KDPs depended on addressing resistance, providing effective training and support, aligning with strategic goals, and overcoming logistical and data-related hurdles. The company needed to find a way to expand the KDPs further into new markets while reinforcing adoption where the KDPs had already been launched, and the decisions made would shape the path forward.

This case accompanies "GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code (A)," no. 124-005. It provides an update on pertinent events from 2021 to 2023.

There is a growing trend of social media creators producing and sharing content about their jobs and employers on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Successful employee-creators can provide their employers with enormous marketing value. Still, most organizations are reluctant or don't know how to support employees in creating content that benefits their brands. A Duke University social marketing professor shares seven steps to help businesses cultivate internal creator talent.

Indigenous people "continue to have shorter life spans, poorer health, higher unemployment, lower educational levels, and generally far poorer socio-economic conditions than the Canadian average." To address these issues and build economic self-sufficiency, First Nations communities must be able to exercise their rights to the land they have occupied for millenniums. In British Columbia, most First Nations have never extinguished their Aboriginal title rights, so according to the Canadian Constitution and multiple Supreme Court of Canada rulings, First Nations hold the legal rights to most of the public land in British Columbia (BC), although they must fight in court to prove this for each and every parcel. Although title was never legally extinguished for private land either, private land is not addressed in this note. As of 2021, real estate comprises the largest portion of Canada's gross domestic product, and property values have reached historic highs. This presents an opportunity for First Nations to use their land to generate wealth and address the socio-economic issues that are keeping their communities from meeting the same standards as the rest of Canada. First Nations in Vancouver and beyond have been buying large parcels of land from the federal and provincial governments for residential development, offering long-term leases and rental properties on the developed land. To be clear, this is land in the First Nations' own territories-which they could pursue rights to and might very well win-but proving this would likely involve very long court cases lasting many years and costing many millions of dollars. During this time, a great deal of money would be spent but none generated. So instead, out of pragmatism, some First Nations have chosen to buy land fee simple and develop it. The note specifically does not ask students to comment on the conduct of Indigenous Peoples.

Launched in 2021, the #Donate2Help campaign of Dish TV India Ltd. (DTIL) encourages its subscribers to donate their unused set-top boxes (STBs) to underprivileged people for a noble cause. Using electronic devices, users can access free satellite infotainment content made available by the state-owned Doordarshan. The campaign was promoted through an advertisement showing the benefits of a STB for a rural girl who had limited internet access who used the device to gain access to content that furthered her education. DTIL intended to have a positive social impact and monetize the unused STBs. This campaign, the first in the direct-to-home industry, helped the company create positive brand perception. The reuse of unused STBs helps reduce e-waste by extending the life of the devices and not dumping them in landfills prematurely. However, the campaign needed more visibility, and its impact could have been better. DTIL intends to expand and scale up the campaign as a part of its adoption of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) guidelines.<br><br>India, the first country to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory by law, added an ESG framework to the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) required by Indian companies in 2022-23. Initiatives like #Donate2Help are significant as regulatory obligations and stakeholder expectations pressure companies to contribute to ESG through their business processes and operations. Is there an overlap between CSR and ESG? How should the company operationalize its ESG commitment beyond regulatory compliance? What are the critical factors for successful ESG adoption in a competitive market being disrupted by ongoing technological advancements?

The UK brand Vimto was successfully integrated with the Ramadan season in the Persian Gulf region, which presented a compelling narrative of strategic brand adaptation and cultural sensitivity. Through a strategic partnership between the British company Nichols plc and the Saudi company Aujan Group Holding, Vimto transcended its origins from a simple cordial beverage to become an iconic symbol of the Muslim holy month, deeply embedded in the traditions and celebrations of millions of consumers. This transformation was driven by insightful marketing strategies that aligned the brand with the values and rituals of the Ramadan holy month, fostering a strong emotional connection with consumers across the Gulf. The collaboration between Nichols plc and Aujan Group Holding leveraged deep local insights and familial networks. It also exemplified the critical role of local partnerships in navigating the complexities of international markets.

This case details the journey of Chengdu Zhiyuanhui Information Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Zhiyuanhui") in pioneering digital innovations within public transport since its inception in 2010. From the start, Zhiyuanhui resolutely adopted a strategy combining digital technology innovation with scenario-based applications. By continually refining these integrations, Zhiyuanhui introduced first-of-their-kind products to the world. These included the "Smart Screen," "QR Code Riding," "Facial Recognition Riding," and "Masked Facial Recognition Riding," providing an ever-evolving comprehensive smart transit management service system in settings such as subways. In 2020, Zhiyuanhui ventured into smart city construction, bringing achievements as well as new competitive challenges and market conditions. By February 2022, it had become imperative for Deng Bo to reevaluate Zhiyuanhui's long-held development strategies. How could they refine their smart city model of "digital technology + scenario operations" within the smart transportation domain? Moreover, what strategic priority should have been assigned to digital technology versus scenario operations?

Keeping humans in the loop with AI systems is meant to mitigate concerns about unintended consequences of AI systems and facilitate intervention when those systems make questionable recommendations. However, ongoing research is finding that when using an automated system, humans often fail to engage their sense of responsibility in favor of trusting the AI.

Established in 1995 by a group of ex-British intelligence officers, Hakluyt & Company (Hakluyt) was a corporate advisory firm that generated insights by leveraging a unique blend of internal expertise and a global network of well-connected individuals. Since 2019, the firm was under the leadership of Varun Chandra, a young and dynamic managing partner who had steered Hakluyt into remarkable growth and heightened ambition. By 2023, Hakluyt had transformed into a 113.1 million pound business, boasting 196 employees spread across 13 strategic international offices. However, this rapid expansion and evolving identity engendered some tension within the firm, particularly as Chandra's tenure as managing partner approached its end. This case study chronicles Hakluyt's transformation from a specialized niche intelligence firm to becoming trusted advisors and details its unique business model, evolution under various leaders, and recruitment and compensation strategies. It also examines the challenges accompanying rapid growth, including implementing leverage, professionalizing operations, addressing long-term equity structures, and preserving the firm's distinct culture.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 123076.