個案資料

Mike Cassidy owned Maritime Bus, which provided an essential service built on efficient and effective travel and terminal-to-terminal package delivery in the Maritime provinces of Prince Edward Island (PEI), New Brunswick (NB), and Nova Scotia (NS). Headquartered in Charlottetown, PEI, the Maritime Bus company was part of the Cassidy Group, which employed over 500 people, including Cassidy’s wife and three sons, and served over 80 per cent of the busing needs of the region. The company had experienced historic profits in 2018 and finally broke even in 2019; 2020 was supposed to be its first profitable year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought instability to the industry, and ridership shrunk to nearly zero. By December 31, 2020, Cassidy had covered over $2.2 million in business losses with personal retirement savings. Despite the large personal financial cost, he was determined not to let COVID-19 destroy his company’s legacy. Canadian intercity busing was historically regional, and many prominent companies had failed without federal or provincial government bailouts. Facing surmounting financial pressures and lacking ridership as the company entered the 2021 season, Cassidy had to plan for the venture’s survival.

The case applies to entrepreneurship, leadership, strategy, and organizational behaviour courses and modules at the upper-division undergraduate and graduate levels. This case centres on a business owner’s decision to continue operating a busing company while facing the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. After analyzing the case and working through the assignment questions, we expect students to be able to do the following:<ul><li>Illustrate how a changing economic landscape, such as that caused by the pandemic, presents significant survival challenges for a company operating an essential service.</li><li>Apply goal-setting theory to explain how goal setting can help a business survive and thrive by mitigating crisis-induced challenges.</li><li>Describe both the individual micro factors and the external contingencies that impact entrepreneurial leadership strategies for ensuring business survivability.</li><li>Evaluate and develop strategies to create short- and long-term operative goals and recommend a strategic direction for sustaining and regrowing a business.</li></ul>

• Entrepreneurship
• Survival
• Exit
• Leadership
• Management
• COVID-19
• Strategy