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After a successful transition from a projects-based IT business services company to a platform-driven analytics company, Saama's core leadership team gathered in 2017 to brainstorm the next phase of its growth. The year before, the team had decided to narrow its target market to the life sciences vertical. Saama now had to decide how to execute on this focused strategy by choosing a growth pathway within the life sciences vertical. Saama's leadership team was considering three alternatives: acquiring new customer accounts, developing existing customer accounts, or developing new products by harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies. The team had to evaluate these growth pathways in terms of both short- and long-term revenue potential, as well as their potential for sustaining Saama's competitive advantage.

In May 2016, Sarita Digumarti, Chief Operating Officer of Jigsaw Academy in Bengaluru, India, faced a challenging situation. Jigsaw Academy provided online courses in data analytics and Big Data at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels for students as well as working professionals. It was perceived that plenty of students from premier institutions in India had a high level of theoretical knowledge about the process involved in number crunching and data analysis; however, the hands-on experience on actual business problems or actual data sets was a major limitation with these students. Given the rapid growth of the analytics sector and the limited number of academic institutions offering analytics courses, there was a lack of availability of the right skills in the analytics market. Jigsaw Academy seized this opportunity and started offering relevant courses. All efforts were made to enhance the number of students enrolling for the courses, which in turn resulted in improving its customer base. Realizing the demand of industries for employees skilled in the analytics sector, Jigsaw Academy wanted to grow its brand equity and to achieve this through business to business (B2B) collaborations and/or alliances. However, expansion through B2B has its own challenges. Given the competitive landscape of analytics market, Jigsaw Academy was wondering whether they should opt for B2B channel, and if yes, the question was related to the process of choosing potential B2B partners.

The authors have collected the data from primary sources as well as secondary sources. Primary sources include field visits and audio-recorded interviews conducted with key departmental heads in the organization. Secondary sources include data retrieved from the company website and the relevant information available about the industry with the assistance of the internet. Except the founder’s name, all other names are disguised to protect the individual’s privacy as per instructions from the founders of Jigsaw Academy.

This case can be used at the graduate or MBA level in courses such as entrepreneurship, sales and distribution management, strategic alliances and mergers.

This case, along with its B case (UVA-QA-0865), is an effective vehicle for introducing students to the use of machine-learning techniques for classification. The specific context is predicting customer retention based on a wide range of customer attributes/features. The specific techniques could include (but are not limited to): regressions (linear and logistic), variable selection (forward/backward and stepwise), regularizations (e.g., LASSO), classification and regression trees (CART), random forests, graduate boosted trees (xgboost), neural networks, and support vector machines (SVM).

The case is suitable for an advanced data analysis (data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence) class at all levels: upper-level business undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, as well as specialized graduate or undergraduate programs in analytics (e.g., masters of science in business analytics [MSBA] and masters of management analytics [MMA]) and/or in management (e.g., masters of science in management [MScM] and masters in management [MiM, MM]).

The teaching note for the case contains the pedagogy and the analyses, alongside the detailed explanations of the various techniques and their implementations in R (code provided in Exhibits and supplementary files). Python code, as well as the spreadsheet implementation in XLMiner, are available upon request.

The case is presented as descriptive in nature and primarily involves exploratory research.

Ashraf, a young graduate from Bangalore, India, started a chain of lifestyle shops, his family business in Khartoum, Sudan. To modernize the shops, Ashraf approached a small finance bank for financial assistance. However, after submitting the required documents and with a good credit score, he was denied a loan. The bank officials had mentioned that the loan automation software did not approve the application. Hence, the bank personnel said that they could not do anything further. Disappointed, Ashraf sought the help of his professor, John, to understand why the software rejected his application. Professor John explained to Ashraf the advantages and disadvantages of automation. In the process, Ashraf understood the significance and compelling need to address “Algorithm Bias,” a situation in which specific attributes of an algorithm cause unfair outcomes. The case place students in Ashraf’s position to help them understand the advantages and issues of applying automation through artificial intelligence.

The case suits graduate-level courses like business analytics, financial analytics and business intelligence.

Through the case, the students will be able to: Understand the role of algorithms in business and society. Understand the causes, effects and methods of reducing algorithm bias. Demonstrate the ability to detect algorithm bias. Define policies to mitigate algorithm bias.

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.

This case study aims to be taught at an MBA level. Specifically, those students who are majoring in supply chain would benefit the most from this case study. This case study has elements of supply chain management, supply chain strategy, warehousing and logistics, and a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0. The learning outcome of this case study could be seen if the students are able to identify the challenges and opportunities of a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0 and how it could be implemented methodically. Teaching Objective 1: Students should be able to identify what challenges organizations face if they implement a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0. Teaching Objective 2: Students should be able to identify what opportunities can be tapped if Big Data Analytics are used in a supply chain teaching. Objective 3: Students should layout a methodical plan of how an analogue company can gradually achieve the objective of implementing a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0 in procurement function.

Based in the Lahore region of Pakistan, Xarasoft is a footwear manufacturing company which has undertaken a decision to transcend to a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0 by 2027. Asif, who is the Head of the Department of Supply Chain, has to come up with a plan to present in the next meeting with the CEO. Xarasoft is a company that preferred to work in an analogue routine. The company set production targets and sold goods through marketing. With no forecast or exact demand, the company had decided to procure 140 million units of raw material and carrying a huge inventory, a percentage of which had to be thrown away as it started to degrade. While the company did have machinery on the production floor, they were operated manually and were a generation behind. Asif faced the question of what challenges he would face and exactly how would a digital supply chain for Industry 4.0 be implemented in the company.

