Emerging industries! Challenges in alternative dance, tracking devices and fast casual dining This research has been partly funded by the research programme SMEs and Entrepreneurship (www.entrepreneurship-sme.eu). We thank the 2013-2014 class of MSc students in Entrepreneurship & New Business Venturing at the Rotterdam School of Management. Their thoughtful and diligent work to explore entrepreneurial challenges in a range of emerging industries directly informed the content of this report. Panteia BV Panteia BV Bredewater 26 P.o. box 7001 2715 CA Zoetermeer 2701 AA Zoetermeer 079 322 22 00 The Netherlands www.panteia.nl +31 79 322 22 00 Research Reports Reference number H201313 Publication November 2013 Number of pages 47 Email address corresponding author [email protected] Address Panteia Bredewater 26 P.O. box 7001 2701 AA Zoetermeer The Netherlands Phone: +31(0)79 322 22 00 All the research reports are available on the website www.entrepreneurship-sme.eu. Zoetermeer , November 2013 The responsibility for the contents of this report lies with the authors of the subsequent chapters. Quoting numbers or text in papers, essays and books is permitted only when the source is clearly mentioned, including author names. No part of this publication may be copied and/or published in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system, without their prior permission. Panteia has collected and processed the authors’ contributions, does not accept responsibility for their content, nor for any printing errors and/or other imperfections. Contents Preface 5 1 Alternative dance 7 1.1 Step, sashay, and trot: Context of the dance industry 7 1.2 The stage and spotlight of the Dutch alternative dance industry 8 1.3 Let’s dance: zooming in on the dance studios 11 1.4 Out of step: general challenges 16 1.5 Salut Final 19 2 Tracking devices 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Industry overview – demand is already out there 24 2.3 The toolbox: technologies to catch the market opportunity 27 2.4 Entrepreneurial challenges 29 3 Fast casual dining 37 3.1 Introduction 37 3.2 Industry profile 37 3.3 Challenges for entrepreneurs 41 3.4 Attractive enough? 45 3 Preface Whenever people engage in the creation of new ventures, they are eager to know what others have learned before. A steeper learning curve can be obtained if nascent entrepreneurs take stock of their predecessors and where they failed. And as part of their explorations, they usually end up browsing numerous sources to explore their competitors, their products, their growth figures, and more. Finding relevant industry documentation is, however, a challenge. A well-known caveat of any industrial information system is that it outdates quickly. For example, only in 2008 formal industry classifications discovered internet retail, and in recent years, this category (code 47.91 in the NACE 2008 classification1) has become already too broad. The problem becomes more severe if an industry is still emerging. This creates an interesting tension, as the best entrepreneurial opportunities are typically found in such environments2. Thus, industry information is most needed in emerging ones! To fill this void, Panteia joined forces with RSM Erasmus University. In a collaborative effort with 45 master students of the 2013-2014 cohort in Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing, a challenge was launched in which teams of students explored the challenges in emerging industries3. Each team conducted a desk-research, literature review and a range of in-depth interviews with incumbent entrepreneurs. Their best reports can be found here. In chapter 1, Debruycker, Fejér, Protard and Radebe deal with challenges in the alternative dance industry. Drawing on a range of interviews with passionate entrepreneurs involved in hiphop, zumba and more, they identify eleven commandments for start-ups. In chapter 2, Erkens, Franke, Iurilli and Reumerman are concerned with new business in the high-tech environment of tracking devices. After consulting eight entrepreneurs across the globe, all commercializing products related to the recovery of lost items, they come up with a sound overview of types of start- ups and the particular challenges that each type will face. Finally, in chapter 3 Van de Boel, Elbers, Janssen and Korevaar document the trends and challenges in a new and emerging type of hospitality: fast casual dining. Positioned between fast-food and casual dining, this interesting type of restaurant serves an important and growing niche. Industrial information systems reliably reveal what opportunities entrepreneurs pursued in the past. For future opportunities, however, the kind of work that is presented here is merited. The chapters will inform those who are eager to start similar ventures, and inspire all those who are concerned with tomorrow’s business. Jeroen de Jong Associate professor RSM Erasmus University and Project manager at Panteia Research to Progress 1 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-RA-07-015/EN/KS-RA-07-015-EN.PDF 2 Shane, S.A. (2005), Finding fertile ground: Identifying extraordinary opportunities for new ventures, Pearson: Upper Saddle River, NJ. 3 Beyond the industries reported here, students investigated 3D-printing, Game app development, Organic food stores, Image consultancy, Student driver companies, Real estate redevelopment, Flexible workspace providers, Energy benchmarking platforms, and Electronic cigarettes distributors. 