個案總覽

IMAX is a provider of comprehensive testing and personalized content across mid-range and low-cost private K-10 schools in India. It aims to improve learning outcomes by providing schools with an integrated product suite including  textbooks, workbooks, assessments, feedback reports, personalized worksheets  and teaching support material. Its founders however, view their B2B strategy as a seeding strategy to eventually form a B2C education marketplace where they can collaborate with other education content companies and publishers to provide the right content to the right student in the right form at the right time. To fuel this rapid growth, IMAX has been scouting for investors. It has received an equity investment offer from a large Indian educational book publisher that has been rapidly acquiring companies to strengthen its hold in the education market. The founders must decide if they should accept the publisher's offer or continue to look for an investor who believes in their vision.

Caesars Entertainment was a large casino operator in the United States that had been purchased in a 2008 leveraged buyout by Apollo and TPG. In January, 2015, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC), its largest subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11. This set up a battle between the company and a set of large distressed investors. At issue was not only how to restructure the business and reduce Caesars debt, but also multiple lawsuits alleging that the company had damaged creditors in their quest to preserve equity value. Of particularly focus were a series of transactions that took place during 2013 and 2014 to sell assets from one subsidiary to another and to eliminate a valuable parent guarantee that had been granted to CEOC creditors. This case provides a good example of a variety of "defensive maneuvers" employed by companies and their private equity sponsors to protect a troubled investment.

In April 2010, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Steelworks, a Singapore-based metals company recently acquired by an Indian conglomerate, embarked on a plan to realign the organization's structure and processes across its subsidiaries. However, he had difficulty getting the long-serving general manager of a plant in China to sign off on the current year's audited financial statements. This led to a tense and bizarre confrontation between the CEO and the regional general manager. The restructuring project was taking autonomy from regional unit heads. Was that the problem? Was Steelworks mismanaging its subsidiaries? Had the general manager of the Chinese plant, a Singaporean expatriate, been seconded to China for too long? It was unclear how a member of the senior management team who had been with Steelworks for his entire career could behave this way and jeopardize his position. What could the CEO have done differently?

Solectric was a small solar power venture located in Sydney, Australia. The founder was an academic entrepreneur who was planning to return to his academic career. A new business development manager had been hired to explore and enter markets with varying degrees of uncertainty and potential profitability. The capital was running out and an unfocused strategy was exacerbating negligible sales revenues. Together, they were faced with the decision of which market(s) to focus on, how to allocate available capital, and how to consider the implications regarding distribution of equity and control.

In April 2011, a university professor of accounting and finance was examining the financial statements of Pangang Group Steel Vanadium & Titanium Company (Pangang), a leading Chinese steel manufacturer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Pangang had a dramatic turnaround in its reported net income in 2010 with its share price rising over 60 per cent in a six-month period. The professor suspected that the controlling shareholder of Pangang - Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel) - had been manipulating Pangang's earnings to artificially inflate the stock price. The timing coincided with the expiry of put options awarded by Ansteel to minority shareholders as part of a restructuring. Was Pangang manipulating its earnings to influence stock prices? Was there sufficient evidence to expose the fraudulent scheme to the public or report the case to the Chinese securities regulators?

In 2009, Enbridge announced the Neutral Footprint program to enhance its social licence to operate, increase its corporate responsibility, and in turn improve its corporate reputation through good performance. The program also gave Enbridge an opportunity to provide information about its financial and non-financial performance. By the end of 2012, Enbridge had suffered from unfavourable publicity due to oil spills. It also encountered a great deal of opposition against its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project. The company's situation was further complicated by the retirement of its chief executive officer who had started the Neutral Footprint program. Enbridge's new chief executive officer and president needed to be convinced of the benefits of the Neutral Footprint program, most of which were difficult to quantify. Would the project be cancelled, continue as is it was, or become even more engrained in Enbridge's culture?

In the fall of 2013, the family-owned Martin Bauer Group, a German-based company and world leader in the business-to-business market for tea and herbal extracts, became interested in the idea of collaborating with the frugal innovation company EinDollarBrille (OneDollarGlasses). The Martin Bauer Group was engaged in multifaceted corporate social responsibility activities, both domestically and abroad. Specifically, it fostered the development and diffusion of frugal innovations, which were affordable products or services developed under strict financial constraints to cater to low-income individuals in emerging markets. These companies usually worked in collaboration with partners. One such frugal innovation company, OneDollarGlasses, created durable, yet affordable, eyeglasses for people in the African country of Sudan, a prime sourcing market for the Martin Bauer Group. The work of OneDollarGlasses illustrated the reasons, motivations, and challenges that innovators often faced within developed and emerging markets when engaging in corporate social responsibility activities. Should The Martin Bauer Group work with OneDollarGlasses? Could the company be helpful and make a meaningful difference to the people in emerging markets by collaborating with frugal innovators like OneDollarGlasses? What benefits would there be for the Martin Bauer Group if they do?

Uber was a technology company that relied on its mobile app and word-of-mouth advertising to reach customers interested in its transportation services. It prided itself on being an on-time, stylish, unique, and modern transportation option. However, in 2014, Uber faced many challenges and questions as an industry incumbent. Could its business model succeed despite being heavily reliant on buyers' willingness to pay a substantial premium in some situations? Could the model be sustained and expanded into cities worldwide? How could the regulations protecting the taxi industry be overcome in so many diverse markets? Finally, how could Uber position its business model in a way that would create entry barriers to keep rivals out of the market?

