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The teaching objectives of the case study will enable the students as follows: to recognise the challenges of information technology (IT) implementation in the health-care sector associated with employee resistance, to apply the technology acceptance model for analysing the degree of employee resistance, to relate the utilisation of Kotter’s 8-step change management approach in successful IT implementation in the health-care sector and maintenance of employee productivity and to classify the leadership traits reflected by the leaders in training the 600 diverse employee population of Al-Ain hospital.

The case highlighted the predicament the government-owned Al-Ain City Hospital, United Arab Emirates, faced following the surge in the incidences of COVID-19 in the country in March 2020. The hospital management decided to initiate the work-from-home arrangement as a non-pharmaceutical intervention of handling the spread of the disease amongst its employees. Fatima Almur, the Information Technology Director in Al-Ain Hospital, asked the Application Support Manager, Aysha Shahwan, to deploy some IT tools significant for remote support to patient care within two weeks. Shahwan faced significant challenges in deploying the IT tools in two weeks given the diverse workforce, with the majority of them having limited knowledge in operating the tools, and hence, their apprehension in the usefulness of the tools. Besides, Shahwan had to deploy some advanced tools for easy and secured access to the electronic health record, telemedicine and telecommuting using mobile phones, tablets or PCs. The deployment of these advanced tools would be jeopardised by employee acceptance and consequent dwindling productivity. Considering the issue of employee acceptance of the change and their limited knowledge, Shahwan had, therefore, to develop training frameworks to boost the former’s perceived usefulness and ease-of-use of the IT tools. Will Shahwan successfully deploy the advanced IT tools to enable the hospital staff, including medical staff and departments, to ensure efficient patient care from a remote location? Will she be able to train the 600 employees across genders, ages and knowledge, use the IT tools and safeguard them from common software threats like email phishing and ransomware? Will the hospital be able to sustain its vision of quality patient care using advanced technologies through this new arrangement of remote support amidst the pandemic when patients are more?

Undergraduate business management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public sector management.

Management of Innovation and Technology/Management Information Systems.

Information Systems.

SER (Sugar, Energy & Rum) was a company belonging to the Grupo Pellas Corporation. The company operated in four countries, had six subsidiaries, employed more than 25,000 people, had more than 43,500 manzanas of sugarcane crops in Nicaragua alone and had global annual sales of more than US$400m. In 2008, due to the negative effects of the crisis on the company’s business model (increasing costs due to higher prices for fuel and decreasing income because of low international sugar prices), the company decided to implement a business intelligence (BI) system to optimize its processes to reduce costs and increase productivity. At that time, the company had more than 100 years of data, information systems that fed into their main business processes and a culture that appreciated data as the basis for decision-making. However, there were inconsistencies among data systems, users received highly complex reports in Excel or green screens and process monitoring happened long after the tasks had been completed. As a response, SER used extract–transform–load to collect and clean data that would be used in the BI system (the case leaves the questions regarding the systems selection unsolved for discussion). Based on their business model, they selected the most critical processes and defined key performance indicators to measure the impact of changes in those processes. They considered graphic design as a tool to make the system more accepted by users and worked together with users so that reports only offered the most important information. The result was improved costs and productivity. They decreased manual time spent by 14 per cent, automated time spent by 10 per cent, and eliminated 1,556 hours of dead time for equipment in the field, which allowed them to increase productivity by US$1m just in sugar. They saved 20,000 trips from the fields to the factories, which represented more than US$1m in savings by monitoring the weight of wagons loaded with sugarcane in real time. They improved client perceptions about the company both locally and internationally by implementing a sugar traceability system.

The case “Business Intelligence at the Grupo Pellas SER Company” has as its objective to respond to the question: How does a company make its BI system implementation successful? As such, the case: Discusses what a BI system is and what it provides to a business analyses challenges, benefits and context when implementing a BI system; analyses success factors and recommendations in the BI system implementation process; analyses the process of implementing a BI and highlights the importance of the system priority questions and technological alternatives.

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CSS 11: Strategy

Information technology, management science and strategic management.

