Product details

This case describes how a successful, serial entrepreneur launched and harvested increasingly complex business ventures. AirTech was twelve years old in 1995, and it was one of the manufacturer's largest US compressed-air machine distributors. The case provides a platform for discussing manufacturer-distributor and distributor-distributor relationships as the entrepreneur evaluates strategic growth alternatives, including buying additional distribution territories and pursuing vertical integration. This entrepreneur shaped an opportunity in a fragmented industry and helped change the market's perception of a once free service (accessing compressed air at gas stations). The case also describes the creative development of a service delivery system, and raises the issue of managing growth in a cash-based business.