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Executive development programs have entered a period of rapid transformation, driven by digital disruption and a widening gap between the skills that participants and their organizations demand and those provided by their executive programs. This work delves into the objective functions of the executive development space, analyzes the demand characteristics of the learners and the organizations that pay for the programs, and the ways in which business schools and other providers deliver (or not) on the promises they make regarding skill development and the continued value of learning to the organization. They show how a trio of disruptive forces (disintermediation, disaggregation and decoupling) which have figured prominently in industries disrupted by digitalization,are reshaping the structure of demand for executive development. The authors look at the future of executive development in the era of self-refining algorithms (aka machine learning) and wearable sensors and computers, and offer a compass for making the right choice for CEOs and CLOs who are guiding executive program design. Ultimately, they offer a guide for to optimize the learning production function for both skill acquisition and skill transfer – the two charges that the new skills economy has laid out for any educational enterprise.

Twenty-four-year old Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of India-based online, hotel branding network OYO Rooms, has tackled the issue of unreliability in India's highly-fragmented budget hotel industry. In 2018, OYO branded 8,500 properties across 200 cities and managed to capture almost 1.5% of India's budget hotel market. Ritesh believes that in the process, OYO has honed technological skills and infrastructural capabilities that can transform the company from being a technology player to a hotel developer. OYO now aspires to convert corporate spaces and homes into accommodation spaces, and to make its mark worldwide.

In 2017, both Flipkart and Amazon claimed leadership position in India's recently concluded key annual festive season sale, but it was too early to declare victory. Amazon continues to invest heavily in India. Competition from newer players is increasing. Media reports hint that Reliance Industries, a large Indian conglomerate, is planning to extend its e-commerce offering beyond fashion to electronics, mobile phones and even groceries. As the battle for India's lucrative e-commerce market gains pace, experts wonder--who will win? Is India a winner-takes-all market or is there space for more than one player?

The case outlines how regional managing partner (RMP) Albert Ng steered Ernst & Young (EY) China through a period of significant growth from 2009, when it was the smallest of the Big Four firms in China, to 2017, by when it had become the second largest firm. Partners worldwide felt a sense of shared achievement, since EY Global had come together with China leadership to invest in building a strong China practice that was integral to all of EY. But Ng was not resting content. he believed that EY China was at a critical juncture. Chinese economic growth, which had partially fueled EY China's dramatic rise, was slowing down, just as competition was intensifying. Was EY China prepared to face the challenges that lay ahead?

Soon after being named regional managing partner for Ernst & Yong (EY) China in September 2009, Albert Ng reflects on the enormity of challenges facing the practice. Despite the commitment of EY Global to the China practice, post global financial crisis, EY China's growth agenda has been reversed. The smallest of the Big Four global accounting firms in China, EY China's reputation has weakened in the market, morale of its professionals has plummeted, and it faces the threat of a major lawsuit. Ng is musing how to address the challenges confronting EY China.

By January 2017, Paytm, a mobile payments company that started in 2010, became India's largest mobile payments platform with over 142 million users and a $5 billion valuation. Could Paytm become the $100 billion company its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma envisioned it to be?

Vita is a Norwegian cosmetics retailer owned by FSN Capital, a Scandinavian private equity company. The company has a strong market position in Norway. The case focuses on two strategic issues: how to develop an e-commerce strategy to supplement the company's traditional retail strategy, and how best to grow the company in Sweden. While both of these are potentially important future growth drivers, they also entail large investments in new capabilities, adversely affecting current performance. Given FSN's investment horizon, what is the best way to balance the short and long-term?

In 2009, Lee O'Rourke was promoted to District Vice President in charge of Macy's newly created North Florida district. This district consisted of 11 stores located in the greater Orlando area and in the east coast towns of Daytona, Melbourne, Merritt Island, and Vero Beach. The performance of these stores had lagged in recent years, and O'Rourke was charged with building a cross-functional district team to support these stores and with improving their overall performance. O'Rourke and her team were able to drive almost immediate improvement in the district's sales growth and profitability and in other key areas such as customer service scores. How can O'Rourke ensure that these stores continue to perform well going forward?

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS'84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.

Swedish electronics accessories retailer Kjell is considering several issues as it plots its next stage of growth. How should it balance opportunities to expand retail stores into a new market (Oslo, Norway) with additional growth in its home market-Sweden-with decisions about investments to build out its nascent online channel? Simultaneously, the company is piloting a new sales associate performance management system: should store associates be measured by monthly targets, or will daily targets prove to be more useful?

Update on Cycle for Survival's 2012, 2013, and 2014 events. Kotkins and Cycle for Survival continued the event's strong growth, and underwent the first phase of a two-year rebranding effort.

Katie Kotkins, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's (MSKCC) Cycle for Survival fundraising event, had to determine the best avenue for continuing the event's success and momentum after its founder, Jennifer (Jen) Goodman Linn (HBS'99) passed away from MFH sarcoma. Jen and her husband, David Linn (HBS'00), had founded Cycle for Survival in 2007 as a way for Jen to give back to the community of doctors that had treated her since her diagnosis in 2003. The indoor cycling event had grown rapidly, and increased fundraising from $250,000 in 2007 to $4.7 million in 2011. After the event's second year, Jen and David made the decision to hand over control to MSKCC, partner with Equinox, and expand the event's fundraising efforts. At the time of Jen's passing Kotkins was focused on the 2013 event, but was faced with a series of strategic questions after losing the event's face and inspiration.

