A. Mini-case: Workden (15 points to be put out of 3.75 %)
Founded in 2018 by Steven Roulac, Workden 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. Workden 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
Workden directly for a more customized service offering. Workden 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. Workden’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 Workden 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 Workden 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 Workden can use across its entire network. Specifically, he wants to
maintain the uniqueness of each location, but have the same Workden branding and “feel”.
Case Questions
1. Explain how Workden generates profit using your knowledge and the discussion in the case. (5 points)
2. Identify and describe two distinct market segments that Workden can serve and provide the
Segmentation variables. (5 points)
3. Explain the idea of uncertainty in business and illustrate it using details from the case above. (3 points)
Suppose you are the owner of Workden.
4. What is the novel idea you would introduce to overcome COVID-19 effect? (Any option would be
acceptable) (2 points)