個案總覽

SSISM is the case of a missionary organization, founded by an upwardly mobile IT professional Pranjal Dubey, who leaves the trappings of a successful career to pursue what he felt was his life's calling, to make a difference to the community around his ancestral village, through providing better education to the youth. The case highlights the effort and evangelistic zeal of Pranjal as he battles multiple hurdles on a daily basis to try and make a difference at the grass root level. However, what clearly needs to be defined is how he can establish a viable business model, in the absence of which the organization is unlikely to achieve its vision. The case discusses the various challenges SSISM faces on multiple fronts including motivating people, ensuring quality of education, financing, and changing social mind-sets. It also addresses the issue of society's involvement and responsibility. From the perspective of Pranjal, the main protagonist, the case provides several rich pastures of discussion including, should he manifest a local or global perspective, and how should he sustain the movement, going forward? The case touches upon several processes that are fundamental in Strategy and entrepreneurship in terms of developing a sustainable business model for an entrepreneurial missionary organization. As an entrepreneurial missionary firm in its growth phase, SSISM needs to manage the fine balance between growth (current revenues, clients, etc.) and sustaining and disseminating its evangelistic vision.

Grameen Koota had escaped any direct impact of the crisis faced by the microfinance industry due to new legislations introduced by the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 2010. External sources of funds had dried up for the microfinance sector thus impacting growth. While evaluating his organization's performance during the last two years, Suresh Krishna, Managing Director of Grameen Koota was concerned about the imminent shortfall in the growth envisioned in 2010. The tumultuous industry condition was accompanied by an uncertain regulatory environment. While exploring options for growth, Krishna wanted to assess whether to expand operations to new districts and new states or consolidate and grow in the existing regions of operations. Concentrating operations implied risking too much in too few states in a shaky regulatory environment while expansion to nascent geographies could potentially erode the low margins. It was a difficult choice, so Krishna wanted to make sure that he arrived at the decision after a thorough evaluation of the opportunities, costs, and risks associated with expanding the distribution reach.

Easwaran Iyer, Dean of the Jain University's Business School, wanted to ensure that they admitted the right set of students to their Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, but he was not sure about the parameters that could be used to identify students who were ideal for the MBA program. Jain University received applications for the MBA program from across India and admitted approximately 400 students every year. There had been a steady increase in the number of applications received by Jain University over the years. Placement performance played a major role in attracting good quality students to the MBA program in India. In 2012, over 180 Business Schools in major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Dehradun closed down. Although, there could be many reasons for their closure, their inability to place their students played a key role. At the beginning of every admissions season, which began in April and stretched until July, Iyer thoroughly screened the admission seeking candidates and decided along with his admission committee which of candidates were admitted or rejected. Although there was no penalty if a non-placeable student was selected, it would weigh heavily on the institute's reputation. A wrong pick could eventually contribute towards an increase in the number of unplaced students as well as a reduction in the average salary. Moreover, there was the possibility of rejecting a placeable candidate. What made Iyer's job tougher was that he was expected to increase the batch size while also increasing the quality of the admitted set of students. He acknowledged that MBA admissions needed much more analytical reasoning, taking multiple criteria into consideration.

Medical research consensus is that a poor diet is a much greater determinant of obesity than lack of exercise. However, the authors' primary research shows that only about half of lay people believe that diet is the primary cause of obesity. People who mistakenly underestimate the importance of a poor diet are in fact more overweight than people who correctly believe that it is the primary cause of obesity. The marketing, public relations, and corporate social responsibility campaigns of food and beverage companies consistently overemphasize the lack of exercise as the cause of obesity-the authors call this "leanwashing."

In 2010, General Electric launched an investigation into how multinational corporations (MNCs) were adapting to rural emerging markets. A team of 33 executives and three academics examined models ranging from Toyota' s vehicle servicing program in East Africa to Nokia' s localized mobile handset financing in India to Egis Pharmaceuticals' worker retention incentives in Eastern Europe. The project included 15 case studies from India, China, Africa, and Eastern Europe. This article presents common tactics that these MNCs have used to successfully adapt to rural markets in emerging regions across five key organizational functions: product development, distribution, service, financing, and human resources.

Many firms have enjoyed remarkable success using revenue sharing contracts to improve supply chain performance. Video rental industry and its pioneering deal with movie studios is one such example. At the same time, other firms have struggled to make it work. What accounts for this difference? When can revenue sharing create significant value and what are implementation costs? By comparing and contrasting several case examples-including our own experience working with a major semi-conductor manufacturer-we develop a general framework that helps answer these questions, which is based on the fundamental sources of added value and added costs.

