Case 1: Innovations in Education and Training Sector in India

Introduction Imagine a classroom devoid of professors, where the students attend classes sipping a cup of tea and munching some snacks without worrying about what the professors would say. Imagine a school where students in a class divide themselves into groups and discuss different issues of a topic on their own, while the teacher plays the role of a moderator imparting his/her own inputs as well as answering questions raised by the students. Imagine a village in India where solar powered vehicles, equipped with PCs and Internet connections go down the road and are stopped by villagers interested in accessing e-mail or checking out crop information. In fact, you can see these very real situations in different parts of India under the initiatives for wider education taken by companies like Direcway Global Education (Direcway), Wipro and NIIT. Direcway tied up with premier management institutes in India to offer their management courses to working executives through the satellite-based learning programs. Wipro tied up with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across the country to train teachers on effective means to the teach children, through its 'Applying Thought in Schools' program. It proved immensely beneficial to teachers who enrolled in the program. Renu Verghese, who attended the Teachers' Empowerment Program as part of Wipro's 'Applying Thought in Schools' program, commented, "TEP has helped me to review myself as a teacher and modify my teaching techniques so that students acquire learning for a lifetime. The programme is so child-centric, that the teacher takes a backseat. The programme is so child-centric, that the teacher takes a backseat.Emphasis given to promoting group learning among students helps them to get rid of inhibitions. Learning becomes more concrete."Organized computer education pioneer NIIT, reaped positive results by separating its software division from its education & training division. The company launched aggressive advertising campaigns targeted at youth at the time when computer education business in India was still in its infancy. It also attracted the price-conscious Indian customers through its scholarship

programs and by tying up with financial institutions offered loans to students pursuing computer courses at NIIT.

DIRECWAY Direcway, a subsidiary of a leading telecommunications company in India Hughes Escorts Communications Limited, entered into tie-ups with several premier institutes in India to offer satellite-based learning programs. Unlike the traditional distance education courses offered by several universities, Direcway offered courses through studios connected to users in different locations.The facility allowed two-way interaction between the course instructors and the students In August 2002, Xavier Labor Research Institute (XLRI), one of India's leading management institutes, tied up with Direcway to launch a satellite-based business managementprogram.The 14-month, 360-hour course priced at Rs. 1,65,000 was targeted at executives with two or more years of work experience. The course was offered in 12 cities Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Tiruchi, Pune, Kochi, Coimbatore and Madurai.In all these cities, Hughes entered into franchise agreements with institutes interested in offering the course. Students in these cities were able to 'virtually' attend classes conducted at the XLRI campus in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand). XLRI started by offering its Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) course through Direcway. WIPRO Wipro, India's leading software company, wanted to revolutionize the way school children were taught through its "Applying Thought in Schools" initiative. It was generally believed that the Indian education system emphasized learning by stick rather than through questioning and problem solving.This program was launched by Wipro to nurture children's creativity and problem-solving skills when they were still in school. Wipro felt this could be achieved by training teachers, who had a profound influence on children in school. As a part of the initiative, Wipro devised a teachers' training program, called Teachers Empowerment Program (TEP). The curriculum for the program was designed, keeping in mind the requirements of teachers. Commenting on the motive behind the launch of the program, Vineet Agarval, Corporate Vice-

president, Mission, Wipro said, "The 'Chalk and Talk' method of teaching does not lead to the enhancement of problem-solving skills and creative thinking.. Looking Ahead The three companies Direcway, Wipro and NIIT - had a definite vision when they embarked upon the initiatives described above. Direcway attempted to revolutionize the way education was imparted to students. Apart from colleges and educational institutes using the satellite education method, companies too might adopt this way of imparting training to their employees, and this could save them costs as well as time. Wipro aimed to change the way children learn in school, by changing the way teachers impart education.

Questions: 1. Analyse how innovative education could be imparted through advanced Communication infrastructure and the impact of change it could bring in the educational methods and system.

