This case study explores how the VINCI Group, a French multinational operating in concessions, energy, and construction, bolstered awareness and adoption rates of new technologies within the organization. Through its separate innovation hub, Leonard, VINCI aimed to foster learning, creation, and experimentation to improve the group's day-to-day activities. However, while the company's highly decentralized structure encouraged entrepreneurial innovation, some argued it hindered collaboration by fostering internal competition instead. Were there opportunities being overlooked because of this structure? And how could Leonard continue to promote innovation in such a large group?

This case illustrates how a strong culture, founder-led SME designed and used a unique performance metric-the job security index-to manage through periods of economic uncertainty. The case centers specifically on how the job security index was used in an interactive control process to focus the organization on identifying strategic uncertainties and developing related action plans to survive the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. The case explores how the design and use of this metric both influenced, and was influenced by, the firm's broad-based employee ownership incentives.

The case describes the founding, development, and scaling of Antler, an early-stage investment platform that invests in entrepreneurs pre-team and, in many cases, even pre-idea. The case explores the economics of venture capital investing at such an early stage and the various challenges and opportunities to build a platform that not only systematically selects the right founders, but also allows them to build teams and access resources needed to succeed. The case allows for a detailed look at these issues through the lens of two founding teams that were selected for Antler's early-stage investment programs but have very different assessed quantitative and qualitative factors that may impact their future success. Through analyzing these two opportunities for Antler, important issues are surfaced in how to combine analytics with human judgment as Antler's senior leadership looks to scale their investment platform both in terms of number of founding teams and across multiple countries.

Pallak Seth, Group CEO of PDS Multinational Fashions, is contemplating options to bring better collaboration across his global apparel supply chain platform. PDS, a group of 50-plus subsidiary companies, each led by its own CEO and with different apparel industry specialties, has grown rapidly over the past decade, yet the industry is increasingly competitive and challenges remain constant. Looking for ways to reach the Group's 2023 goals of $2 billion in revenue, Seth and his executive board are considering two ways to increase collaboration and reward performance: a joint P&L approach, to drive partnerships across the subsidiaries, and an employee stock option plan, to unlock value across the Group.

An organization's culture can be a significant source of sustainable competitive advantage. For the organization, it can attract job candidates who fit and align employees working in different teams around common goals. For employees, a strong culture can generate pride, satisfaction, and purpose. However, a strong organizational culture can easily decay with a company's growth as new employees join the firm and business units develop cultures of their own. This technical note proposes that the growth a company can sustain while preserving its culture is governed by its ability to attract employees who fit with its purpose and values and to preserve and foster this alignment over time. To achieve this, an effective leader must formally articulate the purpose and values of the company and rely on four management systems that can be collectively thought of as a "North STAR" orienting managers' and employees' attention in the intended direction. This note details these organizational capabilities and management systems and describes the steps that successful companies take in order to preserve a strong culture through periods of growth.

This reading provides a complete overview of assets, the variety of resources owned or controlled by a business entity. Assets are an element of the accounting equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity and are reported on a company's Balance Sheet.

In August 2018, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion. Whole Foods was struggling with high costs and faced growing competition from traditional supermarkets offering more organic products. Prior to the acquisition, Whole Foods began rolling out a new order-to-shelf (OTS) inventory management system that many observers believed had led to shortages. For years, store team leaders at Whole Foods were empowered to make inventory decisions and tailor their stores to meet local needs, but OTS came with strict rules for purchasing and displaying goods which upset many employees. Should Amazon push Whole Foods to improve performance by emphasizing efficiency and standardization? Or should it aim to maintain a sense of empowerment among employees?

Fifty years ago a good blue-collar job was with a large manufacturer such as General Motors or Goodyear. Often unionized, it paid well, offered benefits, and was secure. But manufacturing employment has steadily declined, from about 25% of the U.S. labor force in 1970 to less than 10% today. Now a decent living entails more than a generous wage; it involves sharing the company's success with employees. Some companies offer a direct stake in the company's performance through stock, a share in profits, or both. Companies with employee stock ownership plans report significantly higher sales growth and higher revenue per employee than do conventionally owned companies in the same industry. However, virtually all the gains to be had go to those that create an ownership culture, by building in participative management and helping employees learn to think and act like owners.

Eastern Bank is a 200-year-old New England mutual bank with a community focus. Eastern specializes in small business lending, having made strategic investments to become the top SBA lender in New England in the midst of the Great Recession, when other banks were pulling back. But with technology threatening to disrupt Eastern's relationship banking model, CEO Bob Rivers is getting worried. Looking to spur innovation at the bank, he set up meetings at MIT to talk with "fintech" entrepreneurs. In a deliberate quest for innovation talent, Rivers finds his way to Dan O'Malley, co-founder of the payments division at Capital One and, most recently, CEO of a failed online bank. O'Malley agrees to join the bank as Chief Digital Officer, leading product development, customer support, and "Eastern Labs"-a new office enclosed by glass walls and located in the middle of Eastern's main lobby. Rivers provides Labs with $4 million annually-1% of gross revenues-to develop new banking technologies, and promises to help O'Malley spin out his own company if he develops product that can be monetized. O'Malley conducts tests in insurance cross-selling and small business lending, eventually launching a completely automated small business lending product. Rivers keeps the promise by helping O'Malley spin out a bank technology company called Numerated, and secures a 25% equity share for Eastern. But by the time of the spin out, Rivers is reassessing the success of the effort. Did Rivers have the right intrapreneurship model? Did he change the culture at Eastern? Did he make a mistake spinning off Numerated into a separate company? What lessons can he learn for "Labs 2.0"?

Set in early-2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the leadup to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in relation to the years-long period of misconduct in sales. Subsequent investigations, terminations, compensation clawbacks, and other consequences are described.