ATH Technologies: Making the Numbers

An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) relocation process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must confront tensions in balancing profit, growth, and control. Difficulties encountered in the business are due to management's attempts to design and use formal control systems to achieve profit and performance goals.