Scantran
商品編號：9A98E010
出版日期：1998/04/23
再版日期：1999/01/05
商品來源：Ivey
商品主題：Entrepreneurship; International Business; Management Science
商品類型：Case (Field)
涵蓋議題：Translation Services;E-Commerce;Virtual Business;Internet
難易度：4 - Undergraduate/MBA
內容長度：18 頁
地域：International
產業：Business Services
事件年度：1998
Scandinavia Translations (Scantran) provides translation services between English and the three Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian), as well as Finnish. The business is operated primarily by a husband and wife team. The unique thing about Scantran is that it is a purely virtual business: they never meet with, see, and rarely even speak with any of their clients, nor with any of their individual translators. Almost all the business is done over the Internet, supplemented by faxes and occasionally the telephone. Documents are mainly transferred as file attachments to Internet electronic mail messages. There are no other permanent employees, and all the work is done out of the couple's apartment, with no need for expensive overhead such as office premises or fixed salaries. Scantran's business has grown rapidly since its inception, and is faced with a number of decisions: Can the company maintain the great flexibility provided by the Internet, and still expand? If the decision is to grow, what should the new business model be? This case nicely illustrates both pros and cons of virtual small businesses, typical of a great many Internet-dependent startup companies created in recent years.
教學手冊：8A98E10
補充材料：