The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how venture capital can distort a founder's view. It encompasses issues such as financing, founders' definition of success/failure, defining and pivoting a business model, organizational impact of a pivot, as well as the role of VCs and Boards in outlining company strategy. In 2008, Jason Jacobs, a fitness and technology enthusiast created RunKeeper - an iPhone app to track a runner's distance, speed, calories and route taken. In its initial years, RunKeeper was a fast growing, profitable company and did not utilize the $1.5 million it raised in its Seed and Series A rounds. As RunKeeper gained momentum, Jacobs created a grand health vision (Health Graph) that would increase the chances of securing VC funding. Heralded as the "Facebook of Fitness," RunKeeper willed itself to be the one-stop location for all important health information for consumers. Despite raising $10 million, the next few years were turbulent. RunKeeper became allergic to revenue, ramped up its burn, and tried to pursue both the running app and the Health Graph - but did neither well. At the end of the case, the company is almost out of cash, and Jacobs has exhausted his prospects for raising external capital. He needs to revert to his current investors to keep the company afloat. Jacobs' instinct suggests that refocusing the company on its core product and runner base would be the best way forward. However, the last round was raised on the promise of a big health vision. Jacobs wonders whether his current investors would fund a smaller vision and how onerous the terms would be. Would they push Jacobs to pursue a sale in an over-crowded health app market? Or would they decide that he was not the right person for the company?
On August 31, 2016, a well-respected and highly influential cultural broadcaster and entrepreneur in Colombia was the subject of a fake news attack. A message started spreading over the WhatsApp messaging service wrongfully attributing to her a vociferous statement opposing the Colombian peace-making process. On September 2, 2016, she produced a disconfirming video, in which she made it clear that the statement was not written by her; that it did not represent her views; and that, contrary to what the statement said, she supported peace efforts. The video was posted on her official Facebook and Twitter accounts, and echoed by mainstream media. Unfortunately, the attack did not stop there. On several occasions between 2016 and 2017, the message was put in circulation again. The timing seemed connected to milestones in Colombia’s peace process. In February 2018, three months before the presidential elections in the country, the message started to circulate again. The entrepreneur wondered if there was anything else she could do to prevent further damage to both public opinion and her own reputation.
This case describes the operations of a fictitious company that processes Cranberries. The case contains data that allows students to calculate the bottleneck stage in production, and to evaluate alternative investment options for increasing cranberry processing capacity.
Meridian Credit Union (Meridian) was a financial co-operative (i.e. credit union) in Ontario, Canada. In its effort to shift from being a niche to a mainstream market player in the financial-services sector, Meridian attempted to challenge the oligopoly of Canada's big banks. It tried to do this through a responsible, consumer-centric business strategy that aimed to address many of the problems with the financial sector in Canada and around the world. Owned by its customers, Meridian represented a marked counterpoint to the traditional shareholder-owned bank in Canada at a time of increased awareness about the conflict between consumer and shareholder objectives. In March 2018, Meridian's executive team was reflecting on the credit union's recent growth and the changes that had resulted. As they considered where Meridian should go next, they faced a series of questions: Should the credit union become more focused? Should it expand and diversify its service offerings? What were the risks of these strategies? What were the opportunities and threats of financial technology? Were there other growth options Meridian should consider in light of these trends?
Anhui LIGOO New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (LIGOO) had survived and made developments in the field of battery management systems (BMS) in the changing environment of new energy vehicles (NEVs), amid policy adjustment in China. Established in 2010, LIGOO had achieved a respectable market share and acquired a reputation as possessing excellent BMS technology in the electric vehicle industry. However, due to a cold market in the industry and weak reception for these vehicles, LIGOO's performance began to decline. The company made its first transformation, applying BMS technology to the communications and coal mining industries, enabling LIGOO's survival and ability to improve BMS technology when many other BMS technology companies were going bankrupt. In 2013 and 2014, the Chinese government began to enhance its support for the NEV industry, prompting LIGOO's chief executive officer to consider whether LIGOO should continue its existing business in the communications and coal mining industries or rejoin the NEV industry.
Kiessling Spedition (Kiessling) was an international operating forwarder in Regenstauf (Eastern Bavaria), Germany, and a member of a large in-night express network. In April 2017, the company faced the problem of losing one of its major consigners. The consigner was a large wholesaler of automotive parts for the utility sector and had been feeding high volumes into Kiessling's in-night system. This cancellation caused the volume and use of most of Kiessling's in-night tours to drop significantly, by as much as 40 per cent in volume and 26 per cent in stops. Since the distribution costs were almost fully fixed, the contribution margin of all affected tours decreased. In order to adapt the Kiessling in-night operations to overcome this turmoil, the operations manager and his team needed to choose among several alternatives, and then make a plan to implement the solution quickly.
In March 2013, SIC Insurance Company Limited (SIC), a Ghanaian insurance company, appointed its first female chief executive officer, Doris Awo Nkani. Under her tenure, SIC issued a credit guarantee bond to ITAL Construct International in favour of Ivory Finance for a six-month period. However, ITAL Construct International defaulted on the loan, and Ivory Finance called on SIC to redeem its credit guarantee bond. Due to the failure of SIC and ITAL Construct International to honour their obligations, Ivory Finance proceeded to court in November 2013. Over a year later, in November 2014, the parties agreed on an amount to be paid to Ivory Finance through a consent judgment. This event culminated in the board considering in February 2015 whether to retain or fire its chief executive officer. How had this situation occurred? Should the board of directors have taken action earlier? How could the company ensure that a similar situation would not recur in the future?
