Search results

The key learning from this case study include the following: first, there are various leadership types that leaders can exhibit, such as servant leadership and transformational leadership, and an individual’s leadership style can be evaluated by analysing his/her traits and behaviours. Second, decision-making is much more critical for leaders than for anyone else, and there are different approaches, such as rational and intuitive decision-making, that leaders can apply when making a decision. Third, in male-dominated work environments such as the sports sector, female executives should carefully weigh the risks and opportunities of leadership positions while being promoted.

The UPS Sports and Culture Club was founded in 2003 by Haluk Ündeğer in Zeytinburnu district, one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Istanbul that had a bad reputation for being high on crime and drugs. The club’s main goal was to train children from disadvantaged groups to develop a career in sports. Shortly after the club’s founding, Semra Demirer, a physical education teacher who had devoted her life to children’s physical, cultural and personal development, crossed paths with the UPS Club. In 2004, Demirer started to work at the UPS Sports and Culture Club as the general coordinator. She played an important role in the growth and development of many children over the years and helped raise very talented athletes such as Simge Aköz. In 2020, on the heels of financial and administrative difficulties, the club was at the risk of being shut down. Hence, Demirer grappled with the decision of whether to share this information with the employees and players in the club. She deeply considered how she could overcome the conflict between transparency and confidentiality she was experiencing.

The case study is suitable for undergraduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case demonstrated the importance of cultural peculiarities and mechanisms of customer learning in localizing global marketing campaigns. It introduced the consequences of unexpected spillover of viral marketing and PR scandals on the competition. It helps in developing the students’ ability to determine and assess the impact of viral marketing campaigns from the perspectives of various stakeholders of the organization.

In 2017, Nike Russia created one of the most successful and influential ad campaigns in the Russian women's sportswear market by encouraging young girls to try new sports. At the same time, Reebok launched a successful worldwide “be more human” campaign aimed at empowering women all around the globe. Two years later, Reebok Russia tried to localize the successful campaign while adjusting the message to be more assertive. As a result, the company met a country-wide outrage from both feminists and anti-feminists. The case centers around Nikolay Borisov, the CEO of Nike Russia, who was unexpectedly drawn into a provocative public discussion on the use of the female empowerment agenda for cause-related marketing. The case dilemma was set during mid-February 2019 and involved Borisov’s assessment of the impact of the competitor’s viral campaign on the market and choice of a reaction strategy to public outrage.

This case is appropriate for an undergraduate or graduate-level program curriculum for courses dedicated to or including topics related to positioning, doing business in emerging markets, corporate social responsibility and consumer behavior. Before engaging with the case, the students should be aware of basic management and economics-related concepts and terms, such as strategy, positioning, CSR and viral marketing.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The data for the case is a mix of both primary and secondary data, from the following sources: – personal interviews with the protagonist, Sofana Dahlan; – Tashkeil website; – official documents provided by the company: ■ “Tashkeil – Corporate Brief,” ■ “Saudi National Creative Initiative – Activities Report 2016”; and ■ “Tashkeil Global Company”. – published media sources.

The case outlines the story of Sofana Dahlan (Sofana) (she/her), a social entrepreneur and one of the first few women lawyers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She established Tashkeil as a social enterprise, helping creative entrepreneurs (creatives) with strategic, operational and legal inputs, thus enabling the creative industry in different parts of the Arab world, focussing on Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Her story can be used to inspire students on how a female entrepreneur fought against an extremely restrictive social and cultural environment and achieved her goals. It helps them to understand the challenges faced by women in the context of the Arab world and the key attributes required for them to succeed as an entrepreneur, especially in the context of certain social and cultural barriers. It also helps to understand the importance of resilience in entrepreneurs and to discuss how entrepreneurs can become more resilient.

The case can be used mainly in undergraduate Business Management Programs in courses such as Entrepreneurship, with specific reference to Women Entrepreneurship. The case would be a good fit for courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Creative Businesses.

