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A data analyst at Basecamp is evaluating the results of pricing research and its potential implications for the venture's latest version of its project management software product.

The managing director of Sathavahana Ispat Limited (SIL) was relieved when his company’s expanded manufacturing facilities commenced operations on April 1, 2015, after a delay of more than a year. Though he had a reason to rejoice, the managing director also had concerns about SIL's rising borrowing costs and dwindling liquidity. Accordingly, he approached the Indian Women's Bank to replace the company's high-cost debt to the extent of ?3 billion and to raise a corporate loan of ?1 billion. Would the proposal be sanctioned? Or would it be rejected due to SIL's weak financials, subdued market conditions and the ongoing global economic slowdown?

In the traditional approach to venture capital, an investment firm parcels out funds to a portfolio of start-ups, knowing that most will fail but that with luck, the returns from the few winners will make the exercise profitable. For more than 40 years, another model has also existed: corporate venture capital, in which a very large company invests in start-ups, often in adjacent industries. Corporate VCs have historically been motivated by strategic payoffs: insight into new products that could affect their competitive position--and perhaps the inside track on acquiring the start-up if its innovation pans out. But a study by MIT researchers shows a recent shift in goals, with corporate VCs increasingly concerned about financial returns. The researchers explored this mission drift through in-depth interviews with the leaders of 16 corporate VC units, learning that the units often aren't pursuing opportunities that could help them maximize their role as strategic investors. Firms need better ways to measure the nonfinancial value derived from investments in start-ups, the researchers say; and by voicing support for the corporate VC's role as a strategic investor, the CEO can reduce the emphasis on financial returns.

In this Essential Reading, the authors explain what breakthrough innovation is; why it's important for large, established companies to excel at this type of innovation; and what challenges such organizations may expect to face as they seek to drive breakthrough innovation. The authors describe the nature of breakthrough innovation, including how mature industries can be disrupted and what stages breakthrough innovations progress through, providing examples from several different industries. Drawing on IBM and the Horizons of Growth Innovation Lifecycle Model as an example, the authors also identify the internal capabilities and leadership approaches that incumbents must master to guide promising ideas through the innovation lifecycle (which includes mature businesses, high-growth businesses, and emerging business opportunities). The authors then offer suggestions for how incumbents can collaborate with external parties to further drive breakthrough innovation, exploring four collaboration models: strategic partnerships, strategic investments, strategic acquisitions, and crowd-based collaborations.

In August 2011, the newly hired chief executive officer of the Indian firm Headstart Industries Ltd. (HIL) faced a dilemma over whether or not to allot funds for a new project of a business unit that had poor performance over several years and had affected the company's overall profitability. The chief executive officer was faced with a tough choice between acting against the dominant culture of HIL by refusing to fund the new project or displeasing the board members who had hired him to bring about organizational change. He was well aware of the board members’ belief that the division in question was a burden on HIL's resources and should be closed down. Should he appease the culture, or should he accept the risks and approve the funding?

In June 2015, two entrepreneurs launched HeyTaxi!, a start-up venture that used motorbike and scooter taxis in Mumbai. The goal was to reduce the time, effort, and money spent by citizens on commuting. But the entrepreneurs faced a problem of survival and sustainability: the government authorities refused to issue a licence for the bike-taxi service. The venture was favoured by citizens who used its services, but HeyTaxi! was limited to marketing its service not as a legitimate taxi service but as a ride-sharing service. HeyTaxi! was fulfilling a social need, and customer loyalty was fuelling the venture’s journey, but the absence of regulatory permits put the longevity of HeyTaxi! at risk. Concerns about HeyTaxi!’s future needed to be addressed to ensure the venture’s survival, scalability, and sustainability.

Amarnath Gupta and Sons was a distributor of lubricants and owner of a petrol pump based in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. The business was originally set up as a family-owned single petrol pump in 1953. The family member currently in charge of daily operations had expanded the business significantly, especially since the entry of new multinational players in the Indian lubricant market. In 2013, this owner-partner was looking at ways to involve his children—one of whom had finished college (a son), one of whom was in college (a daughter), and one of whom was about to start college (a son)—in the family business. Should three businesses be established for each of the three children, or should they all be part of the same business? How could the next generation enter the business successfully? This case won the 2015 ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition in the entrepreneurship category. The ISB-Ivey case competition was sponsored by ISB.

