Despite the consensus that climate change will have huge consequences not just for the planet but also on corporate operations, businesses continue to fail to adjust their strategic decision-making processes to become more sustainable. One of the silent culprits behind climate change inertia lies in the cognitive biases at play in corporate decision making. This article builds on existing strategic decision-making models to explain how biases prevent managers from accurately identifying the moral dimensions of climate change. It also presents a broad range of practical interventions for how this constraint can be overcome.
The Newlight Technologies case is set at the end of 2013. Newlight has been awarded the Innovation Prize for Biomaterial of the Year by nova-Institut GmbH at the Cologne International Conference on Industrial Biotechnology and Bio-based Plastics & Composites. The company has a small-scale pilot plant using enzyme catalysts to produce a bioplastic resin, PHA, which has a wide range of applications for products in the plastics industry. The pilot plant can produce enough resin to perform product trials for a number of end-users at the same time. The innovative process is the fruit of ten years' research and the result promises to be one of the first biopolymers to be economically competitive with petro-chemical based products on price and performance. The case provides details of the global industry, giving scope and scale information for businesses along the value chain, including market segmentation and resin pricing.
The case highlights the key features of the domestic Indian aviation industry in terms of its growth potential and contrasts this with the operational challenges. The exhibits hold significant information which students can analyse to get a deeper understanding. First, a discussion about the attractiveness (or not) of the Indian aviation market can be carried out. This will help to position Singapore Airlines as a new entrant and discuss its competitive advantages vis-a-vis local players. Some students might focus on the parallel entry of Air Asia, a leader in the low-cost aviation arena, with the same potential local partner - the Tata Group. This will allow for a richer discussion and enable decision making on the question posed in the case - to enter the highly competitive Indian aviation market or not? This abridged case has been designed for use in either MBA or executive classes where advanced readings are not possible. It can also be used as a standalone case to explore Porter's 5 Forces and STEEP frameworks in the context of the Indian Airline Industry without a detailed discussion of Singapore Airline's strategy specifically. As a short case, it can be read in-class in approximately 10 minutes.
BioLite started out as an evening and weekend project for two men who wanted to design a more efficient camping stove. From those humble beginnings grew a company that has won accolades and attention for its innovative design. BioLite's stove could potentially improve the lives of millions of people worldwide while combatting global climate threats. With its roots in sustainable design, the company has become a social enterprise dedicated to finding a market-based solution to the range of problems caused by the open fires that millions of people rely on for cooking and heating their homes. A unique feature of BioLite's business model is its dual-innovation streams: The lessons and innovations gleaned from testing its HomeStove prototypes in developing countries like Ghana, Uganda and India are then adapted to create products that can be sold to the European and North American recreational markets. The revenues from sales in developed markets can then support the company, be reinvested in new research and help incubate its efforts in developing countries until those fledgling markets become self-sustaining. However, BioLite is at a transitional stage, having completed much of its field-testing, it has an adaptable and well-accepted HomeStove design. At the end of the case, the future viability of BioLite's proposed model is brought into question given the complexities of successfully selling its product in a developing country. Learning objectives: The BioLite case could be used in several subject areas as it incorporates elements of entrepreneurship, business strategy and corporate social responsibility/sustainability. Of particular interest is the way BioLite has combined design and strategic thinking to embed sustainability and transformational values into its core business strategy. Therefore, it is applicable for use in undergraduate, MBA level or executive courses.
Supplement to case IMD724. Case D looks at the sustainability challenges in the airline industry, given that aviation emissions have more than doubled in the last 20 years and are a significant contributor to climate change. The industry has adopted voluntary carbon reduction targets but discussions on a specific market-based regulatory policy at the global level are still at a standstill. As the industry remains under the environmental spotlight, in 2013/14 Singapore Airlines developed a new sustainability strategy and has to decide whether its current efforts are sufficient to address the magnitude of the sustainability question and how it should fit within its overall strategy. Learning objectives: To illustrate how sustainability programs, when not aligned with current external forces or existing strategic priorities, result in marginal or insignificant outcomes.
The Indian aviation market, having experienced high growth rates that were expected to continue through 2016, was opened to foreign investment in 2012. Singapore Airlines is considering entering the market in a partnership with India's largest industrial group, the Tata Group. At the time of the case, there are five major players, none of which is dominant. Learning objectives: These include: 1) learning to gauge the attractiveness of an industry based on Porter's five forces analysis; 2) understanding how each of the five forces - supplier power, customer power, substitutes, new entrants and degree of competitive rivalry - affect industry profitability; 3) applying a STEEP analysis (social, technological, economic, environmental, political) to predict the future attractiveness of an industry.
