Business model innovation

September 2013

Costa Coffee (A): A Proposal to Build the Next Generation Self-serve Espresso Bar

By Julian Birkinshaw

This is part of a case series. The case focuses on how a senior executive assesses the opportunity to drive innovation in his division. Jim Slater, Managing Director of Costa Enterprises, is thinking about a management consultant's offer to build the next generation coffee machine for his division. ...

July 2015

citizenM: Radical innovation in the hotel industry

By Freek Vermeulen

In 2008, a group of five entrepreneurs and executives teamed up to launch an innovative hotel chain into what seemed like a highly competitive industry. Rattan Chadha, the founder of fashion company MEXX and Michael Levie, a hotel industry veteran, teamed up with Hans Meyer, a hotel development spec...

May 2017

Capitec Bank – Redefining Retail Banking: Innovation Through Elimination

By Freek Vermeulen

The consumer banking industry is notoriously hard to enter. Customers rarely switch banks (switching costs are high) and there are considerable barriers to entry to new players. Traditionally, banking products can be complex, often accompanied by non-transparent cross-selling practices and hidden fe...

December 2020

Amazon.com: Staying a step ahead (2021)

By Julian Birkinshaw, Lisa Duke

This case traces the rise and rise of Amazon.com, the second company after Apple to hit a trillion dollar market cap. The growth of Amazon is described, from its origins back in 1995 through to 2016. The case intentionally provides a lot of detail on specific new products and services created over t...