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A Japanese management consultant company seeks to relocate some of its instructors for a period of between one and three months to Singapore in order to conduct its flagship course catering to Japanese expatriate managers. It must determine which instructors to select in order to minimize relocation costs while taking into account their productivity and availability and the number of courses booked over three future months. Cost minimization is crucial due to the expensive service apartment rentals in Singapore. The firm must develop an optimization template in order to make the best possible decision.

Since 2006, Alcatel-Lucent, an international telecommunications equipment manufacturer based in Paris, France, has been conducting boot camps for its employees to provide business training and help them monetize their innovative ideas with a view to creating value for the company. The program has led to 32 projects of which two have been commercialized, three transferred to business units within Alcatel-Lucent and one spun off. In 2012, however, the boot camps were discontinued due to a cost reduction program aimed at making the company cash-flow positive. Now, in June 2014, after a change in top management and a desire to regain the innovative edge against its competition has revived the idea, the company’s director of Open Innovation & Intrapreneurship is facing three dilemmas: how to reconcile the big business intolerance for failure with failure-prone intrapreneurship, how to design a forward-looking component into intrapreneurship and how to change the design and architecture of the boot camp in its new edition.

Rocket Internet, a unique technology incubator based in Germany, invests in and develops startups in Europe and emerging markets that are versions of successful technology firms primarily located in the United States, such as eBay, Zappos, Amazon and Groupon. Fundamentally, the company seeks to reduce the uncertainty of entrepreneurial startup ventures by imitating proven business models and replicating them in other geographic regions. Rocket Internet has recently begun to expand into emerging markets more aggressively, and its chief executive officer must now decide on the best strategy to continue the firm’s global expansion.

An entrepreneur and co-founder of a private, non-deposit-taking, non-bank financial firm in Africa took his company public following a decade of phenomenal growth and strong performance. Established in an era when the traditional financial institutions would not grant credit to small and medium enterprises, the company successfully pioneered a wide variety of unique services in the non-bank financial services industry. Capitalizing on the failure of formal institutions to meet the needs of the informal sector, the entrepreneur had achieved organic growth by providing short-term loans and complementary services to customers in the neglected segment of the financial services market. The image of a high-performing company, coupled with the successful initial public offering surpassing all expectations, put tremendous pressure on the company to continue to grow the enterprise and deliver superior performance. To obtain substantial funds from the investing public, the onus is on the entrepreneur to select and pursue an appropriate strategy to keep the enterprise on a growth trajectory.

Addons Retail Private Limited was incorporated in 2006 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The objective behind the venture was to sell lifestyle products and fashion accessories to cater to the impulsive buying urges of urban Indian men and women. The retail chain store sold a range of fashion accessories and products; competitors included both small mom-and-pop stores and kiosks as well as multinational chains. By summer 2014, the founder and director had painstakingly created 80 retail touch points in shopping malls and high streets in a range of cities across the country; his goal was to grow to 500 retail outlets by 2019. The company was on a rapid growth model, but it needed customer footfall and loyalty to support its aspirations. How could it achieve the fine balance between novelty and loyalty for a whimsical, impulse fashion product?

Just before the celebration of the 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year, Tencent, the world's fourth largest Internet company, launched a mobile application for its popular WeChat platform: the Red Envelope. By clicking on a virtual red envelope icon, gifts of money could be sent to or received from friends and family to celebrate this special occasion. Combining a Chinese cultural tradition with modern social networks, this simple initiative soon became a major milestone in China's mobile market. It brought more than eight million users to Tencent's WeChat Payment platform in the first eight days after the New Year, helping the company break the barrier of mobile payment adoption among its vast user base and giving it a significant advantage in the country’s competitive mobile payment market. This somewhat unexpected, record-making success, also made many companies rethink how to survive and thrive in China's rapidly growing technology sector.

Fishbay.in is an online store where Indian consumers can buy fish that is delivered to their home. Although the founder originally targeted individual consumers and households, he soon found that restaurants were also interested in buying fish online. Unlike individuals, restaurants were more concerned with quality than price and typically ordered larger quantities. The founder wonders whether he should stick to his original plan of targeting individual consumers or shift his focus to the restaurant business.

Starting with a small pilot centre in Hyderabad in 2010, a chain of quality dialysis centres had grown to 25 centres by mid-2014, with plans to expand to 100 by 2017. As they planned for this growth, the three co-founders had several questions with respect to NephroPlus's business model, partners, staff, systems, processes and culture playing on their minds. With the threat of competition looming large, they knew that they had to work hard to achieve both high quality and affordability as they continued with their fast-paced growth.

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect across the state. The money gives two co-creators of Citizens Connect, Chris Osgood and Nigel Jacob, a chance to grow their vision for citizen-engaged governance and civic innovation, but it also requires that the two City of Boston leaders sit on a formal selection committee that pits their original partner, Connected Bits, against another player that might meet the specific requirements for delivering a statewide version. The selection and scaling process raise questions beyond just which partner to choose. What would happen to the Citizens Connect brand as Osgood and Jacob's product spread across the state? Who could help scale their work best then nationally? Which business models were best positioned to drive that growth? What intellectual property arrangements would best enable it? And what role should the two city employees have, anyway, in scaling Citizens Connect outside of Boston in the first place? These questions hung in the air as they pondered the one big one about passing over Connected Bits for another partner: should they?

