Each month, the Richard Ivey School of Business Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship prepares a mini-case study with Financial Post Magazine. The case method is a key learning tool in the cross-enterprise leadership approach used at Ivey.
One of your firm’s businesses is underperforming. But, its market is growing. Can you still keep it?
No entrepreneur can escape the burden of making hard choices. It’s simply part of business. To do it well, you must be able to study all your options and remain focused on the firm’s core performance goals. These traits were on display when Ted Lattimore wrestled with whether to sell his Cleantech firm’s Residential Solar Power Division. It was under-performing, but the home solar market was growing quickly. Whether lattimore chose to keep it or cut it loose, he’d be making sacrifices.
Small business owners typically reach a threshold when they achieve a degree of success: How do they take their company to the next level, and how much should they risk in their growth plan? Sabina Manji is dealing with this issue as she charts the course for her small magazine company. She has set her sights on launching her title in Toronto, Canada’s largest media market. But such a move won’t Be cheap. Can she reach her goal while still protecting her core business?
- Stewart Thornhill, Executive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario
In some respects, it’s harder to bring an innovative product to market than it is to develop one. True, research and development is challenging. But commercialization forces a company to ask itself a fundamental question: What kind of firm does it want to be? Ondine Biopharma’s carolyn cross faces that question in this month’s “on the case.” As Ondine prepares to launch its first product, she has to choose between staying true to the company’s R&D roots or putting its resources into sales and marketing.
- Stewart Thornhill, Executive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario
This month, I want to introduce you to Luke Fisher, Ceo of Steribottle, a U.K.-based maker of single-use baby bottles that’s breaking into the North American market. Fisher’s issue? Developing a pricing strategy that will protect his firm’s margins in light of volatile oil prices and currency fluctuations. It’s a major challenge, one that many entrepreneurs will recognize - especially today, as more Businesses look abroad for new markets to help them through the deepening recession.
- Stewart Thornhill, Executive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship
Premium-brand retailers face unique challenges when it comes to growing their businesses. the reason? the need to closely Control the quality of their products and the retail experience at the centre of their Brands. Any move that has the potential to dilute either of these key components of a business is fraught with peril. Just ask Steve Parkhill, CEO at Rogers’ Chocolates in Victoria. He is trying to develop a growth plan for his firm - and discovering a world of dilemmas.
-Stewart Thornhill, Executive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario