Howard Yu

LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation

Howard Yu is LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation and heads IMD’s Center for Future Readiness. He specializes in technological innovation, strategic transformation, and change management. Author of the award-winning best-seller LEAP: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied, he was named by Poets&Quants as one of the world’s leading business school professors under 40 in 2015, and in 2018 he was included on the Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the year ahead.

His work as Director of the IMD Center for Future Readiness focuses on firms’ capacity to sustain new growth. The Center, which was established in 2020 with the backing of a multi-million-dollar grant from the LEGO Brand Group, aims to help companies spur innovation and thrive amid uncertainty by quantifying which organizations are most ready for a changing future and exploring the lessons that other firms can learn from them. The Center produces Future Readiness Indicators for various sectors to measure how prepared industry incumbents are for coming challenges.

I help executives to filter out the noise. They can then lay bare what impacts their companies. Leaders must take action to make their organizations future-ready.

Yu’s work has been published in journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, The European Business Review, and Business History Review, and popular media outlets including the New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune, Forbes, Straits Times, South China Morning Post, and Shanghai Daily. He is also regularly interviewed and quoted by news organizations such as the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, the BBC, and China Daily.

He says businesses are experiencing a series of seismic shifts as a result of global developments such as the encroachment of emerging market firms, the onslaught of digital transformation, growth in the number of affluent consumers across the world, the COVID-19 crisis, and the expansion of e-commerce, and managers must align with the trends affecting their sectors to prosper. For carmakers, for instance, the most significant trend is the leap from the mechanical engineering of the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles that blend connectivity with self-driving capabilities based on software algorithms.

At IMD, he is Co-Director of the Strategy for Future Readiness open program. He has also delivered customized training programs for major global companies in Asia and Europe including Bosch, OCBC Bank, COFCO, Mars, ASML, Sanofi, ABB, Novartis, Assa Abloy, Maersk, Daimler, Electrolux, Nitto, and LEGO.

Yu’s book LEAP shows how pioneering companies can endure and prosper in a world of constant change and inevitable copycats by harnessing new strategies and advancements in technology and leveraging shifts in markets. The book won widespread praise from top executives as well as several awards, including an Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal and a strategy+business Best Business Book award.

He has also written numerous case studies and won several case writing awards from the European Foundation for Management Development and The Case Centre.

He joined IMD in 2011 after completing a doctoral degree in management at Harvard Business School. He is a Hong Kong native and worked in the Hong Kong banking industry at the start of his career.

