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The case describes IKEA’s new approach to making an impact through IKEA Belgium’s “Welcome Home Project,” dedicated to assisting single-parent families. The idea for the program came about during a cross-functional brainstorming session and initially involved donating funds and furniture to centers and shelters supporting such families. The project evolved to engage IKEA co-workers who volunteered their expertise during working hours to help set up housing and shelters. Another dimension was added as the initiative gained momentum and IKEA began collaborating with numerous social welfare organizations, collectively working towards policy changes intended to create a fairer and more supportive environment for single-parent families. While the program achieved remarkable results, the journey was not without its share of challenges. Transitioning from traditional donations to more innovative collaborative approaches required courage, and the team encountered resistance and skepticism along the way. Some of the social welfare organizations questioned the authenticity of IKEA’s motives, sometimes assuming economic self-interest instead of altruism. Collaboration with organizations that were so fundamentally different from IKEA required perseverance. Despite the enthusiasm of the IKEA co-workers who volunteered to support the social welfare organizations, internal communication efforts to raise awareness about the program proved to be an ongoing challenge. Recognizing the potential for international inspiration, IKEA considered sharing insights within its network. Simultaneously, the local team contemplated the next steps for IKEA Belgium, aware of the potential for further impact.

No company can grasp the potential of AI until it has set up a data-driven culture enabling employees to create value from the insights that emerge from data analysis. This means that before setting up an AI strategy, organizations must transform and prepare their infrastructure and culture for the AI age. This case study discusses the initiatives developed and rolled out by Marianne Galvin, initially Head of Data Office and then VP of Digital Transformation, as she worked to turn Civilia Engineering into a data-driven company. The case explores what Marianne put in place over her first 22 months with the company. This included: Governance structures and an educational program that proved to be highly popular. As the initiatives took root, Marianne and her team began to gain acceptance of use cases and dashboards for data-driven decision making but there were still several challenges to overcome, in particular how to work with an IT team more focused on architecture and improving legacy systems. The case closes as Marianne looks ahead to 2024, outlining what still needs to be done to gain digital and data maturity. The case provides a comprehensive understanding of the critical aspects of building a data-driven organization, particularly focusing on the interplay between value, data, and people. Through this case, learners will develop a nuanced understanding of the three pillars that sustain data-driven organizations, how to create a data-centric culture, how to avoid pitfalls in data-science projects and the nuances of digital transformation in non-digital organizations. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively lead and contribute to the building of data-driven organizations, fostering an environment that embraces data-centric decision-making and successfully navigates the complexities of digital transformation in an increasingly data-driven world.

In 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight KE007, a Boeing 747, suffered a tragic fate that claimed the lives of all 269 passengers and crew. Against the backdrop of Cold War tensions, the aircraft experienced an autopilot failure and veered significantly off course into Soviet airspace. The crew’s missteps led to a series of misinterpretations because there was a lack of awareness of geopolitical intricacies and technological constraints. Confusion was triggered as a result of Flight KE007 entering Soviet territory during a heightened state of alert for a missile test, miscommunications, and a malfunctioning radar system. Soviet fighter jets, unable to establish communication, fired warning shots. When Flight KE007 sought altitude clearance, in accordance with its flight plan, this maneuver was misread as evasion and the Soviet military launched a missile that downed the aircraft. Post-incident, the Soviets maintained secrecy, attributing the intrusion to ongoing provocations. However, this catastrophe was the catalyst for pivotal advancements in air safety. The Reagan administration pledged to introduce GPS for civil aviation by 1988, which would afford precise global positioning. Interim measures included the extension of US military radar coverage and the establishment of a joint air traffic control system in 1986, with the Soviet Union monitoring civilian air traffic over the North Pacific. The narrative unfolds at the intersection of aviation, politics and global security in the early 1980s. Beyond technical and human factors, it underscores the profound impact of international relations and the subsequent strides in air safety emerging from this poignant chapter in aviation history.

The case describes the strategic evolution of FUCHS China under the leadership of Zhu Qingping as the company transformed into a vital contributor to the global FUCHS2025 strategy. With 30 years’ experience in the automotive industry, Zhu leveraged his expertise to navigate FUCHS China through the complexities of a rapidly evolving market, amidst geopolitical fragmentation and the challenges posed by Covid-19. FUCHS China, representing a significant portion of the FUCHS Group’s revenue and profits, was at the forefront of adopting innovative product strategies. The case focuses on the development and implementation of the “5S” and “360-degree” solutions. These strategic initiatives enabled FUCHS China to offer specialized, high-tech products (5S) while comprehensively meeting customer needs (360). The case further highlights the company’s market approach, emphasizing the importance of segmentation and the “3L” Localization strategy. This approach not only tailored FUCHS China’s offerings to specific market segments but also enhanced its operational efficiency and responsiveness to local market dynamics. A key element of FUCHS China’s strategy was the development of its team, particularly through the innovative “Huangpu Class” initiative, which focused on nurturing segment leaders and building a robust leadership pipeline. Finally, the case also features FUCHS China’s unique culture, a blend of proactive, performance-driven ethos balanced with German precision and Chinese flexibility. This cultural synthesis was instrumental in fostering a self-driven and adaptable workforce, capable of navigating the challenges and opportunities in China’s lubricant market. Concluding with a forward-looking perspective, the case provides insights into how FUCHS China, under Zhu’s visionary leadership, positioned itself as a future-ready player, ready to tackle the upcoming challenges and seize new opportunities in the global lubricant industry.

