First Look

Abstract—This paper demonstrates the value of thinking about ambidexterity as having three distinct moments—ideation, incubation, and scaling—that share common features for success, such as the role of the senior team, and that also have distinct disciplines. Incubation is a frequent point of breakdown for firms that seek to build new businesses inside existing corporations; promising ideas often simply do not progress. There are many useful lessons to learn from the start-up movement about how best to organize and execute new ventures as “business experiments.” These lessons from the “start-up garage” enable established corporations to make progress on new ventures in a disciplined, fact-based way, while also moving at speed. We have identified eight key success factors for managing business experiments at the “incubation moment,” which appear to improve the prospects of success.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52307

Abstract—Organizational structures are increasingly complex. In particular, more firms today operate as multi-sided platforms. In this paper, we study how platform firms use repositioning and cost-cutting in response to competition, elucidate external and internal factors that constrain or enable these responses, and examine how the firms’ responses affect their performance. Our empirical context is the U.S. newspaper industry, which has experienced increased competition following the entry of Craigslist, an online provider of classified ads. We find that when Craigslist enters a newspaper’s market, the newspaper repositions itself away from other newspapers by changing its content. This results in greater differentiation between newspapers in a market but occurs primarily in markets in which reader preferences are heterogeneous. When reader preferences are homogeneous, newspapers are more likely to engage in cost-cutting. Both responses are more pronounced for newspaper firms whose sister firms have already experienced Craigslist’s entry. We also find that failure to design the right response harms competitive viability. These findings offer important implications for many platform firms operating in today’s digital economy.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52315

This case is about a global catering, restaurant, and hospitality company, DO & CO, growing geographically with its existing businesses while also adding new brands to its portfolio. The company had $1 billion in revenues in 2015 from its three divisions: airline catering; international event catering; and restaurants, lounges, hotels, and retail. DO & CO had limitless opportunities to grow along three dimensions. It had operations in only 10 countries, while its competitors in airline catering were active in up to 50 countries. Thus, geographic expansion was one of the key growth options. DO & CO could also offer more to its existing clients in existing markets, providing vertical growth opportunities. Additionally, it could pursue an added-value approach by bringing new formats to existing markets. The last avenue of growth was more opportunistic and came from acquiring new brands in existing or new markets. However, the company had a policy of promoting from within, particularly with its chefs, and it took time to develop the necessary talent. Now DO & CO faced a decision: What type of growth should it pursue, and at what pace?

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Vox Capital was the first certified impact investing fund in Brazil. Founded in 2009, it provides early-stage capital for companies offering innovative and scalable solutions to enhance the lives of low-income Brazilians, while aiming to simultaneously generate attractive market-rate financial returns for investors. This case examines the evolution of Vox Capital, across understanding the landscape, launching, raising funds, selecting investees, structuring deals, building investee capacities, tracking performance, developing internal systems, and advancing the field of impact investing.

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In April 2015, Ian Shakil and Pelu Tran, cofounders of Augmedix, are discussing how to grow their emerging health care startup. The company’s sole product, also called Augmedix, streams video of doctor-patient interactions to remote medical scribes, thus freeing doctors from the burden of having to manually input information into an electronic medical record (EMR) and giving them additional time to focus on patients. Shakil and Tran had grown the company by allowing any qualified doctor or health system to use the service but are now discussing whether they should segment the market and focus on a particular type of client. They also wonder whether Augmedix’s current pricing appropriately reflects the value their service provides. Lastly, the two want to discuss how to staff and structure the company’s nascent sales function as Augmedix grows.

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In 2016, Susan Cassidy, VP of sales and marketing for the packaged foods division at CPG firm Bertram Gilman International, has to make a promotion decision. Should she choose the person she has been grooming for the position or another candidate recommended by central HR based on the firm’s promotions algorithm?

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