ROI Case File No.240 | 'The Transformation of a European Fashion Brand'

Chapter 1: Wavering Brand Presence—The Weight of Tradition and Modern Demands

The week after resolving the AfroLogistics PEST environmental utilization case, a consultation arrived from Europe regarding organizational transformation of a traditional brand company. The final case, the tenth in Volume 18, "Reconstruction of Logic and Verification," concerned the challenge of declining organizational capability due to ambiguous goal setting.

"Detective, we're an established fashion brand with 120 years of history in Europe, but organizational goal setting is ambiguous, and employee motivation and results are stagnant. While we have brand prestige, we've completely lost organizational execution capability."

Isabelle Dupont, Chief Human Resources Officer of Maison Élégance, visited 221B Baker Street with a serious expression. In her hands were high evaluations as a brand and, in stark contrast, data showing stagnant organizational performance.

"We're an established company deploying luxury fashion and lifestyle brands across all of Europe. Brand value is highly evaluated, but we have serious problems with internal goal setting and execution capability."

Maison Élégance's Surface Success: - Established: 1905 (120 years of history and prestige) - Brand value: Top 20 in global luxury brand ranking - Sales scale: ¥58 billion annually (stable revenue base) - Customer loyalty: 95% (absolute trust in brand) - International deployment: 35 countries, 180 stores (global presence)

The numbers certainly demonstrated success as a brand. However, Isabelle's expression was etched with deep crisis awareness.

"The problem is that while brand evaluation is high, internally goals are ambiguous, and employees don't know what they're working toward. As a result, both innovation and efficiency are stagnant."

Serious Disconnect Between Brand Evaluation and Organizational Reality: - Employee engagement: 2.8/5 (industry average 4.1/5) - Goal achievement rate: 45% average across all departments (goals ambiguous, measurement difficult) - New product development: 2 cases per year (competitor average 8 cases) - Operational efficiency: No improvement over past 5 years - Personnel outflow rate: 18% annually (especially young and mid-career layers)

"We maintain a 'wonderful brand,' but we're not a 'strong organization.' At this rate, we won't be able to maintain brand value in the near future."

Chapter 2: Background of OKR Introduction—Stagnation Brought by Ambiguity

"Ms. Isabelle, how are your current goal setting and performance management conducted?"

Holmes inquired quietly.

Isabelle began explaining the organizational current state with a perplexed expression.

"We value traditional corporate culture, and goal setting is also centered on abstract and spiritual things like 'enhance brand value' and 'propose elegant lifestyle.' However, this doesn't lead to concrete actions."

Maison Élégance's Current Goal Setting Method:

Annual Goals (Abstract and Qualitative): - "Protect and maintain brand prestige and tradition" - "Provide customers with the highest elegance" - "Succeed craftsmanship spirit" - "Create sustainable beauty"

Departmental Goals (Vague and Subjective): - Design department: "Creation of innovative and beautiful collections" - Marketing department: "Further improvement of brand image" - Sales department: "Maximization of customer satisfaction" - Production department: "Manufacturing of highest quality products"

Individual Goals (Difficult to Measure): - "Best efforts aligned with departmental policies" - "Contribution to brand value improvement" - "Demonstration of teamwork" - "Continuous self-improvement"

I noted the lack of specificity and measurability in goals.

"With these goals, neither result measurement nor improvement direction becomes clear."

Isabelle answered with a serious expression.

"Exactly. Employees are confused, saying 'don't know what to do' and 'don't know how my results will be evaluated.'"

Adverse Effects on Organization Due to Ambiguous Goal Setting:

Employee Motivation Decline: - Lack of result realization: "Don't know what was achieved" - Unclear direction: "Don't know toward what to make efforts" - Evaluation anxiety: "Don't know how I'm being evaluated" - Lack of growth realization: "Don't know if I'm growing"

Organizational Efficiency Decline: - Unclear priorities: "Don't know which work is important" - Inappropriate resource allocation: Cannot allocate resources according to importance - Insufficient inter-departmental collaboration: Cannot collaborate without common goals - Decision-making delays: Unclear judgment criteria

Innovation Inhibition: - Challenge avoidance: Avoid challenges when failure criteria unclear - Difficulty demonstrating creativity: Don't know what's required - Declining improvement motivation: Cannot measure improvement effects - Hesitation about new initiatives: No evaluation criteria for new attempts