Selected publications
Article
How future thinking can derail your company’s present
LeadershipStrategyTechnology ManagementDigital
Everyone wants to be future-ready, especially in uncertain times. Inflation has hit its highest level since the early 1980s. Many technology stocks have plunged dramatically from the beginning of t...
13 July 2022
Article
What makes a company “future ready”?
SustainabilityGrowthDiversity and Equity and Inclusion
The pandemic put companies under a tremendous amount of stress. It revealed who is ready for the many changes the near future will bring — and who is not. In times of crisis, this type readiness do...
21 March 2022
Article
Why companies must embrace microservices and modular thinking
Technology Management
Companies that embrace remote work — which is here to stay — can also drastically reduce their coordination costs through modular organization. Spotify announced earlier this year that it would com...
1 September 2021
Article
Why some retailers are thriving amid disruption
DigitalDisruptionOrganizational TransformationSocial Platform
A crisis reveals as much as it devastates. Retailers that were struggling before the coronavirus outbreak are now crumbling. And yet, a mortal blow to retail has not been felt universally. Some com...
29 June 2020
Article
How autonomy creates resilience in the face of crisis: One Chinese manufacturing giant quickly rebounded from coronavirus. Here’s what you can learn from its org chart.
ChinaAgilityDisruptionGlobal BusinessSupply Chain
The outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of the global supply chain and, in turn, many companies’ organizational structures. In their pursuit to become ever more efficient, bear fewer cos...
9 June 2020
Leap: How to thrive in a world where everything can be copied
Book
Leap: How to thrive in a world where everything can be copied
StrategyOrganizational TransformationCompetitiveness
How can companies achieve long-term success? Through learning to leap: building a system of reinvention into their organization that will stave off competition and keep them at the top of their ind...
12 July 2018
Conference Paper
Leopards sometimes change their spots: How firms manage a shift between strategic archetypes
StrategyTechnology ManagementOrganizational TransformationAsia
This article describes a comparative field study of Taiwan’s PC industry. Tracing the strategic evolution of six leading firms, I found their transformations followed different paths because of the...
29 December 2010
Academic publications
Case Study
Electrolux: Subscribing to growth
Strategy
Electrolux AB is the world’s fifth-largest maker of consumer appliances. In November 2018, Electrolux launched the trial of a subscription-based business model in Sweden for the Pure i9 – a high-en...
16 November 2020
Case Study
Ping An: How a Chinese insurance firm became a tech giant (A)
FinanceDigitalChina
The case illustrates how Ping An can anticipate digital trends such as cloud computing and evolve from its core business to expand to new areas. Ping An began by selling property and casualty insur...
12 November 2020
Case Study
Ping An: How a Chinese insurance firm became a tech giant (B)
FinanceDigitalChina
While Ping An is so successful to transform and reinvent itself to a tech giant, it discovered the demand of small and medium sized financial institutions to deploy technology. In December 2015, Pi...
12 November 2020
Case Study
Ping An: How a Chinese insurance firm became a tech giant (C)
FinanceDigital
Case (C) is about Autohome, which is the only unicorn Ping An acquired, rather than built from the ground up. After acquisition by Ping An, Autohome was transformed form a pure automobile website t...
12 November 2020
Case Study
Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (A)
Strategy
Startup Matternet entered in 2017 the market of drone-based delivery of medical samples in Switzerland, via an investment from Swiss Post. Following two consecutive incidents in 2019 during which t...
10 September 2020
Case Study
Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (B)
Strategy
Startup Matternet entered in 2017 the market of drone-based delivery of medical samples in Switzerland, via an investment from Swiss Post. Following two consecutive incidents in 2019 during which t...
9 September 2020
Case Study
Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (C)
Strategy
Startup Matternet entered in 2017 the market of drone-based delivery of medical samples in Switzerland, via an investment from Swiss Post. Following two consecutive incidents in 2019 during which t...
9 September 2020
Case Study
Humans on demand: Coople’s staffing platform at a crossroads
Strategy
Founded in 2011 by the Swiss entrepreneur Viktor Calabrò, Coople operates the largest on-demand staffing platform in Europe. It has enjoyed rapid growth and is considered one of the most successful...
26 February 2020
Case Study
Dalian Wanda Group: When offline meets online (Abridged)
Strategy
Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group, headquartered in Beijing, is the country’s largest commercial property developer and the world’s largest movie theatre operator. One of its core businesses is the ...
8 October 2018
Leap: How to thrive in a world where everything can be copied
Book
Leap: How to thrive in a world where everything can be copied
StrategyOrganizational TransformationCompetitiveness
How can companies achieve long-term success? Through learning to leap: building a system of reinvention into their organization that will stave off competition and keep them at the top of their ind...
12 July 2018
Case Study
Nitto (A): Innovation for customers
Strategy
Recognized as a Top 100 Global Innovator since 2010, Nitto Denko Corporation demonstrates how a relentless focus on customer innovation can sustain a company's growth, and transform its business mo...
28 September 2017
Case Study
Nitto (B): Decoding San-Shin’s DNA – Resources and processes
Strategy
Recognized as a Top 100 Global Innovator since 2010, Nitto Denko Corporation demonstrates how a relentless focus on customer innovation can sustain a company's growth, and transform its business mo...
28 September 2017
Case Study
Nitto (C): New century
Strategy
Recognized as a Top 100 Global Innovator since 2010, Nitto Denko Corporation demonstrates how a relentless focus on customer innovation can sustain a company's growth, and transform its business mo...
28 September 2017
Case Study
Recruit Japan: Harnessing data to create value (Abridged)
Operations
Recruit Holdings, Japan’s largest staffing firm and a leading marketing media company started out in the early 1960s as an advertising company publishing magazines for jobseekers. It scaled up over...
2 November 2016
Case Study
Xiaomi 2015: A homegrown Apple in China?
The Xiaomi case explores how this Chinese startup leveraged ubiquitous connectivity and open innovation to revolutionize the mobile phone industry in the global market. In less than five years it b...
31 December 2015
Article
Taiwan’s PC Industry, 1976–2010: The evolution of organizational capabilities
Technology Management
