When Alibaba, China's leading digital platform and cloud-based services company, fails to acquire the US firm Moneygram, CEO Jack Ma decides to go it alone and develop a digital strategy using blockchain technology as the basis for a global remittance service, GCash, within its cloud services business. Alibaba's financial services affiliate Ant Financial, begins by targeting cross-border money transfers made by domestic workers in Hong Kong who routinely send money to their families in the Philippines. It subsequently forms a strategic alliance with Globe Telecom and Standard Chartered Bank which provide market access and financial intermediation. The case focuses on the value proposition of blockchain in cross-border financial services, particularly in Southeast Asia, and how it fits into Alibaba's "iron triangle" cloud services strategy in the region where there is fierce competition from Google and Digital Ocean. Blockchain technology is utilized to disintermediate the US-based SWIFT system and the dominant remittance service providers, Moneygram and Western Union, that charge high fees. As an illustration of how to launch proprietary cypto- and blockchain-based networks, the case explains how they differ from digital platforms, and how they are complementary, such as network effects and synergies with Alibaba's installed customer base.
In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words "benefits," reflecting its human resources technology products, and "zen," loosely defined as a state of calm, the past few years were not entirely zen. Once heralded as one of the fastest growing software start-ups ever, the 5-year old company quickly achieved "unicorn" status-a term given to an elite handful of privately-held start-ups valued at $1 billion or more. But leadership and legal issues that emerged in 2015 had threatened to undermine its success and compelled Zenefits to appoint new board members, hire new executives, reformulate its business model, and transform its corporate culture and philosophy. With those changes in place, Dalgaard now turned his attention once again to the board. Did Zenefits have the board it needed to navigate the next stages of growth as it sought to further distance itself from its rocky past and focus on its future potential?
In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words "benefits," reflecting its human resources technology products, and "zen," loosely defined as a state of calm, the past few years were not entirely zen. Once heralded as one of the fastest growing software start-ups ever, the 5-year old company quickly achieved "unicorn" status-a term given to an elite handful of privately-held start-ups valued at $1 billion or more. But leadership and legal issues that emerged in 2015 had threatened to undermine its success and compelled Zenefits to appoint new board members, hire new executives, reformulate its business model, and transform its corporate culture and philosophy. With those changes in place, Dalgaard now turned his attention once again to the board. Did Zenefits have the board it needed to navigate the next stages of growth as it sought to further distance itself from its rocky past and focus on its future potential?
In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words "benefits," reflecting its human resources technology products, and "zen," loosely defined as a state of calm, the past few years were not entirely zen. Once heralded as one of the fastest growing software start-ups ever, the 5-year old company quickly achieved "unicorn" status-a term given to an elite handful of privately-held start-ups valued at $1 billion or more. But leadership and legal issues that emerged in 2015 had threatened to undermine its success and compelled Zenefits to appoint new board members, hire new executives, reformulate its business model, and transform its corporate culture and philosophy. With those changes in place, Dalgaard now turned his attention once again to the board. Did Zenefits have the board it needed to navigate the next stages of growth as it sought to further distance itself from its rocky past and focus on its future potential?
Fairview Capital is a pioneering alternative assets investment manager, as it is the first U.S. private equity fund of funds that focused on investing in private equity and venture capital funds managed by African-Americans and other minority investment managers. This case study focuses on Fairview's strategic decisions that ultimately led to the growth and expansion of its investment portfolio to over $3 billion.
A senior industry analyst focused on aviation and aerospace at an investment advisory firm in Northern Virginia, pondered the potential implications of the acquisition by United Technologies Corporation of Rockwell Collins for aviation around the world. It was certain that the deal would impact not only the two companies involved, but it would also have a substantial impact on their customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and others.
Chatar Patar was a quick service eatery in India that prided itself on serving tasty panipuri that was prepared hygienically from healthy ingredients. The venture was started in 2012 with the plan to first develop a popular and established brand, and then to expand to a multi-store outlet in 2018. The team had prepared expansion plans, favouring franchising as the mode of expansion. Despite their research, in 2016, the team was still undecided about which expansion route to take. The managing director wondered whether it was too soon to expand, and whether the team and the company were sufficiently prepared. Should the company proceed with expansion? And if so, how should the managing director and his team proceed?
In April 2017, an entrepreneur in the tour operator industry faced a potential investment decision. Her company, Extraordinary Journeys (EJ), created custom luxury African safaris for a US-based clientele. While EJ had enjoyed dramatic growth since its founding in 2009, the entrepreneur worried that competitive pressures were increasing, as resource-rich companies had entered the market, drawn by the industry's rapid growth. In response to this growing competition, Gordon considered taking on one of three possible strategic opportunities: a public relations campaign, a direct marketing campaign, or a firm-optimization campaign that would use custom-built software to enhance employee productivity.
In early 2017, Jill Nadison, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the REED Foundation for Autism (REED Foundation) and executive director of REED Academy in New Jersey, was faced with the difficult decision of selecting among three alternatives to support the academy's next venture, REED Next. REED Academy, a non-profit school for children with autism, provided innovative, highly individualized education based on principles of applied behaviour analysis and was supported by the REED Foundation. REED Next was intended to support students who, at age 21, had aged out of REED Academy. The selected option would have to provide long-term, self-sustaining funding for students. Choices ranged from a less-risky option, expanding fundraising, to increasingly entrepreneurial ideas such as opening and operating either an event space or a vertical farm. The CEO was under pressure to make the decision in time for the initiative to begin operations before the 21st birthday of a REED Academy student who would need ongoing therapy to continue to enjoy a good quality of life.
