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The UK daily newspaper the <i>Guardian</i> undertook turnaround initiatives between January 2016 and April 2019 under the leadership of Katherine Viner, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. Viner leveraged a new reader-funded contribution model to generate revenues, whereas newspapers such as the <i>New York Times</i> and the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> used paywalls and subscription-based models for revenue generation. Viner also undertook several cost-cutting initiatives, such as replacing the Berliner newspaper format with a tabloid format and outsourcing the printing of the <i>Guardian</i>. The impact of the contribution-based revenue model was substantial, leading the newspaper’s digital revenues to surpass revenues from advertising. The newspaper’s reach also increased substantially, with international subscribers, especially those in the United States and Australia, contributing more than <i>Guardian</i> readers in the United Kingdom. Although the <i>Guardian</i> reported its first profit in the past two decades in May 2019, several challenges remained for Viner, such as increasing the number of financial contributors to 2 million by 2022 and making the turnaround sustainable.

Thelma Cross-Olden Foundation (TCO), a non-profit organization, had supported the settlement needs of migrant women in Montreal, Quebec, for over three decades. However, in 2011, the foundation's revenue declined sharply. By 2018, the foundation was running into debt and had less than CA$50,000 with which to manage its operations and outreach programs. The decline in TCO's finances raised issues concerning the instability of leadership, the mismanagement of funds, and an overreliance on government agencies as a key source of generating revenue. In an attempt to reinstate the financial position of the foundation in 2019, the newly appointed chief executive officer needed to decide whether to reconsider the merger deal proposed by a reputable large global charity or to search for new avenues to generate funds.

Verily Life Sciences, an independent subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., set out to harness machine learning in the health care field. The company sought partnerships with academic research institutions, legacy life sciences companies, and hospitals and health systems to develop tools to collect and organize health data, with the goal of creating platforms that utilized the insights from that data to enhance patient care. The case study discusses these broad partnerships and goals, the illness-specific health monitoring and care tools in Verily's project pipeline, and efforts by competitors like Apple and Amazon- as well as a growing number of start-ups. The case provides insights into decision making in the largely uncharted territory of machine learning in the health care industry, providing an in-depth look at Verily's diabetic retinopathy project, which screened for eye disease.

The case opens in 2020 as Michael Lahyani, founder and CEO of Property Finder, Dubai's leading online real estate classifieds portal, contemplates the company's five-year growth strategy. Since its founding in 2005 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Property Finder had secured multiple rounds of investments and expanded into countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The business grew following a proven business model revolving around monthly flat subscription fees paid by real estate brokers for packages of listings, while remaining free for end-customers to browse. By 2020, Property Finder had reached profitability in the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar, which it considered its core markets, and had done significant brand building in newer markets of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, and Turkey. In 2020, Lahyani needed to decide on the company's growth strategy to increase profitability. Property Finder could focus on its core markets and switch to segmented pricing, lure in more developers to post first hand property directly, and create new revenue channels. Alternatively or in parallel, the company could tailor its business model to suit the dynamics of each of its newer markets. All the while, Lahyani had just onboarded a new executive team that was busy adjusting the organizational structure and institutionalizing procedures and processes. As a result, company resources were spread thin and Lahyani found himself at a crossroads; should the company focus its efforts on bolstering its position in incumbent markets and thus forego growth abroad, or should it pursue new markets and risk tarnishing its reputation in its core markets in case of a failure?

For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Over the 2010s, Gera had multiplied its area under development threefold; it had introduced its new ChildCentric vision of family housing villages (which incorporated children's academies in skills from swimming to singing into the real estate complex); and it had expanded its operations from Pune to the nearby state of Goa. Meanwhile, Rohit's brother Nikhil-a California resident-had invested company funds in several construction projects overseas in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2020, the company stood at a crossroads. With Rohit beginning to envision the end of his managerial career, Gera had several key decisions to make: Should it double down on ChildCentric, introduce new age-differentiated offerings to serve its customers throughout their lives, or return to a more commoditized style of real estate development? To what extent should Gera cast in its lot with Nikhil's U.S. projects? Should the company consider other avenues for international expansion? And to whom would Rohit pass the torch of Gera's leadership-his daughter Diya, or an outside professional manager?

In November 2019, Jean Matthews had to decide how to allocate CA$300,000 toward neighbourhood improvement ideas submitted by city residents. Each of the four neighbourhoods in the city could receive up to CA$75,000 in funding, and Matthews had to consider the number of votes for each idea in her analysis. How should she identify which community projects to pursue?

Student spreadsheet to case W20596

Leaders from The Second City, the legendary Improv comedy company, reflect on its broad portfolio of activities through the lens of future opportunities and growth. In particular, they discuss ways in which Second City can further invest in its professional arm, Second City Works, and help workplaces embrace some of the main ideas of improv comedy to improve conversations, presence and collaboration.

Leaders use seven leadership skills in conceiving and managing change projects, whether innovations in established organizations, culture and process changes, or entrepreneurial ventures for industry or social change. The skills leaders need are different at various phases of change projects. Offers details and also discusses the rhythm of change and resistance to change. Supported by examples drawn from empirical research.

