Abstract

This is a collection of three caselets that would help highlight the importance of the role played by the leadership in change management. The first caselet is about how Norman Adami turned around Miller Brewing Company after South African Brewing Company acquired the ailing firm. The second caselet is about how Myron Ullman introduced major changes at JCPenney to take it to industry leadership level, just after the retailer came out of a successful turnaround phase. The third caselet is about how David R. Whitwam imbibed a culture of customer-focused innovation at Whirlpool as part of its competitive strategy of providing innovative products in an increasingly commoditized consumer appliances industry. The common thing between these three companies (which are in three different industries) is that, each one of them had close to 100 years of history behind them, and as such, bringing about major changes wasn’t easy. The CEOs of the respective companies played a vital role in getting the wheels of change rolling in these companies.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the important role played by the leadership (CEOs) in change management. Understand the issues and constraints faced by organizations in introducing major changes. Understand the strategy/culture relationship and how organizations manages chang

Keywords

Change agent, Performance management, SAB Ways, Beer University, Able challenger, Talent and Capacity management, Miller Brewing Company, JCPenney, Whirlpool, Leadership, Organizational culture, Human resource, Competitive advantage, 'Winning Together'Principle, Retail Academy, Innovation , Competitive strategy