Abstract
Denis O''Brien had been wildly successful in developing the Dublin-based mobile phone company, Esat, after Ireland''s deregulation of telecommunications and even gained an exalted place amongst the ''Celtic Tigers'', by then selling the company to British Telecom for $1.9 billion in January 2000. But, his decision in the same year, to pay US$47.5 million for the first Jamaican GSM mobile phone licence to be auctioned was against all informed advice. Jamaica could boast poor economic performance, high unemployment, extreme poverty levels and murder rates per capita to match the worst in the world. Additionally a firmly entrenched incumbent supplier, Cable & Wireless, wasn''t expected to assist in any deregulation process. This case tells the comprehensive story of this supremely successful international start-up, Digicel, covering the entrepreneurial decision making, strategy development, operational set-up, organisational development and international human resource management. Whist the case covers the complete story to Digicel''s first anniversary it is divided into sections that can be used separately to focus on any number of issues relating to the management of international start-ups.
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Abstract
Denis O''Brien had been wildly successful in developing the Dublin-based mobile phone company, Esat, after Ireland''s deregulation of telecommunications and even gained an exalted place amongst the ''Celtic Tigers'', by then selling the company to British Telecom for $1.9 billion in January 2000. But, his decision in the same year, to pay US$47.5 million for the first Jamaican GSM mobile phone licence to be auctioned was against all informed advice. Jamaica could boast poor economic performance, high unemployment, extreme poverty levels and murder rates per capita to match the worst in the world. Additionally a firmly entrenched incumbent supplier, Cable & Wireless, wasn''t expected to assist in any deregulation process. This case tells the comprehensive story of this supremely successful international start-up, Digicel, covering the entrepreneurial decision making, strategy development, operational set-up, organisational development and international human resource management. Whist the case covers the complete story to Digicel''s first anniversary it is divided into sections that can be used separately to focus on any number of issues relating to the management of international start-ups.