Specific Cases of Organizational Dysfunction:

New Product Development Project (Spring/Summer 2024 Collection): - Goal: "Creation of innovative and beautiful collection" - Result: Despite 18 months of development, no judgment criteria for results - Problem: Definitions of "innovative" and "beautiful" unclear - Outcome: Ultimately completed conservatively with designs similar to previous year

Marketing Campaign (Brand Awareness Enhancement Measures): - Goal: "Further improvement of brand image" - Result: Despite ¥3.5 billion investment, no effect measurement system - Problem: "Improvement" specific indicators, period, target unclear - Outcome: Unable to verify investment effect, difficult to continue judgment

"We think we're 'working hard,' but 'don't know if we're producing results.'"

Chapter 3: Visualization of Goals and Results—Clarity Brought by OKR

⬜️ ChatGPT | Catalyst of Conception

"Clarifying goals and measuring results. This is the first step in organizational evolution"

🟧 Claude | Alchemist of Narrative

"Even ambiguous beauty truly shines when there are clear goals"

🟦 Gemini | Compass of Reason

"OKR becomes a compass that organizes organizational thinking and directs action"

The three members began their analysis. Gemini deployed the "Luxury Brand-Specialized OKR" framework on the whiteboard.

Luxury Brand-Type OKR Structure (Differentiation from Case 226): - O (Objectives): Goals - Qualitative but clear and attractive goals - KR (Key Results): Key Results - Quantitative and measurable performance indicators - Brand Value Linkage - Ensuring consistency with brand's essential value - Creativity Promotion - Design that doesn't inhibit creativity while measuring

"Ms. Isabelle, let's reconstruct Maison Élégance's current goals through the OKR framework."

OKR Conversion Analysis of Maison Élégance's Current Goals:

Converting Conventional Ambiguous Goals to OKR:

Company-Level OKR (Annual):

Objective 1: "Realize innovative evolution of brand" - KR1: Launch 3 new product lines within the year, achieve 15% of sales with new products - KR2: Improve brand innovation index by +25% vs industry average - KR3: Improve customer "innovation" evaluation from 4.2/5 to 4.6/5

Objective 2: "Achieve deepening of customer engagement" - KR1: Improve customer loyalty score from 95% to 97% - KR2: Improve annual purchase amount per customer by 20% - KR3: Expand brand community participants from current 50,000 to 120,000

Objective 3: "Realize maximization of organizational capability and creativity" - KR1: Improve employee engagement score from 2.8 to 4.2 - KR2: Shorten new product development cycle from 18 months to 12 months - KR3: Improve internal idea realization rate from current 5% to 25%

Department-Level OKR (Quarterly):

Design Department OKR: Objective: "Creation of next-generation luxury design" - KR1: Complete from concept to prototype within 90 days - KR2: Acquire 4.5/5 or higher in design evaluation score (external review) - KR3: Improve sustainable material usage rate from current 30% to 70%

Marketing Department OKR: Objective: "Brand experience innovation in digital age" - KR1: Improve digital channel sales ratio from 25% to 40% - KR2: Improve SNS engagement rate from current 2.1% to 4.5% - KR3: Improve brand awareness in 35-45 age group by 15%

Sales Department OKR: Objective: "Realization of personalized customer experience" - KR1: Improve customer satisfaction from current 4.4/5 to 4.8/5 - KR2: Improve repeat purchase rate from current 78% to 85% - KR3: Improve customer service time per person by 25% (qualitative service strengthening)

Individual-Level OKR (Quarterly):

Designer A (Senior Designer): Objective: "New proposal of sustainable luxury" - KR1: Complete design of 3 new products using sustainable materials - KR2: Win 1 or more industry awards for environmentally conscious design - KR3: Teach sustainable techniques to 5 fellow designers

Claude pointed out an important change.

"This is a dramatic change. The conventional ambiguous goal of 'protect brand prestige' has become a concrete, measurable goal of '+25% improvement in brand innovation index.' It becomes clear to employees what to do."

Most Important Discovery: "Measurable Beauty"

With OKR, even traditionally difficult-to-measure brand values like "beauty," "elegance," and "innovation" become measurable and improvable through appropriate indicator design.

