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In 2013, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of a lingerie business in India has recently moved his business from offline to online in order to reach a wider customer base. The company is one of the very few online lingerie stores in India that also has its own brand. Although the online business is profitable, the CEO cannot ignore the fact that offline stores still dominate the lingerie market in India. Since its key product is only available online, the company may be missing out on an opportunity. Because the shift from an offline business to an online one occurred in 2012, an immediate investment in actual stores will have financial consequences. Should the CEO continue to operate his online business and consider relaunching retail stores at a later time, or should he relaunch now and manage both business models at once?

The director of marketing for Lawrence & Mayo (L&M) was reviewing the company’s results for the past financial year. Far from encouraging, the results were a reflection of an addition to the company’s existing product portfolio: accessories. L&M was an established name in the field of ophthalmic and optical instruments. The prestigious brand had maintained an exclusive positioning for over 100 years. When L&M launched premium watches under its existing brand, it took a bold step. The product was, no doubt, world class in quality and design. However, the company’s detractors wrote it off, calling it an attempt to ride two horses at the same time. Did the recent financial results vindicate these critics? The director of marketing wanted to comprehend the impact of the new product line, the reasons behind the poor performance and the way forward for L&M.

Universal Print Systems Limited, located in Southern India, provides self-adhesive label printing for such end-user businesses as the passenger car and alcoholic beverages industries. Although larger markets exist in Western and Northern India, 80 per cent of its customers are located in Southern India. Because of the company’s low capacity utilization, management is contemplating its operations strategy options, including aggressively pursuing business in Southern India, expanding to Northern and/or Western India, sourcing online orders and digital printing, or exporting. Management is unsure of the best option to pursue.

This case introduces the key features of Google’s wearable technology product “Glass” and illustrates the tensions that Google faced over the development and marketing of this product. The case goes on to highlight the growing backlash that Google experienced when promoting Glass.

Food Donation Connection is a for-profit company that creates sustainable value — value for both shareholders/owners and stakeholders — by facilitating the redistribution of surplus prepared food from donor corporations, such as restaurants, convenience stores and grocery stores, to charities that distribute the food to people in need. In fulfilling its mission of “Let nothing be wasted,” the company addresses the extensive food waste at the retail and wholesale stages of the food supply chain, a key pressure point in global food waste. Food Donation Connection has operated successfully for more than 20 years in the United States; however, the founder and chief executive officer is now considering the company’s future. He must determine whether and how to expand the company’s services globally.

Betaspring was a mentorship-driven startup accelerator program for technology and design entrepreneurs. Founded in Rhode Island in 2009, it was one of the highest-ranked and longest-operating accelerators in the United States and was notable for being headquartered outside Silicon Valley. However, debate had emerged about the value provided by accelerators, and in August 2014 Betaspring faced two crucial strategic questions. Had a bubble emerged in the accelerator industry? If so, should Betaspring change its business model in order to survive a potential industry shakeout?

The co-founder and chief executive officer of The Asylum, a movie production company headquartered in Burbank, California, must decide whether the company needs to explore other avenues for growth or change its current business model to boost profitability. The company has developed a unique imitation strategy to reduce the uncertainty of financial success in filmmaking – its “mockbuster” business model is to produce B-rated movies that use plotlines similar to that of major Hollywood films already in production and release them at the same time as or just before the comparable Hollywood film. It can thus take advantage of the large marketing and promotion campaigns that large film production studios employ to promote their films while producing a substantially cheaper (but somewhat similar) film. To date, all of these mockbusters have been profitable, but changes to property rights regulations and increased litigation cases may come to affect the bottom line. There are three options going forward: maintaining the status quo, focusing even more on producing mockbusters or shifting toward completely original film production. What should the company do to ensure future success?

This case explores the Branch Metrics' cofounders' early days as a team and their pursuit of a viable idea for their startup. The three original cofounders, who met in business school, transformed their business concept entirely several times before finding the idea for Branch Metrics. Starting with a fitness collar for dogs, then starting over with developing a mobile application for low-cost, high-quality photobooks, and ultimately developing a deep app-linking solution for mobile developers, the team experienced multiple setbacks and product failures in their first two years as a team. The case explores the lessons learned through these failures, including how to find product-market fit, staying together as a team, maintaining investor relationships, facing burnout, and having difficult conversations.