Case 2: eBay - Staying Online - Always The case discusses the problems faced by eBay which led to frequent outages. It also discusses the measures taken by the company to strengthen its infrastructure and the benefits reaped in the process. The Problems In January 2001, eBay, the largest online auctioneer in the world, saw a major outage of its website, which lasted 11 hours. Company sources blamed the mishap on some problems with the storage hardware and database software. eBay CEO, Meg Whitman, blamed both the primary and backup infrastructure of the website. To add to the company's problems, it had to delay replacing some of its hardware due to the busy holiday season. The outage led to significant financial problems for eBay. The company had to extend pending auctions by 24 hours and refund the fees paid for all auctions that were scheduled to end during the outage period. According to an analyst1, the outage cost eBay $450,000 in lost service fees about 0.3% of its total revenue for the first quarter of 2001. The next day, eBay's stock went down by 8.85% to $35 7/8. This was not the first instance of eBay's outage. The company had seen 15 similar outages between August 1998 and November 1999, including a major one in June 1999 that made the site inaccessible for 22 hours. During the two-day outage, eBay's stock came down from $182 to $135 reducing its market capitalization by $5.7 billion. The outage was prolonged as database files became corrupted and files had to be rebuilt before the system could be brought online. Experts said that eBay had failed to build a redundant storage hardware and scalable web architecture. Background Note eBay's founder Pierre Omidyar (Omidyar) felt that an Internet auction site could create a highly efficient market. The idea seemed to have originated out of the

difficulty that his fiancee faced while trying to collect Pez dispensers from the San Francisco Bay area. Omidyar launched Auction Web (the site's domain name was ebay.com) in September 1995 to enable people to trade. eBay started as a free website and quickly attracted so much traffic that Omidyar needed additional infrastructure to keep pace with the growing business. Technology eBay's infrastructure, built in 1995, was initially designed in-house to support buying and selling between small groups of collectors and hobbyists. The company used Pentium based Internet servers that ran on Windows NT operating system. For Internet connectivity, it had entered into a partnership with Exodus and AboveNet Communications located at Santa Clara in California.

Reaping the Benefits The fact that auctions were relatively static events (until the final few minutes when lot of bids could often put a major hit on its servers and apps) was the biggest challenge for eBay. According to industry experts, eBay's decision to opt for a more distributed application infrastructure had reduced the load on its infrastructure. Besides, the software developers had more flexibility to change the codes without affecting the entire application. Question: Is the architecture planned by the technopreneur is really good?

CASE 3: Sun Microsystems in the Twilight Zone

Abstract: Sun Microsystems (Sun) is a leading manufacturer of workstation computers. It has traditionally pursued a unique, vertically integrated business model. Unlike most computer hardware vendors, Sun makes its own chips (SPARC) and operating system (Solaris). Sun rose to fame during the early 1990s with its huge bet on the server market paying-off. Riding the exploding growth in that market, Sun grew faster than any other computer company to reach revenues of $1 billion. But things have not been going well for Sun in recent times. Sun's stock price, which hit $60 by the end of 2000, has fallen to about $3 by August 2004. In mid-2004, Sun seems to be beset by various problems. Low cost computers based on Intel chips and Linux software are posing a major threat. The company's cost structure appears to be bloated. There has also been major management turmoil. It remains to be seen whether Sun can overcome these problems and reinvent itself. Introduction Sun Microsystems (Sun), a leading manufacturer of workstation computers, had traditionally pursued a unique, vertically integrated business model. Unlike most computer hardware vendors, Sun made its own chips (SPARC)scalable process architecture and operating system (Solaris). Its software portfolio included application server, office productivity, and network management applications. Sun had also developed Java, a programming language for creating software that ran unchanged on any kind of computer. Once a shining star amongst the tech companies, Sun had slowly but steadily lost its sheen. Its stock price, which hit $60 by the end of 2000, had fallen to about $3 by August 2004 For the fiscal year ended June 2004, revenues declined by 2% from the year before to $11.19 billion.

In mid-2004, Sun seemed beset by various problems. Low cost computers based on Intel chips and Linux software were posing a major threat. The company's cost structure had become bloated. Background Note The four people who came together to setup Sun Microsystems in 1982 had seen a great market potential for high-speed workstation computers. Andreas Bechtolsheim (Bechtolsheim), a Stanford engineering graduate student, had built a workstation from spare parts. Sun's Business Incorporated in California in February 1982 and reincorporated in Delaware in July 1987, Sun employed approximately 36,100 employees in 2004. It conducted business in over 100 countries. Sun's Decline Sun had risen to fame during the early 1990s with its huge bet on the server market. Riding the exploding growth in that market, Sun reached $1 billion in revenue--the fastest rise ever for a computer company with a direct sales force. During this time, Sun seemed to single-handedly drive innovation in both hardware (SPARC chips) and software (Java, Solaris). The Road Ahead Sun reported a net loss of $376 million or 11 cents per share for fiscal year 2004. McNealy was quick to defend his company's position, noting that Sun's services business had reached a benchmark $1 billion in sales, with total revenues of $1.04 billion compared with $979 million in the same period last year. Questions: Evaluate the entrepreneurial skills of the founder in revolutionising the technology?