In 2017, Equuleus Car Sharing Inc. (ECS) was a relatively new player in the rental car industry, with annual revenues approaching US$100 million. ECS had experienced significant growth since its founding in 2014 due to its focus on low prices and a mix of high-demand vehicle types-specifically, minivans, sport utility vehicles, sedans, and economy cars. ECS management wished to examine the opportunity to purchase new vehicles through financing versus the traditional method of paying cash for dramatically expanding the fleet size. The goal was to develop a fleet purchasing strategy that maximized the present value of net income.
Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd., a company located in Mumbai, India, manufactured and distributed ice cream under the brand Natural Ice Cream. The company specialized in using natural flavours in its products, a fact that helped it carve a niche for itself among health-conscious customers. In April 2017, after witnessing great demand for its ice cream across the country, the company's board of directors asked the director of operations to draft a plan to expand manufacturing capacity. As his first step towards this expansion, the director wanted to study the current operations and address any inefficiencies. One aspect that caught his attention was the recent delay in product delivery. Based on his experience, he did not see the company's capacity to fulfill current orders as the reason for delays. Therefore, he decided that the problem was related to the process flow. He would have to find ways to streamline the process to reduce or eliminate all delays in delivery.
Yash Building Centre, based in Raipur, central India, was in the business of manufacturing fly ash bricks and blocks. At the beginning of 2016, after achieving decent growth and gaining goodwill among local builders and contractors, the managing partner was actively looking to expand business operations into tiles, pavers, and curbstones. He believed this expansion would improve the firm’s profitability by allowing it to take full advantage of its reputation among existing customers. It would also enable the firm to increase its size. A key question was, would this decision facilitate value creation for the firm? To make the investment decision, the managing partner needed to consider the return on investment and the capacity at which the new unit would break even.
Asyraf and Nasrul, two young trainees of SMRT Corporation Limited (SMRT), a multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore, were killed on the tracks near the Pasir Ris MRT station on 22 March 2016. They were part of a 15-member team led by an assistant engineer. The team had walked in single file on the maintenance walkway beside the track towards the device that had registered a warning for a signalling fault. At 11:08 am, a train entering the Pasir Ris station from the opposite direction of the work party hit the two trainees who were second and third in the line behind the assistant engineer. Despite applying the breaks, the train captain could not stop the train in time. Meanwhile, the assistant engineer and the rest of the team had jumped to safety upon noticing the oncoming train. No other injuries were reported. The accident impacted organisational morale and reputation, which was already affected by the falling rail reliability and increasing public criticism. Preliminary investigations revealed non-compliance with safety protocol as the cause of the accident, and this exacerbated the situation. The crisis management team sprang into action to mitigate the impact and support the Next of Kin (NoK) of the deceased. In the days following the accident, Desmond Kuek (DK), the President and Group CEO of SMRT, worked to restore confidence and clarity among the employees, besides comforting and supporting the NoK. While DK's energy was focused on promoting a culture of compliance with safety protocol and driving organisational change, his decision to terminate the assistant engineer and the train captain for breach of safety protocols was met with criticism from some factions of the public and employees.
The case shows how the protagonist needs to work on two fronts: 1) with the European innovation team & 2) with the local trade team to ensure the best fit with customers, consumers and shoppers. Throughout the case, different questions arise: the name Pringles ""Tortilla"", the communication model, the distribution strategy, pricing and promotional strategy. Should all of this be together or separate from Pringles potato chips?
In recent years, many cities have experienced new forms of collaboration that have an impact on citizens and entrepreneurs. The integration of this field of study with civic crowdfunding can influence economic growth and community building, which may be beneficial for both policymakers and practitioners alike. Civic crowdfunding is a financial model through which citizens, in collaboration with government and local authorities, fund projects to provide a community service. The development of smart cities is related to civic engagement, empowerment, and participation intended to be part of crowdsourcing or entrepreneurial activities. In this sense, cities play a vital role as drivers of (open) innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on these considerations, this study proposes an explorative and qualitative approach to investigate the civic crowdfunding phenomenon and its ability to promote community development. Our exploratory analysis of six projects highlights the challenges and opportunities of civic crowdfunding for the creation, development, and improvement of more inclusive cities.
Lifecycle management of assets is essential for cost-effective maintenance and long-term economic viability. Properly maintained infrastructure provides significant economic advantages. Neglecting maintenance leads to lower productivity and imposes costs on users. Furthermore, delayed maintenance significantly increases total costs associated with repair or replacement. Lifecycle asset management should be used in the public sector to manage large-scale assets such as transportation infrastructure in a cost-effective manner. Yet, state governments have had little incentive to provide proactive maintenance. To address the infrastructure capital investment backlog, particularly acute in transportation, government priorities need to be coupled with long-term economic accountability. In addition, funding and financial reporting mechanisms should be created to ensure effective and efficient lifecycle asset management decisions. Public-private partnerships (PPP) also need to be fostered to help address regional deficiencies in infrastructure.
In today's connected economy, interorganizational relationships are increasingly important. Whether government-to-government, political party-to-political party, business-to-business, department-to-department, or some other interorganizational pairing, these relationships can provide organizations with signals used to identify and better respond to changes in their environment and in their interorganizational relationships. This enables astute organizations to not only understand how others will interpret the social signals they send, but also to shape those signals in ways that will improve their interorganizational relationships. We illustrate this herein, using the public and readily recognizable relationships involved with labor relations in the professional sports industry. We show how social signals can explain the way organizations change and adapt to their environments, and how these changes send messages to related organizations. Finally, we provide a set of recommended advice for managers based on this case analysis.