Case Company

Business Challenge

Material

• SAP

(free)

SAP has been the number one CRM-house for two decades now. The company is selling its products with a fixed fee + yearly service fee. In the beginning of 21st century a company called Salesforce.com launched a CRM system which is different in both distribution and revenue model wise. The company sells its product on-demand base and charges a monthly fee. This allows smaller companies to have access to a sophisticated CRM-system; SAP’s offering was too expensive to them. Salesforce.com targeted initially SME (small and medium sized companies), but in the recent years has managed to gain some very large customers (previously using SAP). Write a case about SAP’s situation and highlight issues that cause competitive disadvantage to SAP compared to Salesforce.com’s offering. How Salesforce.com's new platform (force.com) changes the markets in the future?

The case page can be found from here

Source about business models and pricing:

• Amazon

(free)

When Amazon.com launched, its core business was selling books online. Over the years however, it outgrew its core market and reached into new territories. Today Amazon also sells a wide range of electronics, house hold items, clothes and so son. Amazon needed to expand its customer base and product range to sustain its growth rate. It did so by cautious, but continuos experimentations with new market - "tipping toes into new waters", if you will. One of the latest additions to Amazons businesses is the S3 storage solution "Amazon Simple Storage Service". Write a case about why Amazon started S3 and how the business model of S3 works. Pay close attention to what external factors (legislations, privacy, certain bandwidth prices, ..) are needed to make S3 profitable. What is the competitive advantage or disadvantage of S3 over competitors from a business perspective?

Amazon Simple Storage Service

• Amazon

(free)

Amazon Kindle and the future of wireless e-book readers: will the readers succeed or not. Amazon and couple of its competitors (namely: Sony and Plastic Logic) have now launched the first portable e-book readers with integrated wireless network connections. There have been a lot of discussion if these readers will succeed or not. Discuss about the possible pros and cons of e-books and portable readers in general. Also concentrate on Amazon's possibilities to launch market the product to certain niches and give some hints about the profitability of these niches. The latest launched readers can be folded, is this the technological innovation that will make these readers widely popular, or does the success lie on some other non-technical issues.

Some sources

• Google

(free)

The future of open mobile operating systems (Symbian vs. Android) vs proprietary OS (Apple). Write a case about the future of mobile platforms. The case should be written from Android's point of view, how Google can expand it operations to mobile industry and what are the critical elements on it, and also why they are doing it (the case approach). You need to consider at least the power of manufacturers and operators. Are the manufacturers willing to pay about the operating systems, or are they expecting them for free, also how much the operators want to affect the OS development in the future (possibility to get proprietary/operator specific softwares or content into the phone). Also discuss the potential market size of Open Source vs. propritary platforms. Finally the case should also point where Google's current revenues come from, how that should/would, or would it, change when they move into the mobile phone industry?

Some sources:

• Wordpress.com

(free)

Wordpress.com is a major blog provider which currently raised a capital of $29,5 million. The company has not yet reached a break-even, but it still managed to raise such a large amount of external capital. Write a case describing the history of wordpress.com and speculate the reasoning for this capital. The case should focus on how the company can turn its operations profitable, give few contradicting paths how this could be achieved. The case should focus on business models, competitors, the future of blogging and possible streams of revenues.

Note: the company behind Wordpress is Automattic

Some sources

• Xing

(free)

Virtual communities brought us the Web 2.0, but most of them did not generate much, if any profit. Virtual business communities like Xing try to be both, a place to network for their users and a source of profit for their owners. Xing is special among other community sites because it is a public company, thus its financials are there for anyone to see. Xing offers a paid service, but only about 8% of its users chose to pay. How can Xing generate a profit and how does it defend itself agains bigger, free-of-charge rivals like facebook?

• Describe how GettyImages' business modell works.
• what is the pricing structure of Xings service
• What would Xing's's cost structure probably look like?
• Who are their main customers?
• Who are Xing's competitors and how do they differ in their business models?
• How does Xing use community-approaches to grow their business?
• Identify 3 major threats to Xings business model and describe them (i.e.: Future growth, securing ROIs, User migration, lock-in effects, etc.)

