In November 2019, digital marketing firm Arcane was six months into the conversion of its London, Ontario, headquarters into an organization of “agile” squads (small, self-managed teams)—a radical departure from the discipline-based silos that had served the agency since its beginning in 2011. Chief executive officer Lindsay Schneider and chief operating officer David Bunce, the architects of the change, were preparing an update for Arcane’s Ownership .....more

Supplement for product W29999.

Supplement for product W29999.

Teaching note for Ivey product no. W29999.

This article examines the increasing need for resilience in organizations, then explains the three underpinnings of individual resilience and how they can be replicated in firms. In the pre-COVID period, VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) was the trendy acronym that summed up the four major challenges faced by managers in the Age of Disruption. Unfortunately, the VUCA world has now been disrupted by a pandemic—which has triggered .....more

Teaching note for products 9B16C049 and 9B16C050.

Teaching note for product 9B14C031.

A vice-president of human resources at a technology software provider was reviewing the employee appraisal submissions for her firm. After years of rapid growth, the firm was underperforming relative to its peers and it seemed that part of the problem was its relaxed performance appraisal system. As much had been written about Microsoft Corporation’s stack ranking system, the human resources executive wondered how much she could learn about appraisal .....more

Many managers believe that the acquisition and application of knowledge from external sources will have a clear impact on firm performance and innovation, yet little research exists that helps managers determine the impact of that knowledge. This article seeks to examine whether the use of external knowledge delivers the competitive advantage often claimed. It explains that the outcome of using external knowledge sources may not be positive, and is .....more

A technical consultant is travelling to New York Bakery, an eastern U.S. confectionery company that is under bankruptcy protection. The consultant's task is to assess New York Bakery's readiness for the installation of a new payroll system, which will help it move through the bankruptcy process. By his first week on the job, the consultant realizes that his task is greater than he imagined. In trying to help the organization prepare for the .....more