management case studies pdf

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HBS Case Selections

OpenAI: Idealism Meets Capitalism

• Shikhar Ghosh
• Shweta Bagai

Generative AI and the Future of Work

• Christopher Stanton
• Matt Higgins

Copilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

• Frank Nagle
• Shane Greenstein
• Maria P. Roche
• Nataliya Langburd Wright
• Sarah Mehta

Innovation at Moog Inc.

• Brian J. Hall
• Ashley V. Whillans
• Davis Heniford
• Dominika Randle
• Caroline Witten

Innovation at Google Ads: The Sales Acceleration and Innovation Labs (SAIL) (A)

• Linda A. Hill
• Emily Tedards

Juan Valdez: Innovation in Caffeination

• Michael I. Norton
• Jeremy Dann

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

• Shunyuan Zhang
• Sharon Joseph
• Sunil Gupta
• Julia Kelley

Metaverse Wars

• David B. Yoffie

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

• Ayelet Israeli
• Nicole Tempest Keller

Timnit Gebru: "SILENCED No More" on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models

• Tsedal Neeley
• Stefani Ruper

Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

• Kerry Herman
• Sarah Gulick

SmartOne: Building an AI Data Business

• Karim R. Lakhani
• Pippa Tubman Armerding
• Gamze Yucaoglu
• Fares Khrais

Honeywell and the Great Recession (A)

• Sandra J. Sucher
• Susan Winterberg

Target: Responding to the Recession

• Ranjay Gulati
• Catherine Ross
• Richard S. Ruback
• Royce Yudkoff

Hometown Foods: Changing Price Amid Inflation

• Julian De Freitas
• Jeremy Yang
• Das Narayandas

Elon Musk's Big Bets

• Eric Baldwin

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

Tesla's ceo compensation plan.

• Krishna G. Palepu
• John R. Wells
• Gabriel Ellsworth

China Rapid Finance: The Collapse of China's P2P Lending Industry

• William C. Kirby
• Bonnie Yining Cao
• John P. McHugh

Forbidden City: Launching a Craft Beer in China

• Christopher A. Bartlett
• Carole Carlson

Booking.com

• Stefan Thomke
• Daniela Beyersdorfer

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

• Chiara Farronato
• Alan MacCormack

Racial Discrimination on Airbnb (A)

• Michael Luca
• Scott Stern
• Hyunjin Kim

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

• William R. Kerr
• Emilie Billaud
• Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

• Joseph B. Fuller
• Carl Kreitzberg

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oreal

• Lakshmi Ramarajan
• Vincent Dessain
• Emer Moloney
• William W. George
• Andrew N. McLean

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

• Steven S. Rogers
• Alterrell Mills

United Housing - Otis Gates

• Mercer Cook

The Home Depot: Leadership in Crisis Management

• Herman B. Leonard
• Marc J. Epstein
• Melissa Tritter

The Great East Japan Earthquake (B): Fast Retailing Group's Response

• Hirotaka Takeuchi
• Kenichi Nonomura
• Dena Neuenschwander
• Meghan Ricci
• Kate Schoch
• Sergey Vartanov

Insurer of Last Resort?: The Federal Financial Response to September 11

• David A. Moss
• Sarah Brennan

Under Armour

• Rory McDonald
• Clayton M. Christensen
• Daniel West
• Jonathan E. Palmer
• Tonia Junker

Hunley, Inc.: Casting for Growth

• John A. Quelch
• James T. Kindley

Bitfury: Blockchain for Government

• Mitchell B. Weiss
• Elena Corsi

Deutsche Bank: Pursuing Blockchain Opportunities (A)

• Lynda M. Applegate
• Christoph Muller-Bloch

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

• Scott Johnson

Yum! Brands

• Jordan Siegel
• Christopher Poliquin

Bharti Airtel in Africa

• Tanya Bijlani

Li & Fung 2012

• F. Warren McFarlan
• Michael Shih-ta Chen
• Keith Chi-ho Wong

Sony and the JK Wedding Dance

• John Deighton
• Leora Kornfeld

United Breaks Guitars

David dao on united airlines.

• Benjamin Edelman
• Jenny Sanford

Marketing Reading: Digital Marketing

• Joseph Davin

Social Strategy at Nike

• Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
• Ryan Johnson

The Tate's Digital Transformation

Social strategy at american express, mellon financial and the bank of new york.

• Carliss Y. Baldwin
• Ryan D. Taliaferro

The Walt Disney Company and Pixar, Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire?

• Juan Alcacer
• David J. Collis

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

• Benjamin C. Esty

Finance Reading: The Mergers and Acquisitions Process

• John Coates

Apple: Privacy vs. Safety? (A)

• Henry W. McGee
• Nien-he Hsieh
• Sarah McAra

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

• Leslie K. John

Data Breach at Equifax

• Suraj Srinivasan
• Quinn Pitcher
• Jonah S. Goldberg

Apple's Core

• Noam Wasserman

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

• Barbara Feinberg

Apple Inc. in 2012

• Penelope Rossano

Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization (Abridged)

• Anthony J. Mayo
• Dana M. Teppert

Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit

• Boris Groysberg
• Nitin Nohria
• Deborah Bell

Adobe Systems: Working Towards a "Suite" Release (A)

• David A. Thomas
• Lauren Barley

Home Nursing of North Carolina

Castronics, llc, gemini investors, angie's list: ratings pioneer turns 20.

• Robert J. Dolan

Basecamp: Pricing

• Frank V. Cespedes
• Robb Fitzsimmons

J.C. Penney's "Fair and Square" Pricing Strategy

J.c. penney's 'fair and square' strategy (c): back to the future.

