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Big tech companies such as Google and Booking.com are running tens of thousands of experiments annually, and other businesses are following their lead. Here's how to use experiments in your company to better evaluate customer offerings and policies, test new ideas and innovations, develop and refine decision frameworks, and establish reliable facts in uncertain conditions and ambiguous situations.

The digital revolution has allowed companies to amass considerable amounts of data on their customers. Using this information to generate actionable insights is fast becoming a critical skill that firms must master if they wish to effectively compete and win in today's data-driven marketplace. This note explains the value of examining customer metrics, such as retention rate, revenues, and social influence (k-factor), on an ongoing basis by conducting a cohort analysis. Such an analysis segments customers using one or more criteria, and tracks the behavior and performance of each of these segments over time. Using several instructive examples, the presentation highlights the benefits of running a cohort analysis for deriving a deep understanding of customer trends. Moreover, the examples expose the pitfalls that arise from not accounting for segment characteristics (such as when a customer joined, from what media vehicle they were acquired, how heavily they use the product, etc.) and not paying attention to the evolution of customer metrics over time. The implications of conducting a cohort analysis for firm strategy and for determining customer lifetime value (CLV) are discussed.

With its mission to "unsmoke the world" and its bold new purpose to replace cigarettes with less harmful tobacco products, Philip Morris International (PMI) was revolutionizing every part of its existing business model and, with it, the tobacco industry. Over a four-year period, PMI had established an entirely new product category for its new heated-tobacco IQOS brand and had become the global market leader in this fastest-growing group of reduced-risk products in the tobacco industry. To stay ahead of the rapidly evolving competition and to respond fast to changing market conditions, PMI fundamentally had to change its business model and the way it worked. Everyone in the organization was encouraged and empowered to participate actively in PMI's transformation journey, and digital had become the disruptive catalyst. Digital innovations in the supply chain were challenging existing processes and unlocked other opportunities that PMI had not thought about before. PMI had a two- to four-year lead on its main competitors and was now in a position to shape its future business model. But how was the business going to develop and what type of supply chain should it create to scale up its business in a volatile market where speed was king? The executive leadership team was under pressure to make this key decision soon, as the final supply chain strategy depended on it. But for a traditional B2B consumer goods company that was transforming into a technological customer-centric organization that operated within the regulatory constraints of the tobacco industry, which business model would work best for PMI?

Jia Yuan Company was a small Chinese business founded by two brothers in 2005. The more ambitious of the brothers worked at the front of the business, successfully transforming it from a local sales agent for foreign branded products to a contractor for government-financed construction projects. He saw new opportunities for the business and wanted to make further investment in a related company that his friend worked at. However, the conservative brother, in charge of internal management, was not convinced of the project's potential and did not approve of making drastic changes to their company's overall strategy. The brothers had a history of disagreement and suppressing resolution of the problems. Can the brothers manage their conflict, or should they go their separate ways?

In 2019, the president of China's ride share company Didi Chuxing Technology Co. (Didi) faced various challenges associated with marketing and communications in a high-risk disruptive technology. As one of few female global corporate leaders, she was a role model for young women and promoted inclusion and diversity at Didi. However, the emergence of autonomous and connected vehicles in the industry forced her to make some strategic decisions. Several recent high-profile safety failures involving Didi and other industry giants had resulted in injury and death. The president needed to develop a communications and marketing plan for Didi's employee and consumer stakeholders. But how should she respond to the recent negative media reports? What promotion and communication strategies would enable the company to develop a level of trust and knowledge that would set it apart from its high-risk competitors? How could the president influence consumer perceptions of the industry's-and Didi's-legitimacy?

This brief note provides a description of the A3 report, a classic problem-solving methodology associated with the Toyota Production System. A3 thinking may be used for many activities, including problem solving, proposal writing, and status reporting. The six elements of an A3 report are described briefly.

