In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat maker, observers began to wonder if the reorganization made sense after all.
In June 2022, the founders of Singapore mobile operator Circles.Life had a crucial decision to make. Circles.Life developed a new business model in mobile telecommunications-a digital telco-built around its proprietary operating system. After expanding its brand in several countries, the company received interest from traditional telcos to license its operating system to create their own digital telcos. While the B2B opportunity was more economically attractive, Circles.Life's original B2C business was the key to continued innovation in its operating system. The founders had to decide on the best next steps to capitalize on the company's existing and budding business verticals.
At the end of 2019, Ignacio Galán, the Chairman and CEO of the world's third largest utility, Iberdrola, relected on his almost 20 years at the company. He managed a portfolio of three very different businesses, each with their own specific opportunities and challenges. From the outside, the Renewables business appeared to be the flagship business, with engineering projects constantly increasing in scope and size. Less high profile but no less strategically important was the Networks business, which was characterized by its regulated nature and provided a stable financial base for the company. Finally, the Wholesale and Retail business developed customized and innovative solutions for customers. Iberdrola had invested early in renewable technologies to position itself as a leader in driving the electric industry's role in the fight against climate change. Over time, Iberdrola had honed the skill of constantly monitoring new technologues and strategically deciding when to make its move. Faced with the decision to invest in green technology, heralded as a key technology in the fight for net zero, Galán and his team were weighing up their options.
Spreadsheet supplement to 722357 In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company's future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019, it expanded further by entering the detergents market. By 2020, the company employed over 4,500 people and had a presence in 20 African countries. The Lilas brand had become a household name in Tunisia, outperforming brands owned by global players like Procter and Gamble. In detergents, SAH was steadily gaining ground over multinational consumer goods companies like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, and Henkel. As Mezni looked ahead, she had to carefully evaluate three growth opportunities: introducing a range of kitchen cleaners, vertically integrating operations in the detergents business, and opening a subsidiary in Kenya. Which of these, if any, would be the right way forward for the SAH Group at this juncture?
In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company's future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019, it expanded further by entering the detergents market. By 2020, the company employed over 4,500 people and had a presence in 20 African countries. The Lilas brand had become a household name in Tunisia, outperforming brands owned by global players like Procter and Gamble. In detergents, SAH was steadily gaining ground over multinational consumer goods companies like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, and Henkel. As Mezni looked ahead, she had to carefully evaluate three growth opportunities: introducing a range of kitchen cleaners, vertically integrating operations in the detergents business, and opening a subsidiary in Kenya. Which of these, if any, would be the right way forward for the SAH Group at this juncture?
The case opens in May 2018 with Nurtac Ziyal Afridi, chief strategy and growth officer of Yildiz Holding, a Turkish conglomerate, reflecting on the group's diversification journey. In ten years, the group had achieved a remarkable growth through diversification: seven mergers, 33 acquisitions, and 23 divestments. By 2018, it had 164 companies and consolidated revenues of $12 billion. After two notable acquisitions (Godiva, a $850-million deal in 2007, and United Biscuits, a $3.2-billion deal in 2014), Yildiz Holding became one of the world's largest confectionary companies. However, Yildiz Holding's owner, Murat Ulker, wanted it to be the number one or two player globally. To achieve this goal, Afridi started a major restructuring program to focus on the group's core assets. That was not an easy feat. The group companies addressed mass market to luxury customers, and their portfolio of products ranged from confectionary to dairy, beverages, baby food, and olive oil. They had wholesaling operations as well as retailing businesses across a wide reach of geographies. Afridi's decisions in restructuring needed to balance all the various trade-offs. She had to decide how to define core, and accordingly decide which non-core assets to divest. Should she consider protecting only wholesaling businesses and divesting retailing? And what about managing their businesses in different geographies? Would it be a good idea if the group were to manage some geographies directly and leave the management of others to select partners?
The case opens in April 2020 with Sani Åžener, CEO of TAV Airports, a vertically integrated regional airport operator headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, and his team discussing the pending acquisition of the Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan. The company had been looking for ways to increase its revenues, which had shrunk by 35% in 2019 after the closing of its flagship airport in Istanbul. The business case for acquiring Almaty International was quite strong: it was an asset acquisition with no maturity, and it came with fuel and cargo operations, functions that were unaffected by the cyclicality of passenger traffic. But the world had changed significantly since TAV made a conditional offer of $415 million, outbidding all other interested parties in November 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the aviation industry had been facing unprecedented challenges, and passenger traffic in Almaty had dropped by around 40%. In the meantime, the seller of Almaty International was undeterred and pressed TAV to close the deal. Åžener and the senior management team were at a critical juncture: they had to move ahead soon or risk missing out on an opportunity that had looked very bright pre-pandemic.
Via (a) captures the early days of the data analytics startup as founders Gounden and Ravanis considered which markets offer the right opportunities for their firm and what kinds of experiments will help them narrow their choice. Supplement Via (b) reveals the experiments they ran, and what they learned. Via (c) explores the strategic choices they face about product and service offerings once they determine which market(s) to target.
Via (a) captures the early days of the data analytics startup as founders Gounden and Ravanis considered which markets offer the right opportunities for their firm and what kinds of experiments will help them narrow their choice. Supplement Via (b) reveals the experiments they ran, and what they learned. Via (c) explores the strategic choices they face about product and service offerings once they determine which market(s) to target.
