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Drawing on the idea that any business model is essentially a set of key decisions that collectively determine how a business earns its revenue, incurs its costs, and manages its risks, the authors view innovations to the model as changes to those decisions: What mix of products or services should you offer? When should you make your key decisions? Who are your best decision makers? and Why do key decision makers choose as they do? In this article they present a framework to help managers take business model innovation to the level of a reliable and improvable discipline. Companies can use the framework to make their innovation processes more systematic and open so that business model reinvention becomes a continual, inclusive process rather than a series of isolated, internally focused events.

An ambitious executive is about to leave his employer in order to launch his own Pan-African venture. Should he start up in a rapidly growing, but already competitive, market or in a series of smaller, untapped markets? Expert commentary comes from Ashish J. Thakkar, founder of Mara Group, and Iqbal Surve, founder and chairman of the Sekunjalo Group.

An ambitious executive is about to leave his employer in order to launch his own Pan-African venture. Should he start up in a rapidly growing, but already competitive, market or in a series of smaller, untapped markets? Expert commentary comes from Ashish J. Thakkar, founder of Mara Group, and Iqbal Surve, founder and chairman of the Sekunjalo Group.

In March 2007 C. James Prieur, CEO of insurance provider Conseco, was faced with a crisis. The front page of the New York Times featured a story on the grieving family of an elderly woman who had faithfully paid for her Conseco long-term care (LTC) policy, only to find that it would not pay her claims. Her family had to pay for her care (until her recent death), which unfortunately resulted in the loss of the family business. The family was now very publicly pursuing litigation. For a company that depended on thousands of employees, investors, and independent agents who sold the insurance plans, this reputational risk was a serious threat. On top of this immediate crisis, all signs in the industry were pointing to the fact that the LTC business itself was not viable, yet over the years Conseco had acquired a number of LTC insurance providers. Students are asked to analyze not only what Prieur's priorities should be in addressing the immediate crisis but also the risks inherent in the LTC industry and how this might affect Conseco's success as a business moving forward.

"This case is set in December 2006 when the management at Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL) was faced with the critical decision of whether to pursue a strategic partnership with Optical Media and Technology (OM&T) and what form such a partnership should take. MBIL was India's largest and the world's third largest optical storage media manufacturer with a presence in over 82 countries, serviced through marketing offices in India, the United States and Europe. In 2006, MBIL had also entered the photovoltaic (PV) cells industry and aimed to succeed in this new business by leveraging its core process strength in "coating thin films on substrates". OM&T was based in a high technology cluster in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and was known in the industry for its contribution to prototyping, standardization and pilot production of advanced optical disc formats such as Digital Versatile/ Video Disc (DVD) and Blue Laser Discs (Blu-ray discs). For the MBIL management team, all the options were on the table -- a licensing arrangement, a strategic alliance by taking an equity stake in the company or a complete acquisition of the company. After careful evaluation, they had to choose the most appropriate option and arrive at a decision."

In 2014 Time Warner announced its intention to spin off Time, Inc.'s family of print titles, thought to hold limited profit potential. As Time Warner Entertainment Company, it would face a worldwide marketplace with increasing amounts of discretionary time that could be spent on entertainment that was accessible from an ever-wider variety of distribution media. However, some industry observers questioned whether this was a strategic divestiture or simply an attempt to raise the value of Time Warner's shares. This case asks students to consider the motives behind this move and its implications for Time Warner.

Simon Rothman had recently been promoted from executive-in-residence to Partner at esteemed venture capital firm Greylock Partners and placed in charge of managing a $100 million early-stage fund commitment dedicated to online marketplaces. In Greylock's view, 2014 was a special moment in time for online marketplaces, the beginning of a boom in the space that was being catalyzed by mobile technology and social identity. Rothman was the right man for the job. An early eBay employee, he had founded eBay Motors and turned it into a multi-billion dollar business and also advised several successful online marketplaces such as Lyft, Wanelo and TaskRabbit. For his first investment as Partner, Rothman was particularly interested in the food delivery space, which was ripe for disruption by online marketplaces. Rothman had five food delivery startup options to choose from, a philosophy on how to analyze marketplace businesses, and a few weeks to make his first ever investment as a Partner at Greylock.

