Society for Case Research Spring Conference MBAA

7
Experience level: 
Beginner
Intended Audience: 
All
Authors: 
Quyen T. Thach, George L. Whaley

ANCESTRY.COM: FUTURE BUSINESS AND THE LINK TO THE PAST

Ancestry.com was founded as Infobase company in 1990 to provide genealogy reference books and evolved into a four major product online business that became a key player in the new Personalized Genomics testing and sequencing industry. Deborah Liu replaced Margo Georgiadis as CEO of Ancestry.com at the end of 2020 and began to assess the company’s four- product business model for sustainability. Competition had increased in genetic screening and a year into the CEO role, Liu affirmed that Ancestry.com would continue to provide DNA test kits to the consumers but decided to discontinue the Ancestry Health product in 2021. As 2021 ended, Liu was concerned about the future of the modified three-product business model. She wondered whether the company should focus on its core business or a branch of genetic screening that had not become popular and new products that performed Autosomal DNA testing to trace one’s ancestry.