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Aster Retail (AR) is the retail pharmacy division of the Aster Dr Moopen's Healthcare (ADMH) Group. The group delivers healthcare services across the Middle East, India and the Far East, with a portfolio of hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres and retail pharmacies. AR, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jobilal Vavachan, is well known for its people-centric approach, unique culture and innovative human resource (HR) practices. AR has won multiple awards for HR practices, service quality and business performance. In a recent corporate restructuring (2018), “Aster Primary Care” was carved out by combining the group's Clinics and Retail businesses. This case discusses the evolution of AR's HR journey and the challenges associated with integrating culturally diverse businesses without compromising the values of ADMH and its promise, “We'll Treat You Well.”

This case examines issues surrounding the choice of financing arrangements for the acquisition of Radiologix in July 2006. The case follows Mark Stolper, the CFO of RadNet, as he considers how to raise the $363 million in funds necessary to finance the acquisition. When completed, the combined firms will be the largest private diagnostic-imaging provider in the United States. When Stolper joined RadNet in 2003, he confronted a company with “too much debt, and the wrong kind of debt.” His goal is to finance the acquisition in a way that further enhances the financial strength and operating flexibility of the company. Given the large size of funding required, the firm is unlikely to be able to fund the entire transaction with first-lien or bank debt. His financial advisors differ in their recommendations for how to raise the remaining funds—one suggests using second-lien debt, and the other, high-yield debt.

The purpose of the case is to familiarize students with frequently encountered types of debt financing that are used to finance mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. The case provides information on the distinctions among first-lien, second-lien, and high-yield debt in relation to their price, availability, flexibility of covenants, repayment ease, and composition of likely investors. The case is designed for use in courses that cover corporate financing, M&As, and debt financing.

Diagnostics services in India were growing at 20% annually with billing of USD 3.4 billion. With WTO's GATS, foreign competition was arising. Dr. Lal PathLabs had formidable brand recognition and Dr. Arvind Lal was wondering whether to accept private equity and induct management professionals to keep pace with competitors through acquisitions or greenfield or sell out. He worried over loss of proprietary control. The industry practice of incentivizing doctors for referrals meant that acquisitions brought perverse incentive systems. The choice of compromising ethics or inventing another business model had to be made alongside whether to expand in India or abroad.

It was mid-March 2014, and GE's John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore, India was brimming with activity. GE had developed an advanced, scalable positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) scanner as part of its global Healthymagination initiative to provide better healthcare for more people at a lower cost. Munesh Makhija, Managing Director, GE India Technology Centre and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), GE South Asia, was thumbing through a report prepared by the PET/CT product development team and GE's healthcare market research team. In another office, Suresh Kumar R.(Kumar), General Manager of the Essential PET Segment, was putting the finishing touches on a presentation outlining a commercialisation strategy for the new PET/CT product, Discovery IQ (Exhibit 1).

Discovery IQ was a revolutionary product that would be useful for staging, treatment planning and post-treatment planning assessment. Early reviews from nuclear physicians had been positive. However, the product was still too costly for the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) market. Kumar and his team were scheduled to meet with Makhija the following morning to discuss a “go-to-market strategy”. Kumar knew that Makhija would want to talk about their segmentation strategy and the underlying needs of various customer types. He also expected Makhija to focus on return on investment (ROI) projections because diagnostic centres in India first looked at various financial return measures before investing in any new equipment. Kumar wanted to present a commercialisation strategy for Discovery IQ, which required a significant commitment of resources to tackle supply and distribution challenges across tier II and tier III cities^a in India.

The subject areas are strategy, general management, health-care management, change management and inclusive growth model and application of technology to manage health care.

The case can be used to teach challenges in managing change in a health-care facility.

Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) is dedicated to provide best health-care services in the field of cancer cure. TMC established its credentials for service, education and research, which contributed to it being rated among the ten best hospitals year on year. Starting from humble moorings, TMC has grown to an institution of high repute from an 80-bed hospital to a 700-bed hospital. TMC held a number of pioneering efforts, which included bone marrow transplantation, external beam radiotherapy (linear accelerator), tumor tissue bank and bio-imaging to name a few. The management team of TMC had ensured that the growth had been orderly and appropriate to the changing needs of the community. Managing a hospital with disparate skill sets in the face of ever-increasing demand for services had always been a challenge in itself. As a government-run facility and well funded by the trust, TMC offered excellent services and post-operative care to the patients. So, it became imperative for the hospital to adopt technology to improve its hospital services and maintain transparency. Patients came to the hospital from different states in India and across the globe. TMC registered international and national patients online. Online medical reports were checked before the patients visited the hospital. TMC has developed an e-system that will allow patients around the world to send their tissue samples that are suspected to be cancerous for medical advice to the hospital. This case study is developed to provide insights into the transformation of TMC into an e-health-care service and explains the process of change management.

They are to provide insights into the challenges in health-care management, to illustrate the challenges faced by organization in implementing information and communication technology- managing change and to bring about best practices in the case organization and find solutions to the following questions: What are challenges faced by health-care officials in providing health care using new technological innovations? How can hospitals equip themselves with new technology? With the advent of improved and modern communication methods, medical practices and cases are more easily shared. Cases are discussed, recorded and, in many cases, put up for general public viewing through the electronic media. How can hospitals manage change? How can hospital administrators manage speed of delivery, quality healthcare, innovation and brand image?