Some sources

• Oracle

(free)

Though the first relational databases appeared in the 70s, they have not experienced an equally significant proliferation of open source as other IT infrastructure like web servers (e.g. LAMP). This case should discuss the dynamics and nature of the RDBMS market, especially characteristics that have helped maintain the popularity proprietary solutions as opposed to open source solutions (MySQL, Postgre). Especially, analyze the whole solution required by customers, and how proprietary and open source solutions can be used to provide it. What is the business model and how does the vendor gain access to the customer? Once you have analyzed the status quo, discuss the main contingencies on how things will develop in the future, and how companies like Oracle can remain competitive in this software segment while facing pressure from OSS.

Some sources

• GettyImages

(free)

GettyImages is an online platform that sells "Stock Photos". These photos are generic pictures that are used in magazines, websites and advertisements around the globe. GettyImages sells users the license to reproduce a certain picture. However, nothing is easier on the net then copying a digital file a million times, without paying for it once.

• Describe how GettyImages' business modell works.
• What would GettyImage's cost structure probably look like?
• Who are their main customers and what is the pricing structure?
• Who are GettyImages' competitors and how do they differ in their business
• How do they use community-approaches in their business?
• How do they enforce their IPRs?

models? Try to identify 3 major threats to GettyImages' current business modell and describe them.

Some sources

• Game developers: Living with piracy.

(free)

2DBoys, the developers of the famous independent game "World of Goo" estimate that 90% of their gamers used a pirated version of the game. Still, they are not out of business yet. 2DBoys is only small software company, however major game studios face the same propblems.

• Investigate 2DBoy's example of how small software (game) companies can survive and make money despite such piracy numbers.
• What distribution models do they use in their business?
• What is their cost and the pricing structure of their product?
• How do they generate revenue?
• Is it worth to fight piracy in 2DBoys example? If yes, based on their example, how much should similar companies invest in protecting their IPR, if no, why not?
• Identify 3 major threats to 2DBoys business model and describe them (i.e.: Future growth, securing ROIs, IPR in the future, etc.)

Some sources

• Wipro

(free)

Software development offshoring is ever increasing. Especially in times of economic retraction companies in western markets strive to to cut costs, which amplifies the trend. On the other hand, there is increasing debate among software practitioners about the price competitiveness of Indian offshoring companies with trends such as the valuation of the US dollar and soaring wages in the heated IT sector. This case should be able to find a balanced viewpoint on the matter considering all the major market trends. How do the threats measure against the opportunities? Who will be the main competitors in the future both regionally and globally? How will the business likely develop in terms of market segments (whom to serve), offerings (what to provide) and necessary competences (how to provide it)? In other words, what are the main strategic alternatives top managers of companies such as Wipro should be considering at moment?

Some sources

• Rovio Mobile

(free)

Mobile software companies like Rovio base the core of their business on developing mobile applications and selling them to intermediaries, that later sell them to end customers. Especially the operators dominate the customer inteface which gives them very high leverage over the supply side. This puts a high premium on direct sales contacts. Apple's App Store seemingly provides an alternative to the "traditional" mobile game business model. Though other similar more direct distribution platforms exits, none of them have been equally successful before. This case should realistically analyse the implications of Apple's App Store (and iPhone) on incumbent mobile game firms. The analysis should take into account changes in the nature of competition and the resources and competences required from a successful firm.

Some sources

• Digital Chocolate

(free)

Mobile game developers such as Digital Chocolate are facing increasing competition from other casual gaming alternatives, such as mobile flash games. As the handheld devices develop, also Internet-browser games become viable alternatives. Write a case description focusing on this challenge for Digital Chocolate. Concentrate on the managerial aspects, such as business model and delivery model.

Some sources

• Facebook

(free)

Facebook is social networking website operated by a company with the same name. Even though Facebook is currenty one of the largest social networking services at the moment, will it only a short-lived buzz? What will the company Facebook need to do to make their service viable for the users and for them 10 years in the future? Write a case description focusing on this challenge for Facebook. Concentrate on the managerial aspects, such as marketing and business models.

Some sources

Case Company

Business Challenge

Material

• Lotus Notes

(free)

Lotus Notes (part of IBM's offering) & Virtual communities

Some sources

• Habbo

(free)

Habbo & 3D virtual worlds (enabled by commoditization of basic 3d rendering performance) & simple web-based social networking.

Some sources

• PayPal

(free)

PayPal (anything that needs PKI encryption) & Quantum computing (proliferation, once discovered).

Some sources

• Teosto

(free)

Who will buy CDs in 5 years? How will artists be paid?

Some sources

• Example Case company

(free)

Description of what the case study should be about.

Some sources