In 2013, Sam Frons founded Addicaid-a mobile application (app) that allowed people in addiction recovery to track their progress, check in with counselors, and connect with others in recovery programs. The app was grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy and used the rich set of data it collected from users to suggest tailored coping mechanisms for avoiding relapse. In September 2016, six months after quitting her full-time job to focus solely on Addicaid, Frons struggled to transition what was once a passion project into a full-fledged business. Two weeks earlier, Frons had approached a private, for-profit chain of addiction treatment centers about offering the app to its clients as a support tool for the recovery process once they completed treatment. The chain's management team was interested, but wanted more information about how Addicaid could help it reach its target bed occupancy rate. A recovering addict herself, Frons founded Addicaid in 2013 to help people with substance abuse problems and process disorders (such as food, gambling, internet, pornography, and sex addictions) reach their goals-which presumably included staying out of treatment centers. But now Addicaid needed to establish a business model that also created value for treatment centers. How should Frons address this inherent tension? What path should she pursue to scale her company into a sustainable, revenue generating business?

Founded in 2005, Greek yogourt maker Chobani used value innovation to become the number one yogourt brand in the United States by 2011. However, due to some internal problems such as a lack of seasoned professionals and financial resources, and external factors such as competition and decline in demand, Chobani lost its market share to competitors starting in early 2013. With help from a private venture firm, Chobani took several steps to turn things around by 2016. Will Chobani be able to regain its leadership position going forward? If so, how will it fuel its growth?

Tristan Walker was a 32-year-old entrepreneur. A visionary thinker and GSB graduate, Walker had accomplished much in his short career, and had worked briefly at Twitter, Foursquare, and Andreessen Horowitz before founding his own company, Walker & Company Brands. Walker was also the chair and cofounder of Code 2040, a nonprofit that helped underrepresented minorities chart successful pathways in the technology sector. Tristan Walker grew up in Queens, NY, where a Boys' Club program led him to a scholarship at the Hotchkiss School, a Connecticut prep school. From there he attended SUNY-Stony Brook, planning to head into the financial world. A brief stint on Wall Street convinced him otherwise, so he applied to Stanford GSB. Walker spent his time at the GSB building a solid network of connections and mentors. During his first year at GSB, Walker found himself in the right place at the right time when he interned at Twitter, and embraced the company's role in changing global communication. His next move was to jump to Foursquare, a company with an app that let users share information about nearby businesses and attractions. Walker's perseverance was legendary-he announced he was coming to work there, showed up and signed up merchants, and ended up head of business development. Much of the case describes how Walker decided on the goals of his own enterprise and how he launched his vision. As an entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz, Walker concentrated on coming up with a fresh idea. The realization that African Americans could avoid razor bumps by using different shaving products resonated with him, and he could see there was an opportunity to serve this underrepresented market. So he set out to make health and beauty products tailored for the comfort and benefit of people of color. Walker's extensive contacts and immense following on Twitter, and his range of experiences all helped prepare him for the launch of Walker & Company in 2013.

This case describes a situation in which Malkit Singh Bal (Bal) partner of Bal Roadlines shares with Mr. Ghura, who was about to be hired as consultant for Bal Roadlines, about the rise in issue of fraud and crime done by the fleet drivers and asked him to help a way out to solve the problem. The purpose of this case is to provide an opportunity to the participants of an MBA or Management Executive Education Programme to step into the shoes of Ghura, a consultant and to explore the options and to select the best possible option to offer a solution to Bal. The context for this involvement is the rise in fraud and crime done by the fleet drivers.

Incorporated in 2012, Mukunda Foods Private Limited (Mukunda) was an Indian robotics company that focused on innovative, internet-enabled smart devices for use in home and industrial kitchens. These devices could be controlled with a smartphone application. Mukunda started as the manufacturer of the DosaMatic, an automatic tabletop machine that made dosas (a popular Indian food). The machine was targeted at the industrial market. Mukunda’s chief executive officer had to design the marketing strategy for the April 2016 launch of the company’s range of ready-made batters aimed at the consumer market. Subsequently, the company planned to launch the consumer version of its DosaMatic machine. The chief executive officer was aware that the consumer market posed challenges different from the industrial market in terms of product and branding decisions, pricing, promotion, and distribution. He also knew that as a start-up, Mukunda could not match larger competitors in their distribution and promotional spending, especially given that Mukunda was simultaneously developing several new products (such as automated roti- and curry-making machines), which required consistent investments in research and development. What was the best strategy for Mukunda’s unique circumstances?

