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This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Responding to a recently published essay, a reader pushed back against the view that managers must prepare for radical and rapid change in a digital world; he argued that this position may be overly alarmist. The discussion continues.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Companies today will have to reinvent themselves to survive, and every large and ambitious company should be trying to figure out how to become a destination for its customers. Consumers are voting with their mobile devices and choosing from a handful of dominant "ecosystem drivers"-businesses such as Amazon and WeChat, which become destinations for their customers'needs by offering complementary or sometimes competing services -for each domain in their lives.

The idea behind Muji was to manufacture and sell beautiful, inexpensive housewares, food, and apparel that every Japanese consumer might need. In the late 1980s Muji sparked interest among British retailers at an exhibition of Japanese products, and a joint venture with Liberty ensued. By 1991 the brand had stand-alone stores in London and Hong Kong, and since then it has grown to 418 stores in Japan and 403 in 27 other countries. Yet the company has moved cautiously, adding stores only when existing ones in the country or region are running profitably, and trusting the intuition of local managers. Operations outside Japan now account for 35% of the business, and the company intends to keep expanding globally. But its aim is to be tenacious in trying to deliver on the Muji promise and to live as part of a community--simply, conscientiously, and in harmony.

Companies say they want their employees to learn and grow, but in practice, they skimp on training. In a recent study of 1,481 employed learners, more than one-third of them said they had received no training from their companies in the previous 12 months. Instead, many acquire work-related skills through MOOCs (massive open online courses)--usually without their employers' knowledge or support. This represents a missed opportunity for companies to harness their employees' efforts in the service of organizational goals. Managers can help team members put their learning into context by providing study time and informal guidance before and during the courses. Having employees pilot courses for one another helps ensure relevance and quality. And tracking completion reinforces the value of learning while increasing the odds that people will stick with their coursework.

Though corporations have been lobbying the government and making campaign donations for a long time now, in recent years a dramatic new trend has emerged in U.S. politics: CEOs are taking very public stands on thorny political issues that have nothing to do with their firms' bottom lines. Business leaders like Tim Cook of Apple, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Marc Benioff of Salesforce--among many others--are passionately advocating for a range of causes, including LGBTQ rights, immigration, the environment, and racial equality. Not only are CEOs speaking out, but they're flexing their firms' economic muscles by threatening to move business activities out of states that pass controversial laws. But does CEO activism actually change public opinion and policies? What are its risks and rewards? And what is the playbook for leaders considering speaking out? The authors of this article examine those questions and explain the takeaways of their own research. One finding: Consumers tend to view CEO activism through the lens of their own political affiliations, so it can provoke both negative and positive responses. Nevertheless, in the age of Twitter, silence on an issue can be conspicuous--and consequential.

Most companies approach hiring with faulty assumptions and poor practices. They believe talent is fixed rather than contextual. They fail to create real partnerships between internal recruiters and hiring managers. And they rely too much on salary surveys and rigid compensation formulas. The author shares what she learned about making and keeping great hires during her 14 years as the chief talent officer at Netflix. The process requires probing beneath the surface of people and their resumes; engaging managers in every aspect of hiring; ensuring that recruiters deeply understand the business and are not viewed as support staff; adopting a mindset in which you're always recruiting; and coming up with compensation that suits the performance you need and the future you aspire to. These lessons may be especially relevant to fast-growing tech-based firms, whose rapid innovation means a continual need for new talent. But organizations of all types can benefit from taking a fresh look at their hiring and compensation practices.

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.

What sets exceptional business leaders apart? One thing, says Sydney Finkelstein, is their ongoing commitment to giving direct reports one-on-one instruction. Finkelstein, a management professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, has studied world-class leaders for more than a decade. He's found that they make a point of personally imparting memorable lessons that fall into three categories: pointers on professionalism, technical knowledge and skills, and broader life lessons. Finkelstein notes that when and where top leaders teach is almost as important as what they teach. Instead of waiting for formal reviews, great managers stay accessible to their employees and share their wisdom as opportune moments arise, whether that's in the office or outside it. They also create teaching moments--often by taking proteges off-site. How do they make lessons stick? Their techniques include (1) customizing instruction to the needs, personality, and development path of each individual, (2) asking pertinent questions to deepen learning, and (3) modeling the behavior they want others to practice. Finkelstein discusses numerous superstar leaders who are revered as great teachers and suggests that if you follow their example, you can strengthen your staff and drive superior business performance.

The composer and conductor on responding to the world through music and the struggle to always produce genuinely new, original works.

Discussion questions for case BAB372.

