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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 | December 2016 (Revised January 2018)

  The Rise and Fall of the Circus

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

  This case describes the origins of the traditional circus, including its rise to popularity in the United States in the 1800s, and examines the factors that led to its decline in the 20th and 21st centuries.

  Keywords: Blue Ocean Strategy; strategy; Circus; Strategy; Entertainment; History; Entertainment and Recreation Industry;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Karen Elterman. "The Rise and Fall of the Circus." Harvard Business School Case 717-444, December 2016. (Revised January 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2015 (Revised January 2018)

  Uber and the Taxi Industry (A)

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Ian Mackenzie and Dimitri Dadiomov

  Keywords: Uber; taxi; North America;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Ian Mackenzie, and Dimitri Dadiomov. "Uber and the Taxi Industry (A)." Harvard Business School Case 715-433, March 2015. (Revised January 2018.)  View Details

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