The case reveals how Porsche has become one of the world's leading car companies. Central to Porsche's growth strategy is creating great products, including its legendary 911 Carrera sportscar, and offering innovative customer experiences. As the automotive industry is undergoing disruptive changes, the company's leadership is making changes to its product portfolio and customer experiences.
In November 2023, Mark Branson, the head of Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), reflected on the efficacy of the reforms initiated since the Wirecard scandal. BaFin had been discredited after Wirecard's downfall in 2020. The press had derided it as a "toothless tiger" because of its limited supervisory powers when it came to addressing warning signs of large-scale accounting fraud. Why did BaFin fail to detect the Wirecard scandal? Were the reforms sufficient to prevent another large-scale accounting fraud and to build trust with investors?
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food containers. However, Vytal's growth was slower than expected, challenging its unique pay-per-use model and environmental goals. This case highlights Vytal's growth trajectory in the years leading up to 2023, outlining its business model, utilization of digital technology, strategies for acquiring partners and customers, and regulatory developments within Europe. It also presents several options that the founders are considering to reach profitability, prepare for a Series B financing round, and expand internationally, such as charging partners for unused containers, implementing consumer fees on single-use containers, launching a loyalty program, and franchising to expand more rapidly.
Three years into their "Ambition" growth plan, in 2022, the management team of Dutch professional service firm Schuberg Philis is taking stock. The global COVID-19 pandemic and other headwinds required adjustments to their growth targets, but they believe that their organization's strong performance throughout these uncertain times, as well as their now more human-centric culture, make them well positioned to meet whatever challenges may lay ahead.
The founders of Dutch professional services firm Schuberg Philis, and the new leadership team entrusted with the day-to-day management, must set the path forward in 2019. The company has grown into a €70 million revenue strong IT provider with top ranks in the industry's yearly customer satisfaction surveys, yet its journey has not been without bumps. In 2010, it had to stop customer acquisition for a few years, as mounting workload and their 100% commitment to satisfy customers put too much pressure on its teams. Despite adjustments to its culture with more focus on employees as well as customers, tensions built up again during the next growth phase, leading to a reorganization with leadership handover in 2017 to become more scalable. Two years later, the founders and their management team now have to decide if their organization is ready for another ambitious growth plan, aiming for a 5-fold growth in staff and revenues by 2025.
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Finland. It highlights Finland's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, such as labor shortages, inflexibility in employment regulations, Russia's war in Ukraine, and slowing growth, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which the confectionary company Fazer needs to manage its exit from the Russian market while continuing its sustainability efforts in a changing industry environment.
In March 2022, the Swatch Group launched the MoonSwatch, born out of a secret in-house collaboration among its street Swatch and its luxury Omega brand, in tribute to one of Omega's most legendary watches. The launch created a frenzy among watch fans worldwide, with huge lines forming outside of the select Swatch stores selling the product and with social media channels lighting up. The case discusses some of the initial reactions to the hyped Omega X Swatch product launch, which represented a break with the distinctive brand positioning strategy that the group had been known for so far.
Danish Crown, one of the world's largest exporters of pork meat and one of Europe's top five producers of beef, faced increasing headwinds in 2021, making CEO Jais Valeur feel like the core of the meat business was under attack. As a cooperative and prominent player in Denmark's high-standard agriculture sector, the company had particular responsibilities and constraints including a high labor and production cost and strict regulatory environment. More recently growing concerns over climate change had led to increasing criticism of the environmental impacts of livestock production. Consumers in Denmark and worldwide were turning away from meat, for its climate impact but also for concerns about animal welfare and their own health. The case discusses these industry trends and describes Danish Crown's efforts to respond by transitioning to a more sustainable company, with several initiatives and investments underway to meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets. Valeur was convinced that sustainability leadership was the only way to keep its customers, add value to commodity parts of the business, and earn the "license" to keep operating in the future. However, the more the company publicized its efforts, the more it got under attack from environmental activists for alleged "greenwashing." Just like many of its peers, Danish Crown's management team needed to devise a strategy that would allow for its survival despite the growing adverse trends.
In 2019, the co-founders of the Swedish medical start-up 1928 Diagnostics, CEO Dr. Kristina Lagerstedt and COO Dr. Susanne Staaf, had to pick the right business model to commercialize their novel technology to hospitals and health care providers. Developed in partnership with research hospitals to help fight the global antibiotic resistance crisis, the firm's cloud-based technology platform helped partners identify resistant genes and mutations in bacteria more quickly and accurately, allowing for easier outbreak cluster tracking in support of hospital infection control management, as well as better diagnostics and antibiotic selection. By 2019, they had raised $5 million, employed 16 people, and had their tool deployed at 24 partner sites in 10 different countries. Their decisions on which markets to focus on and with which business model would crucially impact the young firm's chances at successfully converting existing users and attracting new clients.
Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and CEO of the food and beverage company Danone, believed that humankind had only ten years to bend the curve on climate change and restore the biodiversity that the global food and agricultural ecosystem was critically dependent on. Upon becoming CEO in 2014, he had built on Danone's long history of CSR-engagement to give a boost to the company's mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible. In September 2019, he reflected on the progress achieved thus far, including efforts to support regenerative agriculture through new contract types for famers in their milk division. Still, many questions remained in his journey to fix what he saw as the food industry's broken system: How could they manage the desired long-term transition to a sustainable system while also meeting the company's short-term financial targets? What was the role of the private sector? What economic model could support an inclusive transition? How to engage partners and consumers to embark on this journey?
