CASE 3 DUE: 7/29/15
The O-Fold Innovation for Preventing Wrinkles: A Good Business Opportunity? CASE 3The O-Fold Innovation for Preventing Wrinkles: A Good Business Opportunity?

Assignment Questions: 1. Select which business model Alex should pursue and defend your answer.

In my opinion, Alex should use the Crawl-Walk-Run Strategy. By pursuing this strategy, Alex can make more money by using the characteristics of the other strategies. The Crawl-Walk-Run strategy has a three step process of growing a company. The first step is crawl, where Alex and his brother can produce the O-Folds themselves. By marketing and distributing locally themselves they can cut down their expenses, thus making marketing cost to a minimum. He can collect market data to support his business idea and also get an idea for what to expect when starting up his business. This would help with getting investors to get involved, which should help move smoothly into the next phase. The walk step is “selling” the idea to investors, get a patent, develop the distribution route and a marketing strategy. This will also offer an exit strategy for investors and also for other establishments to buy O-Fold. The run step would be the step where Alex would decide to carry on with the company or sell his portion of the company. At this point, he would need to be manufacturing substantial quantities. This strategy would allow Alex to make judgments at three separate segments, allowing him to make decisions based on his confidence level and not having to go “all in” before he has any information. 2. Perform a SWOT analysis for the business model you selected. The Strengths of this business model are: first, it is innovative and it has a practical design, it it a new unique idea. Second, it is lightweight and easy to carry. Third, it is a carry-on that is roomy and