Corporate venturing with Hilti

How a private equity-backed corporate carve-out created a successful, sustainable consulting powerhouse by Benoit Leleux

Women’s realities are often overlooked, but lifepreneurs—entrepreneurs innovating from experience—are turning struggles into profit and systemic change.

This Technical Note explores the significant transition that leaders face when moving from functional to enterprise-level leadership roles. It introduces the "Seven Seismic Shifts" framework, which identifies the fundamental changes in mindset and responsibility required for success at the enterprise level. The note examines each shift in detail: from specialist to generalist, analyst to integrator, tactician to strategist, bricklayer to architect, problem-solver to agenda-setter, warrior to diplomat, and supporting cast to lead role. Using the case example of Johannes Vandervliet, a leader transitioning to general manager at BSC Chemicals, the note illustrates the practical challenges of navigating these shifts and balancing existing skills with new leadership demands. Beyond identifying these transitions, the note provides a comprehensive approach for organizations to assess and develop enterprise leadership talent. This includes rigorous assessment methods, structured developmental experiences, targeted conceptual learning, executive coaching, mentoring and sponsorship programs, and ongoing evaluation systems. The note emphasizes that effective enterprise leadership development requires deliberate effort and organizational support, not just time and experience. It offers valuable insights for both aspiring enterprise leaders seeking to understand their development needs and organizations looking to build robust leadership pipelines to navigate increasingly complex business environments.

This case study explores AstraPay’s journey to become a significant player, despite its latecomer status, in Indonesia’s burgeoning digital payments landscape. Launched in 2018, AstraPay had grown to serve over one million customers, but it faced intense competition from tech-first digital super-apps like GoTo and OVO. Led by Rina Apriana, who became CEO in 2023, AstraPay had to leverage its unique position within Astra International, a vast conglomerate with deep roots in Indonesia’s economy, to differentiate itself. The case first explores the conceptual differences between a platform and an ecosystem. It then considers how AstraPay can leverage Astra International’s unique characteristics to unlock synergies and evolve into an ecosystem. The question is underpinned by considerations on how AstraPay can best leverage its late mover status to compete with established digital first competitors. Finally, the students are encouraged to explore a range of alternative options available to Astra for building its ecosystem by highlighting the pros and cons of each approach against which to assess the final path taken by AstraPay.

Switzerland should assess the Credit Suisse collapse before adding more banking regulations, says UBS Group CEO in a talk on Europe's financial future.

CFOs can rethink underperforming AI adoption by focusing on business value, data readiness, and employee buy-in.

US President Donald Trump’s full embrace of digital assets has sent shock waves through the cryptocurrency market, driving a price surge while creating both new opportunities and heightened risks for investors and corporations. Last week, Mr Trump...

The case examines the entrepreneur-led carve out and buyout of dss+, DuPont’s safety and sustainability consulting division, by Gyrus Capital and dss+ management team. dss+ (formerly “DuPont Sustainable Solutions”) played a pivotal role in high-risk industries such as oil, gas, and chemicals, providing critical consulting services at a time when global regulatory pressure on operational safety and sustainability was intensifying. Gyrus Capital, a mid-market private equity specialist, came together with the management team to engineer the buyout, based on the firm’s strong and predictable revenue streams, long-term client relationships and specialized expertise in safety and sustainability consulting. What emerged out of the 2019 transaction was an independent sustainability consulting powerhouse with over 1,500 consultants around the world. By 2024, dss+ was still expanding rapidly in terms of staff and domains of expertise, not to mention geography, and had to respond to quickly evolving external and internal demands, with clients increasingly expected to be served globally on a full range of sustainability-related services. With a strong sense of purpose (saving lives and creating a sustainable future), a potent pitch line (Protect. Transform. Sustain), over 750 clients on 1,800 projects across 41 countries, a global team of 1,500 people and plenty of organic growth across 7 core industries, the company was clearly heading for the stars. Yet, new questions loomed: Was it time to start managing that wild growth, deepening competitive advantages and building functional moats? How would dss+ remain competitive? Was it time to put a few new initiatives on high octane fuel: Leadership? Digital transformation? Global growth? Some totally new ideas?

The board of Nestlé S.A. announced that Anna Mohl would become the CEO of Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) — a global leader in nutritional science — on 1 January 2024. She was delighted to hear about her new position but knew there was little time to...

Ten years from now, we’ll know which companies best navigated geopolitics. And the hunt will be on for enduring lessons. Which firms made the smartest adjustments to their global commercial footprint by exiting certain markets, doubling down on ot...