Presans was founded in Paris, France in 2008 as an an open innovation intermediary, often referred to as an "innomediary." Using a specific business model that combined open innovation services with state-of-the-art data-mining technology, Presans leveraged a network of over six million experts worldwide to solve problems for its corporate clients. In February 2017, the chief executive officer of Presans had to make some strategic decisions. Based on interviews with clients, he was considering diversifying the portfolio of products. In addition to the company's classic approach of Call for Excellence, he was considering launching a new approach called Synergy Factory, where different companies could jointly tackle technical topics with experts, and another approach called La Conciergerie, which was a simplification of the Call for Expertise and required a platform-based, rather than a service-based, go-to-market strategy.
Founded in 2013 by sisters Shelby, Jackie, and Amy Zitelman, Philadelphia-based Soom Foods (Soom) aimed to educate US consumers on tahini and make the product a staple in US pantries. By 2021, the business had grown into a multimillion-dollar revenue company and had achieved national distribution through an omni-channel sales effort. However, Soom's reliance on the single-source Ethiopian Humera sesame seed to prepare its high-quality tahini had begun to pose challenges. When Ethiopia's inter-ethnic conflicts emerged in 2020, the Zitelman sisters foresaw possible disruptions and uncertainties in their business, especially when those challenges were combined with the supply-chain logistics issues that emerged as a result of the global pandemic in 2021. Soom was forced to reconsider its long-term business strategy: Given the threat of a potentially insufficient future sesame seed supply, should Soom use diversification in its supply chain? If so, how should diversification be applied across the supply chain while still maintaining a good return on investment? Furthermore, how could all of this be done before the next harvesting cycle?
This descriptive case discusses an emerging global market trend and opportunity - the increasing use of beauty products by men, especially those in Asia. "No More Uncle" captures the emotional motivation behind unappealing and/or older-looking men to transform themselves. The case also looks at how the beauty industry may be just one example of a much broader trend and question that companies need to ask - should they adopt gender-neutral marketing when approaching their consumers? Ironically, Asian men were late to beauty care compared to those in Western societies, but they are making up for it by becoming much more aggressive in adopting their products and services. No country is a better example of this than South Korea, which has attained a "lead" market status such as in soap operas, popular music, women's beauty products and now even men's beauty care. The case introduces segments such as NOMU (No More Uncle), JUBAEK (Weekend Department Store Warriors), and YUMMY (Young Urban Males) as well as the ZOOM BOOMERS, a new segment that emerged because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The case describes an important retailing venue for beauty care - the updated barbershop, and wraps up with information about new dimensions on which men's beauty care can innovate and grow. Men's beauty care represents not only an economically viable industry that is growing almost in double digits but shows dynamic consumer behaviour - marketing should not stick to centuries-old assumptions of gender or else significant opportunities will be lost.
Since the early days of the internet, Taiwan had a vibrant community of civic hackers and open-source programmers who engaged with social issues. Audrey Tang was one of them. She spearheaded the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan, where protestors peacefully occupied the Parliament to demand greater transparency around a proposed trade deal with mainland China. As Taiwan's Digital Minister, Tang had been at the forefront of Taiwan's development as a digital democracy that leveraged information technology and citizen participation. Tang referred to democracy as a "social technology." Like any technology, Tang believed that democracy could be improved by people, and experimented with ideas to make democracy work better. She supported the notion that openness and transparency created mutual trust between the public and the government and allowed for collective action. In Taiwan, hackers were seen as partners to the government. Digital technology was used to solicit ideas, build consensus, assess public sentiment, and address both domestic and international misinformation. In early 2020, Tang is faced with the problem of a potentially growing COVID pandemic and the explosion of misinformation. How can Tang control both the pandemic and the infodemic while retaining the government's principles of cooperation and transparency?
The case highlights the significance of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in credit provisioning for companies and related problems. It revolves around Dr. Emandi Sankara Rao, who takes over as the CEO of Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), an NBFC at a time when IFCI has had a sudden and sharp downturn in its performance due to high levels of non-performing assets (NPA). While mulling over various strategic choices for debt resolution, Dr. Rao decides to use the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), a new legislation enacted by the government to address the issues of insolvency resolution in the corporate sector. Since the IBC provides for a creditor-led process of insolvency resolution and in a time-bound manner, Dr. Rao chooses to apply this to a powerful corporate group to which IFCI has a total exposure of INR12.97bn, with INR5.88bn under stress. The case details the challenges that Dr. Rao faces in this journey to resolve the issue of corporate insolvency.