• Jose B. Alvarez

Osaro: Picking the best path

• James Palano
• Bastiane Huang

HubSpot and Motion AI: Chatbot-Enabled CRM

• Thomas Steenburgh

GROW: Using Artificial Intelligence to Screen Human Intelligence

• Ethan S. Bernstein
• Paul D. McKinnon
• Paul Yarabe

Arup: Building the Water Cube

• Robert G. Eccles
• Amy C. Edmondson
• Dilyana Karadzhova

(Re)Building a Global Team: Tariq Khan at Tek

Managing a global team: greg james at sun microsystems, inc. (a).

• Thomas J. DeLong

Organizational Behavior Reading: Leading Global Teams

Ron ventura at mitchell memorial hospital.

• Heide Abelli

Anthony Starks at InSiL Therapeutics (A)

• Gary P. Pisano
• Vicki L. Sato

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (A)

• John J. Gabarro

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

• Timothy A. Luehrman
• Joel L. Heilprin

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES

• Mihir A. Desai
• Doug Schillinger

Cost of Capital at Ameritrade

• Mark Mitchell
• Erik Stafford

Finance Reading: Cost of Capital

David Neeleman: Flight Path of a Servant Leader (A)

• Matthew D. Breitfelder

Coach Hurley at St. Anthony High School

• Scott A. Snook
• Bradley C. Lawrence

Shapiro Global

• Michael Brookshire
• Monica Haugen
• Michelle Kravetz
• Sarah Sommer

Kathryn McNeil (A)

• Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.
• Jerry Useem

Carol Fishman Cohen: Professional Career Reentry (A)

• Myra M. Hart
• Robin J. Ely
• Susan Wojewoda

Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

• Michael Kernish

Michelle Levene (A)

• Tiziana Casciaro
• Victoria W. Winston

John and Andrea Rice: Entrepreneurship and Life

• Howard H. Stevenson
• Janet Kraus
• Shirley M. Spence

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Teaching Resources Library

Case studies.

The teaching business case studies available here are narratives that facilitate class discussion about a particular business or management issue. Teaching cases are meant to spur debate among students rather than promote a particular point of view or steer students in a specific direction.  Some of the case studies in this collection highlight the decision-making process in a business or management setting. Other cases are descriptive or demonstrative in nature, showcasing something that has happened or is happening in a particular business or management environment. Whether decision-based or demonstrative, case studies give students the chance to be in the shoes of a protagonist. With the help of context and detailed data, students can analyze what they would and would not do in a particular situation, why, and how.

Case Studies By Category

Prepare your students to navigate business challenges by immersing them in real-world scenarios.

Transform business education

Bring excitement into your classroom with engaging case discussions and introduce students to the challenge and fun of making important decisions.

Illustrate business concepts

Help students learn by doing with over 50,000+ cases featuring real-world business scenarios spanning across multiple areas of business.

Encourage new ways of thinking

Student build confidence and critical thinking skills while learning to express their ideas and convince others, setting them up for success in the real world.

Explore Different Types of Cases

Find cases that meet your particular needs.

New! Quick Cases

Quickly immerse students in focused and engaging business dilemmas. No student prep time required.

Traditional cases from HBS and 50+ leading business schools.

Multimedia Cases

Cases that keep students engaged with video, audio, and interactive components.

Search Cases in Your Discipline

Select a discipline and start browsing available cases.

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Case Teaching Seminar

Register now for our Teaching with Cases Seminar at Harvard Business School, held June 21 - 22 . Learn how to lead case discussions like a pro and earn a certificate from Harvard Business Publishing.

Fundamentals of Case Teaching

Our new, self-paced, online course guides you through the fundamentals for leading successful case discussions at any course level.

Case Companion: Build Students’ Confidence in Case Analysis

Case Companion is an engaging and interactive introduction to case study analysis that is ideal for undergraduates or any student new to learning with cases.

Discover Trending Cases

Stay up to date on cases from leading business schools.

Discover new ideas for your courses

Course Explorer lets you browse learning materials by topic, curated by our editors, partners, and faculty from leading business schools. 

Teach with Cases

Explore resources designed to help you bring the case method into your classroom.

Inspiring Minds Articles on Case Teaching

Insights from leading educators about teaching with the case method.

Book: Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide

A book featuring practical advice for instructors on managing class discussion to maximize learning.

Webinar: How ChatGPT and Other AI Tools Can Maximize the Learning Potential of Your Case-Based Classes

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Supplements: Inside the Case

Teaching tips and insights from case authors.

Guide: Teaching Cases Online

A guide for experienced educators who are new to online case teaching.

Educator Training: Selecting Cases to Use in Your Classes

Find the right materials to achieve your learning goals.

Educator Training: Teaching with Cases

Key strategies and practical advice for engaging students using the case method.

Frequently Asked Questions

What support can I offer my students around analyzing cases and preparing for discussion?

Case discussions can be a big departure from the norm for students who are used to lecture-based classes. The Case Analysis Coach is an interactive tutorial on reading and analyzing a case study. The Case Study Handbook covers key skills students need to read, understand, discuss and write about cases. The Case Study Handbook is also available as individual chapters to help your students focus on specific skills.

How can I transfer my in-person case teaching plan to an online environment?

The case method can be used in an online environment without sacrificing its benefits. We have compiled a few resources to help you create transformative online learning experiences with the case method. Learn how HBS brought the case method online in this podcast , gather some quick guidance from the article " How to Teach Any Case Online ", review the Teaching Cases Online Guide for a deep dive, and check out our Teaching Online Resources Page for more insights and inspiration.

