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Chris Barnett, director of global business solutions for Rand McNally, was deliberating how Rand McNally should respond to the emergence of wireless technologies for its traditional business of providing static maps and route-planning services. As maps became electronic, interactive, mobile, and enhanced with value-added features, Rand McNally's mapping business was gravely threatened. The opportunities for Rand McNally weren't obvious, and the pace at which wireless technology would disrupt its traditional business was also unclear. Barnett was considering three opportunities: syndicate Rand McNally's brand and mapping content to popular Web sites, become a provider of value-added services to businesses, or focus on automobile manufacturers and try to forge relationships for providing in-car mapping services.

To discuss organizational design, potential responses to disruptive technologies, and market opportunity analysis in order to identify the kind of technology, organizational, and sales force restructuring required to align Rand McNally's organization with the new environment.

Nokia India Pvt Ltd (NIPL) was part of Nokia Corporation, Finland. In March 2013, the Indian Income Tax department accused NIPL of evading taxes amounting to USD 3.5 billion. Simultaneously, the market share of Nokia Corporation declined following increased competition from android devices. In September 2013, Nokia announced the sale of its global Devices and Services division to Microsoft Corporation. The Indian IT department freezed the assets of NIPL, disallowing transfer of assets and Microsoft excluded the Chennai plant of NIPL from the deal. In mid-April 2014, NIPL offered Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to its workers. Despite efforts by trade unions, the plant finally shut operations on November 1, 2014 leaving 30,000 direct and indirect employees jobless. The case discusses the labour relations impact in global manufacturing chains.

The Nokia case provides an opportunity to explore financing alternatives in a situation of broad strategic change. The case emphasizes the difficulties of managing the financial resources of technology-based companies when they fall behind in product innovation. Nokia, the world's leading producer of mobile phones, had recently seen its market share and profits eroded by rival products such as Apple's iPhone and phones featuring Google's Android operating system. In February 2011, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced a strategic plan and partnership with Microsoft to have Windows serve as its primary OS for smartphones. Since that announcement, Nokia reported a net loss in earnings, followed by a downgrade of its credit rating in the summer of 2012.

Analysts regard the next two years as a period of great uncertainty for the company. In January 2012, the CFO of Nokia estimates that the firm might require up to EUR4.3 billion in funding over the next two years to implement the plan under a representative downside scenario. Students are asked to evaluate the tradeoffs of raising the funds by issuing long-term debt, issuing equity, cutting dividends, or reducing cash. Given the firm's recent competitive struggles, none of the options is particularly appealing, which forces careful consideration of tradeoffs.

The Nokia is appropriate for use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses covering topics in capital raising, capital structure, corporate finance, and the costs of financing. A spreadsheet file of case exhibits to facilitate student preparation, teaching note, and instructional spreadsheet file are available for the case.

Digital skills change management skills problem solving skills.

Al-Rumman Pharma is headquartered in Dubai, is an integrated international pharmaceutical company providing a wide range of pharmaceutical solutions to manufacture high quality and affordable generic medicines. It holds credibility amongst healthcare professionals and patients, across the Middle East and North African (MENA) markets. Their quality assurance is fostered by high levels of reliability and order fulfillment, which differentiates them from their competitors. Recently, they have been facing technology fatigue meant as an organization suffering from overwhelming options and choices in technology, this contributes to turbulent and confused states of mind when considering technology adaptation. This case evolves specifically from a procurement perspective, the pressure of high expectation and severe compliance clauses from key suppliers, particularly large corporations with monopolies in supplies who have the tendency to dominate and dictate terms to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For example, forcing SME’s to adopt specific technological frameworks to be trade partners. Another conflict is that while the SME’s do value the contribution of the procurement function, the shift from tactical to strategic mindset is not robust enough. Is this a dilemma? Ms Mary buyer at Al-Rumman Pharma, which is SME in operation, is facing challenges from key suppliers because of her tactical buying approach and adoption of multiple technological frameworks from various key suppliers, which are neither integrated nor compatible with each other. Her transition from traditional buying to a more strategic sourcing approach is what the need of the hour is. Prior information technology role was more as support at Al-Rumman Pharma and Chief Executive Officer Dr Mubeen Ahmad Khan did technology adopted decisions in isolation but today the company needs an integrative approach with forward thinking and also kept the legacy intact. Resistance to change was very inevitable once it was integrated.

