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This video case study exercise uses excerpts from the movie Patton and the HBO series Band of Brothers to juxtapose two military leaders (General George S. Patton and Lieutenant Dick Winters) as they face strikingly similar situations – each interacts with a subordinate experiencing “battle fatigue” (a.k.a. shell shock, PTSD) during the Second World War. Patton appears to lack emotional intelligence (EI) as he apparently loses control and strikes a soldier he believes is demonstrating cowardice. Winters, on the other hand, takes a much different approach when dealing with a subordinate in a similar situation. This case exercise is designed to augment assigned theoretical readings and increase student conceptual and practical insight into the construct of EI.

The analysis of film and biographies is based on historical figures.

The case is best used with undergraduates in management or leadership courses who may lack the contextual background to discuss certain aspects of leadership. Specifically, the case is designed to explore the elements that comprise EI as well as how EI may affect a leader’s effectiveness. The case study can also be used to challenge common conceptions of how EI may manifest and to discuss the potential “dark side” of EI.

This case study exercise centers on the concept of EI, with an emphasis on providing a robust understanding of the concept, including how context may come into play and how EI may have a “dark side.” The exercise could also be used to facilitate discussion of multiple topics normally covered in undergraduate management or leadership courses such as personality, perception and attribution, authentic leadership, toxic leadership, transformational leadership and motivation.

Arizona Snowbowl, a ski area located in northern Arizona, experienced several years of inadequate snowfall resulting in both operating losses and negative cash flows. The CEO had to decide whether to commit $750,000 for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) related to a proposed $19.77 million snowmaking project that uses reclaimed wastewater. U.S. Forest Service approval was required. Data for this case were obtained from the EIS that the Snowbowl submitted to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Estimated skier days, revenue levels, capital costs and interest rates are provided to facilitate the decision modeling process. Students are expected to analyze the financial information and decide whether or not undertaking the EIS project is cost effective while taking into account the possibility that the regulatory and legal system might not allow the project to go forward.

The case was developed from secondary sources. This descriptive case was classroom tested in undergraduate organizational behavior courses.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which honored movies released in 2021, was held on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Prior to Chris Rock announcing the winner in the category of best documentary film, Rock was assaulted on stage by Will Smith. On April 8, 2022, the Academy’s board of governors met to discuss disciplinary actions for Smith’s behavior. The Academy’s board decided to ban Smith from all Academy events for the next 10 years. Theories of individual behaviors and social processes can provide explanations for behaviors of Chris Rock, Will Smith, the producers and the Academy.

This descriptive case is most appropriate for undergraduate-level organizational behavior courses. The primary topics in this case align well with individual behaviors relative to emotional intelligence (EI) and motivation. The secondary topics in this case align well with social processes relative to decision-making, conflict and culture.

The case provides an insight on the provisions of the IND AS 115 (largely converging with IFRS 15), financial impact of alternative accounting practices and dynamics of a revenue recognition decision. MBA students can use the knowledge derived from the case at their workplace when they encounter accounting of “revenue from a contract with customers”.

Saifudin Rehman, one of the promoter of Suprajeet Corporation (SUC) had been engaged in electrical installation contract business. The firm had been doing well in the field of small contracts and was having steady growth. People in the firm were also quite acquainted with the kind of contracts they were doing. However, Saifudin always wanted to get into a big contract business. For getting into big installation contracts, the corporation needed more working capital and needed to satisfy the criteria of having a high amount of turnover in the preceding year. The case will be looked into from the perspective of accounting procedure to see the possibility of increasing the revenue by changing the method of accounting in relation to revenue recognition. The case provided the opportunity to evaluate the benefits and the costs involved in changing the accounting method in SUC.

Commerce Graduates and MBA I.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

This case is meant for MBA students as a part of their leadership/information technology and system curriculum. It is suitable for classes in both offline and online mode.

Human resources management/information technology and systems.

The case discusses how Poppy Gustafsson (Gustafsson) (she), Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Darktrace plc, one of the world’s largest cyber-AI companies, is reinventing enterprise security by using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and respond to cyberthreats to businesses and protect the public. Darktrace’s technology leverages the principles of the human immune system to autonomously defend organizations from cyberattacks, insider threats and AI warfare. In addition to leading a cutting-edge cybersecurity company, Gustafsson evangelizes gender diversity at Darktrace where 40% of employees and four C-level executives are women, a number nearly unheard of in the tech sector.The case chronicles the journey of Gustafsson and how she led the company to growth and success. Under her leadership, Darktrace has grown into a market leader in the AI cybersecurity space serving 5,600 customers in 100 countries, as of June 2021. Gustafsson not only redefined the cybersecurity space but also inspired women to pursue a career in the field of cybersecurity. She also collaborated with a social enterprise called WISE to encourage more girls to consider STEM careers.However, along the way, she faced several challenges including growing competition, procuring funds from investors, cybersecurity talent shortage and training personnel. Going forward, some of the challenges before Gustafsson would be to meet the changing cyber protection demands of customers; hire, train and retain highly skilled cybersecurity personnel; beat the competition in a saturated cybersecurity services space; sustain revenue growth; and post profits as Darktrace had incurred losses every year since its inception.

