Cases available at ECCH

The E-Force cases are freely available from ECCH. Just register at the website and download them from the special website for the E-Force cases: www.thecasecentre.org.

1uptoys: Breaking into the global toy industry

This case chronicles the start-up of 1uptoys, a Dutch start-up that aims to commercialize innovative electronic music toys in the highly competitive toy business. It examines the challenges resource-limited start-ups face when attempting to introduce a consumer product onto a market characterized by a highly concentrated seasonality, and short product life cycles.

In a race against time to meet the deadline for delivery of 1uptoys’ prototypes to its Chinese manufacturing partner the founder, Ronald Mannak, goes through a series of setbacks as he tries and fails to findthe necessary funding to pay the wages of his team and complete the prototypes. The future of the company is left on a knife-edge.

Written by Armand Smits and Wynand Bodewes from Maastricht University and Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship. Download the case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from w.bodewes@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

CM: Becoming a technology firm

Founded in 2000 as a Short Message Service (SMS) marketing company for discos (clubs), CM evolved into a technology provider for SMS services. By 2008, CM was market leader in The Netherlands, a position won by offering high quality services at low prices. In 2010, the founders of the company were looking for different growth opportunities. Should they develop new products and/or expand internationally? Did they need to attract external funding? Or should they continue to focus on their core technology and home market?

Written by Elco van Burg, Isabelle Reymen and Sharon Dolmans from Eindhoven University of Technology. Download the case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from j.c.van.burg@vu.nl.

IT’S LEARNING: A born global going international

The case describes how a group of students at the University College of Bergen, Norway, early realized the potential of internet to make life easier for students and faculty, and moved from a ‘virtual classroom’ to form the multinational company “IT’S LEARNING”. Covering the home market in Norway first, the founders gained valuable feedback for improvement, learned from their mistakes, and gradually expanded into international markets. After securing major market shares in both the Netherlands and the UK, IT’S LEARNING was now ready for new challenges in even larger markets. The major issue, however, was which markets they should move into, and how to do it. This is a case for courses in entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship and international strategy.

Written by Tor Aase Johannessen from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Tor.Johannessen@nhh.no.

VANDEPUTTE - OLEO: From Family Tradition to Entrepreneurial Innovation

As fourth-generation owners, Luc, Christian and Pierre Vandeputte developed the company founded by their great grandfather in a way he would certainly have approved.  Still based in Mouscron (a small town in the west of Belgium) and still operating in the linseed sector, the three brothers developed the family company  to best exploit the properties of linseed. As well as producing linseed oil (1876), the company also produced soap (1950) and liquid detergents (1987).

A world leader in the production of linseed oil (by mechanical pressing) and well known across Europe for soaps and detergents, in 2000 the family decided to diversify their business portfolio by creating a new company, Vandeputte Oléochemicals. The main activity of this company was to develop, perfect and produce new polymers from linseed oil.

The challenge for the Vandeputte brothers was substantial: how to create, from an essentially low-tech, traditional industrial business a new company aimed at developing and marketing innovative and technological products.

Written by Bernard Surlemont, Fabrice Pirnay and Emilie Vandermeiren from the University of Liège. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from F.Pirnay@ulg.ac.be.

When a laboratory mishap becomes a “brilliant failure”: iSentio – a company on the verge of success

When a laboratory test goes wrong, it might just be that the outcome still turns out to be an innovation. This is the case with iSentio, which developed a real innovative method for deciding which bacteria a patient is infected with starting with a single mishap when trying to analyze a clinical sample. In such a sample, more than one type of bacteria can be found, which has made it almost time consuming and in some cases impossible to tailor-make the antibiotics treatment, exposing the patient to the danger of the infection spreading and worsening. However, the iSentio method called RipSeq®, was able to identify each bacteria present in the patient sample quickly, making it possible to apply the appropriate type of antibiotics immediately.

Written by Tor Aase Johannessen from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Tor.Johannessen@nhh.no.

A venture capitalist’s investment in an emergent industry: which bets to place?