In late December 2014, one of the founders of the Indian start-up Deltecs InfoTech (Deltecs) was considering the progress of his organization. Deltecs had received several awards for its product, an innovative middleware that companies could use to create their own applications on mobile platforms. Its customers had also received awards for the innovative ways they had deployed the Deltecs product. The company had grown at a rate of almost 100 per cent per year. To sustain that growth, it would need to explore new products or new markets, which would require additional funding. The co-founder also wanted to achieve 10,000 business-to-business customers by 2020. To do so, Deltecs would need to focus on acquiring and retaining employees who could achieve this growth strategy. The co-founder was considering various funding sources, including equity- and debt-baced options. He also wondered whether to outsource some or all of his company’s human resources management functions.

In August 2015, imiAID, an Indian start-up that provided portable first aid kits for emergencies, was struggling to reduce its production costs and increase awareness about its product. The company began operations in Guwahati, Assam, and subsequently expanded the business to other states in Northeast India. Key target segments for imiAID included educational institutions and health-care service providers. Customers were somewhat aware of the product; however, imiAID wanted to develop a strategy that addressed its two goals of reducing production costs and increasing awareness about the imiAID Pocket First Aid Kit. Management had to decide how to best guide the company’s growth. Would imiAID be able to successfully operate in the emerging market of Northeast India in the long term?

In the fall of 2010, the founders of Campus FundSource, an organization developed to help campus groups raise money for their respective causes, were asked to present to a potential investor. The three founders were struggling with how to scale their start-up that connected campus groups that needed funding (such as language groups, intramural sports teams, and singing groups) with major brands that were trying to reach a younger demographic with their marketing messages. The company was still at the start-up stage, and the founders had just graduated from a business accelerator program, where they finished developing their website and tested both the site and the business concept--connecting brands with students. In order to show potential investors that they were readily scalable, they needed to show that they could quickly attain a critical mass of both student groups and national brands. This presented a chicken-and-egg dilemma, as it was proving difficult to penetrate two markets at once. How could Campus FundSource attract both the student groups who needed funding and the national brands that wanted to attract and keep post-secondary students as their customers?

Founded in 2014, Carrum Health helped self-insured employers located in three markets (San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco, California) save money on their employees' planned surgeries. It did so by contracting directly with top-quality hospitals located within the area, and negotiating a set fee (known as a bundled payment) for each of five common surgical procedures: knee replacement, hip replacement, cervical spinal fusion, lumbar spinal fusion, and coronary bypass. By 2016, the company was growing steadily and saving its clients over 40% on average on these five procedures. In September 2016, Sachin Jain, Carrum's CEO, received an email from North Beach Apparel, a large retailer based in San Francisco with a growing presence near Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio. North Beach was ready to partner with Carrum, but the terms of the deal required Carrum to enter the Chicago and Columbus markets in order to serve all North Beach employees. The deal would significantly increase Carrum's revenue and begin to move the entrepreneurial venture closer to profitability. However, by expanding to Chicago and Columbus, the young company ran the risk of spreading itself too thin, especially given the opportunity for growth in Carrum's current three markets. But Jain knew that if he waited too long to expand geographically, Carrum might lose its first-mover advantage in several markets. With limited resources, Jain needed to decide how to scale his young company: should Carrum enter the Chicago and Columbus markets with a guaranteed initial client base and then focus on selling the existing five bundles to new customers there; or, should the company add new bundles to its product line through the existing provider networks in the three markets it currently served?

In 2005, three international information technology professionals formed an international joint venture to design and construct information technology systems for shopping centres and office buildings. Despite being relative newcomers to working in the Chinese marketplace, in 2012, the company won a contract for a large job in China. However, when the company’s three directors travelled to China to meet with their Chinese business partners, they encountered several unexpected, questionable situations. Their Chinese business partners were not there to meet them; rather, they had travelled to another country. The three directors met instead with representatives from the Chinese government consortium overseeing the construction project, and these officials pressed the three company directors regarding what they had brought for them. Their limited preparation and lack of contingency plans challenged their ability to maintain respect and move forward. How could they recover the situation and still achieve their goals of a signed contract?

An entrepreneur faced a dilemma regarding the flexible work policy in his start-up consulting firm. The leader of the firm struggled with the complications that arose after the implementation of flexible working arrangements, and the various situations caused him to rethink the concept of trying to help his employees to manage their own work–life balance. Since flexible working hours were granted on a role-by-role basis, a perception of unfairness emerged when a valuable subject-matter expert was denied flextime privileges while many of his colleagues were allowed to take advantage of them. The manager was apprehensive regarding the rising sense of detachment between the users of flextime and the non-users. Should the manager scrap the policy altogether, or should he attempt to find a better way to implement his firm’s flexible work arrangements?