Case 4: Google, Inc.: Searching for New Avenues for Growth This case discusses the different businesses that Google is operating in and its strategy in foraying into them. Google started off as on online search engine in 1998 and within a span of 5 years, became the market leader in search services due to the speed and relevance of the search results that it delivered. Its fundamental business model was to make revenue out of the contextual paid ads that were displayed with the search results. By October 2011, Google's share of the desktop search market and wireless search market, globally, was 82.4% and 91.1% respectively. It had also branched out into other online services like web hosting (YouTube, Google Maps, etc.), enterprise services (Google Docs and Cloud computing), communication services like Gmail, social networking (Orkut, Google+) mobile operating software (Android), and mobile phone design and sales (Nexus One). But this growth came at the cost of its reputation as the company drew criticism for violating users' privacy by hawking details of their web usage patterns to advertisers, for turning a blind eye to copyright issues as in the case of Google Books, and for playing the bully by manipulating its search results to benefit its own services and stifle the competition. It not only had to deal with formidable rivals such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple, but also had to face scrutiny from antitrust authorities in the US and Europe for allegedly abusing its leadership position. Google ruffled many feathers when, in August 2011, it acquired the mobile device manufacturer Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Through this acquisition, Google morphed into a full-fledged device maker. The acquisition left many wondering whether Google had bitten off more than it could chew. This case is meant for MBA students as a part of the Managing Networked Businesses/ Corporate Strategy/ Strategic Management/ Corporate Ethics curriculum. In August 2011, Google, Inc. (Google), the undisputed leader in online search, took many by surprise when it announced that it was taking over Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the mobile device manufacturer. The surprise was understandable, given the fact that Google, which had previously focused on web services and software, was getting into a brick-and-mortar business, where the margins were wafer thin, and which required skills that it did not possess. In

fact, the only way that Google and Motorola were related was that both operated in the technology sphere. So could substantial synergies be derived from the deal, was the question on people's minds. Also, with Google morphing into a complete mobile device manufacturer, other smart device makers that had previously worked with it to make the Android operating software a roaring success, would in all probability, take a relook at their alliance with it. Analysts wondered whether Google, which had previously achieved phenomenal growth without going anywhere near hardware, was actually making a mistake. With the growth of the Internet, there was a felt need among users for a search mechanism to get the information they sought from websites. One of the pioneers of search services was Yahoo!iii Inc., which used human editors to sort websites. As Internet usage exploded, this human-powered search proved inadequate. AltaVista, a search engine, deployed computer programs called spiders or crawlers that checked various websites and listed the relevant ones. The relevance of the web pages and their ranking was based on the frequency of keyword occurrence. But this process, in many cases, threw up irrelevant results. For instance, in a search for Oracle, the pages of vendors of Oracle products might rank above Oracle Corporation's website as the vendor pages might feature many Oracle products. This problem was addressed by Larry Page (Page) and Sergey Brin (Brin), two students of Stanford University. In 1998, Page and Brin came out with a search engine named Google, the result of a project they had undertaken at the university. Key to this search engine was the algorithm PageRank which gave a serialized ranking to each constituent of any hyperlinked batch of notes (as was the World Wide Web), with the objective of assessing its comparative significance within the batch. In the case of the World Wide Web, PageRank ranked web pages according to their importance, which was a derivative of the number of websites that were linked to it. They launched their paid search ads under the name AdWords in October 2000 Organizational DNA Investment in Hardware Technology A distinct facet of Google's overall strategy was its heavy investment in hardware technology that would enable its search engine process queries faster. Google felt that the faster the results showed up, the greater would be the users'

