個案總覽

In September 2011, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) celebrated its 122nd anniversary. Its chairman had just turned 76. Two years earlier, he had travelled to the United States to receive a cardiac ablation to correct an irregular heart rhythm. Succession-related questions were on his mind. SMC needed a clear plan for the leadership transition. The charismatic chairman spent his life successfully exploiting business opportunities, growing SMC from a small brewery company into a giant business group. By 2011, SMC was the largest corporation in the Philippines in terms of revenue—accounting for about 6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and employing about 17,000 people. The group engaged in a wide range of businesses including mining, oil refining and distribution, power, telecommunications, airlines, airports, and infrastructure. How could the company continue to thrive without its remarkable leader? Finding a path towards a smooth leadership succession would be a difficult task.

In February 2016, the owner of a wool and yarn products retail business in the Enterprise Arcade, a not-for-profit retail business incubator in Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom, needed to meet with the manager of the arcade. Based in a central and prominent position in a struggling Northeast England town, the Enterprise Arcade was opened by the local council as a part of a large renovation project. It was intended to regenerate the area and support enterprise and employment by providing small, indoor, market-sized retail spaces for self-employed retail start-ups to test their markets. After 14 months with the incubator, the owner of the wool and yarn business was expected to be ready to move out, but her business models were still unproven, and she wanted to stay longer. The manager had to balance the overall success of the Enterprise Arcade with the turnover and successful graduations of the businesses therein. How should the business owner organize her priorities and prepare to negotiate with the manager? What should the manager advise her to do?

In October 2016, the founder of Summer Swim Academy—a provider of swimming lessons and lifeguarding services to families in Burlington, Ontario—was reflecting on the organization’s second full season of operations. The founder had been providing services in Burlington for the past six years and had been operating the business formally under the Summer Swim Academy brand for the past two years. She wanted to evaluate the possibility of expanding her business, either geographically or to a year-round operation, in order to achieve a profit goal of $50,000. To determine whether this goal was attainable, she needed to assess geographic and service-delivery expansion options for Summer Swim Academy.

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1-2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn't the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies that sell to government (or directly to citizens), lead venture funds, operate as ecosystem partners, and more. What felt like a new array of opportunities, though, raised a host of additional questions: What does a career path for a public entrepreneur actually look like? In which sector (private vs. public) should I start? Should I run for elective office? What does that imply for how I pursue my career? And often, and perhaps especially, what do I need in order to be able to move back and forth between sectors? In the spring of 2017, four students in the MBA class felt incredibly fortunate. After two years of business school, strong opportunities awaited each of them. None was wanting for work. However, they still had to decide which posts to take at the moment, if any at all.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment to improving health care outcomes and lowering costs by reducing treatment variation, made the surprising decision to invest significant resources in an innovative precision medicine unit, which would provide life-extending, genetically-targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients. Precision medicine was associated with treatment variation and high costs, the latter of which was of particular concern given that Intermountain often served as both payer and provider for its patients. But Intermountain's management was convinced by Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, who joined Intermountain's oncology team in 2013 and spearheaded the creation of Intermountain Precision Genomics (IPG). By 2016, IPG had a cutting-edge genomic sequencing laboratory that provided sequencing services to Intermountain and non-Intermountain physicians, and IPG's team had conducted research indicating that targeted therapies administered through IPG extended patient lifespans but increased overall costs. Now, in mid-2017, IPG is undergoing a major transition as it prepares to outsource the bulk of its genomic testing volume to Navican Genomics, a for-profit, Intermountain-owned spinoff. As Nadauld contemplates the future of IPG, he must evaluate two exciting opportunities, and students are asked to consider where Nadauld should focus IPG's resources: should IPG partner with Intermountain's behavioral health team to conduct joint research on the relationship between genetic markers and antidepressant effectiveness, or should IPG push for the testing of a large biorepository, which will cost $12 million but could lead to the identification of new precision medicine applications?

After extensive planning, Ian Calhoun, (MBA 2010) who was also a chef trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, and two co-founders launched 80 Thoreau, a "progressive fine dining" restaurant in Concord, MA that became a local favorite as well as a special occasion destination. After five years of successful operations, the founding team contemplated opening a second restaurant in Boston's Back Bay. Building on the game plan for and lessons learned during the opening of 80 Thoreau, Calhoun and team developed a plan for Mooncusser Fish House and Moon Bar. But as the decision to launch or scupper the new restaurant drew near, the team had to decide whether they had hit upon the right concept, found the right location, and had the managerial capacity to succeed. Would the 80 Thoreau investor group back the project or would the founders need to find new financial backers? Was this the right time to expand?

