More from the Author

• 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 shareholder’s 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

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2012 (Revised October 2015)

  LinkedIn Corporation, 2012

  David Yoffie and Liz Kind

  Since its inception in 2003, LinkedIn had become a leading Silicon Valley institution with a brand name that was recognizable throughout the U.S. and in many countries overseas. As of March 2012, LinkedIn was the world's largest professional network on the Internet with $522.2 million in revenue in 2011 and more than 150 million members in over 200 countries. Unlike other major social networking sites, LinkedIn focused exclusively on fostering connections within the professional market. As LinkedIn's CEO thought about the future, he recognized the challenges in continuing to massively scale the company. At the same time, he focused on how LinkedIn could continue to use its vast amount of data to provide additional products and services for its members and customers.

  Keywords: social networking; media; technology; strategy; Growth Management; Internet; Corporate Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Brands and Branding; Service Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; California;

  Citation:

  Yoffie, David, and Liz Kind. "LinkedIn Corporation, 2012 ." Harvard Business School Case 713-420, August 2012. (Revised October 2015.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2013 (Revised April 2015)

  Affinity Labs: Valuing Customer Growth

  Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

  In November 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. That month, Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster, which he had sold Military.com to. Within its first year of operations, Affinity Labs launched eight vertical portals including PoliceLink, NursingLink, TechCommunity, and IndiaOn. While the company was well ahead of its original plan to release four portals in 2007, Michel still faced a number of challenges. He had learned a great deal from Military.com and Affinity Labs' first launches, but in the case of each new community was faced with how best to construct the vertical and attract a sufficiently large audience. While the model seemed highly scalable because each vertical used the same core technology, every sector had its unique features. In the fall of 2007, executives from Monster opened up a dialogue with Michel about selling the company or expanding their relationship. Michel wondered if the time was right to sell or if he should grow Affinity Labs further with the hope of creating a company that could command the high valuations seen recently by a number of social networking concerns.

  Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Technology;

  Citation:

  Lassiter, Joseph B., III, and Elizabeth Kind. "Affinity Labs: Valuing Customer Growth." Harvard Business School Case 813-147, January 2013. (Revised April 2015.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related