Europe
July 2023
Alessandro Riccombeni Case B: Resolving the impasse
By Randall Peterson, Nick Mickshik
This case is aimed at helping executives understand the reasons why they may âderailâ when promoted to a new position or when they secure a new job that does not accord with their expectations of it. Case A describes the situation Alessandro Riccombeni found himself in when, having seemingly se...
May 2023
Nova Ventures: Searching for gems in the UK
By Luisa Alemany, Florin Vasvari
Zakib Sari, an aeronautical engineer and entrepreneur who had worked for Shell UK for several years, decided to pursue the entrepreneurship-through-acquisition path after his first year of the MBA programme at London Business School (LBS). In January 2016 he analysed several career options and concl...
February 2023
Cree (C)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
Another four years had passed, and it was now April 2018. After two attempts to shut down the venture totally, Hubert Rhombergâs father Walter-Heinz presented Hubert with an opportunity to buy their cash-burning company, CREE, for âŹ1. CREE had been âhis babyâ for the better part of a decade,...
February 2023
Cree (B)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
After having been spun out of the family business, CREEâs progress had been disappointing, to say the least. Despite the fact that two towers had been built using CREEâs innovative approach, and to considerable acclaim, it was proving difficult to sell additional projects. The result was that CR...
February 2023
Cree (A)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
Hubert Rhomberg was contemplating the wall of photographs at the entrance to the headquarters of his family business, Rhomberg. They showed the history of the company and his forefathers. With such rich heritage, should he really be pushing for innovation so strongly? But if he didnât, he would be...
September 2022
Feedr (B)
By Gary Dushnitsky, Kathryn Larin
The case describes the journey of Riya Grover and Lyz Swanton (MBAs from HBS and LBS respectively) who launched, scaled and sold London-based startup Feedr during the second half of 2010. Feedr introduced a sustainable solution offering nutritionally healthy food by leveraging technology to drive pe...
September 2022
Feedr (A)
By Gary Dushnitsky, Kathryn Larin
The case describes the journey of Riya Grover and Lyz Swanton as they launched, scaled and sold London-based startup Feedr during the second half of 2010. Feedr provided nutritionally healthy food to the workplace by leveraging technology to drive personalisation in choice and scale. Case A follo...
June 2022
Anne Boden at Starling Bank: Disrupting an industry
By Herminia Ibarra, Luisa Alemany, Nick Mickshik, Ken Mark
The case describes the start-up and evolution of UK-based digital bank Starling. Founded in 2014, Starling offered personal and business accounts, and lending products, promising a better customer-service experience, faster approvals and a more digital-friendly approach than traditional banks. By 20...
April 2009
Multi Media Mapping Ltd Case (B)
By John Bates, Cosette Reczek, Sean Phelan
It was early October 2007 as Sean Phelan, founder of Multi Media Mapping Ltd, reviewed the previous 12 months. It had been a year of highs and lows that now set the scene for the most important decision in the companyâs 12-year history. At least he now had some options to consider â unlike this ...
April 2009
Multi Media Mapping Ltd Case (A)
By John Bates, Cosette Reczek, Sean Phelan
It was nearly 10 years since Multi Media Mapping Ltd had gone live with the launch of the Multimap.com website and Sean Phelan, founder and majority shareholder, was facing the classic entrepreneurâs dilemma. The company had a successful platform and business model that had made it the market lead...