Kaps Foods India Private Limited (Kaps), a privately held company, was one of the leading manufacturers of ice cream in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in Central India. The company's manufacturing unit had the capacity to produce 20,000 litres of ice cream per day in 65 different stock keeping units. In December 2016, Kaps was dealing with an issue of demand and supply mismatch. Seasonality in the demand of ice cream created an imbalance between demand and supply for some variants of ice cream, and this situation has created dissatisfaction among customers. The shortage of some ice cream variants has resulted in a loss of sales and goodwill. The company's sales and marketing head became aware of the issue while reviewing customer feedback forms. He needed determine how the problem was affecting Kaps' performance and what needed to be done to solve it.
Kaps Foods India Private Limited (Kaps), a privately held company, was one of the leading manufacturers of ice cream in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in Central India. The company’s manufacturing unit had the capacity to produce 20,000 litres of ice cream per day in 65 different stock keeping units. In December 2016, Kaps was dealing with an issue of demand and supply mismatch. Seasonality in the demand of ice cream created an imbalance between demand and supply for some variants of ice cream, and this situation has created dissatisfaction among customers. The shortage of some ice cream variants has resulted in a loss of sales and goodwill. The company’s sales and marketing head became aware of the issue while reviewing customer feedback forms. He needed determine how the problem was affecting Kaps’ performance and what needed to be done to solve it.
In early 2017, Jill Nadison, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the REED Foundation for Autism (REED Foundation) and executive director of REED Academy in New Jersey, was faced with the difficult decision of selecting among three alternatives to support the academy’s next venture, REED Next. REED Academy, a non-profit school for children with autism, provided innovative, highly individualized education based on principles of applied behaviour analysis and was supported by the REED Foundation.<br><br>REED Next was intended to support students who, at age 21, had aged out of REED Academy. The selected option would have to provide long-term, self-sustaining funding for students. Choices ranged from a less-risky option, expanding fundraising, to increasingly entrepreneurial ideas such as opening and operating either an event space or a vertical farm. The CEO was under pressure to make the decision in time for the initiative to begin operations before the 21st birthday of a REED Academy student who would need ongoing therapy to continue to enjoy a good quality of life.
Chatar Patar was a quick service eatery in India that prided itself on serving tasty panipuri that was prepared hygienically from healthy ingredients. The venture was started in 2012 with the plan to first develop a popular and established brand, and then to expand to a multi-store outlet in 2018. The team had prepared expansion plans, favouring franchising as the mode of expansion. Despite their research, in 2016, the team was still undecided about which expansion route to take. The managing director wondered whether it was too soon to expand, and whether the team and the company were sufficiently prepared. Should the company proceed with expansion? And if so, how should the managing director and his team proceed?
In April 2017, an entrepreneur in the tour operator industry faced a potential investment decision. Her company, Extraordinary Journeys (EJ), created custom luxury African safaris for a US-based clientele. While EJ had enjoyed dramatic growth since its founding in 2009, the entrepreneur worried that competitive pressures were increasing, as resource-rich companies had entered the market, drawn by the industry's rapid growth. In response to this growing competition, Gordon considered taking on one of three possible strategic opportunities: a public relations campaign, a direct marketing campaign, or a firm-optimization campaign that would use custom-built software to enhance employee productivity.
In May 2018, a China-born entrepreneur living in Canada was at a seaside market in Qingdao, China, inspecting inexpensive pearls. She wondered whether pearls presented a good market opportunity in the West. At markets in China, she consistently found cultured pearls that would cost far more in Canada. This experience led her to wonder whether or not it was feasible to sell pearls on a wholesale basis in Canada, or perhaps through one of many retail options. Or was there a reason why pearls—such a timeless product—did not present more of a dynamic market opportunity in the West?
From the outside, DISCO-a Japan-based manufacturer of precision tools for semiconductor production devices-appeared to be a rather ordinary company that had achieved rather extraordinary success: it had simultaneously achieved 70% global market share, had lifted its profitability from 15% to 30% over the past seven years, and was consistently selected as a ""Best Workplace"" in Japan. The secret to DISCO's success, according to Sekiya, lay in its truly individualized management of human capital which they called the P-Will (Personal Will) system. P-Will was a proprietary managerial accounting system based on Will, a currency that enabled internal market transactions. At DISCO, every hour of labor and every good was associated with a price in Will. Employees were expected to act like independent business owners; they used the P-Will system to manage their own revenue contributions and business expenses in Will. Four times a year, the balances of individual P-Will accounts were converted to real currency and paid out as bonuses. In the last couple of years, about 10 companies, including other companies in the semiconductor industry, had visited Sekiya wanting to replicate DISCO's enviable success and introduce the P-Will system at their companies. However, none of these companies had actually implemented it. Seeing off another guest who had visited DISCO, Sekiya asked himself: Why don't other companies adopt the P-Will system? What were the conditions under which P-Will would work-and not work?
This case examines the founding story California ice cream chain Smitten Ice Cream and CEO and Founder Robyn Sue Fisher, who invented a liquid nitrogen-fueled ice cream machine which mixes the world's smoothest ice cream. Students will be confronted with numerous common entrepreneurial issues including prototyping, dealing with failure, discovering product-market fit, hiring, financing, and scaling organizations.