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Disruption
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Case Study
The AI paradox: Will generative AI enhance or destroy the business model of 99designs.com? (Cartoon case)

99designs.com is a global platform connecting freelance designers with potential clients. The case study examines the potential impact of generative AI on 99designs’ business model. The platform uses a crowdsourcing approach that invites designers to compete for projects with only the winning designer getting paid. This model offers clients a va…

Strategy Business to Business Digital Disruption
By Stefan Michel
Case reference: IMD-7-2505, © 2024
The AI paradox: Will generative AI enhance or destroy the business model of 99designs.com? (Cartoon case)
By Stefan Michel
Case reference: IMD-7-2505 ©2024
Summary
99designs.com is a global platform connecting freelance designers with potential clients. The case study examines the potential impact of generative AI on 99designs’ business model. The platform uses a crowdsourcing approach that invites designers to compete for projects with only the winning designer getting paid. This model offers clients a variety of design options at a fixed fee, fostering creativity and competition among designers. The authors of the book “Real Impact Strategy” used the competition model at 99designs to design their book cover. The authors appreciated the interactive and collaborative nature of the process, which allowed them to incorporate feedback from potential readers into their final decision. However, the use of 99designs sparked criticism from traditional designers and colleagues regarding potential exploitation of designers and claims that genAI tools could have done the job instead. This criticism highlights the growing influence of genAI as proponents claim it can produce high-quality designs quickly and at low cost. Generative AI poses both opportunities and threats to 99designs. It can enhance the platform by increasing the quantity and quality of design submissions, making design services more accessible and affordable. Conversely, it threatens to devalue human creativity, reduce the demand for freelance designers, and undermine the platform’s business model by enabling clients to generate designs without professional assistance. The case ultimately raises questions about the future role of generative AI in the creative industries. In the teaching note, but not in the case itself, the authors conclude that 99designs.com provides publishers, and in this case, the co-authors, many benefits beyond designing the cover. It involves them in a learning process as well as helps them to create awareness and interest for the book through the cover survey.
Reference IMD-7-2505
Copyright ©2024
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Industry Manufacturing, Graphic Design
Available Languages English
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Case Study
SIX Payment Services (A): Disruptive innovation in the European payments industry? (Spanish translation)

The payment processing industry in Europe had operated in largely the same way for decades. A standard system of financial processing and clearing ensured a steady profit pool for most of the players. However, the payments system in Europe was facing threats on a series of fronts, including changing regulation that shifted power away from some i…

Disruption Finance
By Michael R. Wade and Christopher Zintel
Case reference: IMD-7-1543-ES, © 2021
SIX Payment Services (A): Disruptive innovation in the European payments industry? (Spanish translation)
By Michael R. Wade and Christopher Zintel
Case reference: IMD-7-1543-ES ©2021
Summary
The payment processing industry in Europe had operated in largely the same way for decades. A standard system of financial processing and clearing ensured a steady profit pool for most of the players. However, the payments system in Europe was facing threats on a series of fronts, including changing regulation that shifted power away from some incumbents, lower prices, new competitors, and more demanding customers. One of the region’s large players, Swiss-based SIX Payment Services, needed to decide how to respond to these threats.
Reference IMD-7-1543-ES
Copyright ©2021
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization Six Payment Services
Industry Finance and Insurance, Financial Services
Available Languages Spanish
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Case Study
Metalshub: A steely approach to launching a B2B metal trading platform

Few Business to Business (B2B) marketplaces have succeeded. Metalshub has successfully combined a software platform as a service, with a marketplace matching supply and demand for raw materials used in the Metals and Mining industries. Through innovative pricing and business models, the company has managed to scale its operations in a short time…

Business to Business Digital Disruption Economics Operations Strategy
By Didier Bonnet, Geoffrey G. Parker and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2457, © 2024
Metalshub: A steely approach to launching a B2B metal trading platform
By Didier Bonnet Geoffrey G. Parker and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2457 ©2024
Summary
Few Business to Business (B2B) marketplaces have succeeded. Metalshub has successfully combined a software platform as a service, with a marketplace matching supply and demand for raw materials used in the Metals and Mining industries. Through innovative pricing and business models, the company has managed to scale its operations in a short timeframe.
Reference IMD-7-2457
Copyright ©2024
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization Metalshub
Industry Materials, Metals and Mining
Available Languages English
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Case Study
Civilia Engineering: Cultivating value through a data-driven culture

No company can grasp the potential of AI until it has set up a data-driven culture enabling employees to create value from the insights that emerge from data analysis. This means that before setting up an AI strategy, organizations must transform and prepare their infrastructure and culture for the AI age. This case study discusses the initiativ…

