Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher founded Zurich-based start-up Climeworks in 2009 based on technology they had developed, which they claimed would help slow the massive challenge of climate change by capturing CO2 directly from the air. Several hurdles still stood in their way, but Gebald and Wurzbacher had an entrepreneurial mindset and ambitious plans for their business and its potential impact on humanity. The pair put all their efforts into developing the robust technology, reducing costs of production and building a viable business model to directly capture and sell carbon dioxide – a market yet to be developed. Climeworks aimed to remove 1% of global CO2 emissions from the Earth’s atmosphere by 2025. The vision was bold and could only be achieved through massive growth, including 250,000 installations the size of Climeworks’ flagship plant in Switzerland. One main issues Climeworks needed to address was reducing the uncertainty around the desirability of the solution, meaning identifying and leveraging market demand. Once the prototype had been developed, the company needed to find markets for its end product, carbon dioxide. Which industries would be good targets? Could Climeworks create completely new markets for the solution?
Climeworks (A): A visionary business to help stop climate change
Summary
Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher founded Zurich-based start-up Climeworks in 2009 based on technology they had developed, which they claimed wou...
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Reference
IMD-7-2083
Copyright
©2019
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Climeworks
Available Languages
English
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Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Climeworks (B): Business modeling – creating new market opportunities
Summary
Climeworks took a multipronged approach when seeking markets for its end product: emissions reversal, beverages and fuel. Climeworks emissions reve...
Reference
IMD-7-2084
Copyright
©2019
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Climeworks
Available Languages
English
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Entrepreneurship through acquisition: Sébastien Perroud and the IAR Group
Summary
GENEVA (SWITZERLAND), AUGUST 2021. There was a lot at stake for Sébastien. This was the culmination of his 18-month NCA supported search journey to find a company to acquire. Instead of a single target, he was now faced with the prospect of acquiring 4 separate companies at once, consolidating them into a group. One, SAS, was bigger than the others but also faced significant financial issues. Hopefully he had identified three additional companies as acquisition targets, all profitable and with low levels of debt but individually a bit too small. Should he pursue all three as a single deal or add SAS for a four-company deal? In a last-ditch effort to figure out the best deal configuration, he ran some simulations about the potential returns of the group with and without the SAS turnaround. With those projections in hand, it was time to finalize the management buy-in proposal to present to the investment committee the following week.
Reference
IMD-7-2515
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
IAR Group
Industry
Finance and Insurance, Private Equity
Available Languages
English
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Rede Mulher Empreendedora: Navigating mission integrity and financial sustainability
Summary
The case focuses on Rede Mulher Empreendedora (RME), Brazil’s largest support platform for female entrepreneurship, and its founder, Ana Fontes. Founded in 2010, RME had grown into a significant network by 2023, impacting the livelihoods of over 12 million women in Brazil, a country with substantial gender disparities. The platform offers initiatives to empower women economically and provides knowledge and tailored content to help them manage their businesses and navigate Brazil’s entrepreneurial landscape. By 2023, RME was at a critical juncture. Although RME had clear objectives to empower women, there was uncertainty about how each initiative contributed to its mission. Financially, RME experienced a dramatic shift: In 2022, it raised US$6 million, but in 2023, fundraising efforts dropped to US$2.6 million – a 57% decrease. This decline exposed RME’s heavy reliance on corporate philanthropy, from organizations like Google.org, Visa and the Mapfre Foundation, which constituted 80% of its income. The remaining 20% of revenue came from projects funded by RME’s partners, which proved inadequate to sustain the organization’s ambitious goals. Besides, in 2023, the fundraising campaign fell far short of expectations. Reduced funds meant that new projects were postponed, and existing initiatives faced the threat of being scaled back. Fontes must ensure financial sustainability, identify new revenue streams and reduce dependence on philanthropy while staying true to RME´s mission. Her goal is to achieve self-sustainability while continuing to fulfill the mission. This involves analyzing whether RME should pivot to a for-profit enterprise, remain a non-profit or adopt a hybrid approach to balance its social impact with financial viability. Students must put themselves in Ana’s shoes and evaluate the potential benefits and trade-offs of these models to determine the best path forward.
Reference
IMD-7-2613
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Rede Mulher Empreendedora
Industry
Services
Available Languages
English
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Not so black and white: Grupo Inca’s black alpaca dilemma (A)
Summary
Grupo Inca, a conglomerate that owned Peru’s leading textile business with a long history of working with alpaca fleece, was at a crossroads regarding the conservation and commercialization of black alpaca fiber. Historically, black alpacas were as common as their lighter-colored counterparts, but market preferences drove them to near extinction. The Inoue brothers, fashion designers committed to social impact, expressed an interest in creating a luxury collection using rare black alpaca fiber. This presents Grupo Inca with both an opportunity and a dilemma: Should it invest in developing this niche market despite uncertainties of both supply and demand, or collaborate with local government and NGOs to ensure sustainable practices, or maintain its current direction and do nothing? This compact case explores the intricacies of actions vs. impact, ethical responsibility and long-term strategic thinking. It provides a rich context for discussing the impact of business decisions on biodiversity and sustainability, the role of corporate values in guiding strategy and the potential for innovation in sustainability. Students will explore Grupo Inca’s role in the decline of black alpacas, assess the ethical implications of the company’s actions and develop strategic recommendations through scenario planning. The accompanying teaching note also covers methods to leverage AI tools to generate ideas and explore solutions that enhance students’ learning.
