Case Name :      LumiSmart (A): Answering the Call for Negawatts

Authors :           Stewart Thornhill, Ellen M. Brown

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W11093

Discipline :        Entrepreneurship

Case Length :    16 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

The president and chief executive officer (CEO) of an established Toronto-based boutique consulting firm is in the process of expanding his company’s core competency from the largely mature tech sector to the new and rapidly growing field of clean technology. During this time, the CEO is introduced to an inventor and an entrepreneur who developed a waveform technology that they claim will instantaneously reduce electricity consumption by 30 per cent or more, when applied to a fluorescent lighting ballast. The duo present the CEO and his partners with a rough prototype, a handful of patents on the verge of expiring, and only verbal confirmation that the technology can be proved and certified. The CEO is intrigued by the potential of this radical new technology and must decide whether he and this firm will back the partners. The second part of the case explores how the development of this clean technology might be financed.