A. Mini-case: Whesis

Founded in 2018 by Steven Roulac, Whesis is a co-working organization. What separates it from its competitors is its approach to co-working. Unlike its competitors, it does not simply rent out unused office space. Instead, it finds and curates productive workspace communities by partnering with local business owners who have unique spaces that are empty during the day. Whesis sells to both individual customers and large organizations. Individual customers can select one of three options: a day pass, a 5-day bundle, or an unlimited monthly pass. Prices range from $9.99/day to $99.99/month. With each option, they have access to all spaces. These customers can use their passes at their own discretion. Large organizations can contact Whesis directly for a more customized service offering. Whesis will work on a specific solution for businesses regarding the number of seats, pricing, amenities, etc. A Coworking Spaces Global Market Report 2020 shows that the global coworking spaces market is expected to decline from $9.27 billion in 2019 to $8.24 billion in 2020. Whesis’s partners have faced many hurdles. First, the fear of contagion has led to fewer people visiting their locations, resulting in a loss of revenue. Moreover, capacity restrictions provide less opportunity for both Whesis and its partners to maximize their available space. Socially distanced workstations are mandatory. While this may change moving forward, it should be considered in the short-term. There are many opportunities for Whesis to not only improve its current service offering, but also to expand into new locations but still the COVID situation renders their task highly difficult due to their lack of knowledge of how this virus will impact the usage of coworking spaces.. Steven wants a scalable option that Whesis can use across its entire network. Specifically, he wants to maintain the uniqueness of each location, but have the same Whesis branding and “feel”.

Case Questions

1. Explain how Whesis generates profit using your knowledge and the discussion in the case.

2. Identify and describe two distinct market segments that Whesis can serve and provide the Segmentation variables.

3. Explain the idea of uncertainty in business and illustrate it using details from the case above.

4.Suppose you are the owner of Whesis,.What is the novel idea you would introduce to overcome COVID-19 effect? (Any option would be acceptable)