IMD business school for management and leadership courses
Luxury 2050
Through vibrant communities, cutting-edge thought leadership, and pedagogical activities, our Luxury 2050 initiative aims to help luxury brands across nine major sectors navigate the heightened uncertainty and seismic shifts that will redefine luxury in the years to come and to future-proof with agility.
Our research and thought leadership insights are designed to support brands’ efforts to shape the future of more innovative, relevant, and environmentally and socially responsible luxury. Our work informs IMD’s Open and Custom programs, tailored to luxury sectors.
Luxury across Open, Custom, and Graduate programs
In 2023, we ran the seventh edition of the Open Program Reinventing Luxury Lab led by leader of the Luxury 2050 initiative Stéphane JG Girod. With the largest-ever number of participants addressing the question of “What’s Next for Growth,” the first day focused on accelerating the shift to a circular economy. Along with senior executives of LVMH’s Nona Source, Zenith, and Pandora, we launched a series of new case studies on “Circularity in Luxury.”
The world’s third-largest luxury group, Richemont, engaged IMD to design and deliver a two-day CEO Sustainability Forum for key C-suite executives. Held in January 2023, the Forum was attended by seventy executives from across the Group. Knut Haanaes, Julia Binder, and program director Prof. Stéphane J.G. Girod designed and delivered a number of strategic sessions, which were designed to provide the executives with the opportunity to reflect on and define Richemont’s way forward for sustainability.
Following the successful conclusion of the Forum, Professor Girod was invited to present its outcomes to the board’s Governance & Sustainability Committee.
Introduced in 2022 and aimed at those interested in pursuing a career in a luxury brand, the luxury elective offered within the MBA program (The Fundamentals of Luxury Brand Management) was extended to cover five sessions. Each session featured a guest speaker from a luxury brand, providing MBAs with networking opportunities for their future careers.
Supporting the luxury alumni community
As part of our outreach activities, we support the Luxury 2050 Forum, an IMD alumni community that joins forces to share experiences, learnings, and views on the future of luxury in a trusted environment.
In 2023, the Forum concluded its very dynamic and promising first year, during which we contributed to quarterly C-Suite Talks, webinars, and engaging guest speakers.
“It is an honor to be the second ‘Parrain’ of the IMD Luxury 2050 Forum. I look forward to interacting and sharing with this community my experiences and learnings in brand building, client experience, business development, innovation, and leadership in the luxury field.”
Our research, publications, & outreach
During 2023, we participated in a research project called “The Luxury Transparency Index,” a private-public partnership involving the technology firm Originall and Prof. Felicitas Mohrart of HEC Lausanne within the context of the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S). The findings were the topic at the second E4S roundtable on Transparency in Luxury, which we co-organized and delivered at IMD. This event gathered 40 guests from luxury brands and technology providers.
In addition to numerous articles for I by IMD, Stéphane JG Girod co-authored six case studies in 2023:
- Swarovski: How to Shine Through Stormy Weather (with Niccolò Pisani).
- Pandora: Mastering the Success Factors of Circular Supply Chains (with Martin Kralik)
- LVMH’s Nona Source: An Innovative Approach to Circular Luxury (with Martin Kralik)
- ZENITH Watches: Opportunities and Challenges of Eco-Conception (with Martin Kralik)
- Patagonia: Can Circularity and Sustainability Win Together? (with Martin Kralik)
- Vestiaire Collective: What Lessons for Luxury Brands’ Next Business Models? (with Martin Kralik)
Five of Girod’s original research articles were also published in Forbes Life, where he has a regular column dedicated to innovation and disruption in luxury sectors.
As a strategic partner of the Dagorà e-Luxury Summit in November, IMD hosted 350 delegates at the second edition, where Girod gave an introductory talk.
