IMD Luxury 2050 Forum​

Stéphane JG Girod’s research, teaching, and consulting focus on the development of business agility in response to the many forms of disruption faced by organizations in today’s world. He sets out his thinking on the topic in his recent book Resetting Management: Thrive with Agility in the Age of Uncertainty. He has particular expertise in the luxury sectors and leads IMD’s Luxury 2050 initiative.

Girod helps executives and established companies to foster agility at the strategy, organizational, and leadership levels in response to digital, (de)globalization, and other forms of disruption. He is an expert on linking agility and digital transformations.

In Resetting Management: Thrive with Agility in the Age of Uncertainty, he explains why business agility now matters more than ever and shows how it can release a new level of energy, innovation, and entrepreneurship that will enable organizations to be future ready. Rather than advocating a formulaic one-size-fits-all approach, the book outlines pathways towards calibrating the right type and degree of agility for every company’s unique circumstances.

Agility is particularly important in the luxury sectors, which are experiencing multiple rupture points. The IMD Luxury 2050 initiative is a platform offering solutions to help luxury brands prepare today for the longer-run, big, strategic, operational, and cultural challenges they face. These solutions bring together IMD’s unique competences in terms of dedicated innovative pedagogical activities, cutting-edge thought leadership, and access to a vibrant community of alumni working across a wide range of luxury industries.

Girod’s work in the luxury space is increasingly focused on helping luxury brands develop and implement purposeful and sustainable strategies. In addition, he works on business agility across a range of other sectors including retail, automobile, pharmaceuticals, and banking, and he has designed customized learning journeys for numerous organizations who appreciate his hands-on approach and ability to keep sight of the bigger picture while also paying attention to detail. He has directed programs for Richemont, Puig, Mazda, Telenor, Midea, Bally, and La Prairie and has taught on custom programs for many others.

He is also Director of IMD’s Reinventing Luxury Lab open program and Co-Director of the Digital Execution course.

His research has appeared in leading journals such as Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Long Range Planning, the Journal of Business Strategy, and European Business Review, and he is co-editor of a California Management Review special issue on business agility which is due to be published in 2023.

Girod writes a regular column in Forbes on disruption, innovation, and agility in luxury industries, and his thought leadership has been covered by media outlets such as China Daily, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Women’s Wear Daily, BBC News, Télévision Suisse Romande, Valor Econômico, La Vanguardia, Tribune de Genève, Luxury Society, HandelZeitung, and The Times. He is also the author of numerous case studies, including ones on Rabobank (agile leadership), Lamborghini (future-readiness and transformation), Chanel, and Chloé (both on sustainability).

Before joining IMD in 2016, he was Assistant Professor of International Business and Strategy at Henley Business School and a Manager of the Accenture Institute for High Performance in London. He previously occupied several international development roles in leading luxury goods companies for markets such as France, Italy, and the Middle East and speaks seven languages.

Selected publications

Five strategies for building a new-style luxury customer community (Forbes, 2022)

Simplify@Scale: Agile leadership at Rabobank (IMD, 2022)

Chanel 1.5°: A sustainability journey (IMD, 2021)

Resetting Management: Thrive with Agility in the Age of Uncertainty (Kogan Page, 2021)

How organizations can design for agility and embrace uncertainty (strategy+business, 2021)

How luxury brands can beat counterfeiters (Harvard Business Review, 2019)

Restructure or reconfigure? (Harvard Business Review, 2017)

Education

MSc (Business & Management)

Toulouse Business School

MBA (International Business and Management)

Helsinki School of Economics, Aalto University

MSc (Management Research and Business Administration)

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

DPhil (Strategic Management)

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford