Leading a Surgical Revolution

The Qualios case tracks the search, negotiations and ultimate acquisition of an industrial, family-owned SME in Southern Germany. Using a variety of materials, including sophisticated composites, the company produces customized, high-quality braided sleeves primarily for technical applications. The fourth-generation owners were led to sell due to a lack of succession and health issues. A reputable niche business serving automotive, packaging, construction and industrial clients across Germany and internationally, Qualios generated €12 million in revenue and healthy EBITDA and employed around 50 staff. The company faced several issues, such as rising raw material and production costs, difficulty attracting skilled workers to the region and growing demands from customers for sustainability certifications. The potential buyer, Konrad, believed he had a joker up his sleeve with Georg, an experienced operating manager, family confidant and potential co-investor. Negotiations proved complex until the duo was able to bypass the broker and establish direct links to the seller. A deal was ultimately closed, involving not only a significant earnout element from the seller but also 90% leverage offered by local banks, with strenuous covenants. Nonetheless, fundamental questions remained after the deal: Had the buyer paid the right price and established the proper structure to ensure long-term success? Closing was only the first battle: Could Qualios grow fast enough to service the debt, repay the vendor loan and justify the price tag – all while honoring the company legacy that mattered so deeply to the seller?

This qualitative study explores how individuals try on entrepreneurship during crisis. We discover that individuals use entrepreneurship as a way to envision a possible future in a moment when their occupational trajectory is upended. We reveal th...

The case places students in the role of LanzaTech's founder, Dr Sean Simpson, in April 2012. The company was built on the radical idea of using proprietary microbes to capture and convert carbon-rich waste gases from heavy industry (like steel mil...

Drawing on his recent IMD podcast with Amar Bhidé, IMD Professor of Management Stefan Michel debunks longstanding misconceptions about entrepreneurship.

ZURICH (SWITZERLAND), 14 JUNE 2024. The sustainability team at On had been on high alert as TV journalists were once again investigating some of its sustainability claims. Founded in 2010 by former Swiss Ironman champion Olivier Bernhard, the comp...

There is another entrepreneurial world that is born not from opportunity but from necessity, and it has much to teach us.

For the team at Oculis, the announcement of the new USD 100 million fundraising could not have come at a more opportune moment. The biopharmaceutical startup was founded in 2017 to transform ophthalmology by developing not only original delivery mechanisms but also groundbreaking treatments for eye diseases like Diabetic Macular Edema (DME). Established by seasoned industry experts, Oculis aimed to replace invasive eye treatments with more accessible, patient-friendly solutions such as topical eye drops. The initial research conducted in a laboratory in Iceland led to a pipeline of drug candidates, now at various stages of clinical testing. The firm continued to ramp up thanks to successive rounds of financing from top investors and partners, totaling more than USD 500 million at the end of 2024. However, it also faced some dramatic events, including the sudden death in early 2024 of its CTO. The company continued to scale, strategically balancing clinical advancements with regulatory milestones. The recent secondary offering on Nasdaq would accelerate the clinical development pipeline, in particular its novel neuroprotective candidate Prisosegtor (OCS-05), OCS-01, a topical eye drop for DME, and OCS-02, a topical biologic eye drop candidate for dry eye disease. Oculis now grappled with a number of strategic decisions, with two questions in particular concerning the team. Should it rely mostly on outsourcing production to a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) or develop its own in-house manufacturing capabilities? There were strong benefits and drawbacks to both approaches. It faced a related dilemma with its product pipeline. Should it continue to rely on its own R&D, as in the past, or should it consider acquiring technologies outside, through M&A activities?

Swiss startup Clee Medical is revolutionizing brain surgery with real-time imaging technology that boosts precision, safety, and patient outcomes.

We seek to make ethnography more intelligible and accessible to entrepreneurship scholars. We begin by defining ethnography and discussing the promises and challenges of conducting ethnographic studies in entrepreneurship. Next, we offer practical...

Across various European regions, particularly in areas rich in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find vibrant networks of family firms that contribute to both economic vitality and social resilience. These entrepreneurial ecosystem...