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This case will enable students to develop an understanding of starting a single proprietorship business focusing on the real estate; understand the possible challenges that an entrepreneur faces in the beginning; apply ethical decision-making frame works when faced in ethically conflicting situation; andlook at the career anchoring theory.

The case study takes a look at the ways and means of starting a small business depending on the owner managers experience, capabilities and skills including networking which are germane to success. It also highlights the ethical issues that small business proprietors have to face in order to make money and grow. The setting of the case is a town in Sindh province of Pakistan, which setting generally represent the arena where such business (Single Proprietorship) develop and get involved in the economic development of a backward area. Finally, the case study highlights the significant but realistic expose of career anchor theory, which stipulates that people normally start with a job but switch jobs over their working life.

Graduate and undergraduate.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Premal Seth, Head, Human Resources, of Technosol, sat in his Bengaluru office at 9 pm dreading the traffic he would have to negotiate if he stepped outside to catch a bite and equally dreading going up for coffee to the coffee shop 100 meters from his office. It was the first week of April (the week after the finalization of performance appraisals and ratings of all employees) and he would often bump into known and unknown people within the company who were disappointed, upset, sad, or plain angry at how the manager had ranked him/her or how unfair the performance management system was. Deciding not to get up at all, he focused on the various pending grievance emails. As he was going through them, an email from Vasundhara Rao, a senior subject matter expert, located in Ahmedabad, caught his attention (for details about the case characters, refer Exhibit 1).

After a successful discussion and analysis of the case, the participants will be able to distinguish and appreciate the situations of conflict of interest (COI), whistle-blowing, etc. Initiate appropriate methods to avoid/minimize the impact of COI and ensure justice and fair-play to all stake-holders. Identify and appreciate the work-context of each executive-position and initiate standard operating procedures to protect the interests of the enterprise and all its stakeholders. Appreciate the relevance of whistle-blowing and to initiate appropriate methods to ensure justice and fair-play to all stake-holders.

In the context of the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI)-bank, the systemic inadequacies seemed to have failed in preventing the incidences of COI. The organization was too centralized to be able to respond proactively to the allegations. The case lays bare the inadequacy of professionalism among the media in responding promptly to such instances. The case generalizes that, with increasing globalization, such incidences have global ramifications and the organizations face much greater risks than ever. The case concludes that to emerge as a mature and leading organization in the global market, ICICI-bank needed to strengthen various aspects of corporate governance; similarly to emerge as a developed economy, India needed to develop independent watchdogs to monitor the activities of corporations continuously. Media needed to be independent and mature to fulfil its duty of continuous and transparent communication to the public.

The case can be understood and analysed by management students in the post-graduate level or by working executives with at least four to five years of experience in the corporate sector.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The case was created via an interview of the protagonist.

The case describes the dilemma a young leader, Captain Bryson, faces after a few months in his new organization. Amid a routine meeting, two of CPT Bryson’s direct reports get into a verbal (and nearly physical) altercation over a relatively benign issue. CPT Bryson must decide how to handle the conflict at that moment. Further, the organization is resource constrained, so the personnel will be working in the same organization for at least the next six months. Therefore, CPT Bryson must try to diagnose the types and sources of conflict so that he can decide on how to manage the conflict in both the short and long terms.

This case is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate level courses on leadership and management. The case is useful for teaching lessons (or electives) on conflict management, developmental communication (counseling), emotional intelligence and power and influence.

The key teaching objectives of the case are the following:▪ to develop an awareness of a megaproject’s external environment (through PESTLE) in terms of challenges from each source;▪ to introduce theory that allows students to identify, characterise and describe factors that can lead to inter-organisational conflict during construction projects;▪ to develop the ability to apply the typology of causal factors (identified in Objective 2) to a given context, answering why each factor may have contributed to the given contractual dispute;▪ to develop an understanding of the procurement and contract management process wherein contracts are not only the logical outcome of the procurement process but also the primary vehicles for clarifying responsibilities (for task completion) and risk transfer; and▪ to understand specific dynamics of construction projects that make disputes inevitable and ways to overcome these.

