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The case study aims to provide students with an understanding of child labour in India and how the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) movement is facilitating the eradication of child labour in India. The key objectives are to understand the challenges of eradicating child labour in India, assess the approaches to rescue and rehabilitation for the protection of a child in India, analyse the personality traits of a leader and evaluate the charismatic leadership of a leader.

The case study discussed child labour and the movement started by Kailash Satyarthi to protect children through the BBA or Save the Childhood Movement in India. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his contribution to creating an environment to abolish child labour. Headquartered in New Delhi, BBA was established in 1980 to eliminate child slavery and violence against children (BBA.org.in, 2017). Satyarthi’s effort brought regulatory changes in the Indian constitution in the form of “Education as a fundamental right” (The Novel Prize, 2023). As per census 2011, more than 10 million children were involved in various industries in India (Drishtiias.com, 2019). Satyarthi and his BBA were far behind the mission they were to achieve. How should he move to eliminate child labour from India? Will he be able to create any impact on citizens, society and government through his new approaches?

The case study is ideal for courses on understanding strategy, leadership, personality traits and labour laws. This case study is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate early-stage programmes. The main purpose of this case study is to be used in programmes leading to a Master of Business Administration or a Bachelor of Business Administration. This case scenario focused on the BBA movement in India and its aim to eradicate child labour in India. It discussed the child labour scenario in Indian industries and how Satyarthi started the BBA movement to protect the future of underprivileged children in India. The case study discusses the challenges faced in rescuing and rehabilitation of children in India. The authors applied the big five model to analyse the personality of Satyarthi in the case context. The authors also used the concept and components of charismatic leadership to evaluate the traits of charismatic leaders from a case perspective. This case study will benefit students by focusing on traits related to personality and charismatic leadership concepts. Students will get the opportunity to explore the practical and theoretical concepts that interplay in this study.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.

At the end of the exercise, students will be able to identify the type of entrepreneur, apply Big Five Personality Traits characteristics of the successful entrepreneur, use the Porter five forces to define the company’s attractiveness, describe David’s three-stage framework, use David’s (2015) strategy formulation framework to propose appropriate strategies for a company, explain the interdependencies of the nine key elements of a business model and create the business model canvas.

The case focuses on Posh Nail Beauty (POSH), one of the leading manicure and pedicure companies in Malaysia. The case concentrates on the discussion of business development, business strategies and challenges of POSH.

The case study is suitable to be used by undergraduate students who are taking the courses such as entrepreneurship, business strategy and marketing related courses.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Pearce and Robinson (2013). Strategic management: Planning for domestic & global competition, (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York. • Posh Nail Spa. (2017), available at www.poshnailspa.my/ • Posh! Nail Spa Presents The First Nail Art Fashion Show in Malaysia. (2016), available at http://femalemag.com.my/beauty/posh-nail-spa-presents-first-nail-art-fashion-show-malaysia/ • Scarborough and Cornwall (2015). Entrepreneurship and effective small business management, (11th ed.). Pearson, England. • Siaw (2015). “How to nail it: Plus the do’s and don’ts,” The Star, Malaysia. • This Local Nail Salon Is Going Beyond Mere Manicures. (2017), available at http://marieclaire.com.my/beauty/local-nail-salon-posh-nail-spa/ • Torlak and Şanal (2007). David’s strategy formulation framework in action: the example of Turkish Airlines on domestic air transportation. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Dergisi, 6(12), 81-114. • David (2011). Strategic management (Concepts and cases)(Global Edition 13e). Pearson, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This case study covers different concepts related to leadership. It should help students analyze business situations from a leader’s perspective. By the end of this case study, students would be able to understand the role and the characteristics of leadership during a crisis using the 11 dimensions of character framework, map leadership personalities using the HEXACO model to understand the effectiveness of certain traits in crisis management and apply theories of change management using the Satir and Switch models, in addition to Kotter’s theory of change.