Research on prosocial entrepreneurship so far has focused either on ex-ante motives to create prosocial enterprises or on ex-post strategies to protect mission orientation. Surprisingly little is known about the prosocial entrepreneurial competences that help acquire resources to create blended value once a venture has been established. To fill this gap, this article presents a qualitative study in an Indian setting that shows how prosocial entrepreneurs adopt three types of competences to assemble resources when they establish their ventures.
Leaders of companies anchored in traditional value chains can drive growth by transforming their existing customers into digital customers. Digital customers' interactions generate streams of data that can be used to create fresh revenue and expand the scope of product and service businesses. To achieve this, however, leaders must shift strategic priorities and develop new marketing, business, and revenue- and profit-generation models.
Li Xia is the founder of Shenzhen Power Solution (SPS), a social enterprise established to aid people at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). Her family's financial troubles during her childhood helped her understand the difficulties faced by the BOP consumers. She knew that BOP consumers did not have access to electricity, which restricted their ability to read and improve their standard of living. SPS provides consumers with products such as solar-powered lamps which replaced the more harmful candles and kerosene lamps. Li spent her time reducing costs and improving the quality of her products for BOP consumers, a segment that was underserved. After penetrating the African market, Li was keen on expanding the business, however, the pandemic struck adding unexpected challenges. Supply chain issues caused the business to slow dramatically. She now needs to raise working capital to keep the company running. This case may be used for graduate, postgraduate and executive education classes. By analysing the case, students should be able to gain an insider's perspective into the opportunities and constraints of impact-oriented enterprises, explore commercially viable business models for BOP customers and understand the different avenues for fundraising and the implications on growth and scaling.
Many companies are embedding processes like providing recommendations, taking orders, upselling and delivering services, with minimal customer contact. Key features of this approach, called product-led growth, or PLG, include free or very low-cost introductory pricing, with higher prices for more functionality (like what's offered by Zoom) and overall ease of use. The authors discuss successful PLG strategies and PLG's potential for both software and non technology firms.
This case study is set in June 2022, two and a half years since Raffles Quay Asset Management (RQAM) had rolled out its new vision in preparation for positioning itself for the workplace of the future. RQAM had been established in 2001 to manage and market the commercial properties developed by Asia's leading developers. The new vision provided the 'north star' for the whole organisation and transformed how RQAM managed tenant relationships. It also revolutionised RQAM's approach to commercial real estate management. The new vision leveraged technology opportunities and addressed the needs of RQAM's various stakeholders from its tenants to the community. The RQAM leaders crafted a strategy to deliver the vision within five years. To support the implementation of the vision, the leaders drove significant interventions, of which, one intervention was to align employees across the whole organisation with the 'strategy on a page'.
Innovation is critical for success in the healthcare industry. A key step to that success is the evaluation of new therapies. Managers need to understand the commercial potential of ideas and invest with this in mind. This case helps students understand the challenge of evaluating therapies and tools that can help. Two questions face Clemence Shiffrin, senior vice president for business development at Oakdale Pharmaceuticals, and her business development team in January 2020: First, how valuable is Palforzia, a new preventive drug from Aimmune Therapeutics? Second, what would be the financial value of a cure for peanut allergy? To answer these questions, students must consider market sizing, motivation of patients and physicians, and how to consider the value of preventive treatments and cures. The case is compelling to teach because peanut allergies are common and sometimes very serious; students are engaged from the start, as they understand the issue and quickly see the value in finding a treatment. The challenge is then determining the worth of that value.
Pete Anderson, the general manager of Mumbai Dairy Company, is facing several difficult but related challenges. Revenues and profits at the Mumbai, India-based joint venture are in decline. At the same time, worker strikes and disruptions across India have become a major issue. Internally, employees seem to be unmotivated and many-particularly Anderson's direct reports-appear to be taking him for granted. Employees blame seasonal conditions as the cause of waning performance. Others are complaining that their compensation is too little given the contributions they are making. Anderson needs a plan of action for his upcoming meeting with his Singapore-based boss.
