Search results

The spread of bird flu outside of Asia, particularly in Africa and Europe, topped headlines in 2006. The migration of wild birds brought the virus to Europe, where for the first time it spread to productive livestock, bringing it closer to the Western world. Due to today's globalized and highly interconnected world, the consequences of a potential bird flu pandemic are expected to be much more severe than those of the Spanish flu, which killed 50-100 million people between 1918 and 1921. A vaccine for the bird virus is currently not available. As of July 2006, 232 cases of human infection had been documented, mostly through direct contact with poultry. Of those, 134 people died. The best medication available to treat bird flu was Roche's antiviral drug Tamiflu. However, Tamiflu was not widely available; current orders of government bodies would not be fulfilled until the end of 2008. Well aware that today's avian flu might become a global pandemic comparable to the Spanish flu, Roche CEO Franz Humer had to decide how Roche should respond. While the pharmaceutical industry continued its research efforts on vaccines and medications, Tamiflu could play an important role by protecting healthcare workers and helping to contain the virus---or at least slow down its spread. Due to patent protection and a complicated production process with scarce raw ingredients, Roche had been the only producer of the drug. Partly in response to U.S. political pressure, in November 2005 Roche allowed Gilead to produce Tamiflu as well. Even so, it would take at least until late 2007 for Roche and Gilead to meet the orders of governments worldwide. The issue was a difficult one for Roche: What were the risks; what were the opportunities? If a pandemic occurred before sufficient stockpiles of Tamiflu had been built up, would Roche be held responsible? What steps, if any, should Roche take with respect to patent protection and production licensing in the shadow of a potential pandemic?

Students will weigh the benefits of short-term profit maximization against the risks that a highly uncertain event could pose to a business and consider nonstandard approaches to mitigate these risks. Students will discuss the challenges of addressing low-probability, high-impact events; potential conflicts with the short-term view of the stock market and analyst community; and challenges of the patent protection model for drugs for life-threatening diseases.

Start-ups, entrepreneurship, innovation and innovative practices, risks, uncertainties, differentiation, internationalization, competition, business models, operationalizing and implementing strategy.

The case is suitable for MBA students.

Vinay moved to the capital city of a Northern Indian state, which also happened to be a commercial hub, after his family business failed. The family succumbed to living in a room without electricity and doors. Vinay had dreamt of establishing his own business empire by being a successful entrepreneur. Steered by this intent, he established a pharmaceutical company with the name of Ayuvayur Pharmaceuticals. The challenge was to establish an innovative Ayurveda-based pharmaceutical products-based firm and to build a leading business empire with a customer focus. Progress was not smooth and the challenges ahead multiplied. Despite his ability to cope with barriers, risks and uncertainties, Vinay and his business, was challenged to grow globally and emerge from its nascent structure. How should the business expand?

Students can discover the following key learning points: how an enterprise is born; the importance of entrepreneurial recognition and orientation; the lead characteristics of an entrepreneur; how a start-up is born despite the unfamiliarity of the entrepreneur with the field he enters; the role of innovation in a small enterprise; and the risks, barriers, uncertainties and challenges associated with entrepreneurial activity.

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 case study is designed to help students understand how the “growth at all costs” attitude can lead to compromised corporate governance in a start-up leading to disastrous implications for all the stakeholders. This case study aims to make students understand the components of the fraud triangle, the impact of financial fraud on various stakeholders, the role of venture capitalist (VC) investors and the importance of good corporate governance in start-ups. The case study presents an excellent opportunity for students to discuss the consequences of ignoring good governance in the pursuit of growth in a start-up. After analyzing the case study, the students shall be able to explain the concept of the fraud triangle and to be able to identify the motivation, opportunity and rationalization of financial irregularities in a start-up; analyze the impact of financial irregularities on various stakeholders; comprehend the business model of VCs and evaluate its influence on VC-funded start-ups; and appraise the importance of good corporate governance in start-ups.

The case study revolves around the confession of financial irregularities made by one of the cofounders of GoMechanic, a start-up headquartered in Gurugram, India. On January 18, 2023, Amit Bhasin confessed to financial irregularities in the company’s financial statements, leading to laying off 70% of the workforce of the company. GoMechanic had earlier raised close to US$62m [1] from maverick global investors including Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Orios Venture Partners and Chiratae Ventures, and was negotiating to raise Series D financing from the Japanese multinational SoftBank with aspirations to be a unicorn (start-up with a valuation of over $1bn). The confession led to a debate about the consequences of the “growth at all cost” culture being followed by start-ups as well as VCs. GoMechanic was not an isolated instance of a lack of governance in the start-ups. The confession had consequences not only for the GoMechanic but for the entire start-up ecosystem of India, which was the third largest in the world. Bhasin stated that the founders take full responsibility for the situation, and they were working on a plan which was most viable under the circumstances. However, it was not going to be easy to regain the confidence of the investors.

The case study is best suited for senior undergraduate- and graduate-level business school students and in executive education programs in courses such as corporate governance and ethics, private equity and entrepreneurial finance.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and finance

Business environment, international business management.

