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Kevin McRider, the COO of a fledging research facility, needed to foster an environment where scientists explored the boundaries of the metals, chemicals, polymers and tools used to create innovating medical devices. The freshly-minted PhDs he hired were enthusiastic to design and conduct research projects that bridged their scientific disciplines, in a collaborative workplace, with time allocated to individual projects as well. Effectively managed, their research would help the parent corporation leapfrog over existing or near-future technology.

The problem for McRider was how to get Lintell to realize his vision of a collaborative organizational culture that promoted revolutionary scientific discoveries. His challenges included managerial behaviors that prohibited critical interaction and information sharing, as well as disruptive organizational dynamics he himself had set in motion including pressures to focus only on certain research goals and projects at the expense of creative exploration, and the violation of the psychological contracts McRider himself had created with the scientists during recruitment.

The subject areas are e-commerce, brand management, marketing strategy, digital marketing and supply chain management strategy.

Medium, can be used for undergraduate marketing electives and graduate core courses.

Jumei, founded in 2010, had already become China’s biggest online retailer of beauty products. Its 31-year-old Founder and Chief executive Officer (CEO) Leo Chen had become the youngest CEO of any NYSE listed company in 2014. However, Jumei was currently facing a major milestone. Could it become a mega-commerce hub like Alibaba? Or should it stick to its core product line – cosmetics – which was already being challenged by luxury retailers and other horizontal e-commerce competitors?

The case will provide the students the opportunity to conduct a situational analysis Identify and prioritize generic business and marketing strategies, review concepts of brand/line extension and conceive new product ideas, assess Jumei potential as a business-to-customer platform and assess brand equity and potential by comparison to another diversified brand.

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

CSS 8: Marketing.

Entrepreneurship; Business Strategy; Business Environment courses.

This case is appropriate for use in Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programs as well as advanced undergraduate courses. The case provides an apt simulation of the emerging Indian fast food companies in the competitive dynamics of Indian business environment.

Rakesh an MBA graduate from the University of Hartford, Connecticut, after four years of corporate experience, made a decision to start a business of his own. Thus, was born Infusions Foods Pvt Ltd (IFPL) an entrepreneurial venture of Rakesh Raghunathan. IFPL launched its fast food chain of grilled wraps under the brand name of PETAWRAP. The brand was positioned to target the recent consumer behavior shift of Indian consumers which was towards healthy, nutritious food combined with the concept of necessity-based eating out.IFPL had successfully opened six company owned outlets by March 2011. Their strategy for success was built on the age-old four-point formula of a good-quality product, at value for money prices, delivered efficiently to the customers. The absence of “a hygienic branded product” in this Indian fast food industry contributed to the initial success of their company. Rakesh believed that key to building the brand image depended on quality in terms of operations standardization and product quality.

The case is structured to achieve the following pedagogical objectives: To identify the forces on which of an entrepreneurial opportunity is dependent; To analyze the changes in competitive dynamics of Indian fast food industry and identify the factors that lead to the emergence and acceptance of PetaWrap; To understand the challenges of building a brand in low-cost business model and the economics of cost incurred; To evaluate the business strategy and the business model adopted by the company for expansion.

Teaching notes

This case is to familiarise students with the peculiarities of managing people by focussing on human capital development (HCD). Through the case, students are exposed to the critical recruitment and retention issues faced by METAL STAR Limited Company (METAL STAR), which have a detrimental impact on their business operations. Through the novel use of the transformer-transactor-performer (TTP) profiling tool, students are able to recognise the importance of matching the right candidate to the right job as a solution for recruitment and retention issues. At the end of the case analysis and discussion, students would have a clear idea of the TTP Profiling tool and how to identify core elements needed for an effective and holistic recruitment-retention-separation strategy for a company. The knowledge gained is most valuable for the students as it can be applied to other companies having similar HCD issues.

Carina Yew is the General Manager of METAL STAR, a sheet metal fabrication company in Penang, Malaysia. After more than 28 years of operations, METAL STAR has been adopting the same human resources (HR) processes and has failed to keep up with the current HR trends. Yew has to decide the best way to lead her company in transforming the HCD strategy to enable smooth and profitable business growth.

The case is relevant for undergraduate, postgraduate or even executive students taking courses pertaining to HCD or human resource management.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.