After 35 years as an academic, I have come to the conclusion that there is a magic in the way Harvard cases are written. Cases go from specific to general, to show students that business situations are amenable to hard headed analysis that then generalize to larger theoretical insights. The students love it! Akshay Rao Professor, General Mills Chair in Marketing at the University of Minnesota

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ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research)

Asia Pacific's largest case study repository for management students, faculties, trainers and corporate executives

ICMR is Asia's most popular repository of management case studies. ICMR Case Collection provides Teachers, Corporate Trainers, and Management Professionals with a variety of teaching and reference material. The collection consists of case studies on a wide range of companies and industries - both Indian and international. ICMR is involved in business research, management consulting, and the development of case studies and courseware in management. ICMR also provides knowledge process outsourcing services to international clients. Over 10 million copies of ICMR case studies have been printed in international and Indian textbooks, workbooks and case study volumes. More than 200,000 individual copies of our case studies have been purchased by many of the leading business schools and universities around the world. Our case studies have won prizes in several global case writing competitions, and also appear in many international management textbooks. More than 5500 case studies, short case studies, and business reports are available for immediate download from this site. The material is available for download as pdf files, with a 'Do Not Copy' watermark.

Case Study Categories

Varieties and numbers of case studies are available in our repository in different management subject categories. Below are the most popular categories in management areas:

Business Strategy

Human resource management, it and systems, leadership and entrepreneurship, business ethics, awards and achievements.

ICMR cases have won awards in some of the most prestigious global case writing competitions such as EFMD, oikos, John Molson, CEIBS, The Case Centre, E-PARCC and many more...

New Arrivals

Please check our recent case studies

Corporate Governance Crisis at Startups: The Zilingo Story

The case discusses how Zilingo Pte Ltd (Zilingo), a Singapore-based B2B fashion tech platform, ended up in liquidation after a protracted crisis due to issues that led to corporate governance failure. Founded in 2016 by Ankiti Bose (Bose) and Dhruv Kapoor, Zilingo was an online fashion and beauty startup company that empowered apparel supply chain players to produce, source, and trade efficiently through its technology platform. It was one of Southeast Asia’s vaunted startups...

Amazon's Private Label Brands: An Ethical Perspective

The case “Amazon’s Private Label Brands: An Ethical Perspective” discusses the ethical implications surrounding the promotion of US-based multinational technology company Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) of Amazon Private Label (APL) products on its online marketplace. The case starts out with a brief look at– the world's largest e-commerce platform's launch of various APL products from the late 2000s. It then delves into the various controversies surrounding APL products through the years...

Twitter under Elon Musk: Present Tense, Future Perfect?

The case discusses the problems faced by social media platform Twitter and its future under the ownership of Elon Musk. After he acquired Twitter for US$44 billion in October 2022, Musk primarily known for his innovative efforts, introduced a list of controversial policy and feature changes to the platform. These included rebranding Twitter to ‘X’, making policy changes and sweeping layoffs, resorting to cost cutting, reinstating accounts, and introducing paid verification...

Google's Post-Pandemic Multi-Purpose Workplace Design

The case touches upon the early office design initiatives at Google including at its headquarters Googolplex. Next, it describes in detail how Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services team (REWS) focused on redesigning the existing office spaces in 2022 and creating and testing new multi-purpose offices and private workspaces to enable employees to collaborate effectively across work environments. Google designed Team Pods with chairs, desks, white boards, and storage units on casters that could be shifted based...

Reliance's Foreign Currency Bond

The case study is about Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)'s foreign currency bond issuance and listing on international stock exchanges. The case starts with a brief history of the company, from the founding of RIL by Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 to being led by Mukesh Ambani in 2022.The case then moves on to the details of RIL's financials, showcasing how the company has grown over the years, and how efficiently it has raised funds from the global capital market and utilized these funds for expansion. Finally, it delves into the details of foreign currency bonds issued by RIL...

Enbridge: A Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Leader in the Energy Industry

The case describes the various initiatives taken by Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, to create a diverse and inclusive culture where employees would feel good coming to work, collaborate across teams, and be successful and grow their careers. The case first touches upon the main goals of the D&I strategy put in place at Enbridge. It then describes how Enbridge decided to encourage its employee community through various initiatives that included activities, education, and networking...

ICMR Books Collections

ICMR books are ideal resources designed to help deepen knowledge on the management theories and concepts helping to enhance decision-making skills

Strategic management consists of a set of decisions and actions resulting in the formulation and implementation of strategies designed to achieve the objectives of an organization. It involves taking decisions about the products, location, and the organization's structure-decisions that determine the survival of the organization in the short and long term.....

Business Communication

Communication is an essential aspect of business life. Everyday, business persons have to communicate with people at different levels of the organization or with people external to the organization. And in this globalized environment they also have to communicate with people from different countries, with different cultural backgrounds....

Economics For Managers

Economics is the study of how economic agents or societies choose to use scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. It examines how resources can be optimally distributed to satisfy the needs of individuals and society as a whole. Knowledge of economics helps businesses become more profitable through proper allocation of resources....

Testimonials

Case studies are an important tool to highlight managerial dilemmas. The ICMR case studies are of highest quality and tackle important managerial issues, including social and environmental sustainability. The case studies have repeatedly won international case study contests and have been tested around the globe with much success.

-Dr. Michael Pirson, Assistant Professor of Management, Fordham University; Research Fellow in Psychology; Harvard University; Co-founder and Academic Director, Humanet

I am impressed about the quality of ICMR cases, combining relevant issues, innovative organizationa and excellent case writing handcraft. In recent years, ICMR cases have performed extraordinarily well within the double-blind reviewed annual oikos Global Case Writing Competition.

