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Case Study

A case study of two leaders at Burberry: Synergy or separation?

By Jennifer Jordan and Shih-Han Huang

21 pages

May 2018

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Reference: IMD-7-1998

This case explores the background and leadership styles of two of Burberry’s leaders – Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry from 2006-2014, who was instrumental in bringing a clearer strategic focus to the luxury company and tripling profits and revenues during her tenure, and Christopher Bailey, designer extraordinaire and Chief Creative Officer between 2009-2018 and CEO between 2014-2018. In focus are the complementary roles these two leaders played in Burberry’s digital transformation and how they collaborated and leveraged each other’s’ strengths and talents.

Learning Objective

Comparing different leadership profiles, especially in the context of digital change within the organization
Exploring the importance of partnerships (internal and external) and leveraging one another’s strengths and compensating for weaknesses
Leveraging the power of digital for strategic and operational change.

Keywords

Chief Executive Officer, Leadership, Agility, Leadership Behavior, Digital Transformation, Partnership, Millennials

Settings

United Kingdom
Burberry, Consumer Goods, Luxury Goods and Jewelry
2006-2018

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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