Case Studies Collection - IMD business school for management and leadership courses

Case Study

The AI paradox: Will generative AI enhance or destroy the business model of 99designs.com? (Cartoon case)

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 va…

Strategy Business to Business Digital Disruption

By Stefan Michel

The AI paradox: Will generative AI enhance or destroy the business model of 99designs.com? (Cartoon case)

By Stefan Michel
Case reference: IMD-7-2505 ©2024

Summary

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.

Reference IMD-7-2505

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Industry Manufacturing, Graphic Design

Available Languages English

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Strategy

Business to Business

Digital

Disruption

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Case Study

SIX Payment Services (A): Disruptive innovation in the European payments industry? (Spanish translation)

The payment processing industry in Europe had operated in largely the same way for decades. A standard system of financial processing and clearing ensured a steady profit pool for most of the players. However, the payments system in Europe was facing threats on a series of fronts, including changing regulation that shifted power away from some i…

Disruption Finance

By Michael R. Wade and Christopher Zintel

SIX Payment Services (A): Disruptive innovation in the European payments industry? (Spanish translation)

By Michael R. Wade and Christopher Zintel
Case reference: IMD-7-1543-ES ©2021

Summary

The payment processing industry in Europe had operated in largely the same way for decades. A standard system of financial processing and clearing ensured a steady profit pool for most of the players. However, the payments system in Europe was facing threats on a series of fronts, including changing regulation that shifted power away from some incumbents, lower prices, new competitors, and more demanding customers. One of the region’s large players, Swiss-based SIX Payment Services, needed to decide how to respond to these threats.

Reference IMD-7-1543-ES

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Organization Six Payment Services

Industry Finance and Insurance, Financial Services

Available Languages Spanish

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Disruption

Finance

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Case Study

Metalshub: A steely approach to launching a B2B metal trading platform

Few Business to Business (B2B) marketplaces have succeeded. Metalshub has successfully combined a software platform as a service, with a marketplace matching supply and demand for raw materials used in the Metals and Mining industries. Through innovative pricing and business models, the company has managed to scale its operations in a short time…

Business to Business Digital Disruption Economics Operations Strategy

By Didier Bonnet, Geoffrey G. Parker and Lisa Simone Duke

Metalshub: A steely approach to launching a B2B metal trading platform

By Didier Bonnet Geoffrey G. Parker and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2457 ©2024

Summary

Few Business to Business (B2B) marketplaces have succeeded. Metalshub has successfully combined a software platform as a service, with a marketplace matching supply and demand for raw materials used in the Metals and Mining industries. Through innovative pricing and business models, the company has managed to scale its operations in a short timeframe.

Reference IMD-7-2457

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Organization Metalshub

Industry Materials, Metals and Mining

Available Languages English

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Business to Business

Digital

Disruption

Economics

Operations

Strategy

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Case Study

Civilia Engineering: Cultivating value through a data-driven culture

No company can grasp the potential of AI until it has set up a data-driven culture enabling employees to create value from the insights that emerge from data analysis. This means that before setting up an AI strategy, organizations must transform and prepare their infrastructure and culture for the AI age. This case study discusses the initiativ…

Disruption Organizational Behavior Strategy

By José Parra Moyano and Lisa Simone Duke

Civilia Engineering: Cultivating value through a data-driven culture

By José Parra Moyano and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2548 ©2024

Summary

No company can grasp the potential of AI until it has set up a data-driven culture enabling employees to create value from the insights that emerge from data analysis. This means that before setting up an AI strategy, organizations must transform and prepare their infrastructure and culture for the AI age. This case study discusses the initiatives developed and rolled out by Marianne Galvin, initially Head of Data Office and then VP of Digital Transformation, as she worked to turn Civilia Engineering into a data-driven company. The case explores what Marianne put in place over her first 22 months with the company. This included: Governance structures and an educational program that proved to be highly popular. As the initiatives took root, Marianne and her team began to gain acceptance of use cases and dashboards for data-driven decision making but there were still several challenges to overcome, in particular how to work with an IT team more focused on architecture and improving legacy systems. The case closes as Marianne looks ahead to 2024, outlining what still needs to be done to gain digital and data maturity. The case provides a comprehensive understanding of the critical aspects of building a data-driven organization, particularly focusing on the interplay between value, data, and people. Through this case, learners will develop a nuanced understanding of the three pillars that sustain data-driven organizations, how to create a data-centric culture, how to avoid pitfalls in data-science projects and the nuances of digital transformation in non-digital organizations. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively lead and contribute to the building of data-driven organizations, fostering an environment that embraces data-centric decision-making and successfully navigates the complexities of digital transformation in an increasingly data-driven world.

