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After a thorough briefing, classroom discussions and de-briefing, the students should be able to appreciate issues of leadership; understand challenges related to managing an organisation; and understand the aspects of organisational politics and power.

This real-life case study is based on a leading management institution of central India. The institute was quite successful in establishing its brand central India during 2011-2017 and is still going strong. The case here captures a change of leadership and the challenges/opportunities it posed to faculty and staff members. The case also intends to address the power struggle that ensued in later years of its functioning. The case is also about how the present leader would finally deal with it all. Students would be able to generate insights in leadership style, power and politics, employee retention, organisational decision-making and concerns in recruiting culturally fit employees.

Graduate level.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

This case puts students in the shoes of the Ebola response leadership teams of Firestone Liberia and its parent company, Bridgestone Americas, as they worked together to respond to the deadly 2014 Ebola epidemic. While the companies had received positive press for their containment of the virus on their rubber farm in Liberia, which was home to 8,000 employees and 80,000 Liberian citizens, the situation off the property was worsening. With death counts rising and hospitals across the nation closing as staff caught the virus, the Liberian government declared a national state of emergency. The teams now faced the possibility that the government might attempt to take control of the farm's medical center. How could they balance their duty to care effectively for employees against the demands of the Liberian government? Should they try to fend off the government or cooperate to meet the government's demands? Students will learn how to do a methodical situation analysis that considers ethical obligations and strategic implications, and to distill their recommendation into a briefing for senior leadership.

Integrated advertising, promotion and marketing communications.

The case has been developed for use in marketing communication as well as strategic brand management courses of MBA and/or PGDM programmes. It high/ights the fact that generating interest amongst customers is not the only task of marketing strategists but conversion of such interest into an effective purchase is what the marketing department should be looking for.

The case takes the students through the journey of Vodafone's marketing communication since its introduction in the Indian market. It gives the reader a briefing as to how Vodafone has grown in the past few years - the changes in communication strategies involved to propagate the product; the integrated marketing communications that have he/ped Vodafone increase its customer base considerably. As mentioned by Marten Pieters, CEO of Vodafone Essar, India is an emerging market and it is necessary for Vodafone not on/y to increase its customer base but a/so to generate revenues. Therefore, his di/emma is how to bring about the perceptual connect with customers which induces them into product usage.

The area of integrated advertising, promotion and marketing communications is an integral part of marketing. It forms the foundation of creating effective marketing programmes that in turn helps develop positive product perception in the minds of the customers. It also helps the student understand the role of customizing the marketing communication according to the target audience and the importance of integrating advertising with not only the promotional activities but also other newer forms of marketing communications. The case has been structured to achieve the following learning objectives: the role of marketing communications in creating and building brand Vodafone; understanding the importance and key elements of Vodafone's Zoozoo ad campaign relating it to Vodafone's communication strategies; and the effect of marketing communication on the customers' perception about the brand.

Teaching notes are available. Please consult your librarian for access.

Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office is easy for Microsoft, but the company has struggled when it comes to more radical innovation. Intense competition from Google, Apple, and others threatens a business model that has delivered tremendous success over 25 years. This case highlights the strategic challenges facing Microsoft and provides insights into the organizational, leadership, and operational issues that must be addressed in order to define a successful innovation strategy at one of the world's most well-known companies.

In this case we describe the gradual transformation of India's largest private sector steel manufacturer Tata Steel that enabled it to win the coveted Deming Prize for quality. The case discusses how the company is able to maintain a relentless focus on meeting the customers' needs, sustain a culture for excellence in quality, build processes that empower the workers in taking decisions related to their area of work freely, instill leadership skills at all levels, and embed continuous improvement as part of their organizational culture.

Continuous process improvement has been widely taught in business schools and has yielded real results and success in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. Though there have been many cases developed for use in business schools, few, if any, situate the topic in a military context. Further, expeditionary logistics presents managers with special problems of being removed from their supporting enterprise systems that process, track, and/or control of such logistical elements as purchase orders, inventory, distribution, receivables, and fulfillment. The authors present a case in a military setting that exposes students to the challenges of expeditionary logistics and takes them through the fundamentals of process analysis and process improvement.

The authors used a research methodology of a case study. Data were collected during field visits over the course of multiple interviews. Interviews were conducted with subject matter experts and active professionals serving in US Navy expeditionary logistics roles regarding processes and process performance.