In a world where agility and global foresight are crucial for business survival and growth, the FUCHS case presents a compelling narrative of transformation. This case study follows FUCHS, a leading global lubricant company, on its journey to navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing business environment while staying true to its decentralized roots. The story unfolds from the company’s humble beginnings, detailing how FUCHS has grown into a global player under the stewardship of CEO Stefan Fuchs. It emphasizes the challenges of operating in a fragmented market and the need to embrace new global forces, such as digitalization, sustainability and evolving customer expectations. The case highlights the strategic pivot FUCHS makes when it created its first ever corporate strategy, “FUCHS2025,” marking a significant shift in the company’s approach to global market dynamics. A central theme of the case is how FUCHS rethinks its matrix organization and implements agile networks. This strategic move illustrates how FUCHS balances its traditionally decentralized structure with a growing need for global integration and efficiency. The case details the intricacies of these networks, particularly focusing on HR, to show how FUCHS harnesses the power of cross-functional collaboration and shared leadership. Readers of the case will gain a comprehensive understanding of how a traditional, family-led business can successfully adapt to global trends and internal challenges. It’s a tale of strategic evolution, highlighting the delicate balance between maintaining core values and innovating to stay competitive in a fragmented world. The FUCHS case is not just a story of a company, but a blueprint for businesses facing similar global challenges, demonstrating how to win in a decentralized yet interconnected market landscape.

The case explores the efforts of Hamilton Mann, Group VP, Global Digital Marketing & Digital Transformation at Thales, to build a sales enablement platform as part of Thales’ larger digital transformation. “ContentFlix” aimed to be a one-stop sales enablement platform bringing together content for presentations and sales pitches and integrating solutions from across the business. Thales’ key account teams were used to operating in silos and via face-to-face interactions. Similarly, marketing and sales were distant and did not work together as effectively and seamlessly as they could. ContentFlix was intended to break down those silos and encourage collaboration between the company’s different businesses and marketing and sales teams. Mann’s team had launched ContentFlix quietly, tackling each implementation challenge as it came, and adoption had been steady. The Covid pandemic changed everything. Enforced lockdowns meant that remote cooperation between units became the only way to do business. The platform’s adoption accelerated beyond Mann’s expectations and continued to grow post-pandemic. The case explores how the team planned the platform, supported its rollout across Thales and continued to build it throughout the pandemic and beyond. The case explores in rich detail the obstacles and challenges as well as the successes Mann and his team face. The case closes with the rise of generative AI (GenAI). The team starts to consider where GenAI could enhance ContentFlix. What possibilities were there to take the platform to its next stage of development?

Terry Burns launched UniMag in 2007 and went on to develop its ecosystem of affiliated companies over several years. As most media were rapidly shifting online, UniMag established its brand as a high-profile magazine with a counter-intuitive focus on high-quality print and journalism. Since then, digitalization has increasingly shaped the media landscape, opening many opportunities for Burns. By 2023 digital activities most effectively drive the business of the many affiliated companies in UniMag’s ecosystem. In contrast, its print magazine sales have stalled, and costs keep growing. Burns and her team must make a strategic decision: What to do and what to stop? Where to perform and where to transform? In the context of a transforming media industry, the case illustrates how to set strategic direction in the face of disruptive forces in order to drive change and open opportunities.

Peter Goldschmidt became the CEO of pharmaceuticals company STADA in 2018. He was a firm believer in culture as a driving force – and a predictor – of organizational performance and competitiveness. A year earlier, two private equity funds had become majority owners of the “old” STADA – essentially a loose, decentralized network of country operations. After taking the helm, Goldschmidt made building a growth culture one of the strategic pillars aimed at transforming the company into a leader in consumer health, global generics and specialty pharma. As a major lever to achieve that vision, the CEO put forward four core values to define the new, aspirational brand of STADA’s culture: agility, entrepreneurship, integrity and “one STADA.” In its quest for agility, resilience and speed, STADA’s leadership recognized the need for an ambitious transformation that would improve collaboration to leverage learning, talent and technology, while centralizing some processes and reducing duplication and waste. Amid the Covid pandemic, in March 2020, STADA reported the highest production output in the group’s 125-year history. By 2022, the company was well on its way to achieving the owners’ growth objectives of becoming a strong, well-run organization. In a short span of five years, between 2018 and 2023, STADA built a platform that should allow the business to scale to five times its current size.

MADRID (SPAIN), MARCH 2023. Jaime Garcia-Prieto, founder and CEO of Galeneo, was polishing the deck for the fundraising for his healthcare start-up. The seed round of €1 million would take him to the institutional A round scheduled for Q3-2024, a comfortable 18-month+ runway. His proposal to decentralize healthcare through a tech-enabled hospital@home platform offered the solution people were looking for not only in Spain but also in most advanced economies. According to a recent Economist article, the NHS, like many healthcare systems, had become a sickness service, not a health service. To live up to the promise of its name would require a shift in focus, away from hospitals to the community, from centralized treatment to community-based prevention and bedside medicine. In other words, health systems needed to be investing in smoke alarms, not fire extinguishers. In 2020, as the Covid pandemic began, Jaime envisioned the future of in-home care for patients with chronic treatment needs. In 2021, he embarked on developing a platform to coordinate bedside medical care anywhere, anytime, in minutes. Galeneo was born. By 2023, it had integrated 200+ healthcare providers (HCPs) and 11+ institutional partners in the Madrid region, enabling the provision of general high-value services outside hospital. Revenues of €1.6 million in 2023 were expected, with a growth rate of about 8% every month and net profit breakeven reached in February. Things looked positive, but there were issues around scaling fast – although Jaime had found solutions. To counter the limited availability of qualified healthcare workers, he developed the Galeneo Academy to train future in-home bedside specialists. Tech-enabled standardization reduced operational complexity through an easy-to-use app and included real-time monitoring and quality control. Finally, the whole concept of community-based bedside medicine was still nascent, which meant market participants needed to adopt original approaches. But it was a large market with great potential.