HBR On Strategy

Learn how to build a start-up without relying on venture capital funding. The CEO of ButcherBox shares his strategy of focusing on costs and leveraging the marketing power of influencers. Discover the benefits of not taking on venture capital and the importance of running a profitable business. Hear about the company's journey from Kickstarter to profitability and how they navigated challenges during the pandemic.

BMW's decarbonization strategy includes gasoline and diesel-fueled internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrid EVs, and battery EVs. The company aims to reduce lifecycle and supply chain emissions. The podcast discusses BMW's transition to EVs, challenges in the regulatory environment, and their ambitious emission reduction targets. It also explores the difficulties of achieving a closed loop system and the importance of recycling batteries in the automotive industry.

In this episode, Microsoft's Head of Strategy and a Harvard Business School professor discuss the emerging value chains and competitive risks of generative AI. They highlight the potential of this technology to create new products and services, and explore the strategic choices and cost structures associated with it. They also discuss the role of middle managers and the opportunities and challenges for technology providers in the generative AI market.

Learn how Faber-Castell, a legacy pencil manufacturer, innovates and adapts to new technology. Discover their strategy for balancing brand stewardship and innovation, and their approach to sustaining their business for the longer term. Explore the challenges of adopting new technologies and the importance of vision and customer experience in driving change within an organization.

Learn the strategic approach to cost-cutting and how to identify essential activities for success. Explore the challenges of maintaining strategic thinking while reducing costs. Hear about Pfizer's example of making tough decisions to align with strategic capabilities.

Roger Martin, former dean of the Rotman School of Management, discusses the risks of rebranding and the concept of cumulative advantage. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining customer habits and explains how rebranding puts you back to square one. Martin provides examples of successful and unsuccessful brand updates, including Procter & Gamble's rebranding of their detergent product. He also discusses the importance of appealing to the subconscious and the risks of changes in packaging and logo design.

Jorge Quintanilla Nielsen, founder of Capital SAFI, shares his insights on corporate governance as a growth strategy. Topics include selecting and holding board members accountable, guiding growth and strategy, and assessing and managing risks.

Pauline Brown, former chairman of LVMH, discusses the concept of aesthetic intelligence and how it helps companies stand out. She explains the importance of aesthetics in creating enjoyable experiences, using examples from Starbucks, Airbnb, and Apple. The podcast also explores the challenges and benefits of incorporating aesthetic intelligence in organizations, delves into individual preferences and cultural differences in taste, and emphasizes the significance of aesthetic intelligence in improving customer experience and well-being.

Learn how startups can avoid the strategy mistake of copying successful companies, and instead focus on finding underserved customers and working with early adopters. Hear examples from Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix. Discover the importance of operational excellence and unconventional customer acquisition methods in the early days of a startup. Explore how Airbnb targeted early adopters and used limited technology. Understand the role of technology in startups and the importance of identifying the right product and acquiring customers.

Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, discusses how she introduced design thinking to the company's innovation process. They explore topics such as user-centered design, creating fundamentally different consumer-machine interactions, launching new products, finding hero products, the relationship between design thinking and innovation, and strategies for determining innovation and tight management in PepsiCo.