June 2001, the Belgian Investment Company (BIC) wants to invest in the booming Customer Relations Management (CRM) market. Dave Hudson, investment manager at BIC, has been asked to recommend a venture in which to invest a capital sum of 1 million euro. On his desk, Hudson has the business plans of two very promising ventures active in the CRM market. The first venture, Neurorithm NV, is still in the development stage of its revolutionary neural network-based software platform, which has the potential to become the next SAS or SPSS. Given the new and revolutionary character of their software, credibility will have to be established, however, before income streams will be generated. The second venture, DataMining NV, provides highly customized, unique data mining software for three market segments: the CRM market, bioinformatics and the sports analysis market. The company is expecting a steady growth in the years to come. The business plans of both companies display very diverse business models and ambitions. It is now up to Hudson to decide which one of these two companies to recommend to his superiors for future investment.

Written by Petra Andries and Yvonne Kirkels from the University of Leuven and Fontys University of Applied Science. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Petra.Andries@econ.kuleuven.be.

EMIS SL: In order to succeed, know why others failed

In 2006 EMIS S.L. (European Manufacturer of Internetworking Solutions) was in a difficult situation. Potentially, it was facing a period of consolidation and growth, but many uncertainties still had to be resolved.

That year, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) designed a new program,the Accel Program, that specifically aimed to support the accelerated growth of technology-based firms. Through this program, entrepreneurs received advice from people with extensive professional experience, in a mentoring and coaching format. For Pablo García, founder of EMIS, the program seemed to present an ideal opportunity to help him resolve the company’s main problems and consolidate it.

This case details the participation of EMIS in the Accel Program. It shows a company struggling to achieve the necessary growth and in particular, the commitment and attachment of an entrepreneur to his project.

Written by Pere Losantos and Xavier Estaran from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from pere.losantos@upc.edu.

What next for fromAtoB?

Between 2005 and 2010, the internet became the preferred medium for people searching for passenger transport options. However, the search for connectivity from point A to point B was cumbersome and to obtain optimum results, necessitated calls to the web sites of many different transportation providers. The comparison between potential train connections, different airlines, using your own car, ride-sharing and sometimes the need for additional public transport links made this a time-intensive process.

However, in Germany in 2007, these inefficient and time-consuming search-and-compare processes were replaced by the internet platform www.fromAtoB.com. This enabled people to perform a comprehensive search that included every relevant transport mode (rail, air, own car, ride sharing, bus, rental car, taxi).

fromAtoB.com was founded as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. In 2009, the internet platform was successfully launched in the German market under the domain www.Verkehrsmittelvergleich.de. However, by August 2010, faced by the threat of competition from new market entries backed by big internet players such as Microsoft’s search engine, bing.com, fromAtoB.com’s founders were forced to consider expansion outside Germany. The question was, how best to finance an internationalisation strategy?

Written by Malte Brettel, René Mauer and Tobias Karmann from RWTH Aachen University. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from karmann@win.rwth-aachen.de.

LUCID Market entry strategy: Is less more?

June 2010, less than six months since Steve Job announced the launch of the i-Pad an innovation creating a new product category. Since then, the industry had moved extremely quickly. After 80 days, Apple announced the sale of more than 3 million iPads, with major production bottlenecks restricting market expansion. Since then, more than 20 competing products had been announced, including some from major firms like Sony, HP, Lenovo or Dell computers. These facts indicated that products, and more specifically hardware innovation, would accelerate in the coming years. As usual in the consumer electronics business this was an important signal that production volumes associated with a market surge, would greatly benefit from economies of scales. It also meant that products and technologies that were once niche-oriented would quickly become mainstream and consumer-oriented. 

For LUCID  managers, this was a major signal. The different types of software developed over the last ten years were, to a large extent, linked with technical specificities that only innovative hardware used to provide. During a strategic meeting, the company’s top management questioned the assumptions made and challenged the strategy at the outset of the second phase of market entry

Written by Bernard Surlemont, Fabrice Pirnay and Emilie Vandermeiren from the University of Liège. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from F.Pirnay@ulg.ac.be.

GREEN PROPULSION: Is small beautiful? The projected launch of a hybrid roadster in Belgium

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.

