Research &#038; Insights

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 eve…

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. Suddenly he sees an all-electric sports car and decides to create an electric vehicle (EV) charging station company, even thou…

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

Our story starts in 2001. Mike Caswell, an engineer and early Starbuck’s employee, creates a technology that permits better flavor and increased margins, for fresh-roasted coffee in retail stores. Years of engineering and fundraising, franchisin…

By Jim Pulcrano, John Huffman, Luiz Felipe Kossmann de Menezes, Pablo Cadaval Santos, Rodrigo Paupitz, Bhevan Chandrasena, Ivan Breiter, Felipe Elink Schuurman and Markus Masseli

Largo.ai in Hollywood: Good enough?

The case tells the story of Sami Arpa a young entrepreneur with a passion for the movie industry. Sami Arpa and his start-up Largo leverage technology to improve the movie industry. Largo launched in 2018 with the platform for short films called S…

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

Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (A)

Startup Matternet entered in 2017 the market of drone-based delivery of medical samples in Switzerland, via an investment from Swiss Post. Following two consecutive incidents in 2019 during which the drones fell mid-air to the ground, Matternet wa…

By Howard H. Yu and Marc Chauvet

Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (B)

By Howard H. Yu and Marc Chauvet

Matternet–Swiss Post: Drone-based healthcare delivery (C)

By Howard H. Yu and Marc Chauvet

Baabuk’s all wool, no bull: Choosing the best next step

Baabuk, a Swiss based start-up with a branded offering in wool footwear was founded in 2014 by the married couple Dan and Galina Witting. Since then and to 2018, the founders have grown the firm to now offer three product lines of wool footwear, e…

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. Their initial idea was to help companies improve security. (i) Over time, the two entrepreneurs improved their technology and de…

By Carlos Cordon and Teresa Ferreiro Vilarino

Eat Me: The world on small plates ®

NOVEMBER 18, 2013, LAUSANNE (SWITZERLAND). 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. Yet, this was just another day in the l…

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

Book

The future of competitive strategy: Unleashing the power of data and digital ecosystems

By Mohan Subramaniam

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

Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC), 7-10 June 2023, Knoxville, USA

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

Academy of Management Paper Development Workshop, 15 April 2023, Kyoto, Japan

Conference Paper

Voluntary retirement by founder-owners

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

Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 2022, no. 4, https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2022.13318abstract

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

20231002-Centers-VenturingEcosystem-Insights-SmallCard-740×374 - IMD Business School

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

20231002-Centers-VenturingEcosystem-Insights-SmallCard-2-740×374 - IMD Business School

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’

20231002-Centers-VenturingEcosystem-Insights-SmallCard-3-740×374 - IMD Business School

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.