Who – the protagonist
Cynthia Hansen, Managing Director of the Adecco Group Foundation (AGF).
What?
The AGF is the philanthropic arm of the Adecco Group, the world’s leading talent advisory and solutions company, based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Due to the Group’s mission, social impact has always been part of its overall strategy, and they enjoyed great success through its legacy programmes CEO for One Month, Win4Youth and Athlete Career Programmes.
A number of philanthropic initiatives were also developed at country level in the Group, with five national charitable foundations established in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the USA.
In 2017, the global AGF was created to complement the Group’s ecosystem and offer even more comprehensive solutions to talent and workforce issues worldwide.
Why?
The existing legacy programmes taken over by the Foundation had to be continuously developed, improved, further professionalised, and transformed.
But as the portfolio of programmes grew and became more diversified, Cynthia felt her team was being pulled in too many directions. To the point where the Foundation's small staff shared their concerns with Cynthia about the highly mixed set of goals, and the difficulties in prioritising and pursuing all of them at the same time.
When?
In the spring of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and Jean-Christophe Deslarzes became the new chairman of both the Adecco Group and the Foundation.
This change in leadership allowed Cynthia to rethink the current work of the Foundation, consider the resources and capabilities of the team, and develop a proposal to move the foundation into her desired direction.
Where?
As of 2020, the Group employed more than 30,000 people full-time in 60 countries, served over 100,000 clients yearly, and operated through nine different brands.
Key quote
What next?
Cynthia’s motivation behind the new proposal was clear: to find a solution to maximise the impact and minimise the internal challenges that had led to inefficiency.
In order to maximise impact, the Foundation would need to rethink its purpose and create a new framework to decide what programmes and topics to embrace, which to put back into the Group’s organisational structure, which to spin off, and which to wind down.
Ultimately, what would be the best alternative for the Foundation’s future? What were the risks involved? And what would the rewards be in terms of impact?
*This case was published in April 2023 upon Ane Casajús completing her Case Writing Scholarship. Apply here.
On the reasons for writing the case…
Ane said: “There were two main motivations for writing this case.
“First was the need in the classroom. As our research around corporate philanthropy advanced, we realised there were very few cases discussing the strategic role of corporate foundations, and their tough position between social and business tensions. We wanted our students to understand the complex dynamics of corporate philanthropy.
“Second were the real-world events. As part of my academic research, I found out a Fortune 500 firm had just established a global foundation - which doesn’t happen every day. We got in touch with the Adecco Group Foundation team, and they happily agreed to tell their story and collaborate on this project. Although the journey of the Adecco Group Foundation is unique, we found many challenges and opportunities that can be applied to other firms wanting to embark on their own philanthropic adventures.”
On the case writing challenges…
Ane continued: “As a first-time case author my main challenge revolved around filtering. I initially struggled to filter what information should be included in the case and what was unnecessary. As I am personally interested in learning more about corporate philanthropy, foundation management and social impact strategies, I felt like everything needed to be in there, every detail. However, I learned that filtering is key to writing a good case. There is critical information, constructive information and irrelevant information; and the reader only needs to know about the first two.”
On teaching the case…
She commented: “It is interesting to see the different perspectives of the students when analysing the case. They are often surprised by how complex corporate philanthropic decisions can be. Thanks to our teaching note, and the questions and exercises we already anticipated, we are able to steer the conversation and guide our students towards the most important aspects of the case. Having a well-developed teaching note really makes the difference when teaching a case.”
On how students react to the case…
She explained: “We have taught the case twice already, and it is great to see how students focus on different aspects and make it their own. The analysis of the case and the discussion over what went right versus what could be improved is very rich, as students find many ideas they can refer to throughout the case. Another highlight of the session is always the Q&A at the end of the session, where students can chat with Cynthia Hansen, the case protagonist, and further explore the world of corporate philanthropy.”
On case writing tips…
Ane added: “My top tip for writing a good case is to have a clear teaching objective before you even start writing it. It is key to understand why you are writing the case, where you want to take your students’ discussion, and what the main take aways should be. Do not try to cover everything with just one case; better to have one strong message than many smaller ones.”
Final word…
Anne concluded: “Go for it!
“I was hesitant about writing the case in the beginning, as I had never written one before and was not sure where to start. But it was a rewarding journey, and I am now proud of the case we published.
“The Case Centre has great resources to help with the conceptualisation, writing and editing of the cases. If you have an educational need and an interesting story to tell, don’t doubt it and just go for it.”
