HomeResearch & Knowledgeback to HomeSustainabilityback to Research & KnowledgeFrom crisis to the new normal (Mini case)back to Sustainability

Case Study

From crisis to the new normal (Mini case)

By Knut Bjarne Haanaes and Lisa Simone Duke

3 pages

May 2020

Order this case study

Reference: IMD-7-2198

This mini case illustrates different sustainability examples and the repercussions and consequences and how these have changed over the years. It talks about the sources of corporate crises and challenges participants to consider how companies can avoid them through improving their strategies, better structures and greater preparedness.

Learning Objective

This case is part of a mini-series focused on business and society that challenges participants to consider the lessons of various events and examples and how they can apply the learning to their own context. In this case the learning objectives are: – What can we learn from corporate reactions to crises? – What are the antecedents of corporate crises? – How can we better prepare to react to them or avoid them altogether?

Keywords

Sustainability, Business-Society Collaboration, Corporate Scandal, Crisis Management, Business, Society

Settings

World/global
1986-2020

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

IMD case studies are distributed through case clearing houses. In order to browse the collection and purchase copies please visit the links below.

The Case Centre

Cranfield University

Wharley End Beds MK43 0JR, UK
Tel +44 (0)1234 750903
Email [email protected]

Harvard Business School Publishing

60 Harvard Way, Boston MA 02163, USA
Tel (800) 545-7685 Tel (617)-783-7600
Fax (617) 783-7666
Email [email protected]

Asia Pacific Case Center

NUCB Business School

1-3-1 Nishiki Naka
Nagoya Aichi, Japan 460-0003
Tel +81 52 20 38 111
Email [email protected]

IMD retains all proprietary interests in its case studies and notes. Without prior written permission, IMD cases and notes may not be reproduced, used, translated, included in books or other publications, distributed in any form or by any means, stored in a database or in other retrieval systems. For additional copyright information related to case studies, please contact Case Services.

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

This case study is part of a series

Addressing the Covid-19 crisis: The CEO agenda (Mini case)
Climate change: How fast can change happen? (Mini case)
Distinguishing greening from greenwashing (Mini case)
Friedman meets Freeman – Who got it right on the future of capitalism? (Revised) (Mini Case)
From crisis to the new normal (Mini case)
Looking back from 2030: We turned the corner on climate - How did we get here? (Revised) (Mini case)

This case study is part of a series

Addressing the Covid-19 crisis: The CEO agenda (Mini case)
Climate change: How fast can change happen? (Mini case)
Distinguishing greening from greenwashing (Mini case)
Friedman meets Freeman – Who got it right on the future of capitalism? (Revised) (Mini Case)
From crisis to the new normal (Mini case)
Looking back from 2030: We turned the corner on climate - How did we get here? (Revised) (Mini case)

Keep reading

Article

Here’s what we predicted for 2024… how did we do?

Did our predictions for 2024 come true, a turbulent election year, bitcoin and CBDC, COP29 and electric cars, China, EU integration and Euro football

Finance Future Readiness Geopolitics Strategy Sustainability

By Robert Hooijberg, Arturo Bris, David Bach, José Parra Moyano, Michael R. Wade, Julia Binder, Howard H. Yu, Simon J. Evenett, Alyson Meister, Salvatore Cantale and Stefan Michel

in I by IMD

Book Chapter

The geopolitical context

Companies don’t operate in a vacuum. Corporate leaders have to navigate political dynamics, and in Chapter 12 we discuss nonmarket strategies. But there’s a global dimension to sustainability that’s worth a separate discussion. Will rising geopoli...

Geopolitics Economics Sustainability Disruption

By Richard Baldwin and Simon J. Evenett

in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 47-57 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Book Chapter

Why now?

In the past, many business leaders could operate much like the generic merchants in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. They could pursue their own personal and corporate ends, while resting assured that an “invisible hand” would promote the pub...

Organizational Change Sustainability Organizational Behavior

By Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes

in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 19-32 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Book Chapter

Defining sustainability

In today’s complex and fast-paced business environment, sustainability has evolved from a buzzword into an essential element of long-term success. Yet the concept is often misunderstood or oversimplified. Some critics question the necessity ...

Sustainability Global Business Organizational Learning

By Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes

in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 9-18 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Book Chapter

Seizing opportunities rather than managing risks

As any executive will tell you, moral suasion will not convince most companies to commit to sustainability. Even major long-term threats will not do it. Companies need positive reasons to undertake significant investments. Fortunately, sustainabil...