The learning outcomes are as follows: Identify obvious and hidden impediments to women’s careers; offer initiatives that change women’s career opportunities; explore available instruments to change the corporate culture to deal with gender issues management; and identify tools that help secure changes in these uncertain times.

The case is based on the situation that Nadia Omelchenko, Vice President of IT.Integrator, the leading Ukrainian systems integration company, faced in 2021, when COVID-19 put her thus-far successful initiatives aimed at promoting women’s careers at risk. In 2020, lockdowns were being imposed and lifted, and remote-work practices were evolving. Most women in the IT sector opted for working from home and infrequent attendance at in-office, face-to-face meetings offices because of increased family responsibilities. Her executive team members had become disgruntled about continuing to invest resources in women’s development programs. They believed that the whole idea of women’s promotion was a waste of time because in critical situations they prioritized family obligations and neglected their managerial responsibilities. One of Omelchenko’s main tasks was to secure the company’s ability to recruit and retain the best talent and reinforce the company’s position in the market. As in many emerging economies, a serious skill shortage was the common refrain in Ukraine. Many employers were facing the need to offer more than just monetary remuneration. Moreover, many Ukrainian IT companies were competing with international companies that had more financial resources and policies in place for retaining talent. This case study examines the Ukrainian IT sector, its legal and regulatory framework, and the implication of COVID-19 for the sector. The gender-equality situation is reviewed. Omelchenko's personal journey toward fostering opportunities for women and diversity, as well as her programs and initiatives to change the corporate culture and unlock women’s potential, are discussed.

MBA and Masters students or senior BBA and participants of the executive development programs

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Brand management, marketing management and retail.

This case is applicable to postgraduate business management students.

Mr Rajesh Jain promoted Miraaya chain of stores in the year 2010. Currently, Miraaya is a fast-evolving retail chain selling women's wear, and this case describes Miraaya's journey since its inception and its attempt to build a brand with limited resources and to carve a place for itself amidst growing competition and fast-growing customer awareness. Though Rajesh almost singlehandedly led the brand, the organization has professionals in each function and there has been process orientation – both for front-end functions as well as back-end functions, right from the beginning. In the second year of operation, the revenue grew very rapidly, but in the third year, when faced with the challenge of stagnant revenue, the organization could still increase the profitability. With a focus on product innovation, he and his team have been able to retain the customers' interest, which is at a premium with widespread competition from both organized and unorganized women's apparel retailers. With innovations like salwars in knitted fabric and cropped trousers with elastic waistband, Miraaya remained ahead of the pack. To keep the costs low, Rajesh and his team worked constantly on expanding via franchising and shop-in-shop formats as well as on online sales, thus also increasing the brand awareness. Students might come to the class with an understanding that brand building is done mainly through active communication in the media, while this case would create an opportunity for the students to appreciate that word-of-mouth, online media and building customer relationships via product innovation can be very exciting, affordable and successful media.

With the help of this case, students would learn about customer-based brand equity model and its factors. The case would also help to understand the challenges of brand building in retail in a country like India. It also defines the latest buying behaviour of Indian women and their aspirations.

The case illustrates the challenges and opportunities for a retail entrepreneur in an Indian environment. The case is a nice piece of work to showcase how a new retailer should build the brand in a highly competitive market. This case can be a source of inspiration among budding entrepreneurs.

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

Womenomics is the idea that women’s economic development will lead to improving the economy as a whole

The case is a primary case. Gender equity is about treating men and women fairly, data for the case was collected through interviews with the protagonist Ms Kalpana Anand.

Although women are capable of writing their own destiny regardless of what they are and where they come from, Kalpana Anand, the Executive Director of Avaneetha Textiles, believes that education plays an essential role in empowering women. Accordingly she is determined to offer shop floor jobs to young underprivileged women aspiring dropouts that provides them an opportunity to learn while they earn. Established in the year 2004 in Coimbatore, Avaneetha Textiles is currently being managed by two sisters Uma (Managing Director) and Kalpana. Although this business model supports around 900 young women, not all have made the most of it. Only 25% of their employees benefitted from the “learn-while-you-earn” program promoted by the company. Kalpana realized that such a conduct would hinder the achievement of empowering women. Therefore, the challenge before her was to motivate more women to enroll for different courses and thereby improve the quality of their life.

