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The student's task is to develop a comprehensive strategy for Briggs & Stratton, which is facing severe competition and margin pressures. A major component of the strategy to be considered is whether to implement economic value added (EVA) as a new performance measurement for management. The case is designed to serve as an introduction to how to compute and use EVA. It emphasizes the importance of performance evaluation as part of a larger strategic plan. A teaching note is available to registered faculty, as well as two video supplements to enhance student learning.

The theoretical concepts and frameworks from the following literature are brought in to discuss the case situation. Freeman’s stakeholder framework, Yukl’s Influence Tactics, Johnson and Scholes’ Power-Interest Matrix Please see: Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Pitman Publishing Inc. Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in Organizations. Prentice-Hall. Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1999). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Prentice-Hall.

Information required for the case was primarily collected from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussorie, India, where the newly recruited civil service officers (probationary trainees) of India are trained. The main protagonist, a senior officer in the Indian Administrative Services was interviewed by one of the authors. Secondary data from contemporary newspaper reports and government orders were also made use of.

Palakkad District Magistrate Gayathri Nair was tasked with acquiring 130 hectares of land for a government-sponsored public-private partnership project to set up a railway coach factory in Palakkad. After taking the landowners into confidence and fast-tracking the administrative process through the line departments, she successfully acquired 93 hectares of land for Phase I of the project. However, the intervention from local politicians and activists halted the next phase. Gayathri was pressured by her bosses to solve the standstill in four weeks. Unable to make the owners realize the benefits of the project, she witnessed a showdown between the agitating masses and the district administration. The entire episode is worsened by the partisan media coverage. The only options open to Gayathri, as the head of the district administration, are either to go ahead with forceful land acquisition and thereby, risk the wrath of the public or abandon the project and bury the months-long back-breaking teamwork. How could Gayathri handle the situation better? What steps could she take at various stages to ensure a balanced outcome for all the stakeholders in the project?

This case is applicable for the courses/sessions in training programmes for executives, and undergraduate courses related to project management, strategic management, leadership and public policy. It is also useful for courses and training programmes on stakeholder mapping and conflict management.

Research methodology.

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

At the end of the case discussion, the students should be able to: demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences between profit and non-profit organisations; discuss social entrepreneurship as a process-driven set of activities; assess the organisation-environment-opportunity fit of the dilemma facing them; analyse and resolve practical issues in developing structure and systems; diagnose organisational issues facing enterprises wishing to formalise and grow; evaluate how an organisation may achieve both social and profit objectives; and appreciate the trade-offs of adopting a profit-driven approach for social enterprises.

From her office on her farm in the Eden District of South Africa’s Western Cape province, Wendy Crane, who had for many years been involved in the conservation efforts of the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR), drank in the view of the Langeberg Mountains. Her pleasure was a bit diminished by the knowledge that, like so many parts of the GCBR, this area’s environment was under threat. She was preparing for a meeting in March 2017 of the board of the non-profit company (NPC) that sought to initiate and coordinate activities that would achieve the goals of the GCBR. The NPC board members wanted the organisation to be self-sustaining when it came to core costs. To this end, the board had established Gouritz Enterprises as a social enterprise that would be responsible for profit-driven activities which would fund the NPC’s core costs. The enterprise had not yet started work in any formal way, and Crane was not sure if establishing a separate profit-driven entity was the best way of achieving the self-financing goal.

Post-graduate management diploma MBAC.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are that at the end of the case discussion, the students should be able to evaluate the drivers of social innovation in an African context; discuss social entrepreneurship as a process-driven set of activities; assess the organisation–environment–opportunity fit when innovating; analyse and resolve practical issues in developing simple and affordable social innovations; appreciate how social enterprises are mission-based businesses rather than charities; and evaluate how an organisation may achieve social objectives and remain sustainable.

SolarTurtle is an award-winning South African social enterprise that manufactures and supplies secure, mobile, solar power stations and kiosks to communities where the electricity grid does not reach. The company converts shipping containers into housings for solar panels to protect them from theft and extreme weather conditions. These units are called “PowerTurtles”. Through the franchise model, the company supplies PowerTurtles to off-grid institutions in rural areas. PowerTurtles are also sold to private sector enterprises and are scalable to suit the energy needs of customers. With the successful launch of the AutoTurtle in 2018 (which folds away the solar panels automatically, where the PowerTurtle requires them to be folded away manually), the company started to develop a new lightweight, fibreglass, solar kiosk with roof-mounted solar panels called the MiniTurtle, and a mobile trolley version known as the BabyTurtle. Now, in 2018, Van der Walt hopes to develop the business to the point where it can sustain itself.

Post-graduate students of entrepreneurship, public governance and social welfare.

Teaching notes are available upon request for educators only. These teaching notes should be shared solely with the instructor and students should not have access to. Please contact your library to gain login or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case looks at the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project from its inception in the year 1860 to 2012 when the Pachauri Committee was about to submit a report on the latest canal alignment (4A) as suggested by the Supreme Court. It takes the reader through a series of developments starting from the initial proposals and alignments to formation of Sethusamudram Corporation Limited and highlights the impact of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Report, Tsunami Detailed Project Report, and Subramaniam Swamy Report on various issues including environmental, political, religious, security and legal. The case brings out multi-dimensional aspects involved in an Indian infrastructure project and gives both students and the faculty an opportunity to explore the complexities faced by the Indian decision makers in today's context.

Metacognition, learning how to learn, peer feedback and peer review.

Essay based on experience as a reviewer and editor and best practices.

