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An Irish Air Lines pilot has re-created his home city of Dublin on Second Life. His Second Life alter ego, Ham Rambler, is busy running the site, and selling office space and advertisement on the property. The property includes a popular bar, a venue for live music performances, as well as a realistic rendering of Dublin's core. Second Life residents flock to the site for its entertainment and to experience Dublin. Mahon/Rambler needs to decide if the innovative business model he has developed is sustainable, or whether he should sell the business to other developers. The case is useful to introduce the concept of immersive Internet-based environments, and Internet advertising and selling.

An Australian business professor has just arrived in China with a group of students, when one of the group members comes down with the H1N1 virus. The entire group is hospitalized or quarantined. The professor, who is also the tour director, must determine how to deal with the crisis, and quickly. This case is designed for use in a crisis management course, or in an early class in an international management course to illustrate the sorts of differences one may confront in international settings.

The Ciputra Group was set up by Mr. Ciputra in the 1980s, after a long entrepreneurial career with a vision to provide a business for his children. The case describes the development of this group, which evolved into a prominent and innovative player in the Indonesian property sector. Under Ciputra's guidance, the company became known for its satellite cities, in which the group combined technical, construction and urban planning qualities, along with the ability to understand and manoeuvre in the difficult Indonesian environment. The Ciputra Group moved into areas where the government was weak (public facilities, roads, sewerage, city management, security, etc) and as such became an institutional entrepreneur that shaped Indonesia's cities. This model was later exported to other emerging markets. The case ends with the company facing two sets of interlinked problems. One set is strategic, as the company's business model has proven to be vulnerable, and it is undergoing various changes. The question is what strategic option the company should choose. The second set of issues concerns the leadership and corporate structure of the group. Since Ciputra is in his late 70s, a generational change in leadership is imminent, and students are asked to reflect on the most appropriate path towards further development of the business from one led by a charismatic entrepreneur towards a professional family business. The two sets of issues are interlinked with each other and pose opportunities and constraints.

This case illustrates how two entrepreneurs bootstrapped their start-up, overcame the challenges that accompany growth, and built a successful business while being socially responsible.

In 2009, the CEO of Alacra, a venture-backed information services firm that provides customized data primarily to financial services firms, must decide how to respond to the global economic crisis.

In late May 2009, Albert Bohemier, CEO of Survival Systems Limited (SSL), located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, paced the deck of the training pool at Survival Training Simulation Theatre wondering how best to transition the company to new leadership. During the past five years, attempts at succession planning had been unsuccessful. As the leader of the company for over 25 years, Bohemier was ready to retire, but there were many aspects of succession planning to consider. Bohemier's personal criteria for incoming leadership were threefold: it had to be good for SSL's existing clients, a positive move for the company as a whole and good for the current team.

Samsung Tesco Homeplus (STH), one of Korea's large hypermarkets, increased its investment in social contribution activities and systemized the organization in charge in the aftermath. It especially focused on education and cultural services, saving the environment and sharing with others. As a consequence, by December 2008, STH was considered one of the most innovative companies and one that realized true customer value. It had won a variety of awards, such as the Green Management award, Social Contribution Company award and the Eco-friendly Management award. After creating a corporate social responsibility (CSR) team in 2005, it won the CSR award given by the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea and was selected as one of Korea's Most Admired Companies. While much progress had been made, company executives wondered what factors would be the keys to their continuing CSR activities. This case presents points of contention and issues in the practice of corporate social responsibility by STH. Social contribution activities and STH were aligned with both sustainable management and customer value-oriented management. Various activities in extended education, environment and charity ultimately led customers to view STH as not just a discount store that simply sold products, but a value store. STH conducted systematic programs and activities in the areas of extended education environment and charity after having declared itself a social contribution company. This case illustrates how a company can develop its social contribution activities. In addition, discussion will centre on the long-term impacts that social contribution activities have on enterprises.

Continuation of the 'Tale of the Lynx' case series.

Jessica Pierce and Ashley Mound have developed an innovative product for an entrepreneurship class assignment to be presented to potential investors. They now need to determine 1) which target markets have the most potential, 2) which distribution channels to use and 3) a sales volume estimate. The purpose of the case is to teach students how to use secondary research resources from a typical library to research the nature of the market for a new product. This case is appropriate for introductory business, entrepreneurship, business planning, introductory marketing or marketing research courses. It may also be used as an assessment tool.

By 2006, Phillips Food Inc. had grown into one of the largest seafood businesses in the United States and was the number one U.S. brand for crab meat. The company comprised a restaurant division, a foodservice products division that sold to restaurants, and a retail products division that sold to grocery stores. In August, 2006, Phillips' product manager was responsible for defining the communication strategy decisions required to launch its new product: first-to-market pasteurized king crab. The product manager had already spent half of his advertising budget promoting the product to buyers in the foodservice and restaurant channels. He had to decide how to spend the remaining portion of his budget to best reach seafood buyers in the consumer retail channel. He had an opportunity to showcase the product at an upcoming major industry food show; however, he had already planned to spend his budget on advertising in a trade publication for the retail grocery channel. He had to examine the relative merits of each option and present an overall recommendation on how to best launch and sell the product. Qualitative, quantitative and financial aspects were to be considered; as well, the product manager had to determine the costs, returns and qualitative benefits that each option provided.

This note addresses the question of valuation in the venture capital setting. It discusses the methodologies most commonly in practice for arriving at valuation. Because valuation methodologies can yield widely varying results, this note looks at valuation from many different angles. The note addresses critical questions including: What value should the entrepreneur put on his/her company when first raising capital? What should the venture capitalist (VC) pay to invest in the company? What is the appropriate valuation for subsequent rounds of financing? What is the right value at which to exit the investment?

In February 2008, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Fly Open Sky Ltd. was finalizing a business plan for Etrip, a proposed online travel startup in the European travel market. He wanted to use the plan to convince investors to commit $100,000, which would provide the first round of financing in a lead up to a further investment of $500,000. The CEO had a vision of developing Etrip as a superior online travel reservation system and desired to implement higher value propositions over other companies' products in this crowded and competitive market. Prior to launching a bid for capital the CEO had to make concrete decisions about an appropriate marketing plan, devising an accurate revenue model, and satisfying intellectual property rights with regards to Etrip's domain name.

This case provides an introduction to the concept of a search fund. A search fund is an investment vehicle through which a group of investors provide financial support to an entrepreneur or a small team of entrepreneurs for the purpose of finding and acquiring a privately held company in which the entrepreneurs would ultimately perform senior management roles. This case deals with the process of setting up the fund, defining its terms and examining the economics. Search funds are new to the Canadian market.

Mrs. Ebtissam Algosaibi has created the leading high end jewelry company in the Middle East, Erum Jewelry, based in her home town of Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia. She believes Erum has the potential to be a world player similar to Cartier and Chopard. How should she expand Erum beyond the Saudi market? The case also deals with the new opportunities and old challenges for women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

Carl Bistany is struggling with how the global educational management company, SABIS, can grow 100-fold in the coming twelve years. Founded in 1886 in Lebanon, SABIS is the world's largest and only global education management organization (EMO), with schools in the US, Europe, and Middle East.

In April 2009, the founder and owner of Terra Bite Lounge was considering opening another location. The Terra Bite Lounge was a Kirkland, Washington café with no prices and voluntary payment. The owner believed that Terra Bite was a demonstration of a high level of honesty and trust, between himself and the customer. There were several considerations to evaluate in deciding to open a new location. Where should the new location be? The current location was in an affluent suburb but the owner believed that several types of neighbourhoods would be receptive. What types of consumer characteristics would best be suited towards this model of trusting that payment would be made? Is there anything that could be added to the current model to make Terra Bite more successful? He was careful to consider those changes or additions that were consistent with the current social trust component of the original Terra Bite model.

The founder and sole shareholder of a financial planning company must decide whether to hire a new advisor or purchase a block of business from another financial planner. Students are asked to perform an industry analysis, a corporate size-up and consumer analysis. Students are also required to complete a statement of cash flows, a financial ratio analysis and a differential analysis. Students must design a marketing plan and prepare projected financial statements.

