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This case can be used in the core course on entrepreneurship for Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration/Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA/PGDM) students. It will help them to understand the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs, strategies to manage challenges, interactive style of leadership and their contribution to the economic growth of the country.

Entrepreneurship.

Roopa Rani, co-founded a digital design company, DesignTheme Innoventics (DTI), with her husband Yoganand, in November 2007, on the first floor of their residence. Yoganand’s creativity and Roopa’s determination made them bootstrap, scale slow and steady. As a novice to the industry, the initial days posed many challenges. Roopa hired artists to be appointed as designers, which gave them a unique selling preposition. They progressed slowly from a team of 2 to 20, with a revenue of INR 0.3M per annum to INR 12M per annum. As the company grew, Roopa wanted Yoganand’s support in handling the responsibilities, and hence, converted DTI into a limited liability partnership in 2013 and the couple were directors. As the client base improved, the need for shifting to a bigger space became more evident. A calculative risk-taker, Roopa, was forced to move DTI to a bigger office space end 2017, with a rent of INR60,000 per month. Meanwhile, they became a team of 20, with revenue of INR12m. The shift from no rent to a rented space made DTI slip to break-even. However, after two years, they moved into a smaller space and it coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak. Although the backlog orders were processed during the first quarter of 2020–2021, the business for the next quarter was affected. Social distancing norms created a shift in the way of doing business, which was a boon for a designing company like DTI. Now, the task before this self-made woman entrepreneur was to formulate strategies to scale up the business.

After analysing the case, the students will be able to: i. Value the contribution of women entrepreneurs towards the economy. ii. Examine the motivational factors and challenges of women entrepreneurs. iii. Understand the importance of networking. iv. Appraise the socio-cultural factors in a patriarchal society and their impact on the work-life balance of a woman entrepreneur. v. Appreciate the interactive leadership style of women entrepreneurs. vi. Formulate strategies to scale up the business.

• Agarwal, S., & Lenka, U. (2015). Study on work-life balance of women entrepreneurs – review and research agenda. Industrial and Commercial Training, 47(7), 356–362. doi:10.1108/ict-01–2015-0006 • Amit, R., & Muller, E. (1995). “Push” And “Pull” Entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 12(4), 64–80. doi:10.1080/08276331.1995.10600505 • Buttner, E. H. (2001). Examining Female Entrepreneurs' Management Style: An Application of a Relational Frame. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(3), 253–269. doi:10.1023/a:1026460615436 • Carter, S.C. (1997). E. Holly Buttner and Dorothy P. Moore (1997), ‘Women’s Organisational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-reported Motivations and Correlates with Success', Journal of Small Business Management, January, pp34-47. • Cohoon, J. McGrath and Wadhwa, Vivek and Mitchell, Lesa, Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men? (May 11, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract = 1604653 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1604653 •Fletcher, J. (1998), Relational Practice: A Feminist Reconstruction of Work, Journal of Management Inquiry, 7(2), 163-186. • Kirkwood, J. (2009). Motivational factors in a push‐pull theory of entrepreneurship. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 24(5), 346–364. doi:10.1108/17542410910968805. • Malyadri, G., Dr. (2012). Role of women Entrepreneurs in the Economic Development of India. Paripex – Indian Journal of Research, 3(3), 104–105. doi: 10.15373/22501991/mar2014/36. Pal, N. (2016). Women Entrepreneurship in India: Important for Economic Growth. International Journal of Pure and Applied Researches, 4(1), 55–64. Pugazhendhi, D. P. (2019). Problems, Challenges and Development of Women Entrepreneurs. Emperor Journal of Economics and Social Science Research, 1(4), 48–53. doi:10.35338/ejessr.2019.1407. Shastri, S., Shastri, S., & Pareek, A. (2019). Motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(5/6), 338–355. doi:10.1108/ijssp-09–2018-0146. Tende, S.B. (2016). The Impact of Women Entrepreneurs towards National Development: Selected Study on Taraba State. Information and Knowledge Management, 6, 30–43. Xheneti, M., Karki, S. T., & Madden, A. (2018). Negotiating business and family demands within a patriarchal society – the case of women entrepreneurs in the Nepalese context. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 31(3–4), 259–278. doi:10.1080/08985626.2018.1551792

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Venture capital and private equity.

This case is suitable for II MBA/Executive MBA (venture capital and private equity/entrepreneurship/business models/managing family business) courses.