This case examines Project Salta (Salta) a multi-year collaborative experiment among financial institutions, a foreign government aid agency, and a global management school. Binding goals of Salta were to provide practical business information in sessions of short duration to micro-entrepreneurs operating at or near the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid, while keeping sponsors' costs exceptionally low. Salta serves as a test case and potential template for organizations investing in educating micro-entrepreneurs via lessons that are information, engaging, memorable and affordable. Details are provided regarding the origins and setting of the Salta program, its targeted participants, and parameters for the roll-out of the program. Students using the case are challenged to think creatively about how they would translate their understanding of basic business knowledge into the fundamentals needed to thrive as a micro-entrepreneur in a developing country. The case is especially relevant to individuals or organizations considering or engaging in corporate social responsibility opportunities. It is also highly relevant to empowerment of women at or near the base of the socio-economic pyramid, as well as micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries. Lessons center on challenges and advantages of educational philanthropy for these populations.

Micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries often lack basic business knowledge and personal confidence needed to make the leap that will take their businesses beyond subsistence. In many of these countries, little or no business training is available to women micro-entrepreneurs. In some developing countries, tradition and social convention about gender-determined roles and responsibilities lead women to stay in the home. Those who become micro-entrepreneurs are often driven to the choice by financial need and lack of job alternatives. This case describes the business challenges facing a female micro-entrepreneur who worked from home and who participated in a large-scale, collaborative business education program set in Peru called Proyecto Salta (or, Salta, which means leap in Spanish).

Course overview of The Entrepreneurial Manager.

Domotec was a small company devoted to home automation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Building automation involves a set of control and automation systems that can be used in homes, buildings, offices, etc. providing services related to energy, safety, security, comfort and communications. Case A describes Domotec's history from its creation in 1994 by three partners until a day in 1999 when the partners would meet to formally make the decision to shut down. One of them, Norberto Zejerman, the case protagonist, wondered whether to keep the company and run it alone. A description of the most salient features of the industry at the time in Uruguay, as well as at regional and world levels, is also provided. Case B gives an account of industry and company performance during the 2000-2005 period, when Domotec survived the difficult 2002 crisis but failed to rake in enough sales volume. Finally, case C depicts the growth of the automation market from 2006 to 2011 and presents the dilemma faced by Zejerman presented by the fact that in 2011 alone it sold one third of the total installations the company had carried out during its 15-year history. This case series has been designed to ensure that students understand the complexity of the challenge involved in creating a venture that includes both product and market innovation, exploring the strategic decisions required. In this context, customers still have no clear understanding of the scope of the value proposition, the market gives no hint of potential meaningful segments and the company perceives that it must educate consumers in addition to selling its products.

Domotec was a small company devoted to home automation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Building automation involves a set of control and automation systems that can be used in homes, buildings, offices, etc. providing services related to energy, safety, security, comfort and communications. Case A describes Domotec's history from its creation in 1994 by three partners until a day in 1999 when the partners would meet to formally make the decision to shut down. One of them, Norberto Zejerman, the case protagonist, wondered whether to keep the company and run it alone. A description of the most salient features of the industry at the time in Uruguay, as well as at regional and world levels, is also provided. Case B gives an account of industry and company performance during the 2000-2005 period, when Domotec survived the difficult 2002 crisis but failed to rake in enough sales volume. Finally, case C depicts the growth of the automation market from 2006 to 2011 and presents the dilemma faced by Zejerman presented by the fact that in 2011 alone it sold one third of the total installations the company had carried out during its 15-year history. This case series has been designed to ensure that students understand the complexity of the challenge involved in creating a venture that includes both product and market innovation, exploring the strategic decisions required. In this context, customers still have no clear understanding of the scope of the value proposition, the market gives no hint of potential meaningful segments and the company perceives that it must educate consumers in addition to selling its products.

Domotec was a small company devoted to home automation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Building automation involves a set of control and automation systems that can be used in homes, buildings, offices, etc. providing services related to energy, safety, security, comfort and communications. Case A describes Domotec's history from its creation in 1994 by three partners until a day in 1999 when the partners would meet to formally make the decision to shut down. One of them, Norberto Zejerman, the case protagonist, wondered whether to keep the company and run it alone. A description of the most salient features of the industry at the time in Uruguay, as well as at regional and world levels, is also provided. Case B gives an account of industry and company performance during the 2000-2005 period, when Domotec survived the difficult 2002 crisis but failed to rake in enough sales volume. Finally, case C depicts the growth of the automation market from 2006 to 2011 and presents the dilemma faced by Zejerman presented by the fact that in 2011 alone it sold one third of the total installations the company had carried out during its 15-year history. This case series has been designed to ensure that students understand the complexity of the challenge involved in creating a venture that includes both product and market innovation, exploring the strategic decisions required. In this context, customers still have no clear understanding of the scope of the value proposition, the market gives no hint of potential meaningful segments and the company perceives that it must educate consumers in addition to selling its products.

