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Management, strategy, entrepreneurship.

MBA, executive education.

The case deals with the challenges of fundraising and location decision making for a high technology start up company based in the United Arab Emirates. Tan Rasab is a Chief Executive and co-founder of Sensehere, a high technology start up company involved in the design and development of semiconductors for wireless sensors. The company has developed a unique technology that allows sensors to dramatically reduce energy consumption and thereby improve battery life of sensors.The company is currently based in the UAE, where it finds the environment highly supportive overall but challenging from the point of view of fund raising. On the other hand in China the company is meeting significant investor interest and several partnerships have been concluded. Despite the advantages offered by the UAE environment, the company is considering moving some or all of its operations to China.

• Familiarise students with the challenges of fundraising for new ventures.

• Understand the implications of technological breakthroughs in different application areas.

• Develop an understanding for the different considerations to be made when choosing a location for business functions.

Familiarise students with the challenges of fundraising for new ventures.

Understand the implications of technological breakthroughs in different application areas.

Develop an understanding for the different considerations to be made when choosing a location for business functions.

Teaching notes.

This case was developed from secondary sources. The secondary sources included company websites, social media and news reports. This case has been classroom tested in multiple executive master of business administration (MBA) courses on business model innovation and entrepreneurship.

The case traces the entrepreneurial journey of Dozee, a remote patient monitoring system in India. Dozee was manufactured by Turtle Shell Technologies Private Limited, cofounded by Mudit and Gaurav. The primary customers of Dozee’s offering were households with elderly citizens and health-conscious individuals who sought preventive health care. The cofounders identified the unmet need for a convenient and user-friendly contactless health tracker. Dozee team built a thin sensor-embedded sheet and module that can be placed beneath the mattress to track sleep patterns and health vitals. They also provided data analysis and data interpretation services. After four years of conceptualization, Dozee launched its product and service in 2019. Although the initial response was lukewarm, the onset of the COVID-19 crisis led to significant changes in the health-care industry. Demand for virtual assistance and contactless monitoring devices became increasingly important elements of COVID-19 treatment. Unlike other sensor-based fitness trackers, the sheet could be easily placed under the patient’s bed to capture health vitals. Choosing to pivot from a home-based individual customer segment to a medical-grade device provider for hospitals could significantly increase the scale and scope of the offering for Dozee, but it would also place Dozee in direct competition with other health monitoring devices from different business categories.

This case is appropriate for MBA and executive-level courses related to entrepreneurship and business model innovation. The case explores issues such as digital disruption and how start-ups can design a go-to-market strategy. The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the health-care industry. Participants can certainly relate to the concept of adopting artificial intelligence–enabled devices for monitoring their health. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Dozee’s vision and the opportunities and challenges in adopting digital solutions in health care.

On completion of this case study, students will be able assess new venture opportunities by properly allocating expansion fund in growing the business; analyzing various scaling-up options; applying the Ansoff matrix for growth and expansion; designing a framework for scaling up; and using the business model canvas.

Mr Sreeram established Eruvaka Technologies in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh (India), in 2015 to provide products and services related to aquaculture. The company was founded with the goal of assisting prawn farmers who had trouble keeping up with the demands of the industry. Eruvaka Technologies created risk-reducing and productivity-boosting on-farm diagnostic devices for aquaculture growers. The company developed low-cost monitoring and automation solutions for aquaculture by merging sensors, mobile connection and decision tools. Eruvaka’s primary objective was to offer reasonably priced, technologically advanced goods and services to farmers. Eruvaka matured into a promising startup over time, attracting $5m in funding. Sreeram and his team had to detail their plan to their investors about how they intended to use the money from each funding rounds toward growing the business, how the company planned to achieve sustainable and competitive advantage while providing value to its consumers and how they would address critical issues including product acquisition cost, supply chain problem and customer anxiety.

This case study can be taught as part of undergraduate- and postgraduate-level courses and Master of Business Administration courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Through this case, students will not only learn about the latest development of this emerging industry, IoT, but also gain a systematic understanding of “ecosystem strategy” and get to know a new corporate growth model called “co-creation”.

