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This case study aims to ensure that, students should be able to recognise the behaviours that influence the in-member out-member categorisation that transpires in the workplace, both from the leader’s perspective and that of the followers; determine and understand the relevance of forming interpersonal relationships in the workplace and that interpersonal relationships create fundamentally positive or negative work experiences and impact on career opportunities in the workplace; gain an understanding of the internal bias and subjective comfort that leaders must actively overcome to establish an environment in which the entire team becomes in-group members; and be able to assess the contextual variables that contribute to the negative or positive aggravation of the leader–member exchange.

It was 16 October 2014, and Nonkululeko Gobodo, Executive Chair of accounting firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was looking to her younger sister, Notemba Dlova, for emotional support, as she sought to address an important issue that was on the agenda of the firm’s board of directors’ meeting the following day. Tensions between her and Victor Sekese, Chief Executive Officer of the firm, were mounting, and a number of the directors were unhappy with the status quo. “How do you think I should address the issue?” she asked Dlova. Both sisters knew that at stake was Gobodo’s future at the firm she had battled so hard to build up in the face of racial and gender stereotypes.

The case study is appropriate for use in a range of postgraduate courses aimed at Master’s in Management and Master of Business Administration (MBA)-level students. It is also suitable for use in postgraduate diplomas in business and executive education short courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Paula Hendricks, Director of Marketing for Rapid Reel Lawn Master Company (RRLMC), tasked with developing a plan to exploit the current trend in lawn mower purchasing patterns must craft a strategic proposal for the executive planning committee. RRLMC, a manufacturer of reel mowers, experienced an increase in sales due to a confluence of factors: high gasoline prices, increased concern with the environment, the trend toward smaller yards and a focus on health and exercise. Paula needed to develop a plan for the company to sustain the bonanza and determine whether this trend offered new opportunities for marketing.

The data for the case were collected through examination of a major reel lawn mower manufacturer in the USA, through experience teaching and using the market segmentation process, as well as personal interviews and secondary research on the history of firms within the industry. The results of a literature review have been incorporated to flesh out the discussion.

This case is targeted primarily at undergraduate students in upper-level marketing classes, e.g., Relationship Marketing, Marketing Management and Strategic Marketing. Additionally, it can be used in management classes (e.g. Strategic Management) where industry segmentation is discussed. It would also benefit introductory MBA marketing courses as this case directs students’ attention to the role of products’ perceived benefits and how markets may be segmented in order to assess and select prime segments of the market for targeting.

Appendixes for the case study, teaching notes with figures and suggested chart plan schema.

Students are expected to learn the use of networks for market growth; types of network connections; and ways to achieve international expansion through networks’ relations.

This teaching case describes the internationalization of an emerging country artist, the Brazilian singer Anitta, who seeks to expand her audience in foreign markets, while dealing with maintaining the public in her home country.

Recommended to International Business disciplines in specialization courses.

CSS 5: International Business.

Human resource management, Employee relations, Strategic human resource management.

The given case study is to be used by graduate and post-graduate students of Management in the courses of Human Resource Management & Employee Relations. The case may also be used for the discussions on the concepts such as discipline, disciplinary enquiry, grievance settlement procedure, workplace counseling and strategic human resource management.

The given case study is hypothetical in nature and meant for academic purpose and classroom teaching. In the given case study, the authors present a grievance settlement mechanism of a banking sector organization. The case study is about a grievance and its settlement of a sales executive in the branch office through the involvement of other senior officials at the workplace. The case study is useful to understand the significance of disciplinary issues, grievance settlement and domestic enquiry and counseling at the workplace.

The learning objective of the case is to make students understand the significance and various aspects of employee relations at the workplace. It aims at making students familiar with the requirement of discipline, focus on grievance settlement procedure and conducting disciplinary inquiry. The case study further has purpose to make students learn about the importance of counseling and be familiar with steps in counseling for handling real-life situations in their career.

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 6: Human Resource Management.

The case describes the efforts of a small Brazilian publishing house to export its products to foreign markets. In fact, after several years of losses, the firm has undergone substantial restructuring and hired a new CEO, reaching modest profitability. The challenge faced by the new management team includes, in addition to keeping the firm financially healthy, to develop an international orientation, to mobilize the resources, and to develop a new strategy to go international.

The case uses primary and secondary sources, including articles from business magazines and newspapers, company site, and data from Brazilian trade organizations, Brazilian federal government, International Trade Center, International Publishers Association, and an interview with the new CEO of the firm, in charge of developing its international activities. The use of different sources permitted triangulation.

