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Anika, a new manager, is confronted by a dysfunctional organizational culture characterized by employee disrespect, insubordination, and low performance. Her charge is to “to turn the place around”. The case takes place in a service organization, a testing range run by the US Department of Defense. The staff is a combination of federal and contract employees who test clients’ high-tech systems in a sometimes dangerous, desert environment.

In addition, there are three vignettes that give a portrait of dysfunctional individual behaviors. Frequently, the response students want to make is “I'd just fire the guy.” Unfortunately, it is not so simple.

Students from undergraduate and graduate levels.

Leadership, implicit leadership theories, decision-making, gender stereotypes and discrimination.

Defne was working as a sales manager in Diel Turkey, an international technology company. Diel focuses on software, hardware, network and business consultancy services. Defne had worked as a computer engineer before starting to work in the sales department. In her leadership, she gave importance to long-term relationships and justice. Defne had two meetings this week. The first one was with T&X, a big scale fast moving consumer goods company; and the other one was with Q-Coding, a medium-scale technology company. Defne had negotiated with T&X two years ago, and the project got canceled. Defne worked on T&X new contract very cautiously, as this time she wanted to finish the project and make the deal. Defne had to deal with prejudices during the T&X meeting. Implicit beliefs are grounded in the cultural background of the country, which determines the perceptual framework for the society. Male-dominated countries have implicit beliefs that women’s priorities should be their families, thus being successful at work is not expected. Defne faced male-oriented stereotypes, which challenged her in doing business. Even though she was a successful manager, these subjective beliefs made her perform poorly. During the meeting with Q-Coding, Defne discussed the prejudice for women leaders with a women entrepreneur Suzan.

This case is trying to achieve two main objectives: first, to make all students be aware of implicit leadership theories and beliefs, which are rooted in the countries’ cultural background; second, to make female students be aware of these dysfunctional coping behaviors and increase their self-efficacy without thinking about their gender roles.

CSS 7: Management science

Social entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Human Resource.

The case study is relevant for students of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. This case can be used as a case in strategy (growth strategy), marketing and innovation subjects as well.

The case study revolves around Mr Harish Hande and his efforts to build a for–profit social enterprise Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) to provide electricity to poor and under–served. Harish focused on providing cheap, clean and sustainable energy sources to rural customers at bottom of the pyramid of the society. From the conception of SELCO, Harish has been on a roller–coaster ride of success and failure. Harish has used the problems as a learning ground and improved his business model successfully. But, when Harish tried to scale his operations in 2005–2006 he failed miserably. Some errors in the decision coupled with external pressure had brought SELCO to a verge of collapse. Owing to the determination of Harish and his team, SELCO was able to revive from the difficult times to generate profits again. Harish now again wants to expand but this time he would not take any chances. He wants to analyze and discuss every possible issue, he might face during his expansion plans.

The key learning aspects of this case is to understand importance and practice of talent management. The case also highlights the best practices that SELCO uses to reach its clients and provide them complete solution.

Teaching note.

The case illustrates the sequence of events that played out between the customer and his interaction with a Bank from which he availed a credit card and a loan. The failure of service deliverables and deficiencies in the processes of the bank resulted in default of the loan amount and inconvenienced the customer. In the case, the focus on the customer helps in understanding that organizations need to initiate responses for customer satisfaction at their interface points, as expected by its customers. The case is suitable for use in courses on ‘Services Marketing’ for Post Graduate courses and Management Development Programmes.

Andreas Stihl AG is the world's leading manufacturer of chain saws and other outdoor handheld power equipment. Based on marketing challenges in its high-volume retail channel—mass merchants such as The Home Depot and Lowe's—Stihl's U.S. unit has narrowed its distribution system to a single channel: independent retail dealers specializing in yard maintenance equipment. This risky and highly publicized decision has proved extremely successful, raising profits, attracting more dealers into exclusive relationships with Stihl, and strengthening the brand's top-quality positioning. But Stihl management are concerned that this channel system may not fit tomorrow's demographics, dominated by homeowners from the so-called Generation X and Generation Y. The case outlines Stihl's business and channel systems and customer needs, then poses a series of questions that management believes must be answered to determine whether to maintain or move away from reliance on its specialty retailers and how to adapt its system.

To understand issues related to retail channel strategy development in fast-changing consumer markets, as well as the challenges of adapting legacy routes-to-market systems to changing consumer service output demands.

Strategic management, HR Management, Change management, Marketing.

Potential audience. This case will serve to undergraduate students, master level students, in the subjects, entrepreneurship, managing change, marketing, H&R management, strategic management.