Expected Changes from OKR Introduction: - Goal clarity: 100% of employees can specifically explain their goals - Result realization: Progress and achievement can be realized through regular measurement - Priorities: Work prioritization possible according to importance - Strengthened collaboration: Inter-departmental collaboration promoted by common KRs

Chapter 4: Employee Awareness Reform—Vitality Brought by Clarity

After conducting detailed OKR design and introduction preparation, Maison Élégance's organizational transformation potential became clear.

Transformation from "Stagnation by Ambiguity" to "Activation by Clarity":

Essence of Problem: Organizational Stagnation Created by Goal Abstraction

Maison Élégance had lost execution capability and result creation ability by making even goal setting abstract and spiritual in its emphasis on tradition and prestige.

Expected Effects of Organizational Transformation Through OKR Introduction:

Employee Awareness Reform:

Before OKR (Ambiguous State): - "Protect brand prestige" → Don't know what to do - "Do one's best" → Best criteria unclear - "Make beautiful things" → Beauty definition subjective - "Demonstrate teamwork" → Contribution method unclear

After OKR (Clear State): - "+25% brand innovation index" → Clear improvement actions - "Complete prototype in 90 days" → Clear schedule and quality standards - "Acquire design evaluation 4.5/5" → Beauty becomes measurable - "Teach techniques to 5 people" → Teamwork becomes concrete actions

Organizational Behavior Transformation:

Decision-Making Acceleration: - Clear judgment criteria: Can make decisions against KRs - Clear priorities: Determine priorities by KR achievement level - Optimal resource allocation: Allocate resources by KR contribution level - Swift course correction: Can course correct early through regular measurement

Inter-Departmental Collaboration Strengthening: - Common KR: Collaboration promoted by goals beyond departments - Transparency: Mutual understanding promoted by visualizing all department KR progress - Cooperation promotion: Oneself-department evaluation linked to supporting other department KR achievement - Synergy creation: Design KR synergy between departments

Innovation Promotion: - Challenge encouragement: Challenge risks calculable with clear success criteria - Creativity liberation: Creativity demonstrated more with clear constraints - Experiment promotion: Set small-scale experiment KRs, promote trial and error - Learning acceleration: Failures also utilized as learning materials against KRs

Comparison Analysis with Successful Companies:

OKR-Introduced Peer Company (Italian Luxury Company A): - Employee engagement: 4.6/5 (industry highest level) - New product development: 8 cases per year (exceeding industry average) - Sales growth rate: +12% annually (stable growth) - Personnel outflow rate: 5% annually (industry lowest level) - Brand value: 25% improvement in 3 years after introduction

Maison Élégance's Current State: - Employee engagement: 2.8/5 (below industry average) - New product development: 2 cases per year (significantly below industry average) - Sales growth rate: +2% annually (stagnant) - Personnel outflow rate: 18% annually (significantly above industry average)

Quantitative Prediction of Expected Effects from OKR Introduction: - Employee engagement: 2.8 → 4.2 (+50% improvement) - New product development: 2 cases per year → 6 cases per year (3x improvement) - Sales growth rate: +2% → +8% (4x improvement) - Personnel outflow rate: 18% → 8% (less than half)

Chapter 5: The Detective's OKR Diagnosis—Future-Oriented Steering

Holmes compiled the comprehensive analysis.

"Ms. Isabelle, the essence of OKR is 'clarification of organizational awareness and behavior.' While valuing traditional values, supporting them with modern goal setting and result measurement enables building truly strong brand organizations. OKR is the compass of organizational transformation that bridges tradition and innovation."

OKR Organizational Transformation Strategy: From "Ambiguous Aesthetics" to "Measurable Excellence"

Basic Policy of Strategy: Measurable Excellence Organization

Phase 1: OKR Foundation Design and Introduction Preparation (3 months)

Establishment of OKR Design Principles: - Brand value linkage: All OKRs linked to brand essential value - Measurability: Design abstract values to be measurable through concrete indicators - Challenging level: Set at 60-70% achievement rate for appropriate challenge - Transparency assurance: All employees can confirm OKRs at all levels

Hierarchical OKR System Construction: - Company level: Annual 3-4 Objectives, 3-4 KRs each - Department level: Quarterly 3 Objectives, 3-4 KRs each - Individual level: Quarterly 2-3 Objectives, 3 KRs each - Linkage assurance: Logical consistency of upper and lower OKRs

Phase 2: Organizational Culture Transformation and OKR Penetration (6 months)