Globalization, advances in technology, and shifting consumer preferences affect almost everyone. Because of pressures from the external environment, organizations face rapid and constant change. The nature of work has been complicated; it is difficult for individuals to achieve much on their own. Consequently, organizations rely heavily on expert, innovative work teams. These highly evolved teams do not develop overnight; rather, they evolve and develop in stages, and the team's leadership must change over time. In this article, we present the building blocks of team innovation, outline the internal processes that lie at the core of innovative performance, and provide critical leadership strategies for each stage of team development. We conclude with implications for developing leaders with the capabilities to nurture and build innovative teams.

Bikanervala was a fourth-generation Indian family business in the domestic fast-food and packaged-snacks industries. In its 65 years of existence, it had grown from a small outlet selling traditional Indian sweets and snacks to the industry's second-largest player. This case traces the evolution of Bikanervala's business model, which uniquely leveraged professional management practices along with strengths rooted in its family values. As the business expanded, Bikanervala faced further pressures to professionalize on several fronts, and the family was forced to consider whether its family-oriented management style could scale up indefinitely or whether family ownership and management had to be diluted to grow the business.

Bikanervala was a fourth-generation Indian family business in the domestic fast-food and packaged-snacks industries. In its 65 years of existence, it had grown from a small outlet selling traditional Indian sweets and snacks to the industry’s second-largest player. This case traces the evolution of Bikanervala’s business model, which uniquely leveraged professional management practices along with strengths rooted in its family values. As the business expanded, Bikanervala faced further pressures to professionalize on several fronts, and the family was forced to consider whether its family-oriented management style could scale up indefinitely or whether family ownership and management had to be diluted to grow the business.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B20M135.

Verge Capital was a social finance organization in London, Ontario, that connected local aspiring entrepreneurs with funds that would support initiatives with societal or environmental missions that benefited local communities. In 2019, the social finance manager at Verge Capital had to recommend one of two social impact business proposals that the organization should fund a CA$30,000 loan to. The two options were (1) Sri Lankan Foods, which operated a Sri Lankan restaurant, a catering business, and a granola production facility that provided short-term employment opportunities for newcomers to Canada, and (2) Material Impact, which collected and resold used textbooks to fund donations of books and learning materials to South American universities. While both businesses aligned with Verge Capital’s mandate, the social finance manager needed to choose just one. He wondered how sustainable the businesses were and what criteria Verge Capital should consider before investing.

By May 2014, the bakery of French pastry chef Dominique Ansel had successfully been in operation for two and a half years. During this time, the bakery had gained numerous accolades for its most viral invention—the Cronut, a hybrid between a donut and a croissant. Moving forward, there were opportunities for Ansel’s company to expand beyond its current size and location in New York City. Ansel’s first option was to raise prices. Because the Cronut sold out every day before noon, the bakery was severely undersupplying the market, which had a huge demand. Ansel’s second option was to commercialize the Cronut. Perhaps it would be better to license the recipe to a major coffee chain, which could bring his invention to millions of people. Lastly, Ansel could expand his brand internationally to Asia or Europe. Could Ansel achieve any of these changes without compromising quality over quantity?

In 2018, Toyota Tsusho South Pacific Holdings, the leading automotive company in the South Pacific, was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The company, which operated a network of 27 dealerships through subsidiary companies in seven island nations, had been through a number of dramatic changes since its origins in the 19th century, and its Brisbane, Australia, office had transitioned from its early role as a corporate head office with 15 employees to become the regional headquarters for Toyota Tsusho Corporation, one of 17 major Toyota Group companies. In early July 2018, a new managing director was selected. Among his many duties, he would need to review the steps taken to date in transforming the Brisbane office and determine the appropriate steps to take in the future. Were any changes were required in the relationship between the regional headquarters and the island subsidiaries?

California-based Vivos Group (Vivos) built and sold luxury bunkers designed to withstand catastrophes. The founder himself had acknowledged that the majority of US residents could not afford them: while competitors offered bunkers with down payments as low as a US$1,300 —which middle-income consumers could afford—Vivos’s $35,000+ bunkers were for the rich. By May 2020, several of Vivos’s bunker properties were sold out, but it was uncertain whether this indicated some permanent change in consumers’ buying behaviour or an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vivos’s founder now faced several challenges: should he focus on constructing more luxury apartment-based bunkers or low-cost, community-sharing bunkers to provide consumers with protection from COVID-19? What aspects of bunker management should he improve, given the criticism that bunker companies had made false claims about the air filtration systems in the bunkers? How could he help Vivos achieve growth in the long run?

In October 2015, the investment management firm Trian Partners disclosed a US$2.5 billion investment in one of the largest industrial enterprises in the world, General Electric Company. The investment was the largest in the firm’s 10-year history. At the time, General Electric Company was the longest-standing member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the 18th-largest company by market capitalization in the entire S&P 500 Index, and featured regularly on Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired companies. General Electric Company’s reputation as an enviable employer and world-class company had largely been cemented under Jack Welch’s tenure (1981–2001), when the company’s share price had reached its all-time high. Understanding what drove its performance during that period was therefore an essential part of any effort to determine whether General Electric Company had a sustainable competitive advantage to carry that performance into the future.