The chief executive officer (CEO) and owner of Alara Agri, a major Turkish cherry and fig producer, wants to convince retailers in Belgium and Germany (and, later, other parts of Europe) to change cherries from a bulk product to a higher-end luxury product packaged in small carry bags. The move from bulk to small packages has been highly successful in the United Kingdom where retailers reduced waste and increased margins. The German and Belgian retailers are resisting the change, claiming greater price sensitivity in their consumer base. The CEO thinks he needs a detailed test marketing plan to offer to selected retailers.

The case illustrates the opportunities, challenges and trade-offs involved in developing a pro-social business venture in emerging economies by outlining the interplay between a Nairobi-based venture by Insta Products (Insta) and a Toronto-based non-profit volunteering consultancy for sustainable new ventures with a high potential to accelerate local development. The case is set in the midst of social unrest in the spring of 2008, as the consulting team prepares to give their strategic recommendation based on detailed entrepreneurial, financial and marketing considerations. Focused on the commercial introduction of enriched flours to the retail market in Kenya, the opportunity presented in the case is expected to double the production of Insta in five years while building a stable Ksh 2.1 billion business. The new venture represents a pro-social corporate venture by a 15-year old company with strong capabilities in relief food aid. Insta had been engaged with CARE Kenya and Acumen Fund to solicit funding, and had commissioned independent market research. The Bridge Expedition Partners stepped in to critically review the business plan and offer financial modeling and market analysis to assess Insta Products in opportunity evaluation and the implementation of the new venture. The decision boils down to how Insta framed the venturing opportunity. If Insta focused on affordability, they would minimize pack size and focus on kiosk distribution (potentially supported through high frequency bicycle deliveries). If, however, the most important driver for low-income families when purchasing the porridge-like product uji was price sensitivity instead, Insta could be better off launching with larger packages, with better value per kilogram, distributed through dukas and supermarkets, where Insta's products and prices would be compared against established uji producers. The latter value proposition could still appeal to low income consumers and economize on distribution costs by pushing buyers to save for a weekly/monthly uji mix purchase rather than buy it as needed from local kiosks. The two strategies were radically different. The former tasked Insta with developing new distribution networks and likely investing in promotional activities that would have kiosks owners at the centre of its business model. The latter would expose Insta to fierce competition in the supermarket uji niche, and pit it against strong (and resource rich) competitors, putting the onus on Insta to differentiate its offering (on nutrition, price or likely a combination of product attributes and brand promise). There was no middle of the road - the two approaches required dramatically different models, and Insta was unlikely to have the managerial capability, let alone acquire the resources to finance both. The case ask students to make this decision, taking on either the roles of Insta's representatives and/or the Bridge consulting teams as the three recent Ivey MBAs engage in complex modeling and draw on the expertise of local and international students.

This case illustrates a grassroots enterprise's path to self-sufficiency in a subsistence market context. It explores the gradual evolution of a business model with strong social mandates (pro-health, pro-women) and asks which growth options best marry profitability and positive social change. The Mwanza, Tanzania-based Yogurt Mamas emerge as entrepreneurial role models in their communities, with funds from Western donors and an exciting new technology.<br><br>The Yogurt Mamas produce and locally distribute a probiotic yogurt to their small community; they are interconnected in a local value chain and benefit from annual inflows of expertise from Western partners, including free access to patented technology and free culturing of probiotic bacteria in a local lab. The case asks students to critically analyze the hurdles to profitability and suggest working solutions to scale up the venture. Challenges include funding sufficiency, clarity of roles and responsibilities, patent restrictions, kitchen ownership, food safety and quality concerns, and liability concerns. Options include technology/model licensing and franchising, organic growth and expansion to gain higher margins and greater control over the milk supply, and extending their distribution reach. If the Yogurt Mamas cannot find an attractive and feasible growth option, the partners will have to contemplate venture termination once the grant funding comes to an end, or consider alternative exit options.