An impact assessment enables organizations to assess the wider impact of their activities on stakeholders, beyond the financial impacts. By assessing all impacts, managers can make better decisions, leading to a more positive impact; reduce their organizations' negative impacts; and identify creative ways to capture the social and environmental value their organizations create. Organizations can undertake an impact assessment on themselves or on organizations in which they invest or plan to invest. This note explains the fundamentals of impact assessment, including what an impact assessment is, how to assess impact, and the main frameworks used to assess impact.
Nuway Software (Nuway) specialized in custom mobile software. While it had procured many contracts over its 15 year history, mostly for the less than truckload and courier sectors of the transportation industry, by the beginning of 2020, it had not found a way to be consistently profitable. Therefore, the goal of Peter Neely, the company's president, was to develop recurring revenue streams. The question was how best to accomplish this goal. Should the company continue with its current business model of building custom software using its Nulogic framework but focus on a diversification strategy? Should it move fully into the creation of an off the shelf software package? Should it utilize a hybrid approach of customizing off the shelf software?
In less than four years, Easy Flower (EF) grew from an e-commerce flower retail start-up to China's largest supply chain operator in fresh flowers. Easy Flower positioned itself as a provider of quality flowers to retail florists. Taking advantage of its strength in technology talent, and pooling its finances, the company successfully created a national distribution infrastructure network, disrupting and transforming the fractured supply chain system of China's flower industry and dramatically enhancing its supply chain efficiency. Having built an industry leader from scratch, founder Rong Chao had to think about Easy Flower's future strategy. In late 2018, he saw two options: further integrating the flower value chain in China, or internationalizing his business by exporting components of his technology and systems to flower platforms in other countries. Constrained by the company's resources, he had to assess the various risks and requirements that each direction would entail.
Four college friends market a beverage that combines ingredients like those in a drink they consumed in college bars. It includes a caffeinated energy drink, malt liquor, and a soft drink flavoring. They launch the business, Big Boom Beverages (BBB), with their own money and funds from friends and family members. Their initial product sells reasonably well, but not enough to remain profitable. When they introduce a reformulated product, Totaled, its social media presence explodes. Young consumers upload many videos to YouTube that record the impacts of consuming large quantities of Totaled that earn millions of views. Totaled becomes a star brand on social media and sales skyrocket. The company is inundated with distribution requests. The founders see success looming. As sales of Totaled and similar products increase, so do reports of binge drinking and its negative consequences. Emergency room doctors and public health officials express concern about the combination of high levels of alcohol and caffeine in these products. Rapidly expanding distribution of the beverage through convenience stores gives underage drinkers easier access to the beverage. All these factors attract national media coverage. The founders are unprepared to deal with the bad reputation their product is gaining and regulatory and public-relations crisis they face. As the case ends, they are deciding how to respond. "Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight?" can be used with undergraduate and MBA courses in entrepreneurship, marketing, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, general management, and public health.
In November 2019, almost a year after it went public, Tencent Music Entertainment Group ("TME") announced its third quarter financial results. Market investors had had high expectations for TME since it was the strategic music arm spun out by Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent"), one of the world's most valuable technology, gaming and social media companies. When TME made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2018, many individual investors were mystified by its "music-centric social entertainment" business model. Was it just the Chinese version of Spotify, which operated the world's most popular music app? Or was it a truly different business model which might generate more lucrative and diversified business revenue than its international counterparts? Some market analysts and investors also wondered if TME presented a more attractive investment opportunity than similar music streaming platforms in the world, including the global leader Spotify. As the global and domestic market became more competitive, how could TME sustain its competitive advantage by leveraging its synergies with Tencent's dominant position in social networking? Would TME's atypical music and social entertainment business model be easily replicated by its industry rivals or adopted beyond the music industry? What role would music streaming platforms play in driving the growth of the music industry and how would it affect the ecosystem of the global entertainment industry?
Following the successful launch of Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company (Beau’s) in all 10 Canadian provinces, the craft brewer had its sights set on the next step forward: international markets. The brewery wanted to distribute Beau’s internationally, and agents from numerous distribution agencies had contacted the export manager about the United States and Europe. The export manager was also considering Asian markets as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of that emerging market. In his view, this market was less congested than the competitive European and American craft beer markets. While market selection was an important consideration, the export manager wondered about how to pursue international growth as a viable strategic option for a craft brewer. Did exporting craft beer make sense? With Beau’s being Canada’s largest producer of organic craft beer, the export manager knew that he had to determine the strategic fit for Beau’s growth aspirations in advance of meetings with prospective agents.
