Search results

The tech giants Alibaba and Tencent compete on many fronts. This case focuses on three areas where they have competed very hard: new retailing, mobile payment, and ride-hailing. At the beginning of 2018, Alibaba and Tencent were gathering retail investments in bids to battle each other for shoppers' digital wallets. Key to the battle is China's mobile payment market, worth more than 200 trillion RMB, where Alibaba and Tencent are going head to head. The giants are not only directly competing in the payment platform area but also extensively fighting in other areas, such as ride-hailing, where they invested in and supported Didi and Kuaidi, respectively. To enhance understanding, this case also briefly goes through the history of the two giants. The purposes, methods, and consequences of their platform competition deserve an in-depth discussion

Marketing plan; virtual shopping; consumer behavior.

Undergraduate.

This case discusses the e-commerce plan of new online grocery company in Mexico, MexGro, which is planning to emerge as low-cost outlet as compared to the brick-and-mortar establishments in the market. MexGro is an online grocer with a round-the-clock call center to process phone-based orders and to provide customer support. The grocery online company is aimed at setting up a virtual grocery shop by the name of MexGro S.A de C.V to serve cross-cultural products to the Hispanic and Asian communities in Mexico. The MexGro, being a virtual shop, need not pay for checkout clerks; display cases, or parking lots, online grocers can drop prices below those of retail stores and remain profitable. This case explores online consumer-shopping behavior, the economics of online and offline grocery distribution, and the challenges of uniting a pure information business with a mundane package delivery service.

This case may be discussed towards learning developing effective online marketing planning strategy for the niche markets. The specific learning objectives of the case are: to analyze the virtual marketing planning constituents for developing customer-centric marketing within a niche and explore the possibilities of sustainable business growth to encourage strategic thinking towards developing online marketing plan and develop effective communications among the consumers and to address the critical online planning issues, such as what are the prospects for grocery shopping on the internet. The case allows students to grapple with the strategic and tactical decisions on planning for the online marketing companies. Students will also become familiar with key questions/issues raised by the various executives of the company in formulating the online marketing plan for ethnic grocery in a niche business environment: the case challenges students to think about how online grocer creates the most value for customers and how grocer will likely be able to overcome the competition from the brick-and-mortar grocers. Should Wal-Mart be aggressive in launching its grocery brand? The case raises issues to debate on how the organizational and system decisions are faced by managers in developing a virtual shopping culture in Mexico as the company has the goal to move among more efficient competitors in the supermarket industry, and How the online marketing plan can be implemented within a niche. This case study would take students through the rise of a private brand to the strategies of its sustainability in the competitive marketplace. This case illustrates the importance of using new variables in developing an effective marketing plan when companies reinforce their products in the niche markets. The discussion in the case allows students an opportunity to evaluate online marketing planning and their brands in a niche as well as in a competitive marketplace.

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

Students are expected to integrate decision-making tools and frameworks to create decisions under uncertainty. Students are expected to understand the general business process of fuel retail industry.

PT. Pertamina Retail (PTPR) is a subsidiary of PT. Pertamina, an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas company. In the first quarter of 2020, PTPR’s sales volume decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s large-scale social restrictions. Iin Febrian was just appointed as President Director in March 2020; he must formulate a survival strategy facing COVID-19 pandemic uncertainties. The case elaborates on PTPR’s decision to expand immediately or hold. Scenarios and expected values have been given to simplifying the calculation of a decision tree. The case also challenges students to think critically on providing a strategy to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond using decision tree analysis and BCG Matrix or Ansoff Matrix.

BA level and MBA program in Decision Analysis Course or Strategic Management Course.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The case is written for MBA or senior undergraduate courses on communication global strategy, leadership or strategy implementation.

The case is written for MBA or senior undergraduate courses on communication global strategy, leadership or strategy implementation. The case can be taught towards the end of a communications course to learn about crisis communications and the importance of understanding the local institutional and socio-political contexts, including the media during a crisis. For a strategy implementation class, this case can be used in the segment focusing on action and leadership.