Priced at US$1.63bn (in 2015), the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project in Lahore was one of Pakistan’s earliest (and costliest!) transport infrastructure megaprojects ever undertaken. Devised to ease congestion in Lahore, promote ecofriendly, efficient, modern and affordable transport systems and lead to improved mobility across Lahore, the OLMT was a socially, politically and economically important project.The case is seen through the eyes of the protagonist, Uzair Shah, a seasoned public servant and an experienced Transport Engineer. At the time of the decision, Shah was General Manager – Operations at the newly established Punjab Metrobus Authority (PMA – the project sponsor) and was also the project lead of OLMT’s Project Management Unit (PMU). Through Shah’s eyes, students approach the project at a juncture when the most serious contractual dispute in the project’s history has erupted. The parties at the interface were Lahore Development Authority (LDA), PMU’s technical interface with contractors and consultants and Maqbool-Colson Joint Venture (MCJV), one of the two civil work contractors hired for OLMT’s civil works.While quality issues had been emerging with MCJV for a few months, LDA had maintained unilateral communications and remained considerably adversarial in their dealings with MCJV. Eventually, in October 2016, this relationship had soured to such an extent that it appeared irreconcilable. It was only then that LDA had recommended Shah to take the contractor to court for non-performance.The decision that Uzair faced was whether to take LDA’s advice and take the contractor to court (terminate the contract, claim performance guarantee and appoint a new contractor) or negotiate and continue with the current contract. The decision had huge financial, legal, reputational, political and schedule-related implications. The decision needed to be taken by the protagonist in the context of all these factors.

The case was initially developed for use within a Procurement and Contracts Management course for a (business) executive audience. The case is intended for the business school audience or students enrolled in courses related to the construction management discipline.Courses where the case can be used include Construction Project Management, Public Sector Projects, Contracts and Procurement and Strategic Projects and Practice (or similar). The case can also be used within an MBA setting.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 9: Operations and Logistics.

The case describes the dilemma a young leader, First Lieutenant Toomey, faces after arriving at a new organization. Toomey’s subordinate (sergeant first class Rodgers) is more experienced and accomplished and has enjoyed a degree of autonomy under Toomey’s predecessor. Rodger’s demeanor and the physical setup of the joint office space speak to a dysfunctional dynamic in an organization that values a traditional hierarchy and relatively high power distance between supervisor and subordinate. The potential for conflict exists as Toomey contemplates how to address the dysfunctional norms he has observed while maintaining a functional relationship and reputation as an effective leader in his new unit.

The case was created via an interview of the protagonist.

This case is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate level courses on leadership and management. The case is useful for teaching lessons (or electives) on power, influence, conflict management, culture and leading change.

Marketing/Consumer behaviour.

The case can be used for the postgraduate students and executives in a first-year Marketing Management class for an introductory session on understanding consumer decision in a business-to-consumer context. The case can be also used in a second-year elective course on Consumer Behaviour for the topic on consumer decision-making journey and managing customer experience through service excellence. This case would be most befitting to be used for the first introductory session of 75 minutes to give an overview on consumer behaviour.

The dismal failure of Natasha’s desktop while preparing an important presentation due for submission compels Natasha (the protagonist) to make up her mind to buy a laptop. After consulting her friends and relatives, followed with intense search from different retail stores, Natasha finally decides to buy a Sony laptop from a multi-brand retail outlet with a price discount and freebies. Finally, when Natasha settled down to work on her new laptop on her pending presentation, she confronts some problem. Unable to identify the problem, she contacted the store sales representative to resolve the problem. However, the representative’s ineffectiveness in addressing the problem and promptly delivering the service leaves Natasha in a state of uncertainty and confusion. She seemed to be in a fix and undecided, wondering whether she should immediately rush to the repair centre with her desktop to fix the problem for the time being or she should leave the laptop and wait till the problem gets resolved.

