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This case reflects a classic approach to entrepreneurship based on entrepreneurial resources and opportunities. It also provides a vehicle for discussing the key features of a business model. It also addresses key strategic choices such as whether to replicate a business model or not.

This case study sets out the story of an entrepreneur: Zein Rachidi. It describes his history and the key milestones in his professional development until the creation and development of his own startup “Topotrade” the first online market place for used topography equipment. It also exposes his development plan, his will to scale up his business by replicating the same business model of Topotrade in a new market, that of used biomedical equipment.

This case is written mainly with a view to its use in the context of entrepreneurship courses for undergraduate students in management, as well as for entrepreneurs who can compare Zein’s trajectory to their own. This case is designed for students also suitable for courses in basic strategy, strategy and change and disruptive business models.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

By the end of this session, students should be able to: explain what a business model is; summarize the case firm’s business strategy using the elements of business model canvas proposed by Alexander Osterwalder and practice how to apply the business model canvas to analyze the business model of a firm; understand how a firm can seize an opportunity for innovation; and discuss how the case firm navigated through problems that came up as it grew.

Creative Design was a start-up company in Taiwan. To fulfill a course requirement while she was still in school, the founder had formed a team and entered an entrepreneurship competition. They won the second runner up award in that competition and impressed some firms who enquired if they would be interested in doing corporate identity system (CIS) design. They discovered that without establishing a corporate structure their prospective clients would be unable to pay an invoice. As a consequence, the founder and one of the team members established Creative Design Ltd. This case discusses the challenge Creative Design faced at the end of 2012. Wonderland farmers’ association (WFA) wanted to market locally grown jasmine but did not know how to go about it. They reached out to the founder and her company for assistance. The case of WFA was uncharted territory. Creative Design already had extensive experience in CIS design, but it did not have any experience in handling agriculture products. In this case, they had to deal with the full supply chain from production to exhibition. The risk for this project was high but Creative Design accepted the case and became the first design firm offering a “total solution.” Currently, Creative Design works with all kinds of cases, from simple CIS designs to more complicated total solutions of various scales. The founder now has to contemplate if the design house should develop more total solution cases. Doing so would require recruiting more staff and the dilemma of balancing revenue and costs.

The case study is designed for the undergraduate and graduate students of the College of Management; the case can be adopted for the courses of management, innovation and entrepreneurship, etc.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the different options available for funding; to illustrate the growth of the food services industry in India; and to understand a business model canvas.

Baromeeter (BOM), was a Delhi-based startup founded in the year 2016 by Rishabh Vyas, a 26-year-old MBA graduate. Currently, BOM has operations in Delhi-NCR with 50,000 monthly website visitors and 200-plus partner restaurants and cafes in Delhi-NCR with brands such as Imperfecto, Junkyard Café, Garam Dharam, Out of the Box, Boombox, Jungle Jamboree and many more. BOM also receives over 1,000 deal bookings and 200 plus party bookings monthly. Going forward, Rishabh has plans to expand to other cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore. However, there are certain challenges. So far, the startup has raised funds from friends and families. He was confident that he had a compelling product. However, he knew he had to look for fresh investments to scale up. The existing funds may sustain the operations of the company for another six months. Rishabh was considering a number of options. However, whom to approach? Would banks be interested in lending money? How about participating in angel investor’s meet?

The case is suitable for a course in graduate and an undergraduate course in entrepreneurship. The case can be used to understand the business model canvas and to understand the funding options available for startups.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

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The learning outcomes provide insights into how organisations have emerged out of such changes in the external environment, additional complexities that female entrepreneurs have to navigate in patriarchal societies and complexities of handing over control of a family business by the founding generation takes.