The case has been developed for use in “e-government Management and Leadership” and “Strategic IT management” courses and is appropriate for MBA and Executive Development Programs, as well as corporate training programs incorporating information system and e-government dilemmas. The case is appropriate for courses that deal with e-government development.

Ajman Digital Government (ADG) was established in 2017. It is a new government entity intended to deliver the Ajman e-Government Project to increase government efficiency and productivity, as well as transforming public services to meet citizen expectations of digital experiences and satisfying the UAE Federal e-government standard. The current UAE federal e-government ranking includes only two emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. ADG intends to be part of the UAE federal e-government ranking and participating in the world digital competitiveness ranking. Many challenges lie ahead for ADG, which intends to add Ajman’s e-government to UAE’s federal e-government, supporting the digital competitiveness of UAE worldwide and participating in increasing the ranking for UAE federal government in IMD’s World Digital Competitiveness Ranking; in addition to this challenging goal, there are significant new obstacles to the implementation of the new digital government in Ajman. ADG requires specific ingredients for the maintenance and support of the UAE e-government standard to position the project toward the success. Study of the strategic positioning of ADG would help support success of the development of e-government and weigh which technology should be used and how the project should proceed strategically. The case also provides a very useful ground for discussing all challenges faced and how the innovative business model of e-government will address these issues and create a sustainable e-government environment.

The case is structured to achieve the following learning objectives: Students can recognise the dilemma faced by the Ajman Government in managing citizen expectations, stakeholder expectations and the wider implications of its actions on developing a coherent communication strategy. Students can recognise and critically evaluate the role of leadership and communication in using e-government strategies in hyper technology market. To bring out the challenges in the digital government and repositioning strategies in a highly competitive and dynamic technology environment. Differentiation and repositioning strategies in a highly competitive technology market. Learn how to effectively communicate the value of a digital government to the targeted citizens. Understand how to strike a balance between short-term objectives and long-term goals in e-government development. Analyse the environment, competition, industry and IT product positioning. List alternative IT strategies and e-government positioning. Understand the primary drivers of interaction in e-government.

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CSS 7: Management Science.

Management, Information technologies.

Courses at the senior university level in social and organizational sciences.

This case aims to observe modes, levels and specific problems in application of information technologies in informing, information sharing and collaboration as important aspects in ensuring quality in control of the processes that occur at school. Some deficiencies in application of information technology within these processes have been identified and alternatives to solving them have been offered. The discussion concerning the solutions was performed according to the parameters that were singled out as important in the analysis of the problems. A school that is recognized in Zlatibor region and elsewhere in Serbia for its advanced development tendencies was selected for the case study. The proposed solutions are practically applicable in any work collective.

Modern management strategy in education; the importance of process management in insuring quality of whole management system; the importance of implementation of modern information technologies in school management system.

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The case concerns strategy.

This study is applicable to information system, development sector and application of technology in development sector.

Krutika Terracotta Unit is a small unit located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha (India), owned by Mr Tarun Tapan Sahoo. The organization product portfolio varies from decorative statues, pots and vessel to customized products demanded by customers. Organization is also involved in training and renting the products for traditional fairs, marriages and religious ceremony in Bhubaneswar along with order sales. The case attempts to get a close picture of the industry. The exercise of developing the vision, mission, and goals for the organization was carried out and an attempt was made to align the information system with the business objectives even though the organization does not have a very structured organogram. Using BIS will surely reduce manual work and will give qualitative output. There will be lesser hassles in management. The defined and integrated approach will also help in taking strategic decisions well. The objective is to develop and apply well-structured BIS which can be integrated with the existing system so as to develop the terracotta organization in terms of reachability and profit-making with better decision-making capacity.

To learn about the business model of a handicraft marketing organization; to learn about the processes involved in traditional art form of Terracotta; to go through the exercise of creating vision, mission, goals of the organization through mutual discussion and expectation of owner; to determine how BIS helps in achieving higher productivity in Krutika Terracotta Unit; and to get an idea about how NPV calculation and social ROI should be measured for finding feasibility of technology investment.

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Agriculture knowledge, market intelligence, emerging business model.

It is best suited to teach undergraduates and graduates in the areas of rural marketing, agri-business management, service management and information and communication technology for development.