tendency to stick to its search engine. This in turn, would enable Google to push more of its paid listings. It was estimated that in 2010, Google had a total of 900,000 servers. Nurturing Innovation During the US recession in 2008, Google's share price plummeted 35% between early 2008 and April 17, 2008 when Google was to declare its first quarter results. Google's business was expected to contract, in sync with the economy. But Google came up with strong numbers, resulting in its share price rocketing up 20% on April 18. This was attributed to Google's endeavor to encourage innovation in the company, resulting in its coming out with disruptive technologies from time to time. Google's employees had to spend 20% of their time on new ventures that interested them and where they could explore new horizons. Some of Google's bellwether products evolved from this initiative. Lines of Busines Search Google kept its focus on coming out with new search tools that significantly improved the search process. In early 2004, Google introduced personalized web search that let browsers filter search results according to their interests. A user could create a repository of his/her interests and use a "glider" slab that cropped up above the search results to have the results tuned to his/her pursuits. In September 2002, Google launched Google News. Google News collected headlines from 4500 online news publishers globally, clustered similar topics, and gave links to articles on these content providers... Hosting Services In 2004, Google launched the Google Books project, wherein it collaborated with universities globally to scan the entire stocks of their library books, and create an online data mine of these digital copies for text search. By March 2011, 12 million books had been scanned. Google deployed its paid ads adjacent to the search results depending upon the keywords. In 2005, the Authors Guild in USA and the Association of American Publishers sued Google alleging that it was profiting from the illicit sale of copyrighted books.

Formidable Competitors Facebook Facebook was a leader in the online social networking space globally. Since its inception, Facebook had concentrated on this segment, and was expected to have an edge over Google in attracting Internet traffic. It was estimated that users in the US devoted 9.9% of their web browsing time in August 2010 to Facebook when compared to 9.6% for Google. As users spent more time on Facebook, advertisers preferred it. Apple Apple was a leading player in smartphones. Some observers felt that it had a status that the other players, including Google, could only aspire to. In the lowmargin hardware industry, Apple consistently stood apart with operating profits of around 32%, due to its brand equity which enabled it to charge a premium. Antitrust Scrutiny Google's dominance over the online search segment was, over time, proving to be a double-edged sword. Over the years, there were growing protests among Google's competitors and government authorities in the US as well as in Europe that Google was abusing its search leadership position. Critics contended that Google's invincibility in the search business placed it in a position to determine what browsers could locate on the web. Since Google had fanned out into new service domains like mapping, travel, and shopping, it was felt that Google was favoring its own sites in ranking the search results. Questions:

Discuss the strategies that companies need to follow in building market shares without compromising on their financial performance. Understand the pitfalls that companies need to avoid to not become victims of their own success.

Case 5: Innovation at Apple This case study is about innovation at Apple Inc. (Apple), one of the most valuable companies in the world in terms of market capitalization. Apple led the global technology market by developing innovative products such as the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad which redefined their respective markets. The case discusses Apple's approach to innovation which was driven by a passion for creating breakthrough products. Innovation was part of Apple's corporate DNA. Experts said that Apple was innovative because of its ability to iterate designs, devices, and functionality and create products that became a benchmark for customer experience. The case discusses Apple's founder Steve Jobs (Jobs) role as the chief innovator of the company. Jobs fostered a culture of secrecy at Apple and inspired employees to come out with path-breaking products by thinking differently. According to experts, it was Jobs's vision of developing 'insanely great' products that had made Apple an icon of innovation. However, his death led to speculations whether Apple would continue to innovate and lead the industry. One of the biggest challenges facing Apple was to launch some ground-breaking products in the future and exceed customer expectations. This case is designed for MBA/MS level students, and is intended to be a part of their General Management/ Strategic Management curriculum. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Stephen Gary Wozniak (Wozniak), and Ronald Gerald Wayne (Wayne) on April 1, 1976. Working at Jobs's garage they designed a personal computer (PC) that was sold as Apple I. The company was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. Thereafter, the company grew by introducing many innovative and commercially successful products such as Apple II (1977) and Apple III (1980). Right from its inception, Apple had been a company committed to building great products using the latest technologies. The strong R&D focus that Jobs and Wozniak insisted on helped Apple to differentiate itself from its competitors. Apple products enjoyed wide recognition among end-users both for their attractive designs and their powerful applications in high-end computing in the education, multimedia, and entertainment industries. A large portion of this credit went to Jobs who had always seen himself as a product architect rather than as a businessman. Apple brought out a number of innovative products and innovative features in the early 1980s. In its early days, Apple's product

