Stéphan Pezé, Head of the Strategy Department at Toulouse School of Management, and Eric Jolivet, Senior Lecturer in Management in the Department, received the AIMS/CCMP 2022 "Coup de Coeur" award for Best Teaching Case for their case entitled "The strategy of Naïo Technologies: robots for sustainable and less arduous agriculture".
The International Association of Strategic Management is the leading French-speaking association of teachers and researchers in management, strategy and organisation.
Carrying out the study
This case study was written and tested with TSM students and developed in conjunction with the company. It explores the following issues in relation to current trends:
- How can you accelerate the growth and internationalisation of a young innovative company?
- How can we meet the challenges of climate change, healthy food for a growing population and labour attrition facing the world of agriculture?
- How can start-ups dealing with an emerging market with uncertain trends think strategically?
According to the jury: "The sector of activity in the original case is topical in terms of the social issues it raises. The strategic analysis proposes several interesting approaches. The pedagogical note also makes it easy for teachers to get to grips with.
The case study is published under reference G2080 in the CCMP catalogue and is therefore accessible to all French-speaking strategy teachers if they wish to use it in lessons or as an examination subject. It can be accessed here:
Summary of the case study
Naïo Technologies is a start-up created in 2011 by two robotics engineers.
The company markets autonomous precision mechanical weeding robots to help farmers in the market-gardening and vine-growing sectors lighten their workloads, respond to labour shortages and optimise their profitability while limiting their environmental impact and producing healthier food.
Winner of the prestigious Pass French Tech award in 2018 and a member of the Financial Times Top 100 fastest-growing European companies in 2019, Naïo has expanded thanks to several rounds of fundraising (over €20 million) to finance innovation (improving existing robots and creating new ones) and internationalisation. To date, more than 175 robots have been sold worldwide. It has also initiated the creation of the precision agricultural robotics sector via the FIRA trade show and the GOFAR association. How can Naïo continue to grow in the face of emerging competitors, a race to innovate and the accelerating pace of agricultural issues in the age of the Anthropocene?
In this case study, we put the tools of strategic diagnosis to the test with a start-up in an emerging market in order to generate rich conversations around the formation of strategic choices.