This case was designed to facilitate discussion of how a cyberattack was remediated by a major public university. Students are challenged to think through how to best manage the remediation project, including the application of best practices such as risk management, stakeholder management, communication plans, outsourcing/procurement management, and cyberattack remediation. The Phoenix Project was a success from multiple perspectives, and as such provides a useful example of how to manage an unplanned, mission-critical project well.

When Meituan merged with Dazhong Dianping in 2015, the company was no longer the fledgling startup it was in 2010. Founded by Tsinghua alumnus Wang Xing, the newly-formed Meituan-Dianping was valued at US$18 billion, joining an exclusive club of "decacorns," or startup "unicorns" worth at least US$10 billion. Soon, the company's first post-merger fundraising amassed US$3.3 billion, the highest amount the world had ever seen at that point. Our case describes how Meituan-Dianping grew from a simple group-buying website to a diverse online platform that offered products and services ranging from airfare to food delivery. It focuses on Wang's rationale and ethos, particularly how they informed and shaped Meituan and subsequently Meituan-Dianping's strategy. It describes the challenges of entrepreneurship and tech innovation, focusing on management and leadership in a dynamic and intensely competitive environment. It also highlights the considerations behind choosing the right business model during a firm's formative period, illustrating how the firm's positioning (e.g., "Meituan is not a Groupon clone") may influence talent recruitment and even fundraising efforts. Our case is suitable for graduate management/business and executive development programmes that include entrepreneurship, tech innovation, or strategy, as well as those with an international focus, especially on China.

The Regina Auto Racing Club (RARC) had been operating the Kings Park Speedway since 1967. In 2016, the race track and facilities were beginning to show their age and were in need of costly upgrading. Unfortunately, the club had also been suffering from declining attendance over the past five years, and the associated decline in ticket revenue had led to a shrinking race schedule. At the end of the race season in 2016, the club managed to break even financially and had a modest bank account balance. Although RARC was a non-profit organization, the continued financial viability of the club was at risk, and action was required to increase revenue. The club needed to decide among four non-mutually exclusive business strategies. Should it repair and rebuild the facilities to renew the appeal of the venue and attract more spectators? Should it increase its advertising and promotion activities to improve awareness of the club and events? Should it increase the number of race classes and special racing events, or should it introduce non-racing events to the facility to take advantage of other revenue-generating opportunities?

Safe Boat Trip Private Limited (Safe Boat Trip) of Kerala, India, is planning to launch a hydrofoil ferry service connecting the Port of Kochi, India, with two other ports in the state of Kerala by August 2016, to benefit from the tourism potential of the season in Kerala. The managing director has asked the principal superintendent of Safe Boat Trip to prepare a project plan for the boats to be commissioned into service, following approval from the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). The principal superintendent must also carry out a break-even analysis of the project investment. With these challenges before him, the superintendent must set out to devise a solid plan of action before the company’s next meeting.

In July 2015, the founder of YourStory Media Private Limited (YourStory) needed to make key strategic decisions to scale up her business. YourStory was a top-ranked online media platform that focused on developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India by publishing news stories about entrepreneurs and start-ups and by organizing entrepreneurial conferences and events. Since its inception in 2008, the company had grown slowly and steadily using its own funds. However, it needed to expand rapidly in order to attract venture capital funding. YourStory’s founder knew that potential investors would translate their initial interest into actual investments only if she was able to demonstrate that YourStory had a coherent, comprehensive, and consistent story of its own. She had identified various strategic growth alternatives: given the evolving online media marketplace, which should she pursue to meet her expansion goal?

In early 2015, the chief executive officer and the management team of Groupon India, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Groupon Inc., faced a management buyout decision. Buoyed by a high growth rate and huge market potential in India, they wanted more India-specific product positioning and greater control over technology. They explored growth options available to the company, but faced the constraints of being part of a global conglomerate. The management team had narrowed its options to either starting a new venture or acquiring ownership of the subsidiary through a management buyout. How could they ensure they made the right decision?

In early 2015, the chief executive officer and the management team of Groupon India, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Groupon Inc., faced a management buyout decision. Buoyed by a high growth rate and huge market potential in India, they wanted more India-specific product positioning and greater control over technology. They explored growth options available to the company, but faced the constraints of being part of a global conglomerate. The management team had narrowed its options to either starting a new venture or acquiring ownership of the subsidiary through a management buyout. How could they ensure they made the right decision?