development strategy focused on replacing existing products with new ones at regular intervals. For instance, Apple I was replaced by Apple II and then Apple II by Apple III. When Apple III failed in the market and there was an onslaught of competition, Jobs was compelled to create products that would differentiate them from the traditional low-end computing products. Apple's Approach to Innovation At Apple, innovation was a way of life and a part of its corporate DNA. Apple's success was attributed to its ability to develop innovative products. Over the years, the company launched some great products in the market which became the benchmark for customer experience. For five consecutive years (20062011), Apple was ranked number one on the worlds most innovative companies list compiled by BusinessWeek. Since its inception, Apple had focused on innovation and had ventured into those markets where it could make a significant contribution. Product Innovation Apple became the leading technology company in the world by creating cutting edge products. The company constantly innovated with its business model to respond to market needs and challenges and to deliver quality products and services. The technology behemoth combined new technology with simplicity to come out with cool and simple products, experts said Innovation in Customer Experience Apple's innovation strategy was customer centric. The company designed new products around the needs of the user, not the demands of the technology. It came out with such products which created value for both the company and its customers. Apple products were such that consumers never really realized they needed just these until they were launched in the market. These products empowered customers through their high quality user experience. Innovation Leadership Jobs was the chief innovator at Apple. Since rejoining Apple in 1996, he had focused heavily on innovation and he played an important role in the product development process. He ensured that new ideas were aligned with the company's vision. He emerged as the one of the most innovative business

leaders in the world. Talking about Apple's struggle to innovate in the initial years, Jobs said, "You need a very product-oriented culture, even in a technology company. Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together. Otherwise, you can get great piecesof technology all floating around the universe. But it doesn't add up to much. That's what was missing at Apple for a while. There were bits and pieces of interesting things floating around, but not that gravitational pull." Where's Apple Headed For the third quarter ended June 2011, Apple generated quarterly revenues of US$28.57 billion compared to US$15.70 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company recorded a net profit of US$7.31 billion. International sales accounted for 62% of the quarter's revenue. On August 9, 2011, Apple briefly surpassed oil group Exxon Mobil Corporation to become the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization. Questions: Study Apple's innovation strategy Analyze the key factors which have contributed to the creation of a unique culture focused on innovation and creativity at Apple Evaluate the strategies adopted by Jobs to foster a culture of innovation at Apple

Case 6: Scott Mcnealy and Sun Microsystems

Scott McNealy had been the CEO of Sun Microsystems, a company that he had co-founded in 1984, for 22 years. In April 2006, he announced his decision to step down in favor of Sun's president and COO Jonathan Schwartz. This case study discusses the various events at Sun under McNealy's leadership. It traces the company's growth from a small startup in the mid 1980s to one of the driving forces behind the internet economy in the 1990s. It also talks about the events that led to Sun's decline in the early 2000s, and McNealy' failure to arrest this decline. The case concludes with a discussion of the leadership change at Sun and whether Schwartz was the right person to give the ailing company a new lease of life. The End of an ERA In April 2006, Scott McNealy (McNealy), the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun), announced that he would step down as the CEO of Sun in favor of the company's president and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jonathan Schwartz (Schwartz). This was significant news for the IT industry, as McNealy had been at the helm of Sun for the last 22 years and had steered the company through a series of ups and downs in the industry. The announcement was made on the same day that Sun announced a loss of $217 million for the quarter ended March 31st 2006, (taking the company's cumulative losses since 2002 to a staggering $4.5 billion).It was not a surprise as Wall Street had been calling for McNealy's resignation since the early 2000s when Sun first went into decline following the bursting of the dotcom and telecom bubbles in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Between fiscal years 2001 and 2005, Sun saw its sales fall 39 percent and its share price plummet from a peak of $64 in mid 2002 to around $4 by 2005. Following the announcement of McNealy's exit, the stock gained 8.6 percent in extended trading and reached its highest level of the year at $5.41.McNealy said that the leadership change was a part of the company's succession planning efforts, and that he was looking forward to playing the role of 'chief evangelist' within Sun. However, some analysts felt that that the board had forced McNealy to step down under intense pressure from Wall Street over the company's poor financial performance. McNealy was to continue as the chairman of Sun's board as well as chairman of the board of Sun Federal, Inc. McNealy was as well known in the IT industry for his visionary leadership of Sun in the 1980s and 1990s, as for his witty takes on competitors, especially Microsoft Corp. His father, William McNealy was vice chairman at American Motors Corp. (AMC). As a child, McNealy took an avid interest in the auto industry - an interest

