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Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Risk Management, Communication.

Study level: MBA and Executive Education.

Applicability: This case can be taught in the project management course. It will cover the project-planning phase, which is an iterative or progressive elaboration for the entire project lifecycle. The case will help in discussing how project management is an important discipline to manage projects and stakeholders effectively.

The case depicts the dilemma of a passionate entrepreneur who is setting up an ambitious dairy business but project execution goes awry. The case discusses the challenges related to project planning and execution.

It captures the essence of proactive risk management, measures that can mitigate risks and create opportunities. The case also discusses the entire project lifecycle from project initiation to closure and the challenges a manager has to face in terms of stakeholder engagement, risk management, stakeholder communication and scope change.

To understand the alignment of the project with the organisation strategy; to learn to create a project plan and monitor and control the scope, schedule, resources and costs; to accurately estimate project costs, timelines, and quality and schedule, using tools like MS Project; to learn the risk management techniques for managing projects, teams and stakeholders; and to manage stakeholder communication effectively.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 2: Built Environment.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows:

1) illustrate the project management failures that contributed to the fire accident at Grenfell using a fishbone diagram;

2) identify and classify the power and influence of various stakeholders involved in a brownfield project using a relevant framework; and

3) elaborate the need for following effective stakeholder management processes and project leadership, especially in the context of a refurbishment/renovation project.

On 14th June 2017, the Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London, UK, caught fire. The fire raged for 60 h and around 72 people lost their lives. Many criticized the response of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) and their lack of preparedness to respond to such an emergency. There were calls for Dany Cotton, the Chief of LFB, to resign. However, there had been a major cladding-related refurbishment at Grenfell, and subsequent investigations revealed that the use of combustible materials, a lack of compliance with the fire-safety norms and a blatant disregard for resident safety had contributed to the fire. The tragedy was a cumulative outcome of failure on two counts: effective project management and stakeholder management during the process of refurbishment, especially in the context of a low-cost housing project. Given this situation, this case considers whether Dany Cotton should own up to her responsibility and resign from her position. In the process, the case considers Grenfell refurbishment from the theoretical lens of project management in the construction management scenario to understand the factors that could have led to an “avoidable” tragedy.

Postgraduate students of construction management; final year undergraduate engineering students who have a foundational course on project management; and architects.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 2: Built environment.

This case describes the talent management practices of Kaivalya Education Foundation (KEF), a social sector organization that works in the domain of school education. The two year Gandhi Fellowship (GF) program run by KEF takes urban youth from the best graduate colleges in the country and creates a cadre of change leaders that will work to bring about social change in the nation. The GFs undertake a rigorous, hands-on journey through the two years that is transformational in many ways.

ACC Limited, under Project 30-30, had targeted to produce and sell 30 million tons (mt) of cement in the year 2011. In May 2011, the Head of Central Logistics had found the target of the project to have become increasingly difficult to achieve. He believed that to sell 30 mt of cement, 30 mt had to be transported, thereby, advancing the role of the logistics function from that of a mere facilitator to a critical actor. As possible opportunities to increase sales, issues at the Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Limited (BCCI), and the plant at Wadi are being discussed in the case. The head of BCCI had raised concerns about the decreased logistical capacity of BCCI post a mandate from the Indian Railways on transporting 58-wagon rakes against 41-wagon rakes. A common belief was that with more wagons per rake, the quantity transited from Wadi would be higher. However, this was not the case and a capacity addition was being proposed. The President of Wadi Cluster had expressed that as an effort to reduce the transit time between Wadi and BCCI, priority was given to loading for BCCI. Though an improvement was observed with the introduction of 58 wagons per rake, Wadi was facing issues. This had affected Wadi's ability to serve other markets. The focus of the case is on analysing the options being considered by ACC to increase market presence, logistics capacity at BCCI, and the overall throughput at Wadi.

The case examines the role of IT in CEMEX, a giant Mexican building materials manufacturer in an industry categorized by low margins and high costs. In the early 1990s, CEMEX made significant investments in its IT systems, resulting in a data-based management operation that put it at the forefront of the industry. As the company grew through acquisitions, it integrated IT through “The CEMEX Way,” a set of standardized processes, organizations, and systems implemented on a common IT platform.

In 2007, when CEMEX acquired Rinker, a major Australian concrete company, aligning Rinker with CEMEX IT systems was critical to quickly streamline operations and realize efficiencies. The CIO of CEMEX had developed a new integration process called Processes & IT (P&IT) that he was considering using for the Rinker integration. However, P&IT required additional resources, including significant upfront fixed costs and investment in new personnel teams at a time when the company was already struggling with the integration of another acquisition. CEMEX could either align Rinker to The CEMEX Way or use the opportunity to invest significantly more in evolving to the new P&IT approach that focused on business process management.

While preparing a financial forecast, the newly promoted CFO of a small and profitable but financially constrained ready-mix concrete company must choose between renegotiating debt obligations, postponing long overdue capital improvements that will prevent more costly future repairs, or reducing the dividend payment to a parent company that just recently purchased the firm.

The case deals with an ethical dilemma of an entrepreneur. Chandran, a qualified contractor, had secured an electrical contract from a premier government organization. It was a turnkey project to be executed in a given period of time. In the process of work, he comes across major problems. He could not abandon the project or compromise on his moral values. He wanted a way out to salvage this project that was slowly slipping from his control. This case examines the ethical issues that confront small businesses, employees, suppliers and key stakeholders of every organization and explores the mindset of participants, their personal values and their decision making rationale. The participants get an opportunity to identify with the difficult choices a business situation may throw when ethical mindset clashes with the decision making process.

“Suitable for MBA, Executive MBA, GEMBA, and executive education programs, this case uses CEMEX, a global cement producer based in Mexico, to set the stage for unfolding an analysis of a growth through acquisition strategy. It offers a discussion about the firm's overall strategy to acquire on a global scale instead of growing organically and provides an opportunity to introduce basic financial, marketing, and operational terms that can be explored in subsequent classes. The material includes a PMI process that further allows discussion on that technique.

The case opens with a conference call and another barrage of questions for CEO Lorenzo Zambrano about his bid to buy the Australia-based Rinker Group in October 2006. Until this point, CEMEX has had a long-standing habit of buying businesses in emerging markets; this acquisition would be a departure from that strategy. If the deal goes through, it would be the single largest acquisition in CEMEX's history, and it would be among its few forays into a developed market other than the neighboring United States. The company has grown exponentially and successfully. Why would this effort be any different? Was the acquisition a good idea or not? And if it was, how would Zambrano and his leadership team convince Wall Street and others of that?”

At the macro level, the case study enables the students to appreciate the complexity emerging market economies face in achieving economic development and environmental sustainability without comprising each other. The students understand the importance of behavioural change and empowerment of communities in projects dealing with transformational social changes. Theoretically, the students learn about the change mechanisms and organisational practices market-based organisations install to drive their positive social change (PSC) projects. At the micro level, students learn about the process of setting up Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust (MET) – that not only enthused the local community economically but also instilled it with awareness and motivation towards sustaining its ecosystem. Analytically, at macro level, it assists the students to have a lens of PSC framework to examine corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship and BoP strategies of market-based organisations to affect social change. Application/problem solving: The case study explains to the students how the PSC levers of motivation, capability and opportunity structures were applied by NatWest Bank during different phases of project execution. As management grapples with new problems, the students are encouraged to use the levers to recommend an action plan. It allows students to apply SWOT and think of competitive strategies for MET. It allows students to think of strategies that may apply for a better management of Ecotourism at Mangalajodi.

