Preserving the Past while Sustaining the Future: Designing a Strategic Blueprint for the Château de Fontainebleau

The case describes how the Château de Fontainebleau in France, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is addressing the challenges facing many historical monuments and heritage sites in a turbulent environment marked by geopolitical issues, the covid pandemic, climate change, energy shortages, and economic uncertainty. These successive crises expose a broader challenge – how to manage in an age of uncertainty. Incremental change is no longer sufficient to achieve the chateau’s objectives; more fundamental change is needed. But how best can it be framed and funded? Ultimately, the essence of the chateau is eternity. Preserving the nation’s history for generations to come – while remaining financially sustainable – is its primary mission. The challenge is therefore to craft a strategy for the entire estate to take account of falling visitor numbers and, more immediately, make plans for the Henri IV wing that has stood empty for decades.

To craft an informed strategy, the executive team must know what their options are. They need to discover and envision a broad spectrum of possibilities that have the potential for realizing their goals. Discussion is centred on how an organization carves a path forward while facing multiple uncertainties and constraints associated with climate change, ensuring its financial autonomy, boosting revenue streams, and optimizing unused resources. Internal and external analysis of the chateau is required to understand its current resource allocation and propose strategic growth options. These can be evaluated through various lenses – industry trends, business priorities, risks – to understand how each creates value and enhances the customer’s knowledge and experience.