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The Vanca, an online apparel brand and supplier to online retailers (“e-tailers”) has achieved a fair degree of success by focusing on quality, innovative designs, “fast fashion” and a strong network with its customers. Management is looking to grow the business further; however, there are challenges such as uneven sales across some of its product ranges, maintaining its competitive edge and the threat from private labels being introduced by the industry’s three largest e-tailers. The Vanca’s chief executive officer, a successful entrepreneur, has called a meeting to consider these challenges and to prepare the company’s next growth model.

WoodBarn India was a construction company specializing in wooden houses and buildings. The company had worked primarily for business-to-business buyers but was fairly successful in earning a good reputation. However, to make profits, WoodBarn needed to tap into the Indian middle-class housing market, which was largely dominated by brick-and-mortar houses. The major challenge was to educate consumers and break the existing mindset that wooden houses were non-durable. Additional challenges related to procurement since the required raw material was not available in the domestic market and obtaining the same increased the final price of the product.

The Friends of Western Buddhist Order, an organization dedicated to spreading the teachings of Buddha in modern context, started a giftware company called Windhorse, with a two-part vision of making work a context for spiritual growth and raising money for charity. After operating for more than 20 years, Windhorse experienced challenges in keeping up with its rapid business growth. To bridge this gap, the company recruited non-Buddhists to the organization; however, many of the Buddhist members felt that the purpose and meaning that had bonded the members to the organization was fading. As a result, an increasing number of Buddhists started leaving the organization, while many new members were unwilling to work for the low remuneration. Was it viable for such a value-based organization to continue to pursue financial prosperity?

InfoSoft Global is a seven-year-old start-up in the charting-software market. In 2008, it earns revenues of US$3.35 million in a market that its founder estimates to be US$100 million. Should the founder continue growing steadily within a niche, as he had done in the past, or should he make some new strategic choices to target a bigger share of the US$100 million market? Which technologies and devices should he bet on? What customer segments should he focus on? Should he add more complementary products to his company’s portfolio? What new channels should he leverage for greater market reach, and what strategy must he adopt to get there?

What prompts people to come up with their best ideas? Even Steve Jobs, renowned for his digital evangelism, recognized the importance of social interaction in achieving innovation. As CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, Jobs explicitly instructed the architect of Pixar's new headquarters to design physical space that encouraged staff to get out of their offices and mingle. Jobs believed that serendipitous exchanges released creative juices that fueled innovation. Empirical studies confirm what Jobs intuitively knew. The more diverse a person's social network, the more likely that person is to be innovative. A diverse network provides exposure to people from different fields who behave and think differently. Can Twitter make employees more innovative? Does having more diversity in one's virtual connections mean that good ideas are more likely to surface, as in the face-to-face world? To answer this question, the authors analyzed employee Twitter networks. EMC Corporation, a leading company in the information storage and infrastructure industry, was one of the five companies the authors studied, analyzing hundreds of ideas submitted by EMC employees. The researchers found that, while Twitter users and non-users generally submitted the same number of ideas, the ideas of Twitter users were rated significantly more positively by other employees and experts than the ideas of non-users. The researchers also found that there was a positive relationship between the amount of diversity in one's Twitter network and the quality of ideas submitted. However, the authors argue that just exposing oneself to diverse fields, opinions and beliefs on Twitter by itself is not sufficient to enhance innovativeness. Additional capabilities are needed to ensure that the ideas triggered via Twitter would be transformed into real innovative outcomes. A critical ability is individual absorptive capacity -the ability of employees to identify, assimilate and exploit new ideas.

The case focuses on the career of Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of the German-based sports shoe manufacturer Adidas. The origins of the firm were in the interwar years, and it rose to public prominence after it provided spikes for the famous African-American sprinter in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. From the 1950s Horst cultivated relationships with athletes and national associations to expand his sports apparel business and develop sports sponsorship, competing fiercely against competitors such as Puma and Nike. During the 1970s he played a key role in commercializing the international soccer federation FIFA, including creating a television market for soccer, and he subsequently became a key force behind arranging sponsorships and broadcasting rights for the Olympics. The case explores the drivers of success of this major consumer brand, and provdes the opportunity to discuss the positives and negatives of the globalization and commercialization of sport.

By May 2015, Zivame, an Indian online lingerie retailer, had established itself as a market leader in this category by providing traditionally conservative Indian women a reliable solution to help them confidently purchase their most intimate wear while avoiding any confrontation with sales executives, mostly men, of brick-and-mortar stores. It helped its customers understand their lingerie needs, browse through styles, order their right size and get their orders delivered quickly at their doorstep without any embarrassment. Reliable customer care, availability of various national and international brands and a wide range of sizes and styles had made the brand popular in its target market, averaging 1,200 daily orders, almost a 200 per cent jump from the previous year. Can Zivame reach its goal of becoming a billion dollar enterprise in the next five to seven years or will confining itself to the women’s lingerie segment become a hurdle to future growth?

