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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised April 2018)

  Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A) and (B)

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

  Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By 2016, however, Jumia’s growth had begun to taper, hindered by plummeting oil prices, the subsequent economic downturn, and the pressure of Nigeria’s limited retail ecosystem. In addition, Jumia’s inventory-intensive retail model required significant infusions of capital that, in the face of a deteriorating economy and the company’s inability to show a profit, was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Considering all this and looking to the success of the Amazon and Alibaba marketplace models where third-party sellers largely carried inventory costs, the Board had made a drastic decision: Jumia would shift from an online retail model to a marketplace model. They also made it very clear that a failure to properly implement this transition could mean the end of investor support for Jumia. Senior management wondered how they would meet the challenges ahead. While Amazon in the US and Alibaba in China had found success with the marketplace model, they wondered if Jumia would be able to do the same. Was this the right model for the very different Nigerian environment? Would vendors, many of whom already had retail operations in the country, choose to sell through Jumia? How could Jumia continue to provide the same high quality customer service on which the company’s success had been built while switching to a marketplace model in which parts of this critical aspect would now be in the hands of third parties? Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 718-401 and 718-432.

  Keywords: globalization; Expansion; retail; marketplace; Inventory; Nigeria; Africa; ecommerce; competition; funding; Logistics; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Karen Elterman. "Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 718-467, January 2018. (Revised April 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2017 (Revised March 2018)

  Hilti (A): Fleet Management?

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

  This case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. For Hilti, it represented an entirely new business model, which would substantially differentiate the company from its competitors. While fleet management had the potential to significantly improve the customer experience, Hilti was already a successful firm under its extant model and had to decide whether the restructuring of its business model was worth the risk.

  Keywords: Hilti; business model innovation; BMI; fleet management; decision-making; decision making; Implementation; power tools industry; Construction industry; Construction; Europe; Switzerland; strategy; Liechtenstein; Business Model; Restructuring; Transformation; Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Focus and Relationships; Construction; Innovation and Invention; Leasing; Strategy; Construction Industry; Switzerland; Liechtenstein; Germany; Austria; Europe; United States; Asia; Brazil; China; Latin America; North America; Africa; Japan; Hong Kong;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Oliver Gassmann, and Roman Sauer. "Hilti (A): Fleet Management?" Harvard Business School Case 718-419, August 2017. (Revised March 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2016 (Revised March 2018)

  Numenta: Inventing and (or) Commercializing AI

  David B. Yoffie, Liz Kind and David Ben Shimol

  In March 2016, Donna Dubinsky (co-founder and CEO) and Jeff Hawkins (co-founder) were struggling with a key question: Could Numenta be successful in both creating fundamental technology and building a commercial business? Located in Redwood City, CA, Numenta was founded in 2005 to expand Hawkins' research on the human brain, with the goal of "reverse engineering the neocortex" and then creating machines based on biological principals. Ultimately, Hawkins believed that Numenta could be a catalyst in creating intelligent machines that would lay the foundation for the next generation of computing with potentially broad ranging commercial opportunities.

  Keywords: artificial intelligence; machine intelligence; Machine learning; strategy; technological innovation; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Information; Technological Innovation; Research; Research and Development; Technology; Software; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Commercialization;

  Citation:

  Yoffie, David B., Liz Kind, and David Ben Shimol. "Numenta: Inventing and (or) Commercializing AI." Harvard Business School Case 716-469, June 2016. (Revised March 2018.)  View Details

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