An extremely difficult situation arose for Uber Cab, a US-based company operating in India, on December 8, 2014, when its taxi services were banned by the Delhi government due to growing anger over the suspected rape of a 27-year-old female executive by one of its drivers. Uber Cab claims that it offers the “safest rides on the road”, but this episode proved otherwise, as the accused was identified as a repeat offender. Initial interrogation by the police highlighted the negligence of the company regarding background checks and police verification while recruiting driver partners. The police further revealed that the driver did not have a Delhi Transport Authority-issued license. Furthermore, the company was not able to provide a call log to police, as such information was said to be gathered at the company’s headquarters in New York. To handle this situation, Uber Cab suspended its operations until the company could apply for a fresh registration and trade license. What was the significance of this incident to a brand like Uber Cab? Could its effect on the regulation of taxi services have been anticipated? How and when should the brand have reacted? Looking forward, what contingency planning would be appropriate? Should brand management, customer service management or the human resources department have been held accountable, or did the responsibility lie elsewhere in the organization?

The expected learning outcomes are as follows: to understand how institutional differences can create unintended consequences for an multinational enterprise working in an emerging market (early-stage institutions); to understand the critical role of a country manager in mobilizing the local organization and the headquarters to respond to a crisis; also, the role of the headquarters to provide flexibility and support to the local executive; and to understand the inevitable role of the local press in an organizational crisis, and the need for business leaders to deal with the press effectively.

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.

Strategic Management.

MBA, Executive MBA.

This case deals with Harsh Mariwalla’s struggle to develop an innovative company from scratch. The journey of innovation is not an easy one. Marico was forced to compete with multinationals in many markets where it operated. Constant pressure from rivals has made the company develop a new innovative business model, which is expected to generate profitability and sustainable competitive advantage.

Students will be able to appreciate the business models, understand the competitive moves by rivals, understand strategy formulation and implementation, understand product innovation and competitive advantage and understand the ability to tackle competition with innovation.

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.

Strategic management, system control management (balance score card).

Post graduate student, managers.

This case examines “Garuda Indonesia” the National Indonesia airline and its exceptional performance in recent years due to successful strategic decision making. This comprehensive case is structured in five parts highlighting: Garuda's recent success based on positive strategic management; Garuda's history and how it shaped its success against strong competition through effective leadership and the challenges it has overcome; an examination of the development within the Indonesian airline industry; a focused examination of strategic development with Garuda, including competition policy; operational planning and delivery; debt restructuring and product/service strategy; and an examination of the ongoing challenges, including governmental pressures and political maneuvering.

Students will identify opportunities and threats, including strategic issues derived from the external environment facing by Garuda Indonesia. Students will identify strengths and weaknesses from the internal environment faced by Garuda Indonesia. Students will develop strategic alternatives to inform business decisions. Students will give recommendations including priority planning for the next three to five years.

Teaching note.

Strategic Management and Marketing.

Management students (MBA).

In the present times of global competition and busy schedules of individuals, it is expected that companies provide service with security, sincerity and flexibility keeping pace with changing global scenario of marketing. Service receiver expects competitive and optimum facilities with ease while sitting in any corner of the world at any time of the day. It implies that the service provider should be available at all times/all places for satisfying the needs of the customers. A daunting task ahead of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) was to change its conventional approach and work toward a newer, user-friendly one. The top management, i.e. the Board of Directors, took up the task of identifying a quicker but securer approach to provide optimum facilities to the policyholders.

Achieving customer satisfaction through alternate collection channels and retaining market share, role of customer servicing in creating competitive advantage, challenges for a large public sector enterprise – traditional approach or modern approach, role of private companies in development of insurance industry, creating awareness about the product/service through different distribution channels and use of information and telecommunication technologies to reach remote places, are the expected learning outcomes.

