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Human resource development/management and change management.

The case is suitable for final year undergraduate human resource development/management or specialist HRM Master's programs (strategic HRM/HRD).

The case study highlights the challenges of managing change and growth in India's dynamic business process outsourcing sector. The choice of a large and complex organisation brings to the fore the complexity of decision making and how various factors shape the development of critical organisational capabilities and training provision.

Depending on the level of the class and the emphasis, one or more of the following learning outcomes can be achieved from this case study. Following thecase analysis, students should be able to: discuss the key challenges faced by BPOLAND; identify and analyse the various influences of internal and external factors on training provision; understand the importance of forging partnerships with key functional groups for shaping training and organisational capabilities; analyse the dynamic interactions between the various factors and training provision; analyse the relationship between BPOLAND's competitive strategy and its training choices (make versus buy); evaluate the role of training in developing organisational capabilities; and strategise a way forward for the person responsible for learning and development.

Teaching notes are available; please contact your librarian for access.

In this case we describe the gradual transformation of India's largest private sector steel manufacturer Tata Steel that enabled it to win the coveted Deming Prize for quality. The case discusses how the company is able to maintain a relentless focus on meeting the customers' needs, sustain a culture for excellence in quality, build processes that empower the workers in taking decisions related to their area of work freely, instill leadership skills at all levels, and embed continuous improvement as part of their organizational culture.

“Samsung Electronics had experienced a series of quality-related problems, including the recall of one of its LCD TV models. Unfortunately for quality director Kevin Sarni, there was no single root cause behind these problems: Samsung's supply chain management, product design, and testing/quality assurance functions all played a role.

Sarni regularly worked with quantitative data from Samsung's customer complaint database, but recently he had been shown comments about Samsung products posted on the website ConsumerAffairs.com. The number and emotional tone of the website postings concerned him; he worried these kinds of complaints might touch off a social media—fueled public relations firestorm that would make his job more difficult.

He wanted to analyze this feedback, but had no experience with qualitative data. An internal Six Sigma Black Belt consultant suggested he start by creating an affinity diagram and use that to create a Pareto chart to determine which issues to address first. Once Sarni completed the unfamiliar diagrams he had still another task ahead of him: examining the results to see if they justified taking short—term action to address the quality problems raised in the complaints.”

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

• Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

• Identify priorities using Pareto charts

Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

Identify priorities using Pareto charts

The case reinforces the importance of approaching problem solving in a methodical and data-driven manner and demonstrates the power of visual (vs. table-driven) tools.

Quality management among multiple business units of a large organization is often difficult if each unit is run independently in terms on their quality standards. In this case, participants will discuss how Bukhari Group of Companies should establish a common brand image through standardized quality. Participants should also understand that common brand image for diverse products does not mean identical level of rejection or customer complaints. It should be understood that different markets have different tolerance for product failures. The participants can chalk out the measures the protagonist of the case should be able to take to effectively steer the Bhukari Group to achieve profits and excellence.

Upon completion of the case study, the students will be able to find the challenges and underlying structures that cause the problem; the students will be able to identify the dynamic variables and develop the interconnection and interlinkages among the time-delayed variables to build the story of the business case; the students could develop the block diagram and could build the system dynamics model using the simulation software STELLA, and if they do not have the simulation software, even then they could have a mental model to understand the problem well; the system dynamics students can design the policies to make the system better behaved and recommend solutions; and the students could make mind maps and develop the mental model and could recommend solutions and way forward to overcome the challenges and solve the issues.

Tradeasia is a small-scale manufacturing firm that had started its business activities near Sundar Industrial Estate, Raiwind, in September 2007. The company’s prime focus was to buy the potato starch from chips manufacturing companies and, then, extract the potato starch from the waste potato using its own machinery and sell it as a sizing agent to textile mills. Quality characteristics in terms of better millage and enhanced gullibility made it compatible with Rafhan corn-based starch. The major challenge linked to potato starch was its degree of wetness; the potato starch either extracted from rotten potato or procured from the potato chips manufacturing companies had a high degree of wetness and moisture content. Wet potato starch sometimes had more than 60% moisture content, which was really a challenge. Owing to the high degree of wetness, the wet starch was prone to fungus growth, and within hours, the fungus created toxins if it was not dried immediately, and then after 24 h, toxins acquired a black colour, and they became hardened like pebbles. The starch then was unusable even for sizing purposes for textile products. Reduction in the degree of wetness was really a big challenge and demanded prompt action and high productivity of the operational staff to make that product dry for sale purposes. This was the biggest challenge that ended up in huge inventories of wet starch. Capacity constraints and operational inefficiency killed the company’s productivity and affected the company’s profit.

This case study is written and developed for MBA and MS-level supply chain students of the system dynamics course or those studying management of supply chain complexities. This case study discusses the operational challenges while running the business; huge inventories, capacity constraints and inefficiency in production operations were the challenges associated with almost all manufacturing industries. This case study discussed not only why such challenges are appearing in the business but also the solution that resided in the wisdom shared by the employees in the board meeting. An integrated system dynamics model could be used to design the policies to overcome such challenges. Even the block diagram of the model and causal loop diagram could help to conceptualize the problem and explore the way forward.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

The case study “Maruti Suzuki – toward cleaner mobility” has been written keeping in view the requirements in the field of strategic management. The key learning objectives are as follows:• Analysis of business environment.• Product development strategy – creating market segment to gain competitive advantage by leveraging available organizational capabilities.• Strategic decision-making – understanding strategic decision-making process in a complex and highly competitive business scenario.