Elsewedy Electrometer Group (EMG) was owned and operated by Emad Zaki Elsewedy as the sole founder and chief executive officer (CEO). EMG was a leading company in the meters industry in Egypt. The time span of this case study covered the period from November 2011, when Elsewedy’s health was deteriorating, to his early retirement in September 2012, and his comeback, two years later, in September 2014. In November 2011, against the backdrop of Elsewedy’s deteriorating health and subsequent early retirement in September 2012, EMG faced several challenges in achieving its vision that hindered its business growth. These arose after Youssef Salah, the former export director of EMG, was appointed as the company CEO. In Elsewedy’s absence, EMG faced liquidity problems, as the banks demanded that it repay all its debts. At the same time, the business suffered severe losses owing to its inefficient operations. Elsewedy decided to return to EMG in September 2014 to find a solution and help the business recover to ensure its continuity and sustainability. After taking a holistic view of the crisis at hand, he was faced with a dilemma and several questions: Was the company leadership effective? Would a change in leadership be required? How could he lead effective change in light of the current crisis? How could he ensure that EMG did not end up in a similar predicament in the future? This case was designed to teach leadership in crisis and change management in the metering industry.

This case study is intended for graduate and undergraduate students studying a leadership or management course. It can help students comprehend the challenges that arise when a large business undergoes a management transition during a crisis. The case study also considers how leaders are shaped by crises. This case study can be considered as level 1 on a 1–3 scale, as the full description of the situation is given in the case study and the task of the students is to analyze the leader and his decisions using various academic concepts and theories (Erskin et al., 2003).

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CSS 7: Management science

The psychological empowerment theory of intrinsic motivation is the primary theoretical basis for the case. Other theories discussed include personality theories and transformational leadership theory.

This is a field-researched case, based on face to face interviews with V.G. Jayakrishnan. The author also visited Jayakrishnan’s institution and attended an event there. The author also relied upon archival data in the form of newspaper reports: both print and video. The case is based on events before July 31, 2017.

This case examines how entrepreneur V.G. Jayakrishnan, between 1995–2017, set up two successful, yet distinct businesses, namely, ICD (Institute for Career Development), a leading banking test prepping center in Kerala, India and JK Farms, a state-of-the-art dairy farm. Jayakrishnan’s vision and ability to think far ahead of his competition led to ICD becoming one of the most successful banking test prep centers in Kerala, India. Similarly, Jayakrishnan’s vision of scientific dairy farming allowed him to set up the state of the art JK Farms. The case allows students to examine the concepts of intrinsic motivation and transformational leadership.

The case can be used both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. At the graduate level, it can be used at the beginning of any leadership class to foster discussion about intrinsic motivation and transformational leadership. At the undergraduate level, it would be better positioned at the middle of the organizational behavior course after the students have discussed the chapters on motivation, leadership and personality in principal textbooks (Colquitt, LePine and Wesson, McGraw Hill, 2018).

The case describes the dilemma faced by Meera Nair, chief manager at PhoenixWay – a consultancy firm that has successfully grown over the years. There is a silent conflict in the personalities, work styles and attitude of Meera Nair and Mohit Dubey, her contemporary looking after client relationships. Nair finds inconsistencies in the words and actions of Dubey that have started to impact the work and motivation of her team. Her unsuccessful attempts to draw the attention of their boss Shekhar Sinha to these variances have left her unsure and demotivated. Sinha overlooks Dubey's fallacies and shows no signs of paying attention to the discrepancies and contradictions.

The expected learning outcomes are to understand key frameworks and tools for global leaders through the application of widely used theoretical frameworks on a written business case, understand the role of the leader in a team, apply theories of change to situations to anticipate courses of events and evaluate and apply relevant theory to assess a leader’s character and personality.

Hassan Allam Holding (HAH) was a family-owned Egyptian engineering, construction and infrastructure company managed by co-Chief Executive Officers and brothers Amr and Hassan Allam. HAH experienced significant growth and success, but eventually, it reached a point where its family governance structure could no longer sustain further growth. Amr and Hassan realized this and started planning to transition toward a corporate governance structure. In 2016, they managed to get the International Finance Corporation on board as an equity partner, and this helped propel the governance transition, but they still needed to find a way to convince the family to step back. This case study can help students understand the issues that may occur during a change within an established organization of any size. The case study considers the implications the change may have on the leader, his personality and his character and how it shapes the leader in question as an outcome. This case study has been designed to be used in one or two sessions and can be offered in management or leadership courses at an undergraduate or graduate level.