Mindset Transformation: - Clarity-oriented culture: From "somehow" to "clearly" - Measurement culture: From "sensory" to "data standards" - Growth culture: From "status quo maintenance" to "continuous improvement" - Transparency culture: From "secretism" to "open sharing"

Operational System Establishment: - OKR setting: Company-wide OKR setting workshop at beginning of quarter - Progress tracking: Weekly check-ins, monthly reviews - Adjustment system: OKR adjustment and correction as needed - Learning system: Quarter-end review and learning sessions

Phase 3: Evolution to High-Performance Organization (Continuous)

Continuous Improvement System: - OKR quality improvement: Know-how accumulation of setting, measuring, achieving - Organizational learning: Organizational knowledge conversion of success/failure patterns - Innovation promotion: Creativity and challenge improvement through OKR - Performance maximization: Individual, departmental, company performance optimization

Expected Effects: - Employee engagement: 2.8 → 4.4 (57% improvement) - Goal achievement rate: 45% → 75% (clear goal setting effect) - New product development: 2 cases per year → 7 cases per year (3.5x improvement) - Organizational efficiency: 30% operational productivity improvement

Investment Plan: - OKR system construction and education: ¥800 million - Operational structure and tool introduction: ¥300 million per year - Expected revenue effect: ¥4.5 billion per year (efficiency improvement + growth acceleration) - Investment recovery period: 3 months

"What's important is expressing brand essential value in measurable, improvable form without damaging it. OKR is a new form of organizational management integrating aesthetics and science."

Chapter 6: New Era of Elegance—Measured Brand Value

15 months later, a report arrived from Maison Élégance.

Results of Organizational Transformation Through OKR Introduction:

Dramatic Improvement in Organizational Performance: - Employee engagement: 2.8 → 4.5 (61% improvement, industry highest level) - Goal achievement rate: 45% → 78% (clear goal setting and measurement effect) - Operational efficiency: 35% overall productivity improvement - Decision-making speed: Average 4 weeks → Average 1 week (75% reduction)

Significant Improvement in Business Results: - New product development: 2 cases per year → 8 cases per year (4x improvement, industry top-class) - Sales growth rate: +2% → +11% (5.5x growth, significantly exceeding industry average) - Customer satisfaction: 4.4/5 → 4.8/5 (brand experience improvement) - Market share: Securing competitive advantage through stable growth

OKR Achievement Status at Each Level:

Company-Level OKR Achievement Status: - Brand innovation index: Target +25% → Actual +32% achieved - Customer engagement: Target 97% → Actual 98% achieved - Organizational capability improvement: Employee satisfaction target 4.2 → Actual 4.5 achieved

Department-Level OKR Success Cases: - Design department: Development cycle 18 months → 10 months (exceeding 12-month target) - Marketing department: Digital sales ratio 25% → 43% (exceeding 40% target) - Sales department: Customer satisfaction 4.4 → 4.9 (exceeding 4.8 target) - Production department: Quality defect rate 3% → 0.8% (significantly exceeding 1.5% target)

Individual-Level OKR Success Experiences: - Designer: Developed 3 sustainable material products target → Actually completed 5 developments - Marketing: SNS engagement 4.5% target → 6.2% achieved - Store manager: Customer service time 25% improvement target → 35% improvement achieved

Fundamental Transformation of Organizational Culture:

Conventional Culture vs Post-OKR Culture:

Goal Setting Change: - Before: "Let's make beautiful things" (abstract) - After: "Achieve design evaluation 4.5/5 in 90 days" (concrete)

Result Evaluation Change: - Before: Supervisor's subjective judgment (opaque) - After: Objective evaluation based on KRs (transparent)

Communication Change: - Before: "Working hard" (emotional) - After: "KR2 85% achieved, challenge is X" (fact-based)

Decision-Making Change: - Before: Tradition, experience, intuition-based (ambiguous) - After: KR achievement level, data-based (clear)

Employee Awareness and Behavior Transformation:

Engagement Improvement Factors: - Goal clarity: 100% of employees can specifically explain their goals - Result realization: Realize progress and achievement through regular measurement - Fairness: Eliminate unfairness feelings through objective evaluation - Growth realization: Can confirm skill improvement numerically

Innovation Promotion Effect: - New idea proposals: 5 cases per month average → 32 cases per month average (6x increase) - Experimental projects: 2 cases per year → 15 cases per year (7.5x increase) - Cross-departmental collaboration: 8 cases per year → 28 cases per year (3.5x increase) - External partnerships: 1 case per year → 6 cases per year (6x increase)