This case has been particularly focused on undergraduates in the final semester of management courses, as well as masters level students specializing in supply chain and operation management courses. It is also for practitioner procurement and supply chain managers going for various supply chain management related certification courses. Students who have studied procurement management are most suitable to accomplish this case study. Executives pursuing a business program are also recommended to study this case.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

The case can be used to discuss leadership issues in young ventures. It also allows for a discussion of effective sales and marketing functions for a new product. The case also addresses the different challenges facing certain business models in the market, and finally the importance of having a supporting team.

The case traces the development of an Egyptian startup software venture and the challenges faced regarding the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The startup’s main dilemma is whether to continue in its existing market or to extend elsewhere. Launching the main services of the startup is another challenge, as the market needs to be educated to see its value. Despite the success story, as a young Egyptian entrepreneur, the founder is expected to face various challenges to excel in the Egyptian market, such as financing, marketing, teamwork and self-development of the entrepreneur himself.

The case can be used at all levels, from undergraduate and MBA classes to executive seminars, because the issues it addresses are of broad interest.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This failure case study tells the story of All World Media, a start-up offering internet-based media planning and buying tool created by ambitious Estonian entrepreneurs in 2011. A few years earlier the two founders had come up with an idea that in their opinion would revolutionize the process of media planning and buying for advertisers. They had noticed that the industry worked in an intransparent and inefficient way. Based on their own extensive experience in various internet ventures and following first consultations with key industry players they were confident that the market was ready for a self-service online media marketplace.

The (A) case focusses on the initial business idea and on the events before the launch of the internet platform. The case includes the entrepreneurs' concept, the main contents of the business plan, and the operational steps until the launch of the service on the market. The (B) case outlines the events after the launch of the online service, analyzes the possible reasons for the failure of the original business model and discusses potential strategic alternatives that are still open for the entrepreneurs.

The two-case sequence can be used for a 90-minutes session in marketing, entrepreneurship or strategic management courses in graduate and executive programs. The case is accompanied by an instructor's manual which also includes suggested assignment questions and proposed session plan.

In 2015, NESTLÉ India underwent a major crisis as the product which contributed to nearly 30% of its sales had to be taken off the shelves. Maggi—the go-to convenience food for all generations (especially kids and young adults)—which had entered the market in 1983, was banned. With a market share of 70-80% before the ban, NESTLÉ, which got the ban lifted in November 2015, had to undergo the task of winning back the lost market. Over a period of 8 months after its relaunch, the brand regained about 60% of its market back, but the question is how could such brand disaster be avoided in future? The case revolves around a major brand recovering from a brand disaster, and whether they did it well enough or could the situation have been managed better. It also enquires as to what road should be taken forward from here. It notes the action taken by the government against the brand and leaves it to the judgment of the readers if the actions taken against the brand were a little too harsh, solely because MNCs are usually considered a soft target in India. The readers must also understand and analyse the different brand relaunch strategies that were adopted by NESTLÉ and the next steps that should be taken by it.

Towards the end of 90s, mounting losses forced Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (MPSRTC), the sole provider of public transport in Madhya Pradesh, to suspend their urban services. As a consequence, organized public transport services ceased to exist in Indore, the largest metropolitan city of the state of Madhya Pradesh. This void was filled by Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) consisting of minibuses, tempos and auto rickshaws. As of January 2004, 300 private minibuses, 150 tempos, and 10,000 auto rickshaws were plying as IPT, but with poor service levels. Lack of public transport was a catalyst for rapid increase in personalized vehicles, and high level of pollution and accidents. Worried over the rapid growth of personalized vehicles, and high levels of pollution and accidents in Indore, policy makers and administrators had made several attempts of reviving the public transport system in the city. In 2005, the Collector and District Magistrate of Indore decided to make another attempt of reviving the public transport. The two cases, Indore City Bus Transport Service (A) and Indore City Bus Transport Service (B) discuss the complexity involved in the planning, rolling out, and running of public transport services in Indore on a sustainable basis. Case (A) details the prevalent socio-economic condition, travel characteristics, and positions taken by various stakeholders on provisioning of public transport service in Indore as of November 2005. Case (B) discusses the challenges during the growth and operation of the services as of June 2008. Unprecedented rise in crude oil prices along with (i) increase in maintenance cost of buses, price of new buses, and bank interest and (ii) decrease/marginal increase in the fare box revenue (more people were shifting to passes) and advertisement revenue depleted the margin of the operators. The fares had not been increased since the launch of services in February 2006. It was clear that Indore City Transport Service Limited (ICTSL), the SPV created to run the transport system, would survive only if operators were able to survive. The readers have to take the position of the board of ICTSL and consider various options available to them for running the services on a sustainable basis.