Reference IMD-7-2548

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Organization Civilia Engineering (Disguised)

Industry Construction and Engineering, Civil Engineering

Available Languages English

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Disruption

Organizational Behavior

Strategy

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Case Study

UniMag: Quality of life on paper, on air and online

Terry Burns launched UniMag in 2007 and went on to develop its ecosystem of affiliated companies over several years. As most media were rapidly shifting online, UniMag established its brand as a high-profile magazine with a counter-intuitive focus on high-quality print and journalism. Since then, digitalization has increasingly shaped the media …

Strategy Disruption Entrepreneurship General Management

By Patrick Reinmoeller

UniMag: Quality of life on paper, on air and online

By Patrick Reinmoeller
Case reference: IMD-7-2540 ©2024

Summary

Terry Burns launched UniMag in 2007 and went on to develop its ecosystem of affiliated companies over several years. As most media were rapidly shifting online, UniMag established its brand as a high-profile magazine with a counter-intuitive focus on high-quality print and journalism. Since then, digitalization has increasingly shaped the media landscape, opening many opportunities for Burns. By 2023 digital activities most effectively drive the business of the many affiliated companies in UniMag’s ecosystem. In contrast, its print magazine sales have stalled, and costs keep growing. Burns and her team must make a strategic decision: What to do and what to stop? Where to perform and where to transform? In the context of a transforming media industry, the case illustrates how to set strategic direction in the face of disruptive forces in order to drive change and open opportunities.

Reference IMD-7-2540

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Organization UniMag (Disguised)

Industry Media

Available Languages English

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Strategy

Disruption

Entrepreneurship

General Management

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Case Study

Galeneo Health: Scaling the hospital@home platform

MADRID (SPAIN), MARCH 2023. Jaime Garcia-Prieto, founder and CEO of Galeneo, was polishing the deck for the fundraising for his healthcare start-up. The seed round of €1 million would take him to the institutional A round scheduled for Q3-2024, a comfortable 18-month+ runway. His proposal to decentralize healthcare through a tech-enabled hospita…

Digital Transformation Disruption Entrepreneurship Operations Sustainability

By Benoit F. Leleux

Galeneo Health: Scaling the hospital@home platform

By Benoit F. Leleux
Case reference: IMD-7-2496 ©2023

Summary

MADRID (SPAIN), MARCH 2023. Jaime Garcia-Prieto, founder and CEO of Galeneo, was polishing the deck for the fundraising for his healthcare start-up. The seed round of €1 million would take him to the institutional A round scheduled for Q3-2024, a comfortable 18-month+ runway. His proposal to decentralize healthcare through a tech-enabled hospital@home platform offered the solution people were looking for not only in Spain but also in most advanced economies. According to a recent Economist article, the NHS, like many healthcare systems, had become a sickness service, not a health service. To live up to the promise of its name would require a shift in focus, away from hospitals to the community, from centralized treatment to community-based prevention and bedside medicine. In other words, health systems needed to be investing in smoke alarms, not fire extinguishers. In 2020, as the Covid pandemic began, Jaime envisioned the future of in-home care for patients with chronic treatment needs. In 2021, he embarked on developing a platform to coordinate bedside medical care anywhere, anytime, in minutes. Galeneo was born. By 2023, it had integrated 200+ healthcare providers (HCPs) and 11+ institutional partners in the Madrid region, enabling the provision of general high-value services outside hospital. Revenues of €1.6 million in 2023 were expected, with a growth rate of about 8% every month and net profit breakeven reached in February. Things looked positive, but there were issues around scaling fast – although Jaime had found solutions. To counter the limited availability of qualified healthcare workers, he developed the Galeneo Academy to train future in-home bedside specialists. Tech-enabled standardization reduced operational complexity through an easy-to-use app and included real-time monitoring and quality control. Finally, the whole concept of community-based bedside medicine was still nascent, which meant market participants needed to adopt original approaches. But it was a large market with great potential.

