Part (A) of the case is about how Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying Pte Ltd, a company based in Singapore, searches for the corporate strategy and vision for his company. SimpliFlying was founded in March 2008, and was originally a blog, which commented on issues in marketing aviation. After thinking about how he could find a niche for his business, Nigam decided to sell his company's services by combining the three pillars of aviation, marketing and technology through social media. However, he recognised that he still needed to decide on the long-term positioning of the company - should SimpliFyling focus on strategy consulting, or strategy execution (agency) work, or both. At the same time, Nigam's company was also receiving calls from hotels to help them with branding projects. In the end, Nigam decides that the company should handle business that was related to aviation strategy only. Part (B) of the case covers a specific project that SimpliFlying is handling. By November 2011, SimpliFlying had developed into a reputed aviation market strategy consulting and training firm. Estonian Airline's social media loyalty programme was not only SimpliFlying's second major airline project, but also the first airline loyalty programme in the world to be driven purely by social media. Despite the challenging timeline - only eight weeks from conceptualisation to launch - SimpliFlying had managed to deliver beyond expectations. However, Nigam had to consider if the approach he had used was the best way to implement bigger projects going forward.
The director of A & S Software Group was recalling his entrepreneurial journey. It was in August 2013, and over the past 16 years he had seen the evolution of the company’s flagship product — enterprise resource planning software for educational institutes — and a variety of business models associated with it. While the product strategy evolved through various stages, he had conceptualized Blue Print software as a tool to enable the rapid development of software applications. As he aspired to take his business to the next level, he was searching for answers to the following questions: What are the possible options for improving the flagship product in the coming years? Could it be offered as a service? Does it make sense to take Blue Print software to the market?
Juchheim Co. Ltd. was a confectionery family firm located in Japan. The chief executive officer and owner faced two important issues related to the future success of the firm: managing succession into the next generation and determining the company’s expansion strategy in the overseas market. Under the Japanese tradition of patriarchal primogeniture, the owner’s eldest son was the heir apparent and would take over the company. However, the market scenario had changed; new demographic and economic conditions had brought challenges that the company had never faced before.
<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Responsible Leadership category at the EFMD Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>The president and CEO of Providence Healthcare needs to devise a plan to sustain positive change at the health care company. In just four years, she has led the organization through massive change and turnaround, from potential crisis to financial health and innovation. She now needs to consider how to integrate and embed the values that helped her drive change and foster collaboration, both at Providence and with its key partners. What more can she do to sustain positive change at Providence Healthcare through her values-based leadership and to win the support of key stakeholders well into the future? Much of the success thus far has depended on her values and character as a leader.
In September 2013, Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling was in its third year of operations and had so far been a success. Its beers and bourbons had won several tasting awards and its financials were meeting expectations, but the management team was starting to feel acute growing pains. Before the owners could even focus on growth plans, there were some unanswered questions they needed to tackle. Considering the current production records, what was the maximum attainable capacity of the plant? Would brewing capacity need to be expanded and, if so, what equipment should be purchased? Should the focus be placed on automating the brewing or filling process? Finally, what were the operational consequences of the recently passed beer laws in Texas? The owners had to choose an operational scenario for the 2014–2019 capital and manpower budget that would address these concerns.
This Reading takes a deep look at the venture capital (VC) industry in the United States. VCs have a unique perspective on opportunity evaluation, deal structure, new venture support, and exit strategy. Their work at all stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle offers many lessons to company founders, even those whose ventures are not backed by VCs. This Reading follows the chronological cycle of VC activity from the entrepreneur's vantage point: deal evaluation, deal pricing, structure and terms, working with VCs once the deal has been signed, and exit. The topics of deal pricing, structure, and terms are treated in particular depth through a detailed examination of a term sheet -- the contract that sets out the terms of the VC financing.
Setting equitable and "market" level compensation for founders and early employees of startups is one of the most important elements of a new venture. It is not only central to attract and retain the best human capital for the startup, but is critical to align incentives between investors and management. This note provides a framework to think about compensation in startup ventures and is intended for entrepreneurs thinking about starting a venture, as well as for employees looking to join a young high-potential startup.
The CareMessage case describes the evolution of the nonprofit organization from its founding in 2012 through the end of 2014. CareMessage was launched by Vineet Singal, a young biological sciences graduate from Stanford University. Having dealt with his own personal health issues, Singal was passionate about helping patients get the right information, support, and motivation to make better health decisions. Singal was especially determined to help low-income patients, who historically lacked the tools and resources for effective health management. The case emphasizes some of the major challenges and decisions faced by Singal in the organization's early years: the appropriate technology to serve CareMessage's mission, CareMessage's business model (market, pricing, go-to-market strategy, competition), structuring the venture as a nonprofit or for-profit organization, and scaling the business. As of 2014, CareMessage had proven incredibly successful in its ability to serve low-income patients across the United States by targeting health care providers in low-income neighborhoods, yet these opportunities were fairly limited in terms of revenue and profit potential. Thus, Singal faced a dilemma; should CareMessage pursue additional markets, partnerships, and revenue opportunities, or instead stay the course by continuing to focus on low-income health care providers?