-Dr. Jost Hamschmidt, Managing Director, oikos Foundation, St. Gallen, Switzerland; Head, oikos Global Case Writing Competition Program

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Case Studies in Strategic Management

How Executive Input Enables Students’ Development

• © 2019
• Gunther Friedl 0 ,
• Andreas Biagosch 1

TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

• Merges theoretical knowledge, strategic thinking and specific analysis with practical business decisions
• Presents a new approach to case studies applied at the TUM School of Management
• Includes two case studies that won the international case writing competition at EFMD

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals (MANAGPROF)

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Similar content being viewed by others, is there a prescription for strategic it decisions.

Asking Higher Education Students to Write Research Case Studies—A Way to Develop Engagement and Critical Thinking

Case Studies

• Case Method
• Executive Education
• Business School
• Commerzbank AG

Table of contents (4 chapters)

Front matter, case: the renewed case seminar.

• Andreas Biagosch

Supporting Companies and Participating Managers in Case Study Presentations

Case: unu gmbh: sharing is caring—a suitable business model for e-scooter in germany.

• Franziska Beck, Michael Krauß, Frieder Weidenbach

Case: UBS—Acquisition of Commerzbank AG as a Possible Growth Strategy

• Fahrudin Abazi, Philipp Deisler, Michael Eisenlauer

Back Matter

Editors and affiliations.

Gunther Friedl, Andreas Biagosch

About the editors

Andreas Biagosch worked for McKinsey & Company for more than 30 years. He is now member of several supervisory boards of large family firms and lectures at the Technical University of Munich.

Gunther Friedl is a Professor of Management Accounting at the Technical University of Munich and Dean of its Business School TUM School of Management.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Case Studies in Strategic Management

Book Subtitle : How Executive Input Enables Students’ Development

Editors : Gunther Friedl, Andreas Biagosch

Series Title : Management for Professionals

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95555-1

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Business and Management , Business and Management (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-319-95554-4 Published: 22 September 2018

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-030-07057-1 Published: 08 February 2019

eBook ISBN : 978-3-319-95555-1 Published: 08 September 2018

Series ISSN : 2192-8096

Series E-ISSN : 2192-810X

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XX, 91

Number of Illustrations : 21 b/w illustrations, 45 illustrations in colour

Topics : Accounting/Auditing , Management Education , Innovation/Technology Management , Start-Ups/Venture Capital , Financial Accounting

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2017

We generated a list of the 40 most popular Yale School of Management case studies in 2017 by combining data from our publishers, Google analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption. In compiling the list, we gave additional weight to usage outside Yale

We generated a list of the 40 most popular Yale School of Management case studies in 2017 by combining data from our publishers, Google analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption. In compiling the list, we gave additional weight to usage outside Yale.

Case topics represented on the list vary widely, but a number are drawn from the case team’s focus on healthcare, asset management, and sustainability. The cases also draw on Yale’s continued emphasis on corporate governance, ethics, and the role of business in state and society. Of note, nearly half of the most popular cases feature a woman as either the main protagonist or, in the case of raw cases where multiple characters take the place of a single protagonist, a major leader within the focal organization. While nearly a fourth of the cases were written in the past year, some of the most popular, including Cadbury and Design at Mayo, date from the early years of our program over a decade ago. Nearly two-thirds of the most popular cases were “raw” cases - Yale’s novel, web-based template which allows for a combination of text, documents, spreadsheets, and videos in a single case website.

Read on to learn more about the top 10 most popular cases followed by a complete list of the top 40 cases of 2017.  A selection of the top 40 cases are available for purchase through our online store . 

#1 - Coffee 2016

Faculty Supervision: Todd Cort

Coffee 2016 asks students to consider the coffee supply chain and generate ideas for what can be done to equalize returns across various stakeholders. The case draws a parallel between coffee and wine. Both beverages encourage connoisseurship, but only wine growers reap a premium for their efforts to ensure quality.  The case describes the history of coffee production across the world, the rise of the “third wave” of coffee consumption in the developed world, the efforts of the Illy Company to help coffee growers, and the differences between “fair” trade and direct trade. Faculty have found the case provides a wide canvas to discuss supply chain issues, examine marketing practices, and encourage creative solutions to business problems. 

#2 - AXA: Creating New Corporate Responsibility Metrics

Faculty Supervision: Todd Cort and David Bach

The case describes AXA’s corporate responsibility (CR) function. The company, a global leader in insurance and asset management, had distinguished itself in CR since formally establishing a CR unit in 2008. As the case opens, AXA’s CR unit is being moved from the marketing function to the strategy group occasioning a thorough review as to how CR should fit into AXA’s operations and strategy. Students are asked to identify CR issues of particular concern to the company, examine how addressing these issues would add value to the company, and then create metrics that would capture a business unit’s success or failure in addressing the concerns.

#3 - IBM Corporate Service Corps

Faculty Supervision: David Bach in cooperation with University of Ghana Business School and EGADE

The case considers IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC), a program that had become the largest pro bono consulting program in the world. The case describes the program’s triple-benefit: leadership training to the brightest young IBMers, brand recognition for IBM in emerging markets, and community improvement in the areas served by IBM’s host organizations. As the program entered its second decade in 2016, students are asked to consider how the program can be improved. The case allows faculty to lead a discussion about training, marketing in emerging economies, and various ways of providing social benefit. The case highlights the synergies as well as trade-offs between pursuing these triple benefits.

#4 - Cadbury: An Ethical Company Struggles to Insure the Integrity of Its Supply Chain

Faculty Supervision: Ira Millstein

The case describes revelations that the production of cocoa in the Côte d’Ivoire involved child slave labor. These stories hit Cadbury especially hard. Cadbury's culture had been deeply rooted in the religious traditions of the company's founders, and the organization had paid close attention to the welfare of its workers and its sourcing practices. The US Congress was considering legislation that would allow chocolate grown on certified plantations to be labeled “slave labor free,” painting the rest of the industry in a bad light. Chocolate producers had asked for time to rectify the situation, but the extension they negotiated was running out. Students are asked whether Cadbury should join with the industry to lobby for more time?  What else could Cadbury do to ensure its supply chain was ethically managed?