On April 10, 2018, after his morning meeting about the Goodman School of Business expansion project, the site superintendent for the project realized he should consider reworking the schedule for the remainder of the expansion project. The plan had the renovation work in the main hallways scheduled to be done in fall 2018, but the hallways would be used to access all classrooms during that semester. During classroom changeover times, 1,200+ students could be in the hallways, so if construction was underway at that time there could be delays, and traffic flow would be impeded. The challenge for the site superintendent, having already committed to finishing the renovation of eight classrooms and an entire floor of offices before the start of fall classes, was determining whether all the sub-trades involved in the project had capacity and could be coordinated in a way that would result in the completion of the hallways on time for the fall semester.
With the globalization of wine, the wine industry in Portugal has experienced a major shift from a local to a global focus over the last 30 years. Quinta do Vallado, one of the major players in that process, has seen exports double (to account for 40% of revenues) and a 10-fold increase in foreign markets (from 5 in 2000 to 48 in 2020). The case sets out the different choices facing the estate in 2020 as it looks to achieve further growth while staying loyal to the vineyard's heritage in a volatile world.
On April 10, 2018, after his morning meeting about the Goodman School of Business expansion project, the site superintendent for the project realized he should consider reworking the schedule for the remainder of the expansion project. The plan had the renovation work in the main hallways scheduled to be done in fall 2018, but the hallways would be used to access all classrooms during that semester. During classroom changeover times, 1,200+ students could be in the hallways, so if construction was underway at that time there could be delays, and traffic flow would be impeded. The challenge for the site superintendent, having already committed to finishing the renovation of eight classrooms and an entire floor of offices before the start of fall classes, was determining whether all the sub-trades involved in the project had capacity and could be coordinated in a way that would result in the completion of the hallways on time for the fall semester.
Following the successful launch of Beau's All Natural Brewing Company (Beau's) in all 10 Canadian provinces, the craft brewer had its sights set on the next step forward: international markets. The brewery wanted to distribute Beau's internationally, and agents from numerous distribution agencies had contacted the export manager about the United States and Europe. The export manager was also considering Asian markets as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of that emerging market. In his view, this market was less congested than the competitive European and American craft beer markets. While market selection was an important consideration, the export manager wondered about how to pursue international growth as a viable strategic option for a craft brewer. Did exporting craft beer make sense? With Beau's being Canada's largest producer of organic craft beer, the export manager knew that he had to determine the strategic fit for Beau's growth aspirations in advance of meetings with prospective agents.
The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how an unexpected external incidence can threaten or void the business model. It encompasses issues such as minimal viable product, defining and pivoting a business model, organizational requirements for a pivot, investor relations, disruptive business models, as well as business conduct in continental Europe. In 2017, Dr. Torben Antretter, a former competitive tennis player and academic researcher, founded RightNow with his two co-founders. RightNow was set out to provide consumers with "Justice-as-a-Service" by purchasing their legal claims that they would not pursue otherwise. Just one year after its inception, the company had closed a €25 million financing to increase its market share and leverage further growth opportunities. Upon closing of this financing round, matters took a sudden and unexpected turn when the National Supreme Court announced a ruling that airlines were no longer required to refund flight tickets. This decision wiped out RightNow's profit margins. Antretter and his co-founders had to decide what they should do with the business. How should the founders approach investors? Should they quit and walk away from their entrepreneurial dream or try to reinvent the business with a different focus? What would be the strategy going forward?
In September 2019, the founder of Carmien Tea, based in South Africa's Western Cape province, faced a dilemma. Her company, founded in 1998, was a producer and supplier rooibos tea, which was unique to the mountainous area north of Cape Town. After a new South African government was elected in 1994, the deregulation of the agricultural industry enabled the founder to start a rooibos export company. This political environment and the founder's entrepreneurial orientation shaped both the firm's origins and its early internationalization. As 98 per cent of the company's sales were being exported and 84 per cent were still sold as bulk, the founder needed to determine whether the company had the resources and capabilities to ensure that the Carmien Tea brand and its value-added sales would grow in an increasingly competitive international environment. Where should she begin?
