SWVL, a well-funded start-up in the Middle East, solved the mass transportation problem in emerging markets with a unique bus-hailing model. In March 2020, with 150,000 bookings in one day across its operating geographies, it reached its highest utilization rate and gross profit margin. Then Covid-19 hit. SWVL’s first reaction was to shut down operations and hunker down.

When Alibaba, China’s leading digital platform and cloud-based services company, fails to acquire the US firm Moneygram, CEO Jack Ma decides to go it alone and develop a digital strategy using blockchain technology as the basis for a global remittance service, GCash, within its cloud services business.

This case explores TomTom’s striking success as it evolved into a market leader in navigation systems headquartered in Amsterdam. It addresses the locational factors that have either contributed to or detracted from its success, and discusses how these have affected the company’s ability to innovate and adapt over time.

SoundCloud is one of the world's largest audio-share websites and a recent example of successful entrepreneurship to have come out of an unexpected place: Berlin. The case discusses how SoundCloud has flourished by identifying the type of ‘place surplus’ important for it to derive competitive advantage and succeed.