The Daily Grind: Expansion Crossroads

This LiveCase immerses participants in a high-stakes entrepreneurial decision, challenging them to act as Preeya Rattanaporn, the visionary founder of Daily Grind, a successful independent coffee shop in Bangkok. Preeya faces a tempting offer from a prominent property developer: a prime location in a luxury shopping mall, Siam Paragon West. This scenario immediately thrusts participants into a strategic dilemma, demanding a methodical approach to evaluate an opportunity that promises significant growth but carries substantial financial and operational risks, all under the pressure of a tight deadline. The simulation is meticulously designed to allow learners to apply a structured framework for business expansion decisions, fostering a holistic understanding of strategic growth. Each stage builds upon the last, escalating the complexities and requiring increasingly nuanced judgment from the participant.The initial segment of the LiveCase begins with the immediate pressure of Christopher Chen's charismatic, yet time-sensitive, offer for the mall location. Participants are prompted by their business advisor, Anan Sharma, to resist impulsive decisions and instead embark on a structured assessment. This leads directly into an in-depth evaluation of Daily Grind's current operational efficiency, financial health, and capacity to support new ventures. Learners must reconcile compelling financial reports with stark warnings from senior barista Mali Saelim, who highlights critical operational strains and equipment limits. This phase underscores the vital lesson that even successful small businesses can mask underlying operational vulnerabilities that must be addressed before contemplating expansion.As the LiveCase progresses, the focus shifts to a comprehensive market opportunity assessment for the proposed mall location. Participants delve into detailed brochures from Christopher Chen, showcasing impressive foot traffic and high-income demographics. However, Anan Sharma’s counter-analysis challenges these superficial attractions, drawing attention to the demographic mismatch with Daily Grind's established university-centric brand and the fierce competition from global coffee chains already present in the mall. This segment forces a critical realization: expansion is not merely about replicating an existing success but about entering an entirely new market segment with distinct customer expectations and competitive dynamics, potentially threatening the brand's core identity.The culmination of the LiveCase brings all data, opinions, and pressures to a head in a pivotal decision scene. Participants receive a detailed financial breakdown of the 1.5 million THB investment required and a comprehensive risk assessment matrix. Conflicting viewpoints from the team – Kenji’s boundless optimism versus Mali’s pragmatic caution – further complicate the choice. Learners are then presented with a clear dilemma: proceed with immediate expansion, embracing the risks for potential high rewards, or decline the offer to consolidate and optimize the current operations. The simulation features a critical AI role-play with Anan Sharma, where participants must articulate their chosen path, providing robust justification and outlining concrete strategies to mitigate the most significant risks associated with their decision.This LiveCase offers profound pedagogical value, enabling MBA students to evaluate multifactorial business expansion decisions systematically. Participants will not only learn to balance the allure of growth opportunities with the practicalities of resource allocation and robust risk mitigation but also to understand the interconnectedness of operational, financial, and market considerations in strategic choice. By engaging with realistic pressures and diverse stakeholder perspectives, students develop critical thinking, strategic planning, and adaptive leadership skills, preparing them to make informed, sustainable growth decisions in complex, real-world entrepreneurial contexts. The final debriefing reinforces best practices and common pitfalls, allowing for deep personal reflection on the application of these strategic insights.

• Evaluate, given a scenario where a business is considering opening a new location, the various factors that influence the expansion decision by systematically assessing its current strengths, the potential market, necessary resources, and possible challenges.
• Propose, after evaluating a potential business expansion scenario, strategies to balance growth opportunities with practical resource allocation and risk mitigation, ensuring the long-term health and sustainability of the business.

Executives and MBA