Box in 2015 (B): Entering the Next Phase

By Robert Siegel, Robert Burgelman, Shalie Gaskill
2015 | Case No. SM215B | Length 8 pgs.

As Box continued to mature as a company, the firm fought through the ups and downs of being a highly visible hyper-growth Silicon Valley firm. Box struggled to get its IPO completed, having to deal simultaneously with a volatile stock market and increased scrutiny of its SaaS business model. In parallel, the company worked to aggressively expand its business into large enterprises through a key partnership with IBM, all while working to grow its top line, keep costs in line with targets and retain top talent.

Learning Objective

The goal of this case is to encourage students to see how management must strategically react in a quickly changing hyper-growth technology environment with increased scrutiny from the press, shareholders and employees, all while needing to focus on achieving the firm’s business objectives.
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