Frogtek: Mobile Technology for Micro-Retailing

Which operational strategy will take a seed-funded technology venture beyond its prototype phase?

Garrett J. van Ryzin, Margaret Pierson  | Spring 2010
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The Jerome Chazen Case Series
The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics Case Series

Founded by Columbia Business School classmates, Frogtek was created as a technology business with a social mission: to help micro-retailers in Latin America improve their operations through applications loaded onto mobile phones. While the market was large - 400,000 micro-retailers operated in Colombia alone - and store owners appeared interested in the service, the right approach was far from clear. The company's founders struggled with questions such as how to distribute the mobile applications and how much to charge the generally low-income store owners. In this case students work on an operational strategy for the seed-funded start-up after examining its business plan, social goals, market opportunity, and competitive environment.

Case ID: 100203
Supplemental Materials: Teaching Note, Translation

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