dacadoo (C): Ready for take-off

Explore how generative AI tools reshape power dynamics in organizations, amplifying individual influence and collaboration. Essential for career growth and leadership!

Four tips to market to women more effectively and reach, engage and convert female consumers who make 80% to 85% of all purchasing decisions.

Nowadays, deploying artificial intelligence no longer guarantees a competitive edge. What truly sets companies apart is access to diverse, extensive, high-quality data that enhances their AI system’s performance compared with that of their competi...

Move over, AI. The real bubble brewing isn’t in artificial intelligence—it’s in weight loss. Wall Street has been hyperventilating over Nvidia and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But another titan has started to inflate. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk about E...

Offshore infrastructure firm Heerema took an unconventional approach to communicating its net-zero ambition to win buy-in from employees and stakeholders.

f uncontrolled artificial general intelligence—or “God-like” AI—is looming on the horizon, we are now about halfway there. Every day, the clock ticks closer to a potential doomsday scenario. That’s why I introduced the AI Safety Clock last month. ...

The ways popular frameworks are used fall short in today’s rapidly changing environment. Here is a new way to make better-informed strategic choices.

Bossard, a Swiss company founded in 1731, has successfully transitioned from a product-centric approach to one that offers services and solutions. It has achieved significant revenue growth despite economic challenges. Its brand promise, “proven productivity,” guides its actions, including its early adoption of AI. From 2010 to 2022, the firm's net revenue grew from CHF 475 million to CHF 1.154 billion (7.7% CAGR), despite a massive currency appreciation, a global pandemic and a supply chain crisis. “Proven productivity” permeates all levels and activities of the company and serves as a guiding principle in everyday decisions: How do you increase the productivity of customers? According to public records, Bossard’s customers were original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Tesla, John Deere and Thermoplan. Bossard did not serve the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market, nor did it sell through do-it-yourself (DIY) chains like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Adeo, Kingfisher, Bunnings, OBI and Bauhaus. Bossard already employs machine learning to anticipate demand trends across various products. The company's leadership is optimistic about leveraging generative AI for customer interactions. This could include an AI chatbot drawing on Bossard's extensive knowledge base to provide technical advice to customers, or AI-assisted tools to support Bossard’s own specialists in responding to enquiries. With a governance structure that promotes collaboration between the executive and non-executive boards, including AI expert Petra Ehmann, Bossard aims to democratize AI knowledge across the organization. It is also leveraging AI tools like Microsoft Copilot during its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system rollout. This strategic focus on AI aligns with Bossard’s dedication to enhancing customer productivity while embracing technological advancements to evolve its business. Balancing ongoing operations with strategic AI integration is a key challenge, but Bossard is confident in its ability to leverage AI to strengthen its brand and maintain its growth trajectory.

99designs.com is a global platform connecting freelance designers with potential clients. The case study examines the potential impact of generative AI on 99designs’ business model. The platform uses a crowdsourcing approach that invites designers to compete for projects with only the winning designer getting paid. This model offers clients a variety of design options at a fixed fee, fostering creativity and competition among designers. The authors of the book “Real Impact Strategy” used the competition model at 99designs to design their book cover. The authors appreciated the interactive and collaborative nature of the process, which allowed them to incorporate feedback from potential readers into their final decision. However, the use of 99designs sparked criticism from traditional designers and colleagues regarding potential exploitation of designers and claims that genAI tools could have done the job instead. This criticism highlights the growing influence of genAI as proponents claim it can produce high-quality designs quickly and at low cost. Generative AI poses both opportunities and threats to 99designs. It can enhance the platform by increasing the quantity and quality of design submissions, making design services more accessible and affordable. Conversely, it threatens to devalue human creativity, reduce the demand for freelance designers, and undermine the platform’s business model by enabling clients to generate designs without professional assistance. The case ultimately raises questions about the future role of generative AI in the creative industries. In the teaching note, but not in the case itself, the authors conclude that 99designs.com provides publishers, and in this case, the co-authors, many benefits beyond designing the cover. It involves them in a learning process as well as helps them to create awareness and interest for the book through the cover survey.

As companies gradually move from ESG compliance to implementation, the Italian espresso machine maker La Marzocco shows how to avoid the reporting trap and turn your double materiality assessment into a winning sustainability strategy.