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The case would be specifically useful in courses related to Corporate Governance, Board Dynamics, Leadership, Organizational Behaviour, Corporate Ethics and Strategic Management.

For Post-graduate/Doctoral and Executive Programme/Management Development Programme level courses in Corporate Governance, Board Dynamics, Leadership, Organizational Behaviour, Corporate Ethics and relevant areas of Strategic Management.

The case relates to the imminent departure of Raamit Pell, the founding CEO of Xcelent Services, an educational service provider, to his parental organization at Kozerton after completing his current five-year term. Raamit had moved from Kozerton to become CEO of Xcelent Services. Many of Raamit’s senior executives at Xcelent were not happy about his decision to return. They felt that his departure at this moment might, on the one hand, slow down the ongoing major expansion plans and on the other aggravate a mutiny, under covert Board patronage involving a powerful clique of certain senior executives. The parental agency finally agreed to release him. On the day of Raamit’s farewell, where surprisingly even the clique members were present, many executives appeared sad. Observing the mood, Raamit wondered whether his decision to return to Kozerton was the right one.

To understand the internal governance, leadership and behavioural environment of a company. To understand the impact of internal power equations of a company on the morale of its people. To analyze both the inconsistency between the stated goals of the organization and the revealed actions of its top decision-makers; and the lack of restraint on the power struggle among the top actors of the organization. To identify effective strategies for addressing such issues in future so that their fallouts would be minimized. To relate the behaviour in an organization to the organizational behavioural theories related to leadership, corporate governance, corporate ethics, managerial behaviour and agency problems.

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CSS 11: Strategy.

After completion of this case study, students should be able to reflect on the concept of creating shared value and then determine whether Shesha Geza can be referred to as a shared value company and, if so, what level of shared value it demonstrates. They will be able to subjectively and objectively understand the possible meaning of when a social enterprise embarks on a strategy to scale the organisation; clarity of construct will enable managers to better plan and successfully implement scalability goals. They will also be able to recognise, once scalability goals are better understood and planned, that there are a multitude of intra-organisational levers and drivers that may contribute to the organisation’s ability to scale its operations, which are related to specific internal organisational capabilities of social enterprise companies. In addition, there are situational factors that may affect the business either positively or negatively in relation to the scalability success of which a social entrepreneur should be aware.

In April 2021, Dean Boniface and his brother, Roger, had just signed off a new informational video for their Shesha Geza innovation, a low-cost hand-washing station designed for use at commuter hubs and high-traffic areas across the African continent. The unit used diluted chlorine instead of alcohol-based sanitisers to ensure a more expedient and sustainable solution, one better suited to Africa’s logistical challenges. Boniface, the co-founder of Vue Architects, had conceptualised the idea of the hand-washing hub during South African Government’s enforced COVID-19 lockdown from 27 March 2020 to 1 May 2020. Shesha Geza’s speed to market was a key contributor to its successful response in solving a critical social need. Throughout 2020, Boniface and his team built successful partnerships and secured an impressive order pipeline within a short span. Export opportunities across Africa, installations and maintenance of a sizable number of units across South Africa and the development of a behavioural change programme aimed at hygiene in schools kept the momentum going in the business. However, a year into the business and the future sustainability of a crisis–response enterprise and the ability of a shared value enterprise to scale were playing on Boniface’s mind. He was worried about the future of the small resource-constrained business. Holding onto the mental map of everything the team had learned over the past year, Boniface was confident about one thing: “All the programmes we build around Shesha Geza are value-adds to our current business. Hand hygiene will not diminish after COVID-19; it will continue to be an important social issue across the African continent.”

This case is intended for discussion in post-graduate-level courses such as an MBA and in postgraduate courses focused on business model innovation or on creating shared value. This case is suitable for use in the environment of business courses in relation to environmental situational factors that may affect the ability to scale social enterprises or strategic implementation courses, considering the still pervasive challenge of scaling increasingly important social impact enterprises.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Learning outcomes are as follows: understanding the importance of aligning an entrepreneur’s personal orientation and values (e.g. detachment from the enterprise) with business decisions related to enterprise development; appreciating how prior exposure to business settings can be a source of entrepreneurship pursuits for an entrepreneur; and understand whether a different type of leadership can be instrumental in the creation, running and growth of an entrepreneurial venture, especially in terms of introducing differentiated offerings in the target market.

The case is about an entrepreneur, Sangeeth Varghese, with a very humble and conservative background, who worked in various firms, small and large, and become a young global leader at World Economic Forum, before foraying into entrepreneurship. He is driven by the core values of detachment and democratization, which is reflected throughout his life course and has developed his own views on leadership. After running his first venture LeadCap Ventures with some measure of success, Sangeeth is about to launch his new venture LeadBurg, a web- and mobile-based application for behavioral rating and competency discovery for individuals. The predicament for Sangeeth is about the uncertainties related to the new launch from a business perspective, as well as the concern whether the core principles of democratization and detachment that he identified with, would stand the test in this launch.

Master level program (e.g. MBA).

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurship, Social enterprise.

Masters Programme in Social Entrepreneurship, Social Work, Business Administration; Management Development Programme for Social Entreprenuers.

Organisation for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility (OSCAR) Foundation is a non-profit organisation registered in 2010 under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. Born and raised in the slum colony of Ambedkar Nagar, Cuffe Parade, Ashok, the founder, grew up seeing his friends becoming a victim to many socially inappropriate behaviours due to dropping out of school. Inspired by the thought of breaking this vicious cycle, Ashok used football as a mechanism to instil essential life skills among children and youth and encouraged them to continue their education. The success of his pilot motivated him to set up OSCAR. Presently, through its various programmes, the organisation has reached out to more than 3,000 marginalised children and 500 youths and aims to reach out to 20,000 children by 2020. The case highlights the struggles of Ashok’s entrepreneurial journey and maps the new challenges in scaling up his enterprise.

The expected learning outcomes are as follows: to identify the characteristics of a social entrepreneur and ascertain the leadership skills required by a social entrepreneur; to scrutinise the life cycle of a social enterprise and develop insights to examine the unique risks and challenges faced at the start-up phase of the social enterprise; and to enhance the understanding of interrelationship between passion, mission focus and challenges to attain financial sustainability for a social venture.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are as follows. Students can assess effective business strategies, determine the role of business in shaping informal institutions, understand managing issues in social enterprises, from talent management to expansion to mission drift, and develop deeper understanding of the African context.

The case presents the challenges facing the award-winning CEO/Founder of Tanzanian social enterprise Girls’ Technical Education (GTE). GTE provides technology and coding skills in Tanzania, focussing on educating women and girls. GTE has experienced significant success – expanding into neighbouring Malawi. GTE has a strong vision and mission, clearly articulated and prioritised by the Founder and his Board. Hybrid organisations, blending a social and financial mission, are expected to experience management tensions or mission drift, yet GTE seems to have avoided this. As an emerging organisational form, social enterprises – like GTE – often face hurdles regarding legitimacy and acceptance in the markets in which they operate. GTE is working to understand the Tanzanian and regional contexts and challenges in these ecosystems, seeking to influence norms and bring about positive impact.

Postgraduate courses including MBA, Executive Education and courses focussing on Organisation Studies, Management and Strategy.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 7 Management Science.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding of the principles of choice overload and the impact of consumer choice overload on company sustainability and growth prospects; understanding of how several heuristics inform consumer decision-making; applying nudge theory to interpret and clarify the impact and consequences of nudges on consumer decision-making; and considering the challenge of a newly appointed CEO to influence consumer choice.

The case study and teaching note offers insights into the use of behavioural economics principles in consumer choice. The case study methodology was used to design, analyse and interpret the real-life application of behavioural economics in the retail sector. The case demonstrates how choice overload, dual process theory, decision heuristics and nudge theory play a role in consumer decision-making. The case offers insights into the application of behavioural economics to support the sustainability of a company in an emerging market context. Managers can use the findings to consider how to use behavioural economics principles to drive consumer choice. The application of behavioural economics to an industry facing challenges of sustainability offers new insights into how to design spaces and cues for consumer choice.

The case study is suitable for course in business administration, specifically at postgraduate level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

To appreciate the link of marketing strategy in terms of a brand launch, implementation and sustainability for business growth; to appreciate the complexity of consumer behavior in the purchase and usage journey of consumers for condoms; to analyze the nature of competition for the entry of a differentiated new brand; to analyze points-of-parity and points-of differentiation for uniquely positioning a new brand in the condom category; and to examine, analyze and evaluate strategic options for the next stage of growth. To make choices from the options.

