個案資料

This case focuses on a small family business, Mattera Motors, an auto repair shop operating in the challenging operating environment of a South African township. The founder, Marcello Mattera, started as a “necessity entrepreneur” (i.e., an individual pushed into launching their own business due to no other employment options). The business has nonetheless reached a level of stability over the past two decades and is successful by the standards of a township enterprise. However, the company faces dilemmas in the coming years relating to succession and growth. Specifically, should Mattera’s children inherit the business from him? Could the business survive if Mattera shared it between his two children? Or should the family expand the business to seize new opportunities?

This case is suitable for graduate students in courses on (but not limited to) entrepreneurship, family business, strategy, and business in emerging markets. The case is useful for understanding risky operating environments (characterized by poverty and resource constraints, gang warfare, police ineffectiveness, corruption, ethnic tensions, and so forth) and learning about what resources entrepreneurs can use to mitigate risks in such settings. The case is suitable for conceptual tools such as the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, the resource-based view (RBV), and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) framework to determine what strategy Marcello should pursue.<br><br>After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Understand the external environment, specifically as it pertains to the unique risks and challenges entrepreneurs face when operating as necessity entrepreneurs.</li><li>Identify the resources (especially intangible resources) an entrepreneur can use to overcome the obstacles in highly uncertain operating environments.</li><li>Identify to what extent those resources allow for firm stability, and whether they may be compromised by strategies such as growth or diversification.</li><li>Evaluate which resources are specific to the entrepreneur and which are related to the firm, and hence can be passed down.</li></ul>