Research &#038; Insights

How to scale: Seven qualities of successful scale-up CEOs

Is Your Company Squandering Digital Opportunities?

HBR.ORG

By Mohan Subramaniam

Financing the next generation of entrepreneurs

By Julia Katharina Binder

How investors can balance risk, return and impact to spark positive change

By Vanina Farber

Drucker Society Europe Blog

How large companies can learn from small businesses

By Mark J. Greeven

How entrepreneurs are preparing the ground for a regenerative economy

By Julia Katharina Binder

Free market capitalism can allow for the end of poverty

Jordy Kool

By Jean-François Manzoni

The Banker

By Vanina Farber and Peter A. Wuffli

HBR.ORG

In a Crisis, Ecosystem Businesses Have a Competitive Advantage

By Mark J. Greeven and Howard H. Yu

Channel NewsAsia

Commentary: The new wave of Chinese tech champions you never heard of but should know

By Mark J. Greeven

Drinkotec: Changing a company, changing a life (A): Daring to change

Franck-Erik Flegbo and Cyril Le Terrien were already successful executives in a major multinational when they decided that it was time to dream, and to build their own company with a culture that delivered performance, created a culture where everyone wanted to work, used the latest technologies, and did its part to save the planet.

By Jim Pulcrano, Giancarlo Luchetta Bedin, Srinivas Reddy (Srini) Mamidi, Anton Rozhkovskiy and Bakel Walden

Green Motion: From entrepreneurial pioneer to multinational powerhouse

Entrepreneur François Randin was successful but searching for his next venture. Wanting to build something sustainable, 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 was minuscule.

Roasting plant coffee: From engineer’s dream to customer’s delight

Jamie Robertson joined in 2017 as an investor and CEO of a new unit in the UK and opened a store in London. He persevered as he realized that the customer experience will make a difference.

Largo.ai in Hollywood: Good enough?

The case tells the story of Sami Arpa, a young entrepreneur with a passion for cinema as he and his startup Largo leverage technology to improve the movie industry.

By Jim Pulcrano, Laure Frank, Désirée Gilgen, Konrad Meyer and Federico Paparella

Matternet-Swiss Post: Drone-Based Healthcare Delivery (A)

In 2017, startup Matternet entered the market of drone-based delivery of medical samples in Switzerland, via an investment from Swiss Post.

By Howard H. Yu and Marc Chauvet

Baabuk’s All Wool, No Bull: Choosing the Best Next Step

Baabuk is a Swiss-based startup brand that sells woollen footwear. The case assesses the benefits of pricing over deep market analysis and considers the benefits of ‘customer fit’.

By Jim Pulcrano, Stuart Woodcock, Ulrich Wendt and Adrian Hunn

Netguardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside

After developing powerful software, young entrepreneurs Raffael Maio and Joël Winteregg founded NetGuardians in 2007.

By Carlos Cordon and Teresa Ferreiro Vilarino

Eat Me: The World on Small Plates

As Serena Shamash opened the doors to her newly renovated restaurant, the last thing she was expecting to see was two inches of water covering the floor of the bar.

By Benoit F. Leleux, Vikas Menon, Garrett DeCock and Hoi Wah Ma

Novartis Venture Fund: Valuation Dilemmas

The Novartis Venture Fund is considering investing into a start up, Genedata, and must take into account the valuation analysis.

By Benoit F. Leleux, Victoria Kemanian, Atul Pahwa and Katrin Siebenbürger Hacki

IR Microsystems (A): June 2002

IR Microsystems developed a unique technology to produce a detector array for infrared light that could be used in a number of industrial sectors, most notably for composition analysis of gases and liquids.

By Benoit F. Leleux

Flybaboo: How High Can It Fly?

A niche airline startup in a crowded market provides students with the opportunity to examine topics such as market entry, competitive strategy, product differentiation and positioning, branding, and entrepreneurship.

By Benoit F. Leleux, Dinos Constantinou and Henri Bourgeois

SourcingParts: Offering a supplier Relationship Management Solution

SourcingParts is a startup company providing supplier relationship management solutions. This case describes the situation that SourcingParts faced in the summer of 2002 and the development of its business.

By Carlos Cordon, Petri Lehtivaara and Jussi Heikkilä

Cell Network: From Idea to Take-off

The case describes the initial phase, including focusing the business, venture capital funding, winning the first client orders, reorganization, and diversification.

By Paul Strebel and Anne-Valérie Ohlsson

Book

The Future of Competitive Strategy

By Mohan Subramaniam

Book chapter

Sustainable entrepreneurship

By Steffen Farny and Julia Katharina Binder

Book

Business ecosystems in China: Alibaba and Competing Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and LeEc

By Mark J. Greeven and Wei Wei

Conference Paper

Beyond western misconceptions: Unpacking informal institutional interactions and their role on new venture activities

By Julia Katharina Binder, Frank-Martin Belz and Esther Salvi

Conference Paper

Inter-industry comparison of challenges for entrepreneurs: Computational text analysis of startup competition dossiers

By Benoit F. Leleux, Jung Eung Park, Esau Villatoro, Takahiro Inada and Jim Pulcrano

Conference Paper

Voluntary retirement by founder-owners

By Lea Wang, Jung Eung Park and Benoit F. Leleux

Enerdrape: ‘I realized if I didn’t do it, it would never get out of the lab’

Some startup founders never intend to start their own ventures. But sometimes a technology comes along that is too good to ignore.

Grownate: Making it easier for corporates and customers to do good

Frustrated by the limitations of using technology to do good in the non-profit sector, Lotta Relander decided to found Grownate, a digital platform that helps corporates and brands connect with their customers.

Drinkotec: ‘The product is just the tip of the iceberg’

While the founders and owners of Tech for Good companies are often driven by the ability to have an impact, they face the same day-to-day challenges that other startups do.

Privately: Can AI help make the internet safer for children?

For years, the technology sector could do no wrong – but since the COVID pandemic, there has been an increasing backlash driven by concerns over data privacy, the rise of AI, and tech sector layoffs.

IMD Interview with Jim Pulcrano: Samantha Anderson, DePoly

DePoly CEO Samantha Anderson tells us more about the startup’s technology, which converts post-consumer PET items into virgin-grade raw materials, creating a circular economy for plastics.

IMD Interview with Jim Pulcrano: Valentina Triacca, Lymphatica

Valentina Triacca, founder of Lympathica Medtech, tells us more about the startup’s solution, LymphoDrain, a micropump designed to be implanted just under the skin.