Reference IMD-7-2496

Copyright owner IMD Copyright

Organization Galeneo

Industry Healthcare, Health and Medical Services

Available Languages English

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Digital Transformation

Disruption

Entrepreneurship

Operations

Sustainability

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Case Study

SIBIUS: Battling cognitive disorders

Sept 2022. Corinne Avelines, SIBIUS’s CEO, had received the news that the results of the first large-scale test of the company’s first product had just been published. The test, conducted with children between 3 and 4 years old, validated their approach to early detection of autism. The technology was grounded in research showing that it was pos…

Entrepreneurship Disruption Strategy Sustainability

2024 John Molson MBA International Case Writing Competition – 3rd Prize

By Benoit F. Leleux, Giorgia Riba, Renee Pazdan, Manu K. Mathew and Arvind Hurboseea

Case Study

From Telco to Techco: Globe’s dual transformation

Many companies today face the need to embark on a dual transformation: Reinventing and sustaining their core business while concurrently creating new, future businesses. This case about Globe Telecom, Inc., in the Philippines presents the s.tory of just such a transformation The case is bookended by the CEO’s 14-year tenure and describes success…

Disruption Leadership Strategy Digital

By Richard Roi, Mark J. Greeven and Martin Králik

Case Study

J.P. Morgan Private Bank (A): From advisory to best-in-class service offering

SEPTEMBER 2020: Adam Tejpaul and Gabriele Zaninetti were just tasked with the most transformative project J.P. Morgan Private Bank had faced in over 15 years, i.e. the integration of advisory services as part of their offerings. Adam knew the private banking industry inside-out and had witnessed all major changes in the private banking industry….

Strategy Digital Disruption Finance Leadership

By Benoit F. Leleux, Morris Naqib, Pierre Christian Wüst, Rain Sepp and Sylvain Gioux

Case Study

J.P. Morgan Private Bank (B): Engage … or disengage?

MAY 2022: The planning phase for the Engage project has taken way too long, in part because the technological platform was so critical to the success of the project. After months of discussions with a fintech company, a proof of concept had been delivered, showing promising results but it was still far from the fully integrated solution that had…

Strategy Digital Disruption Finance Leadership

By Benoit F. Leleux, Morris Naqib, Pierre Christian Wüst, Rain Sepp and Sylvain Gioux

Case Study

The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (A), the past

Case A explores the transformative role of data analytics in the sports industry through the lens of Infosys, an innovative tech company. Infosys aims to showcase its AI and analytics expertise by partnering with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Recognizing the potential of data to reshape the experience of fans and to advance the …

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy

By Carlos Cordon and Franck Calleeuw

Case Study

The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (B), the present

The ATP Leaderboards evolve to provide real-time insights for fans, players and coaches, while the Second Screen capability aids players in refining strategies. Innovations like MatchBeats, Rally Analysis, Stroke Summary and 3D CourtVision enrich fans’ understanding of the game.

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy

By Carlos Cordon and Franck Calleeuw

Case Study

The journey to digitize tennis: Infosys (C), the future

Infosys collaborated with the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF) to create a metaverse-based digital twin, bridging tradition and innovation. The post-Covid drive for sustainability prompted Infosys to address carbon emissions by developing an ATP carbon tracker app, highlighting its environmental and societal commitment. Enhancing visibil…

Digital Business to Business Disruption Strategy Sustainability

By Carlos Cordon and Franck Calleeuw

Case Study

The Wärtsilä Way: Green is not black or white

This case highlights Wärtsilä’s significant role in the decarbonization journey of the energy and marine sectors. Despite the difficult financial situation and challenging market dynamics – Wärtsilä was active in industries that relied heavily on fossil fuels with little potential for future growth – CEO Hakan Agnevall took a bold decision to co…

Sustainability Business to Business Disruption Strategy

By Julia Katharina Binder and Valerie Keller-Birrer

Case Study

Future-proofing Roche: Transforming for agility and empowerment

In 2016, Roche, then a 120-year-old global leader in healthcare, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, was in growing need of reinventing itself to become faster and more adaptable. It was facing disruption both from nimbler rivals and new competitors. The organization was sometimes likened to a “tanker” – a collective of 100,000 employees around the…

Disruption Human Resources Leadership Organizational Behavior Organizational Culture Resilience

By Louise Muhdi and Martin Králik