This case can be applied to senior undergraduate or graduate-level courses in operations management, supply chain management, or logistics.

The theoretical bases adopted in this paper are supply chain management, information technology, operations management, and process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma and Lean.

This case is particularly applicable for use in courses on entrepreneurship, people management, and business strategy. It is intended to give students an overview of a succession planning strategy, and provide insight into the particular challenges facing founders of small businesses as they identify and prepare a successor for the most senior management role. Given the position of Closed Loop as an early mover technology firm in the insurance industry, this case also explores the strategic business considerations. The case therefore offers students detailed, authentic, and practical lessons on leadership through the personal experiences of a founder-CEO in a high performing organisation.

This case is appropriate for students enrolled in postgraduate programmes such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Education programmes. Although the case learnings are transferrable to more general leadership and change management studies, this case will be particularly useful to students with interests in entrepreneurship, leadership in tech startups, and succession planning.

This case tells the story of a small business’ succession plan journey in two parts. Closed Loop is a small insurance software company that is transitioning from a founder-run startup to manager-run company. Case A follows the 55-year-old founder Alex Martin as he performs a measured succession planning analysis that eventually leads him to promote from within the company. Neevan Chattry is the 33-year-old head of business development who has been with the company for ten years and shows promise as a rising leader. Over the course of 18 months, Alex and Neevan embark on a structured preparation and handover process. The case ends in June 2015 with Neevan taking over as CEO and Alex stepping into the role of board chairperson. Case B picks up two years later when Neevan unexpectedly announces that he is resigning as CEO, leaving Closed Loop in a difficult position. In this case, Alex confronts the mistakes he made over the last three years, both during succession planning and Neevan’s tenure as CEO, as well as how digital disruption in the insurance industry affected the business strategy over this period. The case ends with Alex resuming the role of CEO to lead Closed Loop in a reinvention process. Students are left to analyse the decisions taken by the different leaders and how Closed Loop will fair in the future under Alex’s leadership.

Identify the key components of a strong succession plan, including a careful selection process, mentorship of the successor, communication of the change to internal and external stakeholders, and the withdrawal of the outgoing leader; explore the organisational transitions that companies naturally undergo as they grow and enter different phases of operation and the implications of that change for leadership; discuss the compatibility of different leadership traits, styles, and mindsets with the strategic objectives of the company at different points in time; and provide suggestions and recommendations to owners contemplating succession planning in their organisations.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The learning outcomes are as follows: introduce the concept of the decision-making process, decision-making unit and hierarchy of effects and marketing strategy; identify the critical aspect of segmentation, targeting and positioning; and highlight the critical element of pricing and communication media.

In early January 2017, Mr Ashish and Mr Rahul, co-founders of Biziga, a company engaged in training through simulation for management education, was at crossroads. Keeping in view the challenges of the emerging Indian market, Biziga envisioned creating participant-centric business learning simulations. The initial responses and feedback received from several top B-schools were promising. However, the euphoria did not last long. Biziga retained only a few of its initial clients from the Tier-1 B-schools who had adopted the product. But the response received from other categories of B-schools was not very encouraging. Acquiring new clients from these institutes was the major challenge. The founders of Biziga had differences in their thought about the strategic path they should pursue to achieve future growth. There were several options to achieve the goal of a target revenue of INR 1bn in the next five years and be known as a virtual gamification company with a complete bundle of business simulation products. They had to finalize for the financial year 2017-18 the most feasible and promising option/s that would have a long-term impact on the company’s future growth and success in the upcoming meeting scheduled in the last week of February 2017.

Postgraduate students and executive students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

In April 1992, this multinational consumer foods and beverages company is the focus of takeover rumors, which have prompted an assessment of the firm's returns. The student must choose among the principal methods of estimating the weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) for GrandMet and its three main business segments, and must then produce WACC estimates in order to evaluate the firm's performance.

The Disney Crisis Exercise is not revealed here because it is entirely an in-class experience; students should not have access to any details prior to the exercise. Complete information is available to instructors in the teaching note. In this real-time exercise, student teams will advise Disney how to respond to a crisis precipitated by vocal and well-organized influence groups that threaten its brand as part of their advocacy on behalf of social causes. The crisis occurs against a backdrop of dynamic industry and company changes, many of which have important consequences for Disney.

After completing this exercise, students should be able to: