GetYourGuide: Managing a Sudden Shock to Business Growth

In March 2020, the German online travel experience platform GetYourGuide faced an abrupt drop in revenues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the drop, the company had been thriving, grown from a simple idea thought up by a group of friends in a student dormitory into a market-leading company in the travel experience industry with a valuation of over US$1 billion (a “unicorn” start-up) and more than 600 employees across fifteen global offices. Co-founder Johannes Reck and his team needed to determine a path forward—but how to prioritize responses to the crisis? What would the impact of any responses be on the company’s longer-term strategy? And how could the responses be aligned with the company’s values, which centred on entrepreneurial vision and commitment to employees? Whichever action plan was chosen, decisions would have to be made swiftly.

This case fits well in courses at the undergraduate or graduate level (MSc, MBA, EMBA), specifically in those covering aspects of (global) entrepreneurship, leadership/organizational behaviour, strategic management, international business, or e-commerce and platform companies. While the case is set in a COVID-19 context, the lessons learned should apply to a broad range of performance-impacting events. After working through the case, students will be able to<ul><li>Recognize the importance of having organizational values inform responses to crises—and that laying off employees is not the only (let alone best) option for addressing sudden shocks to performance;</li><li>Consider that responses to a crisis are situated in the context of the company’s history, culture, and strategy, and ought to be viewed across different time horizons;</li><li>Identify a company’s business model and sources of competitive advantage;</li><li>Describe a decision-maker’s leadership style using the Competing Values Framework; and</li><li>Weigh the tension between legal and ethical dimensions inherent in making difficult decisions.</li></ul>

• Crisis response
• Platform business development
• Leadership
• Covid-19
• Competing Values Framework