While all businesses may follow a set long-term strategy, they must be ready to navigate major change when the need arises, and then prepare again for further change in the future. Without the agility to fundamentally shift how they operate, they are unlikely to be successful for any length of time.

This need to change can be for myriad reasons. It may be because of transition in their markets or because of a move by a close competitor. It may be because of something entirely out of the company’s control – such as COVID – or it may be because the company has grown and developed in a way that is now holding it back. 

Jellyfish Pictures, Aviva and Unilever share below how their boards and executive teams worked together to navigate a major change. The companies have existed for different lengths of time – Unilever is over a century old; Jellyfish was founded in 2001 – but they all remain ready to make a big change when it’s required, and to do so to remain a successful business across the long term.

The graphics below take you through how each company accomplished a transition, and the downloadable pdf at the red button allows you to compare and contrast the three case studies side by side.