個案總覽

The case uses the story of one of the leading e-commerce firms in Vietnam to introduce students to concepts and models of e-commerce, and in particular, to help students get familiar with cultural, ethical and legal issues in doing cross-border e-commerce. After solving the top three challenges in doing e-commerce in Vietnam within the past 9 years - enabling a reliable and secured online transaction, building customers' trust in buyers and providing an effective shipping service, the CEO needed to consider whether he should expand his proven successful domestic ecosystem extensively or build a completely new one to serve his company's strategic move: doing cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia where there exist established players in the highly competitive and technology savvy market. Such a key strategic event occurred in early 2014.

This case uses the story of IT-Ration, a small firm based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to enable students to conduct an in-depth analysis of the founding manager, the firm, and the industry so as to make a strategic growth decision. The story unfolds in 2009 at a time when IT-Ration was at a crossroads - should it continue to focus on the Quebec market or go into the U.S. in order to grow? Remaining in Quebec meant that the business would face problems related to limited market size. However, a move to the U.S. would also bring its share of challenges. The entrepreneur had to weigh the pros and cons in order to make an informed decision.