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Heritage Chickens: The Challenge of Genetic Sustainability
Joel Gehman; Marni Devlin Moses; Leanne HedbergCase IVEY-9B17M057-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyThe Poultry Research Centre at the University of Alberta farm was an internationally recognized research, development, and learning hub. It began the Rare Poultry Conservancy Program in 1986 as a way to maintain heritage chicken breeds. In 2009/10, as a result of the global financial crisis, university funding was reduced, and every campus department needed to cut programs or find creative ways to finance them outside of the traditional methods. ...Starting at €8.20
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BitGold: Turning Digital Currency into Gold
Jean-Philippe Vergne; Brady BurkeCase IVEY-9B15M129-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn April 2015, BitGold, an international savings and payments service, was undergoing the final steps towards its historic initial public offering, which would take place on Canada's TSX Venture Exchange and sought to raise between $10 million to $20 million in funding. With its blending of blockchain technology and aspects of digital currencies like bitcoin, BitGold was paving the way to the legitimation of future FinTech startups by going publi...Starting at €8.20
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A Pathway for Scotiabank's Innovation: Leveraging FinTech Partnerships
Jean-Philippe Vergne; Mary Weil; Ying-Ying HsiehCase IVEY-9B17M109-EStrategyIn February 2017, Scotiabank’s vice-president of digital enablement was sitting in his office at Scotiabank’s Digital Factory in downtown Toronto. He was reflecting on his recent introduction to the financial technology (fintech) company Kabbage, and on how successfully the partnership was progressing. Scotiabank’s vice-president was considering what opportunities the bank should pursue next, specifically in the area of blockchain. The Scotiabank...Starting at €8.20
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TokenFunder: Democratizing Funding and Investing with Blockchain
Jean-Philippe Vergne; Alexander LiCase IVEY-9B18M186-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyTokenFunder Inc. (TokenFunder) was a Canadian blockchain start-up focused on developing a platform to help companies perform token offerings in a legal and compliant way. The Ontario Securities Commission had granted the firm a sandbox that permitted it tStarting at €8.20
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The Gallery Project
Jean-Philippe Vergne; Alexander (A.J.) MillerCase IVEY-9B13M072-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyA young entrepreneur is considering options for starting an art dealership. Everyone has some commonsense knowledge of what an art gallery is, yet very few have realized how competitive the art market is and what it takes to succeed in that industry. The price of a painting can be anywhere between $50 and $500,000, and that price typically does not depend on the objective properties of the artwork itself. This is where the art dealer plays an imp...Starting at €8.20
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Yuser: Funding Start-up Growth with Token Issuance
Jungsoo Ahn; Jean-Philippe VergneCase IVEY-9B20N038-EFinanceYuser Inc. (Yuser) was a young Canadian start-up based in London, Ontario, and focused on developing a gamified media sharing mobile application to help connect businesses with influencers. Yuser’s co-founders had released a marketable version of their apStarting at €8.20
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Earth’s General Store: Balancing People, Planet, and Profit in Organic-Food Retailing
Joel Gehman; Ashton Paulitsch; Maninder Pardais; Bernard Streeper; Brian Ballman; Taylor Love; Leanne HedbergCase IVEY-9B17M099-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyThe owner and operator of two stores that sold organic groceries and fair-trade goods in Edmonton, Alberta was proud of what he had built; however he was worried about the financial sustainability of his downtown location. Since its opening in 2014, the downtown store had constantly struggled to remain profitable in the face of extremely high overhead costs. The original Whyte Avenue location of Earth’s General Store, highly popular with its loya...Starting at €8.20
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Lending Loop: FinTech Disruption in Canadian Banking
Jean-Philippe Vergne; Parker CummingCase IVEY-9B16M085-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyLending Loop, a Canadian marketplace (peer-to-peer) lending start-up, was founded in 2014 and launched to the public in 2015. It competed with other peer-to-peer lenders to challenge the Canadian chartered banks and other financial companies for part of the Canadian small-business lending market. Without an established regulatory regime in place, it operated according to its lawyers’ interpretation of securities law. The founders needed to scale ...Starting at €8.20
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Fruits of Sherbrooke: Creating a Sustainable Business
Joel Gehman; Amy Hingston; Cuong Pham; Andrew Phelan; Matthew Townley; David Vetters; Leanne HedbergCase IVEY-9B17M088-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyIn 2010, three friends created Fruits of Sherbrooke as a way to rescue local fruit that would otherwise be wasted. The founders knew their efforts would be beneficial for the environment and for people in need of food. In February 2016, having grown their business into a successful social enterprise entirely through the help of volunteers, they faced important decisions. Realistically, they would not always be able to run the organization, which ...Starting at €8.20
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EPCOR Utilities Inc: Modernizing Alberta's Electricity System
Joel Gehman; Jennifer Keith; Chelsey McLeod; Jolene Proulx; Leanne HedbergCase IVEY-9B18M109-EStrategyIn 2010, EPCOR Utility Inc.’s application to implement new metering technologies was denied by the Alberta Utilities Commission. By 2014, however, several key changes had taken place in regulations and in the cost of smart meters. With another application to the Alberta Utilities Commission due in just four months, the director at EPCOR Utility Inc. was contemplating several options, all of which involved carefully considering the interests of ma...Starting at €8.20