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The Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) team has just learned that the price at which its portfolio company, the Chinese gaming firm Shanda, was planning to go public must be reduced. As a result, the partners think through the entire genesis of the deal and the differences between doing venture capital in China and in the United States. Illustrates the intricacies of strategic venture investing.

This case describes the experiences of an HBS student as he takes on the challege of transitioning from an intern to a president at a small consumer packaged goods firm in Southern Texas. This HBS student is confronted with the opportunity to perform an operational and financial turnaround at the company within one year. Over his short tenure, he is forced to deal with several critical immediate issues that include product line shutdowns, immediate measurement systems, and executive team building.

Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's leadership, strategy, and execution need to evolve to deal with rapid growth. A rewritten version of an earlier note.

An engineer for Wind to Energy has led the creation of the North American division of a German start-up company that designs wind-energy electric power generation units - wind turbines. The engineer and his fellow engineers have licensed the technology to a small-share assembler of wind turbines and are about to receive their first payment from this firm. As they look ahead, they see opportunities for revenue in possibly supplying spare parts to wind farms, or even operating their own wind farm. The challenge is to focus this start-up company.

A loan assessment officer at Export Development Canada is evaluating a proposed deal involving the export of refurbished machines used in the forestry industry. He must decide whether Export Development Corporation should extend loans to a foreign firm that is interested in purchasing from a Canadian supplier. Issues include international business risk and the role of an export development agency in facilitating a country's exports.

Ireka Construction Berhad is a small Chinese family business in Malaysia founded in 1967. The company's primary business was earthmoving for the mining industry, factory sites and housing lots, and has expanded its business into civil and structural engineering projects, building and construction, and hotel and property development. In 1992 it became a public company. This case illustrates the process of going from a private to a public company and discusses change management processes.

Examines the start-up process of a new, small high school inside the New York City public school system, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Covers the entrepreneurial process, the specific performance challenges in public high schools in the United States, and the quest for sustainability in a new enterprise. Also addresses the small high school movement in the United States.

Supplements the (A) case.

The general partners of Gobi Partners, a venture fund located in Shanghai, are trying to decide the best way to raise money for their first fund. Their strategy of investing in early-stage digital media companies in China was well-received by strategic investors--IBM and NTT DoCoMo are cornerstone investors in the fund--but classic institutional investors are wary of such a targeted approach, despite the team's successful track record with different private equity groups. Over a year after their first closing at $30 million, the limited partners are urging Gobi to raise the balance of its $100 million fund. But how, without either abandoning the strategy that has won them a measure of success in such a short time or bringing on more strategic investors with goals that might conflict with those currently in the fund?

Supplements the (A) case.

Molecular Insight has developed a novel biopharmaceutical to detect heart attacks. The company's unique approach to intellectual property protection uses the Hatch Waxman Act and the Orphan Drug Act. The company is struggling to raise $7 million in Series B financing. Should it continue its current strategy or change its approach? Includes color exhibits.

The founder and chief executive officer of Global Source Healthcare was struggling with how to allocate sales resources among acquiring new accounts, penetrating existing accounts and up-selling existing accounts. Global Source Healthcare provided domestic and international staffing services to healthcare facilities. The company had been operational for a year and growth had been considerably slower than expected. What made this decision especially important was that the healthcare staffing market was experiencing a substantial downturn. Consolidation was occurring in the industry. Given the limited sales and financial resources of the company, this decision was critical to ensure the very survival of Global Source. Other issues that may be raised include understanding the sales strategy in the business and marketing strategy, motivating a sales force in a difficult, limited-resource environment, and understanding the trade-off between the length of the sales cycle and the size of the potential account.

An entrepreneur was contemplating leaving his job at Goldman Sachs to start Global Source Healthcare, a healthcare outsourcing company focused on international nurse recruitment. He had researched the healthcare staffing market extensively, written a business plan and raised some funding. While this appeared to be an excellent opportunity, there were some very real risks that had to be considered. His greatest concern was the limited amount of funding at his disposal. Since international recruitment required a considerable amount of working capital, the lack of funding brought the long-term feasibility of the business into question. Students will learn about screening the business venture in terms of the entrepreneur, the resources and the opportunity; determining the strategic direction of the company and balancing the long-term vision with short-term cash flow needs; assessing different business models to determine which is the best fit for the company; and the importance of executing the business plan and selected strategy.