This case study is intended for graduate and undergraduate students studying a leadership or management course. It can help students comprehend the challenges of a family-owned business and how change is associated with such businesses. The case also considers how leaders are shaped by effectively managing conflict. This case can be considered as Level 1 on a 1–3 scale, as the full description of the situation is given in the case and the task of the students is to analyze the leader and his decisions using various academic concepts and theories (Erskin et al., 2003).

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Brands are socially constructed (Askegaard, 2006) and are culturally dependent on the “cultural codes of branding” by taking into consideration the history, images and myths that can influence brand meaning (Schroeder, 2009). Brands can be of great value when they hold a favorable image in the consumer’s mind (Anholt, 2010). Regional differences and demographics can impact what has a favorable image in the consumer’s mind and can bias the expectancy set for consumers. When selecting a brand name, the SMILE and SCRATCH test should be used (Neck et al., 2018; Watkins, 2014). This name evaluation test can be used to assess the strength of a brand name. If the name has these five qualities, it should be kept, or you should “smile”: suggestive – it evokes positivity; meaningful – customers can understand it; imagery – it is visually memorable; legs – it lends itself well to a theme to run with; and emotional – it resonates with your market. On the contrary, if the name has any of these traits, it should be “scratched”: spelling-challenged – it is hard to spell; copycat – it is too similar to competitors’ names; restrictive – it would be hard to grow or evolve with; annoying – it is annoying; tame – it is lame or uninspired; curse of knowledge – only insiders or some people will understand it; and hard-to-pronounce – it is hard to say (Neck et al., 2018; Watkins, 2014). The marketing mix or 4P’s of marketing – product, price, promotion and place – is a set of tools business owners can use to achieve their marketing goals and is based on McCarthy’s (1960) work. The S.A.V.E. framework – solution, access, value and education (Ettenson et al., 2013) – has more recently been cited as a more modern replacement to the long used 4P’s model (Ettenson et al., 2013). Through this framework, business owners can work to align their brand to provide a solution to customers’ problems, give them access to the solution, provide value for customers and educate them about the product or service. The S.A.V.E. framework focuses on solutions, access, value and education rather than product, place, price and promotion. In this framework, the business should focus on meeting their customers’ needs and being accessible to customers along their entire journey from hearing about the company to making a purchase. Additionally, companies should provide value for their customers rather than solely worrying about price, and instead educate customers by providing information they care about (Ettenson et al., 2013; Neck et al., 2018).

Teaching case.

This case presents the story of Big Momma’s, a coffee shop in a deteriorated historic district in Springfield, Missouri. Big Momma’s owner Lyle, a black man in a predominantly white region, was new to the area and launched the business quickly, without much market testing of the concept or brand. Soon after launching, Lyle wondered if he was set up for doom as customers constantly ask for Momma or barbeque. It seemed necessary to take a critical look at the marketing and branding plans.

This case could have multiple uses, primarily for early stage undergraduate students studying entrepreneurship or integrated marketing communications. The case lines up nicely with the following textbook lessons. Entrepreneurship: the case can be used with Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset (Neck et al., 2018), chapter 16, lesson on branding with a specific tie to the SMILE and SCRATCH test described in Table 16.1 and the S.A.V.E. framework described on pages 453–454. It can also be used with Entrepreneurship (Zacharakis et al., 2018), chapter 6, lesson on marketing strategy for entrepreneurs with a specific tie to the sections on marketing mix and value proposition described on pages 183–198. Integrated marketing communications: this case can be used with Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications (Shrimp and Andrews, 2013), chapter 3, lesson on brand naming.

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Ian Henson was about to take the biggest financial risk of his life. He had just agreed to purchase three Booster Juice franchise stores in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Henson knew that transitioning leadership at companies was a difficult task, and he was aware that he was replacing a popular leader: Natalie Peace. Compounding the challenge ahead of Henson were two major hurdles, the first was demographic in nature: Booster Juice’s employee group was young (on average below 20 years old) and many adored Peace, he was certain that whoever replaced her would have a difficult transition. The second challenge was managing change: Henson needed to cut costs. Peace had several generous policies that Henson needed to consider altering or removing, a potentially unpopular task. Initially, this case puts students in Henson’s shoes: How should he handle the specific aspects of this leadership transition? It allows professors to examine the broader issue of managing a change process.