Alliances have become a core component of many firms' strategy, but they are often characterized by a high level of instability that can lead to failure. Ambiguity is an intrinsic aspect of strategic alliances and effective management of it determines how well the partners are able to make the alliance work. Alliances are subject to three types of ambiguity-partner, interaction, and evaluative-that are important at different stages of alliance evolution. Partner-related ambiguity is most prevalent at the formation stage of the alliance, interaction ambiguity at the operational stage, and evaluative ambiguity at the outcome stage. This article examines the mechanisms by which firms can best manage these different types of ambiguity to achieve a successful alliance.

Despite the exponential rise of social media use in external stakeholder engagement, academic research and managerial practice have paid little attention to how it can be used for open innovation across the entire innovation funnel, spanning ideation, R&D, and commercialization. As a result, there is little understanding of how companies can organize for and implement social media for open innovation. Utilizing a multiple case study design, this article examines its application across the entire innovation process. It proposes a range of organizational and technological adaptations that managers can implement to ensure they realize the innovative benefits of social media application.

Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning, and leading. Successful entrepreneurs identify a creative way to address a marketplace problem or need. They then formulate an entry strategy, create a set of experiments to test it, and execute the product development and market entry activities needed to launch the business. Once the business model has been refined and the venture gains traction, successful entrepreneurs know how to identify the resources needed to scale and exploit the full potential of the opportunity. This Reading begins by examining the role of entrepreneurship in the business landscape. Using examples of entrepreneurs such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos, the author discusses the behaviors, decisions, and roles of entrepreneurial leaders as they pursue opportunities and pivot to growth. As the Reading explores what entrepreneurs do, it considers both the activities and leadership skills required in the life cycle of an innovative business, as well as the skills needed to pursue different kinds of opportunities. What kind of person is best suited to entrepreneurship? Decades of research suggest that it is more important to study what entrepreneurs do rather than attempting to identify common characteristics or personality types. This Reading explores the different types of entrepreneurial leadership needed at different times to pursue different types of opportunities.

Having an idea is just the first step in an entrepreneurial journey. Turning that idea into a compelling opportunity requires analytical capabilities, passion, and determination. Successful entrepreneurs know how to take their ideas and shape them into opportunities to create value for all stakeholders. Beginning with the stories of 3 entrepreneurial journeys, this Reading examines that process of identifying and shaping opportunities. Opportunity recognition and shaping comprise 3 distinct activities: (1) perceiving an unmet market need, or a capability that could meet a need that has yet to be identified; (2) discovering the fit between market needs and the capabilities and resources available to the entrepreneur; and (3) creating a product, service, or solution that can be delivered to a specific market to address a specific need while generating value for all stakeholders. The novelty of an entrepreneurial opportunity--whether in market need or in skills needed to execute--influences the level of uncertainty in the assumptions that the entrepreneur must make in shaping the opportunity, which, in turn, influences the level of risk. After sharing the journeys of 3 entrepreneurs, this Reading explores how entrepreneurs identify opportunities and ends by discussing how they shape them by crafting business models and identifying risks and uncertainty. Although entrepreneurial ventures are usually formed in an iterative rather than a sequential manner, and founders are engaged in multiple parts of the new-venture-formation process simultaneously, this Reading lays out sequential steps for simplicity.

Success in launching a new business depends on an entrepreneur's ability to clearly communicate the market opportunity, outline the proposed solution, describe the implementation plan and expected benefits for all stakeholders, and account for the risks involved. A crisp, well-articulated business plan and pitch are therefore two of the most critical components in building a successful venture. Developing Business Plans and Pitching Opportunities explains how to both evaluate opportunities and translate a business model into a compelling business plan and pitch. The Reading introduces the concept of entrepreneurial planning and relevant debates about its role in early-stage ventures. It also covers the importance of crafting a succinct, powerful pitch for a new business plan, how to practice and present that pitch, and how to craft it so that it effectively conveys the opportunity to different stakeholders in different situations.

Among the many challenges that entrepreneurs must face is assembling the resources necessary to build a successful business. Most entrepreneurs will go through an iterative process of building a team, raising capital, and developing an ecosystem. An entrepreneur's decisions are highly interdependent--for example, the ability to attract customers, partners, and team members may depend on the ability to attract financing, which depends on ecosystem connections and a high-quality team. This Reading addresses 2 of the 3 kinds of resources critical to early-stage ventures: people (attracting cofounders, key employees, and advisors) and a business network (building the ecosystem of customers, suppliers, partners, and evangelists needed to develop products and get them to market). The third resource category, the capital required to finance the launch of the venture, is discussed in detail in Entrepreneurship Reading: Financing New Ventures [HBP No. 8072]. Attracting Talent and Building Ecosystems first explores the talent a new venture needs, including cofounders, key employees, advisors, and board members. The Reading then discusses how entrepreneurs can assemble the ecosystem of customers, partners, and other stakeholders who help develop and launch entry products and services, attract early customers, and gain traction in the market. Finally, the entrepreneurial story of Dan Bricklin, the inventor of the electronic spreadsheet, serves as an example of the process. There is also a glossary of key terms, as well as suggestions for complimentary cases and further reading.

"Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures" introduces key issues involved in the financing of entrepreneurial enterprises. The Reading begins by examining how business models shape external financing requirements. It then contrasts the choice to bootstrap with the option to raise external funds, as well as the traits of debt versus equity investment. Readers learn about the different types of equity investors-including angels, VCs, and strategic investors-and follow an entrepreneurial venture's path through the financing stages. The Reading also examines how entrepreneurs can adjust business models to match financial conditions, and how they can reduce financing needs through alternative models such as partnerships. Finally, the Reading covers emerging funding models-such as crowdsourcing and accelerators-and the global aspects of entrepreneurial finance. There are 6 Interactive Illustrations included in the Reading: "Calculating a Cumulative Cash Flow Curve," "Asset Intensity Ratio," "Building a Cap Table," "How Investor Expectations and Target Returns Drive Company Ownership," "Payouts from Simple Equity and Convertible Investments," and "Seed Note Ownership and Value."

Selling and Marketing in the Entrepreneurial Venture discusses key aspects and challenges of selling and marketing in an early-stage or new venture. The Reading explains how to identify and test a venture s potential with early adopters, how to identify core customers, and how to integrate selling and marketing activities in a new business. It also sheds light on how entrepreneurs can sharpen their understanding of customers, as well as gain valuable insights into the venture s product or service, by conducting visits with potential customers. In addition, this Reading provides an in-depth example of a relatively young company that discovers a need to redefine who its best customers should be. The Reading dispels myths about what defines an effective salesperson and explores basic aspects of integrating selling and marketing in a venture, including applicable uses of the sales funnel framework, multi-channel mapping, and how to make decisions about the company s go-to-market system. A supplementary reading offers deeper insight into the considerations that potential customers evaluate in deciding whether to switch from a product or service they are currently using to one offered by a new venture. A second supplemental section analyzes the selling and marketing challenges faced by the founders of an engineering startup and the strategies the founders formulate and execute to surmount those challenges and drive growth in the business.

Executing Strategy introduces the principles of effective strategy implementation. The Reading emphasizes the interdependence of strategy formulation and execution in achieving and sustaining superior competitive performance. It discusses why organizations must sometimes shift their strategies and identifies reasons that strategies often fail. It argues that organizational ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities are required to execute strategies successfully. The main reading then develops an approach that emphasizes the congruence framework and its building blocks. It concludes by highlighting the need for ambidextrous leaders. Executing Strategy also contains three supplemental readings. The first examines ambidexterity and congruence at IBM under Louis Gerstner. The second considers the Balanced Scorecard as an alternative framework for strategy execution. The third discusses the role culture in strategy execution at NUMMI, the joint venture between General Motors and Toyota.

Efficiently and effectively providing flu shots on a college campus is the challenge that faces the school's director of health services. After a failed flu shot program the year prior and the resulting epidemic, the director must ensure students, faculty and staff receive the shot this year. Benchmarking reveals that a single day flu shot marathon has been successful on other campuses but lines must be managed to limit waiting time. The reader is introduced to basic queuing theory to determine how many shot stations are needed balancing line length and cost. They also explore the impact of peaks on line management.

International Services Group (ISG) serves global and local clients with accounting solutions. ISG has grown substantially over the last few decades, thanks to a very pro-active management culture at the local subsidiary level. While this growth has been good, it has also introduced certain inefficiencies. ISG's chief executive officer now wants to change the organization from a locally responsive structure to a globally integrated one by introducing a global accounting software program. The case describes how the implementation meeting, which was conducted in a video-conferencing format, failed. The case deals with boundary-spanning leadership issues across functional, cultural, hierarchical and geographic domains, and it highlights the managerial side of change.

LevelUp's mobile payments service lets users scan a smartphone barcode rather than swipe a credit card. Will consumers embrace the service? Will merchants? LevelUp considers adjustments to make the service attractive to both consumers and merchants, while trying to accelerate deployment at reasonable cost.

The case tells the story of Chef Ferran Adrià and describes the transformation of elBulli, a renowned Michelin three-star restaurant located in Spain's Costa Brava, since the restaurant's opening in 1961 until its closing in 2011. Why would Ferran Adrià close elBulli? Was the iconic restaurant yet another financial crisis victim? Had the chef and his team tired of success or run out of creative juices, unable to keep up with the hectic innovative pace required to create new, ground-breaking menus year after year? What else could have possibly driven Adrià to turn away from the restaurant's huge, untapped demand, with some two million reservation requests a year and a seating capacity for 8,000? Why would he risk turning this "gastronomic success" -a restaurant that had been named the world's best restaurant five times- into a foundation yet to be formulated and shaped?