India is changing with great pace by inclusive growth on espousal of technology into the mainstream. Indian farmers are wholly depending even now on traditional methods for decision making on entire agriculture supply chain. The constant decision making provides middle men with a chance to exploit and empower themselves on the returns produced by farmers. Technology is creating waves providing an opportunity for farmers to benefit by adopting information and technology to solve their basic livelihood problems. The Thomson Reuter group launched a SMS-based mobile information service to support India's 250-million-strong agricultural community. The service, named Reuters Market Light (RML), is trying to provide a missing link by providing required information in the quickest possible time to farmers; user need-based services are critical to this. How far RML services are delivering in this context is quizzed by some analysts. Thomson Reuter's service started with the global climb down in commodity prices, coupled with increased risk of natural disasters as per experts. The competitors providing similar services at price which differ with RML wondered about the success, scalability and sustainability of its venture.

This is a practical view of how these interventions can be better looked at and can get into policy for a framework for rural areas' socio-economic development.

Teaching notes.

This case focuses on the challenge of quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of a large technology project, enterprise resource planning (ERP), in the nonprofit environment of the San Diego City Schools. The school district does not generate a profit, so traditional revenue enhancement arguments do not work. Instead, the case discusses the internal processes re-design and system consolidation enabled by the new ERP system. The system ROI is composed of two major components: cost savings from removal of legacy applications and productivity improvements. The cost containment benefits are relatively straightforward to quantify, but do not justify the system. The productivity improvements are harder to quantify, and many can be categorized as soft benefits. Furthermore, many of the productivity and cost-saving benefits will not be realized without personnel reductions, which are especially difficult in school districts and government agencies. The case debrief therefore discusses the tradeoffs quantifying soft benefits and productivity improvements, best practices for management decision making, and the organizational change necessary to realize the ROI.

The case teaches students how to analyze ROI for a large enterprise IT system in nonprofit or government organizations. Financial ROI is applicable for the hard cost benefits but some benefits are more difficult to quantify, and students learn how to factor these into the decision making as well. In addition, organizational change can be particularly challenging in the government or nonprofit context; the case enables a discussion of strategies for workforce re-deployment in these settings.

Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing, Innovation, New product development (NPD).

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate, and MBA/MSc.

This case illustrates the challenges related to commercializing an innovative product, the coconut dehusking machine in the Malaysian market. It revolves around the issues pertaining to the pre and post-lunch activities and bottleneck of the coconut dehusking and defibering (CDD) machine which was developed by Md Akhir in July 2003. Md Akhir, the senior research officer at Mechanization and Automation Research Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), believed that it was the first coconut dehusker in Malaysia. During 2000, farmers used to dehusk coconut manually, as there was no readily available machine to help them. Thus, Md Akhir felt the necessity to innovate such a machine that could help the farmers to dehusk efficiently in comparatively less effort and time. From 2003 to 2005, he presented his innovation in several national and international exhibitions and received accolades for such innovative product. In 2005, MARDI signed the memorandum of agreement of five years to license the CDD with Phytofolia Sendirian Berhad without having Md Akhir’s consent. Phytofolia was a comparatively new company owned by two entrepreneurs – Azmin Samin and Abd Hamid. During 2007, Phytofolia changed the specification of the CDD without informing to Md Akhir. Furthermore, two machines were sold to a company in Papua New Guinea, but no feedback was sought about the performance of the modified CDD. The price of CDD was set very high and thus the local farmers refused to buy it. In 2009, Hamid left Phytofolia due to disagreement with his business partner. He collaborated with Mr Sigiarno a venture capitalist from Indonesia and offer MARDI RM200,000 up-front to buy the IP of the CDD. At the end of the contract, Phytofolia failed to pay the royalty to MARDI and the contract ended in 2010. By seeing the fall of memorandum of agreement, MARDI asked Md Akhir to decide the next step whether to sign new agreement with Phytofolia, to sign agreement with Hamid’s newly formed company Kelapa Gading, to giving up commercialization and provide this machine to the farmers free of cost or to create a start-up company, fabricate and market the CDD. Md Akhir was really confused about which way to go!