This case uses the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to set the stage for unfolding an analysis of economics and values in the decision to divest tobacco stocks and bonds from the internally managed portion of the CalPERS portfolio. Written from public sources, it offers a discussion about fiduciary responsibility for long-term retirement security and investment policies around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for the public pension fund. The material includes financial data that further allows calculations and discussion on tobacco investments outperforming the broader market. This A case opens with the CalPERS investment committee having made a decision to recommend removing tobacco investment restrictions. The CIO reflects on whether supporting investment in tobacco firms conflicts with CalPERS's member health and health care mission. Did supporting continued divestment mean CalPERS was putting its own social priority and ideals ahead of its clients' investment goals? The case data should lead most to conclude the fund was breaching its fiduciary duty.

This case uses the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to set the stage for unfolding an analysis of economics and values in the decision to divest tobacco stocks and bonds from the internally managed portion of the CalPERS portfolio. Written from public sources, it offers a discussion about fiduciary responsibility for long-term retirement security and investment policies around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for the public pension fund. The material includes financial data that further allows calculations and discussion on tobacco investments outperforming the broader market. The A case opens with the CalPERS investment committee having made a decision to recommend removing tobacco investment restrictions. The CIO reflects on whether supporting investment in tobacco firms conflicts with CalPERS's member health and health care mission. Did supporting continued divestment mean CalPERS was putting its own social priority and ideals ahead of its clients' investment goals? The case data should lead most to conclude the fund was breaching its fiduciary duty. This short B case can be handed out in class. This deepens discussion around ESG, the investment fund's duty, and retirees' frustration. Despite the CalPERS investment committee's recommendation to remove restrictions on investing in tobacco stocks, the board of administration decided to broaden limitation and extend the ban to externally managed portfolios in December 2016. Two years later, opposition to CalPERS's divestment strategy took the form of a campaign to run for a seat on the board of administration. This was followed with the appointment of another CIO who strongly supported ESG investment strategies.

In the fall of 2019, Sprint's Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom's efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions in-house to enhance the company's ability to respond to the market in real-time. Early results suggested the plan was working, but Sprint continued to face fierce competition from its rivals. Sprint's subscriber losses mounted as it attempted to merge with T-Mobile. Could digital marketing stem the losses and win consumers' hearts?

A shift to widespread remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges, but the good news is that organizations around the world are experimenting with creative solutions to meet workers' needs. Analysis from a recent survey of HR leaders and other employees on the most meaningful actions their organizations have taken to support remote work uncovered five principles that can help leaders more effectively manage a distributed workforce.

Historically, personal and commercial banks (P&CB) maintained long relationships with their clients who tended to do most if not all of their banking with one bank. However, by 2017, industry-wide change was well underway as switching costs had become negligible if not non-existent. New entrants were disrupting the banking industry as digitization allowed upstarts to break through long-standing barriers to entry. RBC's Cultural Transformation, intended to reposition the enterprise for the "new normal" in the financial industry, included the creation of this team of collaboration enablers (called Operations Transformation or OT) to drive efficiencies across operations within the current fulfillment operating model and importantly to envision and enable a new digital operating model where people only intervened in a transaction when there was an exception, i.e., a transaction that fell outside the technology's capabilities. OT was tasked with enabling-through collaboration and without radical surgery-the day-to-day optimization of P&CB fulfillment activities and facilitating major change in the way work was done. At the time of the case, eighteen months in, the team was seeing mixed results, which deeply troubled its leadership. Questions abounded: Was it foolish to try to enable major change through collaboration without upending the traditional RBC organization with more radical approaches? Or was the OT group not structured correctly to enable it-and if not, what changes should be made? Was a different collaboration model needed? Internally, some questioned whether the group was optimally located within the organization (as part of the back office organization structure), since the back office was often viewed as more of a servant to the front office. Others wondered if OT's internal structure was getting in the way of its purpose.

