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Two entrepreneur brothers purchased Trafalgar Ales, Meads and Distillery, a brewery with 19 active individual beer brands, each generating a small amount of sales. The brothers' purchase came at a time when they were transitioning from a contract brewer-a brand that outsources the actual production to another firm-to a production brewer. The challenge for the entrepreneurs was to determine how to manage their stable of brands for the future. Trafalgar Ales, Meads and Distillery seemed to be pursuing a strategy of releasing small batches of unique beers, and managing its portfolio as if it were a constellation of brands. However, the two brothers were wondering if it made more sense to focus on a handful of brands and create a distinctive identity for each brand.

The president and chief executive officer of Romet Limited, was preparing for a project team meeting that would start at 1:00 p.m. that afternoon. It was Friday April 27, 2018, and he had just finalized the architectural design and layout for the company's new plant. The lease for the current plant would expire at the end of that year, and he was reviewing the activities required to complete the facility relocation project. The plant relocation was named "Project Destiny." Recognizing that extending the completion beyond the end of the lease was impossible, he was concerned about being able to complete the project on schedule without increasing costs.

Norlha Textiles was a yak wool enterprise located on the Tibetan Plateau in China. Founded in 2007, the company designed and produced yak wool textiles made by Tibetan nomads and sold globally to customers that included such luxury brands as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Yves Saint Laurent. In 2015, the company employed 120 local people, enabling them to adapt to the modern world while preserving their local traditions. Also in 2015, the local government invited the company to expand its model to another nomadic community on the Tibetan Plateau. Although this seemed to be a good opportunity to grow the company's influence, the chief executive officer hesitated, reflecting on the pros and cons. Was such a partnership the right opportunity to grow the company?

Hoping a jack-of-all-trades can lead your organization's digital transition is unrealistic. We found four distinct types of successful digital executives who can best provide vision and purpose for digital. Crucially, each type has unique strengths and performs best in different contexts.

Mastering technology is not the only criteria for success in the modern marketing era - the right people and processes must also be put in place to properly develop, manage and nurture the benefits of emerging tools. To be successful in the digital era, marketers should adopt the best new modern practices as well as rethink and refine classic approaches.

Digital collaboration platforms can leverage team diversity and expertise, but business must focus on how distributed teams orchestrate their collaboration and how leaders facilitate innovation. The specific collaboration platform you choose is less important.

Inclusivity continues to be a challenge in most workplaces. These essays and articles lay out statistics about where companies are today and discuss strategies for doing better.

Learn how the agile software development process is being used as a management strategy, with lessons from ING bank, Toyota, Spotify, and others.

The strongest companies today have cultures of continuous education - they are investing in helping employees develop the skills they need to succeed in a changing world.

Common goals and an alignment on strategies enhance collaboration. These articles highlight some best practices, both within an organization and among collaborating companies.

How can we best connect with others, both individually and organizationally? Learn what works (and what doesn't) when directing partnerships.

Discover how organizations can translate strategic complexity into simple and flexible guidelines and achieve strategic objectives.

Discover some of the best ways to acknowledge and work through the fears of experimentation - while still embracing flexibility, creativity, and communication.

How can business leaders best understand the complex interplay between companies, economies, and societies?

In 2018, the city of Montreal debated a ban on the commercial use of wood-burning ovens used by the city's famous and iconic bagel shops. This consideration came after a domestic ban on wood-burning ovens went into effect, and amid concerns about public health and a citywide effort to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020. City officials knew that commercial regulation of wood-fire bagel shop ovens could be perceived as a disruption of an important local tradition. But they also knew that failing to reduce environmental and health risks from wood burning would be seen as irresponsible. This case presents the dynamics of a situation in which environmental policy and regulation goes head-to-head with a city's culturally-important food.

In May 2013 Nicolas Beytout launched L'Opinion, a news organization that published a daily newspaper, with a robust digital presence. L'Opinion was opinion-focused, with Libéral economic thought pieces and analysis at the heart of its content. The media industry had changed drastically in the decade preceding, with brutal competition among the traditional media and new entrants like the platforms Google and Facebook. The political environment was also a moving target, with anti-European nationalism on the rise. At the end of 2018, L'Opinion was still struggling to make a profit leading Beytout to consider how to use the news market's continual changes-in consumer behavior, in advertising platform consolidation, in content competition, and in technology-to the company's advantage. Two questions loomed large in his mind: How can L'Opinion best support Libéral policies? What strategic direction will lead to a profitable future for the organization? This case asks students to consider how a media organization integrates its political aims with business imperatives.

Coesia was a privately owned group of industrial companies based in Bologna, Italy. The group went through a two-phase transformation journey when Isabella Seràgnoli became the full owner of the group. One of her first decisions was to name it Coesia, to symbolize cohesion and shared values among the group companies. Her vision was to build a professionally managed, value-driven, sufficiently diversified global group that would be sustainable in the long term. In 2010, Seràgnoli hired a non-Italian newcomer to the industry, Angelos Papadimitriou, as CEO. Six weeks into his tenure, Papadimitriou presented to the board an aggressive ambition of doubling the business by 2015. Achieving this ambition would require a second phase of transformation in terms of strategy, business model and organization. At that time, only one group company, G.D, was truly global. G.D. accounted for 62% of the group's revenues and 99% of its profits. However, it faced some market challenges and potential risks to its future profitability. Papadimitriou and his leadership team would have to develop an overall strategy to build a more balanced, diversified and global group while strengthening G.D. Coesia operated as a loose federation of independent companies each with its own structure, functions and processes. Aside from reshaping the strategy, the group would have to design a business model and an organizational structure to support its ambition of becoming a larger, more global group.

Bonuses are an important part of any CEO's toolkit. This white paper outlines specific steps to follow in establishing or revamping a company's bonus structure, and how this part of the compensation system can reward outstanding results and help retain star performers. Computing bonuses with specific targets, and tallying the results on a quarterly rather than annual basis, for instance, will boost accountability and help keep managers and employees focused on reaching the specified goals.

During the period 2011-2016, CEO and Chairman of Greek telecommunications company OTE Michael Tsamaz guided the company through a much needed transformation with a multi-pronged strategy.

WeWork, a successful company that provides shared workspaces, has grown rapidly since its founding in 2010 and was valued at $45 billion in 2018. WeWork was considered a progressive company with a strong focus on sustainability, evidenced by its public commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2023. As part of its rapid growth, WeWork received very large investments from SoftBank's Vision Fund. Much of the Vision Fund was funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which obtained its wealth from the sale of Saudi oil. This case presents the idea that WeWork's values may be in direct conflict with the values and actions of Saudi Arabia, yet WeWork continued to receive considerable funding from the kingdom. The case raises the question about a corporation's role in society and whether it has any responsibility to ensure its investors' values align with its own.