IMD business school for management and leadership courses

This case provides the opportunity to perform a real, but simplified, ESG research analysis and portfolio investment decision from the perspective of an impact investor. It was designed using Triodos Investment Management (Triodos) and three well-known (possibly controversial) companies, Yamaha Corporation, Tesla and Philip Morris International …

Set in 2024, the case describes the trajectory of Nike’s success and how it had recently lost its way. The company was experiencing its worst slump in more than 10 years. Since 2020, CEO Donahoe oversaw a significant shift away from wholesale, with a focus on direct channels and a suite of apps. However, direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales failed to …

In 2022, Apple lost US$1.5 billion in Black Friday sales due to iPhone supply constraints. One in three retail stores across the US and Europe experienced stockouts of the new iPhone 14 Pro. China sales were down more than 30% year on year. Apple’s stock had dropped 29% in 2022. China’s zero-Covid policy resulted in massive lockdowns that made f…

Nespresso, the global leading brand in portioned coffee, is facing an existential threat. The company’s current market base, which consists primarily of aging consumers, is likely to decline in the medium to long term. To compensate for the certain shortfall, the company needs to attract young coffee drinkers among Millennials and Generation Z, …

In 2020, Triodos Investment Management had approximately EUR 4.9 billion in assets under its management (impact investment). Triodos motto was “Financing for change. Change Finance” and understood sustainable finance as a driving force in the transition to a more inclusive and sustainable world. Triodos took a comprehensive view of the companies…

Faced with growing competition and commoditization of its core aftermarket business for industrial bearings, SKF develops a sales tool to document, measure and guarantee its customers financial benefits from the use of its replacement products and related services. The strategy is based on justifying premium unit prices that lead to a lower tota…

In 2005, Patagonia launched the Common Threads Recycling Program. The goal was to reduce the number of products Patagonia customers purchased through a two-fold effort. The first part was to encourage customers to fix damaged clothing. Patagonia began publishing do-it-yourself repair guides to assist customers in repairing their clothing. To pro…

This case illustrates how a leader’s lack of self-awareness can derail his or her career and sabotage the performance of a company. It features Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, a charismatic, visionary leader who promises a solution to the world’s reliance on oil. His charisma and convincing rhetoric are initially very effective at …

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network on the internet with more than 400 million members in over 200 countries. The company is publicly held and has a diversified business model with revenues coming from talent solutions (62%), marketing solutions (20%) and premium subscription products (18%). Headquartered in Mountain View…

An increasing number of organizations are subscribing to sustainability, but how can sustainability performance be measured? Unlike financial performance, which can be assessed through accounting techniques that aggregate various numeric indicators, sustainability performance is more complicated. For financial institutions the situation is even …

The case study is about a successful strategy formulated at Dow Corning for marketing commodity silicones, a chemical used in diverse applications. It deals with important issues in B2B marketing: refocusing on user needs and developing a “needs-based” segmentation of industrial customers; bundling and de-bundling of technical services; branding…

In 2011, Nespresso achieved phenomenal success with revenues of CHF 3.5 billion. But in the meanwhile challenges started to appear. The 1,700 patents protecting Nespresso system were expiring and more and more copycat capsules compatible with Nespresso machines were emerging. Nespresso was seeing declining growth rate and market share loss. The …

This case demonstrates: a) the dangers in assuming that a product successful in one market will do well in another; b) poor global marketing implementation; c) poor marketing strategy and implementation in general where research was used to back decisions on how to proceed; d) the need for an integrated marketing strategy to launch a new brand; …

Many companies overestimate customers’ appetite for sustainable products, flooding the market with offerings that don’t sell. The reality is, social and environmental benefits have less impact on purchasing decisions than basic product attributes do. Consumers buy products to get specific jobs done, and only after they find something that will d…

The AI boom — and the growth of gen AI in particular — has introduced new points of conflict between employees and companies. Some of these have already started to play out, such as in the Writers Guild of America strike over how AI can and can’t be used in the entertainment industry. But others are still on the horizon. As AI becomes more integ…