#5 - 360 State Real Options

Faculty Supervision: Matthew Spiegel

In 2010 developer Bruce Becker (SOM ‘85) completed 360 State Street, a major new construction project in downtown New Haven. Just west of the apartment building, a 6,000-square-foot pocket of land from the original parcel remained undeveloped. Becker had a number of alternatives to consider in regards to the site. He also had no obligation to build. He could bide his time. But Becker worried about losing out on rents should he wait too long. Students are asked under what set of circumstances and at what time would it be most advantageous to proceed?

#6 - Design at Mayo

Faculty Supervision: Rodrigo Canales and William Drentell

The case describes how the Mayo Clinic, one of the most prominent hospitals in the world, engaged designers and built a research institute, the Center for Innovation (CFI), to study the processes of healthcare provision. The case documents the many incremental innovations the designers were able to implement and the way designers learned to interact with physicians and vice-versa.

In 2010 there were questions about how the CFI would achieve its stated aspiration of “transformational change” in the healthcare field. Students are asked what would a major change in health care delivery look like? How should the CFI's impact be measured? Were the center's structure and processes appropriate for transformational change? Faculty have found this a great case to discuss institutional obstacles to innovation, the importance of culture in organizational change efforts, and the differences in types of innovation.

This case is freely available to the public.

#7 - Ant Financial

Faculty Supervision: K. Sudhir in cooperation with Renmin University of China School of Business

In 2015, Ant Financial’s MYbank (an offshoot of Jack Ma’s Alibaba company) was looking to extend services to rural areas in China by providing small loans to farmers. Microloans have always been costly for financial institutions to offer to the unbanked (though important in development) but MYbank believed that fintech innovations such as using the internet to communicate with loan applicants and judge their credit worthiness would make the program sustainable. Students are asked whether MYbank could operate the program at scale? Would its big data and technical analysis provide an accurate measure of credit risk for loans to small customers? Could MYbank rely on its new credit-scoring system to reduce operating costs to make the program sustainable?

#8 - Business Leadership in South Africa’s 1994 Reforms

Faculty Supervision: Ian Shapiro

This case examines the role of business in South Africa's historic transition away from apartheid to popular sovereignty. The case provides a previously untold oral history of this key moment in world history, presenting extensive video interviews with business leaders who spearheaded behind-the-scenes negotiations between the African National Congress and the government. Faculty teaching the case have used the material to push students to consider business’s role in a divided society and ask: What factors led business leaders to act to push the country's future away from isolation toward a "high road" of participating in an increasingly globalized economy? What techniques and narratives did they use to keep the two sides talking and resolve the political impasse? And, if business leadership played an important role in the events in South Africa, could they take a similar role elsewhere?

#9 - Shake Shack IPO

Faculty Supervision: Jake Thomas and Geert Rouwenhorst

From an art project in a New York City park, Shake Shack developed a devoted fan base that greeted new Shake Shack locations with cheers and long lines. When Shake Shack went public on January 30, 2015, investors displayed a similar enthusiasm. Opening day investors bid up the $21 per share offering price by 118% to reach $45.90 at closing bell. By the end of May, investors were paying $92.86 per share. Students are asked if this price represented a realistic valuation of the enterprise and if not, what was Shake Shack truly worth? The case provides extensive information on Shake Shack’s marketing, competitors, operations and financials, allowing instructors to weave a wide variety of factors into a valuation of the company.

#10 - Searching for a Search Fund Structure

Faculty Supervision: AJ Wasserstein

This case considers how young entrepreneurs structure search funds to find businesses to take over. The case describes an MBA student who meets with a number of successful search fund entrepreneurs who have taken alternative routes to raising funds. The case considers the issues of partnering, soliciting funds vs. self-funding a search, and joining an incubator. The case provides a platform from which to discuss the pros and cons of various search fund structures.

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Five Case Studies of Transformation Excellence

November 03, 2014  By  Lars Fæste ,  Jim Hemerling ,  Perry Keenan , and  Martin Reeves

In a business environment characterized by greater volatility and more frequent disruptions, companies face a clear imperative: they must transform or fall behind. Yet most transformation efforts are highly complex initiatives that take years to implement. As a result, most fall short of their intended targets—in value, timing, or both. Based on client experience, The Boston Consulting Group has developed an approach to transformation that flips the odds in a company’s favor. What does that look like in the real world? Here are five company examples that show successful transformations, across a range of industries and locations.

VF’s Growth Transformation Creates Strong Value for Investors

Value creation is a powerful lens for identifying the initiatives that will have the greatest impact on a company’s transformation agenda and for understanding the potential value of the overall program for shareholders.

VF offers a compelling example of a company using a sharp focus on value creation to chart its transformation course. In the early 2000s, VF was a good company with strong management but limited organic growth. Its “jeanswear” and intimate-apparel businesses, although responsible for 80 percent of the company’s revenues, were mature, low-gross-margin segments. And the company’s cost-cutting initiatives were delivering diminishing returns. VF’s top line was essentially flat, at about $5 billion in annual revenues, with an unclear path to future growth. VF’s value creation had been driven by cost discipline and manufacturing efficiency, yet, to the frustration of management, VF had a lower valuation multiple than most of its peers.