Reference
IMD-7-2609
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Grupo Inca
Industry
Manufacturing, Textile
Available Languages
English
Contact
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
‘Defiant Optimism’ is what is needed to bring about a more sustainable, inclusive world
Summary
We need to rethink traditional models of finance if we are to achieve a sustainable and inclusive future, argues Durreen Shahnaz, founder & CEO of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX).
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Don’t ignore the S in ESG: a strong social strategy is essential
Summary
Here’s how your company can meet regulatory requirements and the expectations of sustainability indexes.
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Pasona: Well-being through regional revitalization
Summary
Pasona Group, a Japan-based human resources company, is committed to driving social change through business and supporting individuals to find "ikigai” (fulfillment) through work. The company has promoted flexible work and equitable workplaces and created employment opportunities for minorities. Pasona now wanted to tackle the overconcentration of population and businesses in Tokyo and the related decline of rural areas; both issues raised questions of well-being and sustainability. In response, Pasona moved its headquarters from Tokyo to Awaji Island, setting up sales and back-office operations for its core business and launching the "Regional Revitalization" initiative. Employees who moved from Tokyo to Awaji said that their lives became more sustainable, and their well-being improved. On the other hand, some Tokyo-based employees chose not to relocate, worried that boundaries between work and personal life would be blurred. Pasona was also criticized for its tourism-oriented and corporate-driven approach to local development, while the local government of Awaji appreciated the increase in the population and tax revenue that Pasona had brought. As Pasona sought to expand its "regional revitalization" model throughout Japan and attract more local governments to partner with the company, it needed to rethink its strategy to develop its original model in Awaji into a more powerful showcase that would lead to a more decentralized and sustainable society while ensuring the well-being of its own employees.
Reference
IMD-7-2573
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Pasona Group
Industry
Business Management Services, Human Resources
Available Languages
English
Contact
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Decathlon’s circular revolution: Scaling sustainable business models
Summary
The case focuses on Decathlon’s journey from 2023 onwards as it seeks to scale its circular business models and transform from a successful pilot phase to large-scale industrialization. Anna Turrell, Decathlon’s chief sustainability officer, is tasked with achieving ambitious growth targets – to increase circular sales by 6 to 10 times. The case details how Decathlon approached its circularity strategy by expanding second-hand, repair, rental and recycling initiatives across its global operations. It highlights the strategic challenges Anna and her team faced in deciding where to focus their scaling efforts across regions, sports segments and business models. Key enablers of the scaling strategy, including digital transformation, reverse logistics, consumer engagement and strategic partnerships, are explored as critical factors for success. As Decathlon moved toward becoming a global leader in circularity, Anna had to overcome operational complexities and encourage consumer behavioral change while balancing financial goals with sustainability objectives. Despite the clear business potential, the challenge remained of how to scale circularity efficiently across diverse markets and sports while creating a seamless customer experience.
Reference
IMD-7-2599
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Decathlon
Industry
Consumer Goods, Sports Equipment
Available Languages
English
Contact
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Mastercard 2023: Rewired for infinite optionality
Summary
In the 2010s, card processing – Mastercard’s flagship service – started showing signs of commodification as new, nimble players (typically, fintech startups thriving on digital) entered the payment processing space, and customer preferences evolved beyond plastic cards and traditional contact payments. To re-energize its central position and its ability to capture value, Mastercard – as the incumbent – had to make bold decisions. The case details Mastercard’s approach to conceptualizing and building a global platform ecosystem that upholds the principles and design elements of modularity (i.e. interoperability and scalability) and optionality. Today, Mastercard's services, based on application programming interfaces (APIs), integrate with a variety of platforms and offer flexibility to businesses that require customized payment solutions. All along, the company has accommodated a high level of internal disruption.
The case also explores the nature of Mastercard’s systematic collaboration with fintechs – players that often started out as competitors in specific parts of Mastercard’s value chain. It describes the company’s engagement with fintechs as fostering collaboration and co-creation and facilitating access; in other words, opening doors and sharing tools with partners. The case presents observations and quotes by CEO Michael Miebach, whose career trajectory at Mastercard – spanning Africa & Middle East experience, fintech partnerships, product management and the CEO role – sheds additional light on the philosophy and values that have driven the company’s transformation to a technology powerhouse and self-described original fintech.
Reference
IMD-7-2455
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
Mastercard
Industry
Finance and Insurance, Financial Services
Available Languages
English
Contact
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Sustainability needs more than technology. This leadership framework might be the answer
Summary
As global attention has turned to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, for the U.N.’s ongoing COP29 climate summit, many business leaders are at a crossroads about how they can pitch in on the green transition. Adding to the uncertainty, Donald Trump’s ele...
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La Marzocco: Espresso perfection
Summary
In July 2024 Guido Preti, La Marzocco’s sustainability manager, was preparing his three-year plan to combine La Marzocco’s ESG program with that of its new owners, the De’Longhi Group. Since its inception in 1927, the company had relentlessly sought to produce the perfect espresso machine through exceptional craftmanship, user centric designs and technology innovation. The company had grown from an artisanal builder of high-end professional coffee machines to a global player selling over 40,000 espresso machines a year to both professionals and consumers around the globe. In December 2023, De’Longhi Group announced the establishment of a global hub for professional coffee machines that brought together La Marzocco and Eversys. One particularly tricky question was how to align La Marzocco’s famed ESG reporting and sustainability program with that of De’Longhi Group while maintaining its best-place-to-work culture.
Reference
IMD-7-2603
Copyright
©2024
Copyright owner
IMD Copyright
Organization
La Marzocco
Industry
Manufacturing, Machinery
Available Languages
English
Contact
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications