24

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature concerning the operational problems of crowdfunding projects by exploring how project creators are able to manage the challenges that occur during the fulfilment phase. Thus, the research question of the study is the following: “Why do project creators disrespect their reward promises in crowdfunding?”. The study adopted a case study approach of a crowdfunding project that contains rewards to deliver to backers after the fundraising period. A project titled “Coolest Cooler” was promoted on the Kickstarter platform during 2014. The results outline the primary operational problems (e.g., manufacturing, planning and budgeting and shipping) that are due to the incompetence and inexperience of the project creator. These problems demonstrate the importance of operations strategy during the fulfilment phase after a successful campaign. The authors suggest possible operations strategies in order to answer the research question. JEL Codes: M11, M13, O33