This case study follows Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) through its Culture Journey (2018-2021), an initiative to rebuild the corporate culture as part of a broader turnaround strategy. The airline was stricken by twin tragedies in 2014 - the disappearance of Flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean and the downing of Flight MH17 in Ukraine. Such devastation would have bankrupted any airline, and MAB was particularly vulnerable as it has been battling financial difficulties for years. Having undergone numerous restructurings, nationalisation, and leadership turnovers, the airline's decision to embark on a culture transformation was unlike that of previous restructuring plans. Unique to the approach were the unconventional ideas of Dato' Mohd Khalis Abdul Rahim, Group Chief Human Capital Officer, including engaging a religious teacher to boost employee morale, singing the national anthem at company events, and the composition of a corporate song. These efforts to reset the corporate culture were reinforced by a series of neuro-linguistic programming workshops, as well as upskilling and reskilling programmes. While the Culture Journey started to bear fruit, MAB was hit by the strong headwinds of COVID-19 and the eruption of the Ukraine-Russia war. The silver lining was the reopening of Malaysia's international borders in 2022, followed by the rebound of the travel industry and surging passenger traffic volumes. By early 2023, MAB was in its strongest financial position in years. The airline also won a national HR award for the success of its human capital development effort, an integral part of the Culture Journey. However, the road ahead to rebuilding its reputation, repositioning it as a premium airline, and recapturing market share in a highly competitive industry was still long and arduous. The question remained: could the airline sustain its revitalised culture in the post-pandemic world?

This case is set in November 2012, when Olam International, a Singapore-based agricultural supply chain company, was in the midst of a reputational crisis. An analyst firm had shorted Olam's stock and raised red flags about the company's solvency and accounting practices. A poster boy for Singapore's leading businesses, Olam was a highly respected company in Singapore and within the commodity industry. Sunny Verghese, Co-founder, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Olam, had seen the company grow from a small exporter of cashews in Nigeria in 1989 to a multi-billion dollar business managing the global supply chains of more than 20 products across 65 countries. Verghese himself was known for his passion and zeal to see the company expand and perform. But equally, his 18,000 employees admired him for his humility and integrity, and for developing a cohesive culture throughout the organisation that combined ambition and ownership with mutual respect and teamwork. Olam had always prided itself in inculcating a culture of listening, learning and changing for the better. For Verghese, the priority was to win back the confidence and trust of his stakeholders. He came to realise that he had to use the company's culture of humility - and lead by example - to come out of what had evolved to be the worst crisis in the company's 23-year existence. It was time to think clearly, understand where Olam had gone wrong, and recalibrate the strategies for the future.