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In April 2018, the owner of Express Bike Works (EBW), an Indian start-up that provided automated motorcycle washing, among other services, was planning to expand his business to various locations in South India, such as Udupi, Chennai, and Bangalore. He needed to decide whether to expand through self-owned stores or franchise stores and wondered how to select appropriate store locations. His objective was to come up with an expansion strategy that would maximize his payoff.

Pamela Jeffery, founder and chief executive officer of The Pamela Jeffery Group and the Canadian Board Diversity Council (CBDC), had worked diligently for nine years to improve diversity at the board level. While the CBDC aimed at improving diversity in general at the board level, its key focus was to improve the representation of women on corporate boards in Canada. Jeffery and the CBDC methodically carried out plans to involve stakeholders, establish processes, and deliver progress on their goals. Yet they faced a new set of challenges in 2019: while Canadian boards now included more women overall, and most board directors felt that their boards were diverse enough, men and women were still not equally represented at the board level. Jeffery’s challenge was to determine what the next steps could be in what seemed like a long journey of transformation at the board level.

In April 2019, the chief executive officer of Dubai-based Diamond Developers, reflected on his company’s progress in developing a business model based on sustainable living. In December 2015, The Sustainable City in Dubai had welcomed its first residents. The project had become a success story, both commercially and in terms of building a vibrant community of 3,000 residents from 60 countries, who were living a lifestyle characterized by social, environmental, and economic sustainability. After this initial and significant success, the chief executive officer wondered how to replicate the concept, both locally and internationally, to grow the company and to maximize the company's contribution to sustainability and to the fight against climate change.

In mid-2018, the president and chief executive officer of Siemens Canada was examining his options in executing Vision 2020+, a growth plan developed by the company's headquarters in Germany. One of the cornerstones of the plan was digitalization, both internally, among the company's sprawling manufacturing operations, and externally, among the company's industrial customers. How could Siemens Canada, as a North American subsidiary of a large multinational enterprise, add value to the global plan? And to do so, what skills and competencies would Siemens Canada need to acquire locally?

In mid 2019, Mobiuspace, a Chinese Internet company, faced a new challenge. As a result of declining revenues from domestic mobile Internet markets, overseas markets offered new opportunities. In 2009, Snaptube, a short video aggregation and distribution platform that Mobiuspace offered as its main product, seized the opportunity to grow in emerging markets by creating localized and personalized video content. Despite the company’s initial success with its expansion strategy, Mobiuspace’s chief executive officer still needed to figure out how to achieve sustainable profitability and long term growth. In particular, he had to enhance users’ engagement and diversify the company’s sources of revenue. How would he achieve all of his objectives?

Collaborations between established firms and startups are increasingly considered an ingredient of corporate strategy. This article describes a startup collaboration model that has emerged in practice, a model that complements today's predominantly used engagement vehicles of corporate accelerators and corporate venture capital. Startup supplier programs are outside-in programs that enable firms to get access to innovations that increase competitiveness of products or productivity of processes by engaging with startups based upon supplier relationships. This article presents empirical data from companies that have run successful startup supplier programs, and it explores the firms' reasons for implementing these programs, identifies key elements of startup supplier programs, and determines how firms can run them effectively.

To stay ahead of the competition, firms must continuously learn from their customers and swiftly adopt those lessons to improve their products. A unit at Ubisoft, a leading game publisher headquartered in Paris, has established a three-pronged approach to drive product innovation based on three practices: data-driven exploration, data-augmented ideation, and data-informed validation. By establishing processes and capabilities for these practices and blending them in a portfolio approach to product design, they maximize the value generation potential of the data at their disposal. Product development in a variety of industries can benefit from the lessons of these data-oriented innovation practices.

In July 2019, the owner of Basmati House Supermart (BHS), a grocery store, entered into a six-month agreement to become a partner outlet of a large online grocery retailer in India. During the first two months, BHS acquired many new customers and also increased its customers’ monthly purchase. However, the steep discounts and promotions used to attract customers to the business drove down the margins, while the customer churn rate increased. The store owner was particularly concerned about the continued use of discounts to attract new consumers, which could potentially transform his own loyal customer base into deal-seeking, less loyal, and online-promotion-driven buyers, thereby leaving BHS terminally dependent on the large online retailer to maintain its sales. The owner wondered whether he should renew his contract with the online retailer in January 2020, and if he did not, what his best course of action would be.