The case is suitable for students of the business environment, and of international business management.

The case revolves around the reaction of the Finance Ministry of India on Vodafone's tax case and its implications on FDI and the foreign investors who are investing in India. The core issue is the political risk(s) faced by Vodafone even after having won the tax case in the Supreme Court, the highest judiciary body in India. The Government of India has amended the law to bring the tax into retrospective mode and it signifies the impact of political decisions on business organizations.

The case can aid in understanding the effects of changes in a political system and legal framework on the efficacy of business entities; and the importance of, and intricacies involved in, the formulation of political risk mitigating strategies while entering into new markets. The key learning outcomes are: understanding various types of political risks faced by multinationals; assessing the political risks involved in foreign investments; and appreciating the possible mitigating strategies to handle such risks.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access.

Information Systems – IT Strategy Design and Implementation.

The case can be discussed in Marketing Management courses and IT Strategy classes in MBA, executives from NGOs who are participating in Management Development Programs, etc. It can also be used in entrepreneurship classes. The case serves as an illustration to entrepreneurship projects, and so this case can be discussed in training program for budding entrepreneurs intending to implement cloud in its IT infrastructure.

E-commerce is big nowadays in India. In e-commerce, particularly e-tail in India is witnessing a boom with players reporting achieving revenue targets earlier than anticipated. Though e-tail sites are now ubiquitous and dime a dozen with multiple offerings or specialized offerings, the e-grocery model is yet to take off on a large scale across India. E-grocery model has its unique challenges on both supply as well as distribution side unlike other e-tail business. As it deals with perishable items, it faces challenges in supply chain, procurement, inventory management, cold storage management, quality and logistics. To solve such problems, high degree of localization is needed for players in this business. It requires them to open up multiple warehouses at strategic locations in a city if they decide to have control over the goods they sell. Start-ups in this space face the problems in monitoring inventory levels across warehouses where they use disparate Point of Sales (POS) systems. There is a lack of synchronization among the POS applications across the warehouses for which they are able to take the benefit of economies of scale during procurement and distribution. Also, they face stock out and excess inventory across stock keeping units (SKUs). To solve this problem, a strategy is needed so that they can maintain data for all its warehouses through a single database and also by which they can scale up easily and at a lower investment without disturbing continuity in business.

Following are the learning outcomes: to learn about the business model and market ecosystem of an e-tailing business dealing in grocery items in a tier-II city in its introduction phase of organizational life cycle, to learn about various processes involved in online ordering of an item from an e-commerce website, to understand the various challenges faced by an organization dealing in e-tailing business in its introduction phase and to find out whether IT Strategy can be of help to overcome these challenges, to have an understanding of the Balance Score Card and Departmental Score Card, to understand how cloud can be of help to overcome the challenges and what are the possible cloud architectures to address such problems, to get an idea about how return on investment can be measured for finding feasibility of investment in cloud and to have the understanding of risk associated with implementing cloud and the cost of mitigating those risks.

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.

The objectives of the case study are to provide an overview of intellectual property rights and intellectual property rights in Indian context; understand the intellectual property rights implementation and challenges for implementing it in emerging economies; understand what would be the best approach that companies can adopt when the companies face backlash in such circumstances; and explore the scope for redefining the intellectual property rights in the changing global environment.

In December 2021, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) in India revoked the plant variety protection (PVP) certificate granted to PepsiCo India Holding (PHI) for its Lays variety potato (FL-2027, known as FC-5). The FC-5 variety possessed low moisture content which made it suitable for making potato chips. The controversy started with Pepsi suing the small and marginal farmers of Gujarat for alleged patent infringement and cultivating the patented variety. Pepsi’s legal suit against nine marginal potato farmers in Gujarat initiated the dispute over how intellectual property (IP) rights are used to intimidate small, marginal farmers and its infringement of farmers’ rights. But, on the other side, the interesting aspect was how IP infringement could be a setback for the companies that made the capital investment to develop the variety. The case study discusses the backlash Pepsi faced due to this IP rights legal suit and the punitive aspects of IP rights (IPR) law. Moreover, in the context of the global pandemic, the case study helped discuss the need to redefine the intellectual property rights regime keeping in mind global welfare.

The case is intended for use in postgraduate-level management courses in agricultural marketing, agribusiness, international business and economics. This study can help management students understand how IPR is defined, the apparent complexities associated with it and the adverse effect of it on small and marginal farmers in emerging economies.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International business.

TASER International, Inc. is one of the world's leading less-lethal weapons manufacturers and distributors. The case begins with a dramatic moment as the President and CEO of TASER International become aware of a highly critical article in Barron's. The article questions the legitimacy of their high stock price and casts doubt on their continued ability to grow. The case presents the company's counterarguments to the critical Barron's article, and asks for alternatives for TASER's next move into the relatively untapped consumer market with a new consumer-oriented product, the TASER X26^C. The case resulted from lengthy in-person, email, and phone interviews with TASER's President, Tom Smith. In addition, the company and its products have been well publicized in the national business press and in the local newspapers. Further, product details and other information on TASERs and other less-lethal weapons has been published in numerous police and military sources. Finally, TASER International's website has been a rich source of supplemental information to support the writing of the case.

