Honeywell used furloughs instead of layoffs in 2008 and kept the skills
When demand fell in 2008-09 Honeywell asked staff to take unpaid leave, so it could grow fast when demand returned.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDPininfarina: Mahindra turned the Ferrari designer into a $2.2M electric carmaker
The design house that shaped Ferraris never built its own car; Mahindra bought it and relaunched the name with a 1,900hp, $2.2M hypercar named for its founder.
Read the caseDaiichi Sankyo's antibody-drug conjugate bet tripled profit to ¥200.7B by FY2023
After profit slid to ¥67.0B in FY2021, Enhertu's global ramp with AstraZeneca lifted FY2023 profit 84% to ¥200.7B on revenue of ¥1.60T.
Read the caseBlackanese Courier turned a student's cash squeeze into a China-Nigeria sourcing business
Namang Banah used his China address and local knowledge as a middleman; five years later Blackanese Courier had moved over 11 tons of goods into Nigeria.
Read the caseLi Ning's founder returned as CEO in 2015, turning ¥3.1bn of losses into record profits
After three straight loss years, gymnast-founder Li Ning took back the CEO seat, rebuilt the brand around 'China Li-Ning' and doubled profit by 2019.
Read the caseOracle bought Sun for $7.4B at the bottom of the downturn and kept Java and Solaris
After IBM walked away, Oracle paid $9.50 a share for Sun — Java, Solaris and servers — promising $1.5B of first-year operating profit and an integrated stack.
Read the caseFinnish state oil refiner Neste bet its future on renewable diesel
Neste Oil invested €700m in a diesel line and €100m in a NExBTL biodiesel plant, becoming the world's leading producer of renewable diesel.
Read the caseMirant converted $7B of debt into equity, emerged from Chapter 11 and merged into GenOn
Power producer Mirant filed one of the biggest Chapter 11 cases in 2003, swapped nearly $7B of debt for stock, emerged in 2006 and merged in 2010.
Read the caseUpCounsel turned lawyer search into a marketplace and raised $12M
Businesses could bypass traditional law-firm searches through UpCounsel's attorney marketplace, which reached $26M in total funding.
Read the caseAsian Paints turned paint into lifestyle with ColourNext and kept half of India's market
Since 2003 Asian Paints' ColourNext trend research turned paint into a lifestyle category — and the firm has held over half of India's market
Read the caseThe Lauder family handed CEO power to an outsider in 2009, and sales doubled to $15B
In 2009 the founding family made Fabrizio Freda its first non-Lauder CEO; the 10-year strategy he ran more than doubled sales from $7B to $14.86B.
Read the caseGalen Weston took his father's retail empire in 1974 and reinvented Canadian groceries
Handed the family empire at 33 when his father stepped down at 75, W. Galen Weston rebuilt Loblaws around No Name and No Frills discounting.
Read the caseMaybel Delvalle turned OnlyFans know-how into coaching income
During Argentina’s economic crisis, Maybel Delvalle turned her own OnlyFans playbook into a coaching course that drew 50–60 new students a month.
Read the caseYamaha: a 1887 organ repair split into two firms sharing one tuning-fork brand
A 1887 organ repair became two listed Yamahas — music and motors — sharing one tuning-fork brand, with engines now worth 3× the instruments.
Read the caseSpansion exited Chapter 11, rebuilt, and sold to Cypress for $1.6B
Spansion emerged from Chapter 11 in May 2010 with less than $480M debt, rebuilt flash revenue to $972M by 2013, and was bought by Cypress in 2014.
Read the caseStephen Bechtel took over at 33 in 1933 and steered Hoover Dam to an early finish
Heir Stephen Bechtel took over in 1933 after his father died, finished Hoover Dam two years early and $1.5M under budget, and grew sales from $20M to $463M.
Read the caseEmirates REIT refinanced its $400m sukuk down to $205m and returned to record NAV by 2024
After creditors blocked a 2021 exchange, Emirates REIT refinanced its $400m sukuk, cut debt to $205m, and hit record NAV by 2024.
Read the caseMilton Hershey, with no children, gave his company to a school trust
Childless Milton Hershey gave his chocolate company to an orphan school in 1918, making the school the majority owner and keeping the firm independent.
Read the caseCoca-Cola revived the original formula 79 days after New Coke and the brand soared
New Coke flopped; on July 11, 1985, 79 days after launch, Coca-Cola brought back the original formula as Coca-Cola Classic — and the brand soared.
Read the caseBirkenstock's family handed management to outsiders in 2013 and saved the brand
After years of family-run drift, the brothers hired outside CEOs in 2013; revenue hit €1,242.8M by FY2022 and L Catterton valued the firm at €4B in 2021.
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