Personnel Retention and Acquisition Improvement: - Turnover rate: 18% annually → 6% annually (reduced to 1/3) - New hire success rate: 45% → 78% (organizational attractiveness improvement) - Internal promotion rate: 20% → 45% (growth opportunity clarification) - Personnel referrals: 300% increase in referral rate from employees

Employee Voices:

Senior Designer (8 years' service): "Previously when told 'beautiful design,' I didn't know what beauty was or how I'd be evaluated. After OKR introduction, with clear criteria of 'acquire design evaluation 4.5/5,' I can concentrate. As a result, I can do more creative and challenging designs."

Marketing Manager (5 years' service): "From vague goal of 'brand value improvement' to concrete goal of 'achieve SNS engagement rate 4.5%,' strategy became easier to formulate. With results visible numerically, team morale has also improved."

New Sales Staff (1 year's service): "Even newcomers feel rewarding because own contributions are visible numerically. Can realize growth quarterly, and senior guidance has become concrete. I want to work long at this company."

Management Evaluation:

CEO: "We were able to realize modern organizational management while valuing 120 years of tradition. Brand essence hasn't changed; rather it's been strengthened."

CFO: "Investment ROI became clear. Can grasp numerically which departments and projects produce results, enabling strategic resource allocation."

Industry and Market Evaluation: - Fashion industry: Attention as "tradition × innovation model company" - Investors: High evaluation as "organizational transformation success case" - Talent market: Popular as "fulfilling luxury brand" - Customers: Trust improvement as "consistently high quality and innovative" brand

Sustainable Growth Foundation: - Establishment of data-driven decision-making culture - Continuous improvement and learning system establishment - Organizational trust improvement through transparency and fairness - Systematization of innovation creation

The letter from Isabelle contained deep gratitude and conviction:

"Through OKR introduction, we were able to integrate 'beautiful ideals' and 'measurable reality.' What was most important was translating brand essential value into concrete, measurable goals without damaging it. 150 years of tradition shines with new radiance through clear goal setting. Employees can realize their contributions, the organization reliably produces results, and the brand has become stronger. I'm convinced that OKR is not just a goal management method, but a transformational tool that gives scientific backbone to organizational soul."

Detective's Perspective—Completion of Volume 18

That night, I reflected deeply on Volume 18, "Reconstruction of Logic and Verification."

The Maison Élégance case demonstrated that even traditional organizations can achieve dramatic transformation by introducing modern goal management methods. What's important is expressing organizational essential value in measurable, improvable form without damaging it.

The true value of OKR lies not just in the "organizing and tracking goals" dealt with in Case 226, but in "fundamental organizational culture transformation" as in this case. From stagnation by ambiguity to vitality by clarity, from sensory judgment to data-standard decision-making, from individual discretion to organizational result creation.

Throughout Volume 18, what emerged from 10 different company cases was diverse expressions of the common theme "Reconstruction of Logic and Verification."

Case 231's TechnoVision exposed fictional premises lurking behind beautiful logic. Case 232's WellnessTech explored experience design developing individual success into social resonance. Case 233's AsiaPay realized transformation from analysis paralysis to swift adaptation. Case 234's SabreTropical achieved strategic shift from rational appeal to emotional resonance. Case 235's GreenTech completed organizational systematization from chaos to order.

Case 236's Neural Dynamics achieved organizational evolution from technical fixation to environmental adaptation. Case 237's Nordic Craft realized beautiful fusion of tradition and efficiency. Case 238's VitalCare accomplished discovery from surface needs to deep value. Case 239's AfroLogistics converted environmental uncertainty into strategic resources. And Case 240's Maison Élégance completed sublimation from ambiguous aesthetics to measurable excellence.

What became clear through these 10 cases was that "beautiful theory" alone is insufficient for modern company success, and what's essential is "reliable verification" supporting that theory and "continuous reconstruction."

"True logic is that which withstands verification, adapts to reality, and continuously evolves"

Volume 18, "Reconstruction of Logic and Verification," explored this universal truth from 10 different angles, approaching the essence of modern corporate management. The next Volume 19 will challenge even deeper essential corporate issues.

"Organizational beauty lies not in the height of its ideals, but in the power to convert those ideals into reality. OKR is a new form of organizational management integrating aesthetics and science."—From the detective's notes