Nigel Le Quesne, CEO of Jersey-based financial services firm JTC, firmly believed that "shared ownership" was at the heart of his company's successful track record. The firm had seen its revenues, profits, and number of clients and staff grow steadily throughout its over 30-year history, and management attributed much of its competitive edge to its culture in which engaged employee owners had fully aligned interests and collaborated for the greater good of the firm. Le Quesne had seeded the first employee benefit trust with some of his own equity when becoming CEO in 1998, making all employees-from the receptionists to top executives-direct shareholders in the firm. Over time, the employee owned equity had grown from 5% to 23% and the trusts created significant value that had already been directly distributed to employees in two past pay-out events. In 2018, after JTC's successful IPO, Le Quesne and his leadership team have to decide if and how to adjust the shared ownership tools to their new public markets environment.
Once a royal residence and today one of the most photographed Parisian landmarks, the Louvre, home of iconic masterpieces, was the world's largest and most visited museum in 2017. Its President Director Jean-Luc Martinez had since 2013 spearheaded its development and launched large-scale renovation projects with the sole objective to better welcome all visitors, be they French or international, art connoisseurs or tourists, of all ages and backgrounds. With the visitor numbers at the state-owned museum trending upwards in 2018, Martinez had to decide on his priorities for his second mandate. He wanted to further improve the visitor experience but also had to balance the Louvre's public service mission of cultural education, which was increasingly hard to fulfill given the variety of visitors whose expectations had become more diversified. Which audiences, if any, should he put at the center of his attention and how could he best serve them to ensure the future success of his iconic museum?
When Stefan Oschmann became CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2016, the company had started its transformation from a mid-tier traditional German industry player to a global modern science and technology player. The restructuring and portfolio overhaul led by Oschmann's predecessor Karl-Ludwig Kley since 2007 had been approved by the Merck founding family in its 13th generation, which still owned the majority of the shares. Its intermediate results had been encouraging. After three large acquisitions (Serono, Millipore, and Sigma-Aldrich) that broadened its reach from healthcare and pharmaceuticals into life sciences and performance materials and an internal optimization program, revenues and profitability had doubled in the decade leading up to 2016. But more needed to be done. Preparing for the company's 350-year anniversary in 2018, Oschmann had kept up the pace of change, and announced further divestments and restructurings, sparking reactions from employees who expressed increasing exasperation about the new measures. In the fall of 2017 Oschmann and his Executive Board had to decide on the best strategic option for the company's consumer health division. Should they divest a division that lacked scale but that with its consumer brands in pain and cold remedies was viewed as a symbol of the company's origins? Was more change too much change in such a short time?
The case reveals how Booking.com has become the world's leading travel accommodation platform. The company has put online experimentation at the heart of how it designs digital experiences for its customers and partners. To unlock the potential of large-scale testing, the leadership team had to challenge conventional assumptions about culture, process, and the management of innovation.
The case describes how A. Lange & Sohne became one of world's leading watch companies. Its obsession with quality and innovation were behind its initial rise in the 19th century and, after a 40-year involuntary hiatus under the East German regime, again at the end of the 20th century. In 2016 its current CEO Wilhelm Schmid and the heads of product development and production have to decide on how to price its innovative watch collection and how to grow the Glashutte-based watchmaker.
Longchamp's Le Pliage is one of the fashion world's most successful products, a cultural icon across the globe. But managing the low priced, nylon handbag is challenging as Longchamp tries to move its brand upmarket into higher priced, luxury leather goods. How much should Longchamp focus on Le Pliage versus its leather handbags? How should the subbrand be distributed, merchandised, priced, and promoted? How does Le Pliage both contribute to and detract from Longchamp's brand equity?
Describes the detailed inner workings of a high performance Formula One (F1) racing team. It shows how Lotus F1 Team has been able to battle bigger rivals in a very fast-moving, highly regulated, and ultra-competitive environment, where winning races can come down to split seconds. The case explores all elements a of their high performance system: strategy, innovation, leadership, technology, engineering, and operations. Emphasis is placed on the interplay of these elements and how they confer competitive advantage to teams. Management dilemmas that are explored: retention of high performing individuals, response to disruptive technological changes, and regulatory design in competitive environments.
Petrom was privatized by the Romanian state in 2004 and acquired by Austrian oil company OMV, with the state retaining a 20.6% stake in the company. The situation was particularly challenging for the foreign investor since the sector in which the company operated was strategic, was regulated by the Romanian state and the company was a key employer and tax payer in a country that was undergoing major structural change. Under OMV and CEO Mariana Gheorghe's leadership, OMV Petrom saw its net profit and sales almost double since 2005, while headcount was reduced by 50%. Gheorghe had negotiated challenges stemming from Petrom's legacy as a state owned company, such as lack of investment, aged assets, operational inefficiency, and bureaucracy while successfully managing the triangular partnership between the acquirer OMV, acquiree OMV Petrom and the Romanian government.