Facebook, the world's largest social media company, boasted a worldwide reach with over 140 million companies using the Facebook app, 100 billion messages shared every day, and 70 international offices. With such reach and efficient ability to communicate to people instantly, the company had the potential to be used to sabotage the validity of information consumed daily and even threaten American democracy. This case is about the challenging business decisions that Facebook experienced in response to government and organizations' pressure for more regulations. Government pressure to regulate Facebook's political ads grew prevalent after it became public knowledge that foreign governments (particularly Russia's) manipulated social media to influence the 2016 elections. Russian political actors used a comprehensive set of tools to infiltrate public debates, hack confidential emails of campaign staff, and systematically manipulate Facebook and Twitter to spread misinformation to specific demographics of voters. While Russian operatives strategically targeted their false messages, Facebook and Twitter did not have sufficient mechanisms to prevent the impact of fake news. Students will explore the role of social media companies in regulating political speech and the potential for the spread of misinformation.
In September 2019, the founder of Carmién Tea, based in South Africa’s Western Cape province, faced a dilemma. Her company, founded in 1998, was a producer and supplier rooibos tea, which was unique to the mountainous area north of Cape Town. After a new South African government was elected in 1994, the deregulation of the agricultural industry enabled the founder to start a rooibos export company. This political environment and the founder's entrepreneurial orientation shaped both the firm’s origins and its early internationalization. As 98 per cent of the company’s sales were being exported and 84 per cent were still sold as bulk, the founder needed to determine whether the company had the resources and capabilities to ensure that the Carmién Tea brand and its value-added sales would grow in an increasingly competitive international environment. Where should she begin?
This three-part case study is about Anu, a young Singaporean MBA graduate. Part A begins with Anu's story when she relocates to start work at her dream job at Tech-edu in Denmark. Soon after, she picks up cues that make her suspect that things are not quite right at the company. Tech-edu's founder and CEO, Sofia Vilkner, was an old and dear school friend, and the state-of-the-art learning platform that the firm was developing had appeared very promising with investors already putting in funds amounting to US$3 million. However, Anu is hearing rumours from the other team members and investors that the firm does not deliver what it promises. While she continues to have faith in the start-up and its CEO, she is beginning to have some doubts. Are there red flags she is missing out on? What should she do? In Part B, Anu decides to probe further and starts talking to people to find out what is going on. She also meets with Sophia, the CEO, to raise her concerns. Sophia denies any wrongdoing. Anu's immediate boss, Eric, manages to provide more information about what the firm is doing and its future plans, and Anu's suspicions are temporarily assuaged. Part C reveals how Anu is abruptly fired from her job and has to return to Singapore.
This three-part case study is about Anu, a young Singaporean MBA graduate. Part A begins with Anu's story when she relocates to start work at her dream job at Tech-edu in Denmark. Soon after, she picks up cues that make her suspect that things are not quite right at the company. Tech-edu's founder and CEO, Sofia Vilkner, was an old and dear school friend, and the state-of-the-art learning platform that the firm was developing had appeared very promising with investors already putting in funds amounting to US$3 million. However, Anu is hearing rumours from the other team members and investors that the firm does not deliver what it promises. While she continues to have faith in the start-up and its CEO, she is beginning to have some doubts. Are there red flags she is missing out on? What should she do? In Part B, Anu decides to probe further and starts talking to people to find out what is going on. She also meets with Sophia, the CEO, to raise her concerns. Sophia denies any wrongdoing. Anu's immediate boss, Eric, manages to provide more information about what the firm is doing and its future plans, and Anu's suspicions are temporarily assuaged. Part C reveals how Anu is abruptly fired from her job and has to return to Singapore.
This three-part case study is about Anu, a young Singaporean MBA graduate. Part A begins with Anu's story when she relocates to start work at her dream job at Tech-edu in Denmark. Soon after, she picks up cues that make her suspect that things are not quite right at the company. Tech-edu's founder and CEO, Sofia Vilkner, was an old and dear school friend, and the state-of-the-art learning platform that the firm was developing had appeared very promising with investors already putting in funds amounting to US$3 million. However, Anu is hearing rumours from the other team members and investors that the firm does not deliver what it promises. While she continues to have faith in the start-up and its CEO, she is beginning to have some doubts. Are there red flags she is missing out on? What should she do? In Part B, Anu decides to probe further and starts talking to people to find out what is going on. She also meets with Sophia, the CEO, to raise her concerns. Sophia denies any wrongdoing. Anu's immediate boss, Eric, manages to provide more information about what the firm is doing and its future plans, and Anu's suspicions are temporarily assuaged. Part C reveals how Anu is abruptly fired from her job and has to return to Singapore.