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This case study will help students of business management learn the dynamics of strategic decision-making frameworks in a competitive market. After working through the case and assignment questions, the students will be able to understand the 5C framework for strategic decision-making in the context of sports utility vehicles (SUV) segment of Indian automobile industry; identify the opportunities and challenges of the competitive SUV market for long-term survival and growth; and devise a suitable strategic plan incorporating the factors which drive the change in the dynamic automobile industry.

The case study talks about the dilemma faced by Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), a subsidiary of Mahindra Group. M&M, one of the leading auto manufacturers and pioneers of SUVs in India, has been facing a storm across its business in the past few years. While M&M is making a concerted effort to go back on the road to success, its rivals are not standing idly either. Consumer behaviour towards the purchase of cars is changing at a fast pace, and sales of utility vehicles have surpassed the sales of passenger vehicles in the recent past. M&M, whose work culture is a blend of being friendly and performance-oriented to “Rise”, is prepared to take advantage of any opportunity presented by shifting market trends. Following the 10% increase in SUV registrations in 2023, the business is making many attempts to reclaim the ground it is losing in the Indian market. After dropping from its highest position of 53% in FY 2012 to 15% in FY 2021, M&M’s market share increased to 18% in FY 2023. M&M launched a new logo for its SUV portfolio in August 2021 and launched many SUVs back-to-back, such as Thar, Bolero, XUV700 and Scorpion-N, to face the competition. In 2023, M&M chartered the first position in SUVs by revenue, with a market share of 19.1% and ready for 2024 with six new SUVs. The way M&M performed in 2023 is evidence of its primary objective, which is to offer authentic SUVs to lead the SUV market in revenue share. However, there are still many obstacles in the way. When consumers have so many options from rivals such as Hyundai, KIA Motors and TATA Motors, would it be easy for M&M to bring back its SUVs to the market?

The case study is designed for use in a postgraduate-level course in the subjects – strategic management/marketing management. The case study provides an opportunity to discuss how a company can create a unique selling proposition for its product to sustain its growth in a competitive market, when consumers have so many options from rivals.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance mechanisms and the environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score on bank performance and financial stability. Further, this paper analyses how this relationship varies over the different ownership structures.

The paper uses a sample of 41 Indian banks (including both public sector and private sector banks) over the period ranging from 2008 to 2020. The data is analyzed in both static and dynamic frameworks using panel regression and system generalized methods of moments.

The results indicate that the frequency of board meetings has a negative influence on the performance of the banks. Gender diversity reveals both linear and non-linear relationships with bank performance. In the sample of public sector banks, the board size and promoters’ ownership have a significant negative effect on the bank's performance. In private sector banks, CEO duality adversely affects performance. Further, the results indicate that ESG disclosure score is positively linked with the profitability of banks.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of corporate governance mechanisms and ESG disclosure scores on bank performance and stability in the context of the Indian economy. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no empirical investigation or study that has been conducted in this respect.

This study aims to investigate the effects of peers on corporate payout policies in one of the largest emerging markets – India. It also examines the motives for mimicking payout decisions.

The sample is composed of 3,024 non-financial and non-government firms listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for the period 1995 to 2020. To encounter the endogeneity problem, the instrumental variable technique based on peer firms' idiosyncratic risk is used to estimate the effects of peers on firms' payout policy. To define peer reference groups, the authors use the basic industry classification of the firms.

The results indicate a significant positive impact of peers on firms' dividend policies in India. A firm with all dividend-paying peers is more likely to declare dividends than the one with no dividend-paying peers. Further, peer effects are found to be more pronounced amongst larger and older firms, thus supporting the rivalry theory of mimicking.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first of its kind that attempts to understand peer effects on payout decisions in an emerging market India, that offers a unique institutional setting. Moreover, the authors extend the existing literature by investigating the peer effects on a firm's payout policies considering various firm-level characteristics, such as growth opportunity, cash holding, financial constraint and profitability, which previous studies have not taken into consideration. These results provide additional insights into the heterogeneity and motives behind peer effects.