The case is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate programs in courses related to international marketing, international business, entrepreneurship, and international entrepreneurship.

The case can be used to discuss the role of networks in the internationalization of the firm and the issue of distance to foreign markets (Ghemawat, 2001), using Ghemawats CAGE model. The case can also be utilized to examine barriers to the internationalization of smaller firms (Leonidou et al., 2007; Kahiya, 2013).

The case focuses on Thivra Info Solutions Pvt Ltd, an entrepreneurial organization incubated by Prasannan (she/her) in 2017. The organization started with a mission to provide technology-based learning solutions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thivra Info Solutions Pvt Ltd had developed multiple offerings, including gamified learning, targeted to ASD and general ed-tech users. The firm also launched “Dwani,” the communicative-based learning app for ASD children. The initial feedback by users, parents and teachers had been encouraging. Prasannan was exploring avenues to scale the business when the Covid-19 pandemic affected all the operations.The case presents the multiple dilemmas entrepreneurial firms face in managing resources, finances, growth and product and customer focus. Students are encouraged to debate the organization strategy, product and consumer target segments and solutions to scale the business while managing frugal resources.

This case study can be used in entrepreneurship, leadership, crisis management, business development, organizational behavior and technology.

The case study describes the navigation of Thivra from a Generic Gamified App to its niche of catering for ASD students. The case presents the challenges presented to leadership to manage the crisis and try to grow their entrepreneurial venture. This case has been designed for use in business-to-consumer marketing or entrepreneurship, gender entrepreneurship, ed-tech-based startups, in MBA, executive MBA or executive education programs in the field. The case is suitable for those doing business in Asia, for post-graduate and under-graduate students studying business innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy and marketing. It is also appropriate for courses on gender entrepreneurship; women and crisis management; and product management. The case aims at facilitating classroom discussion on the extension of Indian-based ed-tech startups to ASD children.

Students will also be able to explore the following issues: to study the role played by a business model that withstands the competition over a long period and adopting sustainability; to describe the concept and implications of paradoxical leadership, thereby drawing its impact on business decisions; to analyze how a leader acts in terms of crisis from a startup point of view; to draw the phases and constraints of the enterprise development and compare and contrast it based on gender; to demonstrate the value to different constituents (ASD students, parents, teachers and ASD counselors) by understanding their differentiated needs and developing powerful value propositions for each. Articulating and demonstrating this value is key to gaining the buy-in of the various decision-making units; to understand how, having gained traction in one market segment (in this case, tractions with parents of ASD children), a company can develop new market segments; to study the issues and problems faced by startups in developing economies, especially the tech-based ones; and to understand the application of gamification on education and communication for ASD children.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: It presents an opportunity for the instructors to introduce the concept of decision-making on matters involving risk (like scaling the business) using in-depth market research techniques. The case’s central idea is to make the students understand the growth of the online service delivery model, with a specific example of home-cooked food that also improves social welfare. It is expected to provide the participants with an opportunity to understand the decision-making by the leaders in newly established companies. It enables future managers to analyze a venture’s pros and cons before deciding to expand.

Chef Junction is an online food delivery platform that allows customers to order hygienic home-cooked food prepared by handpicked home chefs in Bhubaneswar. This city in eastern India is one of the fastest-growing metros, is regarded as a study hub, and provides ample employment opportunities making it one of the sought-after destinations for the migrant youth population. The idea behind Chef Junction is to cater to the healthy food needs of the young by utilizing the culinary productivity of the home cooks, empowering the latter by opening up an extra source of income. These chefs prepare delicious healthy food, usually not listed for sale with online food delivery apps. Chef Junction earned revenues by adding an order-dependent commission on the price quoted by chefs and accepting a flat delivery charge from the customers. This offer was very lucrative for home chefs who could join the platform with zero investment and flexible working hours. The customer’s pockets were also handled when several offers and discounts were rolled out through an attractive pricing strategy. Chef Junction expected to improve its patrons’ health quotient by ensuring the nutrition of the home-cooked food, thus contributing to social welfare. With food being delivered from home to home amalgamated with social welfare and empowerment of home chefs, especially women, this case study is an apt example of a sustainable work-from-home model that has proved effective in crisis times. The pertinent question is: “How feasibly can CJ’s business model grow towards an expansion as the demand increases?”

This case study has been prepared keeping in mind the teaching pedagogy for graduate and postgraduate management programs in strategic management, operations research, entrepreneurship and marketing management. It is also expected to be useful for training courses such as management development programs, faculty development programs and executive programs, in discussing service operations in general and online delivery logistics, in particular for working executives and industry practitioners.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

After reading this case study, the students will be able to identify the various choices available in social e-commerce using network marketing, interpret data-driven decisions in social e-commerce and evaluate their role in scaling business, analyse cost and revenue management in value segments, evaluate technology adoption among the masses using appropriate communication structures and develop customer relationships and manage their sentiments in the era of social media.