Established in 1994, the Tsinghua Science Park ("TusPark") is one of the earliest university science parks in China and was rated the first A-class university science park by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education. The main functions of TusPark are to promote regional independent innovation, build a university-industry cooperation platform, facilitate the commercialization of research achievements, and incubate start-up enterprises. Today, TusPark hosts about 550 enterprises, including 380 technology companies. These enterprises have created total sales revenue of over RMB 4 billion, and together, they apply for more than 2,000 intellectual property rights each year. Despite these remarkable achievements, Mei Meng and his team are looking further into the future. As China is transitioning from a manufacturing-based economy to an innovation and entrepreneurship-driven economy, there is an enormous opportunity for TusPark to play an important role in this transition. Nevertheless, changes in the external environment also prompted TusPark to adjust its development strategy accordingly, and the question is, how?
Describes the formation and rapid growth of a drug testing company. The company needs to decide whether to enter the painkiller testing market, in addition to growing its drug treatment center business. The associated teaching materials provide students the opportunity to weigh the attractiveness of alternative mechanisms for financing the company's expansion.
"Thin political markets" are the processes through which some of the most complex and critical institutions of our capitalist system are determined-e.g., our accounting-standards infrastructure. In thin political markets, corporate managers are largely unopposed-because of their own expertise and the general public's low awareness of the issues. This enables managers to structure the "rules of the game" in self-serving ways. The result is a structural flaw in the determination of critical institutions of our capitalist system, which, if ignored, can undermine the legitimacy of the system. This article provides some ideas on how to fix the problem.
The past few decades have seen an increasing role for the private sector in poverty alleviation. The variety of names used to describe these initiatives-corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, base of the pyramid, impact investing, not-for-loss business, and corporate philanthropy-obscures the similarity among them: they all sacrifice economic profits in return for social impact. This article uses economic theory to develop a cost-based taxonomy of private sector initiatives in poverty alleviation by taking into consideration which costs are being subsidized. This highlights the incentive effects, allowing the donor to increase the efficiency and impact of the initiative.
Can innovation and entrepreneurship stimulate economic growth in diverse communities, or is it only effective in a few unique places like Silicon Valley? This article identifies the salient components, behaviors, and linkages that characterize Silicon Valley and explores how these characteristics apply in a diverse selection of economic communities in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. It focuses on the role institutions-such as governments, universities, major corporations, and NGOs-play in shaping such communities. It provides insights for government policy makers on how to enhance their region's innovation potential, and offers strategies for entrepreneurs and venture investors as to how to leverage the benefits of clusters of innovation, wherever one is located.
When it comes to agility, startups have an edge over large corporations-whereas large corporations sit on resources which startups can only dream of. The combination of entrepreneurial activity with corporate ability seems like a perfect match, but often goes unused. This article examines how large corporations from the tech industry have begun to tap into entrepreneurial innovation from startups. Prominent examples are used to inductively derive a set of four models commonly used to engage with startups and to describe their characteristics, challenges, and rationales. While corporate equity is the key mechanism behind more established models, newer approaches replace equity with shared technology to connect both worlds with fewer organizational costs. This article presents a typology of corporate mechanisms to engage with startups that balance speed and agility against control and strategic direction, to map the ways companies can bridge the gap between themselves and the startup world.
Can a one-time incentive induce workers to commit to short- and long-term training to remain competitively employable? A one-time offer of $60 was given to workers who finished two courses within 4 months. It had a remarkable, positive effect on training participation during this period, and a sustained effect beyond it, but this only occurred when two psychological techniques were used to increase commitment to training and to shape perceptions of the incentive. These results have practical implications for companies and governmental organizations wanting well-trained workforces to sustain growth in competitive environments.
The past year has brought a rush of interest among academics in how sensory inputs influence consumers on deep, non-conscious levels--and companies are starting to put these findings to use. One example is Dunkin' Donuts: In a highly successful campaign in Korea, an atomizer released a coffee aroma in public buses whenever the company jingle was played, increasing visits and sales in nearby stores. Another is BMW, which mikes engine sounds through a car's audio system in order to enhance the sporty feel. Every consumer company, experts say, should be thinking about how to use the senses to create and intensify brand personalities. This reprint contains two additional Idea Watch articles. "Not As Global As We Think" provides visual depictions of "connectedness" on individual country and aggregate levels, revealing that the world is not flat after all. "Why a Dutiful Spouse Can Boost Your Career" describes a new study showing that employment outcomes--income, number of promotions, and job satisfaction--are boosted by having a conscientious spouse.