The Brunes Company was founded in 1994 by Gerond Cela and his brother, with the goal to provide quality products for bathrooms in the then-emerging Albanian market. During the next few years, it had grown into one of the biggest wholesale and retail chains in Albania, with huge portfolio of goods for home refurbishing. The beginnings were very humble. Armed only with the high school diploma in textile trading, born and raised in an ex-communist country without developed entrepreneurship culture, Gerond set off to Italy, a popular destination for young Albanians who were looking for an opportunity to escape the pitfalls of the post-communist transitional economy. Gerond recognized the huge gap in the market for imported tiles in his home country, so he began importing quality Italian tiles in 1994. Initially, he was doing the wholesale from his truck, due to the lack of retail stores. He focused on increasing customer satisfaction and built the company name as trustful provider of quality goods. This strategy brought him less profit, but his long-term goal was to build the company name and to establish it as a trustful provider of quality goods. In 1999, he bought 18,000 m² (for 50.000 euro) land on the highway Tirana-Durres, 7 km from the city centre, which proved to be extremely worthwhile in the long run because the price of the land had skyrocketed up to ten times during the next decade, due to the economic development of Albania. In 2004, Gerond and his brother epitomized their business idea. They entered the market of home furniture. In 2009, the company expanded further in country towns like Lezha, Saranda and Fier. After two decades of establishing his company as a market leader with approximately 30 per cent of market share, Brunes Company is at the crossroads. On one hand, it is pressured by very stiff competition in the form of their main competitor Delta Home, which succeeded in taking 10-15 per cent of the marketing just in one year. On the other hand, the company has been stagnating for some period without a concrete plan to overcome this problem, as well as without a clear strategy for the future directions of the expansion. To diversify the company’s portfolio, Gerond built a factory for tiling accessories which will cost 8 million Euros and employs about 30 workers.

Specific objectives of the case are as follows: to portray individuals who became successful primary through their leadership abilities, and to examine how their experiences and values contributed to the success of their business; illustrate the impact on operations of an increasingly competitive environment and how this environment affects the need for a change in strategy; identify the challenges of selling luxury goods in a competitive retail environment; to assist students to critically think about diversification strategy; to gain an understanding how to adapt to change; to discuss for issues that must be changed (culture, people, technology, values and philosophy of leadership, marketing, business model), to grow.

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

1. Analyze the concept of disruptive change and its impact on organizational learning and development; 2. Develop the ability to identify and implement effective behavioral training interventions; 3. Understand the learning and development process; 4. Evaluate the challenges associated with online learning and explore strategies to overcome them; and 5. Recognize the significance of online learning in the current era and acquire knowledge and skills using online tools and applications for different job roles.

This case focuses on the new challenges that Shazia Zaheer, who is Head of the Learning and Development Department, is experiencing as a consequences of COVID-19 in her department. As her learning and development department has been focused primarily on traditional learning modes since the inception of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL), she is facing additional challenges in adopting online learning because PTCL has undergone significant structural change. Since 1947, PTCL has been a state-owned enterprise. In 2005, the Pakistan Government privatized PTCL. This privatization resulted in numerous structural changes in management, hierarchy, chain of command, pay structure, product lines, technology and other factors. Employees were reduced from 90,000 to 23,000 as part of a volunteer separation plan, and a new scheme was introduced to streamline the process and improve efficiency. However, the employees at PTCL reacted to this transformation with union strikes and behavioral changes. Hence, this became a daunting challenge for Shazia Zaheer to change employees’ mindsets and instill corporate culture values. Nonetheless, she successfully won the half battle by changing the mindset of employees, and then she faced another challenge, COVID-19. This new normal brought new challenges for Shazia to implement online learning as her department relies solely on traditional modes of learning (classroom-based learning).

This case will be a good teaching aid if included in any courses on “Training and Development,” “Human Resource Management,” “Change Management” and “Online Learning” It would be better at the undergraduate (specialization courses) or graduate level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

For discussion of social entrepreneurship in middle-income economies, emerging markets generally and Africa, specifically, Quali Health presents interesting questions about entrepreneurial funding, scaling and the interplay between social entrepreneurial activities and the informal sector.

South Africa’s primary health outcomes do not correspond to the country’s spending on public health, with South Africa ranking among the worst globally in the incidence of tuberculosis, HIV prevalence, infant mortality and life expectancy. In part, this poor outcome can be explained by high inequality in access to healthcare, which reflects South Africa’s grossly skewed income and wealth distributions, with the bulk of the country’s population reliant upon an underfunded, inefficient and poorly managed public health system. This substandard service for the working poor in South Africa’s townships with high population densities offered a profitable entrepreneurial opportunity to provide affordable and effective primary care with vast gains in quality and outcomes improved dignity for patients. After receiving her MBA, physician and entrepreneur Dr Nthabiseng Legoete self-funded the launch of Quali Health in 2017. The business model set out to disrupt healthcare delivery for South Africa’s poorest citizens. Drawing patients from the working poor in Diepsloot, Quali Health’s inaugural site was cash flow positive within five months when the facility hit only 30% of installed service capacity. With quick success, Dr Legoete faced the strategic question of how fast to scale and finance the expansion. She also considered a new micro-insurance product for her clientele.

For discussion of social entrepreneurship in middle-income economies, emerging markets generally and Africa, specifically, Quali Health presents interesting questions about entrepreneurial funding, scaling and the interplay between social entrepreneurial activities and the informal sector.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s Founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement.

The authors observed over 30 h of video and audio recordings of speeches, interviews and other events involving Pebble’s founder, other Pebble executives, investors and competitors. These recordings are all publicly available. Whenever possible, the authors also reviewed the Twitter feeds, Facebook sites and personal websites of Pebble’s top executives over time. Similarly, the authors followed Pebble’s official website, corporate blog and Kickstarter campaign websites. The authors also drew from numerous media reports. Due to the public nature of the data, no company release is provided nor has any information been disguised in any way.

The case is designed for both undergraduate and graduate students for courses in strategic management.

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