Historically, personal and commercial banks (P&CB) maintained long relationships with their clients who tended to do most if not all of their banking with one bank. However, by 2017, industry-wide change was well underway as switching costs had become negligible if not non-existent. New entrants were disrupting the banking industry as digitization allowed upstarts to break through long-standing barriers to entry. RBC's Cultural Transformation, intended to reposition the enterprise for the "new normal" in the financial industry, included the creation of this team of collaboration enablers (called Operations Transformation or OT) to drive efficiencies across operations within the current fulfillment operating model and importantly to envision and enable a new digital operating model where people only intervened in a transaction when there was an exception, i.e., a transaction that fell outside the technology's capabilities. OT was tasked with enabling-through collaboration and without radical surgery-the day-to-day optimization of P&CB fulfillment activities and facilitating major change in the way work was done. At the time of the case, eighteen months in, the team was seeing mixed results, which deeply troubled its leadership. Questions abounded: Was it foolish to try to enable major change through collaboration without upending the traditional RBC organization with more radical approaches? Or was the OT group not structured correctly to enable it-and if not, what changes should be made? Was a different collaboration model needed? Internally, some questioned whether the group was optimally located within the organization (as part of the back office organization structure), since the back office was often viewed as more of a servant to the front office. Others wondered if OT's internal structure was getting in the way of its purpose.

The case study traces the development of FC Barcelona's Innovation Hub (BIH) and its plans to go global. It describes how factors on and off the pitch led to the launch and how the BIH is preparing the club for the future at the centre of an ecosystem that includes prestigious brands, universities, start-ups, and athletes worldwide, all linked by a culture of excellence. The case considers FC Barcelona's competitive environment and its approach to digital disruption (of broadcasting, player performance, fan engagement), the professionalization of football, and the "ambidexterity" of club strategy.

In March 2020, as coronavirus reduced demand for air travel, an analyst was forecasting American Airlines' (American's) first quarter financial results. To develop a forecast, she needed to familiarize herself with Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)," passed four years earlier by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. ASU 2016-02 required companies to disclose all leases on their balance sheets, but it made an exception for leases with variable payments, allowing companies to leave such leases off-balance sheet. The Wall Street Journal estimated that more than 50% of American's leases remained off-balance sheet due to the exclusion of variable leases. Should American and other companies be allowed to leave variable lease payments off-balance sheet? How did the decision to leave these payments off-balance sheet affect companies' risk profiles and valuations?

This is a supplement to the "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A)" case. The (B) case describes American Airlines' financial results for the first quarter of 2020, as well as the continuing effects of coronavirus on the airline industry.

By 2019, Facebook Inc.'s (Facebook's), popular social media and social networking service (known as Facebook) that launched in 2004, had emerged as one of the world's largest market capitalizations. Over its 15 years, the company had experienced public relation incidents that led to controversies regarding its social media business model. Most criticism related to the unethical ways the company had handled its users' personal data. By 2019, the level of mistrust from users had skyrocketed alarmingly. Many analysts questioned the company's willingness to deal with data privacy concerns, with some alleging that its business model was fundamentally unethical by design. Clearly Facebook's chief executive officer and his team needed to step back and reflect on the company's next steps.

Singapore organised the 28th SEA Games in June 2015. This was the fourth time that Singapore hosted the SEA Games, after a 22-year long hiatus. It was a historic SEA Games for Singapore, as it coincided with the nation's Golden Jubilee. Everything went well from the opening ceremony to the organisation of 36 sports, with around 400 events. However, there was a sudden surge in crowd during the closing ceremony. Chairman of Opening and Closing Ceremonies (OCC), Colonel Lawrence Lim planned for a contingency to handle a possible sudden surge in the crowd and the contingency plans were activated, but the lighting condition and different decisions made by different committees impeded the flow of spectators into the Singapore Sports Hub. As a result, 500 spectators who were turned away. The questions that need to be answered are; what are the lessons to be learnt? Crowd management or more than that? Scenario planning, crisis leadership under the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) environment are some of the important lessons that can be drawn from this Case Study.

As medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies race to develop treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19, they show how repurposing knowledge, resources, and technology already at hand can be a valuable innovation strategy.