VaycayNation was a German start-up operating an online travel and booking portal. Despite its recent growth, the firm still had low brand awareness in the German market. As a remedy, the chief executive officer planned to invest in a major television advertising campaign to attract more visitors to the company’s website and thus improve its customer awareness. He wanted to build the campaign based on a solid understanding of how executional campaign elements related to the firm’s website traffic. He asked his newly hired team member to use her analytical skills to prepare the data, structure her analysis, and interpret the results in order to provide clear guidance for him and the company.

Established in 2014 by a group of five friends in the Czech Republic, Behavio Labs was a consumer behaviour analytics company that launched the popular product Minute. The Minute digital application accurately measured respondent views and expanded employee engagement to help companies make the right decisions when launching new products, or to improve employee working conditions. By 2018, Behavio Labs had achieved considerable success in the Czech Republic with this product, but it wanted to expand globally. The company developed built-in scalability in the fully digital Minute product for international application. To determine which markets to enter, the founders planned to evaluate 29 countries across Europe, as well as the United States. It had to develop criteria to assess the most suitable countries for market entry, identify the most attractive customer segments in these countries based on revenue potential, develop a strategy for entry, and determine the typology of potential partnerships.

Windmill Microlending, was established in 2004 by a group of community activists who saw the need to help Canadian newcomers restart their careers. The organization offered microloans to help pay the costs of reaccreditation and training. The organization’s first chief executive officer was hired in February 2017, and by September 2017, she had formulated a new vision for the organization that would address three goals: growing the number of clients and the number of loans, increasing clients’ success and their job placements, and maintaining the loan repayment rate. She also needed to address whether Windmill Microlending should expand into other cities and provinces and how to diversify the organization’s funding sources and revenue streams to generate more operating revenue and loan capital to support the required growth. She needed to present her vision and strategy at the next board meeting and ensure the board was onside.

Amazon has been unsuccessful in its efforts to develop a business in China. Even though Amazon was an early entrant into China's e-commerce space, its domestic rivals, especially Alibaba, created innovative business models uniquely suited for the conditions in China. Amazon's failure to adapt to the local conditions in China ultimately led to its exit from the country. Determined to learn lessons from this experience as it developed its business in India, Amazon made a number of innovations in its business model in India. By 2020, Amazon established a strong presence in India. However, the company faces a number of challenges because of changes in regulation that challenge its hybrid business model of both being a seller of its own goods and a marketplace for third party sellers, the rise of strong local rivals, and its own ambition to expand beyond top tier cities and upper middle class customers in India.

In early 2019, the general manager of Little Short Stop Stores, a chain of local, family-owned convenience stores in southwestern Ontario, Canada, was projecting a loss for that year. The loss was due in part to a provincial minimum wage increase to CA$14.00 that came into effect on January 1, 2018, increased from $11.60 in 2017 and $11.40 in 2016. Before this change, the store chain had been exceeding the average industry growth rate by 5 per cent for the previous five years. The general manager had to determine how to respond to mitigate the revenue loss and to ensure the company remained competitive in the future. The company was already operating efficiently and competitively, so the focus would be on increasing revenues. The company was further constrained by its revenue mix. Two-thirds of its revenue was generated by tobacco products and lottery tickets, which had prices set by regulatory bodies. The general manager was open to considering all options for future growth. However, he was constrained by the family firm’s preference to avoid long-term debt and expansion beyond its current geographic boundary.

