Aparkalo (C): Normal Crisis or Sudden Death

Learning Objective

The main purpose of using the case in class is to discuss the pros and cons of a business plan, and to learn what makes a great business plan. Instructors use the case to highlight and apply the criteria that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial managers should follow to develop a winning plan. More generally, the case series can also be used to introduce and discuss the fundamental idea that entrepreneurship is a process that needs to be managed effectively and with discipline in order to maximize the upside gain and minimize the downside risk. In this context, business planning as illustrated by cases (A) and (B) can be discussed as an effective risk management technique for entrepreneurial managers. Case (C) then confronts readers with a sudden crisis and thus allows for discussing questions about mindset and attitude, and what to do when reality does not go according to plan. It gives the instructor an opportunity to introduce and discuss the idea of pivoting, as it turns out that the business model of the venture (as it had been originally conceived) was designed to solve the wrong problem.