This case is about Rita Zwane’s dilemma as she was about to hand over the management and leadership of Imbizo Shisanyama Restaurant to her son. As founder and Chairperson of the enterprise, Zwane founded the business over 20 years ago and had seen it grow from being housed in a customised shipping container to annually turning over millions of rands per year. Her dilemma was borne out of the belief that many family businesses collapsed after being taken over by the second generation. While Zwane grudgingly admitted that Senzo’s involvement in the business had increased turnover and efficiencies, she was reluctant to let go. This raises a question of whether her dilemma was not only her concern on Senzo’s management abilities but also her difficulty in letting go. The case is suitable for management and change leadership courses on a post graduate level where theories such as attachment theory could be taught to demonstrate that the problem is not always the new leadership in transitioning businesses from the founding generation to second generation of leaders. This is particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises where Imbizo Shisanyama Restaurant is situated. Imbizo Shisanyama Restaurant was founded in 1997 during a period when the abolition of many apartheid laws saw an unprecedented urbanisation process leading to the mushrooming of informal settlements. It is this mushrooming of informal settlements that enabled the establishment of Imbizo Shisanyama Restaurant. The case will provide some insights into opportunities that opened up for Zwane in this pivotal period.

Post Graduate Level

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Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are to explain the importance of passion in entrepreneurship, develop an understanding of the business model canvas and its elements, identify typical challenges faced by a startup (during early days and while growing), explain the role of seed fund and customer feedback for small business success and identify the appropriate hiring strategy for startups.

The case traces the journey of two Saudi under-graduate software engineering students, namely, Loai Labani and Riyadh Al-Tayib, who had a vision to establish the best information technology (IT) services company in Saudi Arabia. With no previous experience of establishing a company or working for a startup, coupled with the fact that the culture of entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia is still in its ascendancy, they knew it would be challenging. Nevertheless, at the same time, they were convinced it would be totally up to them to do the hard work needed to propel their vision into reality. The case, after introducing the founders, talks about their respective backgrounds and how it complemented their goal/vision of establishing an IT services company. The case, with references from the literature, also throws light on the entrepreneurship culture in Saudi Arabia but the focus is the various challenges faced by the team in setting up their business and the strategies they used in dealing with the challenges. Some of the challenges discussed are securing early customers, initial financing to support startup, business model development, managing daily operations and hiring and marketing strategy. The case ends with another challenge faced by the founders, for the readers to think about the possible ways of dealing with the challenge at hand.

The case will be used for under-graduate level students.

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After studying this case, the students/participants would be able to: discuss important personality traits of an entrepreneur; understand specific challenges faced by a venture as it moves toward higher growth stage; discuss the importance of strategic planning and managerial style as the ventures move from establishment stage to growth stage.

The case is about MotivPrints, a two years old venture, offering custom designing and commercial printing to businesses in Gujarat, India. MotivPrints was established by Himanshu Dhadnekar in 2016 and had 85 SME clients and 35 vendors by 2019. Himanshu, a young entrepreneur had been involved in entrepreneurial activities since his school days and was also involved in a couple of business ventures during his MBA. However, he had been flip-flopping as an employee and entrepreneur, as then. At MotivPrints, he handled key responsibilities of developing client networks, generating business, marketing and managing relationship with vendors. With limited support of a team of freelancer associates, no permanent staff for assistance and lack of funds made it imperative for Himanshu to plan for scaling up his venture for survival and growth. Could he envision MotivPrints as a larger entity? If yes, what changes, mandated by growth, were needed to be made in both – the entrepreneur and the organization?

The case can be discussed in the class of entrepreneurship at the master’s level. It can also be used in the entrepreneurship specialization course in the second year of post-graduation. The case can be also be used for young entrepreneurs in an executive development program focusing on new ventures.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

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The learning outcomes are as follows: assessing the changing trend in the needs of the customer, leading to evolution of new types of businesses in the urban areas. Deep understanding of household service industry and its future. Assessing the skills and capabilities required to become an entrepreneur and follow entrepreneurship. Understanding the aggregator, two-sided business model prevailing in the market. Understand the concept of business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) business model in household industry.

This case study is about two first-generation entrepreneurs from India who started a new innovative service delivery platform, UrbanKare with a vision to organize the household maintenance services industry. The company was founded in 2016 with a seed capital support of the State Government. The idea behind this initiative was to provide customers a professional, reliable and convenient household repair and maintenance services at their fingertips. The biggest challenge they were facing was that of aggregation of service providers (skilled workforce) and maintaining the service quality in the context of B2B and B2C service provision.