DealShare became a unicorn in 2022 and targeted the rural and low-income groups. Based on a networking model for customer acquisition and a hyperlocal supply chain model, DealShare is increasing its customer base at a rapid pace. However, profitability was still a challenge, and converting high volume into high value continued to be a daunting task. This case study delves deep into the challenges co-founder Sourjyendu Medda and the DealShare team faced. It seeks to address key issues: how should DealShare leverage customer network for faster customer acquisition and how should they increase ticket size and profitability? As a data-driven business, what advantages does DealShare have in influencing customers’ buying behaviour using data? Dependence on social media could have a cascading effect on “word of mouth”. How can they manage customer complaints and increase engagement?

This case study has the potential to be used in different settings. In strategic cost management, this case study can demonstrate strategies for cost management in the value-conscious segment. This case study can be used in marketing management courses while teaching “positioning” in business-to-consumer markets and CRM. For second-year management students, this can be used in entrepreneurship and strategic management courses to demonstrate the network effect in social e-commerce start-up businesses. This case study is also relevant for various course modules in graduate management programmes to demonstrate the power of data-driven decision-making in business.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

HRM, training, strategic HRM.

The case is designed for undergraduate and graduate level business students (BBA and MBA) in human resource management, organizational behavior, strategic HRM, corporate leadership and general management. The case provides an overview of the importance of diffused HRM practices in developing countries on the basis of standardized rules and cultural values defining these rules. The case presents the situation of HR management practices in SIH, Islamabad on the basis of different styles followed by HR managers to develop an egalitarian model aspired on the basis of local values but at the same time is on the line of international standards.

In Shifa, It was observed that locally trained HR managers could better synchronize employees' aspirations with standards of diffused model as compared to foreign trained managers. It was found that the former group of professionals appreciated local values; therefore they considered these values while following standardized rules and regulation; whereas the latter group took it as a bunch of obsolete concepts which had nothing to do with employee management practices in urban/modern organization. Therefore, positive perception of locally trained managers' about the indigenous' wisdom and its consideration in employee management decisions enabled them to play a proactive role in developing cultural fit HR practices, besides winning the support of both, management and the workers. This also allowed them to “maintain balance” between local aspiration and international standards of operations. Although SIH is unique in terms of its mission, services, organization, and its use of technology, it is believed that this unique case may provide useful insights for organizations in similar situations. Many of the difficulties faced by SIH either support or help to understand situations prevailing of other organizations working in the context of Pakistan. For instance, any public or private organization or multi-national corporation following Western (diffused) HR model to regulate workforce in the local setting can get benefit from this research.

The teaching objectives of the cases are apprehend the importance of diffused HRM practices in developing countries context. importance of indigenous wisdom of flexibility and culturally fit HR practices as a proactive approach towards HR issues handling the case of Mr Shahbaz and Ms Aysha Ahmad. Importance of social networking and controlled personalized models for employee regulation, e.g. case of Mr Abid Elahi.

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

The case has been tested and proved significant as a part of executive educative courses. Students and participants are pushed to consider practical options. The audience for this case study could be BBA students, MBA students, postgraduate management students or students who chose marketing as their area of specialization.

• Strategic management courses/modules at the intermediate level.

• Marketing management courses/modules at the entry/intermediate level.

When the instructor wants to discuss marketing models like segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP) or marketing strategy model during the course, he or she may use this example.

This instructor’s manual accompanies the case entitled “Krishivan Agri Tourism: Challenges for Sustainability.” This case study highlights the entrepreneur’s struggles with his resort’s limited audience, lower weekday occupancy and weekday reach. The government’s declaration of a lockdown and the COVID-19 epidemic ultimately led to financial losses and stressed cash flow. The businessman understood the enormous potential of the Indian agritourism market. It was a turbulent time for him to evaluate his strategies to sustain in the market. The case illustrates the owner’s struggle to survive and prosper in a commercial setting. The scenario can be used by the instructors to talk about risk mitigation strategies such as promotion, marketing and strategy analysis. Readers must consider difficulties related to corporate success strategically. The proposed responses to the discussion questions in the instructors’ manual are provided here. It can be taught in management courses to handle topics like marketing management, strategic marketing, STP and entrepreneurship, among others.

Marketing management and strategic marketing in Management courses at the intermediate level.