Supplement to case IMD724. The C case takes a broader geographical view, while focusing on Singapore Airlines' strategic differentiation. The airline, while being widely considered as the standard bearer in terms of quality and customer service, has been able to achieve some of the lowest cost structures in the industry, surpassing even some LCCs. To meet this seeming paradox while minimizing trade-offs, Singapore Airlines draws the line between things that are valued by the customer, where procedural and cultural ingenuity are promoted, and things that have no effect on the traveler, where cost efficiency is sought. Learning objectives: To investigate how, why and where SIA manages its cost/service trade-offs. To identify the key internal characteristics that allow Singapore Airlines to consistently beat its rivals in terms of customer service and profitability.
Supplement to case IMD724. Singapore Airlines creates a partnership with India's Tata Group to create a full-service airline to serve the Indian market. The market is served by five existing airlines in both the low-cost and full-service categories. In parallel to the company it is creating with Singapore Airlines, the Tata Group is also launching a low-cost carrier with Malaysia's AirAsia, the overall Asian LCC leader. The case looks at how the different carriers compete in the Indian market, drawing differences between the approaches of low-cost carriers and full-service providers. Learning objectives: To identify and understand the different ways in which a company can compete in a market - low cost vs. differentiation. To understand the close link between strategic positioning and internal competencies.
The Shorefast Foundation is a charitable organization that aims to spark a rural renaissance and promote economic and cultural resilience in the isolated communities of Fogo Island and Change Islands, Newfoundland, Canada, using a social entrepreneurship model. The cases also highlight the importance of rural places as repositories of local knowledge, culture and traditions. The two Shorefast cases illustrate the initial formation of the Foundation and the implementation issues surrounding the building of a multimillion dollar five star Inn. They are best used together as a series, but can be used independently as well. Case A provides information about the socioeconomic background of Fogo Island as well as an in depth profile of the founder of the Shorefast Foundation, Zita Cobb. The case illustrates how the founder of an organization can shape an organization's goals, vision, and beliefs. It also describes the model of social entrepreneurship that was being proposed and the organizational structure of the Shorefast Foundation and its affiliates as it stood before the construction of the revenue-generating Inn. Learning objectives: The case can be used to 1) introduce the concept of business models in general and explore the differences between 'traditional' and 'social entrepreneurship' business models; 2) help students understand the link between a founder's values, beliefs and objectives (managerial preferences) and strategy formulation and implementation; 3) introduce students to the organizational challenges involved in social entrepreneurship and the tensions to be negotiated between environmental, economic and social goals.
Research in Motion (RIM) is a high technology firm that is experiencing explosive sales growth. David Yach, chief technology officer for software at RIM, has received notice of an impending meeting with the co-chief executive officer regarding his research and development (R&D) expenditures. Although RIM, makers of the very popular BlackBerry, spent almost $360 million in R&D in 2007, this number was low compared to its largest competitors, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of sales (e.g. Nokia spent $8.2 billion on R&D). This is problematic as it foreshadows the question of whether or not RIM is well positioned to continue to meet expectations, deliver award-winning products and services and maintain its lead in the smartphone market. Furthermore, in the very dynamic mobile telecommunications industry, investment analysts often look to a firm's commitment to R&D as a signal that product sales growth will be sustainable. Just to maintain the status quo, Yach will have to hire 1,400 software engineers in 2008 and is considering a number of alternative paths to managing the expansion. The options include: (1) doing what they are doing now, only more of it, (2) building on their existing and satellite R&D locations, (3) growing through acquisition or (4) going global.
Research in Motion (RIM) is a high technology firm that is experiencing explosive sales growth. David Yach, chief technology officer for software at RIM, has received notice of an impending meeting with the co-chief executive officer regarding his research and development (R&D) expenditures. Although RIM, makers of the very popular BlackBerry, spent almost $360 million in R&D in 2007, this number was low compared to its largest competitors, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of sales (e.g. Nokia spent $8.2 billion on R&D). This is problematic as it foreshadows the question of whether or not RIM is well positioned to continue to meet expectations, deliver award-winning products and services and maintain its lead in the smartphone market. Furthermore, in the very dynamic mobile telecommunications industry, investment analysts often look to a firm's commitment to R&D as a signal that product sales growth will be sustainable. Just to maintain the status quo, Yach will have to hire 1,400 software engineers in 2008 and is considering a number of alternative paths to managing the expansion. The options include: (1) doing what they are doing now, only more of it, (2) building on their existing and satellite R&D locations, (3) growing through acquisition or (4) going global.
Leadership theories abound, but few have provided a means to integrate the depth and breadth of the vast literature available. Building on the research of Crossan, Vera, and Nanjad (who propose Transcendent Leadership as an integrative framework), we describe the key leadership challenges of leading across the levels of self, others, organization, and society. We argue that much of the leadership discourse has focused almost exclusively on leadership of others and occasionally on the leadership of the organization as a whole, yet little has focused specifically on the integral component of leadership of self. We provide evidence of the necessity of multiple levels of leadership, as well as some practical guidance, by drawing from in-depth interviews of six leaders in various contexts.