Luxury 2050
This is our new initiative in 2022 to support brands’ efforts to shape the future of a more innovative, relevant, and environmentally and socially responsible luxury.
Through vibrant communities, cutting-edge thought leadership and pedagogical activities, Luxury 2050 aims to help luxury brands across sectors to navigate the heightened uncertainty and seismic shifts that will redefine luxury in the years to come, and to do so with agility.
Providing learning across open, custom, and MBA programs
We develop tailored programs that reflect the unique opportunities and challenges of organizations in the luxury sector. In 2022, for example, we designed and delivered a five-day top leadership team seminar for a skincare brand focused on such topics as digital and agility transformations, as well as team dynamics for higher performance. In June, we designed and hosted a five-day program focused on strategy, sustainability and leadership for a luxury family-owned fashion and fragrance business. For a major player in the watch and jewelry sector, we started a series of learning and development initiatives related to sustainable and purposeful luxury.
We also supported the introduction of a new elective in the MBA program: The Fundamentals of Luxury Brand Management. The elective has been designed to equip participants with the pillars of luxury management so that they understand what competing in the luxury space means and how the success factors of luxury brand desirability will keep changing.
The Reinventing Luxury Lab at Lamborghini in 2022
Our Reinventing Luxury Lab is an experiment-based strategy program that enables participants to prototype and field-proof the key elements they need to make their brand resilient and enduring. In 2022 we ran the sixth edition at Automobili Lamborghini’s headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy.
The two-day workshop included sessions on how to embrace future-proofing from a holistic point of view and an analysis of Lamborghini’s story and its present-day reality. We inaugurated a new IMD case study with Lamborghini and participants engaged in a dialogue with its CEO and part of the top management team.
The new Luxury 2050 Forum for alumni takes shape
Part of Luxury 2050’s mission is to increase community outreach. Launched in December 2022, the forum is open to alumni from IMD graduate programs (MBA, EMBA) and open and custom executive programs. Members gain access to exclusive content, thought leadership, peer-to-peer learning, and events as well as opportunities for mentoring.
The ambition of the forum is to build a supportive community of professionals working across luxury sectors and create an opportunity for them to interact in an informal environment. One of the highlights of the launch was an exclusive interview with Philippe Blondiaux, executive in residence and Global CFO of CHANEL, who is the first honorary ‘Parrain’ of the Forum.
“I am very excited to accept the proposal to become the ‘Parrain’ of the IMD Luxury 2050 Forum and bring my modest contribution to this exciting think-tank and community.”
Philippe Blondiaux, Global CFO of CHANEL
Research and publishing
Stéphane J G Girod, who leads the Luxury 2050 initiative, co-authored two case studies in 2022:
- Lamborghini: Future-Proofing an Iconic Luxury Brand (with Martin Králik) and
- Swarovski: How to Shine Through Stormy Weather (with Niccolò Pisani).
Stéphane also published six original research articles in Forbes Life where he runs a column dedicated to innovation and disruption in luxury sectors. He has co-edited a California Management Review special issue on business agility which is due to be published in 2023. He also organized and took part in a panel about the circular economy at Watches & Wonders Geneva.