Data for the case were collected from various sources. Public records, historical documents, and media reports were the main source for general background information and context. Primary data were collected through a series of interviews with the present and past owners of the Booster Juice franchises discussed.

This case was developed for use in an undergraduate management course or where change management and leadership are specific modules, an organization behavior class is a good example of where the case should fit. The objective of the case is to illustrate the challenges that resulted from a change in leadership and examine how to manage the change process. The thought-provoking element in this case is the leaders involved have very different leadership styles. The authors anticipate this case would be one used early in the course, as it is concise and straightforward to read, and clearly illustrates the issues to be examined. It provides an effective tool through which to introduce students to change management and styles of leadership. The added value is that the case is based on a company built by an undergraduate student and thus students tend to be very interested in the business itself.

The main theoretical base for the case is based on change management and exemplary leadership. To facilitate this the authors use Kurt Lewin’s models of change, Kotter’s eight step process, specifically referring to Kotter (1995). The authors then use Kouzes & Psoner five practices of exemplary leadership, referring to Kouzes, and Posner (2003). The authors specifically reference Northouse (2010).

Odds & Edge, a micro venture based in Ahmedabad, India, has created a niche for itself in the affordable designer wear segment. Covid-19 induced lockdown pushed Odds & Edge to the brink of collapse. And because of the severe cash crunch partners need to take a call regarding the continuation or closure of the venture. The case is intended to be discussed in an entrepreneurship class for post-graduate level participants. The case setting is inside Odds & Edge and it was May 01, 2020, when Ms Jheel Jain - a partner & the protagonist, needed to decide the future of the venture. Participants will have a brief understanding of entrepreneurial traits and will also learn about the Ansoff Model of expansion in case of continuation and the different exit choices for an entrepreneur. As Odds & Edge operates in the fashion industry, students will be able to understand the concepts such as Ecopreneurship, Circular Economy, and Trashion. The case follows through the background of Ms Jain, the ideation stage, and the players in the Trashion Industry. It then moves on to the operation of Odds & Edge narrating the process, products, and partners of the venture. The case ends with the decision dilemma for Ms Jain i.e. should she continue? If yes then how could Odds and Edge expand & grow? Or Should Jheel surrender and exit? If yes then what are the probable exit choices for her?

1. to understand the concept of Ecopreneurship, Circular Economy and Trashion; 2. to identify and discuss common entrepreneurial traits; 3. to analyze the Ansoff Matrix for exploration of various expansion/growth strategies; and 4. to understand different exit strategies available to an entrepreneur.

The case is intended to be discussed in an entrepreneurship class for post-graduate level participants.

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CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

MBA/MS level programs.

Social entrepreneurship, sustainability and business strategy.

The case discusses about how social entrepreneur Katerina Kimmorley founded Pollinate Energy with five of her friends to provide solar lights to the urban slum dwellers in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, a state in the Southern part of India. The company recruited people known as “Pollinators” for distributing their solar lights to the communities on installments making it affordable to them. To scale-up its sustainable energy initiatives and expand its global reach, Pollinate Energy merged with the US-based solar energy company Empower Generation in 2018 to form Pollinate Group. Since the company was making losses and was a nonprofit organization, the new CEO of Pollinate Group Sujatha Ramani and the senior management team had to tackle the challenge of scaling up the company while financially empowering women microentrepreneurs from marginalized communities.

Study Pollinate Energy’s business model and explore ways in which it can be made sustainable. Discuss the personality traits of Kimmorley which contributed to her success. Discuss how the merger with Empower Generation will help Pollinate Group in expanding its global reach. Explore ways in which the venture can be scaled up further.

Pollinate Group focused on women empowerment to tackle the gender inequality challenge. The company provided equal opportunities for men and women, thereby removing discrimination from access to opportunities, sources, services and promotion of equal rights.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship