個案總覽

Cash Technology Limited is a Xiamen-based manufacturer of self-service banking machines, touchscreens and related software. The company was set to issue its initial public offering on the Singapore Exchange. The proceeds from the IPO would help the mid-sized, entrepreneurial and private company secure its position in the burgeoning Chinese market for automated teller machines and related equipment. With six weeks left before the IPO, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer attempted to value their company by various methods and assess the reasonableness of the offering price proposed by the IPO manager. The case challenges students to examine the attractiveness and value of a business from the perspective of the issuer and potential investors, and can also provide the opportunity for students to develop a strategy for communicating with institutional investors.

Mote Aquaculture Park is raising sturgeon for the production of caviar. With eggs imported from Eastern Europe, the park is engaging in a unique venture, bringing Russian caviar harvesting to the United States. The project manager is faced with evaluating a number of issues such as political-legal forces, local and international economics, production technologies and socio-cultural forces. Further, industry factors also played a key role. As he considers Mote Aquacultural Park's current situation, he knows that a thorough review of these environmental factors are necessary. The case offers students the opportunity to determine what forces pose critical threats as well as potential opportunities for future growth. However, since sturgeon farming and caviar production in the United States is a new industry, the application of traditional models of evaluation may not universally apply.

A venture fund has approached an entrepreneur to sell one of its poorly performing holdings, or if there is no reasonable sale opportunity, turn the company around. He finds no acceptable offers for the company. He searches to find more information on how buyers purchase and use the product, which is a software system for police and courts to lay charges and manage them across the court process. The case illustrates the leverage available from understanding customer budgeting and buying processes, and fitting the service to meet the mind of the customer.

Provides an overview for students of the MBA elective course Managing Networked Businesses (MNB). MNB focuses on management challenges in businesses that exhibit network effects. The first section of the note explains that such businesses comprise a large and growing share of the global economy and confront distinctive management challenges. Due to the unusual microeconomic attributes of networked businesses, designing optimal business models is difficult, and managers often must cope with winner-take-all competitive dynamics. Winner-take-all outcomes have profound implications for strategy decisions, and choices about capital structure, organizational design, and government relations. For this reason, MNB employs a general management perspective. The second section of the note reviews a set of core concepts covered in MNB and provides definitions of networks, network effects, and platforms. The final section briefly describes the organization and contents of MNB's modules.

This case delves into the operational details of values-based leadership. It addresses core issues including: how do visionary leaders set directions and clear and visible values for the firm; how do they measure performance; and how do they balance the needs of all stakeholders? It explains how the founding entrepreneurs stimulated innovation; how knowledge and capabilities at Infosys are built from top down and bottom up; how sustainability is ensured through a leadership system and how strategies for continued growth are deployed. It analyzes the way behavior and culture influence the course of an entrepreneurial organization's development.

Describes the situation brought about by the severe economic and political crisis that swept Argentina at the end of 2001. The local situation had been gradually deteriorating since 1998, when the country slipped into an increasing recession and poverty indexes started climbing consistently. The crisis peaked when the federal government decided to freeze all bank accounts, further unnerving the general population. Fundacion Pro Vivienda Social (FPVS) began to feel the repercussions of the crisis: client numbers became stagnant in 1999, and its regular portfolio could no longer afford new loans. As the recession deepened, FPVS clients found it hard to make the required payments on their loans. The organization faced financial distress, and Raul Zavalia Lagos had to meet with its administrative council to discuss alternative solutions. Focuses on Lagos' role as social entrepreneur, describing his family background, previous experience, and ability to lead the FPVS project and build a network with a series of actors who provided the necessary funding, advice, and contacts. Also explains how FPVS started to respond in 1998 to the worsening local social and economic conditions by developing alternative programs to appeal to new borrowers. As these initiatives proved ineffective, the foundation turned to consider other projects, based on the demands voiced by the communities where it operated.

This case series of a failed startup in the financial services market illustrates three of the key issues in launching a new business - the role of a strong and cohesive founding team, the problem of lack of credibility faced by new ventures, and the importance of developing elements of novelty or innovation in the proposed business model.

This case series of a failed startup in the financial services market illustrates three of the key issues in launching a new business - the role of a strong and cohesive founding team, the problem of lack of credibility faced by new ventures, and the importance of developing elements of novelty or innovation in the proposed business model.

This case series of a failed startup in the financial services market illustrates three of the key issues in launching a new business - the role of a strong and cohesive founding team, the problem of lack of credibility faced by new ventures, and the importance of developing elements of novelty or innovation in the proposed business model.

This note discusses the legal issues entrepreneurs must consider as they form their company as a legal entity. In Q&A format, the note concisely defines the types of entity available and discusses when and how to engage a lawyer.