PG level courses – Industrial Marketing Startup and Business Entrepreneurship.

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The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to assess the extent to which a new business concept or entrepreneurial idea represents a commercial success or practical failure, to estimate the complexities associated with the management of a partnership-based venture in the context of emerging markets, to demonstrate understanding of entrepreneurial action and strategic adaptation under the condition of uncontrollable external shocks (e.g. COVID-19) and to evaluate the pros and cons of different strategic options and provide viable recommendations for the future.

Startup entrepreneurship constitutes the backbone of the socioeconomic activity of any nation and a driver of innovation, industrial diversification and wealth generation, particularly in emerging market settings. Drawing upon narrative storytelling techniques, this case study immerses the reader into the intricacies of entrepreneurial venture creation within the dynamic startup ecosystem in the Middle East. It follows the story of a young serial entrepreneur, Omar, who decided to launch a business in the creative industry of arts in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with his friend, Ahmed. Their common venture, Mont8, showcased and promoted the artwork of budding and well-known Arab talents and was on track to become a recognizable brand in the Middle Eastern business of arts until the COVID-19 crisis shook the world taking everyone by surprise. In an attempt to build a successful post-pandemic future, Omar was convinced that Mont8 needed to fast-track its digital transformation. He envisioned an e-commerce marketplace that would empower Arab artists, designers and photographers to create customized virtual galleries on their own web-stores through the Mont8’s digital platform. Yet, Omar’s vision diverged drastically from the very conservative mindset of Ahmed, who did not want to disrupt tradition and argued in favor of a back-to-business-as-usual approach. It remains unclear whose option would be selected and whether the two partners would stay in this makeover together or rather part ways.

Upper-level undergraduate courses.

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Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Discover first-hand entrepreneurship facets in Africa through a real-lived story; and identify key success factors for entrepreneurship in emerging countries.

The case describes the main entrepreneurial milestones of a young Moroccan entrepreneur. By telling his success stories and his failures, the challenges he stumbled over and how he quickly got on his feet after each fall. The case ends with a description of the creation process and evolution of MyAppConverter®, a highly innovative startup, describes the huge potential of the firm and the main difficulties faced by the founders. With limited financial resources, the associates need to quickly detect the misfunctioning part of the business model and get it fixed before the crucial pitch they are making at the end of the month before world leading investors.

Bachelor in business administration.

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Through a discussion of the case, students will be able to conduct “Pros and Cons” analysis for entering a new market. Conduct “SWOT” analysis for entering a new market. Explain how to create a Blue Ocean Market Space, by implementing the concept of value-innovation. Demonstrate the role of “strategy canvas” and “The four action framework” in creating Blue Ocean Market Space.

This case describes a situation in which Vivek Vyas (Vyas) and Vimal Popat (Popat) first generation entrepreneurs starts their venture shradhanajali.com in June 2011. The monthly revenues range in between INR 75,000 and INR 80,000. Shradhanjali.com has garnered customers from major parts of India, USA, Canada, UK and Africa. It was in 2019 when Vyas and Popat co-founders of Shradhanjali.com were in their office at Rajkot, Gujarat reading an article in financial express, which had a mention of India’s 10 most wacky startups which used technology and internet to get closer to users. One of the startups reported by financial express was offering people to book cremation for the funeral of the deceased loved ones. Looking at the article Popat thought to enter a new market space by mid of 2020, where new offering to customers to book online pujas across temples in India on the birth and death anniversaries of their loved ones. The purpose of this case is to provide an opportunity for the participants to make use of management tools such as Pros and Cons; and SWOT analysis to decide whether shradhanjali.com should penetrate more into this world of e-commerce and offer online puja service to their customers. However, the two co-founders are undecided whether to add online puja service in their service portfolio as they do now know the way forward to convert the idea of online puja into a viable business? Participants need to take into consideration the data given for shradhajali.com and make assumptions and resolve the dilemma through which Vyas and Popat are going through.

The case involves various issues with first generation online startup in strategic management field such “Pros and Cons” analysis and challenges faced during the new market creation phase. Thus, this case can be used for covering multiple perspectives related to blue ocean strategy (e.g. application of strategy canvas and the four action framework).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

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