Ocean Tomo: Building a Market for Intellectual Property

Ocean Tomo’s management team wanted the company to be the main intellectual property broker. Despite its increasingly important role in the global marketplace, intellectual property remained a notoriously illiquid asset that was difficult to value, difficult to trade, and often underused by owners. CEO Jim Malackowski and his colleagues hoped to capitalize on this inefficiency …

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Beanz Versus Starbucks: Personality in a Cup!

The Beanz Espresso Bar is located in downtown Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, Canada. It operates in a highly competitive market (11 other coffee companies in two blocks). The economy on Prince Edward Island in recent years has seen various diners, restaurants and cafes close their doors while attracting large corporations like Starbucks and Running …

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Eden McCallum: A Network-Based Consulting Firm (A)

Eden McCallum pioneered the network (“virtual”) consulting model in the UK. Hiring independent project consultants keeps overheads so low that Eden McCallum’s fees are a fraction of the rates charged by large companies. Its flexible and profitable model has attracted world-class corporate clients and has resulted in consistent double-digit annual growth for the first nine …

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Marcia Radosevich and Health Payment Review–1989 (A)

Martha Radosevich, president of Health Payment Review, a small software startup, faces a serious cash flow problem: Health Payment Review built a PC-based prototype, but ran out of money to build a commercially acceptable mainframe product . As an interim measure to generate money, Marcia tries to sell the prototype PC, but is opposed by …

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Scaling Swagbucks (B)

“Swagbucks (B)”, HBS No. 817123, took over the corporate culture in mid-2014 following the events described in “Swagbucks (A)”, HBS No. 817122 and developed a close working relationship. In early 2016, the company now has the opportunity to acquire MyPoints, an established competitor with millions of members, and the opportunity to increase sales even faster, …

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CMNGD (Commongood) Linens: Scaling a Work-Integration Social Enterprise

In June 2018, Calgary, Alberta, co-founder of a social work integration business, CMNGD (Commongood) Linens, took stock of the impact of its efforts to help the homeless recover and find meaningful employment. Her ambition was to expand to other Canadian cities, but she feared that the CMNGD expansion could put so much pressure on the …

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Super 30: Educating the Elite Poor

In the summer of 2019, S. K. Shahi and her daughter Meenakshi faced a difficult problem in New Delhi. India had 19 centers from its non-profit organization, the Center for Social Responsibility and Leadership. Also known as the “Super 30” program, this program offered 30 or sometimes 50 or 100 high school graduates, selected for …

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