The IMD Annual Report 2021

Becoming a leader for the first time can be isolating. Here’s what the management playbooks don’t tell you, and some advice on dealing with the new dynamic.

Research reveals how venture capital gender bias distorts funding decisions, underfunds strong teams, and weakens returns for investors.

Uncover key techniques for managing neurodivergent individuals at work, aligning expectations with diverse cognitive styles for better collaboration.

Pang Dong Lai (PDL) is a regional Chinese supermarket chain that generated an astonishing $3.27 billion in revenue in 2025 with only 14 stores, vastly outperforming national and global giants in per-store efficiency. In a retail landscape defined by fierce competition and razor-thin margins, PDL's success stems from a radical, people-first operating model. By distributing 95% of its profits to employees and management, PDL has engineered an unparalleled service-profit chain, translating extreme employee loyalty into absolute customer trust. This case vividly illustrates the core of strategic positioning: Strategy is about choosing what not to do. To protect its high-trust culture and prevent employee burnout, visionary founder Yu Dong Lai deliberately constrained expansion, mandated weekly store closures, and even shuttered profitable locations. This extreme altruism created a paradox of unintended growth, as overwhelming national demand pushed 2025 sales far beyond the company's self-imposed limits. At the start of 2026, PDL stands at a critical crossroads, profoundly intensified by Yu Dong Lai's retirement announcement and the transition to an 8-person management committee. The new leadership must navigate two distinct growth paths. The first is to 'scale the product' nationally as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand via a supply chain partnership with JD.com, risking the commoditization of a brand rooted in local, in-person experiences. The second is to 'scale the experience' by building massive, capital-intensive destination retail complexes. Participants are challenged to step into the shoes of the succeeding management team. They must evaluate the strategic tradeoffs of each expansion path, debate whether an 'unscalable,' founder-driven culture can be successfully institutionalized, and ultimately decide how to scale the business without changing its soul.

Learn how leaders turn uncertainty into an advantage by using AI, agility, and trust to unlock growth and outperform competitors in disruption

Discover essential tips on how to be a good mentor, focusing on listening, asking questions, and supporting growth without giving direct advice.

Discover how mapping employees into four tribes – Protesters, Challengers, Hesitators, Enthusiasts – drives transformation and helps businesses succeed.

HubSpot CPO Helen Russell says leaders must upskill for AI, think like founders, stay close to operations, and build trusted hybrid human-AI teams.

Businesses are adopting artificial intelligence at pace, and spending heavily to do so. Big Tech alone plans to invest more than US$660 billion (S$844 billion) in 2026. But for most companies, spending is running ahead of visible returns. A flood ...

Global biopharmaceutical group Ipsen is using AI to help leaders sharpen how they give feedback – transforming a learnable skill into a consistently practiced, organization-wide capability.