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In 2008, Shaheen Mistri, founder of the nonprofit Teach For India (TFI), was grappling with applying and adapting the business and recruitment models of the successful U.S.-based Teach For America and UK-based Teach First to meet the challenges of the education sector in India. The case provides a review of the U.S.- and UK-based models, as well as an analysis of the factors that drove their growth in their respective markets. However, the adaptation of these models to create one that could succeed in the Indian context was not straightforward. The case describes a number of ways the challenges in India differ from those in the United States and United Kingdom—namely, the size and magnitude of educational inequity, the motivations of undergraduate students as potential teacher-volunteers, the part that parents play in making career decisions for their children, and the attitudes of school officials.

Students reading the case will discuss the roles of various constituencies involved in these models. After identifying how crucial constituencies are served by the U.S. and UK models, the students will then brainstorm concrete ways that these models could be adjusted for India so Mistri could successfully recruit her program's first cohort of TFI fellows

• Understand that crucial constituencies and value propositions often change as a for-profit or nonprofit business moves from one country (or part of the world) to another

• Apply the disciplines of market positioning of for-profit businesses (target market selection, frame of reference, and point of difference or superiority) to a nonprofit business

• Create value propositions for the various constituencies of a nonprofit organization, including volunteers, funders, and aid recipient

Understand that crucial constituencies and value propositions often change as a for-profit or nonprofit business moves from one country (or part of the world) to another

Apply the disciplines of market positioning of for-profit businesses (target market selection, frame of reference, and point of difference or superiority) to a nonprofit business

Create value propositions for the various constituencies of a nonprofit organization, including volunteers, funders, and aid recipient

This case involves an experience in large group visioning, specifically the processes of developing and building consensus around institutional goals and objectives. It takes place at a point roughly halfway through the process. The protagonist, Sally, is the project coordinator. At this point in the process, the participants have collectively invested hundreds of hours in the creation of widely diverse ideas for the future of the university. Her dilemma is the challenge of maintaining the commitment and support of the participants as the vision is reduced to a much shorter and more focused statement.

The case is based on archival data and interviews with 40 of the 300+ participants who were engaged in the process, including Sally, steering committee members, faculty, staff, and outside stakeholders (alumni and members of the board of directors). The Instructor's Manual provides key questions for future large group process consultants, OD professionals and students of organizational behavior and leadership, including references from the OD and visioning literature. An Epilogue provides the actual decision at the time of the challenge and its rationale.

This case is in four parts, highlighting the crossroads at which the protagonist Savita finds herself in and the difficulties she faces in balancing her career aspirations with family responsibilities. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, Savita's dilemmas concern working in a prestigious management institute in Kolkata versus getting a job in Mumbai in order to psychologically and financially support her family and get married; joining her husband in China on his posting versus going to the US on a prestigious fellowship prioritizing her career, and finally, starting a family versus postponing the decision till the couple were together and reasonably settled in their respective careers.

Steve Holder had already worked with Matsapha College for ten years as the organization matured its macadamia orchard to the point of yielding sufficient proceeds to assist in the support of the colleges educational endeavors in Swaziland. Now Matsapha College was entertaining the possibility of launching a separate entity, Kumnandzi Macadamia Importers, to be a stateside distributor of both Matsapha's macadamia nuts and that of other growers in the region, with the prospect of producing additional revenue to help sponsor education. The Board of Matsapha College is interested in the idea of having the College prosper from added macadamia sales, but members have mixed opinions about the direction and form this growth should take. Before any major decisions are made, Steve learns that the organization should do some self-reflection and decide what Kumnandzi Macadamia Importers is all about before proceeding. Specifically, the Matsapha College Board of Directors needs to articulate its vision for the proposed new entity, as well as craft the entity's mission statement and value proposition.

The case was based upon extensive interviews with the President of the organization being described.

This case is targeted to both undergraduate and graduate students in Strategic Management, but may include Marketing Principles, Marketing Management, Strategic Marketing, and Entrepreneurship, especially if the course includes the task of building a business plan or marketing plan that incorporates vision and mission statements as well as a customer value proposition.

Todd Wilson, manager of partner development at Educational Technology Corp., needed to determine the targeting, positioning, and selling strategy for its innovative Interactive Mathematics software for the college market. This required determining what types of colleges to target and which stakeholders to focus on within institutions. His task was complicated by the unclear objectives of nonprofit institutions and the differing motivations of teachers, students, and college administrators in adopting software-based learning technology. Highlights the difficulties in innovation adoption within large nonprofit institutions and the challenges in marketing to institutions with complex decision-making processes, multiple influencers, and conflicting motivations.

Dean Lynn, of Augustine State University's School of Business Administration, has been asked to develop online offerings as a prototype for the rest of the university. The decision he faced was whether to (A) take on the project alone or (B) make a ten-year commitment to a specialized vendor. If option B was selected, the further choice was whether to allow the vendor to handle everything short of instruction with a customized program or to handle only the marketing elements of the task. In the course of considering what to do, Dean Lynn was faced with the financial as well as the qualitative dimensions of the choice. The purpose of this case is to provide students a vehicle to explore the myriad considerations inherent in every organization's decision making process… qualitative as well as quantitative.

There is little published information available in the area of youth programs and social entrepreneurship in underrepresented communities. However, there are many idealistic entrepreneurs in the community; the case describes the experience of one such individual. Case analysis and the Instructor’s Manual are based on standard theories and techniques in organizational environmental and strategy analysis, as well as information and approaches regarding nonprofit functioning.

This case was prepared from primary sources, based on interviews with the founder. The name of the organization was disguised but the location and the founder’s name were not.

Growing up in a rough neighborhood, Darnell found refuge in an after-school program, which he credited for several positive values. As an adult, he felt a strong desire to give back to the community he had grown up, and still lived in. Thus, was launched MoveAhead, a fitness-based after-school program similar to the one he had participated in. However, as was common for many social entrepreneurs, Darnell struggled to overcome severe lack of capital and to deal with operational issues. Now, MoveAhead had reached a critical and existentially important point, when a strategic decision had to be made.

This is a decision case. It discusses the difficulties faced by a social entrepreneur who had a strong drive and conviction but little capital. The case describes a strategic turning point for one such organization. It can be used in business and management courses at the undergraduate level. It would also be relevant to a course on (social) entrepreneurship. The level and analysis required of students and discussion questions used can be adjusted depending on whether the course is introductory or more advanced, such as strategy.

Organizational theory/organizational behavior.

MBA

ABC Development Organization (ABCDO) is a civil society organization working in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan. ABCDO is working towards empowering tribal women of rural Rajasthan through making credit accessible to them and by offering them various livelihood choices. The organization employs local people, most of whom have not received college education. Illiterate, marginalized, and poor are the adjectives that describe the clients of ABCDO – the women from rural and tribal Rajasthan. ABCDO played the role of an intermediary between these hopeless women and formal financial system. ABCDO works with low degree of formalization and with a relatively low amount of documentation, despite being in the business of delivering financial services. However, such low formalization has never caused any problem in coordination of various activities within the organization and ABCDO has been growing in operation for the last couple of years. The case is about the role played by organizational culture in an organization with low degree of formalization. This case examines the emergence and functions of culture in civil society organizations which are often characterized by routineness of technology, yet the absence of rules, procedures and written documentations.

At the end of the course, students should be able to understand the following: the emergence of culture in a Civil Society Organization, the role played by culture in an organization with low degree of formalization, the framework depicting relationship of environment and strategy to organizational culture in the context of organizations engaged in microfinance with a social agenda.

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

Alice Handy, an investment professional with 30 years' experience as head of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company, has opened a new asset management firm targeted at midsize endowments and nonprofit institutions in January 2004. Her business, Investure, LLC, offered outsourced investment services to institutions with $150 million to $1 billion in assets and access to top-performing managers at lower cost than a fund of funds (FoF). Smith College, a prestigious liberal arts college with a nearly $1 billion endowment, is interested in increasing its current allocation to private equity. Handy and her partner are preparing to meet with Smith's trustees in an attempt to win Smith College as Investure's first client. The case presents three different approaches to private equity investing: direct investment through a traditional limited partnership, investment through a FoF, or investment through Investure's outsourced model. The class discussion presents an opportunity to evaluate advantages and shortcomings of each approach, introduce key terminology, and discuss the current trends in the private equity market. Students are given the cash inflows and outflows for a representative investment in a venture capital fund of the type Handy hopes to invest in on behalf of Smith College. The main analytical task requires students to evaluate the expected gross and net returns generated by the representative investment under each of the different approaches and fee structures.

This case was written for an early class in courses on entrepreneurial finance, venture capital, or private equity. It can also be used in specialized courses for fund trustees interested in alternative assets.

Cupcakes by Lizbeth (CBL) was a “gourmet” cupcake‐focussed retail store chain founded by a married couple. Eight years after opening, CBL used the relatively uncommon process of a “reverse merger” to become publicly traded. At that time, it had seemed as if CBL was on track to be the largest among cupcake focused businesses. However, financial setbacks as reported by the company and change in top management gave reason for pause and closer examination. Did the CBL business model have staying power or did there need to be a serious reconsideration of the company's strategic choices?

This case was prepared from secondary sources.

This case is appropriate for courses in strategy and management at the undergraduate level.

Competitive positioning, competitor analysis, operations strategy, SWOT analysis, planning business strategy, business expansion (franchising vs company owned).