The stellar growth of Taiwan’s personal-computer (PC) industry over the past three decades represents a paradox. Participating in the global production system, local firms in Taiwan grew in associa...
1 July 2014
Case Study
Finding Community Solutions from Common Ground: A new business model to end homelessness
Strategy
Common Ground, which developed and managed affordable supportive housing, had been consistently hailed as one of the best-run non-profit organizations in the US. Yet, its spin-off organization – Co...
3 December 2012
Case Study
Braille without borders
Strategy
Sabriye Tenberken was born near Bonn, Germany. She lost her sight slowly as a child due to a retinal disease, and her parents took her to many places so that she could store up many visual memories...
27 November 2012
Insight for Executives
A blueprint for disruptive innovation
Article
A blueprint for disruptive innovation
InnovationDigitalDisruption
Roblox’s recipe of simple fun for the masses highlights the flaws in Meta’s attempts to market sophisticated innovations to a high-value customer segment.
12 May 2023
Four steps to building a future-ready organization
Article
Four steps to building a future-ready organization
DigitalOrganizational TransformationStrategy
Being future-ready is a source of competitive advantage in turbulent times. Professors Howard Yu and Mark Greeven explain how Xiaomi and others not only survive, but thrive through uncertainty.
14 April 2023
Article
Carmakers are mistaken if they think chip shortages are over
Supply Chain
Finally, carmakers got a break. Those in the UK boosted their output by over 13% in February as supply-chain pressures subsided, especially the persistent global shortage in microchips, also known ...
9 April 2023
Article
Carmakers are mistaken if they think chip shortages are over – they need to reinvent themselves while there’s time
Supply Chain
Finally, carmakers got a break. Those in the UK boosted their output by over 13% in February as supply-chain pressures subsided, especially the persistent global shortage in microchips, also known ...
5 April 2023
Article
Can we ever break the iPhone monopoly?
Technology Management
31 March 2023
Article
Microsoft knows ChatGPT won’t crash and burn like previous AI technologies
Technology ManagementInnovation
ChatGPT is not ready yet. A major problem with it – and with other large-language models – is that they are often inaccurate or don’t properly cite information sources. Microsoft hoped to circumven...
28 February 2023
A blueprint for disruptive innovation
Article
A blueprint for disruptive innovation
Innovation
Roblox’s recipe of simple fun for the masses highlights the flaws in Meta’s attempts to market sophisticated innovations to a high-value customer segment
10 February 2023
Article
Meta pumped cash into a futuristic vision, but they didn’t prepare for a recession
Technology Management
Meta suffered another blow last week, as the European Union ruled their ad practices in Ireland illegal. The decision resulted in a fine of €390m, which Meta is appealing, and shows yet another iss...
12 January 2023
Article
With mRNA technology, who are the most future-ready pharma companies in 2023
Technology ManagementInnovation
If there is one industry that’s recession-proof in 2023, it’s healthcare. We saw that in the last recession. During the subprime mortgage crisis, healthcare spending didn’t drop, it rose, and so di...
4 January 2023
Article
The rise and rise of Microsoft amid a tech meltdown
Technology ManagementDigital
Being future-ready is always a work in progress. If you don’t improve, you risk backsliding. Nothing illustrates this dynamic better than the technology industry in 2022. The entire sector has gone...
22 December 2022
In 2023, take a tip from tech: Diversify to survive
Article
In 2023, take a tip from tech: Diversify to survive
InnovationStrategyTechnology ManagementDigital
The uncertain economic landscape makes predicting winners and losers over the coming year more unpredictable than ever. But Howard Yu and his team focus on hard data to predict what it will take fo...
15 December 2022
Article
How the tech giants are innovating to weather the looming downturn
Technology ManagementEconomics
Rising inflation and looming recessions are squeezing household finances, but businesses also worry about an economic downturn. This is not just because of higher bills, but also because consumers ...
4 October 2022
Article
Only inclusive companies are future-ready
SustainabilityDiversity and Equity and InclusionInnovation
It is notoriously difficult to measure inclusion quantitatively, and every company makes mistakes. Eliminating a toxic culture does not happen overnight. Negative past events will leave traces behi...
30 September 2022
What AI can teach us about human bias in decision making
Article
What AI can teach us about human bias in decision making
Technology ManagementDiversity and Equity and Inclusion
An ensemble of algorithms working together will produce far more accurate predictions than one working alone. In other words, the collective power of the weak is mightier than that of the strongest...
16 September 2022
Framing the future: The importance of managing shareholder expectations
Article
Framing the future: The importance of managing shareholder expectations
FinanceInnovationInvestmentGeneral Management
As interest rates continue to rise and governments withdraw pandemic-led financial stimulation, share prices are starting to bear the brunt. In these uncertain times, how can CEOs keep investors’ s...
6 September 2022
Marketing in the metaverse: Time to explore, experiment and learn
Article
Marketing in the metaverse: Time to explore, experiment and learn
InnovationMarketing
As the metaverse expands its business reach and gets hold of the public consciousness, how should CMOs position themselves to make the most of its exciting opportunities?
25 August 2022
Article
Why diversity in clinical trials leads to better medicines
SustainabilityDiversity and Equity and Inclusion
No one likes to be called a racist or a misogynist. Even the most hardened extremists would deny it. It is not that they oppose hiring women or minorities, they will say, but policies such as gende...
15 August 2022
Article
Elon Musk’s Twitter bid fell through not from strategic reasons, but hubris
Social MediaSupply ChainPsychology
Elon Musk is no stranger to self-inflicted pain. He constantly pushes himself to new limits, having founded groundbreaking companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, then in April, announcing his...
3 August 2022
Article
How companies unknowingly accumulate non-financial debt
Organizational Design
Emotionally burdensome – that is how it feels these days to fly. And it is as painful to be a passenger as it is to work as a flight attendant. Once a promise of an adventure in the world, flying i...
28 July 2022
Article
How future thinking can derail your company’s present
LeadershipStrategyTechnology ManagementDigital
Everyone wants to be future-ready, especially in uncertain times. Inflation has hit its highest level since the early 1980s. Many technology stocks have plunged dramatically from the beginning of t...
13 July 2022