Most companies understand the benefits of standardizing critical processes: reduced variation, higher throughput and quality, and lower costs. Yet they tend to approach strategic decisions completely differently, thinking that each one is unique and requires its own bespoke process. As a result, they handle similar decisions in vastly different ways. That inconsistency slows them down and leads to suboptimal choices and poor results-a problem that .....more

Designers of consumer-facing digital products have tended to focus on novelty and speed (""move fast and break things""). They''ve spent more effort on innovating than on anticipating how customers-and bad actors-might engage with products. But as digital products become a primary way in which consumers connect with others, pay for things, and store private information, that view needs to change. The authors contend that .....more

The goal of prototyping is to iterate as much as possible through build-and-learn or problem-solution-experiment cycles. This brief note provides some definitions and a strategy to employ when working on prototyping.

The Editor-in-Chief of a scientific journal is wondering how to reduce the review cycle times to offer timely feedback to authors and improve the stature of the journal. The journal is fictional, but the data is real. Through the analysis, it appears that with parallel activities having random durations, one should not trust averages because one is constrained by the slowest activity. Sources of delay are explored, such as Parkinson''s Law, .....more

Spreadsheet supplement for case IN2042

The chief executive officer and chair of PostTag Group Ltd., explored opportunities in the electric vehicle (EV) space to stay relevant amid a competitive and evolving market. They considered the launch of GrazEV Ltd. (GrazEV) and focused on efficient EV charging solutions. Factors such as market demand, infrastructure, and competition were considered in making the strategic decision of where to locate EV charging stations in England. The central .....more

This case offers a platform to discuss (1) how businesses can develop a learning culture that fuels growth and creates a lasting competitive advantage, and (2) what leading with a learning mindset looks like. It describes the remarkable transformation of Multiply Group from a niche marketing consultancy into a multi-billion-dollar diversified investment holding company. Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2003 as Multiply Marketing Consultancy (MMC), the company .....more

The "Good Heart of Our People" is an engaging case study designed to challenge participants in making complex, value-driven decisions. The case presents eight candidates competing for a transformative opportunity, each with unique strengths, challenges, and needs. Participants are tasked with evaluating the candidates based on three criteria: Potential Contribution, Alignment with the Mission, and Financial Need. The case encourages critical .....more

For many decades, Toyota maintained its market position due to its primary focus on making its operations effective and efficient. The company revolutionized the industry''s operations. Several car manufacturers tried to imitate Toyota''s principles, yet they failed to achieve the desired results. Its low ranking on climate change and sustainability initiatives in the Greenpeace Automobile Environmental Guide raised an alarming situation .....more

Datamate Info Solutions Ltd. (Datamate) was a software development company based in Kerala, India, which serviced the health care and hospitality industries. The company built enterprise resource planning (ERP) products for hospitals and had a large client base of over 200 hospitals. In early 2024, the company''s co-founder and managing director, Jobi John, wanted to explore on an experimental basis the possibility of augmenting Datamate''s .....more