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Case Study

MIT European Club goes on the web

By Max Von Zedtwitz

6 pages

October 2000

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Reference: IMD-3-0972

The MIT European Club runs a very successful career-fair and offers a popular visitor information service on the Internet. Both tasks grow in demand and are going beyond the initial mission of the Club. The logical step would be to develop an Internet-portal going for a large share of the information, networking, and recruiting business for visitors from Europe. This would require a spin-off of a part of the Club into an independent venture team. But the Club faces lack of team commitment, lack of critical management and technical resources, and lack of experience in running an Internet business. Teaching Objectives: The students should learn how early ventures are evaluated, how to sell a concept which is still in formation, what drives competition in the New Economy, and the role of networking as a survival strategy for Internet-based startups. Target Group: MBAs.

Keywords

Internet, Start-up, Competitor-driven Strategy, Portal Development, Venture, Early-stage Evaluation

Settings

United States of America
2000

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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Reference IMD-7-2578

Organization Unilever

Industry Consumer Goods

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