Latest cases
October 2020
COVID-19: Pret a Manger’s Fight for Survival
By Nader Tavassoli, Jessica Spungin
The case describes how Pret a Manger—a London casual-dining institution—was significantly adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they tried to pivot by launching several business experiments in fast succession. The long-term outcome of these experiments was far from certain, but th...
October 2020
The World Trade Organization and Tobacco Plain Packaging: Is Packaging Adverting and Does It Influence Consumption?
By Nader Tavassoli
On June 29, 2020, a dispute settlement panel convened by the World Trade Organization (WTO) rejected the appeal regarding its findings in the report “Australia – Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products...
October 2020
Reinventing performance management at Allen & Overy
By Herminia Ibarra, Carrie J. Fletcher
By early 2019, Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy (A&O) had replaced its longstanding, traditional annual review system with Compass, a state-of-the-art performance management process based on real-time feedback and planful career development discussions. As Managing Partner Andrew Ballheimer put i...
October 2020
Takeda: The governance of strategic transformation (B) (Japanese language)
By Harry Korine, Kazuhiro Asakawa
The case series describes strategic transformation at Takeda, the largest Japanese pharmaceutical company, with a special focus on the R&D function. Since 2015, the 237-year-old industry doyen has narrowed its strategic focus from six to three therapeutic areas, reorganised its global R&D fo...
October 2020
Takeda: The Governance of Strategic Transformation (A) (Japanese language)
By Harry Korine, Kazuhiro Asakawa
The case series describes strategic transformation at Takeda, the largest Japanese pharmaceutical company, with a special focus on the R&D function. Since 2015, the 237-year-old industry doyen has narrowed its strategic focus from six to three therapeutic areas, reorganised its global R&D fo...