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This case puts students in the shoes of the Ebola response leadership teams of Firestone Liberia and its parent company, Bridgestone Americas, as they worked together to respond to the deadly 2014 Ebola epidemic. While the companies had received positive press for their containment of the virus on their rubber farm in Liberia, which was home to 8,000 employees and 80,000 Liberian citizens, the situation off the property was worsening. With death counts rising and hospitals across the nation closing as staff caught the virus, the Liberian government declared a national state of emergency. The teams now faced the possibility that the government might attempt to take control of the farm's medical center. How could they balance their duty to care effectively for employees against the demands of the Liberian government? Should they try to fend off the government or cooperate to meet the government's demands? Students will learn how to do a methodical situation analysis that considers ethical obligations and strategic implications, and to distill their recommendation into a briefing for senior leadership.

The case is set in Northeast Wisconsin, where the two largest industries are dairy farming and papermaking. Dairy farms have a continual need for bedding material for cows, and Lynn Heemeyer recognized an opportunity for a new bedding material: a waste byproduct of recycled paper. The case includes the progression of Heemeyer’s venture – Alternative Animal Bedding (AAB) – from the idea phase, to initiation and growth, to near collapse, recovery, and renewed growth. By September 2015, AAB was at a turning point as the sales were increasing, and Jess, Lynn’s daughter, had joined the business. Jess’s challenge: how best to grow the business.

Information for the case was gathered via interviews with Jess Heemeyer; she also provided some supporting materials. Jess Heemeyer is a former student of the author and a graduate of the institution that employs the author. Additional information for the case was collected from publicly available sources, as referenced. The identification of the college was not included in the case.

The case is best suited for use in an undergraduate or graduate entrepreneurship course or courses that include entrepreneurship as a topic. The case fits well with the topics of alertness and opportunity identification, and the innovation process. It can also be used to illustrate critical factors for new-venture development and growth. In addition, the benefits and challenges related to family-based entrepreneurial ventures can be included as a learning objective.

This case draws upon and illustrates the concept of alertness (Kirzner, 1973) which was further developed by Tang et al. (2012) when they identified three dimensions of alertness: “scanning and searching for information, connecting previously disparate information, and making evaluations on the existence of profitable business opportunities” (p. 77). Also, the case follows the creativity-based model of opportunity recognition developed by Corbett (2005) that uses experiential learning theory. Finally, students are asked to apply Ansoff’s Growth Matrix (Ansoff, 1957) to identify and evaluate the growth options available to the business owners and managers. As an optional pasture for discussion, a stewardship theory perspective can be applied to examine the family business aspect of this case (see Eddleston and Kellermanns, 2007).

In entrepreneurship courses, the case would allow discussing the contribution of social innovation. On the other hand, in strategy courses the case would allow proposing the business model for a social enterprise, to evaluate the creation, delivery and capture of value of a social enterprise. Depending on the course and approach you want to give to the case discussion, it can serve as support for the following objectives: arguing the contribution of social innovation to solve problems in a region; propose the resources and value proposition of the business model of a social enterprise; and attitudes promotion: understand the importance of ethics and responsibility in the development of social enterprises.

The case addresses the opportunity of the school “Brillo de Luna,” when developing social entrepreneurship, which requires projection, evaluation and management support. In this context, the director of the school must propose a business model that is sustainable in the long-term in the market and that generates shared value. The institutional relationship of the school “Brillo de Luna” with the Cristalchile company, through the social entrepreneurship of glass recycling, could generate economic, environmental and social value to the school community and the company.

Courses in which the case could be applied: entrepreneurship and strategy.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.