Entrepreneurship
November 2023
Allied Chemicals Case B: five years later
By Freek Vermeulen
Darren Henderson, CEO of Allied Chemicals (AC), was looking at the set of memos on the desk in his office in the companyâs headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut. They concerned his corporationâs latest expansion into the Indian market, the setting up a chemicals plant in Indore, a city in Madya P...
November 2023
Heinekenâs International Expansion
Asserting his lifelong motto âI donât sell beer, I sell warmthâ, Alfred âFreddyâ Heineken passed away on 3 January 2002, aged 78. Known for his flamboyant lifestyle and fiery personality, Freddy was also the driving force in growing Heineken into an international brand. Heineken had the la...
November 2023
Sadlerâs Wells Theatre – Compact Case
By Freek Vermeulen
Alistair Spalding, Chief Executive of Sadlerâs Wells Theatre, recalled an evening back in the autumn of 2004 when he was sitting in a balcony seat in an empty, unlit theatre, watching a crew dismantle a set following a final performance. Earlier in the day, the board had confirmed Spaldingâs app...
November 2023
Hornby plc: Strategic Transformation (B)
By Freek Vermeulen
In 2005 Frank Martin, CEO of Hornby, was feeling proud. Since joining in 2000, he had seen the company's share price rise from 35 to more than 250 and his strategic transformation of the firm from a toy company into a hobby company had been a resounding success. The company dominated the UK market a...
November 2023
Hornby plc: Building Communities (A)
By Freek Vermeulen
In 2005 Frank Martin, CEO of Hornby, was feeling proud. Since joining in 2000, he had seen the company's share price rise from 35 to more than 250 and his strategic transformation of the firm from a toy company into a hobby company had been a resounding success. The company dominated the UK market a...
November 2023
Royal Ahold: International growth and acquisitions
By Freek Vermeulen
On October 13 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud and other charges in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Royal Ahold and three former top executives, including CEO and Chairman Cees van der Hoeven, thus terminating the career of the once-power...
November 2023
Lark & Berry: The diamond disruptors
By Ioannis Ioannou, Nick Mickshik
Laura Chavez was delighted beyond words when the Atelier Asymmetric Bow suite, designed by her luxury jewellery company Lark & Berry, won the 2019 Goldsmithsâ Craft and Design Council Graff jewellery award. The Graff Award was the jewellery industryâs equivalent of the Oscars award for Best ...
October 2023
Insearch Ltd: Searching for a company to buy
By Simon Webster
By March 2022 Steve Webb had spent more than three years looking for a company to acquire. He was in final negotiations to buy a company, but he and the vendors did not see eye-to-eye on its valuation. Steve was also concerned about how to structure an offer. He was in a difficult financial situatio...
August 2023
Stepping out of lockdown: Launching a footwear brand during a pandemic
By Claudia Yoshinaga, Elisa Larroudé, John Mullins
Marina LarroudĂ© stared glumly at all the crossings out on the proposed boots order for the autumn collection. Her husband Ricardo wanted to cut her suggestions by nearly half â in models, colours and quantities. Their fledgling shoe business had begun to a promising buzz a few months ago, but las...
March 2017
Raising capital for Financial Butler (B) (Chinese language)
By Bryan Stroube, Michael Bikard, Ken Mark
This case focuses on Nick Hungerfordâs attempt to raise capital for his FinTech start-up, Financial Butler, (later renamed Nutmeg). The concept is a digital platform offering a revolutionary, transparent and fair service to an âuntappedâ market segment currently not served by wealth managers, ...