From complexity to clarity: How ABB transformed its operating model (A)

Firmenich, the Geneva-founded flavors and fragrances house, built its competitive edge on the tacit, highly specialized craft of its perfumers and flavorists – expertise sitting at the intersection of chemistry and artistry. By 2017 board-level anxiety about digital disruption, and credible signals that technology giants were eyeing the sector, forced the question of how a craft-based industry should respond to AI. Eric Nicolas, chief financial officer (CFO) and head of strategy, and Eric Saracchi, chief digital and information officer (CDIO) were charged with shaping that response. Rather than buy capability or partner externally, they chose to build in-house: d-lab, sited deliberately close to, while being organizationally distinct from EPFL's innovation park in Lausanne. The case follows d-lab from early experimentation to a string of commercial firsts: an AI-generated beef flavor launched in Asia in 2020, and an AI-created laundry fragrance in early 2021. Central to the lab's traction was a deliberate framing choice positioning AI as a creative co-pilot rather than a replacement and designed to win over skeptical, identity-invested experts whose value rested precisely on the knowledge AI now threatened to encode. By November 2021 d-lab had been named digital innovation of the year and had halved time-to-market while cutting formulation costs. The case closes on an unresolved strategic question facing Nicolas and Saracchi: how to move d-lab from proof of concept to durable advantage while deepening its integration with the wider organization, and extending its reach from formulation into molecular discovery. It offers a grounded vehicle for examining innovation-unit design, expert buy-in under AI disruption, and the governance of adjacent-but-separate digital capability.

Holcim is a Swiss multinational company that manufactures cement and building materials. Excluding China, it is the top cement producer in the world. Holcim is also a top 50 CO2 emissions emitter. And it decisively put sustainability efforts front and center in its overall strategy. The case describes the integration of different sustainability initiatives into Holcim's overall strategy over more than a decade, a period during which the firm underwent massive transformations, including a merger with Lafarge, a major pivot from cement to construction materials, the sale of assets in key countries and a spin off of its North-American operations. The case pivots the discussion from the traditional question: 'What does Holcim do for sustainability?' to a more interesting one: 'What does sustainability do for Holcim?' It brings clarity to the different ways through which sustainability contributes to the firm's strategy: compliance, resilience and market advantage. Focusing on market advantage, it shows the vast repertoire of sustainability actions that can impact a firm's strategy and how sustainability can be leveraged to create value. It also reveals that not all sustainability actions are designed to have a sustainability impact.

Caroline Schmidt, 55, chief strategy officer of Edelweiss Corporation, has just led her company through a remarkable turnaround. When Henri Vonlanthen, CEO of Léman Corporation – a company twice Edelweiss's size – invites her to join Léman's board, Caroline sees a genuine opportunity: a bigger stage on which to apply the strategic and financial expertise that turned Edelweiss around, and a chance to help a storied family enterprise chart its next chapter. Léman, built over three generations by the Keller family and taken public in 2010, is a company with real assets and real needs: a strong balance sheet but a flat top line, two fast-growing subsidiaries alongside stagnant ones, and no clear long-term strategy. Its aging patriarch, Samuel Keller, remains chairman, and the board might need refreshment. Could Caroline, working alongside her ally Henri and maybe other board members, build the coalition needed to drive the strategic change Léman requires? Or would she find herself without the influence to move a set board, exposed instead to legacy issues and a possible conflict of interest with her own company? As Caroline's first appointment to a major board, her decision also carries a signaling dimension; the boards that a rising executive chooses to join, and how visibly she vets them, shape how the market will read her judgment for years to come. The case gives students a realistic, decision-forcing vehicle for weighing a directorship's opportunities against its risks: What due diligence a prospective director should conduct, how to assess whether one can genuinely influence and ally with fellow directors, and how a first major board appointment signals character and judgment to the market.

Is your leadership empowering or draining? A concise guide to humane, effective transformation that sustains performance.

The case places participants in the role of Helge Lund, chair of BP, on 4 October 2023. Only weeks earlier, BP's chief executive officer Bernard Looney had resigned over undisclosed relationships with colleagues. Looney had been the principal arch...

Senior leaders rarely get their most important work done by issuing orders. A CTO cannot compel a partner firm, a dean cannot order a faculty to embrace a curriculum, a ministry cannot be forced to share data. On the questions that matter, outcome...

Founded in 1920 as a modest trading house in the Arabian Gulf, Zamil Group has grown into one of the Middle East's most diversified business groups, with activities spanning manufacturing, petrochemicals, real estate and investments. As the portfo...

In 2022, Novo Nordisk was transitioning from its longstanding focus on diabetes treatments to multiple therapeutic areas while navigating other important challenges: • Changing market, competitive and regulatory environments • Dramatic growth due ...

Daniela Studer, a highly accomplished executive with a background in engineering and global leadership, now serves as the only woman on the board of Flosser, a niche construction materials company recently acquired by a larger public firm. Despite her expertise and a mandate to professionalize the board, Daniela finds herself struggling to influence the top management team. Dysfunctional dynamics that range from a lack of trust in the CTO to an exclusive relationship between the CEO and CFO threaten Flosser's performance and culture. Daniela's attempts to address these issues are met with resistance; her direct style, celebrated in her previous executive roles, is now seen as abrasive, and she is advised to be "gentler" in her board interactions. This case invites readers to reflect on the challenges of transitioning from an executive to a non-executive director role, a situation in which authority is more about influence than direct control. Daniela's dilemma – whether to confront the CEO directly, adapt her approach, or remain silent – raises critical questions: Is her struggle rooted in the inherent limitations of non-executive power, related to the entrenched culture of a family business or is there an element of unconscious gender bias? Does her experience as a minority on the board shape how her contributions are received, or is the resistance she faces more about her methods? Ultimately, the case challenges readers to consider what it truly means to lead from the boardroom, how to navigate complex interpersonal and organizational dynamics, and how gender and role expectations intersect to shape the effectiveness and credibility of board members.

The case describes Hilti's transformation from a premium tool maker to a solution provider in commercial construction, while keeping its innovation leadership. Confronting industry pain points such as lost tools, downtime, safety risks and thin margins, Hilti created Fleet Management FM. This subscription bundles NURON tools, repairs, loaners, theft coverage, and Hilti's ON!Track asset management system into predictable monthly payments. IoT connectivity delivers real-time insights on utilization, battery health and maintenance. Moving towards end-to-end optimization E2E, FM digitally connects warehouses, vans and administrative processes, unlocking measurable productivity and margin improvement. FM also operationalizes circularity: productivity analyses right-size tool parks often by 2030 fewer assets, tools are refurbished or donated for a second life, and non-usable materials are recycled via a global network of local partners. The case illustrates how business model innovations with global coverage necessitate fundamental organizational transformations that can take many years. It allows students to develop concise, concrete and convincing value propositions in a B2B market environment. It also facilitates a discussion on solution readiness offering, supplier, contract, and customer and the identification of a sustainable competitive advantage based on the VRIO framework.