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 8: Marketing

Roger Cagle, the co-founder and deputy CEO of SOCO International, watched the dreary London rain outside his office window one February morning in 2015. Never had SOCO, the oil-and-gas exploration and production player that ranked among Britain’s top 200 companies, experienced such a public backlash against its operations. For nearly 20 years, Cagle had helped steer his company’s projects around the world—often in volatile regions where others feared to tread, such as Vietnam, Russia, and Yemen—while delivering significant returns to investors. But the international uproar surrounding SOCO during the past year had been nothing short of mind-boggling.

The case is designed for students with prior knowledge of principles of management, particularly leadership theories. The case would also benefit bachelor students who already took an introductory course to leadership such as organizational behavior or graduate students who are familiar with the leadership and/or entrepreneurship literature. This case study may be used in the following academic courses: theories of leadership, leadership and leaders, organizational leaders’ roles, management skills, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial management.

This case study may be used in the following academic programs: Bachelor’s in Business Administration Master of Science in Business Administration MBA Programs.

Kamal Reggad is a Moroccan entrepreneur who created the company Menaclick, an online business that aims to sell and promote various products and services nationally and internationally at discounted prices. Goods and services are posted on Menaclick’s website www.hmizate.ma, which means “good deals” in Moroccan Arabic. The Hmizate platform operates a daily-deals and group-buying website offering discounted deals to Moroccan customers. The deals are mainly on goods and services such as traveling, food, esthetics, shopping, high-tech gadgets and recreational events (Eco, 2013). Menaclick is based in Casablanca, Morocco, and its website www.hmizate.ma is one of the most popular websites in the country with over 40,000 visitors per day. In the past few years, Kamal has been significantly contributing to building the groundwork of the e-commerce industry in Morocco, a course that has been changing the way Moroccan customers shop for goods and services. In fact, it is because of the merits of group-buying sites such as Hmizate that over 16 million Moroccan internet users navigate the net daily to buy products and services online with ease and facility (Maroc Numeric Cluster, 2014). Kamal Reggad is a fitting example of an innate leader who introduced a new leadership style to Morocco. Kamal took a colossal risk by targeting a new and unexplored market in Morocco which is the e-commerce business; his risks have paid off. As the case explains, Kamal’s success is because of his passion, perseverance and positive attitude.

In general, the objective of the case study is to further enhance the understanding of leadership in general and entrepreneurial spirit in particular. The case study will assist students in developing their leadership-related skills through the discussion of a real-life situation and experience and propose an example of the importance of participative leadership during the launching phase of a business venture. The case is designed to provoke and stimulate students’ personal reflections about a particular management style, especially in entrepreneurship.

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 3: Entrepreneurship.

Financial management, strategic management.

The study can be used by business schools, companies/organizations, individuals, students of business management, in the area of financial and strategic management to study and analyse management strategies by a Government organization that has to balance social objectives and commercial viability.

Indian Railways (IR) is one of the world's largest employers and there was a significant improvement in its financial performance during the period 2004-2008 without any reductions in its workforce. The main reasons for the poor performance of IR prior to this period were attributed to severe competition from other modes of transport, rigid pricing, investment in un-remunerative projects and other such practices. Various recommendations, including restructuring/corporatizing, reorganization, increasing passenger fares, unbundling of non-core activities, downsizing, and outsourcing, had been suggested by various management experts and it was declared that only major reform could rescue IR. However, IR met the challenges and attained unprecedented growth in traffic and earnings through certain strategic decisions. The study analyzes the strategies adopted by IR to improve its poor financial performance.

These include: understanding the challenge of sustaining the current market growth and capturing additional traffic by IR with its peculiar product-mix (transport mix) and limited resources; understanding the main reason for the downtrend of IR finances; acquiring an understanding of the advantage of adopting a volume-focused strategy by IR instead of the existing tariff-focused policy of revenue generation; and understanding the turnaround phase of IR and innovative strategies to get back to the path of growth.

Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.