Disruption Organizational Behavior Strategy
By José Parra Moyano and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2548, © 2024
Civilia Engineering: Cultivating value through a data-driven culture
By José Parra Moyano and Lisa Simone Duke
Case reference: IMD-7-2548 ©2024
Summary
No company can grasp the potential of AI until it has set up a data-driven culture enabling employees to create value from the insights that emerge from data analysis. This means that before setting up an AI strategy, organizations must transform and prepare their infrastructure and culture for the AI age. This case study discusses the initiatives developed and rolled out by Marianne Galvin, initially Head of Data Office and then VP of Digital Transformation, as she worked to turn Civilia Engineering into a data-driven company. The case explores what Marianne put in place over her first 22 months with the company. This included: Governance structures and an educational program that proved to be highly popular. As the initiatives took root, Marianne and her team began to gain acceptance of use cases and dashboards for data-driven decision making but there were still several challenges to overcome, in particular how to work with an IT team more focused on architecture and improving legacy systems. The case closes as Marianne looks ahead to 2024, outlining what still needs to be done to gain digital and data maturity. The case provides a comprehensive understanding of the critical aspects of building a data-driven organization, particularly focusing on the interplay between value, data, and people. Through this case, learners will develop a nuanced understanding of the three pillars that sustain data-driven organizations, how to create a data-centric culture, how to avoid pitfalls in data-science projects and the nuances of digital transformation in non-digital organizations. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively lead and contribute to the building of data-driven organizations, fostering an environment that embraces data-centric decision-making and successfully navigates the complexities of digital transformation in an increasingly data-driven world.
Reference IMD-7-2548
Copyright ©2024
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization Civilia Engineering (Disguised)
Industry Construction and Engineering, Civil Engineering
Available Languages English
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Case Study
UniMag: Quality of life on paper, on air and online

Terry Burns launched UniMag in 2007 and went on to develop its ecosystem of affiliated companies over several years. As most media were rapidly shifting online, UniMag established its brand as a high-profile magazine with a counter-intuitive focus on high-quality print and journalism. Since then, digitalization has increasingly shaped the media …

Strategy Disruption Entrepreneurship General Management
By Patrick Reinmoeller
Case reference: IMD-7-2540, © 2024
UniMag: Quality of life on paper, on air and online
By Patrick Reinmoeller
Case reference: IMD-7-2540 ©2024
Summary
Terry Burns launched UniMag in 2007 and went on to develop its ecosystem of affiliated companies over several years. As most media were rapidly shifting online, UniMag established its brand as a high-profile magazine with a counter-intuitive focus on high-quality print and journalism. Since then, digitalization has increasingly shaped the media landscape, opening many opportunities for Burns. By 2023 digital activities most effectively drive the business of the many affiliated companies in UniMag’s ecosystem. In contrast, its print magazine sales have stalled, and costs keep growing. Burns and her team must make a strategic decision: What to do and what to stop? Where to perform and where to transform? In the context of a transforming media industry, the case illustrates how to set strategic direction in the face of disruptive forces in order to drive change and open opportunities.
Reference IMD-7-2540
Copyright ©2024
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization UniMag (Disguised)
Industry Media
Available Languages English
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Case Study
Galeneo Health: Scaling the hospital@home platform

MADRID (SPAIN), MARCH 2023. Jaime Garcia-Prieto, founder and CEO of Galeneo, was polishing the deck for the fundraising for his healthcare start-up. The seed round of €1 million would take him to the institutional A round scheduled for Q3-2024, a comfortable 18-month+ runway. His proposal to decentralize healthcare through a tech-enabled hospita…

Digital Transformation Disruption Entrepreneurship Operations Sustainability
By Benoit F. Leleux
Case reference: IMD-7-2496, © 2023
Galeneo Health: Scaling the hospital@home platform
By Benoit F. Leleux
Case reference: IMD-7-2496 ©2023
Summary
MADRID (SPAIN), MARCH 2023. Jaime Garcia-Prieto, founder and CEO of Galeneo, was polishing the deck for the fundraising for his healthcare start-up. The seed round of €1 million would take him to the institutional A round scheduled for Q3-2024, a comfortable 18-month+ runway. His proposal to decentralize healthcare through a tech-enabled hospital@home platform offered the solution people were looking for not only in Spain but also in most advanced economies. According to a recent Economist article, the NHS, like many healthcare systems, had become a sickness service, not a health service. To live up to the promise of its name would require a shift in focus, away from hospitals to the community, from centralized treatment to community-based prevention and bedside medicine. In other words, health systems needed to be investing in smoke alarms, not fire extinguishers. In 2020, as the Covid pandemic began, Jaime envisioned the future of in-home care for patients with chronic treatment needs. In 2021, he embarked on developing a platform to coordinate bedside medical care anywhere, anytime, in minutes. Galeneo was born. By 2023, it had integrated 200+ healthcare providers (HCPs) and 11+ institutional partners in the Madrid region, enabling the provision of general high-value services outside hospital. Revenues of €1.6 million in 2023 were expected, with a growth rate of about 8% every month and net profit breakeven reached in February. Things looked positive, but there were issues around scaling fast – although Jaime had found solutions. To counter the limited availability of qualified healthcare workers, he developed the Galeneo Academy to train future in-home bedside specialists. Tech-enabled standardization reduced operational complexity through an easy-to-use app and included real-time monitoring and quality control. Finally, the whole concept of community-based bedside medicine was still nascent, which meant market participants needed to adopt original approaches. But it was a large market with great potential.
Reference IMD-7-2496
Copyright ©2023
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization Galeneo
Industry Healthcare, Health and Medical Services
Available Languages English
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