This quick start guide provides a tutorial on how to review teaching cases and the associated instructor’s manual or teaching note. The purpose of this guide is to help develop the confidence and skill of novice reviewers and refresh and refocus experienced reviewers. Case writers may also use this guide to anticipate peer reviewer feedback and assess or refine their cases before submitting them to a journal. Reviewing is essential to the Academy – without peer reviews there would be no peer reviewed journal articles, a pillar of the tenure process. Reviewing is also a valuable way to learn, to keep current in a field and to be a good citizen – contributing to one’s professional community. This guide will help scholars become even more effective reviewers, writers and contributors to the Academy.

For academics interested in developing their case reviewing skills.

Examines the lease vs. buy decision for investments in technology. Addresses pivotal investment decision issues such as varying the length of the lease, the useful life of the equipment, and alignment with the company's overall financial strategy. The scenario is for a real financial services firm that has been disguised for confidentiality reasons. Presents an investment decision: should a company buy or lease technology with a relatively short useful life? The new controller at AMG, a Fortune 500 financial services firm, has been tasked with determining how to finance the acquisition of 7,542 new PCs to be rolled out over the next 12 months. This is a $6.7 million investment decision and the rollout schedule adds significant complexity to the solution. The controller must choose between buying or leasing the computers over 24- or 36-month time frames. Provides a framework for analyzing similar investment decisions. The key learning point is that leasing information technology can be cheaper than buying. This is contradictory to a car lease, which may be familiar from everyday experience. A new car has a potentially long useful life and can retain significant value after several years, hence, intuition is that buying should always be cheaper than leasing. Shows that this is not the case for information technology. Teaches the correct application of the mid-quarter convention within MACRS depreciation for technology, and the implications of operating vs. capital leases and off-balance-sheet financing. In the process, introduces the four tests for a capital lease. Finally, shows how creative analysis techniques can be used to simplify complex decisions. These techniques aid in arriving at a conclusion faster and with less effort.

To illustrate the fundamentals of lease vs. buy decisions in technology and how they differ from the typical capital equipment lease vs. buy decision. Topics covered include MACRS depreciation and off-balance-sheet financing for a complex leasing scenario staggered in time across multiple business units.

After completing the case, students will be able to understand the reasons for the lack of successful strategy implementation in companies, especially engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and general contractors in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical industry; understand the importance of alignment as an organization capital in successful strategy implementation and familiarize themselves with assessing the alignment readiness of companies; understand the importance of leadership as an organization capital in successful strategy implementation, comprehend one of the most essential theories of leadership in the world of management and familiarize themselves with assessing leadership readiness using this theory; and understand the importance of leadership as an organization capital in successful strategy implementation, comprehend one of the most essential models of organizational culture in the world of management and understand how to assess the readiness of organizational culture in companies.

This case discusses the reasons for strategy implementation failure at PetroSahand International Group, one of the most prominent EPC and general contractors in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry in Iran. This case also examines organization capitals such as alignment, leadership and organizational culture, the three most important factors for the successful implementation of strategies, at this company. PetroSahand is an international, project-oriented company that has been able to successfully complete more than 100 large domestic and international projects during its four decades of activity. However, the company is currently facing many difficulties such as overdue debts and projects.

The target audience of this case are graduates and undergraduates in the courses of Strategic Planning, Strategic Management, Strategy Implementation, Strategy in Action and Change Management. Additionally, this case study can be useful for senior managers of companies and can help in the successful implementation of strategies as well as improving their company’s alignment, leadership and organizational culture.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding the impact on company growth through identification and alignment of stakeholder priorities in a project for SME in an emerging market; analyzing the impact of stakeholder alignment and relationship management on the project outcome; and evaluating the importance of Stakeholder Management for effective Project Management.

The case of ‘Hospedia Medicare,’ a medical device manufacturing company based in India, was started by a family involved in the medical devices business for over two decades. The company began operations in a new avatar and focused on one medical device or product by 2013. The product was designed with quality features to solve customer problems, making the cost relatively high compared to other domestic peers. Creating new product lines or updating the existing product attributes was imperative for the company to attain its growth objectives. The protagonist was dealing with a dilemma involving managing various stakeholders, aligning the project scope to create a growth story for the company in line with its vision and managing the stakeholders by understanding and analyzing their needs, expectations and interest, thus influencing the project outcome. The case can be used by instructors to identify, understand and evaluate the importance of different stakeholders on project outcome or success. Furthermore, it can be used to analyze and critique the impact of stakeholders on project scope, which can affect the long-term sustainability of the company, as different stakeholders have different expectations and needs. The case also details how regular communication, collaboration and awareness became essential for the project's success. Lack of an effective engagement strategy at the project planning stage can have risks concerning cost and achieving the overall vision, which creates a positive outcome for all the stakeholders.

The case study can be introduced to graduate and undergraduate students to reflect on and critique the importance of Stakeholder Management in Project Management. It can be used for, entrepreneurship, project management, operations and strategy, particularly emphasizing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

HR, strategic alignment, organizational culture and change and organizational theory and design.

Suitable for undergraduate and graduate students taking up advanced courses in HR, Change Management, Organizational Theory and Design.

This case spotlights Production Services Network (PSN) Emirates JV and the strengths of its global network. The case raises many important issues related to building a unified culture across a global organization. The case specifically focuses on the significance of sourcing the right talent and training them for the success of PSN's global network.

This case may be used to teach topics such as leading cultural changes, steps to build a strong organizational culture and the significance of systemic alignment for successful strategy execution.

A teaching note is available on request.