Hollywood: Fast and furious(ly) in sequel mode? (Mini case)

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The Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility Sustainability Bond (TLFF I) was initially celebrated as a best-in-class example of sustainable finance. Issued in 2018, this $95 million financial instrument aimed to create a promising future: sustainable natural rubber plantations in Indonesia that balanced ecological preservation, local livelihoods and corporate profits. The ambitious venture sought to redefine the possibilities of transition finance and brought together several organizations: Michelin, ADM Capital and BNP Paribas, USAID, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). However, the promise of progress soon collided with the complexities of reality. The initiative faced mounting challenges, including allegations of greenwashing, community grievances and questions about compliance with emerging sustainability regulatory standards. In the end, TLFF I – the "climate-smart, wildlife-friendly, socially inclusive" sustainable finance facility used to finance Michelin's Indonesian natural rubber plantation joint venture – found itself at the center of a growing controversy that threatened to unravel years of work in corporate sustainability efforts. The case examines the paradoxes in the TLFF I and challenges students to grapple with the complexities of legitimacy, innovation, accountability, sustainability transition and regulation-timing in blended finance mechanisms. While the TLFF I case focuses on natural rubber, the challenges encountered by the different players and the lessons learned are applicable to other industries undergoing brown-to-green transitions and implementing multistakeholder solutions. The case reflects the reality that many business challenges are not dilemmas to resolve but instead involve persistent tensions that demand integrative thinking. For students, engaging with paradoxes sharpens critical thinking, fosters metacognitive awareness and builds the capacity to lead amid contradiction.

The Sandoz leadership team faced an important decision as it broke away from Novartis and became a public company. Should Sandoz retain the global geographical coverage it had had in its many years as part of Novartis? Or should it focus on fewer geographies and a simplification of the business models it was using? Since Sandoz was in a lower margin business than an innovator pharma company like Novartis, eventually, the senior leadership team decided to exit China. There was a belief that it was going to be difficult to compete on price with local Chinese companies, and the investment required to invest in more complex generics, as well as high-margin biosimilars, was beyond the means of Sandoz as it became a publicly listed company. The case also touches on the differences of opinion in a very strong leadership team and the options that were explored, or not, as the sale of Sandoz China to Aspen Pharmacare was concluded.

This case series explores Sandoz's spin off from Novartis, which was finalized on 4 October 2023. Case A follows Richard Saynor's (CEO, Sandoz) ruminations as he builds the company strategy in preparation for the board's approval of Sandoz as a standalone company. The narrative outlines the key strategic areas that Richard, along with his senior leadership team, considered and which strategy was eventually approved by the board of directors (i.e. product portfolio mix), the direction of the growth strategy (i.e. top vs. bottom line approach), target geography regions and ownership model. Case A focuses on the dilemmas and considerations of each strategic area.

The case study explores the first phase of ABB's 2018 to 2024 transformation journey as it tackled longstanding challenges: financial underperformance, declining market confidence and inefficiencies in its complex matrix structure. To streamline operations, CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer initiated a restructuring of its main business areas in 2018, including the sale of the Power Grids business to Hitachi. However, the following April, Spiesshofer stepped down unexpectedly. Would the transition in leadership signal a continuation of the existing strategy, or did it indicate a complete shift in direction? How should the new leadership transform ABB?