個案總覽

This note is about tokenization and tokenized assets. Tokenization refers to the process of creating a representation of a particular asset on a blockchain via digital tokens. Tokenized assets typically derive their value from the value of the underlying asset. This note explores the benefits and risks of tokenization, as well as use cases. Moreover, it explores Security Token Offerings, considerations for tokenized asset issuers, and the Howey Test. It concludes with a consideration of how possible future trends may affect tokenization.

In 2010, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, had been working for several months on an initiative to catalyze cleantech start-ups in India. This required multi-point intervention, including mentoring, acceleration, and funding. Substantially funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), this policy experiment aimed to address both market and government failures in developing countries like India by unlocking venture capital to clean-energy start-ups. As the project required CIIE to raise additional funding from other sources and there had so far been no venture capital funding of clean energy projects in India, the CEO wondered who he could approach for such funding, how to approach them, and how to structure the resulting fund to ensure the greatest potential support for innovative cleantech solutions.

Zhongke Xinke (Beijing) Technology Co. Ltd. (Zhongke Xinke), founded in November 2016, enjoyed a high reputation in China’s makerspace industry. Miao Jinsheng, the founder of Zhongke Xinke, sensed the changing environment and the development challenges of the enterprise and created the Foreseeing Unicorns Project. Jointly launched with the Jiangxi provincial government, the project supported the success of entrepreneurs and helped Jiangxi Province to discover and cultivate unicorn enterprises, creating shared value economically and socially. However, its commitment and close ties with the local government limited Zhongke Xinke’s future growth to a certain extent. How could the project grow by balancing its commitment to Jiangxi Province with its need to grow outside the province (national)?

There is one thing that virtually every organization-whether it's a bank, a tech start-up or a hospital-has in common: a desire to reach its full innovative potential. The question is, how is this achieved? In this article-an excerpt from his book, The Management of Innovation-the author shares eight of the most important elements and principles for leaders to consider when aiming to optimize innovation for their organization. The first four relate to the use of intellectual property (IP) for effective management of the technologies developed by an organization; while the other four focus on the drivers of innovation both inside and outside of a firm.

Too often, efforts to innovate fall short within organizations. The good news is that, whether the focus is on new products, services, processes or business models, Generative AI (GenAI) can enhance and challenge the work of teams across all phases of the innovation cycle. GenAI's most obvious contribution thus far has been in idea generation and validation-the divergence and convergence phases of innovation. Yet the authors show that it can play an even more important role in helping leaders confront and update the strategic assumptions at the foundation of their strategies-what they call the 'doubt phase' of the cycle. They show that GenAI's role in innovation is not to take humans out of the creative process, just to make them better at it by pointing out old assumptions that box them in and stymie the quest for true innovation.

Historically, organizations have viewed exploration and exploitation as two distinct paths to innovation. But in our digital-driven era, this view is outdated. They describe recent research showing that some companies are working together to invent innovations further from the customer and compete on activities closer to the customer. They call the amalgamation of these two approaches coopetition. In this article they show that to succeed in the digital era, both digital and legacy incumbents must practice 'innovation ambidexterity,' refining existing competencies while exploring new avenues. By embedding coopetition into their DNA, companies can leverage both digital technologies and strategic partnerships.

Minko Platforms Pvt. Ltd. (Minko) was a financial technology (fintech) lending startup that specialized in providing supply chain distribution financing to small retailers that sourced inventory from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distributors. The company faced a dilemma in determining how to scale up. Should it continue to focus on distributor-retailer transactions, a market where it had already gained experience and penetration? Or should it target the higher value stockist-distributor transactions further up in the supply chain? The latter would be more remunerative but would also have more potential competition. The company’s situation was further complicated when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released new guidelines on digital lending that would significantly impact its operations. As a result, company leaders were also evaluating whether Minko should continue as a fintech company or procure a licence to operate as a non-banking finance company (NBFC).

After five years abroad, Soumaya Merhi, a Lebanese German entrepreneur, returned to Lebanon in 2013 with the goal of introducing superfoods to the Middle East. Despite limited resources, she launched TAQA Snacks (TAQA) in 2017, prioritizing sustainability alongside financial growth. By 2018, TAQA had seen remarkable 400 per cent growth, established a dedicated team, and ingrained its socio-environmental values. However, Lebanon’s severe economic crisis in 2019, compounded by COVID-19 disruptions, posed significant challenges. Despite setbacks, Merhi remained dedicated to her values and commitment to sustainability, investors, employees, and vision.

DeHaat was a technology-led platform offering end-to-end agriculture services to Indian farmers with an aim to improve inefficiencies in the agriculture value chain. By September 2022, after 10 years of operations, the company was well-established in India’s agricultural technology sector, and its network of centres across 12 states distributed seeds, pesticides, fertilizer, and farm machinery to farmers and offered them farm advisory services, financial services, and market linkages for selling farm produce. But despite DeHaat’s remarkable growth, profitability still eluded the company. In 2023, the company needed to determine what its founders could do to improve profitability and create stakeholder value. They had already received multiple rounds of funding. Should they now focus on existing markets, explore new domestic markets or exports, expand their offerings, or better control their costs to enhance credibility in the financial market? Or should they slow down growth to strengthen internal operations?