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 1, Bootstrapping Described, the author explains the fundamentals and evolution of internally-funded ventures. He emphasizes the different challenges that face a venture based on bootstrapping versus other funding and differentiates the types of bootstrapping as well as the inherent risks. He reviews the two main component of bootstrapping: the reasons behind a decision bootstrap and the resource strategy used to operate in that situation. He also addresses common myths about bootstrapping and previews the topics that will be covered in the rest of the book.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 2, Bootstrapping and the Problem of Being New, the author explains why initial financing decisions are critical for new firms. He recommends that all entrepreneurs begin with a process of self-reflection to determine their goals, mainly whether they desire to retain control or make money from the new venture. He also offers a review of basic factors in start-ups to inform later strategy decisions. He describes the three main reasons why new ventures fail: newness, legitimacy, and signaling, and offers ideas for overcoming these challenges.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. Chapter 3, New Venture Finance Considerations for the Bootstrapper, addresses capital structure in new firms. The author explains key concepts in the two types of external financing: debt and equity. He presents three concepts that influence funding decisions (information asymmetry, moral hazard, and adverse selection) and explains the importance of each to an entrepreneur. He offers a Financial Growth Cycle as a model that relates growth with increased funding options and, ultimately, success.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 4, Financial Bootstrapping, the author analyzes the entrepreneur's decision-making process to provide deeper insight into success factors for a new venture. Summarizing current research on bootstrapping, he considers the motivation behind why an entrepreneur decides to utilize bootstrap funding, either personal preference or necessity. He describes characteristics of three different types of bootstrappers, cost-reducing, capital-constrained, and risk-reducing, with examples from Goldstar and Pandora. Second, he reviews three approaches to bootstrapping: cash cycle exploitation, minimizing investment, and joint utilization.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 5, the author shares practical guidance for an entrepreneur to achieve both happiness and wealth in a new venture. He outlines a model for survival and growth, based on sending "legitimized signals" to attract customers. First, he recommends organizing activities such as assembling a prototype, obtaining permits or licenses, and preparing marketing materials. Second, he recommends the strategic activity of creating a business plan and details the components of an effective plan. Third, he recommends capital-gathering activities involving financial, human, and social factors to build resources that add legitimacy to the venture.

Strategic Bootstrapping is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press in 2015 and written by Matthew W. Rutherford, associate professor and Johnny Pope chair in entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. The book presents a decision-making strategy for successful entrepreneurial ventures funded through bootstrapping. The author emphasizes the need to understand funding issues with a specific orientation towards new ventures. He explains that there are two main components of bootstrapping: a decision to avoid external finance and the methods used to operate the new venture, and then shares insight both. Using real-world examples and current research, he outlines a model for survival and successful growth for new firms. In Chapter 6, Typologies for Strategic Bootstrapping Success, the author shares insight into how entrepreneurs can become legitimate and profitable, and thus able to move beyond bootstrapping as a source of funding. He describes four types of entrepreneurial ventures that he believes are most successful. Two types are based on behaviors: the hyper-networked entrepreneur and the sharing entrepreneur. The other two types are based on business model types: digital and fragmented. He ends with practical points of consideration for a strategic bootstrapping approach.

Meizhou Dongpo is a large catering group in China. On June 6, 1996, the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant was opened in Beijing. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000, and set up Beijing Meizhou Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. In June 2003 the business mainly covers restaurant management, catering services, food processing and sales, with its headquarters in Beijing including logistics center and central kitchen. By the end of 2013, Meizhou Dongpo Group covered six business types. Meizhou Dongpo Group has annual operating revenue of over RMB 1.8 billion, accumulative consumers of over 20 million persons-times and more than 8,000 employees. This case focuses on the starting-up process of Meizhou Dongpo Group by Wang Gang. Meizhou Dongpo has grown from a small restaurant into one of top 100 catering companies in China. This simple and arduous entrepreneurship story has been happening over the past decade in the highly competitive traditional catering industry. High technology, well-educated talent, employed manager, brand-new business model and financial support from bank or venture capital institutions cannot be found in the entrepreneurship history of Meizhou Dongpo. The case is a good attempt to analyze how did Wang Gang create and rule a catering empire by his unique leadership?

A new managing director of Microsoft South Africa was appointed in 2007 at a low point in Microsoft South Africa’s dominance of the software industry. He set out to address the issues by focusing on four pillars: people (employees), partnerships, revenue and local relevance. The latter included regulatory compliance requirements regarding social transformation and meeting the stringent Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment codes. The managing director knew that targets had to be met in order to build the relationship with head office and that once this was in place, it would be easier to manage the requests that were to come related to local relevance.

Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders decided it was time to experiment with different monetization strategies before deciding on a way forward. Although they wanted to avoid being prematurely pressured into decisions that went against their open-platform philosophy, they also knew that in order to fulfill their mission to democratize education, they had to eventually build a revenue-generating business. But what business model should they pursue and what monetization experiments should they run?

The case examines the factors that influenced the founders' decision to establish Bayt.com in Dubai, and how the online job site transformed recruitment practices in the Middle East by facilitating access to skill and talent throughout the MENA region. Among the locational drawbacks the company had to overcome were low internet penetration rates, cultural barriers, and diverse legal and regulatory systems.

In 2014, the owner of a family business that includes two fast-food restaurants, a highway restaurant and a catering services operation located in Pune, India, is confident that his business is at the cusp of taking off on a path that will make it significantly larger in scale. He is evaluating three alternatives: setting up a chain of small restaurants with a central kitchen facility, creating a couple of large restaurants similar to those that he has at present or investing in new highway restaurants. He also must consider whether he is ready to expand to other cities in India or globally and whether to develop family-owned land, buy new property or lease facilities for his planned ventures. He needs to come up with a strategy that best meets the needs of a changing business environment and also leverages his company’s existing resources and capabilities. Before the next management meeting, he must decide what to do, in what sequence to take up the opportunities available, how to go about operationalizing the plan and also what design fallback options can be designed in case things go wrong.