Vishal Vyas, General Manager Marketing, TTK Protective Devices Limited (TTKPDL), had been a part of the exciting journey of launching SKORE, their new brand of condoms. In 2010, the company found itself in a rather unusual circumstance when it lost its rights to the most successful condom brands in the country. However, they had with them their sales and marketing expertise, a good team and a strong and loyal network of retailers. TTKPDL decided to enter the rather crowded Indian condom market and launch a new brand, SKORE. As a product category, condoms were particularly complex, socially, as well as in attitude toward their purchase and usage. SKORE went on to optimally using marketing strategy and gaining a strong foothold by capturing market share from strong players with a differentiated positioning of a brand that was youthful and quirky. By 2017 after having steadily grown the brand, Vyas was now looking for the next level of growth in a market, which not only appeared to be stagnating but also one where competitive activity was increasing. He was considering different options for SKORE’s growth. For TTKPDL, the strategic choice may be between expanding to new markets and new segments of consumers or capturing more of their currently defined target group or both. If they wanted to do something different, should they also look at expanding their product portfolio? Vyas needed to decide on the next move.

This case can be used in the core MBA Marketing Management course or core marketing course in the executive education program to highlight the important link of marketing strategy to business strategy. It can also find a place in marketing strategy and consumer behavior courses. It clearly demonstrates the launch and implementation of a new brand in a cluttered market of a sensitive product category and considers strategic options for further growth. The case is designed to help students appreciate consumer behavior for a sensitive product category and the entry of a new brand with five strong brands leading the market. It guides students toward looking at different options for the next level of growth and making recommendations.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Learn the application of important strategy frameworks such as PESTLE, SWOT and Porter’s five forces. Understand the theoretical underpinnings of services marketing and learn the art of developing service blueprints. Critically evaluate the use of change management strategies to induce behavioral change among employees. Appreciate the balance that social enterprises need to achieve between their commercial and social impact goals. Critically evaluate the decision of outsourcing core competencies.

In 2019, Abbas Jaffery and Sumair Saleem, founders of Washup, Pakistan, a young venture providing on-demand, high-quality and cost-effective laundry service faced a critical management dilemma as their supply chain collapsed due to a rampant surge in demand. The demand surge had been the outcome of Washup’s effort to push its services to the customers by getting vetted by a social media influencer. However, the duo was caught off guard when their supply chain could not meet the sudden increase in demand. The hesitant behavior of the informal workers to join hands with Washup had not only cost Washup this management nightmare but even left the duo at wits ends to develop a strategy that would help gain business idea acceptance from the grass root workers to whom the core competencies of washing and ironing were being outsourced. This case is a rich description of the nuances of operating an unconventional social enterprise in an emerging market and gives an insight on how behavioral change among key workers is critical in ensuring the success of ventures.

This case is geared toward undergraduate students enrolled in courses of entrepreneurship, strategy and services marketing.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Mobile marketing.

MBA, marketing level consultants.

This is the first documented study on the development of a mobile marketing eco-system in Pakistan. The focus of the case is Telenor Pakistan - the first local operator to implement a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy via opt-in based consumer profiling. By positioning itself as a “media company” in the mobile marketing value chain, Telenor Pakistan aims to both enable and drive the mobile marketing eco-system at a time when operators are suffering from a decline in average revenue per user and are endeavouring to put into place strategies that will open up revenue streams based on services other than voice.

To develop a comprehensive understanding of the drivers and restrainers that affect the mobile marketing eco-system in emerging markets; and to examine to what extent operator-driven mobile marketing can create synergies within the mobile marketing value chain.

Teaching notes.

Identify, compare and contrast current and aspirational organisational cultures. Describe desired leadership capacities and how these contribute to building a culture and strategy. Describe ways to align culture with strategy including building an ambidextrous organisation.

Growth remained flat for Tech SA towards the end of 2016. As a subsidiary of a global information technology services firm, Tech SA was under pressure to meet its growth plan. With this in mind, a new culture and values framework to be more innovative, collaborative and responsive had been adopted. This was to match the demands of the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world the company finds itself in. While the organisation had a tradition of serving long-standing clients and contracts to high standards, it was not used to working with radical change and disruptive innovation. To achieve this, significant changes in leadership behaviours were required. The organisation had recognised the need for these changes and a leadership development programme was devised to enable 200 of its top leaders to make the required cultural and behavioural shifts to lead in these times. Although the leadership programme was well into its second year, the targets of the growth plan had not been achieved and the leadership behaviours had not yet been instilled across the business. If the growth plan was not achieved, John would need to consider cost-cutting and retrenching. This was the last thing John wanted to do as he had worked alongside his colleagues for 12 years. What else could John do and say to the leaders to make the required changes urgently needed as a matter of survival? What would it take to deliver to existing clients and explore new products and markets?

Masters, Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Executive MBA and Executive leadership.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science.