To spur innovation, businesses have spent billions on internal venture capital, incubators, and accelerators. Yet survey after survey indicates these efforts aren''t producing results. Why? Because firms fail to address one major obstacle: the day-to-day habits and routines that regularly stifle innovation. These include such things as poorly run meetings, no slack capacity, few opportunities to speak up, and the notion that doing things differently .....more

Go (or Wei-ch''i, as it is known in China) is a centuries-old board game popular across Asia. Many have drawn parallels between military successes and the game''s complex methods, in which a player encircles, isolates, and captures enemy pieces and geography, but Go also offers lessons for business. This technical note offers a basic description of Go, followed by a collection of business-strategy anecdotes punctuated by comparisons .....more

In 2018, Al Baba Sweets was a major player in the Arabic sweets and confectionery industry in Lebanon. However, in the midst of a rough patch in the country''s economy, the company was suffering from decreasing revenues. Any major decision concerning the future of the third-generation family business would have to be made carefully. New, smaller competitors were entering the market alongside the industry''s large, long-time players. .....more

In March 2018, Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM) was an unlikely high-growth company. From its humble origins as a collaborative experiment to create efficiencies for the education sector-an experiment that had lost money and had to be financially supported by the government-the organization had adopted the culture of a high-growth start-up. OECM facilitated the procurement by universities, colleges, and school boards of everything .....more

CarMax, based in Richmond, Virginia, is the largest retailer of used cars in the United States. Over the past several years leading up to 2019, CarMax has undergone a major digital transformation, integrating agile, lean, and user experience (UX) design best practices to become a customer-centric, product-driven organization. In this case, CarMax is facing new competitors (e.g., digital native players Carvana and CarsDirect), changing consumer shopping .....more

Fernandez Hospitals (FH) was a unique health services organisation focused on women and newborns, based in Hyderabad, India. Its vision was to promote natural childbirth and respectful maternity care across India, make pregnancy safe for women and their babies, promote midwifery training and birth without interventions, and to always lower costs for patients. A strong advocate of natural birth, FH''s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Evita Fernandez, .....more

The chief executive officer (CEO) of the government-owned Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is setting the marketing policy for the incubation program at HKSTP, Hong Kong''s leading incubator of high-technology companies. Seeing marketing as a driving force to convey the strategy of HKSTP, the CEO must analyze the key services through which HKSTP can increase an incubatee''s chances of success; analyze the .....more

In 2018, President of the United States, Donald Trump, criticized the company Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) for increasing drug prices-which had been a strategic move by Pfizer in response to industry-wide challenges. This announcement highlighted the complex dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry and the big challenges that innovative research and development (R&D)-intensive pharmaceutical companies faced. The entire pharmaceutical industry was being .....more

Launched in 1981 as an ""all occasion"" sparkling water brand, LaCroix Sparkling Water has had a number of ups and downs as a brand. After being purchased by National Beverage in 1996, the brand was re-positioned as a new, colorful, fun alternative to the other sparkling water players at the time. As time passed; however, the brand was faced with internal turmoil as well as shifting customer expectations. How did LaCroix react .....more