Soliton is a technology and software services company with operations in India and the USA providing machine vision products and virtual instrumentation services. Soliton was started by Ganesh Devaraj in 1998 after his return from the United States after higher studies. Ganesh hails from a business family in Coimbatore that had interests in the textile spinning sector. The family had been in the textile business since the early 1940s and had revenues of Rs 400 million and employed about 700 people. Ganesh, not wanting to continue in the traditional family business, ventured into the technology sector using his academic and professional experience. His family was supportive of his venture and funded his company for the first two years of operation and for scaling up operations. Ganesh is now evaluating various sources of raising additional capital at a time when there was general slowdown in the automobile sector as a result of the global financial crisis.

The goal of this case study is to illustrate the complexities that exist in financing growth of companies in uncertain times. This following are the expected learning outcomes: discuss and understand the nuances between different sources of early stage funding: personal wealth, family, and angels; compare and contrast the differences between family funding and venture funding; and highlight the benefits and limitations of family funding.

Teaching notes are available.

The case “Corporate Governance Failure at Ricoh India: Rebuilding Lost Trust” discusses the series of events post disclosure of falsification of the accounts and violation of accounting principles, leading to a loss of INR 11.23bn for the company, eroding over 75 per cent of its market cap (Financial Express, 2016). The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. The case highlights the responsibility of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors and discusses the changes required in the corporate governance structure necessary to ensure that such incidents do not take place. The case also delves into the classic dilemma of degree of control that needs to be exercised by the parent over its subsidiaries and freedom of independence given to the subsidiary board, which is a constant challenge all multinationals face. Such a dilemma often leads to the challenge of creating appropriate corporate governance structures for numerous subsidiaries.

The case is intended for MBA courses on corporate governance, business ethics and also for the strategic management courses in the context of multinational corporations. The case can be used to develop an understanding of the essential of corporate governance with special focus on the role of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors. The case highlights the consequences and cost of poor corporate governance. The case can also be used for highlighting governance challenges in the parent subsidiary relationship for multinational corporations. The case can be used for executive training purposes on corporate governance and leadership with special focus on business ethics.

This case presents the challenges faced by the newly appointed Chairman Noboru Akahane of Ricoh India. In July 2016, Ricoh India, the Indian arm of Japanese firm Ricoh, admitted that the company’s accounts had been falsified and accounting principles violated, leading to a loss of INR 11.23 bn for the financial year 2016. The minority shareholders were agitating against the board of directors of Ricoh India and were also holding the parent company responsible for not safeguarding their interest. Over a period of 18 months, Ricoh India had been in the eye of a storm that involved delayed reporting of financials, auditor red flags regarding accounting irregularities, a forensic audit, suspension of top officials and a police complaint lodged by Ricoh India against its own officials. Akahane needed to ensure continuity of Ricoh India’s business and also act quickly and decisively to manage the crisis and ensure that these incidents did not recur in the future.

The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. More specifically, the case addresses the following objectives: provide an overview of corporate governance structure; highlight the role of board of directors, audit committee and external auditors; appreciate the rationale behind mandatory auditor rotation; appreciate the consequences of poor corporate structure; explore the interrelationship between sustainability reporting and transparency in financial disclosures of a corporation; understand management and governance of subsidiaries by multinational companies; and understand the response to a crisis situation.

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.

This case will help students to analyse and develop insights into the concepts of servant leadership; to analyse and develop insights into women’s empowerment and a process to achieve such empowerment; and to explore the social business models for scaling up.

The Lakhpati Kisan programme under the aegis of Tata Trusts focussed on empowering women marginal farmers in the tribal belts in India to significantly increase their income from 2015. Ganesh Neelam, Executive Director, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a nodal agency of Tata Trusts, advocated various livelihood options in agriculture, livestock, non-timber forest resources and water conversation. Initially, CInI faced the challenge of getting the farmers to sign up for the programme due to lack of trust. CInI facilitators educated the farmers about the purpose of the initiative and the benefits they would accrue and built trust. CInI created awareness through knowledge-sharing sessions on best practices in agriculture. They formed self-help groups of farmers for decision-making and for easy access to capital. CInI established farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to bring in a business perspective among farmers. The farmers as Board members and executives ran the FPOs like commercial organisations. CInI built capabilities to create a sustainable and autonomous ecosystem that looked impressive. But still the programme was falling short of the desired target. The farmers were so far reluctant to move forward independently. Ganesh felt that the social business model that CInI had evolved needed a re-look to achieve a significant and lasting impact on the majority of the marginal farmers in India.