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - MENA Business Cases category at the 2015 EFMD Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>In September 2014, the chief executive officer of Michel Nassif et Fils, an importer and producer of food and printed goods headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, is trying to figure out what decisions he needs to take to ensure the development of the company that had been founded by his grandfather a century ago. At the age of 48, right after the birth of his first son, he realizes that he needs a plan to ensure a viable future for this family-owned company. He knows that succession planning will involve the entire management team, none of whom currently has a leadership position. As had his father and grandfather before him, he alone makes all decisions for the company. He is considering whether to pick a potential successor internally to be trained and prepared for senior management or to remain at the head of the company until his son is old enough to take over.

Ola Cabs, a pioneer in the taxicab aggregation business in India, was confronting several issues that were posing serious challenges to the company. The government had temporarily banned cab services offered by aggregators due to an incident involving an assault on a female passenger. Subsequently, new regulations were put in place to protect passenger safety, which stipulated that cab aggregators must obtain a licence under the radio taxi category. This was a major blow to Ola Cabs as it was a technology platform provider that connected customers with cab owners. The situation required quick resolution as Ola Cabs was going through a major phase of unprecedented growth and had set ambitious targets in terms of revenue. The company had been growing at a rate of 40 per cent month on month, and had more than 50,000 cabs in its network, which spread across 28 cities.

After more than 25 years of operation, Beacon Group had grown from having 3 small classrooms on the fourth floor of a commercial building, to a network of 21 centers across Hong Kong with over 60,000 students enrolled per year. The key long-term challenge for the industry was that due to low birth rates in Hong Kong, over the next decade there will be a precipitous decline in the number of senior secondary school students, who account for the lion's share of market demand for tutorial services as they prepare for the Hong Kong university entrance exam. Given this impending demographic shift, Beacon Group needed to find new sources of demand for their services. Options included expanding into Mainland China, establishing new on-line offerings to lower costs and further to introduce new products and services to appeal to a more diverse set of students. In addition to this core challenge, the case provides opportunities to discuss the following topics: how a family business can scale in the face of numerous challenges, and how leaders can design creative incentive systems to attract and retain key professional talent.

On September 25, 2014, the prime minister of India extended an official invitation to businesses across the globe to invest and produce in India. The program, called “Make in India,” began as a way to meet the growing needs of the country’s developing economy by encouraging both local innovation and foreign direct investment. Its goal was to make products without defects and with no negative impact on the environment, while protecting intellectual property. Regulatory changes and labour reforms were undertaken to enable favourable conditions for investment. However, various leading authorities had doubts about the program’s focus on manufacturing and the likelihood of a successful replication of China’s export-led growth model. With the many strategic and operating challenges in the way, especially with regards to infrastructure and the availability of a sufficiently skilled and motivated workforce, will “Make in India” be able to succeed in transforming the Indian economy?

Fuda Cancer Hospital is an early private entrant, specialized cancer hospital in China. Since its establishment 11 years ago, it has grown from a little-known private hospital to a well-known, specialized cancer hospital that has nearly 400 beds and attracts patients from more than 70 countries and regions. As China's healthcare care has long been dominated by public hospitals, Fuda Cancer Hospital was able to survive and grow by pursuing a differentiation-oriented strategy and a modern hospital management system. The hospital adheres to the strategy of "differentiated development" in the following aspects: Patient positioning - therapy of cancer in middle and advanced stage; Market positioning - Mainly overseas cancer patients in early stage Service; concept positioning - patient-centered, etc. To further expand operation, Fuda Cancer Hospital started to make preparations for IPO in 2011, planning to use the raised funds for hospital relocation and technical reform projects, scientific research and training center construction projects, and brand and market system restructuring projects. However, the hospital is faced with numerous setbacks in its endeavor to go public. From 2011 to 2013, the net revenue of the hospital has been declining, with a decrease of 47.80% in 2013. The cancer therapy, which the hospital is proud of, is challenged in the industry as it brings a negative impact on the IPO of the company. Moreover, since the national government has lifted policy restrictions on private capital in the medical market, many listed companies have invested in private hospitals, and Fuda Cancer Hospital will be confronted with fiercer competition. However, China's IPO market was frozen for nearly two years and Fuda experienced major roadblocks in its IPO journey.

Global ventures are those that weave globalization into their businesses from the start. Technological advances and emerging markets are enabling entrepreneurs to extract more value than ever before from setting up in multiple countries. At the same time, The emergence of new kinds of competitors and threats makes it even more important for founders to seize the advantages of globalization early on. As a result, many founders purposefully embed globalization into the core of their venture, rather than becoming global as the business matures. This Reading provides insights and best practices to help founders avoid pitfalls and create a truly global strategy. The author offers a framework for early ventures based on what they are globalizing: products and services; people, ideas, and technologies; or finance. It also differentiates between the venture that is seeking to globalize the best the company has to offer and the venture that are harnessing the best the world has to offer. After founders determine what they hope to gain from globalization, they must choose the best locations, decide how many countries to enter, adapt their business models to each location, and navigate the unique operational and managerial difficulties facing young global ventures. The Reading does not consider international entrepreneurship in its traditional sense, such as how establishing a domestic-market-oriented company in Brazil differs from starting one in Japan, or how established companies might open their first facility abroad or enter their 90th country. The insights in this Reading can inform managers in such companies, but does so through the lens of ventures that were born global. The focus of the Reading is on young global ventures and the specific resource constraints, opportunity costs, and founding-team challenges of new and early-stage ventures. Focusing on these businesses helps identify key business model traits related to globalization.

