個案總覽

Student spreadsheet for case 920551.

This case describes Café Kenya, a Kenyan-based chain of casual quick-food restaurants. The chain was started in 2011 in Nairobi by Nekesa Kuria. Kuria started Café Kenya and grew it by reinvesting profits into company stores and through franchising. She also concentrated on getting the details right, and she helped this effort by hiring the best people possible. Further, she feels a responsibility to help other African women succeed as business owners. The company is very successful. By early 2019, CK had 28 stores, 21 of which are franchised. All the stores are in major cities in Kenya, including Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. Kuria is considering several options to grow CK, including organic growth, equity investment from an outside partner, and a buyout offer. Each involves tradeoffs that Kuria must decide among. The case can be used to discuss issues such as entrepreneurial ventures, managing a service business, human resource management, and options for growth. It is recommended for upper-level undergraduate students or MBA students in entrepreneurship courses.

Founded in 2008 at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Collibra was a data intelligence company that found product-market fit in the years after the global financial crisis, when many companies were under pressure from consumers and governments to improve their data management efforts. Over the years, Collibra expanded its product offering from a Semantic Data Integration tool to a Data Governance Platform with a range of data management and governance tools, and also expanded geographically from Belgium to the U.S. and other countries. In 2019, with more than 350 clients, Collibra became a unicorn with a valuation of more than $1 billion. Now, co-founders Felix Van de Maele, Stijn Christiaens, and Pieter De Leenheer needed to decide how to move from "data governance" to "data intelligence

Marilynn Duker, CEO, was exploring how to grow the company while maintaining the culture that made it a leader in the field of senior housing. Brightview constructed and operated senior living apartment communities that offered independent living, assisted living, and dementia care services for seniors in northeastern U.S. markets. While Brightview was smaller than the largest senior living firms (it had 42 properties with over 5,600 apartments), it had purposely managed its growth so that it could focus on offering the best work experience for its employees. The executives believed that doing so would lead to the best experience for its residents and, ultimately, the best financial returns for its investors. Its strategy appeared to be working so far and the company had received rewards for being a best place to work. Regardless of market or product, Duker and the executive team recognized that many seniors preferred to live at home and bring in help or could not afford to live in a senior living community.

In December 2018, GRIT Fitness was a growing chain of boutique fitness studios offering a variety of workout classes, including weightlifting, high intensity interval training, and cardio dance. With 400 members and three Dallas studios, CEO Brittani Rettig believed her business had found a niche in a crowded industry by promoting female empowerment and psychological resilience through fitness. Rettig wanted to extend GRIT's reach to impact more women. What was the best path to growth?

Mike Zani and Daniel Muzquiz needed to decide next steps to create a new category in the human resources consulting industry and scale their company. Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the 65-year-old Predictive Index, they had used its behavioral assessment tool to help them hire staff and build teams and they strongly believed in its value. They also believed, however, that Predictive Index had the potential to be something more. After acquiring the company, they invested in technology and people to modernize the business, and Predictive Index earned recognition as a "best place to work." In 2018, they developed a Talent Optimization platform, an offering that had the potential to transform the industry by helping companies align their business strategies with their human capital and leadership development strategies. In late 2019, as they prepared a broad rollout of Talent Optimization, and planned to scale their business by an order of magnitude, the pair wondered what hurdles they might face along the way and what other steps they should take to reach their goals.

In 2018, Mustafa Koita, Founder and CEO of Dubai-based organic milk company Koita has to decide whether or not to pursue an investment from a potential competitor who is coming into his local market.

In 2018, Al Islami Foods CEO Marwan Al Garem and Chairman Saleh Saeed Lootah have to decide on a potential investment partner. They hope to find the best match for a strategic investment in their Dubai-based halal foods company from a list of three global food companies.

The Harvest City case describes the implementation of a cloud- and IoT-based intelligent procurement system at a new convention complex in the U.S. Midwest. The decision to build a convention complex is a strategic initiative for this city and involves extensive use of information technology. The risk of implementation failure is high. Such failures are costly, highly visible, and affect multiple stakeholders. This case explores the challenges of large-scale, computer-based system implementation by examining the events, decisions, and actions taken to implement the intelligent procurement system at Harvest City. This case helps students to reflect on and discuss the challenges of implementing IT-enabled change initiatives, especially those that requires streamlined and integrated inter-organizational processes. The case discussion gives students insight into what factors influence the success and failure of IT projects.

Describes TelePizza, is Spain's leading chain of pizza restaurants and delivery services. TelePizza has experienced rapid growth to 500 stores since its creation in 1987. The company went public on the Spanish stock market in late 1996. Franchising has played an important role in the firm's expansion to date. For further growth, the founder and CEO is contemplating three strategies: further expansion in Spain, international expansion, or the creation of new restaurant concepts. Abridged version of case 899080.

In late 2015, Crystal Call Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, is working with her investment committee to help set the company's strategic direction. Maggelet, daughter of the company's founder, has led FJ Management since 2009 when she stepped in as CEO following an unexpected bankruptcy. At that time, FJ Management was known as Flying J. Flying J owned and operated hundreds of truck stops-which it called Travel Plazas-nationwide and was a growing multi-billion dollar business, but broader problems in the oil and credit markets in late 2008 forced it to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maggelet, who had been serving on Flying J's board, became its new CEO and was able to successfully manage competing stakeholder demands, keep the business running, and ultimately paid back every dollar it owed to its creditors by selling the company's core assets-its travel plazas-to its main competitor in 2010. Since that time, the company had returned to a healthy financial position, diversified its holdings, and made investments in diverse industries to determine how to grow the company, since renamed FJ Management. In 2015, Maggelet now wants to set a clear path forward for the company.

Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) is a Lowell, Massachusetts-based nonprofit that hosts business accelerators for entrepreneurs in underserved communities. By mid-2017, EforAll has five office locations in Massachusetts, and its leadership and the Board of Directors must decide whether EforAll is ready to open its first out-of-state office. Students are asked to consider a variety of factors - including funding, hiring, population demographics, and distance from Massachusetts - to determine whether EforAll has the capacity to expand, and if so, which new city it should expand to first.

In January 2016, Guillermo Jaime had just returned home to Mexico City after attending a Harvard Business School executive education program. Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a company providing affordable housing to low-income Mexicans living at the base of the pyramid (BOP), defined as those living on less than $10 per day. Since its launch in 2009, MIA had built nearly 25,000 homes-which provided safe shelter to more than 100,000 Mexicans-while generating an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin of over 8%. At the executive education program, Jaime had learned that entrepreneurs could build on their unique attributes and capabilities to expand and grow their businesses. Should he continue to expand the services MIA offered to BOP customers? Could he leverage what made MIA unique-offering affordable homes for its BOP customers in Mexico-to fulfill other critical needs at the BOP for water, clean energy, and health care services? Jaime was an expert in housing, but could he translate that expertise to such diverse sectors? If so, how should he begin?

Guillermo Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a for-profit company providing affordable housing to low-income Mexicans living at the base of the pyramid (BOP). This case tells the story of Jaime and Endeavor, a non-profit dedicated to leading the high impact entrepreneurship movement as a tool for economic development in countries around the world. In 2010, Jaime was named an Endeavor Entrepreneur. This case can accompany HBS Case Study "MIA: Profit at the Base of the Pyramid," No. 817073.