Graduate or post-graduate level of courses in management, commerce, sociology, social work and related subjects.

Social entrepreneurship

Bachelor/master students.

Women Empowerment through Local Livelihood (WELL) is a social venture that was founded in September 2005, by Danny Merguei. Danny was raised in Israel and had a long career in the corporate world as an auditor. After many years of work, Danny and his family moved to India. Shortly after the family arrived to the south of India, one of the biggest tsunamis in history hit the Southeast coast, on 26 December 2004. Many women who were dependent on their husbands as the family’s breadwinners lost them to the tsunami. Danny reacted to the situation by setting up a program to help these women. As the businesses expanded and the effects of the tsunami subsided, the focus of WELL shifted to women from rural areas who were interested in starting a shared business with a group of other women. Women who are selected for the training offered by WELL are guided for six months on how to create products made of recycled materials, such as household items and accessories. During the training, the women also take classes on how to run a business and on personal development. After the women complete the training, they receive a micro loan to start their own businesses. WELL monitors their development, offers business consultancy and quality controls assistance for the products. WELL also buys the products from the women and sells them to shops in India and around the world. The income generated by these sales is used by WELL to sustain and increase its operations. The women, however, are free to decide whether they want to distribute their products through WELL or find other ways to generate income. The mission of WELL is to provide empowerment tools and alternative livelihood to women. Behind it is WELL’s vision to see the status of women in the Indian society and their self-empowerment improve.

With the help of the case and literature students should understand/learn: Some of the differences and similarities between social and commercial entrepreneurship. The students should try to inspect where there is an overlap in social and commercial entrepreneurship (and how this is reflected in the thought-process and decision of the entrepreneur) and where the two separate. The importance of the social mission in social entrepreneurship. This is one of the crucial differences that exists between social and commercial entrepreneurship. The students think about the motivation that drives the entrepreneur. The students should think about the influence that the lead entrepreneur has on the social business, and how the two are linked. That a social problem can have different layers. The students should come to a realisation that sometimes the “real” or deeper problem is not so easy to see and can be obscured by other more exterior problems. About the complexity involved in building up and operating a social venture. The students should try to identify with the protagonist’s struggles while maintaining their own points of view. To have a critical perspective when making an important decision, and to be able to use and put together the relevant information. How to apply models, theories and concepts from the provided literature to answer the case questions.

Teaching Note 2 videos.

CSS:3 Entrepreneurship.

After completing the case, the students shall be able to do the following:▪ explain the key features and roles associated with non-governmental organizations (NGOs; comprehension);▪ describe major activities/programs run by Kilkaari-Bachpan Ki (knowledge);▪ describe the challenges faced by not-for-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organizations operating at a local level (knowledge);▪ developing TOWS matrix for Kilkaari’s strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities to provide strategies for making the necessary change (analysis);▪ explain the change management strategies used by Kilkaari during COVID-19 using Kurt Lewin’s model (analysis); and▪ develop recommendations for the problems faced by Kilkaari (evaluation).

As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world was left in shambles. The epidemic has had a profound impact on the way organizations used to function. It compelled all sectors and companies to change their working methods and move closer to virtual conceptions. Organizations that were able to adapt to the new environment have thrived, while the rest have struggled and continue to struggle. In today’s world, embracing virtual scenarios is more about perseverance and consistency than it is about making a conscious decision. Organizations such as NGOs have limited financial and non-financial means to adapt to such changes, and some of them were unable to suffice during the tough times.Despite this, the current case study focuses on the NGOs’ path during the pandemic: Kilkaari-Bachpan Ki. The NGO’s primary objective is to provide underprivileged children with free access to education. The current scenario illustrates how the Kilkaarians (team members of Kilkaari) modified their behavior in response to the crisis. To be used in an organizational behavior course, the case is intended for management students. Kurt Lewin’s model of change, which includes unfreezing, mobility and refreezing, can be understood by students. For this research, the authors use a case-study approach to explore how the organization responded when faced with a crisis.

This case is suitable for undergraduate students learning organizational behavior course, strategic management and also relevant to social work courses (social entrepreneurship/NGOs).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows:

Teaching Objective 1: Students will describe specific characteristics of the rural market in India and will draw out the differences vis-a-vis the urban markets.

Teaching Objective 2: Students will describe about the push versus pull strategy and various channels of distribution in rural areas.

Teaching Objective 3: The students will explain the 4As of the rural marketing mix and apply the same in the context of the case.

Teaching Objective 4: The case can be applied with respect to the health-belief model to help students analyse the behaviour change model.

Teaching Objective 5: Students will analyse the challenges associated with supply chain and logistics in rural areas.

This case study looked at a start-up company Rugved Hygienecare Industries Private Limited and their sanitary napkin brand “Abolee” designed and targeted for rural women in India. Onkar Charegaonkar and Mithila Charegaonkar started this venture in December 2017, realizing that sanitary napkins solved a greater purpose of helping women hygienically manage menstruation, and at the same time, there was no threat to this product because over a period of time, it became a necessity of life. Onkar and Mithila believed in giving back to the society and at the same time generate revenue for their company. Onkar and Mithila needed to make a decision with respect to the distribution structure for Abolee to improve penetration in different rural areas of Maharashtra. Onkar and Mithila needed to strategize to create a remarkable impact in the rural areas. There were multiple challenges that were faced by Abolee, such as: creating awareness about hygienically managing menstruation options among women, ensuring that women consumers continue to use hygienic menstruation management material, creating a preference for Abolee among women consumers and deciding on whether to focus on driving sales through existing channel partners or to invest in finding out alternative avenues for selling “Abolee” in rural areas.

This case study was primarily written for understanding rural marketing aspects of marketing management courses at both the undergraduate level and the postgraduate level. This case study also indicated about the role of gender and its impact on consumer behaviour in rural areas. Although this case study was related to the rural Indian market, it can also be related to other emerging economies.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS8: Marketing.

Marketing.

The case is aimed at Business Administration students.

Udaipur based Aavaran – the echos of rural India – is a concept by COS-V, a leading non-governmental organization (NGO), which aims at connecting the tribal women of rural India with the mainstream. The NGO, set up in 1988 by Smt. Girija Vyas, was initially involved in imparting vocational training to the rural poor. Later, COS-V was taken up by Alka Sharma, a graduate from the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur, who completely changed the direction of the NGO. Her interest in textiles and crafts led to the genesis of the concept “Aavaran”. Aavaran is a retail outlet which was opened with a vision to provide the Indian market with traditional yet contemporary textiles and clothing. It offers a collection of women's and children's clothing and home textiles using a variety of traditional textiles and crafts. It is an artisan driven concept where the supply chain incorporates the essence of Indian textiles and crafts at every level. From the dyeing, printing, sampling and assembly of garments everything is done by the local women trained by COS-V with the support of DC-Handicrafts. The raw materials – the textiles, grey fabrics, etc. – are sourced directly from the rural weavers and artisans across India. The case study discusses how Aavaran developed the unique positioning of a retail platform for contemporary products made from traditional techniques, skills and hand-based processes; how it could revive the diminishing arts of Dabu and Phetia and how it carved a niche through its channelized marketing efforts.

The case will familiarize management students with the concept of niche marketing with Udaipur based firm Aavaran as an example which developed a unique positioning through its traditionally developed products. It will also acquaint students with a basic understanding of a supply chain with a cooperative firm in focus.

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