This case focuses on the efforts of Bavarian Nordic A/S, a Danish pharmaceutical company, to create a new COVID-19 vaccine. Their vaccine is based on a newer technology and has the potential to provide longer-lasting protection than the currently dominant BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. However, the project also faces obstacles related to uncertainty of vaccine efficacy, financing, product positioning, distribution, and access to production infrastructure. Indeed, given the head start of the incumbents’ vaccines, the dominance in this business of large pharmaceutical companies, and the multitude of other COVID-19 vaccines, some wonder whether the company should be going down this path at all.

This case focuses on the efforts of Bavarian Nordic A/S, a Danish pharmaceutical company, to create a new COVID-19 vaccine. Their vaccine is based on a newer technology and has the potential to provide longer-lasting protection than the currently dominant BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. However, the project also faces obstacles related to uncertainty of vaccine efficacy, financing, product positioning, distribution, and access to production infrastructure. Indeed, given the head start of the incumbents' vaccines, the dominance in this business of large pharmaceutical companies, and the multitude of other COVID-19 vaccines, some wonder whether the company should be going down this path at all.

In 2020, TDC NET, a subsidiary of the Danish telecommunications company TDC Group, established the Innovation Hub, a new organizational unit, together with its partner Ericsson Denmark. With the Innovation Hub, TDC NET sought to explore the business opportunities that the rollout of 5G, the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, offers in areas such as Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things. TDC NET was proud to offer Denmark's best mobile network but margins in that business were low and competition was fierce. Offering value-added services around the implementation of 5G seemed much more attractive. But that would require the Innovation Hub to succeed with pilot projects in areas and industries that the employees working at the Hub had little knowledge about. How could they achieve this goal during the next two years? And, given the complex challenges, was the current setup of the Innovation Hub the right one or should it be organized differently?

MobilePay, a popular mobile payment system in Denmark, set new records in 2021. Danes had used the app more than 424 million times and transferred about DKK 160 billion (USD 22.6 billion), an increase of 29% from the previous year, which had also seen record growth. Every day, more than one million transactions were carried out through a customer's "swipe" on a mobile phone. While these numbers looked impressive, Claus Bunkenborg, MobilePay's CEO, knew that the coming years would be challenging. He thought about the DKK 208 million (USD 29 million) in losses that MobilePay had incurred in 2021. "We have high growth but we are not profitable. Our business model is not viable in the long run. Getting paid to facilitate transactions is not viable because the price that the merchants are paying to use our service is just going down, down, down. Are we in the payments business or something else? If we want to do more of the same, we need more scale. However, we also need to look at the business model. How can we create revenue streams? How can we monetize our brand, our user platform, our merchant base? It's easy to say we want to be a platform, but what does that actually mean in our case?

Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with flight activity at levels not seen since the 1970s. Although the virus overshadows everything, three senior managers discuss a more long-term trend: the steadily declining revenues of the airport's shopping mall. Over the past number of years, consumer interest in food, beverages, and tax-free items has continuously decreased, posing considerable challenges to CPH's business model. About 80 per cent of the airport's profits are generated by the non-aeronautical business, of which the shopping mall is the biggest part, and CPH needs that income to continue investing into the airport's status as an important hub for airlines. What could CPH do to deliver better existing services, and what new services would merit serious consideration? Could CPH launch new products or services that would be attractive to both passengers and shopping mall tenants, or would it need to redevelop its entire business model? Since the commercial business was key to driving the airport's further development, the managers knew that finding answers to these questions was important to sustaining CPH's position as a leading hub in Northern Europe. The case is not about the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for the aviation industry. This is a case about the long-term trend of declining revenues in the airport's shopping mall.

Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with flight activity at levels not seen since the 1970s. Although the virus overshadows everything, three senior managers discuss a more long-term trend: the steadily declining revenues of the airport’s shopping mall. Over the past number of years, consumer interest in food, beverages, and tax-free items has continuously decreased, posing considerable challenges to CPH’s business model. About 80 per cent of the airport’s profits are generated by the non-aeronautical business, of which the shopping mall is the biggest part, and CPH needs that income to continue investing into the airport’s status as an important hub for airlines. What could CPH do to deliver better existing services, and what new services would merit serious consideration? Could CPH launch new products or services that would be attractive to both passengers and shopping mall tenants, or would it need to redevelop its entire business model? Since the commercial business was key to driving the airport’s further development, the managers knew that finding answers to these questions was important to sustaining CPH’s position as a leading hub in Northern Europe. The case is not about the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for the aviation industry. This is a case about the long-term trend of declining revenues in the airport’s shopping mall.