The CEO of EFL (India), a direct sales organization, must decide which changes to the sales compensation systems would better motivate his sales reps and improve their sales performance.

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS'84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach, and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.

This case is about how the Boston Consulting Group has approached innovation from its founding to the present day. It discusses the role of the firm's talent market and client market in developing these innovations.

The case focuses on issues involved in managing the direct multilevel marketing sales consultants who sell R+F skin care products. The company is trying to better manage the inconsistent and highly variable recruitment behavior of the sales force i.e., the degree to which existing consultants recruit new consultants. The company utilizes a range of periodic incentives for recruitment, but hopes to build a system of salesforce compensation and management that relies more on intrinsic rewards and less on these periodic incentive programs. The case forces students to address principles of compensation system design, as well as more fundamental issues around what they believe motivates this'volunteer'(i.e., non-employee) sales force.

This case presents a brief description of the decisions the company made regarding whether or not to pursue each of the four projects that are the basis of the (A) case.

NetApp had undertaken an award-winning overhaul and upgrading of its channel strategy design that accounted for 46 percent of North America sales in 2006. Nonetheless, NetApp senior management announced they expected to grow revenue another 30% in fiscal 2007 with half the growth coming from channel sales. To meet those goals, a number of issues that had developed around the channel sales program would need to be addressed.

Jonathan Kutchins and Mark Cullen, managing partners of IT consulting firm Exeter Group, Inc., are considering four potential client engagements. Three of them involve prominent universities, an area of market strength for the firm, and one involves a top-tier strategy consulting firm, a new market for Exeter. Each of the projects has both attractive and unattractive attributes, with various degrees of upside and downside risk. As a relatively new and small IT consulting firm, Exeter needs to make careful choices about how it allocates resources to projects and it is not clear if the firm has the capacity to add all four projects at once. Thus Kutchins and Cullen have to decide which, if any, of these projects to do. In some cases they must also decide whether they want to try to restructure the nature of the engagement to better fit the firm's service model. Although young and small, the firm has grown successfully and is optimistic about its future prospects. Kutchins and Cullen thus want to make decisions about these very specific client engagements in the context of their overall strategy and the contributions of these engagements to helping the firm achieve its long-term goals.

The case chronicles the sudden termination of many U.S. autodealers in the wake of the economic crisis in the fall of 2008.

Jonathan Kutchins and Mark Cullen, managing partners of IT consulting firm Exeter Group, Inc., are considering four potential client engagements. Three of them involve prominent universities, an area of market strength for the firm, and one involves a top-tier strategy consulting firm, a new market for Exeter. Each of the projects has both attractive and unattractive attributes, with various degrees of upside and downside risk. As a relatively new and small IT consulting firm, Exeter needs to make careful choices about how it allocates resources to projects and it is not clear if the firm has the capacity to add all four projects at once. Thus Kutchins and Cullen have to decide which, if any, of these projects to do. In some cases they must also decide whether they want to try to restructure the nature of the engagement to better fit the firm's service model. Although young and small, the firm has grown successfully and is optimistic about its future prospects. Kutchins and Cullen thus want to make decisions about these very specific client engagements in the context of their overall strategy and the contributions of these engagements to helping the firm achieve its long-term goals.

BMW is faced with potential channel conflicts across several EU country markets. The case concludes the (A) case's exploration of BMW's approach to redesigning the channel in Greece. The case provides details on both headquarter and country head perspective on BMW's channel strategy.

BMW is faced with potential channel conflicts across several EU country markets. The case highlights BMW's approach to redesigning its channel in Greece. The case provides details on both headquarter and country head perspective on BMW's channel strategy.

Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, the CEO of Biocon has to make product launch timing, pricing, channel, and communications mix decisions relating to the launch of BioMAb, a new cancer drug in India.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of the Swedish telecom infrastructure company Ericsson, has to reorganize the recovering company in late 2003 after a major industry downturn. He is convinced that only a more market-orientated and customer-focused organization will be able to remain competitive in this maturing, high-technology focused industry. Presents his change project, in which the sales and marketing structure play a central role. Will his ideas allow the company to keep its customers and successfully go after new markets?

After its dramatic corporate turnaround, the Swedish telecom infrastructure company Ericsson hires a new CEO to bring the former Swedish flagship company back on track. Puts students in the shoes of Carl-Henric Svanberg, an industry outsider and CEO of locks group Assy Abloy, who does not hesitate a moment when he gets the call in early 2003. Looks back on the reasons for Ericsson's current situation and the recent restructuring programs that cut the company's staff and operating expenses in half. Presents Svanberg's vision for how to re-energize the ailing company and reach profitability once again, and gives students the opportunity to debate these issues.

The firm has to choose between an established brand, Tanishq, and a new skunkworks brand, GoldPlus, to go after the Indian plain gold jewelry market: Tanishq, initially targeted at a western customer, has undergone strategic retooling and has currently been repositioned to serve the'traditional yet modern'Indian woman. The brand still carries some baggage from its past. GoldPlus, on the other hand, is a new brand that is positioned to serve the plain gold wedding jewelry market. A variety of strategic, economic, organizational and brand investment reasons make the decision an important one.

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Highlights issues that a multidivision firm faces as it moves from managing products for profit to managing customers for profit.