Via (a) captures the early days of the data analytics startup as founders Gounden and Ravanis considered which markets offer the right opportunities for their firm and what kinds of experiments will help them narrow their choice. Supplement Via (b) reveals the experiments they ran, and what they learned. Via (c) explores the strategic choices they face about product and service offerings once they determine which market(s) to target.
In 2013, Nokia sold its Device and Services business to Microsoft for €5.4 billion. For decades Nokia had led the telecommunications (telecom) industry in handsets and networking. By the late 2000s, however, Nokia's position as market leader in mobile devices was threatened by competition from new lower-cost Asian manufacturers. Apple's 2007 release of its iPhone established an entire new category-the smartphone-immediately popular with users. What were Nokia's missteps over the years? What should Nokia have done differently?
This case illustrates the challenges that retailers face when they aggressively pursue geographical growth by expanding both their physical store network and their online presence. It features Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Retail, a franchisee of Carrefour hypermarkets in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, a company that strived to strike the right balance of offline and online for each of the markets it served. MAF Retail had a strong presence in the Middle East, particularly in its home market, the United Arab Emirates, and it had been building its presence in Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya, Georgia, and most recently in Uganda. There were also opportunities to open hundreds more stores in each of these markets and expand into 15 other countries in Asia and Africa where it had a license. But the retail environment was changing across the globe, owing to a shift in consumer behaviors that accompanied the rise of the online-only players. CEO Hani Weiss had been driving a digital transformation within the company, building the necessary technology and online capabilities to provide a seamless experience to its customers. The company also partnered with online-only players to increase its reach to customers in countries where MAF Retail had a presence and to provide an online offer to customers where it had no online store. Going forward, Weiss faced hard choices in deciding which markets to prioritize. He also had to determine the right balance of offline and online for each market. Should he invest his resources in opening new stores, or in building online capabilities-or both? How would his strategy differ in the key markets?
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?
The case, based on extensive interviews with NTT DOCOMO's technology leaders, focuses on the opportunities and challenges that NTT DOCOMO faces with the launch of infrastructure and services for 5G wireless telecommunication technology. With higher data rates and capacity, lower latency, and massive device connectivity, 5G could support new opportunities for growing NTT DOCOMO's business, which has been on a non-growth path since the early 2000s. The case details NTT DOCOMO's actions during previous transitions across wireless generations, illustrating the tradeoffs between being a first technological mover versus learning from the experience from other players in the market. It also highlights the intricacies of making a transition within a technological ecosystem, where coordination across different players is key for a successful strategy. Specifically, the case provides a platform to discuss the strategic options NTT DOCOMO is pursuing prior to launching 5G: What new services could they offer? Should they target corporate customers? Can NTT DOCOMO return to a sustainable growth path through 5G? How can they capture a larger share of the value created through 5G enabled internet ecosystems?
After 15 years of steady growth and expansion, Edita, a leading Egyptian snack producer, faced a series of challenges in the wake of the Arab Spring. In January 2011, the Egyptian Revolution sparked political and economic turmoil that reflected the waves of protest and violence already spreading throughout North Africa and parts of the Middle East. Hani Berzi, CEO of Edita, managed to navigate the company through this period, though the severe devaluation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016 meant yet another period of crisis for the country's economy and, with it, the snack food industry. Hani was faced with a series of hard decisions that would determine Edita's future. He held a crisis management meeting with his executive team and on the agenda were two key decisions. Should they increase their prices as a short-term strategy to survive the turbulent period at the risk of losing market share? Should Edita aim to diversify risk by tapping into underserved rural areas in Egypt or rather by expanding its presence in regional markets? Or, should the company adopt some combination of both strategies, or neither, and instead devise another course for addressing the crisis?
This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying innovative solutions that provide the backbone to growing consumer markets across Africa. Agility's objective was to fill the institutional voids in the warehousing and logistics space that prevented multi-nationals and local firms from successfully operating at a level similar to Western countries and other emerging markets. After proof-of-concept success in Ghana's free zone, Agility faced the challenge of expanding its business model across a diverse continent of 54 countries. Agility Africa's CEO, Geoffrey White, needed to plot the way forward. Should he set a high entry barrier by building several warehouse parks in one of Africa's economic regions? Or, should he expand across the continent with one facility in each of the large and growing countries? If the decision was to pursue regional expansion, should he try to open one park per country-even in small ones-or build satellite developments in secondary cities where Agility already had facilities? He also needed to consider the pace of phasing in each park and the possibility of developing multiple parks in existing locations. With the world's fastest growing middle-class population and an internet revolution poised to spur the growth of consumer products and industrialization, Africa was considered by many as the world's leading and largely untapped, emerging market. White needed to make difficult and nuanced decisions that took account of the continent's many differences, as well as business similarities.
During the period 2011-2016, CEO and Chairman of Greek telecommunications company OTE Michael Tsamaz guided the company through a much needed transformation with a multi-pronged strategy.
In late 2010, Michael Tsamaz was appointed CEO and Chairman of Greek telecommunications company OTE. OTE still exhibited many traits of a large incumbent organization, with high personnel costs, crippling bureaucracy, lack of customer-centricity, a dull brand, and eroding profitability. Tsamaz was taking over the reins at a time of deep economic crisis in Greece, which would impact the options available to him to transform the company.