Paytm enjoyed a position as the leader in India's market for mobile wallets, a digital service that enabled payments to be made through mobile devices. Paytm's major client, Uber, which developed and operated a smartphone-based, ride-hailing app as a way to compete with traditional taxi companies, had initially used Paytm's mobile wallet as the sole payment mode for Uber rides in India. However, in 2015 Uber revised its payment policy by adding a variety of payment options, such as debit cards, credit cards, and the addition of several other mobile wallet providers. Did Uber's strategies and plans represent a major concern for Paytm? Amid such changes in the highly competitive digital payment industry, what strategies should Paytm adopt to expand its own offerings and maintain its position as the market leader? What other options could the company pursue to ensure its sustainability and continuous growth?

Student spreadsheet for case W16074.

The case provides a detailed description of the various significant points in time or company milestones, since the launching of the concept, the growth of the franchise in Venezuela, the internationalization process in Europe, and the development of new formats. Each of these landmarks is an opportunity in itself to explain different elements of the Lean Startup method applied to a franchise. The case's focus, along with the strategic decision or choice of the entrepreneurs must make to channel sustainability, is placed on how to validate and manage some of the alternatives chosen. The experience lived by the Decofruta team is an example of how -empirically- a business may resort to a validated learning approach prior to allocating time and resources to develop something that is only in the minds of its creators. It also pinpoints the consequences of investing time, money and passion in a product or service that does not add value to the customer.

A 2-party negotiation role play between a search engine startup, YOUReka, and Quantron, a supplier of the subassembly boards used at YOUReka's data centers. At issue is a possible breach of contract. Roles include Role for Quantron (#916035) and Role for YOUReka (#916036).

This introduction to the special issue on crowdfunding begins by providing some information about the history and nature of the phenomenon. It then summarizes some of the key advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding for entrepreneurs and for investors, introducing the various articles in the issue that explore these topics in greater depth. It concludes with some speculations regarding the possible future of the industry and its effects on entrepreneurship, innovation, and inequality.

The expansion of crowdfunding raises two related questions: what type of platform suits each project and how should existing platforms expand? The answer lies in analyzing the field of crowdfunding as a solution to four specific problems: gatekeeping, coordination, inexperience, and patronage. Using an inductive analysis of the largest U.S. sites, this article identifies the range of problems crowdfunding addresses and their performance to date. Crowdfunding succeeds in raising money within and across networks, but efforts to use crowdfunding to educate or to generate recurring revenue are less successful.

While the crowdfunding phenomenon has attracted considerable practitioner and scholarly attention, existing research predominantly reflects a U.S.-centric perspective. This article examines crowdfunding platform creation in 15 European countries. Despite the omnipresent reach of the internet, national boundaries shape the evolution of the European crowdfunding industry. Specifically, crowdfunding platform creation varies across countries and distinct national patterns emerge for crowdfunding activity in general. Moreover, econometric analyses suggest that country-level factors influence platform creation in European countries, with interesting variations across four crowdfunding models: Donation, Reward, Lending, and Equity.

This article focuses on how crowdfunding might democratize the commercialization of innovation as well as financing. First, it examines how crowdfunders decide what effort to support and asks how do crowd and expert decisions differ? Second, it investigates whether crowdfunding democratizes access to capital by asking whether groups that have historically been underrepresented in capital markets gain additional access to capital markets through crowdfunding. Finally, it investigates whether crowdfunding leads to the growth of new firms in the same way that traditional funding does. Taken together, these questions point at a potentially vast alternative infrastructure for developing, funding, and commercializing innovation.

In crowdfunding, rewards can make or break success. Yet reward design, choice, and planning still occur based on availability rather than strategy. To address this challenge, this article provides an empirically derived crowdfunding reward toolbox offering guidance in strategically selecting rewards. Based on a large-scale analysis of successful and unsuccessful Kickstarter projects, this article classifies rewards that are currently offered along eight dimensions. It identifies emerging patterns and derives five strategic core tools and two add-on tools. Finally, it delivers exploratory insights into the relative effectiveness of different tools that can facilitate decision making and strategic planning for entrepreneurs and individuals who plan to launch a crowdfunding project and who seek ways to reward their supporters

Information asymmetry presents a challenge to equity crowdfunding just as in other markets for equity capital. Investors are less likely to finance startups when it is difficult to assess quality. Syndicates reduce market failures caused by information asymmetry by shifting the focal investment activities of the crowd from startups to lead investors. Syndicates align the incentives of issuers, lead investors, and follow-on investors by providing incentives for lead investors to conduct due diligence, monitor progress, and exploit their reputation. Preliminary evidence foreshadows a meaningful role for syndicates in the allocation of capital to early-stage ventures.

A group of experts discuss their thoughts about the current state of crowdfunding, its future, important emerging trends in the field, and the opportunities and challenges facing investors and entrepreneurs in the space. Across the board, these experts highlight the importance of crowdfunding as a means for mobilizing resources. They also maintain that crowdfunding has already emerged as an important force in global finance, one which appears here to stay, but one where we have only begun to see the ways in which it will transform the financial sector.