Analysis of Avi Kremer Case Study

Section- 3
Group- O1

Primary issue: Avi Kremer wants to dedicate his life towards goodwill of
patients of ALS, the disease he himself suffers from. He has to choose a plan
with which he can make the greatest impact.
Justification: It has been 18 months since Avi has been diagnosed with ALS. His
physical state has deteriorated at a very fast pace. The day he knew that he is
suffering from ALS, he has made it his lifes mission to impact the world in a
good way in the very short span of time he has. He knows that he has very less
time (around three to five years) and his dream of working for a Fortune 500
company would not be fulfilled. Even going through this, he has not let his
motivation down and with the help of his friends at Harvard collected
hundreds of thousands of dollars to donate towards ALS Research. Then he
started his own venture as a part of his Internship in Israel under IsrALS where
he was the young face of the disease and he was able to gain a lot of success.
He then came back to Harvard to complete his MBA and with this ending; he
has to come up with a decision with the help of which he would be able to
serve effectively. The only thing coming in between his goals and him is the
disease as he does not want to leave the organization in a state that it would
not be able to stand on its own after he passes away.
Problem Statement: In what way can Avi Kremer impact the Research of
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) so that the society is able to benefit from
it?
Reasons: Avi Kremer has himself seen his dreams crushed by being paralyzed
by ALS as this decreased his life span to a few years. It has also ended the
possibility of him working for the big companies he has always wanted to work
for and someday become a CEO. He hence has decided to fight against ALS,
which is a disease of which most of the things are yet unknown. Research of

Section-3 Group-O1

ALS is in a very nascent stage and hence the cure of the disease is practically
nonexistent. His sectionmates were very much enthusiastic in helping him
fight against this and helped him collect donations in the start. But he
developed a lot of leadership skills and also a drive against ALS when he was
interning with the Private Equity IsrALS in Israel. There were only 500 patients
in Israel who were suffering from ALS, so the Research was far below par. But
he was able to make a huge impact with his new venture named Operation
ALS. With this new venture, he was able to raise as much as $2 million and also
he had the research projects up and running in 7 different Israeli universities.
After completion of his MBA at Harvard, he has decided to keep working on
the same mission but he is facing problems in the form of his body not being
able to respond properly. Him losing functions he requires from the body every
week one by one. His motivation is though not affected even a little and he
wants to dedicate all his time towards this. He does not want his company to
breakdown once he passes away. He is in a dilemma to choose a plan which
would both be effective and which would be able to stay for a long run. He also
wants to utilise his learning from Harvard and use various contacts that he has
made. All this would only be possible if he is able to stay in a state of being
able to work for the organization. Hence, he has to carefully make a choice out
of the four plans that have now come up for him with each one of them having
its own positives and negatives.
Contextual and Cultural Analysis: We can compare the four plans of Avi
Kremer by the help of SWOT analysis:
1) Prize4Life:
a) Strengths: Would be able to involve more people with research and
spread the word of ALS among people. Would also bring new perspectives
in the form of questions about the Research.
b) Weaknesses: This model has limited scope as it gets over at giving prizes.
Also ALS is too complex and broader breakthroughs would not be able to
come through.
c) Opportunities: R&D of major countries would be involved and hence
chances of making a breakthrough are high.
d) Threats: There was no funding to be done upfront so the interest which
has to be aroused in the Researches may not be possible.

Section-3 Group-O1

2) Launch a Broader Charity with Avi as Figurehead:

a) Strengths: This requires lesser physical work from Avi. Who already has
done similar things in Israel so is already tested.
b) Weaknesses: Nothing certain towards the Research of ALS. Would not be
able to apply what he has recently learnt.
c) Opportunities: Can lead to marketing in the form of awareness of the
public about ALS, also help patients come together and help each other
through times.
d) Threats: Risk in the form of his ability to bring together a large disparate
community of donors and keep them interested in ALS with less Research
and hence less chances of good news coming out.
3) Return to IsrALS:
a) Strengths: Would able to live with his family and work towards his own
people. Quality of life would be better as in a few days he would be
requiring care his disease would progress to a very serious state.
b) Weaknesses: Would regret making a decision of going back to Harvard as
he would have then stayed and worked for the cause.
c) Opportunities: Had turn-key solution by which he can add more
resources and connections which he has collected in United States.
d) Threats: Less chances of Research as the global pharmaceutical and
biotechnology industry was located in U.S. and Israeli researchers finding
solution had a bleak chance.
4) Avi Therapeutics (AviTx):
a) Strengths: Avi would be able to run the company on his own and would
be able to work directly in the favour of his main motive of research.
b) Weaknesses: The potential theory has to be developed for the humans as
it has only been tested on mice, so it would consume time and money of
which Avi is very short of.
c) Opportunities: Could be the solution of the disease of ALS which is the
dream of Avi. Would be able to work with his contacts as well as a pioneer
in Dr. Brown would be satisfying.
d) Threats: Staying afloat could be a threat as they will have to raise $1
million from angel investors as until two years of development, Venture
capital firms would not be interested in this opportunity.

Section-3 Group-O1

Areas of Concern: Areas of Concern for all the plans seems to be money
and time. He has a very less time to execute any plan completely. In order
to deal with this his new venture has to be such that it should not crumble
when he leaves. As he would be leaving in the nascent stages of the
venture, the venture has to stick to its own values which he would have
imparted as one of the founding figures. It should also make use of various
opportunities in the form of his contacts which various plans are not being
able to use as he has given the last of his valuable time to collect these
contacts at Harvard.
Evaluations: With the areas of concern of the contextual factors of all the
four listed plans of Avi, we could evaluate and come down to a plan which
would help him make an impact most effectively. If we look at the first plan,
it requires money upfront which would be difficult for him to collect on his
won and then he would need to market his idea of venture. This venture
could make a difference in research of ALS but this is not very sure. In the
second plan, he would be able to work well as he has to perform lesser
work and he would have helping hands, but he is not still able to apply what
he has learnt recently which he really wants to and research does not really
have a direct relation to the plan. Now the third plan does not seem very
useful to him as he may regret going back after learning so much in MBA at
Harvard and might feel that he wasted his time in coming back to Harvard
and going and doing the same work again but he would relish living with his
family and his health would be taken care of which would have serious
issues now. The Fourth idea provides him with everything; he is able to use
his connections, display to himself his learning and also has a direct relation
with his primary motive of research towards ALS. The only problem he has
here is this that he would have to make collections in the start of a huge
sum until the plan becomes running and the therapy is fully up and working.
Recommendations: We recommend the fourth plan that Avi has thought of
as that gives him everything. He will have satisfaction in it as when he
passes away, it would become a compact venture with esteemed
researchers working on the therapy that could be a breakthrough for ALS
diagnosis. He would also have his first entrepreneurial experience with the

Section-3 Group-O1

pioneer of the department, who is considered one of the best in this and
hence the chances of research giving some fruit to them is possible. No
other plan has a direct relation with the research that has to be carried out
hence the choice of this plan is evident and lastly, this plan allows him to
use his contacts made in Harvard and use them well as he has to collect a
huge sum in the starting two years which would lay a strong foundation to
his venture and he would be able to give it the most to the society and ALS
patients.

Section-3 Group-O1