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.
