Explore, Inc.

Allen S. Grossman; James E. Austin; Myra M. Hart; Sharon  Peyus

Case | HBS Case Collection | September 1999 (Revised November 1999)

Explore, Inc.

by Allen S. Grossman, James E. Austin, Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Abstract

Documents the creation of a national before and after-school day care program aimed at bridging the gap between school and parents' work schedules. This high-growth, for-profit social enterprise organization operated in what was historically the domain of nonprofit or government sectors. Tensions emerge 1) pressure to grow and the need to maintain quality, 2) pursuit of a noble mission and a desire to create personal wealth, 3) creation of a national organization and a local program delivery capability, and 4) meeting investor expectations while maintaining the purity of the programs.

Keywords: Microeconomics; Growth and Development; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Mission and Purpose; Performance Expectations; Quality; Social Enterprise; Travel Industry;

Format: Print

15 pages

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Citation:

Grossman, Allen S., James E. Austin, Myra M. Hart, and Sharon Peyus. "Explore, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 300-011, September 1999. (Revised November 1999.)

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2018

Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship

James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

Wilderness Safaris sees itself as a conservation company that is built on a business model of providing high-end, premium-priced wildlife safaris in various locations in Africa. Dependent on functioning, healthy ecosystems for its long-term survivability as a business, it invests heavily in conservation efforts, both directly, with communities and governments, and with partners and competitors. It may be reaching saturation of the high-cost, high-priced, low-volume, luxury travel product in its existing locations; so to continue its growth, it is now trying to expand into East Africa, where the traditional safari approach by most providers has been a high-volume, low-cost, low-priced product. As a publicly listed company, can Wilderness Safaris find a sustainable growth path that will allow it to profitably expand its business and meet its shareholders’ interests while still achieving its priority purposes of protecting and investing in the ecosystems and communities on which its services are based?

Keywords: strategy; social enterprise; sustainability; social entrepreneurship; conservation planning; corporate social responsibility; ecotourism; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Tourism Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Travel Industry; Africa; Botswana;

Citation:

Austin, James E., Megan Epler Wood, and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard. "Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship." Harvard Business School Case 318-040, April 2018. View Details

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StriveTogether aimed to improve education outcomes by coordinating the actions of diverse community stakeholders—nonprofit service providers, school districts, government, parents, businesses and others. StriveTogether had an intense focus on collective impact—"the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem"—and the use of data to drive decisions. In the case, managing director Jeff Edmondson is faced with two dilemmas: how to attract business engagement in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, California, and how to achieve greater results in the communities that had implemented the StriveTogether framework.

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Explore, Inc.

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