Europe
December 2023
citizenM: Radical innovation in the hotel industry (Chinese language)
By Freek Vermeulen
In 2008, a group of five entrepreneurs and executives teamed up to launch an innovative hotel chain into what seemed like a highly competitive industry. Rattan Chadha, the founder of fashion company MEXX and Michael Levie, a hotel industry veteran, teamed up with Hans Meyer, a hotel development spec...
November 2023
Sadlerâs Wells Theatre – Compact Case
By Freek Vermeulen
Alistair Spalding, Chief Executive of Sadlerâs Wells Theatre, recalled an evening back in the autumn of 2004 when he was sitting in a balcony seat in an empty, unlit theatre, watching a crew dismantle a set following a final performance. Earlier in the day, the board had confirmed Spaldingâs app...
November 2023
Hornby plc: Strategic Transformation (B)
By Freek Vermeulen
In 2005 Frank Martin, CEO of Hornby, was feeling proud. Since joining in 2000, he had seen the company's share price rise from 35 to more than 250 and his strategic transformation of the firm from a toy company into a hobby company had been a resounding success. The company dominated the UK market a...
November 2023
Hornby plc: Building Communities (A)
By Freek Vermeulen
In 2005 Frank Martin, CEO of Hornby, was feeling proud. Since joining in 2000, he had seen the company's share price rise from 35 to more than 250 and his strategic transformation of the firm from a toy company into a hobby company had been a resounding success. The company dominated the UK market a...
November 2023
Lark & Berry: The diamond disruptors
By Ioannis Ioannou, Nick Mickshik
Laura Chavez was delighted beyond words when the Atelier Asymmetric Bow suite, designed by her luxury jewellery company Lark & Berry, won the 2019 Goldsmithsâ Craft and Design Council Graff jewellery award. The Graff Award was the jewellery industryâs equivalent of the Oscars award for Best ...
October 2023
Insearch Ltd: Searching for a company to buy
By Simon Webster
By March 2022 Steve Webb had spent more than three years looking for a company to acquire. He was in final negotiations to buy a company, but he and the vendors did not see eye-to-eye on its valuation. Steve was also concerned about how to structure an offer. He was in a difficult financial situatio...
July 2023
Alessandro Riccombeni Case A: Lessons in leadership
By Randall Peterson, Nick Mickshik
This case is aimed at helping executives understand the reasons why they may âderailâ when promoted to a new position or when they secure a new job that does not accord with their expectations of it. Case A describes the situation Alessandro Riccombeni found himself in when, having seemingly se...
July 2023
Alessandro Riccombeni Case B: Resolving the impasse
By Randall Peterson, Nick Mickshik
This case is aimed at helping executives understand the reasons why they may âderailâ when promoted to a new position or when they secure a new job that does not accord with their expectations of it. Case A describes the situation Alessandro Riccombeni found himself in when, having seemingly se...
May 2023
Nova Ventures: Searching for gems in the UK
By Luisa Alemany, Florin Vasvari
Zakib Sari, an aeronautical engineer and entrepreneur who had worked for Shell UK for several years, decided to pursue the entrepreneurship-through-acquisition path after his first year of the MBA programme at London Business School (LBS). In January 2016 he analysed several career options and concl...
February 2023
Cree (C)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
Another four years had passed, and it was now April 2018. After two attempts to shut down the venture totally, Hubert Rhombergâs father Walter-Heinz presented Hubert with an opportunity to buy their cash-burning company, CREE, for âŹ1. CREE had been âhis babyâ for the better part of a decade,...