encouraged by his father, who often discussed business with the youngster and allowed him to accompany him when he went to play golf with people like Lee A. Iacocca. After attending Cranbrook Kingswood School, a preparatory school near Detroit, McNealy was accepted at Harvard University, from where he graduated with a degree in Economics in 1976. He then tried for a place at Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford) but was rejected.While trying for an admission into Stanford, McNealy took up a job as foreman at the Rockwell International Corp. (Ohio), which made body panels for trucks. When he eventually got into Stanford in 1978, he chose to specialize in manufacturing rather than the more popular finance. He was not a dedicated student and later admitted that he spent more time 'goofing off' than in classes. One of his classmates recalled that McNealy never bothered to attend any class that he did not think would help him get a job. After graduating in 1980, he worked in the manufacturing departments of FMC Corp. (which made tanks for the US army) and of minicomputer maker Onyx Systems. In 1982, Vinod Khosla (Khosla), McNealy's classmate at Stanford, asked him to join him, Andy Bechtolsheim (Bechtolsheim) and Bill Joy (Joy) in starting a computer manufacturing unit to make and sell workstations operating on UNIX.When McNealy first joined Sun, he was in charge of manufacturing, but later became responsible for sales as well. This helped him develop a good understanding of different areas of the business. After McNealy became CEO in 1984, he played an important role in shaping Sun's vision that 'The Network is the Computer'. The beginning of the new millennium turned out to be inauspicious for the US economy. The collapse of several dotcom and telecom companies combined with the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US sent the economy into a decline, and one of the worst affected by these adversities was the IT industry. Conclusion According to analysts, Sun could have become one of the giants of the IT industry, on par with IBM and Microsoft. Many concepts that had become the standard in the early 2000s, like networking and open source, were first popularized by Sun. But the company took some missteps along the way, which did not allow it to take advantage of its resources. "They've (Sun) always had lots of great things on paper. But when it comes to execution, they're lacking. They always seem to be behind where they need to be" said Gary Feierstein,

vice-president for information technology at Premier Inc., a hospital management company. Questions: 1.Examine the rise and fall of one of the major companies in the IT industry, and the role of its founder in its initial success and later troubles. 2.Discuss about the importance of flexible business models, especially in markets with rapidly evolving technologies.

Case 7: Steve Ells - Promoting 'Food with Integrity' The case examines the business model of the US based fast casual restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG). CMG was founded by Steve Ells (Ells) in 1993. The company, which initially sold burritos, was well known for its 'made to order' food and use of organic ingredients. In the late 1990s, the company started expanding rapidly throughout the US. In 2001, CMG released a mission statement called "Food with Integrity," which highlighted its commitment to naturally raise meat, organic produce, and dairy products without adding hormones. Apart from usage of organic ingredients, CMG's restaurant design, marketing strategy and culture of the company played an important role in its success. The case also analyzes the role of Ells leadership in the success of the company.On November 17, 2009, the US-based fast casual restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG), announced that it would open a restaurant in London, United Kingdom (UK). This was the company's first restaurant outside the US and Canada. The restaurant was expected to be operational by April 2010. Commenting on the plans to open the first CMG restaurant in Europe, Steve Ells (Ells), Founder, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CMG, said, "We are very encouraged by the prospects for Chipotle in the UK. London has become an important food city over the years, especially because of the awareness of and desire for things like locally sourced, seasonal, and artisanal ingredients.These are all core values of Chipotle and we have been instrumental in bringing this kind of thinking to fast food in the US. We call it 'Food with Integrity' and it is how we are changing the way people think about fast food." Apart from London, CMG planned to open restaurants in other locations including Paris in France and Munich in Germany.CMG was the brainchild of Ells. Ells was born on September 12, 1965, in Indianapolis, US. At a very young age, he had developed an interest in cooking, and an admired about the other cooking receips. Rapid Expansion In 1998, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in the company. With this investment, CMG started expanding rapidly in the US. In 1998, CMG's expansion plans helped the company cater to an increasing number of Hispanics in the US, who were the largest minority group in the country at that time.Analysts attributed the success of CMG to some differentiating factors including the use of organic ingredients, interactive service, restaurant design, marketing strategy, and the culture at the company.

Criticisms Although CMG managed to emerge as the leading fast casual restaurant chain in the US, it attracted criticism on several fronts. Some analysts expressed concerns about the food served at CMG, saying it had high calorie and sodium content. The Road Ahead Despite these criticisms, CMG continued its focus on providing food with organic ingredients and also on enhancing its customers' experience. Analysts attributed the success of CMG to Ells. According to Kenny Lao, Co-owner of Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, New York, "Ells has done an amazing job with operations, with standards. Questions: 1. Analyze the factors behind the success of CMG Inc. 2. Examine the leadership style of Steve Ells and Evaluate the future prospects of the company.