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Illinois Superconductor Corp. a technology start-up, came up with an innovative new superconducting filter for use in cellular base stations. It needed to estimate the demand for its filters. The manager came up with a simple chain-ratio-based forecasting model that, while simple and intuitive, was too simplistic. The company had also commissioned a research firm to develop a model-based forecast. The model-based forecast used diffusion modeling, analogy-based forecasting, and conjoint analysis to create a forecast that incorporated customer preferences, diffusion effects, and competitive dynamics.

To use the data to generate a model-based forecast and to reconcile the model-based forecast with the manager's forecast. Requires sophisticated spreadsheet modeling and the application of advanced forecasting techniques.

Organizational diagnosis. The case addresses the issue of an outsider at a senior position in a family-run business.

MBA.

NCR-Delhi is a multi-specialty hospital in Delhi and is essentially a family-run business. Though it had done well in the early years since its inception, it had been plagued by many problems and had undergone many changes in management and processes. An outsider joined it as the Facility Director (FD) two years ago. In these two years, he introduced multi-directional changes. However, he has not been able to achieve a complete turnaround of the hospital. The major issues facing him are financial, operational and personnel-related issues. The hospital is currently in a major financial crisis, which has been causing delays in disbursement of salaries and creating resource crunches in daily operations. Most of the patients are government empanelled patients, and collection of payments from such patients usually takes at least three months. Employee attrition and customer satisfaction are also continuing challenges. Other issues include lack of proper support and interference from top management. The FD has been showing considerable prowess and capability in leading the organization, but has not been able to achieve the desired results owing to the above factors.

To understand the frameworks and process of organizational diagnosis; to understand the influence of change initiatives on organizational culture; and to understand the complexity of family business and what happens when an outsider leader joins family business.

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.

Rede Alta Velocidade, SA (RAVE), the state-owned company responsible for planning and developing a major high-speed rail project in Portugal, must persuade both public officials and lenders that the project is worth undertaking. It must also make a recommendation on the appropriate organizational form for the enterprise. Specifically, it must determine the role of the Portuguese government in financing and operating the high-speed rail network, with options ranging from full development and management of the project by the public sector to completely private development and management. Lying in between these two polar cases were a variety of hybrid models, often referred to as public-private partnerships (PPPs). Using data in the case, students have the opportunity to perform a benefit-cost analysis of the project. They also must think carefully about the optimal role of the government in a major new infrastructure project.

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

• Understand the nature of a global public good

• Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

• Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

• Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

• Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

Understand the nature of a global public good

Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

Recently, the Indian Congress asked a distinguished committee of experts to analyze and make policy recommendations about India's Cooperative Financial Institutions (CFIs), which included organizations such as credit unions and cooperative banks. One committee member, Mohan R. Narayan, a leading economist at a prestigious Indian university, was enthusiastic about the job; it was an opportunity to help millions of rural poor and to have a positive effect on the country. Some poor farmers, deeply in debts to money-lenders, had been reported to resort to committing suicide when they faced with draught or other catastrophes and saw little reason to continue living. Well-functioning CFIs would certainly help restore hope and boost income for the rural poor. But he knew the system had a long history of overregulation, financial laxity, and corruption. Creating an actionable and clear strategy would be no easy task. The case, written at the invitation of the World Bank to study the challenges of building inclusive financial system in emerging countries, invites students to discuss 1) The roles and responsibilities of financial institutions in poverty-reduction and economic development, 2) the benefits and risks of using public versus private institutions to aid development, and more specifically, 3) the economics of credit cooperatives—in particular how they function in an emerging market setting.

The Case takes place at the headquarters of Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (GWI), one of the leading short line railroads in the United States. The Case revolves around three executives - Mortimer B. Fuller III, Chairman and CEO, Mark Hastings, CFO and Treasurer, and Alan Harris, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Office - and the dilemma over whether to pursue international expansion.

GWI has generally pursued a strategy of diversification through acquisition. However, there are other approaches to diversification, including international expansion. With increasing deregulation and privatization of railroads around the world, GWI and its competitors must weigh the risks of internationalization with the rewards. GWI fears that a failure to move quickly might result in missed opportunities as competitors acquire railroads around the world.

An opportunity has recently arisen in Australia, where the government is selling Australian National Railway. GWI believes Australia might be a good initial foray into the international market given the similarities of the country and its railroad industry to the United States and its railroad industry. The Case asks the question, “Should GWI enter the bidding?”

This case is the story of Gonzalo Co, the eldest of five siblings, who claimed to be the founder of Gonzalo Laboratories. According to his version of the story, he invited his siblings to work in the business that he established. As fate would have it, he was eased out of the business. His contributions to the company were wiped out when he acceded to change the form of ownership from single proprietorship into a corporation. In a situation of “he said”, “they said”, the well-publicized conflict leaves the public to wonder how the family will resolve their disagreements even if both parties insist that their respective stories are true.

The researchers relied on secondary data to write the narrative of Gonzalo Co. For the history of Green Cross, the authors used as reference the personally published book of Gonzalo. Then, the authors picked out relevant excerpts from the separate newspaper publications of Gonzalo and his siblings. The authors requested an audience with Mr Arsenio Alianan of the Philippine Kho Association, but he refused to be interviewed. The authors did not interview Gonzalo Co and any of his relatives.

Family business management class at the undergraduate or graduate level.

The present case study would help readers to understand paternalistic leadership behavior with its underlying theory. Readers would be able to appreciate the nature of experiences employees may have while working with a paternalistic leader high on authoritarianism. This case study would motivate readers to work out appropriate strategies for working under paternalistic bosses. The teaching note sensitizes readers about the complicated relationship between paternalistic leadership and culture.