This case is designed to enable students to: understand the issues and challenges women face in the field of cybersecurity; understand the qualities required for a woman leader to lead a technology firm; study the leadership and management style of Gustafsson; understand the importance of transformational leadership in management; understand the role of Gustafsson in Darktrace’s growth and success; analyze the traits that Gustafsson possesses as a tech leader in an emerging cybersecurity space; understand the importance of gender diversity in cybersecurity; and analyze the challenges faced by Gustafsson going forward and explore ways in which she can overcome them.

CSS: 11 Strategy.

The subject areas are marketing, entrepreneurship, strategy or organisational design, operating in emerging markets and social entrepreneurship.

The study is applicable to MBA students, masters-level students and students of executive education.

The case outlines the context and current decisions and dilemma facing Essay Gifts, which is a successful enterprise based in Cape Town, South Africa, supplying a local market in corporate gifting since 2006. The emerging market is facing economic decline and rising unemployment sitting at 25 per cent and up to 48 per cent in the youth market. After seven years of operating from a home-based office, Beatrice has moved into an office block in an upcoming area in Cape Town as they anticipate bullish targets for the upcoming year. The decision facing her now is whether to also sign a lease for a vacant retail shop downstairs from her office to sell ready-made gifting solutions. To meet the social mission, Essay Gifts is using township-based suppliers to develop the products, and this is proving an often unreliable and inconsistent source of supply and the current orders may not even be met at this particularly busy end-of-year period. How does Beatrice scale the business and what business is she in after all? Is she an entrepreneur, striving to increase the size of her business and her revenue, or is she a social entrepreneur creating employment opportunities for others?

The paper enables to identify the determining features of a social enterprise and the dynamics involved in balancing the social and commercial missions; understand the complexities of entrepreneurial operations in emerging markets; identify scaling up and strategic growth strategy options for social enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises; and distinguish entrepreneurial marketing strategies in contrast with traditional marketing strategies.

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.

To understand how the external culture of an organization affects the internal decisions; to explore how employment stereotypes are used in recruitment; to grasp the general understanding of how line managers give more value to the bottom line than “non-discrimination statement”; to understand the challenges while managing a diverse workforce; and to critically analyze hiring decision and recommend practical solution.

Asma Malik was hired as a management trainee around five years ago. After successful completion of her one year as a management trainee, she was placed in the finance department. She outperformed all of her targets and received multiple rewards of a star performer. However, Malik was passionate and eager to work in the field and to work with the sales team. It was her dream to be an outstanding salesgirl. Based on the company’s policy of equal opportunity employer, she quickly got herself promoted to the position of wholesale manager and she was the first one to be provided such a challenging position. However, the market dynamics and market acceptability in a country like Pakistan were quite thought-provoking for a girl to be a wholesale manager. And it was observed that sales were constantly declining, as she had assigned this role. Now Country Manager (CM) had to make a decision, whether to transfer her to any other position or to retain her in the same position.

Bachelor of Business Administration and MBA.

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 1: Accounting and Finance.

The 12^th South Asian Games were held in India in Guawhati and Shillong in February 2016, after repeated rescheduling. There were a number of challenges to organizing the games such as lack of infrastructure, legacy of corruption from past games, shortage of time etc. However, the games were held within 90 days of the announcement of venues and final dates. Sri Yadav, the Secretary, Department of Sports wants to understand the key drivers of success behind organizing the event. He also wants to understand how the success of Indian athletes at SAG could be leveraged for success at larger events.

The students will get a hands on research techniques like mental mapping, laddering and means end chain (MEC) model for value proposition and survey techniques.

Market Research has always acted as one of the major driving force behind the successful launch of any product in any market. There are several evidences of how market research and thorough understanding of the consumers in and out has lead companies reach new peaks and acquire market share. This case deals with a company called Eco-Remedies, based in Nashik, India, which is in the business of providing eco-solutions to different health ailments and also general purpose health supplements like health drinks. The major concentration is on the product called “AnjaNeya-The Graviola fruit drink” from Eco-Remedies, where in different research techniques were used to gather information so that appropriate strategies could be implemented in order to increase the market share of the product and create a strong position in the minds of the customers. The case deals with gathering consumer insights and then developing appropriate positioning strategies for Eco remedies based on consumer value proposition using the MEC theory, mental mapping, blind tests and general consumer survey.

The study is applicable to Masters level Marketing Management and Marketing Research Studies.

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

Marketing.

Family Business, Entrepreneurship, International Business and Marketing.

This case is intended for an undergraduate business student audience in courses dealing with Entrepreneurship, Family Business, International Business and Marketing.

TARA Trade, a Lebanese souvenir-item designer and distributor owned by two brothers, was facing hostile competition. The partners who operated the business from two different continents had to deal with multiple threats to maintain their market position in a region of the world riddled with political unrest, regulatory chaos and idiosyncratic (distinctive) socio-cultural business practices.

Students are challenged to identify solutions to the marketing concerns and analyse the partnership issues faced by the international ownership/management of the business.

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