PeriFerry is a pioneering social enterprise working toward creating sustainable livelihood opportunities and inclusive workplaces for transgender persons in India. Originally located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, PeriFerry has upskilled 320 transgender persons and sensitized more than 30,000 employees about their inclusion in the workplace. PeriFerry’s founder and chief executive officer, Neelam Jain, does not believe in an extravagant showcase of effort. Instead, since she founded PeriFerry in 2017, her approach was that when transgender persons wished to transform their lives, they could locate and reach out to PeriFerry via the internet and various social media platforms like LinkedIn, X, Facebook, or Instagram or meet on-ground community representatives. But Jain is looking forward to PeriFerry’s next five years and contemplating whether this approach will be relevant to scale social impact. Alternatively, Jain is considering adopting a proactive stance in reaching out to transgender people. This could involve extending its geographical coverage to include other cities in India and introducing a diverse range of services to provide holistic support for transgender persons. The new approach will allow PeriFerry to scale wide by reaching out to more trans people who are dispersed in various geographical locations in India who find it difficult to locate PeriFerry due to a lack of technological amenities. But Jain would also have to figure out the resources and capabilities required to scale its social impact. Jain must determine which strategy PeriFerry should pursue in the next 2-3 years.

Teaching Note Spreadsheet to accompany Ivey product no. W33543.

Instructor Spreadsheet for Ivey product no. W33543.

Student Spreadsheet for Ivey product no. W33542.

MedfirstIndia Trading Private Limited was a privately owned e-commerce start-up in India. The firm’s goal was to establish a first-of-its-kind medical devices e-commerce platform catering to various underserved market segments, such as small hospitals and independent medical practices. The firm relied primarily on digital channels for branding and customer outreach. However, the founders did not have a structured data-driven decision-making strategy in place despite the wealth of data flowing in through web analytics. In 2018, after three years of operations, the firm closed its doors. The case highlights the challenges of strategizing and managing the digital marketing operations of an e-commerce start-up.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W34168.

The Wadhwani Research Centre for Bioengineering (WRCB) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), established in 2014 with support from the Wadhwani Foundation, entered its transformative second phase after a successful initial five years. With over 40 professors from nine departments involved, WRCB’s phase one had yielded 316 publications and 38 patent applications and spawned two entrepreneurial ventures. Heading phase two were Debjani Paul, the professor in charge, and Abdur Rub, the chief executive officer, who were focused on propelling deep-tech research toward commercialization. As the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided in late 2021, Paul and Rub looked toward the future with new hope and clear goal: to enable academic researchers to secure follow-on funding crucial for sustaining momentum beyond WRCB’s initial catalytic support. This initiative aimed to cement WRCB’s status as a global leader in bioengineering translational research, bridging academia and industry to overcome funding gaps and nurture innovation in a dynamic academic setting.

This case focuses on a small family business, Mattera Motors, an auto repair shop operating in the challenging operating environment of a South African township. The founder, Marcello Mattera, started as a “necessity entrepreneur” (i.e., an individual pushed into launching their own business due to no other employment options). The business has nonetheless reached a level of stability over the past two decades and is successful by the standards of a township enterprise. However, the company faces dilemmas in the coming years relating to succession and growth. Specifically, should Mattera’s children inherit the business from him? Could the business survive if Mattera shared it between his two children? Or should the family expand the business to seize new opportunities?

The case is about Dhriiti–The Courage Within (Dhriiti), a non-governmental organization founded in 2004 in Assam, India, to help rural communities in northeastern India generate income by producing areca tableware. In 2009, Dhriiti established the for-profit social enterprise Tamul Plates Marketing Private Limited (Tamul) to manage the entire value chain of the tableware. As Tamul expanded, it decentralized its production model to better promote rural entrepreneurs and to supplement its existing centralized factory-based production unit. However, women’s participation in these decentralized units remained low. In response, Dhriiti established Project Pragati, which successfully empowered 29 rural women entrepreneurs and inspired many more. The case highlights the dilemma of the co-founders in December 2022. They can expand the capacity of Tamul’s existing centralized production unit to grow the enterprise, which will generate more direct employment for local women. Alternatively, they can invest in more decentralized production units to establish a longer-term, more empowering model of promoting rural entrepreneurs, which will both engage women and transform them into change agents in their communities.

This case portrays the entrepreneurial journey of two academic scientists who spent much of their careers addressing the problem of substance use disorder (SUD). Warren Bickel, a psychologist with a deep understanding of behavioral economics, had what he believed to be a valuable approach to fighting opioid addiction. It complemented clinical and pharmacological therapies that were the current standard of care. The case describes the journey that he and his colleague, Lisa Marsch, took to bring this digital therapy to the market. The context is one in which the offering is an avoidance product for may consumers, in a product category of interest to the public health sector, and relies on a indirect payment model. Market structure, technological development, partnership options and organizational structure uncertainties abound, making this case an excellent vehicle for students to learn tools and methods associated with opportunity identification and elaboration. The Learning Plan offers a method for identifying the full spectrum of uncertainties and managing them proactively.

This case portrays the entrepreneurial journey of two academic scientists who spent much of their careers addressing the problem of substance use disorder (SUD). Warren Bickel, a psychologist with a deep understanding of behavioral economics, had what he believed to be a valuable approach to fighting opioid addiction. It complemented clinical and pharmacological therapies that were the current standard of care. The case describes the journey that he and his colleague, Lisa Marsch, took to bring this digital therapy to the market. The context is one in which the offering is an avoidance product for may consumers, in a product category of interest to the public health sector, and relies on a indirect payment model. Market structure, technological development, partnership options and organizational structure uncertainties abound, making this case an excellent vehicle for students to learn tools and methods associated with opportunity identification and elaboration. The Learning Plan offers a method for identifying the full spectrum of uncertainties and managing them proactively.