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In 2012, Asclepius Consulting is one of the many small software companies in India that have aspirations to become product companies as opposed to being services companies. Asclepius Consulting deals in hospital management information systems and has a product and service offering that is competitive and well received by customers. However, due to lack of capital, the company has been unable to invest in a sales force, and this has created a problem of reach. It is currently selling through a combination of resellers (external parties contracted to sell the software) and an inside sales force. Now, one of its three co-founders, whose expertise is in business process restructuring and business planning and strategy, is looking at revisiting the sales and marketing model in this complex marketplace.

Founded in 2011 in Mumbai, India, Ekohealth Management Consultants Private Limited helped its subscribing members by negotiating bulk discounts with hospitals for all planned surgeries and reducing their monthly bills by suggesting low-cost generic drugs rather than expensive brand names. It ensured ethical health care practices by removing the referral fees doctors routinely demanded from hospitals, pathology clinics, pharmaceutical companies and other medical professionals in exchange for directing patients to them. The company had entered fiscal year 2013/14 with a high momentum and envisioned recording revenue of INR28.3 million by the end of the year. The existing price metric involved a single price point: the annual membership fee of INR1,500 for up to five members of a family. The company has plans to move into other Indian cities by mid-2014. Is the single price metric appropriate for these new markets?

Founded in 2011 in Mumbai, India, Ekohealth Management Consultants Private Limited helped its subscribing members by negotiating bulk discounts with hospitals for all planned surgeries and reducing their monthly bills by suggesting low-cost generic drugs rather than expensive brand names. It ensured ethical health care practices by removing the referral fees doctors routinely demanded from hospitals, pathology clinics, pharmaceutical companies and other medical professionals in exchange for directing patients to them. The company had entered fiscal year 2013/14 with a high momentum and envisioned recording revenue of INR28.3 million by the end of the year. The existing price metric involved a single price point: the annual membership fee of INR1,500 for up to five members of a family. The company has plans to move into other Indian cities by mid-2014. Is the single price metric appropriate for these new markets?

The owner of an accessory shop in China is unsure whether it was a wise choice to start his own business. The owner has identified that if the shop continues as is, he may face a loss. He must come up with a solution. Should he accept an employee’s suggestion to cut prices in order to compete with low-end street stalls? Should he shut down the shop in the short run or even exit the market? Whichever path he chooses, he can approach the decision using the concepts of elasticity and cost analysis popular in microeconomics.

The Indian online retail (“e-tailing”) market had seen a flurry of activity. Success stories such as Makemytrip.com and Naukri.com in the travel and job search domains, respectively, were significant catalysts for this new breed of start-ups. Of these start-ups, Flipkart stood out as one of the most successful (and audacious) — more so because of the funding the company managed to secure over a very short period of time as compared to its competitors. The firm was celebrated for its bold stance on growth versus profitability but simultaneously had its share of critics and skeptics. The latest round of venture capital funding had valued Flipkart at US$1.6 billion, nearly eight times sales. In less than two years, the firm had attracted nearly $550 million in venture capital funds and its sales turnover had grown nearly 30-fold. Was Flipkart growing too big too soon? Were these valuations justified?

In November 2011, UltraRichMatch.com (URM) was founded as an online matrimonial portal targeted at Indian millionaires. URM was unique as it provided both wedding planning and matchmaking services. URM depended on building affiliations with providers of wedding products and services. These affiliations had not grown according to expectations. By early 2013, the founder believed that expansion was necessary for URM. He had arrived at three options for expansion: expansion online with a new portal, setting up a franchise chain of bricks and mortar marriage centres/ bureaus and expansion of URM’s affiliate program to attract more customers. His dilemma was whether to pursue all these plans simultaneously or one at a time.

In November 2011, UltraRichMatch.com (URM) was founded as an online matrimonial portal targeted at Indian millionaires. URM was unique as it provided both wedding planning and matchmaking services. URM depended on building affiliations with providers of wedding products and services. These affiliations had not grown according to expectations. By early 2013, the founder believed that expansion was necessary for URM. He had arrived at three options for expansion: expansion online with a new portal, setting up a franchise chain of bricks and mortar marriage centres/ bureaus and expansion of URM's affiliate program to attract more customers. His dilemma was whether to pursue all these plans simultaneously or one at a time.

Samuel Colt not only perfected and patented the technology for a gun that could fire multiple times without reloading, but he also developed and applied early principles of mass production more completely than anyone had done before. Until the nineteenth century, weapons manufacture, like most industries, had been the exclusive domain of skilled craftsmen, whose families had typically been in the trade for generations. Colt substituted specialized machines that made parts to exact specifications, which could fit into almost any gun of the same type. This made replacement and repair significantly easier and production more uniform. Other industries and countries would later implement these principles of production from Colt's armory, thereby revolutionizing manufacturing. Also, through his personality, product, and marketing, Colt's guns became intertwined with American identity in a tangle that persists to the present.

Genting, a gaming company that monopolizes the Malaysian market, entered the U.K. gaming market in 2004 and faced competition from established players, different customer preferences across casinos in the United Kingdom, and changes in the British government’s gaming regulations. Genting had to rely on local management to run the business in the United Kingdom, as the market was still new to it. In operating casinos with different but established brand names to cater to different market needs, Genting faced the challenge of creating a single corporate identity. In spite of its challenges in the United Kingdom, Genting Malaysia has seized the opportunity to enter the U.S. market with its unique set of challenges, again through a local acquisition, with the strategic goal of continuous expansion of the gaming business in the United States. Is this the right move for Genting? What are the risks and opportunities?

