Harvard Business School has a case study on the Transformation of Odebrecht (now Novonor)

The presentation of the Case Study “Odebrecht’s ‘Transformation Journey’” took place today, April 9th, at Harvard’s Business School (HBS) in Cambridge, MA, United States.

The authors are Professors Suraj Srinivasan and Lynn S. Paine, of HBS, and researchers Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal, of the HBS Latin America Research Center – LARC.

The object of the study is the major transformations of Odebrecht Group in the period from 2015 to 2018.
The study begins with a historical retrospective covering the years of 1950 to 2015, on the topics of Growth, Investment Diversification, Culture, and impacts of Operation Car Wash on the Group’s business.

The study addresses the initial positions and the evolution in the treatment of the crisis triggered by the operation, the decisions that led to what the group calls its “Journey of Transformation”, the collaboration and leniency agreements signed with Justice authorities, in Brazil and abroad, and the renewal of leadership.

The case describes the commitments assumed by the Group’s Senior Management to a performance based on Ethics, Transparency and Integrity; the New Governance and Compliance System that is implemented from 2016 and consequent Policies reviews; the succession in the Board of Directors and in the executive management of the holding company Odebrecht S.A., and the review of the Business structure, with the reduction from 15 companies, in 2015, to 7, in 2018.

It also mentions the divestment program with the sale of assets; the creation, in 2016, of the Global Advisory Council – GAC, composed of Brazilian and foreign specialists to support the Group in changes in the fields of business ethics, governance, leadership and sustainability; the major challenges related to financial stabilization and reputation rebuilding and rebranding, which results in the creation of new brands and a new visual identity for the companies. Last December, Odebrecht announced that it will be renamed Novonor, a company “inspired by the future”. The final chapter of the Harvard study is called “Searching a Way Forward.”

The class on the case was given today, between 1:40 and 3:00 p.m. Brazilian time (12:40-2:00 p.m. EST), by Professor Lynn S. Paine, remotely for most students, as social distancing measures are in effect at the university, with the presences of Ruy Sampaio, and Guilherme Abreu, of Novonor S.A., and Sergio Foguel, former Board Member, and Luciano Guidolin, former CEO of the Company.