With BCG’s help, VF assessed its options and identified key levers to drive stronger and more-sustainable value creation. The result was a multiyear transformation comprising four components:

• A Strong Commitment to Value Creation as the Company’s Focus. Initially, VF cut back its growth guidance to signal to investors that it would not pursue growth opportunities at the expense of profitability. And as a sign of management’s commitment to balanced value creation, the company increased its dividend by 90 percent.
• Relentless Cost Management. VF built on its long-known operational excellence to develop an operating model focused on leveraging scale and synergies across its businesses through initiatives in sourcing, supply chain processes, and offshoring.
• A Major Transformation of the Portfolio. To help fund its journey, VF divested product lines worth about $1 billion in revenues, including its namesake intimate-apparel business. It used those resources to acquire nearly $2 billion worth of higher-growth, higher-margin brands, such as Vans, Nautica, and Reef. Overall, this shifted the balance of its portfolio from 70 percent low-growth heritage brands to 65 percent higher-growth lifestyle brands.
• The Creation of a High-Performance Culture. VF has created an ownership mind-set in its management ranks. More than 200 managers across all key businesses and regions received training in the underlying principles of value creation, and the performance of every brand and business is assessed in terms of its value contribution. In addition, VF strengthened its management bench through a dedicated talent-management program and selective high-profile hires. (For an illustration of VF’s transformation roadmap, see the exhibit.)

The results of VF’s TSR-led transformation are apparent. 1 1 For a detailed description of the VF journey, see the 2013 Value Creators Report, Unlocking New Sources of Value Creation , BCG report, September 2013. Notes: 1 For a detailed description of the VF journey, see the 2013 Value Creators Report, Unlocking New Sources of Value Creation , BCG report, September 2013. The company’s revenues have grown from $7 billion in 2008 to more than $11 billion in 2013 (and revenues are projected to top $17 billion by 2017). At the same time, profitability has improved substantially, highlighted by a gross margin of 48 percent as of mid-2014. The company’s stock price quadrupled from $15 per share in 2005 to more than $65 per share in September 2014, while paying about 2 percent a year in dividends. As a result, the company has ranked in the top quintile of the S&P 500 in terms of TSR over the past ten years.

A Consumer-Packaged-Goods Company Uses Several Levers to Fund Its Transformation Journey

A leading consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) player was struggling to respond to challenging market dynamics, particularly in the value-based segments and at the price points where it was strongest. The near- and medium-term forecasts looked even worse, with likely contractions in sales volume and potentially even in revenues. A comprehensive transformation effort was needed.

To fund the journey, the company looked at several cost-reduction initiatives, including logistics. Previously, the company had worked with a large number of logistics providers, causing it to miss out on scale efficiencies.

To improve, it bundled all transportation spending, across the entire network (both inbound to production facilities and out-bound to its various distribution channels), and opened it to bidding through a request-for-proposal process. As a result, the company was able to save 10 percent on logistics in the first 12 months—a very fast gain for what is essentially a commodity service.

Similarly, the company addressed its marketing-agency spending. A benchmark analysis revealed that the company had been paying rates well above the market average and getting fewer hours per full-time equivalent each year than the market standard. By getting both rates and hours in line, the company managed to save more than 10 percent on its agency spending—and those savings were immediately reinvested to enable the launch of what became a highly successful brand.

Next, the company pivoted to growth mode in order to win in the medium term. The measure with the biggest impact was pricing. The company operates in a category that is highly segmented across product lines and highly localized. Products that sell well in one region often do poorly in a neighboring state. Accordingly, it sought to de-average its pricing approach across locations, brands, and pack sizes, driving a 2 percent increase in EBIT.

Similarly, it analyzed trade promotion effectiveness by gathering and compiling data on the roughly 150,000 promotions that the company had run across channels, locations, brands, and pack sizes. The result was a 2 terabyte database tracking the historical performance of all promotions.

Using that information, the company could make smarter decisions about which promotions should be scrapped, which should be tweaked, and which should merit a greater push. The result was another 2 percent increase in EBIT. Critically, this was a clear capability that the company built up internally, with the objective of continually strengthening its trade-promotion performance over time, and that has continued to pay annual dividends.

Finally, the company launched a significant initiative in targeted distribution. Before the transformation, the company’s distributors made decisions regarding product stocking in independent retail locations that were largely intuitive. To improve its distribution, the company leveraged big data to analyze historical sales performance for segments, brands, and individual SKUs within a roughly ten-mile radius of that retail location. On the basis of that analysis, the company was able to identify the five SKUs likely to sell best that were currently not in a particular store. The company put this tool on a mobile platform and is in the process of rolling it out to the distributor base. (Currently, approximately 60 percent of distributors, representing about 80 percent of sales volume, are rolling it out.) Without any changes to the product lineup, that measure has driven a 4 percent jump in gross sales.

Throughout the process, management had a strong change-management effort in place. For example, senior leaders communicated the goals of the transformation to employees through town hall meetings. Cognizant of how stressful transformations can be for employees—particularly during the early efforts to fund the journey, which often emphasize cost reductions—the company aggressively talked about how those savings were being reinvested into the business to drive growth (for example, investments into the most effective trade promotions and the brands that showed the greatest sales-growth potential).

In the aggregate, the transformation led to a much stronger EBIT performance, with increases of nearly $100 million in fiscal 2013 and far more anticipated in 2014 and 2015. The company’s premium products now make up a much bigger part of the portfolio. And the company is better positioned to compete in its market.

A Leading Bank Uses a Lean Approach to Transform Its Target Operating Model

A leading bank in Europe is in the process of a multiyear transformation of its operating model. Prior to this effort, a benchmarking analysis found that the bank was lagging behind its peers in several aspects. Branch employees handled fewer customers and sold fewer new products, and back-office processing times for new products were slow. Customer feedback was poor, and rework rates were high, especially at the interface between the front and back offices. Activities that could have been managed centrally were handled at local levels, increasing complexity and cost. Harmonization across borders—albeit a challenge given that the bank operates in many countries—was limited. However, the benchmark also highlighted many strengths that provided a basis for further improvement, such as common platforms and efficient product-administration processes.

