When he became CEO, facing limited growth prospects, a low valuation, and therefore a stagnating share price, Menegaux and his team launched a set of initiatives to reposition Michelin. These included (1) articulating a clear purpose ("We care about giving people a better way forward"), (2) formulating a strategic vision-the "Michelin in Motion" strategy aiming to generate 20%-30% of revenue from non-tire activities by 2030, a significant leap from less than 5% in 2020, (3) introducing a new leadership model-I CARE-and reshaping the company's values around the idea of respect for all its stakeholders, and (4) introducing the dream for Michelin to be recognized by 2050 as a critical innovation leader that helped humanity conquer new frontiers. The overall plan centered on driving performance across profit, people, and the planet. Despite challenges, by 2024, these changes had begun to show results, with the company's share price rising by 23% since the beginning of his tenure, although Menegaux believes this does not fully reflect the company's potential.

Julia Sohajda was the young, female founding partner of the Hungarian VC firm Vespucci Partners, which focused on investing at seed stage into Hungarian deep tech startups and prepare them for a launch in the U.S market. Vespucci's first fund had largely been comprised of money from the Hungarian Development Bank, which had limited the fund's investment possibilities. Sohajda was now in the process of raising capital for her firm's second fund, targeting exclusively institutional investors and high net-worth individuals. In a country without much generational wealth and a difficult macroeconomic environment, would she be able to reach her goal of collecting €60 million?

In the spring of 2023, and following the favorable results of a trial involving its phage cocktail for treating lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the leadership of BiomX had several critical issues to wrestle with. First, given its precarious financial position, with funds to continue operating for about 18 months, the company was considering how it could raise more money. Possibilities included finding a buyer, convincing an entity to take them private with a cash infusion, securing a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal, and trying to interest institutional investors to buy shares. Second, given the positive results just reported and the pending outcome of ongoing trials, management began assessing the commercial potential for its treatment for lung infections in CF patients. The executives had to define the likely total addressable market (TAM) as well as what could be a reasonable price to charge; other go to market challenges, such as educating the medical community and convincing payers to cover the treatment, would also need to be overcome. Lastly, if the ongoing trials in CF patients also produced positive results and additional funding was secured, the company had to decide on future R&D efforts. Options ranged from developing and testing phage cocktails to treat low-risk/low-reward conditions (such as prosthetic joint infections or PJI), medium-risk/medium-reward conditions (such as infections associated with atopic dermatitis), or high-risk/high-reward conditions (such as inflammatory bowel disease or IBD).

In 2023, Nieves Segovia, President of the SEK Education Group in Spain, contemplates the future of her family's for-profit education company, which includes K-12 schools and the newly established UCJC university. Renowned for its innovation in education, SEK faces crucial decisions in a rapidly evolving market. Nieves Segovia grapples with the direction to prioritize for UCJC's growth strategy, considering whether to expand programs and degrees, invest further in online education post-COVID-19 success, or delve into lifelong learning opportunities.

In July 2021, the CEO of AB InBev's European operations and his team strategized to position the company for success post-pandemic. As the world's largest beer company, boasting over 500 brands, revenue of $46 billion, and a workforce of 160,000 in 2020, AB InBev grappled with the repercussions of the pandemic, particularly the adverse effects on on-trade customers like bars and restaurants. Historically a traditional firm in a conventional industry, AB InBev had begun a substantial digital transformation in recent years. This strategic shift was aimed at leveraging data and market insights more effectively. A key component of this transformation was the creation of the Growth Analytics Center (GAC) in India in 2016, a move designed to embed advanced forecasting and analytics into their business model. As the pandemic unfolded, management increasingly relied on the GAC's analytics and forecasts to navigate the evolving crisis. With pandemic restrictions starting to relax in mid-2021, the company began considering substantial investments in the struggling on-trade sector to gain market share. The company considered offering grants in the form of pre-paid discounts to pubs and restaurants that needed capital to reopen after the pandemic. The dilemma was whether to proactively reinvest in the on-trade sector or take a cautious approach. The decision rested on interpreting GAC data and the company's financial outlook.

Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the deep-sea segment, which included long distance trade lanes such as Asia to Northern Europe and Asia to North America, warranted special focus because they accounted for 80% of maritime transport's total emissions in 2019. New International Maritime Organization regulations that came into force in January 2023 mandated the annual calculation and grading of each ship of more than 5,000 deadweight tons. Vessels that received a grade of A, B, or C were compliant, while those graded D or E had time limits for getting back into compliance or removal from service. More significantly, the standards for grading required annual improvements in efficiency. This meant that a brand-new vessel built with the latest technology that was initially graded A could over time become graded E and no longer be legally operable if no upgrades were made. This case affords students the opportunity to consider different fuel and operational choices and calculate their impact on greenhouse gas emissions and ship grading. It exposes some of the choices that an operator might choose to make.

Mirakl provided the technology and seller network required for companies like Macy's, Best Buy, Walmart, Siemens, or Carrefour to simply design, launch, and administer a marketplace that included products from third-party sellers. What began as a basic business idea in 2012 had grown into a thriving venture ten years later. Mirakl expected to grow its $100 million revenue by fivefold during the next five years. But how was this to be accomplished? Mirakl had previously prioritized the development of solutions for marketplace operators, the "Macy's of the world". It was now working on a new solution, Mirakl Connect, with the goal of becoming the premier destination for third-party sellers. But, how should Mirakl monetize these services? Should they charge for them, and if so, to whom? Should Mirakl explore adjacent opportunities, such as financial services, fulfillment, or advertising? Finally, should Mirakl expand its services to marketplaces outside the Mirakl ecosystem?

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Greece. It highlights Greece'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 extensive red tape, slow legal proceedings and a large informal sector, 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 Microsoft has chosen Greece for the construction of two of its data centers.

Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in the company's ambition to become Europe's "starting point for fashion" was the ongoing transition from an online retailer to a platform business. The management team grappled with numerous strategic decisions. How could Zalando accelerate its transformation? Which new markets and novel customer propositions should the company invest into? And how should it balance the needs of consumers and partners?

Emmanuel Faber became CEO of Danone SA, the French food and beverage company, in 2014. Right from the start, he ran the company with a dual commitment to both profit and purpose (i.e., ESG objectives). In fact, in 2018, he said, "It's time to make sustainable business the only way of doing business." The case examines his leadership and efforts to make Danone a more socially and environmentally responsible company, culminating with a shareholder vote in June 2020 to adopt a new legal status recently created under French corporate law called the "entreprise à mission" (EAM or mission-driven company). Shareholders overwhelmingly approved the bylaw change which allowed Danone to redefine its "raison d'être" (corporate purpose) to include social and environmental objectives. In response, Faber said, "You have toppled the statue of Milton Friedman here today," a reference to the author of the famous article entitled "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits." As the first publicly traded company in France to adopt the new structure, all eyes were on Faber to see how he would run the company and achieve multiple corporate objectives.

Describes the events that took place in the first six months after Danone became France's first "entreprise à mission" (mission-driven company).

Describes the events that took place in the first year after Danone became France's first "entreprise à mission" (mission-driven company).

In 2021, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increased rapidly, particularly for electric vehicles. Anxious not to be reliant on Asian players, Europe was keen on developing its own home-grown capacity to control the value chain, maintain employment in Europe, and get a share of the profits. The unpredictability of the coronavirus pandemic, which had exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, had also put pressure on European countries to move quickly to keep Europe's automakers competitive. Europe had a new champion in Sweden's Northvolt, which was headed by a former Tesla executive. Since its inception in 2016, Northvolt had raised $6.5 billion in debt and equity and built a team of 2,000 people in three countries. It had begun construction of a first "Gigafactory" in Northern Sweden that would manufacture lithium-ion batteries on an unprecedented scale. The company also stood out by its ambition to build the world's greenest car battery-a concept that encompassed minimal carbon footprint, ethical sourcing of raw materials, and a robust ecosystem for recycling. Even though Northvolt had secured offtake agreements amounting to $27 billion through 2030, the construction of its first "Gigafactory" had yet to be completed. Would the bet on making the most sustainable battery pay off? And would the company be able to execute the multi-billion-dollar construction projects to build the factories and then operate them as planned to meet the quickly rising demand for the batteries it had committed to delivering?