In today's fast developing era, the volume of data is increasing day by day. The traditional methods are lagging for efficiently managing the huge amount of data. The adoption of machine learning techniques helps in efficient management of data and draws relevant patterns from that data. The main aim of this research paper is to provide brief information about the proposed adoption of machine learning techniques in different sectors of manufacturing supply chain.

This research paper has done rigorous systematic literature review of adoption of machine learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain from year 2015 to 2023. Out of 511 papers, 74 papers are shortlisted for detailed analysis.

The papers are subcategorised into 8 sections which helps in scrutinizing the work done in manufacturing supply chain. This paper helps in finding out the contribution of application of machine learning techniques in manufacturing field mostly in automotive sector.

The research is limited to papers published from year 2015 to year 2023. The limitation of the current research that book chapters, unpublished work, white papers and conference papers are not considered for study. Only English language articles and review papers are studied in brief. This study helps in adoption of machine learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.

This study is one of the few studies which investigate machine learning techniques in manufacturing sector and supply chain through systematic literature survey.

1. A comprehensive understanding of Machine Learning techniques is presented.

2. The state of art of adoption of Machine Learning techniques are investigated.

3. The methodology of (SLR) is proposed.

4. An innovative study of Machine Learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.

A comprehensive understanding of Machine Learning techniques is presented.

The state of art of adoption of Machine Learning techniques are investigated.

The methodology of (SLR) is proposed.

An innovative study of Machine Learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.

The global economy has witnessed an exponential increase in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) by emerging market companies (EMCs), demanding a relook at their internationalization strategy. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the announcement of CBAs by EMCs creates value for the equity-holders of acquiring firms and identify factors affecting the valuation of acquiring companies.

The paper investigates the announcement impact of CBAs of CNX Nifty 500 Indian and SSE 380 Chinese companies. The event study analysis of 553 Indian and 125 Chinese acquisitions supports the contention that CBAs are indeed a strategic choice of EMCs for value creation.

CBAs generate positive and statistically significant abnormal returns for shareholders of both Indian and Chinese acquirers. The markets, however, differ in terms of their motivations; country-level factors have been observed to exert significant influence on the returns of Indian acquirers. Indian companies experience larger value creation on acquiring firms established in developed, institutionally closer and/or economically distant markets. The findings support the asset-seeking motive of Indian companies.

The research work contributes to the evolving stream of CBAs literature with a focus on the globalization strategies of EMCs. The present study is a modest attempt to lay the foundation for a new theoretical framework (asset-seeking perspective) of overseas acquisitions from emerging economies. The existing studies on emerging economies have emphasized, in isolation, either Indian CBAs or international acquisitions by Chinese firms. Being so, the study is unique and original in the sense that it is a comparative study of India and China.

Shadow banks or non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs) are facilitators of credit, especially in emerging market economies (EMEs). However, there are certain risks associated with them, such as their unchecked leverage and interconnectedness with the rest of the financial system. In light of this, the present study analyses the impact of the growth of shadow banks on the stability of the banking sector and the overall stability of the financial system. The authors further examine the effect of the growth of finance companies (a type of NBFIs) on financial stability.

The study employs data of 11 EMEs (monitored by the Financial Stability Board (FSB)) for the period 2002–2020 to examine the above relationships. Panel-corrected standard errors method and Driscoll–Kray standard error estimation are deployed to conduct the analysis.

The results signify that the growth of the shadow banking sector and the growth of lending to the shadow banking sector are negatively associated with the stability of the banking sector and increases the vulnerability of the financial system (overall instability). This implies that the higher the growth of the shadow banks, the higher the financial fragility. Finance companies are also found to negatively affect financial stability. These findings are validated by different estimation methods and point out the risks posed by the NBFI sector.

The extant study builds a composite index (Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI)) to measure financial stability; thus, the findings contribute to the evolving literature on shadow banks.

This paper aims to explore the evolving needs of Indian men and their aspirations regarding work–life balance practices. The ultimate aim is to assess whether the available policies are helpful and to explore the various roadblocks in their implementation.