To address the gaps, the company set the design principles for a target operating model for its operations and launched a lean program to get there. Using an end-to-end process approach, all the bank’s activities were broken down into roughly 250 processes, covering everything that a customer could potentially experience. Each process was then optimized from end to end using lean tools. This approach breaks down silos and increases collaboration and transparency across both functions and organization layers.

Employees from different functions took an active role in the process improvements, participating in employee workshops in which they analyzed processes from the perspective of the customer. For a mortgage, the process was broken down into discrete steps, from the moment the customer walks into a branch or goes to the company website, until the house has changed owners. In the front office, the system was improved to strengthen management, including clear performance targets, preparation of branch managers for coaching roles, and training in root-cause problem solving. This new way of working and approaching problems has directly boosted both productivity and morale.

The bank is making sizable gains in performance as the program rolls through the organization. For example, front-office processing time for a mortgage has decreased by 33 percent and the bank can get a final answer to customers 36 percent faster. The call centers had a significant increase in first-call resolution. Even more important, customer satisfaction scores are increasing, and rework rates have been halved. For each process the bank revamps, it achieves a consistent 15 to 25 percent increase in productivity.

And the bank isn’t done yet. It is focusing on permanently embedding a change mind-set into the organization so that continuous improvement becomes the norm. This change capability will be essential as the bank continues on its transformation journey.

A German Health Insurer Transforms Itself to Better Serve Customers

Barmer GEK, Germany’s largest public health insurer, has a successful history spanning 130 years and has been named one of the top 100 brands in Germany. When its new CEO, Dr. Christoph Straub, took office in 2011, he quickly realized the need for action despite the company’s relatively good financial health. The company was still dealing with the postmerger integration of Barmer and GEK in 2010 and needed to adapt to a fast-changing and increasingly competitive market. It was losing ground to competitors in both market share and key financial benchmarks. Barmer GEK was suffering from overhead structures that kept it from delivering market-leading customer service and being cost efficient, even as competitors were improving their service offerings in a market where prices are fixed. Facing this fundamental challenge, Barmer GEK decided to launch a major transformation effort.

The goal of the transformation was to fundamentally improve the customer experience, with customer satisfaction as a benchmark of success. At the same time, Barmer GEK needed to improve its cost position and make tough choices to align its operations to better meet customer needs. As part of the first step in the transformation, the company launched a delayering program that streamlined management layers, leading to significant savings and notable side benefits including enhanced accountability, better decision making, and an increased customer focus. Delayering laid the path to win in the medium term through fundamental changes to the company’s business and operating model in order to set up the company for long-term success.

The company launched ambitious efforts to change the way things were traditionally done:

• A Better Client-Service Model. Barmer GEK is reducing the number of its branches by 50 percent, while transitioning to larger and more attractive service centers throughout Germany. More than 90 percent of customers will still be able to reach a service center within 20 minutes. To reach rural areas, mobile branches that can visit homes were created.
• Improved Customer Access. Because Barmer GEK wanted to make it easier for customers to access the company, it invested significantly in online services and full-service call centers. This led to a direct reduction in the number of customers who need to visit branches while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
• Organization Simplification. A pillar of Barmer GEK’s transformation is the centralization and specialization of claim processing. By moving from 80 regional hubs to 40 specialized processing centers, the company is now using specialized administrators—who are more effective and efficient than under the old staffing model—and increased sharing of best practices.

Although Barmer GEK has strategically reduced its workforce in some areas—through proven concepts such as specialization and centralization of core processes—it has invested heavily in areas that are aligned with delivering value to the customer, increasing the number of customer-facing employees across the board. These changes have made Barmer GEK competitive on cost, with expected annual savings exceeding €300 million, as the company continues on its journey to deliver exceptional value to customers. Beyond being described in the German press as a “bold move,” the transformation has laid the groundwork for the successful future of the company.

Nokia’s Leader-Driven Transformation Reinvents the Company (Again)

We all remember Nokia as the company that once dominated the mobile-phone industry but subsequently had to exit that business. What is easily forgotten is that Nokia has radically and successfully reinvented itself several times in its 150-year history. This makes Nokia a prime example of a “serial transformer.”

In 2014, Nokia embarked on perhaps the most radical transformation in its history. During that year, Nokia had to make a radical choice: continue massively investing in its mobile-device business (its largest) or reinvent itself. The device business had been moving toward a difficult stalemate, generating dissatisfactory results and requiring increasing amounts of capital, which Nokia no longer had. At the same time, the company was in a 50-50 joint venture with Siemens—called Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)—that sold networking equipment. NSN had been undergoing a massive turnaround and cost-reduction program, steadily improving its results.

When Microsoft expressed interest in taking over Nokia’s device business, Nokia chairman Risto Siilasmaa took the initiative. Over the course of six months, he and the executive team evaluated several alternatives and shaped a deal that would radically change Nokia’s trajectory: selling the mobile business to Microsoft. In parallel, Nokia CFO Timo Ihamuotila orchestrated another deal to buy out Siemens from the NSN joint venture, giving Nokia 100 percent control over the unit and forming the cash-generating core of the new Nokia. These deals have proved essential for Nokia to fund the journey. They were well-timed, well-executed moves at the right terms.

Right after these radical announcements, Nokia embarked on a strategy-led design period to win in the medium term with new people and a new organization, with Risto Siilasmaa as chairman and interim CEO. Nokia set up a new portfolio strategy, corporate structure, capital structure, robust business plans, and management team with president and CEO Rajeev Suri in charge. Nokia focused on delivering excellent operational results across its portfolio of three businesses while planning its next move: a leading position in technologies for a world in which everyone and everything will be connected.