Maruti Suzuki, a leader in Indian automotive market with around 50% market share in passenger cars, was likely to face intense competition because of disruption by electric vehicles. As electric vehicles adoption was increasing globally in developed countries, automotive companies shaped their strategy accordingly to stay relevant. Maruti Suzuki was yet to be ready with electric vehicles and approached this space differently than other competitors. However, with Indian Government pushing toward cleaner mobility, it was yet to be seen how the company would manage to comply with legislations and compete effectively in marketplace. Indian Auto major, Maruti Suzuki, was on the edge to decide future strategy on electric vehicles to sustain its leadership position. The Indian automotive sector was going through the transformation where auto original equipment manufacturers were bringing electric vehicles and supporting policies from government likely to accelerate its adoption. Maruti Suzuki was striving to counter the competition with available resources to create competitive advantage in changing environment and continue to remain profitable with leadership position in Indian automotive market. The company had successfully maintained its leading position over three decades and transformed the automotive space with its strategies ahead of the curve. Now the company was standing at crossroads with regard to future technology on cleaner mobility. Mr Bhargava had to decide whether to throw the hat in EV ring or wait for other alternate technology disruption.

Management studies and executive development programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

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.

This paper aims to enable students craft a winning corporate strategy applicable for organizations in various contexts. The practical approach consists of conducting scenario planning based on internal and external environment analysis, identifying the winning factor, proposing an implementation strategy of entry and exit strategies, and future customers, and evaluating matching of business ethics and legality.

Wesley Chen, the executive director and group chief executive officer, has the ultimate challenge of leading his management team to operate from a sole proprietorship management style to a listed large company in the Malaysian Stock Exchange. He identified the gap in the need to craft a winning corporate strategy for business sustainability. The corporate strategy should address expansion of their service offerings and needs to be carefully crafted to suit TopSteel’s risk appetite and overall business strategy. The strategy must also consider the internal and external factors that TopSteel faced with, identify the core competency of TopSteel, build in strategic agility in the implementation plans to address the dynamic business landscape, and most importantly ensure the corporate strategy must be in compliance to ethical and legal standards. The case study documents the one year of transition of TopSteel’s operations with a strong focus on the strategic management process direction for a winning OEM+ model through the use of SWIM concept.

This case is suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate programs or even executive courses in strategic management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

Business transformation processes, change management and business strategy.

The case can be used to study business transformation processes and would be relevant for courses on change management and business strategy. It shouldbe studied in the context of behavioral and organizational challenges in implementing an organization-wide change. The case is targeted at MBA students and/or executive participants with professional experience who would be able to link the learningto corporate experience. It can be used for courses on organizational change, business strategy, and change management.

The case, set in India in the year 2011, is positioned in the business consulting domain, and provides insight into managing change from the perspective of a consulting partner. The case discusses challenges and presents processes followed by Wipro Consulting Services (WCS) in conducting an integrated business transformation exercise at Brigade Enterprises Ltd (BEL), a leading firm in India's real estate sector. The BEL engagement had busted the myth that an integrated business transformation could not be conducted in an unorganized sector, and resulted in savings of overUSD 2 million for BEL. The case traces the journey of WCS into business transformation consulting, outlines the solution framework proposed by WCS, and discusses the decisive nature of the Brigade project for WCS' growth trajectory.

The case has been written with the following objectives, to: familiarize students with the processes and phases of a business transformation project; examine transformation barriers and challenges from a consultant perspective; and providestudents an appreciation of the complexities and challenges, decisional criteria and parameters of a large-scale, integrated business transformation exercise.

Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.

The first three years of operation of the West Kendall Baptist Hospital (WKBH) in Miami, Florida provided a “poster child” for efficient and cost effective healthcare delivery to the West Kendall community that it served. The hospital leadership and management team exemplified a quality-oriented staff that moved as a cohesive and dedicated organization. WKBH exceeded every budget prediction and showed a profit in year 3, well before expected. Then came the winds of regulatory change. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the attendant imposition of new reimbursement metrics, the picture at WKBH changed almost overnight. By the first quarter of 2016, WKBH started to lose money in excess of budget predictions despite its increased patient admissions, careful financial planning, expense reductions, quality service, and excellence in patient care delivery. A serious financial crisis was looming with little relief in sight. The hospital management team began to search for solutions.

The research methodology includes collecting quantitative data: original financial statements and financial data from WKBH, as well as qualitative data: interviews of hospital administrators and historical information.

Graduate capstone course in a finance course; masters in health administration; and/or the MBA program.

While it is clear that the ACA was designed with all good intentions, it has created substantial and perhaps, unanticipated financial burdens for caregivers. These issues are not only faced by WKBH. Most hospitals could relate to one or more of the four questions examined as part of this learning process. Graduate MBA students worked with the hospital to identify, define, focus, and resolve difficult quantitative and qualitative issues faced by the hospital as a result of major changes in the regulatory environment with the passage of the ACA. This case focuses upon the current reimbursement environment that has only recently emerged as a result of the implementation of the ACA.