The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: Students will be able to comprehend and visualize the initial hiccups and operational hurdles faced by digital start-ups in an emerging market. Students will be able to evaluate the importance of digital marketing for promoting start-ups dealing with sustainable products in the service industry, thereby helping them to develop digital marketing strategies to organically promote a service. Students will be able to perform strategic positioning of a start-up based on perceptual mapping methodology. Students will be able to identify the various aspects for identifying and creating a viable business model. Students will be able to use Osterwalder’s business model canvas for identifying the important operational aspects of the start-up. Students will be able to visualize the entrepreneurial challenges in an emerging market.

This case study highlights the dilemma the protagonist, Prerna Prasad, faced in her travel start-up venture, Ecoplore. Ecoplore is an aggregator platform that onboards only eco-hotels. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, Ecoplore is India’s only platform that promotes and onboards only those hotels made up of mud, wood, bamboo, stone or any local architecture and that maintain at least 30% green space on their premises. Ecoplore has been recognized by the United Nations Environment Program for fulfilling Sustainable Development Goal 12 and has also been bestowed with the Gold Award by Indian Responsible Tourism Awards 2019. Prasad had already identified her target market. Prasad took conscious steps towards reaching her target audience, and her first step towards that was designing Ecoplore’s website. Being aware of the importance of content marketing, Ecoplore’s content was curated with fresh and quality write-ups, pictures, blog posts, etc. Ecoplore’s website was also optimized for mobile and desktop versions to deliver a great user experience. Features like easy navigation and the website's speed were also taken care of. Being active on social media platforms, Prasad made sure that the pages of Ecoplore across various social media platforms were well connected with her website. Despite doing so much, it was found that the number of visitors was few after a span of two years. Conversion on the website was low, which ultimately affected the return on investment. Prasad was befuddled as to why the conversions were low despite having a great website that was considered a window to the organization. She faced the challenge of reaching her target audience despite being present online. Upon detailed analysis, Prasad found that Ecoplore was showing up in the search engine research pages (SERP) in only a few keywords, meaning the keyword density was low. Also, the website lacked backlinks, which would eventually help them to rank high on search engine optimization (SEO). This means that Ecoplore will need to revisit its SEO strategy if Prasad wants to promote her organization organically. Now, to increase visibility and ranking on SERP, Prasad had two options before her; first, she could do it organically via SEO or through search engine marketing. She was keen to build the traffic organically, knowing its long-term benefits. As a marketer, what should be Prasad’s strategy? This case study can be used for class discussion purposes for the students pursuing the courses on digital marketing, SEO and digital marketing optimization.

This case study is suitable for students learning the fundamentals of digital marketing (basic and advanced) course, marketing management students and digital marketing workshops. The level of difficulty is medium. The knowledge pre-requirement is marketing management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This case features Lucas Lopez Lince, a rising leader in Colombian consumer goods company Grupo Familia. Lopez Lince had inherited a digital marketing program built around a newly identified customer persona–a young low-income mother. The program represented a significant shift in Familia's target customer as well as a shift in the way marketing funds were spent. The program appeared to be working, so he increased the digital spend even as he had to reduce his overall marketing budget in the face of challenging economic headwinds. Activity metrics such as page views, social media “likes,” and video views rose dramatically, and at the same time sales began to rise again. By the beginning of 2017, Lopez Lince faced a deeper set of questions. How could he be certain that the rising sales were due to the digital efforts? Would the existing digital programs and tactics continue to deliver against chosen metrics? And what could he do next in order to continue driving growth of revenue and margin through digital efforts? Students assume the role of Lopez Lince and are asked to apply concepts such as customer personas, micro-moments, and customer journey mapping to develop their own point of view on what they would do next.