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Retail customers may accept different prices on different channels -but retailers need to manage new complexities to make it work. These include understanding what customers value in each channel and how that affects what they will pay, giving store employees the right language for talking about price differences, and working out operational challenges. Getting it right has a real payoff: Retailers that effectively price differently across all channels see bottom-line growth of 2 to 5%.

The robots are coming! But counter to popular belief, it's not just low-paying jobs that are at risk of automation. According to research by Scott Latham and Beth Humberd, predicting which jobs are vulnerable requires analyzing the type of value job holders deliver and the skills they use to deliver it. Workers must understand four paths of job evolution -and factors behind each path -if they hope to adapt.

Despite the well-documented costs of overload, many leaders still think organizations thrive under pressure. They have a lot to learn from manufacturing, where managers have adopted a "pull" system to manage task flow, improving productivity and performance. This concept can be used to prevent overload in knowledge work, too. And "visual management" techniques make it easier to apply pull thinking to a portfolio of projects by rendering nonphysical tasks tangible. Two recent changes at the Broad Institute, an MIT-affiliated biomedical and genomic research center, illustrate how.

Modest questions about how today's problems could be solved more effectively lead to applications of technology with easily foreseeable gains. But when people start asking bigger, bolder questions that challenge basic assumptions about how a problem has been framed, they open up space for breakthrough innovations. That's been the pattern in many digital realms, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things.

Data reveals the C-suite recognizes that technical debt -the "price" companies pay for short-term technological fixes -hinders their ability to innovate and adapt in the digital age. One strategy to combat technical debt? Digital decoupling.

With the rise of blockchain and adoption of cryptocurrencies, companies across different industries can benefit from the increased trust and transparency these emerging technologies provide. Most executives recognize the need to prioritize blockchain as part of their business strategy, but the question of how to adopt and reskill can be daunting.

In both practice and research, we are doing a better job at bringing attention to the problem of gender bias. But we haven't established enough tangible suggestions for how to challenge it. New research has begun to investigate the efficacy of "scripts" -a set of words or phrases such as "Can you repeat what you just said?" that would signal to a peer that he has crossed a line, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Blockchain represents more than just cryptocurrencies and digital cash. The decentralized ledger system provides a platform for smart contracts, which are digital agreements that are fast, secure, and require no third party.

Companies are looking to artificial intelligence to create business value, and as MIT Sloan Management Review's 2018 Global Executive Study and Research Report on AI shows, Pioneer organizations are pulling ahead of their counterparts. By deepening their commitment to AI and focusing on revenue-generating applications over cost savings, these early implementers are positioning themselves to reap the benefits of AI at scale.

Executives in the automotive sector believe that machine learning can help them achieve their marketing goals, but that doesn't necessarily mean they invest in that ambition.

Heading into Old Street Tube station in London on a chilly January day, Freddie's mind was racing with ideas. He had just come out from another meeting with Forward Partners, a well-known, London-based venture capital firm, and it was clear the conversation had gone well. The team at Forward Partners understood his vision and saw value in the opportunity he had identified: a personalised solution to the urban gardening market. Moreover, Forward Partners brings a unique value proposition, with a team of in-house technical and marketing experts that work closely with the entrepreneurs. But is that the right fit for him?

Initiated in 2001, 100 Women in Finance (100WF) has evolved over the years from a small, informal networking group of women working in hedge funds in New York City into an international, non-profit networking organization with more than 15,000 members in 23 locations in 2018 with a broadened focus on the entire finance industry. In June 2018, CEO Amanda Pullinger visited Hong Kong to deepen her understanding of issues in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, particularly the organization's reliance on volunteers in Asian cities which lacked a culture of volunteerism. Some APAC members also felt disconnected from the organization's New York and London centers because of the geographical distance. The APAC head, Sarah Dyer, needed to ensure that APAC members' needs were met. She wanted to decide about the organization's future strategy for the region which might differ from the strategies for other regions.

This case describes how a small business venture started by five friends turned, over a 20-year span, into a company with sales of USD 49 million and a renowned, sustainable and innovative business model that had a high social and environmental impact. It also illustrates impact entrepreneurs' calling and motivation, as well as the dilemmas and challenges faced in order to stay true to their principles as the business grows and consolidates. The key question confronting these entrepreneurs at the end of the case is whether Guayakí should continue to grow at its current pace, or whether it should moderate its growth in order for its founders to gain a better understanding of the negative environmental impacts that the business creates and to find ways to manage those impacts.

The culture-strategy-execution framework, known as the Trio Model, offers organizations a powerful, adaptive approach to navigating today's complicated global issues. By considering culture as an integral part of strategic thinking, executives and practitioners adopting the model can take a holistic approach to solving practical problems.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 519021.

Drone Racing League (DRL) sees itself as the world's preeminent professional drone racing league. The company is in its third season of racing and is focused on future seasons and the negotiation of a new media agreement. How should the company proceed?

Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) is a venture capital (VC) fund plus start-up accelerator launched in 2013 by Russia's Agency for Strategic Initiatives at the behest of the country's President. Kirill Varlamov is the Executive Director of IIDF. The case covers the launch of IIDF, its acceleration model and key strategic challenges.

The case explores the decision of a financial advisor in Hong Kong whether to recommend leveraged and inverse ETFs (L&I ETFs) to her clients. The case introduces unique features of L&I ETFs, methodologies of performance calculation, their relative merits and risks comparing with alternative products available in the market including derivative warrants (DWs), Callable Bull Bear Contracts (CBBCs), traditional ETFs, futures and options. Thinking from the perspectives of a financial advisor, students should combine the knowledge of L&I ETFs, the given market data, the market views of the financial advisor, as well as the clients' characteristics (age, educational backgrounds, future investment goals, etc.) to come up with tailor-made recommendations for each individual client.

Supplement to HK1130.

Supplement to HK1130.