Green Motion: From entrepreneurial pioneer to multinational powerhouse
Entrepreneur François Randin was successful, but searching for his next venture, wanting to build something sustainable. Suddenly he sees an all-electric sports car and decides to create an electric vehicle (EV) charging station company, even though the number of EVs on the road at the time is minuscule. He starts with software, moves to hardware, and launches… And then grows slowly until the day he discovers a new business model. He is successful in funding the start of the scaleup, but realizes that to really get to hyperscale (and fund his next idea), an adjacency, he needs really deep pockets. Raise more money, go for an IPO or accept one of the three acquisition offers he has in front of him?
- The case puts the reader in the shoes of the entrepreneur, from founding to sale of the business.
- New markets are rarely obvious at the beginning.
- Scaling likely requires a new business model.
- Turning customers into partners.
- Expansion via fundraising, public listing or acquisition by a major player?
Green Motion, Energy, Automotive, Automobiles
2009-2022
Cranfield University
Wharley End Beds MK43 0JR, UK
Tel +44 (0)1234 750903
Email [email protected]
Harvard Business School Publishing
60 Harvard Way, Boston MA 02163, USA
Tel (800) 545-7685 Tel (617)-783-7600
Fax (617) 783-7666
Email [email protected]
NUCB Business School
1-3-1 Nishiki Naka
Nagoya Aichi, Japan 460-0003
Tel +81 52 20 38 111
Email [email protected]
IMD retains all proprietary interests in its case studies and notes. Without prior written permission, IMD cases and notes may not be reproduced, used, translated, included in books or other publications, distributed in any form or by any means, stored in a database or in other retrieval systems. For additional copyright information related to case studies, please contact Case Services.
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Many large companies have invested significant amounts of time and capital into sustainability reporting. In 2022, the European Union’s ambitious sustainability reporting framework, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, was projected t...
Innovation management is central to the long-run competitiveness and renewal of entrepreneurial families, and prior research has documented how socioemotional wealth preservation, risk preferences, long-term orientation, and idiosyncratic endowmen...
Earlier this year at Milan Fashion Week, Alessandro Sartori, artistic director of luxury menswear brand Zegna, presented a collection inspired by “a family closet,” emphasizing the emotional value of clothes passed down from grandfathers to grands...
Mandatory sustainability reporting is reshaping how organizations measure and communicate their impact, and its influence is no longer limited to large corporations. Emerging regulatory frameworks and standardized metrics are expected to trickle d...
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in MIT Sloan Management Review Blog 9 November 2026
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in Journal of Product Innovation Management November 2026, vol. 43, no. 6, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.70060
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in Journal of Business Ethics 30 October 2026, ePub before print, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-026-06484-5
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications