Zoom: The Challenge of Scaling with COVID-19 on the Horizon (A)
by Andrew M. Isaacs
In January 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the United States, American business leaders were only beginning to understand the potential economic impact. Zoom Video Communications, Inc., headquartered in Silicon Valley, monitored the fast-moving virus, knowing it was in the eye of the storm. In its eight years, Zoom had managed rapid growth successfully; It was a unicorn who competed with industry players. Zoom had tackled four key challenges: inspiring a happy company culture, outmaneuvering competitors, managing profitability, and solving security problems. But in February of 2020, had Zoom’s past experience prepared the company to pivot, withstand, and perhaps even benefit from a looming outside, unexpected, global challenge of unknown proportions?
Learning Objectives
1. Examine the challenges of rapid growth; 2. Explain how a relative newcomer can fend off bigger platforms like Facebook in the collaboration space; 3. Describe the challenges of managing Wall Street expectations for growth.
Industry: Technology, Telecommunications, Internet Service
Geography: Silicon Valley, China
Length: 10 page(s)
Berkeley Haas Case SeriesFollowThe Berkeley Haas Case Series is a collection of business case studies written by faculty members at the Haas School of Business. Cases are conceived, developed, written, and published throughout the year, on subjects ranging from entrepreneurship and strategy to finance and marketing. Each case includes a teaching note for use in the classroom.