A self-employed innovator developed and patented a novel combination pen and stylus device to complement the recently released Palm Pilot personal digital assistant. He presented his design to Palm, under a nondisclosure agreement to discuss the market response to the product, and his company, ttools, was subsequently allowed to advertise the device in a monthly e-mail to Palm customers. After ttools' release of the Throttle pen/stylus, Palm and the design firm IDEO introduced a similar pen/stylus device that appeared to infringe on ttools' patent. ttools, being a small, resource-constrained company, was in a precarious position. Its competitive advantage and rights as a patent holder were being threatened. It had few financial resources to draw upon, and thus its livelihood as a company was at stake. Investigates the available options ttools had to respond to Palm and IDEO's actions.

An abstract is not available for this product.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. China's institutional private equity and venture capital market is similar to that of the United States and Europe, but there are important differences. Many practices that are taken for granted in areas such as Silicon Valley have yet to become routine in China. There is a lack of readily available information about opportunities, entrepreneurs, and companies. In addition, Chinese entrepreneurs know little about finance, corporate structures, and governance, thereby requiring investors to educate them and fill the gaps. Identifies seven disciplines critical to successful investment in China: knowledge and appreciation of the importance of social capital networks, or guanxi; understanding of corporate governance and shareholder rights; the ability to manage intellectual property; the ability to adapt business models to local conditions; the ability to add managerial and technical value to young enterprises; knowledge of the legal structure; and an ability to navigate complex regulatory environments.

A search fund is a pool of capital raised to financially support the efforts of an entrepreneur, or a team of entrepreneurs, to locate a privately held company for acquisition. This study, as well as its predecessors in 1996, 1998, 2001, and 2003, portrays the aggregate profile of search funds and the entrepreneurs who formed them, and evaluates the investment returns generated by first-time search funds to their original investors. Together, these studies reflect changes in the characteristics of search fund entrepreneurs and the performance of their funds over time.

Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in the company's first seven years. Fisher describes the venture capital negotiations and a merger with a biotech company that led to the creation of ViaCell in 2000. Fisher explains how her role changed from founder and CEO of Viacord to president and then board member of ViaCell, and carries the firm's story to the successful 2005 IPO.

Fred Khosravi is a serial medical device entrepreneur. In his latest venture, he must decide whether to sell now or continue to develop his current product and whether to market it, sell the company, or IPO.

This case tells the story of the decision by the city government of Philadelphia to develop a publicly-owned competitor to private high-speed internet connection systems ("broadband"). The case describes both the city''s rationale, its desire to attract new business and its fear that a "digital divide" was leaving poorer residents without affordable access to the World Wide Web, and its means of implementing its decision, through a new not-for-profit arm of city government, which would contract with a private provider. That private provider would agree to provide relatively low-cost wireless web access throughout the city, thereby creating the largest wireless network in the US to date; in return, the city would steer its own information technology business to the new system, which was designed to compete with the private firms Verizon and Comcast. The case is designed to promote a discussion of the nature and causes of monopoly by raising issues of whether the incumbent cable and telephone companies enjoy market power in any of the services they offer and, if so, whether it is advisable to build a new municipal system to promote competition. HKS Case Number 1824.0

This case tells the story of the decision by the city government of Philadelphia to develop a publicly-owned competitor to private high-speed internet connection systems ("broadband"). The case describes both the city''s rationale, its desire to attract new business and its fear that a "digital divide" was leaving poorer residents without affordable access to the World Wide Web, and its means of implementing its decision, through a new not-for-profit arm of city government, which would contract with a private provider. That private provider would agree to provide relatively low-cost wireless web access throughout the city, thereby creating the largest wireless network in the US to date; in return, the city would steer its own information technology business to the new system, which was designed to compete with the private firms Verizon and Comcast. The case is designed to promote a discussion of the nature and causes of monopoly by raising issues of whether the incumbent cable and telephone companies enjoy market power in any of the services they offer and, if so, whether it is advisable to build a new municipal system to promote competition. HKS Case Number 1824.0

A venture capitalist must prepare a memorandum for his investment committee outlining the opportunities and challenges presented by financing a leveraged management buyout of Grace Bioremediation Technologies, a company involved in developing manufacturing and marketing soil and water bioremediation technologies. He must decide the appropriate rate of return, assess risks and opportunities and design a term sheet containing the details of a deal structure that includes major clauses required for any loan and shareholders' agreements.

New Century Brewing: Moonshot Caffeinated Beer discusses the introduction of a completely new beverage to the U.S. market. New Century Brewing, which is owned by one of the founders of Boston Beer Company, is a small brewer that outsources production to third party brewers. It has two products, a light craft beer sold in upscale shops and restaurants, and a caffeinated beer, which is oriented towards younger drinkers mainly between 21 and 25 years of age. Moonshot, created by the legendary masterbrewer, known as the father of light beer, became the first caffeinated beer in the world. The company follows a differentiation strategy that attempts to appeal to a small niche of customers traditionally ignored by large brewers. Shortly after the introduction of each of its products, large competitors introduced similar products. Nevertheless, Moonshot has a first-to-market advantage that could potentially be leveraged.