Using this case, students can learn how a small and/or medium scale company can strategize its new product launch. Based on the given industry scenario, students can realize the potential challenges that are related to launching a new product. Furthermore, this case demonstrates that producing a high-quality product is not enough to succeed in the market; right strategy also plays an important role in making it successful. Finally, it can be also learned that proper marketing strategy, good coordination and communication with support companies as well as internal harmony are three important factors that contributes in any business success. Overall, entrepreneurship students will learn how to use the opportunity and manage the innovation. On the other hand, strategic marketing students will learn the importance of adopting proper strategy, while the students who are undertaking the new product development course will be benefited by seeing the practical situation of a new product launch, its rise and its fall.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Innovation, information technology, e-marketing and sales, strategy and entrepreneurship.

The case is intended for use in advanced graduate and executive education level management and technical programs of study. The case is high inter-disciplinary appropriate for all courses dealing in use of innovation, information technology, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales and strategy.

Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd is a company established in 2008 by entrepreneurs Shashank, N.D. along with Abhinav Lal. At Practo Technologies engineers practice to create technology that supports healthcare industry. In India, there is not enough assistance given to the patients in terms of searching for appropriate doctors and fixing an appointment with them easily. The patient's data lie scattered in reports and the patient's medical history goes unrecorded. Practo provides a robust platform for doctors and patients to collaborate together under one umbrella. It provides patients with open basket of doctor profiles and special search based on doctor's specialty. The case showcases the journey of transformation healthcare sector in India has gone through. The change was resisted, it never came that easy! The case explores issues in implementing information technology for clinics and hospitals in India. This case illustrates interesting facts Indian healthcare and the preparation they need to equip with to manage global technology tide.

The case can be used for teaching service innovation. Managing innovative practices and low-cost online business models is illustrated. In particular, it deals with how the early start up employs innovation to set up new working ideas. The case is designed to stimulate discussions of broad array of issues regarding deployment of IT services specifically in the hospitals and clinics across India. Evaluate the advantages and liabilities of expanding globally at a very early start up stage. The case focuses on Practo early development with only concept in hand and transforming it into a profit generating business. Evaluate the advantages and challenges of innovation, technology development, deployment and training of manpower to use it. The case offers students opportunity to understand and take view of strategically building early start up and management of concerns with no prior experience. To identify business opportunities and explore various possibilities of expansion into IT healthcare business. The students are given base to explore sales and marketing strategies for online model. The students get overview of cutting edge business offerings and surviving the dynamic competition in the era of globalization.

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The (A) case describes the evolution between 1999 and 2005 of an unusual innovation team within the office of the chief information officer at oil and gas giant BP. This team helped business units conceive, develop, and implement novel, value-added applications for emerging information technologies. The team leader, vice president and chief technology officer Phiroz Darukhanavala (“Daru”), eschewed a large group and venture budget in favor of a small, lean team intimately engaged with BP's business units. The case describes several mechanisms created by the CTO office during its early evolution: “Blue Chalk” events that expanded executives' appreciation of emerging technology capabilities, a network of relationships through which emerging technologies were scouted and vetted, a structured technology transfer process, and annual “game-changer” projects.

The (B) case describes how the CTO office team members in 2011 again solicited advice from their ecosystem of thought leaders and held workshops to significantly enhance their impact. As a result, they began developing solutions for broader, more fundamental business problems that came to be known as Grand Challenges: extremely difficult business problems whose solutions could potentially create hundreds of millions—or billions—of dollars in business value.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the management challenges associated with realizing the business value of new technologies

• Explore how innovation management evolves as an innovation team learns from its successes and failures and, more importantly, builds a reputation within and outside the company

• Examine a prototypical “advocate” model of corporate entrepreneurial practice

• Explore a leading example of a successful internal innovation program

Understand the management challenges associated with realizing the business value of new technologies

Explore how innovation management evolves as an innovation team learns from its successes and failures and, more importantly, builds a reputation within and outside the company

Examine a prototypical “advocate” model of corporate entrepreneurial practice

Explore a leading example of a successful internal innovation program