Change Management Sustainability Corporate Governance

By Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes

in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 33-45 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Book

Leading the sustainable business transformation A playbook from IMD

Based on extensive research conducted in the past several years at the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland (IMD), Leading the Sustainable Business Transformation: A Playbook from IMD helps readers understand why susta...

Business Transformation Sustainability Organizational Design

Edited by Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes

Article

Time to go green? What bonds are best for you?

Green and sustainability-linked bonds offer companies new funding to reach sustainability goals. Salvatore Cantale and Barry Gavin explain how to balance processes with outcomes to tap into a booming market.

Finance Sustainability

By Salvatore Cantale and Barry Gavin

in I by IMD

Article

Deepening the conversation on systemic sustainability risks: A social-ecological systems approach

Narrow views of systemic sustainability risks can result in ecological concerns being neglected, as well as giving rise to unequal distribution and exploitation of natural resources, creating injustice. Given recent advancements in integrating jus...

Sustainability Business Ethics

By Hannah Ahlström, Amanda Williams, Emmy Wassénius and Andrea S. Downing

in Journal of Business Ethics

16 December 2024, ePub before print, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05860-3

Case Study

IG4 Capital: Private equity with a purpose

Finance Emerging Market Entrepreneurship Sustainability

By Benoit F. Leleux and Arthur de Bonis

The geopolitical context

By Richard Baldwin and Simon J. Evenett
in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 47-57 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Geopolitics

Economics

Sustainability

Disruption

Browse all topics

Why now?

By Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes
in Binder, Julia Katharina (Ed.); Haanaes, Knut Bjarne (Ed.) / Leading the sustainable business transformation: A playbook from IMD, pp. 19-32 / Hoboken: Wiley, 2025

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Organizational Change

Sustainability

Organizational Behavior

Browse all topics

Defining sustainability

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Global Business

Organizational Learning

Browse all topics

Seizing opportunities rather than managing risks

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Change Management

Sustainability

Corporate Governance

Browse all topics

Leading the sustainable business transformation A playbook from IMD

By Julia Katharina Binder and Knut Bjarne Haanaes
Published by Wiley ©2025

Summary

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Business Transformation

Sustainability

Organizational Design

Browse all topics

Time to go green? What bonds are best for you?

By Salvatore Cantale and Barry Gavin
in I by IMD

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Finance

Sustainability

Browse all topics

Deepening the conversation on systemic sustainability risks: A social-ecological systems approach

By Hannah Ahlström Amanda Williams Emmy Wassénius and Andrea S. Downing
in Journal of Business Ethics 16 December 2024, ePub before print, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05860-3

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Business Ethics

Browse all topics

IG4 Capital: Private equity with a purpose

By Benoit F. Leleux and Arthur de Bonis
Case reference: IMD-7-2545 ©2024

Summary

SEPTEMBER 2023, SÃO PAULO (BRAZIL). Gustavo Buffara was painstakingly putting the finishing touches on the IG4 Private Equity Fund III presentation. Co-founded by Gustavo in 2016, IG4 Capital had grown to become a leading force in private equity in Latin America with a unique value proposition that focused on private equity special situations. With 52 professionals worldwide across seven offices (in São Paulo, London, Lima, Madrid, Bogotá, Washington, DC and Santiago), the firm was now heading to manage some $1.7 billion, with more than $1.1 billion invested in special situations over recent years. What made Gustavo particularly proud was the fact that the firm was able to operate not only under the highest sustainability standards, as an early signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), but also as a fully certified B Corp, a first in emerging market private equity. IG4’s portfolio companies now generated more than $2 billion of turnover with around 20,000 employees in different countries across Latin America, and many of them had achieved or were on their way to their own B Corp certifications. Could a Cerberus-inspired special situations strategy, often perceived as brutal, be adapted to a more culturally sensitive, developing-market equivalent, with clearer environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration? In other words, could “vulture capital” be turned into “culture capital”? The value proposition resonated with investors, and the track record of IG4 Funds I and II were now solid pillars upon which to build. But what else could the company do to ensure that its private equity investments in different segments, with a deep ESG toolbox, would help establish sustainable capitalism in the Latin American region? What else should it consider doing to reaffirm its ESG credentials even further?

Reference IMD-7-2545

Organization IG4 Capital Partners

Industry Finance and Insurance, Private Equity

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Finance

Emerging Market

Entrepreneurship

Sustainability

Browse all topics