5 1 Alternative dance Céline Debruycker, Boglárka Fejér, Elise Protard1 and Ntombenhle Radebe Summary: To put it in a nutshell The concept of alternative dance refers to dance styles other than the traditional ballet or contemporary dancing being offered in the dance scene, and includes, but is not limited to, hip-hop, pole dancing, belly-dancing, lindy-hop, African and Bollywood dancing. This report focuses on entrepreneurs offering these dance styles, learning more about their passion, business models, challenges and opportunities, as well as putting a microscope on this industry as a whole. If you want to launch or grow your own dance studio in the alternative dance industry, then this chapter is appropriate for you. The key takeaways from this contribution are to be found in the 11 Commandments that serve as advice for existing and prospective entrepreneurs: 1) Be Visible; 2) Become an addiction for your students; 3) Continuously reinvent your business model; 4) Get your staffing right; 5) Take your image seriously; 6) Leverage your resources; 7) Have a professional approach to your business; 8) Don’t hesitate to make profit 9) Ride the wave; 10) Bring a personal touch; and 11) Know your competitive landscape. 1.1 Step, sashay, and trot: Context of the dance industry Dance as an industry is certainly not a new theory. The concept of dance is such an innately human function that even before children can walk they are able to move and gyrate to appealing music. Dance has been used by humans as a mean of communication which at times is even more powerful than the spoken and written word. In the words of Deepak Chopra (1947) “Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can't name the tune.”2 Professionalizing and making a business out of dance is a more recent concept in human history, however the exact history is difficult to discern. Even though ballet can be traced back to the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century, the word “choreography” only became included in the American English dictionary in the 1950s3. So it is difficult to pinpoint the time when it became acceptable and popular to teach dance and get paid to do so. However, fast forward to today and it is almost unheard of to learn any dance style without paying for the pleasure. In the United States of America, dance studios as an industry generate about $2.1bn in revenue and growth is expected to be 2.4% in 20134. This is mainly on the back of the renewed popularity of internationally televised dance shows (e.g. “So You Think You Can Dance”; “Dancing With The Stars”; “Strictly Come Dancing”; “Dancing On Ice”) that have appealed to housewives, businessmen, teenagers, and anybody else in between. Although it is difficult to find the exact statistics for the Netherlands, perhaps it is not amiss to infer commensurate rates of interest and growth in the local industry as similar dance shows have also mesmerized the Dutch nation. 1 Correspondence to [email protected]. 2 www.goodreads.com/quotes/378256-our-biological-rhythms-are-the-symphony-of-the-cosmos-music (Oct 17, 2013). 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance (Oct 20, 2013). 4 http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10305419.htm (Oct 1, 2013). 7 Out of the renewed public interest in dance has emerged a very interesting and exciting phenomenon: the concept of alternative dance. It is defined as all the “non- classical” dance styles, thus it excludes ballet, modern dance, contemporary dance and waltz. Alternative dances can be segmented in different categories of dances: hip - hop (break dance, hip-hop new style, popping, krump, wacking, etc.); Latin dancing (zumba, capoeira, tango, salsa, samba, mambo, etc.); belly dancing; pole dancing; sensual moves; dancehall; jazz dancing (lindy hop, Charleston, boogie-woogie, etc.); electro dances (jump-style, house dance, etc.); as well as traditional cultural dancing (Indian dancing, African dancing, Caribbean dancing, Haitian dancing, Indonesian dancing, country dancing etc.). Internationally televised shows have been instrumental in spreading the word about different ways of expression through dance, and most importantly, have legitimized unconventional forms of dance, thus certainly revitalizing profit potential and income streams for dance studios and teachers. From grandma to toddlers, the public has been extremely receptive and keen to explore dance as an alternative form of exercise, social interaction, and a “cool” hobby to enjoy.