When IBM set about commercializing its artificial intelligence-driven Watson AI in the healthcare market, its early successes were widely publicized. Senior managers and the media claimed that its diagnostic features would soon surpass those of the sharpest doctors.

This case looks at the business and cultural transformation at Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella, who took over in 2014 when the company had fallen prey to political infighting and the dominance of Windows over all else.

When Puneet Chhatwal took over as CEO of Taj Hotels in 2018, he faced an onerous task: improving the financials in a hyper-competitive environment marked by the arrival of foreigners such as Starwood Hotels and online entrants Airbnb and OYO.

The case charts the success of Chinese hot pot restaurant chain, Haidilao, from humble beginnings to international expansion, with a focus on how an emotion-based culture is created and sustained to deliver high performance. Chinese hot pot – a blend of meat and vegetables - is boiled by customers in a broth and eaten with a variety of sauces.

Longfor, a real estate company in China, treats every customer as an individual with distinctive tastes, preferences and needs; the homes it designs emphasize aesthetics, comfort, landscaping and lifestyle in a holistic way. Likewise, its organizational culture emphasizes equality and professionalism in a country where hierarchy and deference to authority are the norm.

The case examines the downward spiral of Nokia, the mobile technology giant that once conquered the world, seen from the perspective of ‘insiders’ – based on interviews with Nokia executives at top and middle management level.

Nissan was in a desparate situation with staggering debts, losses, producing good but plain-looking cars. How did Carlos Ghosn and the French team manage to implement massive changes in a company deeply embedded in the Japanese culture that is reputed to be nationalistic and averse to major change? How did Ghosn manage to cut cost and increase innovation dramatically at the same time?

BP CEO Tony Hayward (UK) faced intense public scrutiny from many different constituencies in the US in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The case focuses on how his words and actions were perceived by the US media and government, and how these perceptions had critical business and personal outcomes.

A Nissan encontrava-se numa situação díspar, enfrentando enormes dívidas, perdas, produzindo bons veículos, embora comuns. De que modo Carlos Ghosn e a equipa Francesa conseguiram implementar alterações consideráveis numa empresa profundamente imbuída na cultura Japonesa, conhecida por ser nacionalista e adversa a grandes alterações?

The case describes the spectacular rise of UBS in the period 2000-2008 and its decline in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. CEO Ospel led an ambitious growth strategy, abandoning UBS's traditional risk-averse culture in favour of a more risk-taking form of investment banking in the USA.