DataMining: Making decisions in highly uncertain emerging industries

During the mid nineteen-nineties, three Belgian doctoral students, Harry Flores, Stephen Douglas and Ian Moore, became interested in industrial applications for neural network technology. In 1999, encouraged by the prevailing positive financial technological climate, and supported by the spin-off policy of their mother university and with the backing of a faculty member, the students decided to commercialize their research in a brand new spin-off: DataMining.

The founders began by serving three different market segments, Customer Relations Management (CRM) bioinformatics and sports analysis, providing customized software based on neural network technology. However, soon decisions had to be made with regard to narrowing the market segment focus and the acquisition of additional capital for the company’s further development. Given the high level of uncertainty surrounding market size and needs characteristic of such emerging industries, these proved to be complex issues.

Written by Petra Andries and Yvonne Kirkels from the University of Leuven and Fontys University of Applied Science. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Petra.Andries@econ.kuleuven.be.

ThreeFive Photonics: Searching for the Holy Grail?

In 2001, the Dutch company ThreeFive Photonics was founded by telecom professional Wouter Deelman and PhD student Chretien Herben attached to Delft University of Technology. The founders set out to develop revolutionary opto-electronic chips with the potential to change the telecom industry. That year, venture capital firms invested € 7 million in the promising start-up, but additional capital was needed to develop ThreeFive’s radical “Holy Grail” technology. However, during the product development phase disaster struck: the ‘telecom bubble’ burst and the industry crashed. Desperately trying to keep the company alive, the founding team and investors turned to investigate less radical products, while trying to secure the extra funding needed. As the company’s final hour began to strike they faced an important decision: should ThreeFive try to enter new markets with new products, or look to merge with a competitor?

Written by Elco van Burg, Hans Berends and Sharon Dolmans from Eindhoven University of Technology. Download the full case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from j.c.van.burg@vu.nl.

Ready to tack? The case of Jurofoon

The Jurofoon case follows the development of Jurofoon, a Dutch venture founded by three graduates of Maastricht University (the Netherlands). Jurofoon provides legal advice by phone to private clients. Jurofoon’s success depends a lot on good marketing. It needs to generate and maintain sufficient market recognition to provide a continuously growing stream of telephone calls.

The case describes a day in Jurofoon’s history when it is facing three major challenges.  First, the founders will have a meeting with a consortium interested in providing an additional investment of 2 M€ in exchange for equity of Jurofoon. However, the consortium is only willing to invest this if Jurofoon adapts its business model in a way that will make it an attractive acquisition target. Second, one of the founders of Jurofoon and the only one of them with a legal background, has announced that he wants to quit. Finally, on the coming Monday a television program that addresses consumer problems will have a story on Jurofoon. The makers of the TV program have been monitoring the advice Jurofoon has been giving its customers. They will present their results claiming that most of Jurofoon’s advice is wrong…

Written by Gert Poppe and Wynand Bodewes from Maastricht University and Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship. Download the full case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from g.poppe@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Hydrometeorological Innovative Solutions HYDS: Overcoming the Oedipus complex

Established by Sempere, Sánchez-Diezma, and Berenguer in 2006 and located in Barcelona (Spain), HYDS S.A. offered innovative solutions in hydrometeorology, a science that develops predictive modelling and data processing tools to facilitate the forecasting of precipitation in the short to medium term. Emerging out of CRAHI, one of the world’s leading public research centres in hydrometeorology, HYDS became one of the most innovative companies in its field.
In 2008 HYDS was focused on CRAHI markets and customers, basically regional weather and water public agencies, and large companies involved in water cycle management. However, it soon became clear that what was good for a research centre was not necessarily good for a spin off. The entrepreneurs had invested more than €200.000 and the return on the investment was not at all clear.
By using radar data input, HYDS software solutions were able to predict whether or not it would rain within the next two to six hours. But who might be interested in this kind of services? Outdoor sports organizers, farmers? One point was clear; whoever interested in these services would be completely different from CRAHI customers. So, if HYDS was to grow, its management had to come up with new approaches, processes, products and markets.

Written by Pere Losantos and Xavier Estaran from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from pere.losantos@upc.edu.

juwi: What next?

