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Quilts of Denmark: Managing Open Innovation
Wim VanhaverbekeCase IVEY-9B16M213-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyQuilts of Denmark was a Danish start-up company founded in 2000 with the goal of producing high-quality, functional quilts and pillows that contributed to healthy sleep. The company’s open innovation with a space agency and technology company resulted in an “intelligent” quilt that regulated body heat, providing users with an elusive but much-desired experience: a good night’s sleep. Selling a premium product in a commodity market was a challenge...Starting at €8.20
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Bancolombia: Talent, Culture and Value Creation Management in Mergers
Juanita Cajiao SaenzCase IVEY-9B11C040-ELeadership and People Management, StrategyThe case reviews the main facts related to the merger process of three financial institutions — Bancolombia, Conavi, and Corfinsura — in Colombia in 2005 and 2006. The merger decision emerges from directors and senior executives foreseeing a major upcoming market transformation, including adjustment in industry regulation, improvement in international competence, and consolidation of main players, and their response in order to adapt to the new e...Starting at €8.20
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Marimekko
Alison Konrad; Jordan MitchellCase IVEY-9B06C014-ELeadership and People Management, StrategyKirsti Paakkanen has achieved a celebrity status in Finland for her enigmatic leadership of the Finnish design company Marimekko. Purchasing the company in a state of near bankruptcy in 1991, Paakkanen took several actions to restore profitability and realize growth. As of 2006, the company has sales of $64 million (of which 80 per cent are from Finland) and net profits of $8.4 million. Over the last few years, Paakkanen and her team have focused...Starting at €8.20
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Merging Esso Iceland and Bilanaust (A)
Gerard Seijts; Ken MarkCase IVEY-9B10C015-ELeadership and People Management, StrategyIn 2006, Hermann Gudmundsson (the chief executive officer [CEO] of Bilanaust, an Icelandic automotive spare parts retailer) was part of a group of partners that had purchased Esso Iceland. He had subsequently been appointed to the CEO position at Esso Iceland. The two companies were quite different: Bilanaust dealt with real-time customer needs, carried a wide range of products, and enjoyed a rising market share and profits. Esso Iceland was 12 t...Starting at €8.20
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Cembrit Holding A/S: At a Crossroads
Romeo TurcanCase IVEY-9B17M008-EStrategyCembrit Holding A/S (Cembrit), the second-largest producer of fibre cement products in Europe, had experienced a period of restructuring, acquisitions, and consolidation as a result of having acquired fibre cement companies involved in production, sales, and distribution throughout Europe and closing down its own production in Denmark. After years of restructuring and struggling, growth had finally picked up, with turnover reaching an average of ...Starting at €8.20
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NKT Photonics A/S: Doing Business at the Technological Frontiers
Torben Pedersen; Githa KurdahlCase IVEY-9B16M055-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyTo improve its profitability, NKT Photonics A/S (NKT), a small Danish company operating in the global photonics industry, was getting ready to undertake the commercialization process of its highly advanced optical fibre technology. NKT’s chief executive officer (CEO) was considering two options for accomplishing this goal: (1) establishing strategic partnerships with system integrators in order to gain access to commercial customers, or (2) repos...Starting at €8.20
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Carlsberg in Emerging Markets
Michael W. Hansen; Torben Pedersen; Marcus Moller LarsenCase IVEY-9B11M009-EService and Operations Management, StrategyRisking becoming the target of a hostile takeover or being cornered as a small regional player in the global beer industry, the Danish brewery Carlsberg decided in the early 2000s to expand into rapidly growing emerging markets to pursue new arenas of growth. By 2008, this strategy had paid off, and Carlsberg was positioned among the five largest breweries in the world. In the Russian market — one of the fastest-growing markets in the world — Car...Starting at €8.20
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Merging Esso Iceland and Bilanaust (C)
Gerard Seijts; Ken MarkCase IVEY-9B10C018-ELeadership and People Management, StrategyBy December 2006, Hermann Gudmundsson (the chief executive officer of both Esso Iceland and Bilanaust) had spent the past 10 months evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of both organizations, and determined that the best approach going forward would be to, "consider creating a new organization with a new structure and a new brand name." He weighed the advantages, disadvantages and costs of either retaining two separate companies and their asso...Starting at €5.74
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Vestas Wind Systems A/S - Exploiting Global R&D Synergies
Torben Pedersen; Marcus Moller LarsenCase IVEY-9B09M079-EEntrepreneurship, Service and Operations Management, StrategyWith a change in management in 2005 came a radical reorganization and the announcement of several new strategic initiatives. Among the initiatives was the establishment of the Vestas Technology research and development (R&D) business unit with an aim of achieving global leadership in all core technology areas and, consequently, strengthening the core competence for the company. By 2008, Vestas had succeeded in setting up a global R&D network with...Starting at €8.20
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Diana Uribe: Fighting the Viral Spread of Fake News
Liliana Lopez JimenezCase IVEY-9B18M123-EStrategyOn August 31, 2016, a well-respected and highly influential cultural broadcaster and entrepreneur in Colombia was the subject of a fake news attack. A message started spreading over the WhatsApp messaging service wrongfully attributing to her a vociferous statement opposing the Colombian peace-making process. On September 2, 2016, she produced a disconfirming video, in which she made it clear that the statement was not written by her; that it did...Starting at €8.20