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Rolling drops: Nilkamal Wello Water Wheel

Varun Elembilassery (Faculty Associate – Human Resource Management Area, T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, India)
Kalyan Bhaskar (Strategy, XLRI – Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, India)
Divya Aggarwal (T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, India)

Publication date: 13 September 2019

Abstract

Learning outcomes

The case will enable students to understand and ponder on how an organization goes about identifying and launching social impact products, how social impact products should be promoted, what the opportunities and challenges in executing a social impact strategy of developing a new product line by a leading industry player are, what is the type of social investment that will generate both social and financial returns and how a sustainable social impact strategy should be aligned with the corporate strategy of the firm.

Case overview/synopsis

Listed in 1991 on the National Stock Exchange in India, Nilkamal Limited is the largest manufacturer of moulded plastic furniture in the world. In line with their tradition, Nilkamal has now introduced a new range of products, under “social impact products” category, to cater to some of the pressing needs of the society. For this purpose, they have entered into an agreement with a US-based organization, Wello, to manufacture and market their iconic product, the Water Wheel. The euphoria surrounding the new social impact product, Water Wheel, has been immense but its commercial viability is yet to materialize. The case provokes the students to analyse the decision of venturing into social impact products and the challenges associated with it. The case grapples with the issues faced by a business firm that looks to incorporate social impact products as part of regular commercial operations. The key question to be addressed is “How far can social impact products be a good strategy to bring corporate sustainability and what should be the approach in this case?”

Complexity academic level

Study level: MBA students’ applicability: corporate responsibility and corporate sustainability, social impact strategy

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making. The authors may have disguised names; financial and other recognisable information to protect confidentiality.

Citation

Elembilassery, V., Bhaskar, K. and Aggarwal, D. (2019), "Rolling drops: Nilkamal Wello Water Wheel", , Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-06-2018-0122

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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