The case can be used in the organisation behaviour, human resource management courses and courses on social enterprises as part of the MBA or post-graduate management programme or in executive education programmes.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case presents students with the opportunity to do the following: students can pre-work questions; understand the relevant factors to be considered in the decision to expand; and list out the industry and macro-environment factors affecting the expansion decision. Assignment questions help understand the various measures used to evaluate the financial performance of the company; understand the practical implication of incremental analysis to estimate the profit; assess the operating profit and margin of safety of the restaurant Shri Sagar with and without expansion; and critically evaluate the impact of uncertainty on projected sales using the sensitivity model.

Shri Sagar (Central Tiffin Room – CTR) was started by Y.V. Subramanyam and his siblings (Y.V. Srikanteshwaran, Y.V. Krishna Iyer and Y.V. Ramachandran) in the 1920s, specialised in Benne (Butter) Masala dosa, Maddur Vada and Mangalore Bajji. In Bengaluru, there are few restaurants, which have the legacy of more than 50 years such as Vidyarthi Bhavan, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms and Shri Sagar (CTR). Shri Sagar has witnessed three different ownership right from 1920 to the present. Ganesh, an MBA graduate, took the active participation in the business from 2018 and found there are potential opportunities to expand the business. Although business was doing well, Ganesh wanted to assess his company’s financial strength before proceeding. He would require a financial forecast that took into account the strength of the competition and the peculiar nature of the restaurant business in Bengaluru. Ganesh wanted to assess the expansion plan; to address the proposed plan, the case had used cost–volume–profit analysis and sensitivity analysis techniques to make the students understand how these techniques can evaluate the alternatives.

This case is best used while teaching Managerial Accounting, which is a core course in MBA program with a module on break-even-analysis or it can also be used in an executive education class with a similar purpose. The teaching plan can be used for MBA students and entrepreneurial training programmes, which involve training on important managerial decisions, which includes business expansion, estimating business profits/revenue targets, etc. It assumes some basic knowledge of cost–benefit analysis concepts where participants have already exposed some basic understanding of break-even analysis and what-if analysis.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

The focus is on a performance management system and its strategic alignment using a Balanced scorecard in a Public Private Partnership framework. This case study analyses the situation for Tata Power Delhi Distribution (TPDD) which needs to realign its strategy to meet the emerging sustainability challenges of inclusive growth and combating the climate change. The case covers the field of strategic management, strategy formulation and performance management system deployment using the balanced scorecard. It touches upon the emerging need for corporates to look beyond economic signals and take social and environmental impacts into strategy planning process.

The case can be used in the following courses; post graduate program in public administration; MBA/Post graduate program in management in strategic management; executive training program for Government executives in public sector organizations to highlight the concept of performance management system in PPP companies.

After the initial tumultuous years, TPDD emerged as one of the efficient power distribution companies in Delhi region. One of the major management tools that was helpful to achieve this was the balanced scorecard. TPDD's general manager for corporate strategy & planning reviewed the process and the due diligence that went into designing and implementing the balanced scorecard. Now, after the balanced scorecard success story, he along with Dr Ganesh Das, Head of Group – Strategy wants to take it to a next level and integrate their strategies related to inclusive growth of community and combating the ill effects of climate change. They believe that the balanced scorecard method that had helped them to achieve their strategic goals will help them to achieve future objectives too. But whether the existing four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process and learning and growth would adequately address the emerging challenges or whether there was a need to introduce a new perspective – “The Social Perspective” – is what they contemplate in the case.

The case can be used to teach the following: the importance of strategy in an organization and how it helps the firms to realize their stated vision; to highlight the process of strategy formulation and its deployment; to help students realize the difficulties in realizing a strategic goal through performance management system; use the balanced scorecard as an effective tool for strategy deployment and organizational alignment; to introduce students the concept of sustainability in the organization and emerging global challenges; and to illustrate the complexities involved in a strategic planning process

Teaching notes.

The case features WaterHealth International India (WHIN) – a subsidiary of WaterHealth International (WHI) Inc. WHIN was launched in 2006 with the vision to “be the leader in providing scalable, safe, and affordable water solutions to underserved populations through an innovative business model.” The company incorporated a Build-Operate-Transfer model with decentralized production and distribution. Following a successful pilot project, WHIN installed its WaterHealth Centers in 175 sites throughout rural India by 2009, and attracted a $15 million investment from the International Finance Corporation to further expand its operations in India. Mr Vikas Shah, the Chief Operating Officer of the company, is faced with the issue of assessing scalability and sustainability of the company's business model. He needs to examine and evaluate the company's value proposition, resources and capabilities, and decide how to generate economic value while maintaining a focus on its social vision. The latter entails an ability to create shared value for stakeholders as an important contributor toward the company's sustainability. Additionally, Mr Shah is evaluating alternative public-private partnerships in terms of their suitability for the Indian context and viability to drive profitability.