As part of its broader commitment to sustainable development and climate change action, the NatWest Group (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland Group) launched its Supporting Enterprise Programme in India in the year 2007. The project aimed at creating income-generating opportunities for indigenous and economically vulnerable sections of society living in critical natural ecosystems. The project was under the leadership of N. Sunil Kumar, a zealous nature lover, with over two decades of experience in business strategy and public affairs and a specialty in environmental sustainability. He headed Sustainable Banking at NatWest and was head of NatWest Foundation-India. The Mangalajodi project shared the problems many of NatWest’s other projects in India presented. Poor communities that relied solely on natural resources for their sustenance slid deeper into poverty as ecosystems degraded. Lacking alternative sources of livelihood and facing scantier resources, the communities helplessly caused additional damage to weak ecosystems when they drew on the resources even more vigorously. Poaching of migratory birds for supplemental income was a huge problem at Mangalajodi; it was not only rapidly altering the ecosystem to sustain the birds but also deteriorating and weakening its ecology as a whole. Measures to eliminate poaching were failing in the absence of alternate means of livelihoods and a strong incentive to protect the birds. MET was established under the project in 2009. A decade later, it had become a resounding success. A community-owned and run enterprise, MET was providing direct employment to over 100 poorest families at the tiny village and creating income-generating opportunities and entrepreneurial ventures for many others. Poaching was practically negligible at Mangalajodi, and the community was drawing huge admiration for its role in conserving the ecosystem. However, the progress of Mangalajodi Ecotourism was paradoxical, on the one hand; its popularity was rising but, on the other hand, it was becoming overcrowded and looked ill managed. Its rising commercial value was bringing in more land developers, builders and investors, but permanent concrete structures were also coming up quite unscrupulously. There were many challenges – how should growth of ecotourism at Mangalajodi be managed? What mechanisms and practices ensured that the community was empowered enough to participate in decisions of land use, infrastructure, energy and waste management at Mangalajodi? How should MET become more competitive and innovative to grow despite future challenges?

The case study is useful for students of Management at Under Graduate and Post Graduate Levels for understanding the following: the sustainability of fragile ecosystems; the community at the intersection of sustainable development and natural resources conservation and protection of biodiversity; knowing in detail about the planning, implementation and management of ecotourism projects; and decisions regarding community-based ecotourism projects.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to uncover the social innovation in the peacebuilding model of the Children for Peace Initiative (CPI); to identify the key success factors of the CPI model; to discuss the sustainability of the model of CPI-Kenya; and to apply the contact theory and personal transformation theory to CPI model.

The case is written to address the issue of intercommunity peacebuilding between the Pokot and Samburu. It focusses on social innovation in peacebuilding implemented in seven villages among the Pokot and Samburu. The activities revolve around the involvement of children as key actors in peacebuilding and the exchange of heifer between the communities to sustain the peace. The heifer is one of the sources of conflict. In this case, this powerful cultural symbol is used to create bonding and friendship between the conflicting communities. While there were many peacebuilding attempts in the pastoralist communities, CPI-Kenya introduced a model that focusses on building a new human relationship between the communities. It includes all the social groups of the communities, making it more successful and sustainable than other previous attempts.The two co-founders, Monica Kinyua and Hilary Bukuno, narrated the story of how the CPI-Kenya started, highlighting the uniqueness of their peace-building approach and the strategy they adopted to build a new relationship between the communities. They shared powerful stories of how CPI managed to bring a peaceful living between the Samburu and Pokot in Baragoi, particularly in Amaya and Longewan villages.In the beginning, the main challenge for the CPI-Kenya team was finding the right approach to implement their peace innovation by making children become the catalyst of peace in their communities. With children at the centre of the CPI model, the best approach was getting entry through schools. The school is an accepted social system that has over time gained trust from all parents who send their children there.The case provides the students with the element that is essential for social innovation in the community. The students can learn from the case the importance of collaboration for social initiative, community engagement and inclusive peacebuilding. It portrays a unique strategy in community leadership and management. Further, the students will learn one concrete application of the human contact theory and personal transformation theory. The case highlight how cultural symbols that are sources of conflict can be turned into the symbol of peace. Starting with one group of people in a community and growing into other groups in the same community through a ripple effect.

The case can be used for Master’s and Doctorate.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.