The case
Who – the protagonist
Cynthia Hansen, Managing Director of the Adecco Group Foundation (AGF).
What?
The AGF is the philanthropic arm of the Adecco Group, the world’s leading talent advisory and solutions company, based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Due to the Group’s mission, social impact has always been part of its overall strategy, and they enjoyed great success through its legacy programmes CEO for One Month, Win4Youth and Athlete Career Programmes.
A number of philanthropic initiatives were also developed at country level in the Group, with five national charitable foundations established in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the USA.
In 2017, the global AGF was created to complement the Group’s ecosystem and offer even more comprehensive solutions to talent and workforce issues worldwide.
Why?
The existing legacy programmes taken over by the Foundation had to be continuously developed, improved, further professionalised, and transformed.
But as the portfolio of programmes grew and became more diversified, Cynthia felt her team was being pulled in too many directions. To the point where the Foundation's small staff shared their concerns with Cynthia about the highly mixed set of goals, and the difficulties in prioritising and pursuing all of them at the same time.
When?
In the spring of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and Jean-Christophe Deslarzes became the new chairman of both the Adecco Group and the Foundation.
This change in leadership allowed Cynthia to rethink the current work of the Foundation, consider the resources and capabilities of the team, and develop a proposal to move the foundation into her desired direction.
Where?
As of 2020, the Group employed more than 30,000 people full-time in 60 countries, served over 100,000 clients yearly, and operated through nine different brands.
Key quote
What next?
Cynthia’s motivation behind the new proposal was clear: to find a solution to maximise the impact and minimise the internal challenges that had led to inefficiency.
In order to maximise impact, the Foundation would need to rethink its purpose and create a new framework to decide what programmes and topics to embrace, which to put back into the Group’s organisational structure, which to spin off, and which to wind down.
Ultimately, what would be the best alternative for the Foundation’s future? What were the risks involved? And what would the rewards be in terms of impact?
*This case was published in April 2023 upon Ane Casajús completing her Case Writing Scholarship. Apply here.
Author perspective
On the reasons for writing the case…
Ane said: “There were two main motivations for writing this case.
“First was the need in the classroom. As our research around corporate philanthropy advanced, we realised there were very few cases discussing the strategic role of corporate foundations, and their tough position between social and business tensions. We wanted our students to understand the complex dynamics of corporate philanthropy.
“Second were the real-world events. As part of my academic research, I found out a Fortune 500 firm had just established a global foundation - which doesn’t happen every day. We got in touch with the Adecco Group Foundation team, and they happily agreed to tell their story and collaborate on this project. Although the journey of the Adecco Group Foundation is unique, we found many challenges and opportunities that can be applied to other firms wanting to embark on their own philanthropic adventures.”
On the case writing challenges…
Ane continued: “As a first-time case author my main challenge revolved around filtering. I initially struggled to filter what information should be included in the case and what was unnecessary. As I am personally interested in learning more about corporate philanthropy, foundation management and social impact strategies, I felt like everything needed to be in there, every detail. However, I learned that filtering is key to writing a good case. There is critical information, constructive information and irrelevant information; and the reader only needs to know about the first two.”
On teaching the case…
She commented: “It is interesting to see the different perspectives of the students when analysing the case. They are often surprised by how complex corporate philanthropic decisions can be. Thanks to our teaching note, and the questions and exercises we already anticipated, we are able to steer the conversation and guide our students towards the most important aspects of the case. Having a well-developed teaching note really makes the difference when teaching a case.”
On how students react to the case…
She explained: “We have taught the case twice already, and it is great to see how students focus on different aspects and make it their own. The analysis of the case and the discussion over what went right versus what could be improved is very rich, as students find many ideas they can refer to throughout the case. Another highlight of the session is always the Q&A at the end of the session, where students can chat with Cynthia Hansen, the case protagonist, and further explore the world of corporate philanthropy.”
On case writing tips…
Ane added: “My top tip for writing a good case is to have a clear teaching objective before you even start writing it. It is key to understand why you are writing the case, where you want to take your students’ discussion, and what the main take aways should be. Do not try to cover everything with just one case; better to have one strong message than many smaller ones.”
Final word…
Anne concluded: “Go for it!
“I was hesitant about writing the case in the beginning, as I had never written one before and was not sure where to start. But it was a rewarding journey, and I am now proud of the case we published.
“The Case Centre has great resources to help with the conceptualisation, writing and editing of the cases. If you have an educational need and an interesting story to tell, don’t doubt it and just go for it.”