In January 2020, the co-founder of Alpha Advantech LLP (Alpha Advantech), an agricultural and gardening products company based in Karnal, Haryana, India, had to decide whether to drive an organic growth strategy and utilize his resources to expand the company’s operations, or stick to consolidation and market penetration with the current range of products. Alpha Advantech had performed well since its inception in 2016, and the co-founder aimed to make it a ₹600 million company by 2022. However, the current team size and scale limitations of the company were potential impediments to achieving this target. The co-founder could not decide whether to let Alpha Advantech stay niche in the business or to expand it both geographically and in terms of its range of offerings. He realized that if he were to choose expansion over consolidation, he would need to devise a strategic plan for Alpha Advantech’s growth, assess the technical and digital capabilities that his company would require, and anticipate the scalability issues it was likely to face.

Shubam Goldiee Masale Private Limited was a family business established by two childhood friends in 1980 in Kanpur, northern India. In 2004, second-generation family members began joining the business. With the arrival of the new generation, the company started renewing its business operations. The two founders divided specific management roles and responsibilities of key departments among second-generation family members, although control of the company’s overall operations remained with the founders. By January 2019, the company had grown steadily to employ over 4,000 people and become associated with more than 1,500 distributors, selling its products across various locations across India. The management team, which consisted of all family members, wanted to make the company a leading brand in the Indian spice market by taking advantage of new growth opportunities. However, the founders wondered if the company should consolidate its position in the existing products and markets, or venture into uncharted territories.

In 2017, the successful Canadian innovation center TEC Edmonton initiated a joint venture with TusStar, an important Chinese accelerator, and found itself in the middle of a debate about the challenges and opportunities of Chinese investment in Canada’s technology sector. Both organizations were unique collaborations among industry, academia, and government. This joint initiative had added significance because of the implications for these stakeholders. The role of government was also significant, especially regarding the role of the Chinese government in innovation. The partnership was also nationally significant because of the important roles TEC Edmonton and TusStar played in the innovation ecosystems in Canada and China. How could TEC Edmonton define its role underpinning its relationship with TusStar and the Chinese government and make a compelling case for this new cooperation to stakeholders in industry, academia, and government?

In 2017, the successful Canadian innovation center TEC Edmonton initiated a joint venture with TusStar, an important Chinese accelerator, and found itself in the middle of a debate about the challenges and opportunities of Chinese investment in Canada's technology sector. Both organizations were unique collaborations among industry, academia, and government. This joint initiative had added significance because of the implications for these stakeholders. The role of government was also significant, especially regarding the role of the Chinese government in innovation. The partnership was also nationally significant because of the important roles TEC Edmonton and TusStar played in the innovation ecosystems in Canada and China. How could TEC Edmonton define its role underpinning its relationship with TusStar and the Chinese government and make a compelling case for this new cooperation to stakeholders in industry, academia, and government?

This case describes Café Kenya, a Kenyan-based chain of casual quick-food restaurants. The chain was started in 2011 in Nairobi by Nekesa Kuria. Kuria started Café Kenya and grew it by reinvesting profits into company stores and through franchising. She also concentrated on getting the details right, and she helped this effort by hiring the best people possible. Further, she feels a responsibility to help other African women succeed as business owners. The company is very successful. By early 2019, CK had 28 stores, 21 of which are franchised. All the stores are in major cities in Kenya, including Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. Kuria is considering several options to grow CK, including organic growth, equity investment from an outside partner, and a buyout offer. Each involves tradeoffs that Kuria must decide among. The case can be used to discuss issues such as entrepreneurial ventures, managing a service business, human resource management, and options for growth. It is recommended for upper-level undergraduate students or MBA students in entrepreneurship courses.

Student spreadsheet for case 920551.

Pacari was the flagship brand of SKS Farms, a small agricultural products company in Ecuador that specialized in high quality chocolate. Carla Barbotó and Santiago Peralta were the co proprietors of this family owned and operated company, which was originally created in order to promote Ecuadorean fine aroma chocolate, while also promoting social development, and preserving biodiversity. In 2018, Carla Barbotó read through the report from her company’s recent successful bid to become a certified ‘B’ (benefits) company. While the company had easily surpassed the minimum score for certification, the report contained suggestions that were new, and in a few cases somewhat unexpected. Now Barbotó wondered how to use the thorough and very detailed feedback to prioritize initiatives in order to ensure Pacari brought even greater benefits to its many stakeholders.