The case aims to provide interesting inputs on various phases of consumer decision-making journey and appropriate marketing strategy for each phase. The objective is to make students appreciate how poor after-sales service results in post-purchase dissonance and conflict in the consumer's mind. The case provides an opportunity for students to come up with possible solutions to resolve the post-purchase dissonance and conflict and share their views or ideas of how a seller can create a lasting impression in the mind of the buyer.

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CSS 8: Marketing

The non-executive Chairman, Chaturvedi, must lead the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank as it deals with the adverse findings by a former Supreme Court judge against Ms. Chanda Kochhar, the former Chief Executive of the Bank. She had not disclosed a conflict of interest regarding a loan to a corporate group that had business dealings with her husband. Months earlier, the Board had exonerated her and also allowed her to retire from the Bank. Could and should the Board now reclassify Kochhar's retirement as ‘Termination for Cause’ and claw back her past bonuses?

After studying this case, the students should be able to: explain the importance of employee engagement; illustrate the role of the participatory management style in an organizational context; discuss why managers may use engagement practices to operate effectively in businesses to lead change and innovation; identify the critical success factors, barriers and outcomes of employee involvement in driving high performance; and discuss the dilemma faced by the managers in the emerging economies while driving the momentum of excellence in the long run.

This is a real case about a leading health-care service company located in the Middle East. The health-care organization’s name is changed to NOVA for reasons of confidentiality. The NOVA is an independent, public joint stock company created to meet the curative needs of the public health-care system in Middle East. The company introduced the Employee Suggestion Scheme named Minara in 2011 in a Federal Government decree, introducing innovation as a major pillar of management in 2013 with intent to encourage organizations build innovative solutions and pioneer initiatives and apply it effectively in services, processes and programmes. Making the Minara programme work in line with the national health agenda, Ms. Fatima who headed the Excellence and Innovation Department took the initiative of accelerating the innovative Programme (Minara). The case data were collected based on both primary and secondary sources. Although the case is based on the real data, it has been ammonised. The case describes the transformation of the innovation process at NOVA through the employee engagement programme (Minara) in meeting the disruptive challenges. This case addresses the challenges faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager who used effective employee engagement practices through the Employee Suggestion Programme in a creative way to bring about innovation in the health-care sector. The case outlines the dilemma faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager in bringing about innovation through the Employee involvement programme in the emerging economic scenario. The case will focus on the analysis of the different aspects of the issues pertaining to employee engagement, employee motivation and the framing of empowerment strategies to bring about innovation and continuous improvement through an effective employee suggestion programme. The case is intended to give budding managers an insight into innovation and employee engagement practices that impact performance in the organization.

This case will be suitable to be used in Human Resource Management and Management of Change and Innovation course at undergraduate and Master’s level.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

International business.

Undergraduate level course in international business.

Two fellow students at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Wen-Szu Lin and Joseph Sze, reconnected after finishing their MBAs and decided to launch a franchise together in China. The franchise they decided upon was Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. The company had experienced strong growth in Asia with over 85 stores in Thailand, 30 stores in Korea, 25 stores in Malaysia and 8 stores in Japan. Because of these successes, Win and Sze had forecast smooth sailing for their franchise in Beijing. However, things were not as smooth as they had expected. The first challenge was the impounding of their second shipment of pretzel mix for a few weeks. Other problems that they faced had to do with Lin’s inability to write Chinese, although he could speak the language, the lack of regulation of food and ingredients in China which led to their producing some poisonous products, and problems they had with their own employees. Lin and Sze were searching for ways to overcome the cultural and other challenges they faced in Beijing with their franchise.

At the conclusion of the case discussion, students should be able to identify the appropriate global strategy for Auntie Anne’s in China; identify whether Lin and Szu were intending to use a production orientation or the marketing concept in introducing Auntie Anne’s Pretzels into China; list and describe challenges the two entrepreneurs encountered in China; develop a list of actions that American businesspeople should follow in anticipating setting up a business in China; and outline a strategy for Lin and Szu to use in attempting to save the Auntie Anne Pretzel franchise in China.

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CSS 5: International Business.