It was June 2011, and Alain Chuard and Victoria Ransom reflected on their history as founders of Wildfire Interactive Inc. (Wildfire). Originally called Promotion Builder, Wildfire had evolved from an in-house marketing solution used by the duo's adventure travel company to a multi-platform software program used by thousands of businesses globally. The Wildfire product enabled these customers to develop customized social-media marketing campaigns composed of video and essay competitions, user-generated contests, quizzes, and coupons. Users could then push these promotions to their websites or social networks, such as Facebook, hi5, and LinkedIn. Through this evolution, the team contended with a myriad of difficulties, including attracting talent, navigating international markets, and building and scaling operations. In particular, obstacles associated with cultural differences and geographical distance made it challenging for the company to maintain effective operations overseas. Moreover, relative to its competitors, Wildfire was substantially under-funded and under-marketed. This made it difficult for the founders to decide when the company should either accept or turn away lucrative-yet demanding-high-profile customers. Chuard and Ransom were now at another critical decision point in the organization's lifecycle. Wildfire had traditionally been a campaign-based product. Under this model, Wildfire was offered to customers for an initial fee plus a per-day charge, the size of which was dependent upon the feature set chosen by the customer. Recent pressures from investors and consumers, however, had pushed the founders to consider a transition to a subscription-based platform that would provide timeline and stream management, analytics, and page-management functionality. Whereas the founders knew that transforming business models could have various positive effects for Wildfire, implementing the change would also inherently alter the company and its product

Alain Chuard and Victoria Ransom reflected on their history as founders of Wildfire Interactive Inc. (Wildfire). Originally called Promotion Builder, Wildfire had evolved from an in-house marketing solution used by the duo's adventure travel company to a multi-platform software program used by thousands of businesses globally. The Wildfire product enabled these customers to develop customized social-media marketing campaigns composed of video and essay competitions, user-generated contests, quizzes, and coupons. Users could then push these promotions to their websites or social networks, such as Facebook, hi5, and LinkedIn. By summer 2011, Wildfire had achieved significant success and the founders believed that the company had reached a turning point. The team had analyzed the histories of similar industries (e.g., e-mail marketing) and determined that Wildfire's space likely would not support several independent companies and would ultimately experience an industry-wide consolidation. This meant that Wildfire would probably not be able to maintain the status quo and that Chuard and Ransom may need to consider the possibility of going public, getting acquired, or raising additional capital to bolster the firm's presence in the market. In May 2012, two large acquisitions occurred in the space and triggered a flurry of M&A activity. Among these events was an offer by Google to purchase Wildfire for $350 million with the contingency that Ransom and Chuard provide Google with a decision within 24 hours. The team set forth evaluating their options.

The case tells the story of Kate Doerksen in her journey as founder and CEO of Ditto, an eyewear e-commerce company that introduced virtual fitting technology. The case covers the period from the founding of the company in 2010 to its situation in December 2012, when the company faced a number of decisions including facing lawsuits from a competitor and a patent troll. This case focuses on the following elements of Doerksen's story: How Doerksen became interested in starting her own company, built a solid foundation of experiences, and made some key decisions to start Ditto. How Doerksen developed and crafted the idea of building an eyewear e-commerce company powered by virtual fitting technology. The dilemmas that Doerksen faced in her quest for the ideal cofounder(s) of Ditto. Doerksen's decision to hire her own father, against investors' advice and how she balanced investors' needs against organizational needs. The lawsuits against Ditto from 1-800-Contacts and Lennon Imaging Technology, including Doerksen's way of dealing with the attacks, her perseverance, and innovative approach to keeping the business alive.

Mara Group is a rapidly growing Pan-African conglomerate run by its entrepreneurial CEO Ashish Thakkar. The case explores Thakkar's decision on which African markets to expand operations into.

Mara Group is a rapidly growing Pan-African conglomerate run by its entrepreneurial CEO Ashish Thakkar. The case explores Thakkar's decision on which African markets to expand operations into.

Provides the opportunity to value a leveraged buy-out; and to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders. Here, the context is a "going private" transaction in Europe, where the financing plan called for the addition to the company's balance sheet of a significant amount of new debt and a reshaping of the capital structure. While leveraged buyouts had been used in Europe for several years, this was likely the first LBO done with a company that had publicly traded investment grade debt outstanding. The increased debt from the deal would increase the risk to the company and to the existing bonds, and the bonds' prices would fall significantly as a result. Students can use discounted cash flow techniques to value the LBO. They can then consider the wisdom of undertaking the LBO at the offered price, and work out a sensible debt schedule for the company. Students must also evaluate the effect of the transaction on the existing bonds, and understand the principles governing contractual duties (and how they differ from fiduciary obligations) towards bondholders (accounting for a business and social culture outside the United States) in order to determine the best course of action for the private equity buyers.