Pyramid Globe Management Institute (PGMI) is struggling to generate revenue. PGMI founder, Tugmanshu Lakhani, has to find out new sources of revenue to keep the institute functioning. He constitutes a team of three professors for starting a new academic program with a foreign university. The initial success of the team brings favor from the founder but jealousy from the colleagues reeling under job threat. High authoritarianism and interference of the founder create a problematic situation for the three professors. When the new program starts showing promising results, the founder gets apprehensive about whether the new course may hurt the enrolment in the flagship program of the institute. The authoritarian and erratic behavior of the founder had a demotivating effect on the team working for the new program. Some team members resign under pressure while three professors stay to ensure the launch of the program. The professors have to resolve the conflict between their commitment toward PGMI in a troubled time and a career uncertainty if they continue working for it. Anticipating no change in the behavior of the founder and an uncertain future with PGMI, three professors quit after the start of the new program. The founder may continue losing committed employees if he is unable to balance his authoritarianism with benevolence and moral behavior. It will create more problems for PGMI in the future.

This case can be used in organizational behavior, leadership and team-building courses in the regular Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. The case can further be used in the executive development program, especially for analyzing the leadership problem in higher education organizations.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

The case study takes students through basic principles and applications of entrepreneurship theory as demonstrated by the story of Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS). The case further demonstrates the significance of communicating a rallying vision in a change management situation. The case further allows the students to evaluate the concept and implication of entrepreneurial leadership thereby enhancing creativity and innovativeness in a firm.

An area that has had little interaction in the study of entrepreneurship is within the development and humanitarian agencies. This is a case study on Entrepreneurial Habits in the KRCS. The leadership of KRCS combined different entrepreneurial actions that were able to deliver commercial goals in a not-for-profit organization. The final overarching consideration was the sustainability of the changes implemented over a period of time.

Graduate level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Organizational restructuring strategy such as downsizing and rightsizing and their effects on organizational performance.

The case can be taught to graduate students of a business administration program for change management or human resources management courses.

The case discusses a structural change strategy followed by a crisis management situation of a Pakistani state-owned enterprise with hierarchical structures, unclear work roles and workplace corruption and its shift toward a profitable company with rebranded mission and values. With the management takeover by the Abraaj Group, several issues were identified as major blocks to K-ELECTRIC’s performance. Drastic changes included information technology advancement, investment in infrastructure of generation capacity, marketing campaigns and corporate social responsibility initiatives with a record profit in 2011-2012, for the first time in 17 years. But, the greatest challenge to quality service and profitability was faced by the human resources department, to retrench 4,459 workers by offering a voluntary separation scheme to non-core management staff in 2009. However, disregarding the successful impact on business performance, only 300 workers (approximately) had accepted the package in early 2010, while the rest questioned the decision of outsourcing non-core jobs and demanded reinstatement with the company, followed by a series of protests in January 2010. K-ELECTRIC needed to make some sensitive and timely decisions to ensure efficient and quality service to its customers as its top agenda.

The outcomes include: to understand the challenges faced by a recently privatized public utility service to become lean and efficient without compromising on its public mission of providing electricity to the residents of the city; to analyze the factors that influence choice of restructuring strategies and their effects on the employment relationship and organizational performance; to recognize the critical role of leadership in choosing a voluntary downsizing strategy and analyzing the sense of urgency needed to execute the decision; and to recognize the role of legal and organizational consultancy needed in critical decision-making to prevent workplace violence.

Teaching notes and teaching guide.

This case is designed to introduce students to organization culture and how employees are being affected by it. They should have some familiarity with organizational behavior (OB) issues, especially in relating to work culture. They need to be familiar with the related theories and models in organization behavior and development. More particularly, the learning objectives using this case are as follows. By using this case, the students should be able: to understand the real-life workplace scenario where fellow colleagues, like Catherine, can act bossy; to understand the problems because of communication barriers at the workplace. to be exposed on the concept of leadership style and organizational culture; and to understand the necessity of a leader’s interference in handling a chaotic situation in the organization.

This case illustrates the challenge faced by a young entrepreneur with regard to handling workplace chaos among employees. It highlights the importance of having a smooth communication flow and work culture in the organization. SWM was a swimming center in Southeast Asia founded by Ayyub, a young entrepreneur, in July 2014. Over two years, in 2016, SWM had designed different ranges of swimming programs for children and adults. The company’s culture gave employees freedom and flexibility to work. During 2015, the company’s growth was fast, thus encouraging Ayyub to recruit new staff to handle business operations. But hiring new staff caused problems among employees. On September 2016, Ayyub received numerous complaints from employees about a particular senior staff named Catherine with regard to her quarrelsome attitude and bossy behavior toward other junior employees. As a consequence, four employees left within a one-year period, and Ayyub started to receive complaints almost every week. However, because as Catherine was Ayyub’s friend and she was loyal to the company and technical skills, Ayyub fervently wanted to retain Catherine. Nevertheless, he was in dilemma how to fix this workplace miscommunication to maintain the harmony and peace in the organization. He was planning to open a new branch at Southeast Asia on February 2017, during Chinese New Year. He wanted to solve this problem before he starts his new branch. Taking into consideration the whole situation, Ayyub is now contemplating whether to conduct one-to-one meetings with Catherine on a continuous basis to train her with communication and leadership skills, isolate her in a department with less interaction with other staff, transfer her to the new branch or fire her.

The case target audience is for MBA students, particularly for OB and HR classes. Students/participants are challenged to identify the major issue in the case and help decision maker to make decision.

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 7: Management Science.