This study takes a qualitative approach and draws on the semi-structured interviews of Indian men (N = 19).

The analysis revealed an asymmetrical approach of organizations toward implementing employee benefit policies. The organizations remain plagued by the notion that “benefits policies” are needed only by women to carry out additional family responsibilities, whereas men remain aloof from such responsibilities, which takes its strength from the patriarchal roots of Indian society. This study reveals two major themes: lack of appreciation for gender egalitarianism arising among men at the work–family interface’ and the coping practices by men to address their ‘role strain arising due to work–family conflict. It is noted that there is a need to formulate policies and practices to cater to men’s evolving aspirations toward the family–work interface.

This study furthers the debate on inclusive policies for employees and examines the subsection of men for their evolving needs and aspirations. Although organizations live in the glory of having employee-friendly policies, they offer little help in advancing gender neutrality in the workplace. The inclusive policies shall also be helpful for females because it would increase the availability of their partners/spouses to share the family responsibilities.

Owing to the dramatic rise of FinTech credit in the financial sector, this study describes its knowledge and intellectual structure and paves the way for future research.

The study employs citation analysis, keyword analysis, co-author analysis, co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling on 268 peer-reviewed articles published during 2010–2021 and extracted from the Web of Science database.

Research on FinTech credit has picked up momentum from 2016, with majority contributions from China, followed by UK and USA. International Journal of Bank Marketing is found to be the most productive journal. Co-citation analysis reveals that past studies have focused on three dominant themes, viz. (a) factors that influence user intention to adopt technological products and services (b) borrowers' and lenders' characteristics that impact fund-raising in FinTech credit platforms and (c) evolution of FinTech market over the years. Bibliographic coupling reveals that recent trends in FinTech credit include (a) impact of emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data on financial system, (b) factors that encourage consumers to adopt the FinTech products and services, (c) mechanisms by which FinTechs have transformed formal credit markets, (d) factors that lead to successful fundraising in FinTech platforms and (e) critical perspectives on digital lending platforms.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a pioneering study undertaking an exhaustive analysis of FinTech credit as a research area. The study offers valuable insights on potential topics of research in FinTech credit domain like investigating Balance Sheet Lending Model, investigating the impact of FinTechs on financial system, and new markets by collaborating with scholars of other regions.

This study aims to explore the relationship between the objectives of Islamic banking, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the South African context. Diving deep, this study also explores the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used, resulting in 163 respondents participating in this study. The data was collected using an online survey and analysed using a structural equation model based on the partial least squares method.

The results indicate that the construct related to the objectives of Islamic banking influences both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction is also found to influence a customer’s loyalty to the Islamic bank.

In South Africa, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind; thus, the results provide context-specific insights into the extant literature on Islamic banking for Muslims residing in a non-Muslim majority country.

This study aims to explore the adoption behaviour of consumers towards innovative technology products and services (ITPS).

A qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews was conducted with 47 respondents. Their lived experiences across 50+ ITPS were studied. A grounded theory approach was used to develop a theory with reference to consumer adoption of ITPS.

Themes emerged across the adoption process, such as triggers for adoption (pressing need, making life more pleasurable, urge to acquire and forced initiation); hesitancies faced by consumers during evaluation (value alignment, utilization, ecosystem, risks with new technology and price); and factors that help in overcoming the hesitancies (word of mouth, de-risking schemes and self-devised strategies).

Innovators must understand customer triggers and design offerings that activate the same – addressing a pressing need or making lives more pleasurable. Users driven purely by an urge to acquire can be a source of early word of mouth for radical innovations. Innovations must be designed and communicated to minimize hesitancies. Mitigating schemes such as equated monthly installment and return policy can be offered to empower customers to overcome hesitancies. Factors such as price, risk, beliefs, traditions and nationalistic values assume importance, specifically in an emerging economy.

This study based on grounded theory keeps the user at the centre and explains the innovation adoption phenomenon for a wide variety of 50+ ITPS in the context of an emerging economy.