In late 2013, Rajeev Kulkarni needed to decide how best to facilitate the emergence of a broad base of users and content to promote the sale of 3D Systems's consumer-focused 3D printers. As yet, neither the company nor users had identified an indispensable application for 3D printing for consumers, despite a plethora of potential opportunities.

Set in 2013, this case describes the expansion of car2go, a popular car sharing service developed by Daimler AG. The case addresses the changing commuting preferences among urban residents, the evolution of urban transportation and new service developments in the automotive products market. Unlike traditional models of car sharing or renting, which required advance bookings, hourly billing and returns to the originating location, car2go's business model offered minute-based rates and a free-floating selection of cars that allowed customers to pick up or leave vehicles wherever they liked.

The Iora Health case looks at a new approach to the management and delivery of primary care. Instead of having a doctor, half a nurse and two accountants, Iora deploys a doctor, a nurse and several health coaches, all operating as an integrated team. Iora focuses on measuring and improving health. They are paid to manage a population rather than on a fee for service basis. They spend twice as much on primary care and hope to save over 20% on total care by improving health and obviating the need for acute interventions. The action question in the cases revolves around a proposed financing for the company at a time when several locations are up and running but the model has not been fully validated.

Strava is a new fast-growing social network for the avid cyclist and runner. The Strava case traces the entrepreneurial journey of two serial entrepreneurs who have been co-founders in a prior venture, and who have co-founded Strava 3 years ago. The protagonists must decide whether or not to accept the Series A investment terms from their venture capitalists.

Taxing corporations is popular, but why? Corporations do not bear the burden of taxes, people do, and the incidence of the corporate income tax burden is likely to be far different from what many of its supporters assume. Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.

This technical note describes the practice of employee furloughs (also known as work sharing or short time work) including their regulatory frameworks in different countries and the business and ethical implications of their use.

An NPR report, which uncovers labor-camp-like working conditions at Apple's Foxconn supplier in China has gone viral. With 2011 revenues of $92 billion, the contractor, which manufacturers Apple's Mac computers, iPhones, and iPads is the fourth-largest information technology company in the world. Forced to work in conditions where they are both physically and mentally abused, some workers are driven to suicide, while those who remain are required to work excessive overtime, denied meal breaks, not informed about the chemicals in use, refused the wage increases promised to them, and exposed to two explosions - one that leaves three dead and 15 injured and another that injures 61. Students are asked to take on the role of Apple CEO Tim Cook and respond to a petition by Change.org, signed by 250,000 people calling on Apple to take responsibility for the appalling conditions in its supply chain.

After studying medicine and specialising in paediatrics in India, Dr Vibha Krishnamurthy, the founder and Medical Director of Ummeed, underwent further training in children's developmental disabilities in the US. The resources available at the centres there highlighted the lack of similar facilities in India. After relocating to India in 1998, she decided to set out on her own. In November 2001, supported by her husband, Vibha founded Ummeed - a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that provides an integrated medical and therapeutic support system for children with developmental disabilities. Founded with an initial staff of only three, Ummeed has grown to include about 50 professionals, ranging from paediatricians to therapists and social workers. It has also moved into areas of training, research and advocacy, and is increasingly well regarded as one of India's leading NGOs, respected for its work with children with disabilities. But with this growth, the constant challenge to procure adequate funding has been exacerbated. Ummeed's strategic plan and business model is built around the theory that if it were able to access children with disabilities early through their families, it could maximise their outcomes for educational, financial and social achievement. Hence, its business model involves creating ways to access families by building awareness and demand in communities, with subsequent capacity building and training. But is this the most effective way to create a change for children with disabilities? Vibha also recognises that Ummeed's evolution has brought her to a crossroads where a decision will soon have to be made: while on the one hand, she would like to keep Ummeed 'small', retaining the personalised organisation culture that she has embedded at all levels - on the other hand, she would like to scale-up Ummeed, so that it could extend its reach. How should Ummeed position itself? What would be the best way to create an impact in this field?

After spending a few years in the corporate world, in 2012, a young entrepreneur in India decided to start up his own venture developing mobile applications that supported interactive comic content. Called TodTales, the innovative e-comic would incorporate music, interactive games and augmented reality in a comic book format that would encourage young children to read. He had raised the initial seed funding from his own and his partner’s personal resources and an angel investor. The prototype was ready for demonstration and received positive responses from parents during a focus group study conducted in Mumbai. With the hope of going commercial by the end of 2014, the founder knew that he should start the next stage of development by convincing prospective investors that his idea had commercial potential and would quickly find a market not only in India but around the world.