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

CSS:11 Strategy.

What happens when a company is faced with a unique market challenge with the potential to change the way business is done—a true market disruption? This was the challenge faced by the European business team of DuPont's Tyvek Housewrap business. The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol created new challenges for the construction industry in the United Kingdom that the DuPont team felt it could meet. To enforce the Kyoto Protocol, the U.K. government threatened to fine utility companies and builders who did not adhere to new emissions standards. Deploys the Innovation Radar framework, which encourages a business to think through all the issues of a business system, leading to a successful introduction and a sustainable business. DuPont's European Tyvek team had to devise a solution at the intersection of multiple elements. Specifically: Who should it target? How should it describe the product's value proposition? Through what channels could it reach the key decision makers? How could it overcome the inertia of the existing business system?

To illustrate that all the issues relevant to bringing an innovation to market must be recognized and dealt with in an integrated fashion when introducing major new business initiatives; that the Innovation Radar is a useful framework that integrates key questions around WHAT the product is, WHO the key customers are, HOW the product affects their desired outcomes, and WHERE the product should be placed in market; and that the elements in the radar comprise a complete business system of innovation.

India's diagnostics business valued at USD 10 billion was growing at 20% annually. Several players with different business models competed. Dr. Lal PathLabs, the world's largest histopathology centre led with a menu of 3,500 tests, 1,600 collection centres and 7,000 pick-up points. Its Initial Public Offer had been oversubscribed 33.41 times and the team at Dr. Lal PathLabs was excited about expanding its international footprint. Two overseas companies were incorporated in Netherlands and Nepal. Yet, there were enormous unmet needs in India alongside potential for public-private partnerships. Trade-offs over portfolio choice and regional versus international footprint needed thinking through.

Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing, Retail Management.

It may be used in marketing/strategy/organisation behaviour courses of MBA programmes as well as in specific executive education programmes dealing with business strategy, sales and marketing, entrepreneurship and organisation behaviour.

In 2002, Rajan Chhibba co-founded Intrim Business Associates (IBA), a niche strategy consulting firm in India. IBA pitched for a consulting assignment for retail strategy/implementation with a steel manufacturer in India, where they were pitched against a large global consulting firm. After conducting a diagnostic study and reaching a stage where IBA had almost got the project, the client put forth a demand which was make-or-break for IBA. The case puts forth the questions faced by Rajan Chhibba at the time of replying to the client: How was IBA different from global consulting firms? Was IBA willing to compromise on quality of the project to reduce costs? Was reduction of price the only option for getting the project? What factors should Rajan Chhibba consider before making his final pitch?

This case may help students to: appreciate an entrepreneur's smart strategy up against formidable competition, analyse the resources crunch an entrepreneur faces and how he overcomes them, understand how organisations learn from their experience and appreciate the challenges in a competitive environment.

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

On completion of this case study, students will be able assess new venture opportunities by properly allocating expansion fund in growing the business; analyzing various scaling-up options; applying the Ansoff matrix for growth and expansion; designing a framework for scaling up; and using the business model canvas.

Mr Sreeram established Eruvaka Technologies in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh (India), in 2015 to provide products and services related to aquaculture. The company was founded with the goal of assisting prawn farmers who had trouble keeping up with the demands of the industry. Eruvaka Technologies created risk-reducing and productivity-boosting on-farm diagnostic devices for aquaculture growers. The company developed low-cost monitoring and automation solutions for aquaculture by merging sensors, mobile connection and decision tools. Eruvaka’s primary objective was to offer reasonably priced, technologically advanced goods and services to farmers. Eruvaka matured into a promising startup over time, attracting $5m in funding. Sreeram and his team had to detail their plan to their investors about how they intended to use the money from each funding rounds toward growing the business, how the company planned to achieve sustainable and competitive advantage while providing value to its consumers and how they would address critical issues including product acquisition cost, supply chain problem and customer anxiety.

This case study can be taught as part of undergraduate- and postgraduate-level courses and Master of Business Administration courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP); social innovation and business modeling.

Undergraduate and graduate level management/business school students. It can be taught in marketing management and entrepreneurship/innovation courses.

LifeSpring Hospitals Pvt. Ltd is an expanding chain of hospitals that provide high quality health care to lower-income women and children across Andhra Pradesh. It is a 50-50 equity partnership between Hindustan Latex Ltd and the Acumen Fund. LifeSpring has demonstrated exceptional management principles, some of them being the most innovative and attractive ones. The entire focus of LifeSpring is on one particular niche: maternal care. Some argue about its strategy of not adopting diversification, but LifeSpring has proved its point by actually turning out to be a profitable business. The strategy of focusing on one niche has led to reduction in cost in terms of specialized doctors and the range of equipment needed to serve. Adding to the strategic strength of LifeSpring, its operations (management) is perfectly aligned with the organization's vision and quality is achieved via highly standardized procedures for maternal care service.

This case will cover two important aspects of BOP and social innovation. MBA students will investigate an innovative business model and apply their analytical skills to analyse the sustainability of the model.

Teaching notes and exercise for class-based discussion.