The case uses primary and secondary data, i.e. interviews with company representatives, company reports, presentations, and consulting papers.

The case is written for graduate (and advanced undergraduate) students that enroll in classes with a focus on emerging markets, sustainability, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Examples are courses in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (especially those that include one or more sessions on the social dimensions) as well as those in Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development.

After completion of this case study, students will be able to apply the triple bottom line concept to a spice manufacturing and export company (RBT 3); to examine the options before Value Ingredients Private Limited (VIPL), namely, to cultivate spices in the traditional way versus adopting integrated pest management (IPM) to cater to international markets (RBT 4); to analyse the returns for an IPM farmer vis-à-vis a conventional farmer, and to compare the returns therein (RBT 4); and to evaluate the ways and means of engaging farmers to change their way of cultivation (RBT 5)

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness about the benefits of spices and buoyed its demand worldwide, which presented an opportunity to VIPL, a spice manufacturing company based in Chennai, to expand its business. However, the export markets demanded residue-free spices grown with little or no use of pesticides. Traditional farmers supplying spices to VIPL were accustomed to spraying pesticides whenever there was a pest attack. This case study discussed the options that the protagonist Mr Sijil Karim, managing director and CEO of VIPL, had, who wanted to onboard farmers for pesticide-free cultivation. The options before him were either to continue traditional farming or adopt IPM. This case study discussed the merits, demerits and challenges of each of these options.

The triple bottom line concept discussed three Ps – people, planet and prosperity – for this case as follows: The farmers and the consumers constituted the people in the spice supply chain. The farmers supplying organic, export-worthy spices under the guidance of VIPL gained 30% more than regular spice farmers, which were accrued through cost savings and better prices. The consumers benefitted from the pesticide-free, organic spices through accrued health gains. The manufacture of organic, pesticide-free spices helped the planet, as the process did not release hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. VIPL manufactured pesticide-free spice with a focus on prosperity.

The case study can be introduced in a course on sustainability while discussing the triple bottom line concept. This case study showed how a for-profit company grew without losing sight of the planet or its focus on people. This case is best suited for students who have preliminary knowledge of supply chain management, operations and sustainability. Therefore, it is suited for sophomore-year students of MBA.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The case highlights the ethical dilemmas people face in various business situations. The case throws light on the causes and consequences of violation and the problems related to enforcement of shared organizational values/code of conduct.

This case can be used in courses on human resource management, OB and corporate ethics and is suitable for the postgraduate and undergraduate students of business schools.

The case narrates the dilemma faced by the Vice President of human resources (VP-HR) of a company when he discovered a major violation of the company's code of conduct by the Vice President of research and development (VP-R&D). The VP-R&D is almost indispensable to the company given his unique expertise and criticality of the new Design Centre which he is spearheading single-handedly. Sacking the VP-R&D has the potential of delaying commissioning of the new centre and putting new business wins in jeopardy. On the other hand, not taking any action may erode employees faith in code of conduct and company values. The VP-HR must decide fast whether and how to take action on gross violation of company's code of conduct.

The students will gain understanding of shared organizational values, code of conduct and ethics, know about the causes and consequences of violation of shared values, discover ways to institutionalize shared organizational values and resolve ethical dilemma.

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 subject area is strategy and business.

The case can be used for MBA students. This is equally effective in short courses meant for low-to-mid-level working executives. The case is suited for classes in strategy, general marketing, media management and family business courses.

Dainik Jagran – a vernacular daily – is the most read newspaper in India. Under the banner of Jagran Prakashan Ltd.; which is one of the leading media houses in India, the success of Dainik Jagran has been an outcome of the strategic marketing decisions taken by its founder and his successors in the post-independence era. With extensive circulation, it created a large readership base and took bold decisions to launch multi editions to its daily through a series of acquisitions, mergers and consolidations from 1975 to 2010, enabling it to step into product diversification. Readership surveys, investments in technology, advertising, regular branding events and smart phone applications are a few tools that helped. While the group has diversified into other industries, there is an underlying anxiety about the future prospects of its newspaper business. With the onslaught of online news dailies, will Dainik Jagran be able to expand and maintain its readership base using its previous business and marketing strategies? Or is it time to change strategies for businesses in the newspaper and allied media industry in India?

The study has the following outcomes: application of value chain concept in businesses serving two-sided markets; application of environmental analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis and related strategy concepts; and learning to critically approach and develop a sustainable growth strategy framework for a successful family-run newspaper business in India.

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.