The case is set in January 2019, when Di Xu, the team leader of Ant Forest, a green initiative within the Chinese payment and lifestyle app Alipay, is reviewing the strategy for Ant Forest. Ant Forest was started in 2016 as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project under Alipay. It was financially supported by Alipay's parent company, Ant Financial. From the time of its launch to October 2018, Ant Forest has managed to attract almost 400 million users to its cause of promoting 'green', low carbon emissions behaviour among the lifestyles of its users. It has done so by letting users of Ant Forest win 'energy points' through low-carbon behaviours (such as walking to work instead of driving, or reducing their use of plastic), and then accumulating the points towards planting a virtual tree of their choice. When a user had accumulated a sufficient number of energy points, Ant Forest would, through its partners, plant a real, physical tree on their behalf in the deserts of Inner Mongolia. The uptake of the Ant Forest initiative has exceeded the team's expectations, and there has been considerable positive feedback received from users who have experienced good social and health benefits through their use of Ant Forest. Di Xu is now evaluating the next steps for Ant Forest. Should the Ant Forest initiative be taken overseas? If so, which features of the product, and the business model, should be implemented?

The case captures the story of Worldview International Foundation (WIF), focusing especially in the 2012-2016 period during which the organisation started to restore and develop a mangrove forest in the Bay of Bengal on the west coast of Myanmar. The story focuses on the decision-making processes and choices that WIF's chief executive officer Arne Fjørtoft has to take. In 2012, Fjørtoft secures funding from the Letten Foundation in Norway for a three-year research project in Myanmar on mangrove restoration. While his initial project description was simply to start planting mangrove trees for carbon sequestration, the project was redesigned as a research project to align with the new rules the Letten Foundation had to follow. Fjørtoft decides to embark on a two and a half year journey in order to scale the operation within and beyond Myanmar. For this however, he needs funding. Obtaining that funding is the key objective we focus on. The case ends with the students being presented with three alternative options: (a) Kick-start the collaboration with Alan Laubsch from Lykke on the blockchain cryptocurrency called TREE; (b) Pursue Voluntary Carbon Standard accreditation in the hope that WIF could start selling carbon credits to organisations globally; (c) Try another grant application to either the Global Climate Fund or the Norwegian Ministry for Environment and Climate, this time with the help of the United Nations Environment Programme as the accredited agency.

Part A. In November 2016, Gibran Huzaifah, CEO of Indonesian firm eFishery that sells automated fish feeders for fish farmers, ponders a strategic pivot in the business-from hardware to data services. While his engineers struggle to develop a fish activity sensor to improve efficiencies and drive sales, Gibran ponders the option to develop new products to help farmers predict harvest levels (Fishbiz), signal quality to lenders (FishFax), and deploy platforms for inputs (Marketplace) and outputs (eCosystem). In addition, he is also considering whether it may be smarter to develop autofeeders for shrimp farmers, a market that is more geographically dispersed but with higher purchasing power. Part A ends by asking which direction Gibran should take for 2017. Part B. It is February 2018, and eFishery has moved into making automated shrimp feeders. Gibran seeks a roadmap to land investment funding and sees two paths to pivot into a viable platform business: 1) The "High Road of Quality Hardware" seeks a strong foundation for Marketplace and appeals to the engineering team. The CEO worries the High Road may increase unit costs, swell a bloated balance sheet, slow sales, and reinforce the firm's self-identity as a slow-scaling hardware company. It means redoubling work on the fish sensor, working with an outside firm to build a water quality sensor, and developing a P2P protocol and new data station to help the feeders talk to each other and send data to the cloud. 2) The "Low Road of Bootstrapped Disruption" seeks to get FishBiz and FishFax to market. Some sales staff share Gibran's vision, but most employees are used to hardware. Data capabilities remain weak and only major reallocations of scarce resources will make the new products strong enough to drive adoption.

Part A. In November 2016, Gibran Huzaifah, CEO of Indonesian firm eFishery that sells automated fish feeders for fish farmers, ponders a strategic pivot in the business-from hardware to data services. While his engineers struggle to develop a fish activity sensor to improve efficiencies and drive sales, Gibran ponders the option to develop new products to help farmers predict harvest levels (Fishbiz), signal quality to lenders (FishFax), and deploy platforms for inputs (Marketplace) and outputs (eCosystem). In addition, he is also considering whether it may be smarter to develop autofeeders for shrimp farmers, a market that is more geographically dispersed but with higher purchasing power. Part A ends by asking which direction Gibran should take for 2017. Part B. It is February 2018, and eFishery has moved into making automated shrimp feeders. Gibran seeks a roadmap to land investment funding and sees two paths to pivot into a viable platform business: 1) The "High Road of Quality Hardware" seeks a strong foundation for Marketplace and appeals to the engineering team. The CEO worries the High Road may increase unit costs, swell a bloated balance sheet, slow sales, and reinforce the firm's self-identity as a slow-scaling hardware company. It means redoubling work on the fish sensor, working with an outside firm to build a water quality sensor, and developing a P2P protocol and new data station to help the feeders talk to each other and send data to the cloud. 2) The "Low Road of Bootstrapped Disruption" seeks to get FishBiz and FishFax to market. Some sales staff share Gibran's vision, but most employees are used to hardware. Data capabilities remain weak and only major reallocations of scarce resources will make the new products strong enough to drive adoption.