Nacre (A): Turning a Lab Idea into a High-Growth Firm

Name: Nacre (A): Turning a Lab Idea into a High-Growth Firm (English version)
SKU: EFC-0002-E

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

Product #:EFC-0002-E

Supplier:IESE Publishing

Discipline:Entrepreneurship

Setting:Noruega, 2002-2010

Details:Case (PDF) • 2 pages • 2011-01-12

Subjects:

Product development Crisis management R&D Innovation Product management Business management Entrepreneurship

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This FocusCase is about a CEO who took over a spin-off from a research institute, became the new firm's employee #1 and tried to turn this lab idea into a prototype, then get it ready for industrialization, and finally sell it to a very demanding client, while facing some significant crises on this way. Beside the challenge of getting the product (an integrated hearing protection and communication device) working and a painful failure with a contract manufacturer, this case also displays how a very small team from a small town in Norway tries to sell a highly innovative product to one of the most difficult markets and clients: the military market - and specifically to the US military. Furthermore, the company has to take a very important strategic decision: should they fully focus on the high-risk military market or rather on the less-demanding industrial market... or even on both at the same time?

Learning Objectives

This FocusCase allows to discuss the difficulties of turning a lab idea into a working product. It also helps to understand the differences between research findings, a technology, a prototype, and an industrialized product. Furthermore, it allows for strategic discussions about market selection, go-to-market strategies, market focus as well as issues related to industrializing a product. Also, it can be used to illustrate how a small firm can leverage external firms to reach their very ambigious objectives.