Dr. Pramita Balakrishnan was a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and was one of Canada's most renowned business professors in management communications. Over the past three years, more than 500 students had completed a virtual, cross-cultural, experiential exercise as part of Balakrishnan's management communications course. However, this year, a number of students expressed discomfort in working with a partnering school, Mission University in Louisiana, due to its anti-LGBT2Q+ stance. For example, the Mission University administration required students to sign a values statement that prohibited "sexually impure relationships" such as homosexual activities. Other students in the course wanted to proceed with the exercise. Should she cancel the exercise? What message would her decision send to students, faculty, and administrators at both schools? What would be the potential consequences of her decision and what was the best approach moving forward? Balakrishnan had less than 24 hours to figure out what to do before the exercise was set to launch. The case uses fictional people and institutions to illustrate a pressing and important set of issues in education, with high relevance to business and other organizations.
This case describes the leadership succession planning process at Cesaro e Associati (Studio Cesaro), founded in 1986 by Franco Cesaro in the northeastern Italian state of Veneto. In 2022, Franco was contemplating retirement and passing leadership of his firm, which consulted with other family-owned businesses, to his youngest daughter, Laura. For her part, Laura found much of her work at Studio Cesaro suited her, but she was still figuring out how her own ambitions fit with the firm's future. The case considers the perspectives of Studio Cesaro senior consultants and the Cesaro family-including Laura's mother, sisters, and husband-with a focus on Franco and Laura. Also included is information on Franco's philosophy and approach to family businesses, and descriptions of selected clients and services. The case concludes with Franco, Laura, and the family considering several options for the future equity allocation, governance structure, and business model of the firm.
Agricola Himalaya was a family-owned Colombian company, the national leader in the tea industry, and the owner of the only tea plantation in the country, located in the middle of a mist forest. In Colombia, owing to the labour costs involved in tea production, importing tea was less expensive than producing it locally, but if Agricola Himalaya decided to import the tea, what would be the environmental and social impact of closing the plant and plantation? Agricola Himalaya attempted to resolve this dilemma by entering the specialty tea market, launching a new product that was sustainable and organic, with a range of innovative blends and a premium price. However, after eight years, its Bitaco specialty tea line had not reached break even, and in March 2021 the chief executive officer faced a new dilemma: whether or not to continue with the specialty tea initiative.
When regulators suspended the high profile initial public offering (IPO) of the Chinese fintech company Ant Group, investors and businesspeople were surprised and unsettled. The offering was halted just two days before the planned listing, after Ant had received routine regulatory approvals. Ant Group leadership needed to understand what the government's expectations were and how to reposition the company to move forward and build on its powerful brand and business model, to maintain success in the absence of an immediate IPO.
This case illustrates the founding philosophy and continuous improvement of Spark Education Limited ("Spark Education") and analyzes challenges in the online education industry. Since its inception, Spark Education has been committed to reshaping foundational learning and promoting education equality. Powered by technology and innovation, Spark Education delivered online small classes and AI courses. Based on the operating model of "courses + teaching + service," rounds of innovation and exploration have been conducted. After three years of development, Spark Education has grown into China's largest small-class online platform in mathematics thinking education. However, this young startup's pursuit for further excellence became a big question after the Chinese government introduced the "Double Reduction" policy in July 2021. Affected by this policy, many capital-fueled online and offline education companies, including Spark Education, have been hit hard. The "Double Reduction" policy wrecked Spark Education's IPO plans (the company had submitted its application in the US two months earlier) and imposed significant uncertainty on its future. These market players are in dire need of a way out of the crisis. Looking ahead, Spark Education needs to re-examine its business model and core strengths or build a second growth curve. In August 2021, Spark Education held an executive meeting on its transformation and future business direction. First, Spark Education has to review the value of its online education model, especially the small-class-based adaptive learning model. Second, can Spark Education follow Outschool's model of providing small online classes that were well-received in the US? And if so, what should Spark Education teach? The final question throws it back to the nature of education-What should Spark Education do to provide considerate education services and ensure students enjoy adaptive learning featuring technological innovation? How can children's