AirTech

Center for Entrepreneurial Studies,
Babson College © 1996

ISBN 0-324-00497-4

Case Teaching Package
A case teaching package, written by Stephen Spinelli, is available for this case. It includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, solutions to the assignment questions in the case, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into your course.

Length
This case is 28 pages in length and its case teaching package is 8 pages.

Abstract

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 U.S. 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.

• Location of the company: Agawam, Massachusetts
• Years spanned by the case: 1985 through 1995
• Industry segment: Coin-air vending machine
• Stage of the company: Growth
• Age of the entrepreneurs: 45