Disruptive innovation
July 2018
Dollar Shave Club: Disrupting the Shaving Industry (Japanese language)
By Nader Tavassoli, Karin Kollenz-Quétard, Jamie Anderson
The case describes how Dollar Shave Club proved to be a disruptive force in the shaving industry, one dominated by Gillette for over a Century. It did so without a single patent to its name, and with a direct-to-consumer subscription and a content-based customer engagement model that was new to the ...
October 2023
De Beers: Reverse-disrupting the Diamond Industry
By Stefano Turconi, Thomas Horton, Minerva Rojanapenkul
Set in September 2018, the case describes De Beers’ attempt to halt the escalating disruption to its core business posed by diamonds grown in laboratories. Since its inception over a century ago, De Beers had created and nurtured the perception of diamonds as rare objects and exclusive symbols of ...
May 2023
Tata Sky: Experimentation and adoption (B)
By Jessica Spungin, Julian Birkinshaw, Harit Nagpal
Harit Nagpal, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Sky Ltd, the largest satellite TV distribution platform in India, was returning from the Consumer Electronics Show 2017 in Las Vegas. What he had seen there was enough to make him question the viability of the business he headed. He did not want to thi...
May 2023
Tata Sky: Responding to a disruptive technology (A)
By Jessica Spungin, Julian Birkinshaw, Harit Nagpal
Harit Nagpal, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Sky Ltd, the largest satellite TV distribution platform in India, was returning from the Consumer Electronics Show 2017 in Las Vegas. What he had seen there was enough to make him question the viability of the business he headed. He did not want to thi...
January 2025
Red Bull Spreads its Wiiings (Russian language)
By Nader Tavassoli
Thirty-five years after its founding, the Red Bull energy drinks business continued to show strong growth globally. Over the years, the company had expanded its product line with different variants, such as sugar-free and flavoured Editions. More recently, the company had launched a sub-branded The ...
September 2022
Red Bull Spreads its Wiiings
By Nader Tavassoli
Thirty-five years after its founding, the Red Bull energy drinks business continued to show strong growth globally. Over the years, the company had expanded its product line with different variants, such as sugar-free and flavoured Editions. More recently, the company had launched a sub-branded The ...
February 2022
TrueLayer: Innovation, regulation and the future of financial services
By Julian Birkinshaw, Ken Mark, Farhan Lalji
In April 2021, having just raised $70 million in a Series D funding, Francesco Simoneschi, Co-Founder and CEO of TrueLayer, was thinking about expansion plans. Should the company focus on product innovation, broadening its line-up within the 13 countries in which it operated, or should it look to gr...
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 company’s 12-year history. At least he now had some options to consider – 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 entrepreneur’s dilemma. The company had a successful platform and business model that had made it the market lead...
November 2021
MOVE Guides (C)
By John Mullins, Tiffany Putimahtama
Having decided to go where her customers wanted to take her, CEO Brynne Kennedy had led MOVE Guides into the managed-moves market segment, in addition to the lump-sum moves segment that had given her company its start. By any measure, the company had grown: in top-line revenue, in head count, and (t...