This case describes why and how Advantech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Advantech) has transformed in the age of the Internet of Things. Aware of the ecosystem attributes of the IoT industry and committed to the company’s principle of “altruism”, Advantech strategically positioned itself as an “IoT platform provider” and an “enabler” for IoT applications. After carrying out a reform in terms of internal management, external cooperation, and development model, Advantech has evolved from an industrial computer maker to an IoT solution provider. Since the launch of the “co-creation model” at the end of 2016, Advantech has drawn attention from many excellent companies in traditional industries. With the Internet of Everything close at hand, Chairman KC Liu is well aware there are many challenges to overcome as Advantech strives to build an industrial IoT ecosystem, the “evolution” continues.

MBAs, EMBAs and senior executives.

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 11: Strategy

This case is designed to provide learners with strategic decision-making skills. It also introduces the various nuances of establishing a technopreneurial venture and creating and sustaining a competitive advantage. The setting allows learners to comprehend the significance of assessing the business environment and the advantage of being a first mover in any business sector. The case allows a rare glimpse into the strategic decision framework of a scale-wise relatively much small tech firm that is competing with global giants and creating waves, and winning accolades for its performance. The case also allows learners to understand the analysis and decision-making parameters studied by a company while selecting a product. After working through and discussing this case, learners should be able to identify the strategic decision framework in which Aeron undertakes a product selection decision; analyze the conditions in the operating environment that made Aeron possess a competitive advantage; and design the product choice strategy for Aeron.

This case is about the journey of two friends, Abhijeet Bokil and Ashwani Shukla, who started a company together in Pune, India, in 2008 and achieved great success. The case discusses their tryst with different products and industrial sectors. It unfolds the journey of their startups and their finding the desired product category. It also discusses the various hurdles they face while establishing the business. The journey was tough as it occurred in the unpredictable background of the dynamic international technology and policy environment. The common challenges to entrepreneurship were present throughout their journey. The team encountered various financial and technological trials during these years. The case explains how excellent strategic choices made the team overcome those challenges. The biggest dilemma faced by the team was to select between two of their products. The one who gave them visibility and success or the new upcoming one with more entry barriers. The case deals with the issue of product selection in the sectors of telematics and weather monitoring.

The case is appropriate for courses in Business management, Strategy management programs & innovation and Entrepreneurship management courses. The case would suit BBA and MBA students learning various management models.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Aries Agro, an agribusiness firm, faced two prime challenges – the safety and productivity of its workers. When traditional software systems fell short of addressing these challenges, the firm contemplated the implementation of an IoT (Internet of things) based solution. This IoT based solution captures the movement of workmen and generates data from the sensors that help identify sources of inefficiency. In this case, we not only discuss the implementation challenges of an IoT based implementation but also how this solution can help to promote safety among the workmen and improve worker productivity by optimising facility layout.

Rivigo, a new entrant in the trucking business in India, believed that a new paradigm in the trucking/logistics industry could be brought about that would not only improve the quality of service dramatically, but also upgrade a truck driver's lifestyle. While the industry faced driver shortage largely due to long stays away from home, Rivigo hoped to attract drivers by offering them roles which would bring them back home in 24 hours. Drivers would be part of a relay, handing over the truck at pit stops. Further, they leveraged an IT-enabled IoT platform on a fleet of owned trucks. All this revolutionized most of the traditions then followed in the industry. The entrepreneur and his core team comprised professionals from premium institutes of the country, with experience in professional organizations in related domains. By offering services like assured delivery at half the time and full shipment visibility, Rivigo had to charge a premium to market segments that would value this. The case raises the question of sustainability in the future.

GE Healthcare was on a continuous lookout for investing into new and innovative super value products for the Bottom of the Pyramid markets in India. After launching its first successful super value ECG machine Mac 400, GE had recently launched its twenty-fifth super value product a PET CT machine. Serving the BOP markets has its own unique challenges that may be different for each product that is placed in the market. However, GE has so far successfully sailed through all the challenges and developed a steep learning curve about BOP markets. However, it is now facing the challenge of ensuring sustainability of product pipeline. The company is also keen to exploit the opportunities for reverse innovation that super value products have provided. The company also wants to assess the disruptive impact of these products in domestic medical device markets as well as markets outside India.