Nokia’s share price has steadily climbed. Its enterprise value has grown 12-fold since bottoming out in July 2012. The company has returned billions of dollars of cash to its shareholders and is once again the most valuable company in Finland. The next few years will demonstrate how this chapter in Nokia’s 150-year history of serial transformation will again reinvent the company.

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ABOUT BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

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For information or permission to reprint, please contact BCG at [email protected] . To find the latest BCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others, please visit bcg.com . Follow Boston Consulting Group on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) .

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• vendor/reseller contract negotiations

TEC case studies show how our advisory services helped companies of varying types, sizes, and industries succeed in all three areas.

TEC’s SCM Software Selection Process

Selecting enterprise software presents some significant issues. The complexity of today’s enterprise software can be a challenge for companies that lack the appropriate in-house expertise. Most companies are unused to cataloging their processes and goals and then matching them to software features and functions. And while vendors sell software every day, companies seldom make a software purchase, giving vendors a built-in advantage when it comes to contract negotiations. Finally, software implementation is a specialty of its own, requiring specific expertise and oversight in this process. As you can see right below, TEC’s software selection process provides assistance in all these areas with a proven methodology developed over hundreds of successful selection projects and implementations.  

• Assess : Assess the client’s business processes and goals, gaps in key processes, and discover their functional requirements
• Review : Review SCM solutions and vendor capabilities to meet the client’s business needs
• Identify : Identify the shortlist of SCM vendors and their partner(s)
• Demonstration : Assess SCM solution demonstrations scripted to the client’s business processes
• Proposal : Create and distribute SCM request for proposal (RFP) to vendors to clarify deliverables and project total cost of ownership (TCO)
• Reference : Evaluate SCM vendor and their partner(s) through reference checks from real-world clients on previous projects
• Contract : Perform contract review and price negotiations on behalf of the client for cost savings
• Implementation : Perform oversight and monitor the implementation of the SCM application(s) to enable successful transformation and business growth

TEC’s proven methodology is backed by our decision support software TECAdvisor , ensuring that every software selection decision is driven by data and is an impartial evaluation of the current enterprise software market.

Learn More with Our Free Library of SCM Case Studies

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• Mental healthcare and peer support may improve the experience of diabetes self-management during pregnancy
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• Olga Kozlowska 1 ,
• Carley Moore 2
• 1 Oxford Institute of Applied Health Research , Oxford Brookes University , Oxford , UK
• 2 Oxford Brookes University , Oxford , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Olga Kozlowska, Oxford Institute of Applied Health Research, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK; okozlowska{at}brookes.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2024-104007

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• Maternal-Child Nursing
• Mental Health

Commentary on: Sushko K, Strachan P, Butt M, Nerenberg K, Sherifali D. Supporting self-management in women with pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy: a mixed-methods sequential comparative case study. BMC nursing . 2024 Jan 2;23(1):1.

Implications for practice and research

Policies are required to support self-management of diabetes during labour and delivery in practice.

Future research should focus on developing and implementing interventions to support self-management of diabetes during labour and delivery.

Sushko et al 1 highlight the increasing prevalence of pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy, which represents a risk to maternal and child health. Diabetes in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of adverse perinatal and postnatal outcomes for pregnant people and infants. Thus, maintaining optimal glycaemic control during preconception and pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of complications. Many interventions and activities aim to improve glycaemic control in pregnancy, which are usually advised by healthcare professionals. However, most self-management occurs in between appointments at home. In addition, the prevalence of mental health disorders is higher among people with diabetes. The stressors encountered during pregnancy may increase the risk of poor mental health or mental ill health impacting one’s ability to self-manage.

The quantitative results found that participants achieved ‘at target’ glucose control (mean A1C of the cohort by the third visit: 6.36% (95% CI 6.11% to 6.60%)) and that participants reported high levels of self-efficacy that increased throughout pregnancy. Qualitative data further confirmed that participants who had worked hard to optimise glycaemia during pregnancy were confident in their self-management. However, the qualitative findings also revealed feelings of fear resulting in an isolating and mentally exhausting pregnancy. These negative feelings were reinforced by a lack of support from the participants’ healthcare team, particularly around self-management of diabetes during labour and delivery.

On reading this study, the emerging picture of pregnancy while having diabetes is far from maternal happiness; it is a time filled with the fear of pregnancy complications, the feeling of being lonely with one’s diabetes and a sense of powerlessness in managing one’s diabetes when at most vulnerable—during labour and delivery. Surprisingly, these are experiences of pregnant women confident in diabetes management and with optimal glycaemic control. This finding emphasises the importance of discussing the mental health and emotional needs of those pregnant with pre-existing diabetes independent of the status of their glycaemic control. Indeed, diabetes care for any person living with diabetes needs to explore what matters to them and support their emotional well-being at diagnosis and beyond. 2 This study confirms the importance of peer support in offering individuals a supportive community that helps them to actively manage their health and well-being. 3

This study also emphasises the need for autonomy in self-management of diabetes in one’s mental health. The expectation persists, that on entering a healthcare setting, one’s diabetes management should be handed over to clinicians. However, there is a growing evidence to support those pregnant who are able to self-manage. 4 Indeed, there have been calls for much greater emphasis on shared responsibility for improving health and care between patients and the healthcare professionals who care for them. 5 For this to happen, there must be a cultural shift where all involved must fundamentally change their behaviours and attitudes by moving to genuine partnerships in which patients and professionals engage with each other as equals. 5

• Strachan P ,
• Butt M , et al
• Breslin N ,
• NHS England
• British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care
• Charles A ,

X @olga_kozlowska

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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