Transnational entrepreneurs (TEs) are individuals that migrate from one country to another, concurrently maintaining business-related linkages with their former country of origin and currently adopted countries and communities. TEs are active social actors who enact networks, ideas, information and practices for the purpose of seeking business opportunities or maintaining businesses within dual-social fields, which, in turn, force them to engage in varied strategies of action to promote their entrepreneurial activities (Drori, Honig & Wright, 2009). This case research focused on the ethic, legal and cultural challenges TE has been facing when operating their business across boards.

The data used in this case were collected from mainly third-parties, including the office de la protection du consommateur; Office of consumer protection (OPC), securities and exchange commission (SEC) reports, news as well as marketing materials posted on public media by Sinorama Corp. and Vacances Sinorama. The authors conducted interviews with former employees of Vacances Sinorama to gain the understanding of the owners and the business challenges faced during the years of operation. The authors also communicated with the OPC through to obtain specific case-related information through the Canadian freedom of information channels. Triangulation of such information from multiple resources had been conducted to validate and support the details described in the case content.

A Chinese immigrant couple migrated to Canada and started Vacances Sinorama Inc. (“Vacances Sinorama”) in 2005. The focus of this case is on the expansion of their travel businesses after 2015. In 2016, they established a financing shell company, Sinorama Corporation (“Sinorama Corp.”), in Florida, USA, which became the holding company to the operation subsidiaries. Born during the 1970s and raised in Mainland China, the owners were culturally traditional and operated the company with the values and norms from their heritage culture. Vacances Sinorama successfully penetrated the local tourism market using Web-based technology and aggressive low-pricing strategies after the scaling-up strategies. However, Vacances Sinorama was operating in the red for several consecutive years (2015–2018). Sinorama Corp. received additional capital of US$4.4m by listing a portion of its shares on the NASDAQ over-the-counter market during 2016 and 2017. Canadian regulators began to investigate its operational and financing activities in 2017. They found a comingling of client and operation funds, which directly violated Canadian consumer protection laws. As a result of these violations, the license for Vacances Sinorama was nonrenewed in August 2018. The majority of owners fought to overturn the regulators’ decision and failed at all levels of appeal, administrative and judicial. This entrepreneurial endeavor ended with Vacances Sinorama declaring bankruptcy in October of 2018.

This multipurpose teaching case aims to assist students from an integrated approach whom are learning about entrepreneurship, international business, business law and business ethics. It is best suited for advanced undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship, business ethics, international business and business law as well as specific teaching modules in MBA courses.

The case study aims to provide students with an understanding of child labour in India and how the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) movement is facilitating the eradication of child labour in India. The key objectives are to understand the challenges of eradicating child labour in India, assess the approaches to rescue and rehabilitation for the protection of a child in India, analyse the personality traits of a leader and evaluate the charismatic leadership of a leader.

The case study discussed child labour and the movement started by Kailash Satyarthi to protect children through the BBA or Save the Childhood Movement in India. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his contribution to creating an environment to abolish child labour. Headquartered in New Delhi, BBA was established in 1980 to eliminate child slavery and violence against children (BBA.org.in, 2017). Satyarthi’s effort brought regulatory changes in the Indian constitution in the form of “Education as a fundamental right” (The Novel Prize, 2023). As per census 2011, more than 10 million children were involved in various industries in India (Drishtiias.com, 2019). Satyarthi and his BBA were far behind the mission they were to achieve. How should he move to eliminate child labour from India? Will he be able to create any impact on citizens, society and government through his new approaches?

The case study is ideal for courses on understanding strategy, leadership, personality traits and labour laws. This case study is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate early-stage programmes. The main purpose of this case study is to be used in programmes leading to a Master of Business Administration or a Bachelor of Business Administration. This case scenario focused on the BBA movement in India and its aim to eradicate child labour in India. It discussed the child labour scenario in Indian industries and how Satyarthi started the BBA movement to protect the future of underprivileged children in India. The case study discusses the challenges faced in rescuing and rehabilitation of children in India. The authors applied the big five model to analyse the personality of Satyarthi in the case context. The authors also used the concept and components of charismatic leadership to evaluate the traits of charismatic leaders from a case perspective. This case study will benefit students by focusing on traits related to personality and charismatic leadership concepts. Students will get the opportunity to explore the practical and theoretical concepts that interplay in this study.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

The case deals with the issues of technology transfer and protection of intellectual property in an international contract, with the International commercial arbitration as the dispute resolution method. The case highlights the distrust between parties when they do not want to continue doing business together and the use of legal technicalities to delay the matter from settling and utter confusion due to international nature of contract, multiple court proceedings in different countries and even questioning the status of the contract – whether a concluded contract or not.