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.

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.