Masters level supply chain courses

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

This case was successfully taught in a second-year MBA marketing course on the science of behavior change. It would be suitable for first-year MBA and executive education programs. The material would work well on courses on women in business, women as leaders and women in data science. The female protagonist creates a tech platform and uses a data-driven model.

Marketing – it was used in a module around leveraging existing insights and creating new ones in marketing strategies. The course is structured around a “pathway to behavior change” framework. This case focuses on the analysis segment of the model, introduces targeted behavioral challenge(s) and lends itself to identifying consumer insights, biases and behaviors. It uses that analysis to learn about the market, competition and gaps to fill.

This case uses a startup in the retail industry to explore the leverage of behavioral science to enrich a business model and structure a marketing campaign. The material unfolds the testing of an innovative process and use of persuasion to align business practices with human behavior and scale. In addition, it gives the opportunity to discuss how a minimal tech solution could bring in market data and provide a test platform to larger clients.The founder of Rohvi, Sara Whiffen, created a platform that allowed shoppers to buy clothing items from local retail stores, use them and after a few wears, return the items for partial store credit. The business model was based on Whiffen’s experience in the automobile industry with used cars. Following her first few years in the business, Whiffen had to make some decisions around engaging clients on two sides – retailers and consumers. How can an innovative startup leverage behavioral science to persuade multiple stakeholders?

• Learn marketing concepts in material and a tech platform featuring a female protagonist and team; • practice evaluating a product and capturing value using behavioral science; • understand consumer/business biases and practice forming and delivering a persuasive message; • learn to leverage and create new insights to aid behavior change in business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) contexts; • analyze behavioral insights to identify new opportunities in a competitive marketplace; • unfold a framework to explore consumer motivation in recommerce; and • explore the use of experimentation in changing consumer behavior and improving decision-making.

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

Females need to be represented in core business education curriculum such as data analysis in addition to classes focused on social equity and business. This all female executive team pursued an innovative process built on a technology platform using a data-driven model to gain enterprise clients. The material offers an opportunity to explore sustainability.

CSS 8: Marketing

Strategic decision making in cooperation projects. The decision deals with the process of generating a strategy for R&D and technological innovation in developing countries, through international cooperation.

Students of programs of strategic management, business policy and management of international cooperation. Target courses include: strategic management seminars, international cooperation seminars, MBA.

The case shows the process carried out by a team led by Braulio Perez Astray, manager of the innovation department of the Foundation University of A Coruna (Spain) and Radhames Mejia, executive vice-rector of the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (Dominican Republic) to design the strategy for R&D and Technological Innovation of the Dominican Republic. It describes the tasks and responsibilities undertaken in the INPOLTEC Project, the result of the international cooperation between Spain and the Dominican Republic. It included the involvement of the Administration of Government of both countries, the contributions of the scientific community and a significant sample of Dominican companies, as well as the advice of Spanish experts and technologists in the field of innovation and technology policy. The case arises from the position of Braulio Perez Astray, leader of the project. The objective of this case is to analyze the potential transfer of this experience to other countries in Central America and Caribbean.

The learning objective is to facilitate students to investigate the decisions in the strategic process in the field of innovation and to reinforce the focus of international cooperation as a mechanism for strategic support in stimulating the flow of knowledge in science and technology.

Teaching notes are available. Please consult the librarian for access.

Operations Research and Operation Management.

Undergraduate/MBA/Postgraduate.

The case depicts an opportunity for students to be exposed to optimization techniques using linear programming (LP). This case intends to: generate the LP model (identification of objective function and constraints); apply MS-Excel solver to arrive at an optimal solution; analyse manufacturing scenarios; and plan decision dependencies.

VBK Fibreo Tech Industries was a manufacturer of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) products for industrial and domestic applications. Despite being a new entrant, it managed to exhibit great performance and attract a loyal base of customers. This case brings to light the problem that the company was facing that is demand exceeding capacity. The protagonist of the case Madhav, the Production Manager, was tasked to solve the problem of “product mix”. He was in a dilemma on how to fulfill customer orders while minimizing losses for his company. He knew that while losses were inevitable in the current scenario, they could be minimized with appropriate planning. Students are expected to use data and facts from the case and exhibit to formulate LP, by identifying the objective function and the constraints. They are also encouraged to use MS-Excel solver to find the optimal product mix and understand the decision dependencies.

This case can be used to teach LP in an undergraduate/postgraduate-level course on operations research. Students are exposed to the creation of a mathematical model for optimization and along with devising the implementation plan.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

This case study aims to provide students with: an understanding of the unique challenges companies in Africa face in attracting and retaining highly-skilled human resources. The ability to critically evaluate various talent recruitment, development and retention options available to companies in Africa.

This case study examines the talent management challenges faced by Chijioke Dozie, CEO of Nigeria-based financial services company One Finance (OneFi). Under the brand name Carbon, OneFi operated a digital financial services app that offered loans, bill payments, an investment platform and an electronic wallet. However, Nigeria did not have many professionals with experience in consumer lending and certain technical skills, particularly data scientists and software engineers, was hard to find. Data scientists, for instance, were not only in short supply in Nigeria but also they were in high demand globally. OneFi, therefore, competed against top employers throughout the world, but with a start-up budget. OneFi’s talent management dilemma is a common challenge faced by companies operating within under-developed African economies. The insights and learnings from this case are, therefore, also applicable to other businesses on the continent.

MBA Post Grad.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.