Entrepreneurship
July 2020
Haier’s Rendanheyi 2.0: An ecosystem revolution
By Michael Jacobides, Lisa Duke
Haier in 1984 was a small, local firm on the verge of collapse, with poor-quality products and low morale. Within 30 years, it was transformed by Zhang Ruimin, who took over as CEO, into one of the worlds’ leading white-goods manufacturers, with a reputation for quality and innovation and an incre...
June 2020
CI&T Building an Entrepreneurial Management Model
By Julian Birkinshaw, Carolina Rossi Wosiack
The case study describes the growth of CI&T, from a start-up in Brazil to a 3,000+ person consulting firm with global reach in 2019. The case describes the stages of growth the company has been through over 25 years, focusing on both the market offering and the internal organisation structure/cu...
August 2016
ONk: Dining at the Funding Buffet
By Gary Dushnitsky
The idea for ONk originated in 2012 when six-year-old Mike asked his father, Sam Ke, one night, “Can we make a computer that is simple and fun?” Soon afterwards, a team of three – Alex Bell, Joe Costa and Sam Ke – came together to answer the call. The mission: to give young people – and th...
November 2018
Patch: Financing the Entrepreneurial Business
By Gary Dushnitsky
Heading into Old Street Tube station in London on a chilly January day, Freddie’s mind was racing with ideas. He had just come out from another meeting with Forward Partners, a well-known, London-based venture capital firm, and it was clear the conversation had gone well. The team at Forward Partn...
January 2008
Silverglide Surgical Technologies (B)
By John Mullins
This is a two-case series. From a rocky perch above the city of Boulder, Colorado, Jon Thorne gazed across the city and onto the great plains that stretched eastward before him. 'There's nothing like a vigorous mountain bike ride into the hills,' Thorne thought, 'when crucial decisions have to be de...
January 2008
Silverglide Surgical Technologies (A)
By John Mullins
This is a two-case series. From a rocky perch above the city of Boulder, Colorado, Jon Thorne gazed across the city and onto the great plains that stretched eastward before him. 'There's nothing like a vigorous mountain bike ride into the hills,' Thorne thought, 'when crucial decisions have to be de...
August 2018
Pret A Manger (A-D)
By Rupert Merson
This case series takes us through the story of Pret A Manger, one of the first up-market sandwich bar chains in London. The series explores the founding of a business as an entrepreneurial venture and then its growth both nationally and internationally and the problems this brings. It touches on man...
December 2014
Budgetplaces.com (C)
By John Mullins, Shira Conradi
This is part of a case series. John Erceg was in a quandary. It was a sunny spring day in Barcelona in April 2010, and he’d been negotiating for several weeks with a possible buyer for the company that he’d created from scratch and built over the past seven years. Apart from buying two Barcelona...
December 2014
Budgetplaces.com (B)
By John Mullins, Shira Conradi
This is part of a case series. John Erceg was in a quandary. It was a sunny spring day in Barcelona in April 2010, and he’d been negotiating for several weeks with a possible buyer for the company that he’d created from scratch and built over the past seven years. Apart from buying two Barcelona...
December 2014
Budgetplaces.com (A)
By John Mullins, Shira Conradi
This is part of a case series. John Erceg was in a quandary. It was a sunny spring day in Barcelona in April 2010, and he’d been negotiating for several weeks with a possible buyer for the company that he’d created from scratch and built over the past seven years. Apart from buying two Barcelona...