This two-part case series is about the largest equity-raising deal in history - the Petrobras seasoned equity offering (SEO) of 2010. In June 2010, Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company was preparing a share issue to develop its "pre-salt" oil fields - so called because they are trapped under several kilometers of seawater, rock and a hard-to-penetrate layer of salt. The hydrocarbons resting in the pre-salt fields could make Brazil one of the world's largest oil-exporting nations. Brazil's offshore pre-salt area - widely tipped to rival the North Sea in terms of size and importance - had been generating excitement in the energy world since its discovery in 2005. Six new pre-salt fields had been discovered more recently and were now ready for exploration. The investments outlined in the plan were huge and would transform Petrobras into one of the world's largest producers. However, this also posed significant financing challenges for Petrobras, given its capacity to generate cash from its current operations. So, how could it raise the money? A bond issue so soon after the previous one was a possibility. It would then be among the world's biggest bond issues. But there was a risk of not meeting the need for capital. How would such an issue affect its debt-to-value ratio and its rating? Would Petrobras be able to maintain its investment grade status? A share issue was another possibility, but it would also be very big. Would the market be ready for such a big issue so soon after the financial crisis? Many unresolved issues lay ahead. Both Gabrielli (CEO) and Barbassa (CFO) understood that regardless of the method used, they were facing one of the world's biggest funding challenges to date. A lot was at stake and wrong choices would have disastrous consequences for both Petrobras and Brazil.

Supplement to case IMD752. This two-part case series is about the largest equity-raising deal in history - the Petrobras seasoned equity offering (SEO) of 2010. In June 2010, Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company was preparing a share issue to develop its "pre-salt" oil fields - so called because they are trapped under several kilometers of seawater, rock and a hard-to-penetrate layer of salt. The hydrocarbons resting in the pre-salt fields could make Brazil one of the world's largest oil-exporting nations. Brazil's offshore pre-salt area - widely tipped to rival the North Sea in terms of size and importance - had been generating excitement in the energy world since its discovery in 2005. Six new pre-salt fields had been discovered more recently and were now ready for exploration. The investments outlined in the plan were huge and would transform Petrobras into one of the world's largest producers. However, this also posed significant financing challenges for Petrobras, given its capacity to generate cash from its current operations. So, how could it raise the money? A bond issue so soon after the previous one was a possibility. It would then be among the world's biggest bond issues. But there was a risk of not meeting the need for capital. How would such an issue affect its debt-to-value ratio and its rating? Would Petrobras be able to maintain its investment grade status? A share issue was another possibility, but it would also be very big. Would the market be ready for such a big issue so soon after the financial crisis? Many unresolved issues lay ahead. Both Gabrielli (CEO) and Barbassa (CFO) understood that regardless of the method used, they were facing one of the world's biggest funding challenges to date. A lot was at stake and wrong choices would have disastrous consequences for both Petrobras and Brazil.

Konecranes is a leading manufacturer of lifting equipment and a market leader in industrial cranes and components. Headquartered in Finland, the group has the world's most extensive crane service network. North Americas is the group's best performing territory, accounting for a third of global sales. However, it is increasingly clear that future growth will primarily come from emerging markets elsewhere. In mid-2012, Pekka Lundmark, president and chief executive officer of Konecranes, makes the radical decision to relocate his office from Finland to Singapore since he believes this will help bring the necessary balance between markets, move the company closer to new opportunities and achieve success. He is determined to continue Konecranes on its journey of pivoting this product- oriented company to one of high-end services. But is this the right approach? What are the implications of such a change in the business model?

