Ivey Business School (Canada)
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Tokyo Smoke: Building a Retail Cannabis Brand (A)
Eric Janssen; Ramasastry ChandrasekharCase IVEY-9B19A049-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategyIn 2016 (A case), the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a cannabis retailing enterprise based in Toronto, needed to attract investors. The former Google Inc. employee had taken advantage of public policy changes in Canada and was modelling his retail business on StStarting at €8.20
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Little Short Stop: Creating Strategy for a Shifting Industry
Meredith Woodwark; Karin Schnarr; Gerry BesCase IVEY-9B20M076-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn early 2019, the general manager of Little Short Stop Stores, a chain of local, family-owned convenience stores in southwestern Ontario, Canada, was projecting a loss for that year. The loss was due in part to a provincial minimum wage increase to CA$14.00 that came into effect on January 1, 2018, increased from $11.60 in 2017 and $11.40 in 2016. Before this change, the store chain had been exceeding the average industry growth rate by 5 per ce...Starting at €8.20
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State Fair of Virginia
W. Glenn Rowe; Karin SchnarrCase IVEY-9B12M050-EFinance, StrategyIn November 2011, the State Fair of Virginia, Inc. (SFVA), which had been operating since 1854, was facing a dire financial situation. SFVA was a privately held, not-for-profit organization that operated the state fair independent of the state government, and received no operating support from state or local governments. In 2003, the organization had borrowed $83 million against a $47 million investment portfolio in order to develop its new fairg...Starting at €8.20
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Grocery Checkout Inc. (GCO)
Elizabeth M.A. Grasby; Eric JanssenCase IVEY-9B11M044-EStrategyGrocery Checkout Inc., an online grocery delivery service, had experienced dramatic growth since its founding in 2005, but investors were pressuring the chief executive officer (CEO) for even faster growth. An improved distribution network and order fulfillment system meant that GCO could handle a greater volume of customers. The CEO considered a number of growth options, including a sell option, and needed to decide which would best fit GCO and ...Starting at €8.20
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Teksavvy Solutions Incorporated
Kenneth G. Hardy; Eric JanssenCase IVEY-9B10A028-EEntrepreneurship, MarketingThe founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Teksavvy Solutions Inc. has achieved sales of $18 million in just more than 10 years as an Internet service provider (ISP) across Canada but he must decide whether to distribute his service via cable carriers, telecom carriers or both, or even integrate forward into laying fiber-optic cable in homes and businesses himself. If he invests in last mile connections to homes, he will need a great deal m...Starting at €8.20
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Shriners Hospitals for Children
Karin Schnarr; Anne SnowdonCase IVEY-9B13M075-ELeadership and People Management, StrategyA large, international benevolent association operating 22 children’s hospitals and four research centres in three countries has been negatively impacted by a number of external factors. The effect of the 2008 global financial crisis on its endowment funds coupled with rising health care costs and flat donations, have resulted in the hospitals running at a loss. To ensure the long-term viability of their not-for-profit hospital system, management...Starting at €8.20
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City Furniture and Mattress
W. Glenn Rowe; Bobby Singh-Randhawa; Karin SchnarrCase IVEY-9B11M102-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyThe majority owner and general manager of City Furniture and Mattress (CFM) needed to make several decisions that would determine the company’s strategy. CFM had continued to grow in terms of sales, but the general manager and his father, also an owner and manager at CFM, were concerned with profitability and the increasing competition from local and big-box stores. The general manager looked at several options including capital investment, expan...Starting at €8.20
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Organizational Transformation at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Anne Snowdon; Karin Schnarr; Alexander KunschCase IVEY-9B14M083-EStrategyIn 1997, the Ontario Health Services Restructuring Committee mandated the merger of four facilities that treated patients with mental health and addiction issues to create what was later named the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. This new centre, to be situated in Toronto, would provide support and clinical care to those suffering from illnesses such as schizophrenia, anxiety and mood disorders, as well as substance addictions. In 1999, th...Starting at €8.20
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Tokyo Smoke: Building a Retail Cannabis Brand (B)
Eric Janssen; Ramasastry ChandrasekharCase IVEY-9B19A050-EMarketingIn 2016 (A case), the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a cannabis retailing enterprise based in Toronto, needed to attract investors. The former Google Inc. employee had taken advantage of public policy changes in Canada and was modelling his retail business on StStarting at €5.74
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Kiai Marketing Group
Elizabeth M.A. Grasby; Eric JanssenCase IVEY-9B10A025-EEntrepreneurship, MarketingKiai Marketing Group is a start-up advertising company providing innovative marketing solutions to businesses in London, Ontario. The company’s first undertaking is aimed at reaching the post-secondary student demographic by attaching a business’s advertising to laptop computers by means of a laptop skin. The proprietor needs an overall strategic marketing plan to secure his first client. The proprietor must decide what clients to target, how to ...Starting at €8.20