oDesk: Changing How the World Works

Boris  Groysberg; David A. Thomas; Jennifer M. Tydlaska

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2011

oDesk: Changing How the World Works

by Boris Groysberg, David A. Thomas and Jennifer M. Tydlaska

Abstract

It is 2010, and Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, is contemplating the next steps for his organization. Founded in 2004 in California, oDesk operates an online marketplace which matches Employers with Contractors. oDesk provides fact-based information on Contractors, including experience, skills and certifications, to Employers who use this information as a basis for interviewing and hiring Contractors. oDesk's online marketplace also includes a payment platform and tools which allow Employers to audit and verify Contractors' work and time sheets. oDesk collects commissions, approximately 10% of gross services, on all work which goes through its platform. oDesk has enjoyed robust growth since its inception, and, to date, has focused on a very distinct market segment: small and medium sized employers, Contractors who provide computer programming services, and U.S. based employers hiring overseas Contractors. Swart believes that the time has come for oDesk to expand beyond this niche, but he is concerned about maintaining oDesk's strong reputation and market positioning and, as such, he wants to grow in a very focused manner. Should oDesk expand its customer focus to include large employers? Broaden the services its marketplace offers beyond computer programming? Or, widen its geographic reach? Each of these growth options offers opportunities and entails costs. Swart considers each of these in turn.

Keywords: Recruitment; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Corporate Strategy; Online Technology; Consulting Industry;

Format: Print

26 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Groysberg, Boris, David A. Thomas, and Jennifer M. Tydlaska. "oDesk: Changing How the World Works." Harvard Business School Case 411-078, February 2011.

India's most recognized celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been an integral part of the country's food industry since 1993. As a celebrity chef, Kapoor enjoyed a 17-year run of his hit TV cooking show “Khana Khazana,” published more than 100 cookbook titles in multiple languages and endorsed a variety of brands. Kapoor later turned entrepreneur when he established a restaurant company that has partnered with more than 60 restaurant franchisees worldwide and launched his own TV channel—FoodFood. Although Kapoor has multiple businesses, he continues to find more exciting growth opportunities coming his way.

Since its founding eight years earlier, Hidrovias do Brasil (“Hidrovias”), an integrated logistics provider serving corporate customers exporting products from South America via the Atlantic Ocean, had grown to 900 employees and $253 million in annual revenues. Hidrovias was founded by the Brazilian private equity firm, Pátria Investments, who had built the business from the ground up, forging and nurturing relationships with customers, investors, government entities, and suppliers. As Bruno Serapiao, Hidrovias’s CEO pondered next steps for the company, he considered: What had been the key drivers of Hidrovias’s success to date? What were the major challenges? And, what was the best path for the company going forward?

In October 2018, Chef Carme Ruscalleda, the most-starred woman chef in the world at the time, closed the doors of her Restaurant Sant Pau (Sant Pau), as she had on almost every night for the past 30 years—this time for the last time. Ruscalleda had opened the restaurant in 1988 with her husband and partner. Sant Pau had a rating of three Michelin stars, the highest rating available to a restaurant through the well-known MICHELIN Guide to fine dining. Her other two restaurants—Sant Pau Tokyo, a sister restaurant in Japan, and Moments, in Barcelona’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel—had two Michelin stars each. Many people—from the village and around the world—were sad to see the iconic restaurant close after so many decades. The case describes her approach to cooking, managing teams, dealing with stress, running a family business and constantly reinventing herself.

Faculty & Research

oDesk: Changing How the World Works

Abstract

Citation:

About the Authors

More from these Authors