In 2013, Airgas was the market leader in packaged industrial gas distribution. Recent acquisitions had made it into a larger player in upstream gas production as well, where it competed with Praxair and Air Products. Should Airgas continue building a position in gas production or divest these activities?

It was the waiting that drew the attention of the Stockholm County Council. In 2008, patients seeking a hip or knee replacement in Stockholm County faced wait times of up to two years of sometimes debilitating pain, intermittent missed work and income, and the trials of disability. Seeking a new model to lower wait times, but also improve patient choice of care, County Council Senior Medical Adviser, Dr. Holger Stalberg, set out to create a bundled payment system for hip and knee replacements in the County. The new model, called OrthoChoice, was set to go into operation on January 1, 2009.

By the end of 2008, all major hospitals (one of which was private) and three private specialized orthopedic centers signed OrthoChoice contracts. In 2009, hip and knee replacements in the County of Stockholm for relatively healthy patients began being reimbursed. By 2013, OrthoChoice had covered 12,531 hip and knee replacements, accounting for 59% of such operations for county residents. Total payments were SEK 704.5 million ($109.4 million). Dr. Holger Stalberg and his team at the Stockholm County Council (SLL) were reviewing the results of the new payment approach and considering how to improve the model.

When Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a leading consumer goods company, first entered China, it encountered significant challenges. RB's strategy relied on selling high margin products supported by cost-effective advertising and distribution, but the highly competitive Chinese market made it hard to sustain high margins, inflated television advertising rates made marketing expensive, and an inefficient distribution system increased costs further. In 2010, RB managed to overcome these constraints for one of its brands, Durex, the best-selling condom brand in the world, by leveraging Chinese social media platforms and investing in offline and online distribution. The new strategy paid off - Durex condom sales increased threefold in China and market share increased by over 10%. RB now wanted to generate the same results for its other brands in the country, and needed to decide how to balance investments in offline distribution, social media campaigns, and e-commerce in order to keep growing not just in China, but in other emerging markets as well.

Research on cross-border acquisitions shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, they don't hamper domestic operations--they add to their efficiency and productivity. By acquiring foreign companies, firms gain a great deal of knowledge through exposure to new market ecosystems, R&D capabilities, functional skills, organizational processes, and managerial practices.

Research on product adoption in the airline industry suggests that being first to market can make a big difference to an offering's success, even if the customers are companies rather than consumers.

Almost every retailer looks to Google to refer customers, and it's rare to find a manufacturer whose products aren't sold on Amazon. But these platforms can capture a disproportionate share of the value a company creates: Buy an app on iTunes, and Apple takes 30%. The author presents four strategies to help businesses reduce their dependence on powerful platforms: (1) Exploit the platform's need to be comprehensive. American Airlines' strong coverage of key routes made its presence on the travel website Kayak indispensable to Kayak's value proposition. As a result, AA negotiated a better deal; (2) Identify and discredit discrimination. Public complaints that eBay was giving search prominence to suppliers who advertised on the site forced a reversal of the policy; (3) Create an alternative platform. When MovieTickets was on the verge of dominating phone and online ticketing, Regal Entertainment and two other large theater chains formed Fandango; and (4) Deal more directly. People ordering takeout through online platforms like Foodler and GrubHub have often already chosen their restaurant. Restaurants that deal directly can exit the platform.

What is a dedicated, well-intentioned public health practitioner to do when it starts to feel like the science supporting her recommendations is hardly more persuasive to her community partners than the daily horoscope? Pile on more evidence? Not by a long shot, as our case story protagonists find out the hard way in the tale of the town of East Point, a diverse and hard-working community in the fictitious US state of Columbia. East Point and its high school are faced with hard choices at every turn: Offer comprehensive sex ed, but then have to cut afterschool programs to address the town's budget crisis? Accept serendipitous outside funding for abstinence-only education, but then deprive the town's youth of effective school-based sexual health education?