Sumith Dutta was the founder of Emerald Trail (ET), a resort near a well-known tourist destination in the Himalayas, which treated resort guests’ pets as no less important than their owners. Dutta’s passion for pets inspired him to offer this experience, which was different from what was offered at other resorts. The case details the decisions Dutta made in executing his strategy and invites students to consider how Dutta could have scaled up his business in 2017: Should he have invested in upgrades at the existing location or should he have opened a new resort in another location in India? If he opened in a new location, could he replicate his existing model? In either case, is he financially prepared for the growth?

In December 2016, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Château Ksara, the largest and most renowned wine producer in Lebanon, was analyzing the company’s sales volume and product availability around Lebanon. To the CEO’s surprise, a popular fine dining establishment in the city did not include any of Château Ksara’s wines. Frustrated, he started wondering what could have been the reasons for the omission. Was the quality of wine giving competitors an edge in selling their brands? What position did Château Ksara currently hold within the wine brand landscape in its own country? How could Château Ksara add value to, and maintain profitable relationships with, its distribution channel partners?

The founder and chief executive officer of Twenty One Toys Inc., a Canadian designer and manufacturer of educational toy sets, was considering her firm’s future in 2017. The company had doubled its revenues each year for the past two years with its first toy—and, thus far, its only product—the Empathy Toy. The entrepreneurial founder had defied the odds, gaining recognition for her product and securing funds from socially focused awards and firms. She had built up a supply chain, starting with ethically manufactured toys, and had sold her products both directly to schools and through distributors to the wider retail market. The biggest current challenge for the firm was determining its growth strategy for the Empathy Toy and for its second product, the Failure Toy.

In December 2016, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Château Ksara, the largest and most renowned wine producer in Lebanon, was analyzing the company's sales volume and product availability around Lebanon. To the CEO's surprise, a popular fine dining establishment in the city did not include any of Château Ksara's wines. Frustrated, he started wondering what could have been the reasons for the omission. Was the quality of wine giving competitors an edge in selling their brands? What position did Château Ksara currently hold within the wine brand landscape in its own country? How could Château Ksara add value to, and maintain profitable relationships with, its distribution channel partners?

In September 2015, Groupe Fnac (Fnac), a large French retail chain, announced it had acquired long-time competitor Darty Limited (Darty) in an effort to counter competition from online retailers, particularly American e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. Fnac’s first offer had been declined, but Fnac and Darty negotiated and agreed on a new offer in November 2015. Unexpectedly, in March 2016, a South African-based retail holding company, Steinhoff International Holdings N.V., made a bigger offer. After an intense bidding war, Fnac successfully acquired Darty in April 2016 for 60 per cent over its first offer. The new company, Groupe Fnac Darty, faced several challenges. It needed to convince its stakeholders that the two emblematic competitors could create better value for them, despite their different identities and corporate cultures. How should the combined entity achieve the announced €130 million in annual synergies by 2019? And would the new entity survive the aggressive competition of e-commerce?

The president of the Belgian consumer goods subsidiary of a large American conglomerate thought he had inherited a loyal, lean, efficient, and capable management team to help him accelerate the growth and profitability of the decades-old, moderately successful subsidiary. Yet after six months in his current position, not much had improved. Financial performance had not regressed-just not expanded or accelerated.

Supplement to case UV7401. The president of the Belgian consumer goods subsidiary had made a conscious effort to engage his direct reports in ways that he felt aligned with their personalities. He had noticed some modest changes in the weekly management team meetings-all team members had begun taking advantage of opportunities to contribute to the deliberations, posing questions, and raising some minor concerns. Now a replacement must be picked to replace the senior marketing executive who had retired.

In September 2011, the chief risk officer of Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC) was mulling over a pressing problem. CGC was looking to expand its business in Malaysia from just giving guarantees to small and medium enterprises to also providing direct loans (direct-lending products). The change required a major overhaul in business strategy and an increase in eligibility criteria. Previously, most criteria were checked manually by CGC for each of its clients—a slow and unreliable process. Given the recent developments, how could CGC revise its business rules in order to accommodate its expansion strategy?

This technical note covers statistical models such as scorecards, decision trees, random forest models, and neural networks for decision making. The Basel II framework and Rete algorithm are also expressed. This technical note is best used with product 9B17M177.

In 2003, a garment factory in Pakistan burned down, leaving the owner with over US$1 million in debt and no way to fulfill his orders. In the wake of the fire, the owner needed to determine how to use the resources he still had to meet his delivery obligations and pay the raw materials suppliers—as well as what to do next with his company.