This case explores the tradeoffs between product personalization and simplicity as companies grow. The case presents an opportunity to understand whether and how each of these approaches enables and/or limits companies' abilities to provide customer satisfaction while being efficient in their operations. In October 2018, Allianz was one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with 103 million retail and corporate customers in 70 countries. It was one of only two insurers to rank amongst the world's 50 strongest brands in 2017, a sign that the company's customer-centricity approach drove value and resonated with clients. Allianz's ambition was to reach the top 25 brands in Interbrand's ranking by 2025. For the insurer, the key to success was to focus on simplicity-reducing the complexity of products and processes in order to create a more unified customer experience. However, such a move did not align with current trends in insurance markets, where Allianz's main competitors had opted for hyper-personalization. Furthermore, a strategy focused on simplicity implied a radical move in certain key markets where Allianz had traditionally offered a large diversity of products. Was simplicity the right strategy? Would Allianz be able to embrace customer needs successfully within and across markets while simultaneously growing its business?

After launching a Danish esports company in July 2019, and going public in December 2019 with multiple brands associated with different games, the Astralis leadership team was contemplating a shift to a single, corporate brand. While the original arguments for multiple, team-based brands were that esports fans differed by game and the holding company structure made it easier to acquire and divest teams, Jakob Lund Christensen, the firm's chief commercial officer (CCO), now believed that a single, corporate brand strategy made more sense as the popularity of esports continued to grow-the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was causing interest and participation in esports to grow rapidly. Rather than a holding company, Christensen saw the possibility of creating a leading esports company under the Astralis brand. In addition to being easier to manage corporate resources, he argued it would be easier and more lucrative to monetize a single brand. He was scheduled to meet with the firm's other leaders-CEO Anders Hørsholt and Chairman Nikolaj Nyholm, in just over a week to discuss whether they should indeed change the firm's branding strategy.

Just Arrived is an online platform that matches newly-arrived immigrants in Sweden with employment opportunities. As one of several for-profit and non-profit start-ups in Europe that is looking to address the refugee crisis, the case enables a comparative analysis of a few of the core choices that a social enterprise has to make when developing a solution to a problem of this scale and scope. Used as an introductory case for a course on social enterprise and systems change, it touches on the background and experience of the founders, and their product development process. It shifts to explore which business model (for-profit or non-profit) and organizational structure might be most effective in addressing the problem, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. And finally, it looks at how these organizations are working to change the system in the long-term, with a combination of direct service to refugees and employers, as well as the indirect influence of the media and through national or European policy changes.

In 2018, Swedish furniture maker IKEA was undergoing a significant transformation. Challenged by the rise of online shopping and changing consumer behavior, and mourning the death of its founder, the Company's top executives knew they had to step out of their comfort zones and embrace new strategic initiatives to stay relevant. But which initiatives, executed where, when and how, would enable IKEA to achieve its goals in a way that was profitable while creating an IKEA they would want to pass on to the next generation of co-workers and customers?

In February 2020, Nick Dalton, executive vice president HR business transformation at Unilever, reflected on the changing nature of work marked by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation. Launched in 2016, Unilever's Future of Work initiative aimed to accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization and prepare the workforce for a digitalized and highly automated era. Despite the success over the last three years, the program still faced significant challenges in its implementation: How should Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, adapt and accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization? Was it even possible to lead a systematic, agile workforce transformation across several geographies with local context differences? How could Unilever prepare and upscale its workforce for the future?