During the decade 2000-09, the renewable energy industry and in particular, power generation by photovoltaic (solar) cells and wind mills, experienced steep growth rates in Germany and the rest of Europe. juwi Holding AG, a German company founded in 1996 and located near Frankfurt was, until 2010, considered a successful company operating in this industry. However, due to regulatory changes, for example reductions in the feed-in tariffs for the European renewable energy market, and also as a consequence of its fast growth, by 2010 juwi was facing a variety of challenges. The case focuses on the company’s reactions to these challenges.

Written by Malte Brettel, René Mauer and Tobias Karmann from RWTH Aachen University. Download case and teaching note at www.ecch.com or request them from karmann@win.rwth-aachen.de.

Petosan: Helping dogs to a longer life

There is an estimated 1 billion dogs in the world today. Every day, about one million dogs are born. The US has the largest number of dogs. Dog owners around the world spend enormous amounts annually on dog food, as well on accessories and visits to veterinarians. Strangely enough, dogs’ oral hygiene has not been much in focus, while studies show that poor oral hygiene might shorten a dog’s life with many years. Based on these studies, veterinarians strongly recommend that dogs have their teeth cleaned regularly. Until a few years ago, this was normally done by veterinarians only, involving costly visits to veterinarian clinics, and often dogs had to have anaesthetics in order to have the job done. Some years ago, Ole Barman, son of the inventor of the famous three-headed tooth brush for human beings, developed this idea, and the result was a tooth brush for dogs. The brush is so simple to use, that the owners now can perform adequate cleaning of the dogs’ teeth at home. Could he repeat his father’s formula? And would investors give funds to grow in the pet market?

Written by Tor Aase Johannessen from Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Tor.Johannessen@nhh.no.

Fruitful prospects: A European apple breeding company

Since 1982, Martin Peeters, owner of an apple tree nursery and Robert Jensen, research director at the fruit breeding centre of a German university, had worked together on the development of new apple varieties. In the nineteen nineties, Peeters’ knowledge of traditional breeding and Jensen’s expertise in molecular breeding had resulted in a number of high quality breeds. They were now, in 1998, thinking of founding a company to commercially grow and sell these new breeds. In fact, they were convinced of consumers’ interest in new apple varieties. They based their opinion on a successful experiment of Peeters’ company had conducted with the German-based supermarket chain, Home.

However, there were important hurdles Peeters and Jensen needed to tackle. The apple market in Northern Europe offered ever diminishing margins for both apple breeders and growers. The absence of quality differentiation, an over-supply of fruit and declining consumption had led to low prices for the producer. Traditional breeding techniques were barely profitable, but the market was still unwilling to embrace Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s). If they wanted their company to succeed, they had to think very carefully about the commercialization of their produce. This required a thorough analysis of the value chain and the relationship between the different actors involved.

Written by Petra Andries, Anneleen Bruylant and Yvonne Kirkels from the University of Leuven and Fontys University of Applied Science. Download case and teaching note at www.ecch.com or request them from Petra.Andries@econ.kuleuven.be.

SENZ Umbrellas: Taking the world by storm

This case describes the start-up of SENZ Umbrellas, a Dutch venture founded by three graduates of Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) who aimed to introduce an asymmetrical, storm-proof umbrella onto a mass-market where product innovation was limited.

It demonstrates the marketing challenges start-ups face in bringing an innovative consumer product to market. In particular, the case focuses on how to promote a new consumer product and create brand awareness when resources are limited. This case can be used both in entrepreneurship courses to illustrate marketing issues common to the ‘start-up’ stage, and in strategic marketing programmes.

Written by Armand Smits and Wynand Bodewes from Maastricht University and Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship. Dowload the full case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from w.bodewes@maastrichtuniversity.nl. 

When intellectual property rights go beyond patents

In 1999, three technical engineers invented a membrane system to clean sewage water. They filed for patent for their inventions, founded their company Watertreat GmbH, and in 2000 received financial support from different start-up support programs. The founders successfully acquired venture capital from an investor and for the next three years, the product worked well.

In December 2003, the company received its first major order; for Watertreat, the future looked bright. And then in January 2004, a lawsuit alleging multiple infringements of intellectual property rights threatened the company’s very existence. How would the founders react to this danger, and what options did they have to counter it?

Written by Malte Brettel, René Mauer and Tobias Karmann from RWTH Aachen University. Download the case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from karmann@win.rwth-aachen.de.