Representatives of the technology transfer office are preparing a commercialization strategy of a new peptide. The function of the technology transfer office at the University of Western Ontario is to prospect for suitable technologies for commercialization, to manage the patent protection for such inventions, and to identify ways to develop such inventions. Two licensing opportunities are being considered, both of which entail creation of a startup company. The representatives must evaluate options to determine which offers the best potential for the commercialization of the invention for everyone involved.

This case is about a manufacturer of textile products in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1991 by Jitka Entlichová and her husband Milan Fiedler, EnFi manufactured an extensive line of standard and customized bath and table linens, bedding, draperies, chair covers and display banners for upscale restaurants, conferences, receptions, hotels and boutique retailers. EnFi purchased fabrics from the Czech Republic and abroad, mostly from France, Spain, Italy, India, and Slovakia. In 2004, EnFi had over 1,200 hotel, resort, restaurant, and business customers throughout Bohemia. The Czech Republic had rapidly changed from a controlled economy prior to 1989 to a vibrant international marketplace by the time it entered the European Union in 2004. As competition and costs increased, Entlichová had to reposition her company over the years. With limits on Chinese textile imports set to be lifted in 2005, Entlichová again had to decide the direction her company should take.

Mo Ibrahim, chairman of Celtel International, the largest provider of cellular services in sub-Saharan Africa, must decide on his company's future. After an amazing six years that took it from minority positions in three countries to nearly $1 billion in revenues and 14 operations in 13 countries, the company has three options: to attempt an IPO, to find a merger partner, or to continue as an independent entity. Ibrahim must consider the company's track record, its current situation, and the implications of each option.

With the hope of changing the way Canadians think about purchasing flowers, the owner of Bloom the Flower Company recognized the importance of the Wow! factor and the European florist model in her design of Bloom. Opened in 2002, the Toronto-based florist was continually stocked with a unique array of exotic, cut flowers for everyday purchase or individual or corporate events. Bloom's service delivery was based upon a friendly, welcoming and laid-back approach that focused on providing meaningful solutions to an individual's floral needs. Bloom's success had not gone unnoticed as several additional younger and hipper floral shops had been started in the area since Bloom opened. A number of business and service management issues have to be addressed in order for Bloom to grow.

Digital Economy was founded in 1994 as a private think tank focused on researching the effects of emerging technologies on competitive strategies and high performance organizations. By the late 1990s, clients demanded consulting services to compliment previously purchased research services. The company's business model and offerings flourished in the technology boom. In the first quarter of 2001, the technology boom began to deflate. Digital Economy's decision makers were confident that the changes in the environment would be short lived and that the company's business model and offerings were infallible. Unfortunately, this assessment and subsequent decisions lead to substantial losses in the next two years. The parent firm pressured Digital Economy to realize a profit by the following fiscal year or be completely shut down or consolidated. Digital Economy was in a state of crisis yet the management team did not see the need for change. This case illustrates how biased environmental analysis and personal beliefs can affect decision making and lead to and sustain organizational crisis.

An entrepreneur has invented a device to make it easier for men's retailers to measure customers for made-to-measure suits, avoiding error and thereby improving the profit chain for the retailer. The entrepreneur is looking at ways to promote the device to middle- and upper-end men's retailers.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Oikos Sustainability Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>Icelandic New Energy Company, a research and development consortium based in Reykjavik, Iceland, is considering what future direction to take. The two-person team has met their first major goal - the installation of the world's first commercial hydrogen filling station and the coordination of a public transport test project involving the operation of three hydrogen fuelled city buses. The company was founded with the overall objective of investigating the potential for eventually replacing the use of fossil fuels in Iceland with hydrogen-based fuels and creating the first hydrogen society in the world. Working towards the goal of self-sufficiency from fossil fuels, Icelandic New Energy Co was set up in 1999 by the consortium Vistorka and three major partners each contributing a part to the testing - Royal Dutch Shell (the refueling station), Norsk Hydro (the electrolysis technology to make the hydrogen) and DaimlerChrysler (fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen fuel). The shareholder agreement was established with the company's start in 1999 and is set to expire in 2005. With all of the major activities being outsourced and contracted, the team wondered how they could keep the company as a going concern and contribute to Iceland's transition to a hydrogen economy - a feat that could take more than 15 years.