This case works well to provide experience with developing a revenue growth forecast using time series analysis. Students are asked to run several exponential smoothing models to predict the growth in a high-profile social network's traffic from three years of monthly history. The model students select is used to forecast a stream of future revenues in a pro forma cash flow statement. This case is supported by a teaching note, an Excel spreadsheet, a .csv file, and an R file.

Spreadsheet supplement for UV6854.

While corporate innovation is commonly touted as a viable strategy for sustaining superior performance in today's corporations, the successful implementation of corporate innovation remains quite elusive for most companies. A recent Accenture survey of more than 500 executives revealed that over 50% report a poor innovation process, while fewer than 18% believe their own innovation strategy provides a competitive advantage for the firm. While many causal reasons can be offered, our research on corporate entrepreneurship and innovation demonstrates there are four key implementation issues that most corporations are not recognizing or responding to effectively. Effective recognition of and response to these four implementation issues may represent the difference between those companies that create a successful corporate innovation strategy and those that do not. The four issues are: (1) understanding what type of innovation is being sought, (2) coordinating managerial roles, (3) effectively using operating controls, and (4) properly training and preparing individuals. Together, these four issues--if understood and appropriately addressed--help create an effective innovative ecosystem within the organization.

The Change Foundation is an independent charitable foundation founded in 1996 by the Ontario Hospital Association with the mandate to promote, support and improve health and the delivery of health care in Ontario. In 2006, its board of directors undertook a renewal process to evaluate its strategic directions and measure the value-add of progress to date. A planning session with a variety of key stakeholders had resulted in the development of a draft plan for going forward, which included hiring a new chief executive officer. When she began assessing the plan in January 2007, she faced several major issues and concerns about how the foundation should refocus its activities and transform itself. Before she could start to rebuild, however, she had to decide what its future direction should be.

Anime News Network (ANN) is a Montreal-based news website that provides information and news about anime (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comics). The site’s primary readership and target audience is North American fans of anime and manga, but it is known and read by fans worldwide as “the world’s leading destination for news and information about manga and anime.” Under its founder and chief executive officer, ANN has grown from a hobby, staffed entirely by volunteers, to a profitable business with 3.3 million readers, annual sales of US$1 million, seven full-time and five part-time employees, and sister ANN websites in Australia and the United Kingdom. The critical question facing ANN is whether the company has reached its growth potential, given the niche nature of its readership base and a steady decline in the monetary value of the North American anime market.

The Hongxin Entrepreneur Incubator, located in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, has experienced tremendous growth between 2001 and 2013. Its founder and president has received widespread acclaim as he has helped to launch and turn around more than 100 local companies, both start-ups and more developed enterprises. He now plans to develop and grow the incubator by setting it up as an online platform that would connect and support an alliance of entrepreneurs on a scale never seen before in China. As he looks forward to taking it in this new direction, he wonders how he can ensure continued success and maintain his philosophy of caring for the community of entrepreneurs while maximizing profits.

Since its opening in Beijing in November 2007 as the first non-profit art center in China, UCCA had been operating with the mission to "promote the continued development of the Chinese art scene, foster international exchange, and showcase the latest in art and culture to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year." For the past six years, UCCA had worked with more than 100 artists and designers to present 87 art exhibitions and 1,826 public programs to over 1.8 million visitors, including many important leaders from all over the world. Given the context of the economic and political environment in the rapidly changing Chinese art market, the founders and senior management of UCCA wondered what they could do to achieve growth and financial viability while continuing to realize their mission.

In early April 2012, Michelle Dipp, MD, Ph.D, CEO and co-founder of OvaScience, had just received a buyout offer from PG Ventures, a private equity firm interested in acquiring the innovative fertility treatments company. The company's first promising fertility treatment, AUGMENT (Autologous Germ-line Mitochondrial Energy Transfer), had the potential to improve egg quality, increase the success of IVF cycles, and decrease the incidence of multiple births (i.e., twins, triplets). OvaScience had been in operation since 2011, and AUGMENT had not yet reached the market. Dipp and her partners had high hopes for the success of AUGMENT and the impact the underlying technology could have on millions of infertility cases around the world. How fast might Dipp and her team grow OvaScience? Would they have the resources? Dipp considered the best way to build out OvaScience's business model and whether AUGMENT's potential outweighed the PG Ventures offer.

The case follows Scott Painter and his executive team as they deal with a crisis that threatens the survival of TrueCar, a company founded by Painter to improve consumers' car buying experiences. TrueCar's automotive dealer network, from which the company earns its revenue, is rapidly declining in size as dealers leave to protest TrueCar's practices. The case also describes Painter's career and his personality as context for the situation. Painter and his team must persuade dealers to rejoin its network in order to survive, which will require the company to rethink its identity.

This case focuses on the investment strategy employed by 500 Startups, an early-stage investment firm founded by Dave McClure. McClure, an outspoken personality in Silicon Valley, believes that the venture capital industry is not innovating quickly enough to adapt to large-scale changes. The cost of starting a company has plummeted over time, enabling investors to write smaller and smaller checks. The exit options for companies have expanded, allowing investors to realize returns earlier than in the past, though typically at lower valuations. Major customer acquisition platforms are enabling startups to disrupt traditional businesses. Finally, opportunities for investment abound overseas in rapidly growing emerging markets, in McClure's opinion. Though not everyone in Silicon Valley agrees with all of McClure ideas, he seeks to scale 500 Startups into the first "guild-based" international venture capital firm.