Covalent Laboratories Private Ltd. is involved in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and bulk drugs in Hyderabad, India. In March 2012, the company added a new manufacturing plant and was in the process of obtaining regulatory approvals for its products from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Directorate of Quality of Medicines. Anticipating good growth, the company approached the Commercial Development Bank of India in June 2014 for sanction of a term loan of INR350 million over seven years towards expansion and modernization of its existing manufacturing facilities, including the construction of a captive power plant and effluent treatment plant. As the proposed financial assistance is long term in nature and the company is a new client with average financial strength, the head of the bank’s Corporate Banking Department faces a dilemma. He has asked a credit analyst to research the financial performance of the company and to assess the financial viability of and identify the risks in the proposal.

Two business partners were considering adding product lines to their international custom software business in Toronto, Canada. From 2009, Myplanet had grown ever more focused, in turn yielding an increase in average project size to US$1 million and a staff that grew from six to 100. Until they created RelayRobin, a system that was similar in capability to Skype, the two partners had achieved their remarkable growth almost exclusively through custom projects for large, well-known U.S. clients. In seeking the next major growth markets, they identified communication services – in particular, the telecommunications industry – as a prime opportunity. Targeting telecom carriers had produced disappointing results, so Myplanet instead opted to turn to original equipment manufacturers. The early results were encouraging.

Two business partners were considering adding product lines to their international custom software business in Toronto, Canada. From 2009, Myplanet had grown ever more focused, in turn yielding an increase in average project size to US$1 million and a staff that grew from six to 100. Until they created RelayRobin, a system that was similar in capability to Skype, the two partners had achieved their remarkable growth almost exclusively through custom projects for large, well-known U.S. clients. In seeking the next major growth markets, they identified communication services - in particular, the telecommunications industry - as a prime opportunity. Targeting telecom carriers had produced disappointing results, so Myplanet instead opted to turn to original equipment manufacturers. The early results were encouraging.

Tagit is a Singapore-based mobile solutions company. The company's offering was based on Mobeix, a ground-breaking technology that allowed enterprises to build secure, scalable and innovative mobile applications across multiple mobile devices and operating systems. Leveraging on Mobeix, Tagit had successfully secured its first contract from PVR Cinemas in India, offering the first online ticket-booking platform. Following this, in 2007, Tagit was contracted by Singapore Airlines to develop a mobile app for the airline's passenger services. Facing intense competition and rapid technological advancement in the online ticketing space, Naffi and his business partners started to consider other options to grow revenues and profits. At that time, many banks in Singapore were looking to offer mobile services. Tagit therefore seized such an opportunity and managed to get Citibank India signed up as a client. On the one hand, winning the Citibank contract opened up a whole new business space for Tagit. On the other, new business lines required the operations of Tagit to be scalable, yet controllable. Naffi was pondering over the possible solutions to this dilemma. Is Naffi able to handle the changes and expansion of business lines? Can Tagit's business model be scaled up? How can Naffi build up the credibility of Tagit?

This case describes the innovations of a medical practitioner over six decades of practice. It provides an opportunity to the participants to analyse the motivation, processes, constraints and outcomes or innovating efforts of individuals as opposed to corporate. During his career Dr. Shah has experimented with novel methods of treatment, applications of known solutions and new product formulations. At the end of his career Dr. Shah is wondering whether the innovating efforts were worth their while.

This Reading explores how entrepreneurial leaders develop strategies, build capabilities, design their organizations, and address leadership and governance issues as they transition to growth and pursue increased scale and scope. It covers 3 ventures in detail, 2 of which achieved economies of scale as they grew their existing businesses, and economies of scope as they expanded into new products and markets. It also examines a business that demonstrates the challenges many entrepreneurial leaders face as they pursue increased scope. Traditionally, many assumed that entrepreneurial leaders who launch a startup are unable to adjust their approach to meet longer-term needs of a growing businesses. Others, including the author, claim that the skills required for growth can be learned. Regardless, entrepreneurs who wish to stay with their business must acquire new skills and capabilities and bring on the resources their growing company needs.

The region around Cambridge, England (known colloquially as Silicon Fen) is home to a cluster of high-tech startups and established businesses. It has a deep history stretching back to the foundation of the city's elite university in 1284. Silicon Fen shares many characteristics with Silicon Valley (a leading research university, a large pool of skilled workers, a robust startup environment, and the presence of leading high technology firms) but it also has a distinctly different entrepreneurial environment. What factors account for these differences? This case is most effective when paired with Tom Nicholas and James Lee, "The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley, "HBS No. 813-098 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2013).