The essential steps in the transition from a nascent startup to an organization capable of sustained and profitable growth are not readily apparent to many early stage entrepreneurs. The life cycle of an entrepreneurial venture consists of four stages (startup, transition, scaling, and exit), each defined by the principal challenges faced by the founding team. The popular lean startup methodology emphasizes a disciplined process of exploration, validation, and refinement of the business concept as the essential first step in the process. Although it is undeniably important to get the business concept right in the beginning, there is a period of transition during which the founding team must establish a solid foundation for growth and scaling that may ultimately have a greater influence on venture success. To date, limited research has focused on transition and the field has offered little normative guidance. Entrepreneurs have largely been on their own as they struggle, through trial and error, to lay the foundation and build a scalable business. This article describes the essential tasks to be undertaken-the eight hurdles of transition-and provides normative guidance, solidly based on experience, regarding the actions required to establish the foundation for a scalable business.

These days, it seems, nearly everyone aspires to be an entrepreneur. But many entrepreneurs think and act differently than the way in which most other businesspeople do and the way much of today's business education encourages them to think and act. My in-depth examination of dozens of entrepreneurs I've come to know well over the past 2 decades tells me that their unconventional-or, dare I say, counter-conventional-mindsets and behaviors are marked by six common patterns: (1) 'Yes, we can;' (2) beg, borrow, or steal; (3) think narrow, not broad; (4) problem-first, not product-first logic; (5) 'No' is something waiting to be turned into 'Yes'; and (6) ask for the cash and ride the float. Thankfully, we now know that entrepreneurs are made, not born. These six patterns of entrepreneurial thought and action are eminently learnable. If you want to someday be an entrepreneur, or if you want the people in your company to become more entrepreneurial, then developing-or encouraging and incentivizing your people to develop-such a mindset might constitute a suitable first step toward preparing you to follow a more entrepreneurial path or to foster a more entrepreneurial culture in your company.

Dr. William Carson, an African-American psychiatrist who grew up in South Carolina. He had a thriving career in academic medicine as a professor and he also treated patients. After a decade in academic medicine he moved into the pharmaceutical industry where he ran drug trials. As the Group Director of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Carson worked on the drug Aripiprazole, an antipsychotic drug that is more famously known as Abilify. Abilify had been developed by Otsuka, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, and it was being co-marketed in the United States by Otsuka and Bristol Myers-Squibb. After a series of "Appleby's" conversations held during dinner meetings with a colleague from Otsuka at Appleby's restaurant, Carson was invited to join Otsuka's fledgling Princeton, N.J., office. Carson was then asked to take on the considerable task of running clinical trials for Abilify in Japan. The project would require a deft cultural touch as well as a plan for how to run the trials. Should the trials be run in-house or outsourced? Should Carson hire employees who might eventually be laid off - an unpopular option in Japan - or could he find a company with enough cultural sensitivity to run the trials in Asia? Carson would have to rely on his intrapreneurial skills to find the answers.

In 2016, the owner of a cow-calf operation must decide what the appropriate weight for cows in their herd is. For decades, the national trend has been for cow weights to increase because they produce larger calves, but evidence indicates that cow weights may have reached the point where the cost of maintaining a larger cow has become greater than the return from producing a larger calf. Analyzing this issue introduces marginal principles from economics. Formerly Old Mule Farms, product no. 9B10B004.

In 2016, the owner of a cow-calf operation must decide what the appropriate weight for cows in their herd is. For decades, the national trend has been for cow weights to increase because they produce larger calves, but evidence indicates that cow weights may have reached the point where the cost of maintaining a larger cow has become greater than the return from producing a larger calf. Analyzing this issue introduces marginal principles from economics. Formerly "Old Mule Farms," product no. 9B10B004.

Eatigo is a restaurant reservation application (app) founded in 2013 which offered an alternative way of connecting diners to restaurants. The aim was to improve restaurants' profitability by filling up empty restaurant seats during off-peak hours, by offering time-based discounts ranging from 10 to 50 percent. The market for restaurant reservation apps showed potential but there were already entrenched players. With dogged determination to develop a unique value proposition and careful crafting of its business model, the founders managed to shape diners' behaviour and disrupt the modus operandi of the industry to become a leading restaurant reservation app with presence in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and the Philippines. As business gained traction, the founders needed funding to sustain growth. They explored funding options available to small-medium enterprises in Singapore and Bangkok - loan from credit card and banks, government grants, and investment from venture capital companies. There were pros and cons. The size and cost of funding were important considerations. Whilst meeting investors' demands was necessary to secure funding, it may lead to excessive dilution of owner's control. There was also the question on the correct valuation of Eatigo. Which type of funding should the founders choose?