17 Global Goals
February 2013
Eight19 (A): A Social Enterprise?
By Jeff Skinner, Tom Ryan
Eight19 is a technology-based start-up company based on Cambridge Science Park. The company is developing a new (and very low cost) solar-panel technology aimed primarily at domestic use in developing countries. The case describes the issues faced by eight19 as it develops a business model for the n...
May 2019
The Maestro Marin Alsop – Leading “Under a Huge Magnifying Glass”
By Randall Peterson, Vyla Rollins, Carrie J. Fletcher
This case study follows the career of world-renowned orchestra conductor Marin Alsop. As a gay woman in a blatantly male-dominated (and often sexist) field, Alsop faced significant challenges in her rise to the top of the profession. At virtually every turning point on her unconventional path, Alsop...
March 2009
Reuters Market Light: Strategic Innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid
By Costas Markides, Laura Winig, Daniel Oyon
This case is set in 2008 and examines the challenges facing Amit Mehra, Managing Director of Reuters Market Light (RML), a newly formed unit within Thomson Reuters, as he tries to grow the business amid organisational and market upheaval. RML represented a creative venture by Thomson Reuters to leve...
August 2018
M-Pesa & Nick Hughes
By Lisa Duke, Rajesh Chandy
It was February 2009, and Nick Hughes, head of Global Payment Solutions at Vodafone, contemplated his notes as he waited to enter the company’s Executive Meeting at its headquarters in Newbury, amid the Berkshire countryside outside London. M-PESA (M for mobile, Pesa meaning ‘money’ in Swahili...
August 2018
Bayer’s Innovation Agenda: Igniting Innovation in a 100,000-person company
By Julian Birkinshaw, Enrique De Diego, Henning Trill, Julia Hitzbleck
The case describes how Bayer, one of the oldest and largest life-science companies in the world, recognised that innovation driven solely by the traditional R&D process that characterised the sector would not be sufficient to remain competitive, given the major changes underway in pharma and cro...
March 2018
Aravind Eye Care System
By Kamalini Ramdas, Sarang Deo
This case relates the genesis and evolution of vision centres (VCs) for primary eye care at Aravind Eye Care System (AECS). AECS, based in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world's largest eye care provider. The case is based in 2014, exactly a decade after the first vision centre was ope...
January 2013
Eight19 (B) Azuri Technologies
By Jeff Skinner, Tom Ryan
Eight19 is a technology-based start-up company based on Cambridge Science Park. The company is developing a new (and very low cost) solar-panel technology aimed primarily at domestic use in developing countries. The case describes the issues faced by eight19 as it develops a business model for the n...
September 2011
Desso (B): Going Forward
By Ioannis Ioannou, Amandine Ody-Brasier
This is part of a case series. This case describes the strategic transformation of DESSO, a Dutch manufacturer of carpet tiles and flooring solutions. The first part of the case describes the difficult situation in which the company found itself in the early 2000s, following a series of changes in o...
September 2011
Desso (A): Taking on the Sustainability Challenge
By Ioannis Ioannou, Amandine Ody-Brasier
This is part of a case series. This case describes the strategic transformation of DESSO, a Dutch manufacturer of carpet tiles and flooring solutions. The first part of the case describes the difficult situation in which the company found itself in the early 2000s, following a series of changes in o...
August 2018
Andrew Thornton: Putting Heart into Business
By Randall Peterson
At the age of 42, in the midst of a successful and lucrative career as the owner of an international retail consultancy, Andrew Thornton realised he had nothing more to give to his business. He quit the agency in 2006 and used his buy-out money as a down-payment for two Budgens supermarkets in north...