Product cover image for Forbind Systems (A): Crisis Management From Day 1… A newly hired first-time CEO has to navigate his firm through a severe crisis

Forbind Systems (A): Crisis Management From Day 1… A newly hired first-time CEO has to navigate his firm through a severe crisis

Name: Forbind Systems (A): Crisis Management From Day 1… A newly hired first-time CEO has to navigate his firm through a severe crisis (English version)
SKU: EFC-0010-E

Prats, Mª Julia; Sosna, Marc; Darsch, Dave

Product #:EFC-0010-E

Supplier:IESE Publishing

Discipline:Entrepreneurship

Setting:Dinamarca, 2001-2008

Details:Case (PDF) • 17 pages • 2011-01-12

Subjects:

Growth strategy Crisis management Internationalization Business models Corporate strategy Business management International business Entrepreneurship

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This Focus Case is about a young Danish VC-backed technology company in the supply-chain software sector. To his own surprise, Jacob "just hired as the new VP Sales" was unexpectedly made CEO of the company by the VCs. Beside the personal challenge, he quickly realized significant problems in the company. The current contracts in place were not optimal for the firm, the business model seemed wrong, and internationalization was an important issue. While trying to sort out these issues, a much bigger problem suddenly hit the small company with full impact: the new product update which was supposed to make their solution a full-scale one with new features etc. and was promised to all clients failed miserably, pushing the young start-up into a severe near-death crisis. Chances of survival seemed not very good, but could Jacob manage to turn Forbind Systems around?

Learning Objectives

To understand the variety and interdependence of challenges related to managing a young technology firm, such as: a) to transition from early start-up structures to a more professional set up; b) to understand the dynamics in partnerships with larger firms; c) to understand the difficulties of internationalizing with limited financial resources; d) to gain insights on the technological problems that can come up and which effects that can have; e) to define the right strategy and business model for the company.