Raju Omlet is a restaurant in Dubai that is famous for making egg preparations that appeal to the Indian expatriate population. A father and his son jointly manage the venture, and they are both very happy with the way the business has shaped up in the last two years. An expansion is inevitable, but how should it be carried out? The partners are also exploring the option of offering home delivery service. A meeting has been called to try to find answers to two questions: Would it be possible to sustain the expansion with a single product offering, and would diversifying the product range kill the restaurant’s unique competitive advantage?

Deji Akinyanju, founder of Nigerian fast-food chain Chicken Republic, and Ayo Oduntan, founder of an integrated Nigerian poultry operation (Amo Byng Group), are among a growing cadre of skilled food-industry entrepreneurs for whom the opportunities to serve the Nigerian market-a population of over 170 million, including a large and growing middle class-outweigh the challenges of operating there. And indeed, as embodied by Nigeria's status as a net food importer despite having 80 million hectares of arable land, the challenges are considerable. Animal feed is excessively expensive, driving up poultry production costs and limiting production volumes; illegal poultry imports pose food safety threats while undercutting prices of domestic product; corruption is rampant; debt is exorbitantly expensive; commercial real estate is sparse; and electricity is unreliable. Yet, Nigeria has all the natural blessings to be an agricultural powerhouse competitive on an international scale. And it has the large, ambitious population needed to drive its development, both as workers and consumers. Akinyanju and Oduntan believe many of the issues constraining Nigeria's poultry sector can be alleviated with relatively simple solutions-and that doing so can open tremendous growth opportunities for their businesses and the country as a whole. Set in October 2015, this case provides a detailed look at Nigeria's poultry value chain and the complexities of modernizing a traditional and largely informal industry. It also presents an inspiring story of determined entrepreneurs succeeding against tough odds. Finally, for students whose conception of Nigeria is all too often reduced to simplistic headlines, this case offers a more nuanced look into the complexities, potential, and aspirations of what may be one of this century's most dynamic and important economies.

In January 2015, Jibo Inc. had completed a raise of $25.3 million in Series A financing after a successful 2014 crowdfunding campaign for pre-orders of Jibo, the first social robot for the home. Over 4,800 Jibo units were pre-ordered, generating $2.6 million in sales. On one snowy morning in January, CEO Steve Chambers met with co-founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and newly-hired VP of Consumer & Development Relations Lynda Smith to prepare for their first meeting with the board. The team planned to discuss Jibo's business development strategy, and considered how best to engage with the developer community to expand Jibo's portfolio of capabilities. How could the team best attract third-party developers to create Jibo Skills (apps) for this new platform that would not ship until 2016? Should the team develop a full set of Jibo Skills in-house? The team also hoped to establish partnerships with large content providers. How could they convince potential partners that Jibo was a worthwhile investment?

The chief executive officer (CEO) of a family business is considering options available to owners of the business to monetize their shareholdings. Since the shares in privately-owned firms are illiquid, the family members may have significant wealth on paper, but they do not have large amounts of cash available. The second generation looking at retiring would like to realize some of the value from the firm they have worked to build and, at the same time, coordinate that planning with the best interest and intent of the other, younger shareholders. The owners need to consider not only the alternatives available to monetize illiquid shareholdings for investors in private firms, but also how to value illiquid shares based on the CEO's recommendations. The challenge facing the CEO, however, is reconciling the conflicting business ramifications involved in the process without compromising the company's strategic vision and the interests of family members.

Physician Moka Lantum was ready to try his hand as a social entrepreneur, aiming to improve healthcare for an underserved population in rural Kenya, where access to clinics was difficult, curable diseases flourished, maternal and child mortality rates were high, and dangerous counterfeit drugs flooded the market. Lantum began to develop a technological solution that could address multiple public sector healthcare problems through a single IT tool, ZiDi, a cloud-based system that could process a wide array of information, from individual patients and their symptoms to drug supplies, the utilization rate of individual clinics, or staff absenteeism. Lantum and a Kenyan partner incorporated MicroClinic Technologies Inc. (MCT), launching ZiDi in August 2012. Lantum's goal for MCT was to demonstrate that ZiDi could improve maternal and child health in rural clinics and dispensaries, and persuade the government to buy it. Over the next two years, ZiDi proved useful, and MCT won endorsements and awards-but no government contract, not even a request for proposal (RFP). By August 2014, the slow pace of government decision-making was threatening MCT's existence. Lantum had to decide: stay the public sector course or diversify into an uncharted market segment with its own unknowns?