This case study outlines the marketing, strategic and organizational issues facing the ever-expanding agri-inputs market in India, through the perspective of Agroy – an agri-products company. This case can be used to assist in the teaching courses such as marketing management, rural marketing, business strategy, operations and logistics management, among others, for students of MBA or other specialized courses in management. The case has been developed to make students aware and to understand the arduous nature of setting up a company catering to the huge Indian agri-inputs market. This case delves into the complexities of marketing in rural India that is characterized by low technological awareness, low volumes of digital transactions and immense language barriers. The Indian agricultural market is huge and has undergone a considerable amount of change owing to competition among multinational companies and traditional local micro-retailers. This case discusses the various challenges faced by multinational companies in entering India and how they need to strategize to modify their Western model of a distribution channel which faces huge challenges when put to test in India. Specific learning outcomes include: the case study would help students to comprehend the new business strategies that an MNC could adopt in emerging markets. Some companies work on changing traditional and conventional value chains of activities to fit the emerging market customer’s best and hence companies needs to figure out a unique business model to compete in emerging markets. This case study gives readers the opportunity to think about strategy in an uncertain environment. The case illustrates the challenges associated with innovating new business ideas that would help the company serve a greater number of people from a diverse background. It highlights the importance of thinking about real options, a portfolio of projects and the type of organizational structure required to tackle the uncertainties associated with foreign companies aiming to enter the Indian market. It also explores marketing and distribution issues – which are the type of customers to target and which are the suitable geographic areas with suitable linguistic compatibility in which there shall be ease in doing business. Finally, it is an avenue for students to think about the changes necessary throughout the distribution channel to successfully implement and commercialize a project in rural India. The case is intended to work well as a learning tool for strategy implementation where uncertainty is inherent and as an application to lectures on real options and risk or for discussions related to marketing and distribution channels and its challenges.

The Indian agricultural market plays an important role in India’s economy having a staggering 58 per cent of rural households depending on it as the principal means of livelihood. However they have very small landholdings, and hence, they find it difficult to order either large quantities or in bulk, as a result of which the cost of agricultural inputs gets enhanced. Agroy, an MNC, is one of the many companies that have stepped in to bridge this gap by trying to tap into the huge agricultural market. Agroy aspires to be the “UBER of agriculture.” Agroy is a cloud-based buying platform for farmers to buy agri-inputs efficiently at scale and at the best price from around the world. With big data and smart farming, the company aims to enhance farm sustainability and productivity. Agroy’s competitors like Agro Star and Big Heart also have similar business models and hence the competition is stiff. The three debatable questions that the case poses are: Will Agroy be able to shatter the age-old loyalty that Indian farmers have toward local retailers and other Indian companies that have an existing strong foothold in the market? Will similar distribution models as practiced in developed Western countries work in India, given the distribution challenges in deep rural Indian hinterland? Will Agroy be able to create sustainable business models by marketing agri-inputs at low prices in India?

MBA in courses such as entrepreneurial marketing, strategic marketing, agricultural marketing.

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.

The case will help learners to analyse how effective handling of an extended marketing mix of 7Ps (product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, participants and processes) makes a startup profitable in its initial years of inception; understand the significance of the online marketing strategies like digital marketing and social media marketing implemented by firms to attain a competitive edge amongst established local and global competitors; examine the strategic challenges faced by a business enterprise while entering an emerging market; analyse the growth strategies of a startup relative to various market constraints; and propose long-term strategies for sustainable growth for a startup operating in the wearables market.

Founded in 2016, Boat Lifestyle is a Delhi-based Indian startup in fashionable consumer electronics. In the past five years, Boat earned remarkable profits and emerged as one of the most promising startups through its innovative products offerings and promotion. Aiming at its target customer segment, the millennials, it promoted its products through social media marketing such as influencer marketing and brand tie-ins with sports teams and music events. The case focuses on the dynamics of the Indian wearables market that is facing tough competition from global and local players. To ensure continued growth prospects, while maintaining a tight focus on product differentiation, quality, and customer satisfaction, there is a greater need for Boat to rethink its market development and growth strategies regarding new innovations and adopting long-term orientation like diversification and global expansion.

The case aims for teaching business management students at the Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Executive education level. In addition, the case can be related to the Strategic Management course curriculum and Marketing course curriculum.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy