• Open Sesame Co.—The Role of Human Capital in Stimulating Effective Entrepreneurial Behavior

Abstract

Open Sesame Co., an English-learning cram school for children, was founded in 1997. Over the past decades, it has grown from a one-man company to a professional working team of 12 English teachers, with annual earnings of more than NTD 40 million. It has continued to experience revenue growth in spite of Taiwan’s low fertility rate and the competition with other chains of branded educational institutes. Recently, the “Language Ergonomics Engineer (LEE)” app developed by Open Sesame Co. has also attracted venture capitalists to invest in the company. The founding CEO, Jimmy Chiu, did not obtain a high school diploma, but his abundant life experience has permitted him to own many intangible assets. When the company with which he was previously employed sent him to the US for his studies, he developed the idea of becoming an entrepreneur and established a company of his own. On his return to Taiwan, he refused the invitation to establish a company with others, and established his own English cram school. By describing how Mr. Chiu’s human capital influenced his entrepreneurial process, this case study enables readers to understand the process of this entrepreneur’s human capital accumulation and the ways through which he made the best use of intangible resources to overcome challenges and form proper strategic decisions.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurs’ human capital, entrepreneurial behavior, entrepreneurial opportunity,

entrepre neurial process