Wistful Cosmetics: Designing supply chain resilience

Assortment optimization presents a complex challenge for retailers, as it depends on numerous decision factors. Changes in assortment can result in demand redistribution with multi-layered consequences. This complexity is even more pronounced for ...

This note presents a comprehensive framework for improving decision-making capabilities in high-pressure, high-stakes environments. It introduces six evidence-based strategies that help leaders maintain clarity, focus and effectiveness when facing complex decisions under stress. The note explores each strategy in detail: managing emotional responses, strengthening situational awareness, training for cognitive agility, using structured decision-making models, enhancing decision speed and practicing under pressure. For each strategy, it provides specific tools and practical applications, illustrated through the case study of AcuWave, a mid-sized consumer electronics firm navigating challenging product launch decisions. Key tools examined include emotional self-regulation techniques, the OODA loop for situational awareness, pre-mortem analysis for cognitive agility, weighted decision matrices for structured decision-making, the 40-70 rule for balancing speed and accuracy, and crisis simulations for practical application. The note emphasizes that effective decision making under pressure integrates emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, and structured processes. This practical guide serves as a valuable resource for leaders seeking to develop more robust decision-making capabilities in fast-paced business environments. By implementing these strategies, leaders can improve their ability to assess high-stakes situations quickly, make sound judgments with confidence, and maintain team effectiveness even under volatile and uncertain conditions.

Hybrid work is here to stay. Prof. Manju Ahuja explores why flexibility, tech, and talent trends mean the future of work won’t return to the pre-pandemic norm.

Leading global operations through complexity and change in 2025 means embracing AI and ML to streamline supply chains and meet rising demands.

Guided by The Art of the Deal, Trump's trade tactics are disrupting global supply chains and driving strategic diversification.

Geopolitical turmoil and its workforce impact demand a systems thinking approach from CHROs, argue IMD’s Katharina Lange and Simon Evenett.

“You don’t exit China, you hide it—like colorful eggs.” That’s what a top executive at a European multinational told me, just days after President Trump’s April 2025 bombshell: a new national economic emergency order that slapped a 10 percent tari...

All organizations should have a plan to secure trust during, after (and even before) a crisis hits. Here are a host of examples, good and bad, to learn from.

Surviving Global Tariffs means Medtech and Luxury brands must revisit 1990s strategies to adapt to the US’s steepest trade barriers in decades.

China’s apparel sector in 2025 sees local brands rise and global players adapt amid digital, Research & Development, and innovation-led growth.