In January 2010 Brigitte Bardot, a freelance writer for a business magazine, was commissioned to write a special report on entrepreneurs working in the field of green technology, more specifically hybrid vehicles. The core of the assignment was to understand how small companies developed: the strategies they put in place and how they managed change. A secondary aim was to analyse how they fixed their priorities and where they found the necessary financial and human resources for growth.
While researching the industry Bardot came across Green Propulsion (GP), a small spin-off situated near Liège in the French-speaking part of Belgium. GP had just created a new company called 'Imperia' to produce a hybrid roadster. To the reporter, the interesting issue was how they were going to manage a dual-focus organisation: research, development and innovation on the one hand, and car manufacturing on the other.
The day of her visit to GP it was snowing heavily. Parked in front of the company gates and early for her appointment with the CEO, Bardot began to read through her notes on the hybrid car industry. She had already watched several videos on the subject to understand what the battery-driven cars were all about. Now as she waited in the warmth of her car she reviewed the main facts and figures on the industry and markets…
Written by Bernard Surlemont, Fabrice Pirnay and Michele Johnson from the University of Liège. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org at F.Pirnay@ulg.ac.be.
