From 2009 to 2015 was a crucial expansion period for Gastón Acurio and the holding company Acurio Restaurantes under which he combined the creation and day-to-day operations of his Peruvian restaurant empire. The case gives an overview of Peruvian cuisine and of how Gastón, starting from a single restaurant, built a food empire. Between 1994, when he founded his first restaurant Astrid y Gastón in Lima, and 2005 Gastón Acurio quietly established himself as a star chef and a leader in the international culinary scene. He also gained experience not only running a restaurant but also establishing a local supply chain and working with producers and suppliers. In 2005, Acurio Restaurantes began expanding internationally - first in Latin America and then overseas, creating different restaurant concepts for different customer segments and dining experiences. The case describes the challenges associated with expanding to new markets each with its own culinary specificities and practices, the need for local partners, and the financial aspects of an aggressive expansion strategy. Gastón Acurio is the central figure, with his quest to replicate for Peruvian cuisine the global expansion that Italian cuisine had enjoyed a few decades earlier. His strong values and leadership style contributed significantly to the success of the past 10 years. After stepping back from running his flagship Astrid y Gastón in Lima, how could he continue to realize his vision for Peruvian cuisine and facilitate access to the world markets for Peru's farmers and manufacturers?.

Sky Germany is the leading pay TV provider in Germany and Austria. In 2010, the company was losing money and facing a lot of operational challenges such as a slow subscriber growth, a high customer churn rate, high fixed costs and frequent product stock-outs. In 2010 Sebastian Hauptmann joined Sky as VP of Logistics to help turn the company around. He had to act swiftly to address short-term problems while developing and implementing the strategy for long-term operational success. He put in place a multi-year strategic turnaround program led by supply chain team, a culture of continuous improvements (CI), and a world-class team. By 2014 all important KPI's had improved significantly, and the company was on the path to turnaround, largely driven by the wide-ranging improvements in supply chain management. In 2016, for the first time in its history, Sky Deutschland reported positive operating results. With his continued success, Sebastian successively increased his responsibilities to become first SVP of Supply Chain, Procurement & CI and then EVP of Operations in 2016. The German Pay TV market remains a large opportunity for Sky Deutschland and rapid technology changes in TV and media present new challenges to the Sky group across Europe.

Sky Germany is the leading pay TV provider in Germany and Austria. In 2010, the company was losing money and facing a lot of operational challenges such as a slow subscriber growth, a high customer churn rate, high fixed costs and frequent product stock-outs. In 2010 Sebastian Hauptmann joined Sky as VP of Logistics to help turn the company around. He had to act swiftly to address short-term problems while developing and implementing the strategy for long-term operational success. He put in place a multi-year strategic turnaround program led by supply chain team, a culture of continuous improvements (CI), and a world-class team. By 2014 all important KPI's had improved significantly, and the company was on the path to turnaround, largely driven by the wide-ranging improvements in supply chain management. In 2016, for the first time in its history, Sky Deutschland reported positive operating results. With his continued success, Sebastian successively increased his responsibilities to become first SVP of Supply Chain, Procurement & CI and then EVP of Operations in 2016. The German Pay TV market remains a large opportunity for Sky Deutschland and rapid technology changes in TV and media present new challenges to the Sky group across Europe.

Venture Valuation conducts an independent valuation of Genedata, a Swiss start-up company in order to help Novartis Venture Fund analyze and structure the next financing round. Venture Valuation has to, given a very tight deadline, customize the evaluation process to using quantitative and qualitative data to best meet its customers needs. The case outlines the task ahead of Venture Valuation and requires students to make assessments and calculations and finally come up with a valuation for the startup, Genedata.

The Novartis Venture Fund is considering investing into a start up, Genedata, and must take into account the valuation analysis by both the start up as well as Venture Valuation -- an independent boutique organization that specializes in valuing high growth potential startups. NVF uses the Venture Valuation inputs to determine how best to structure the next round of financing for Genedata and the case requires the reader to discuss and analyze pricing, further financing requirements, and exit strategy for the fund.