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After completion of the case study, the students will be able to understand the importance of being culturally savvy when working in a culturally diverse environment and managing people from different cultures; critically reflect on the risks resulting from the absence of a clear direction from the company’s top management regarding unifying corporate values and a diversity policy for cooperation across cultures; be aware of best practices in implementing diversity management (DM) initiatives in the company; and learn that changes in the strategic orientation (i.e. focus on automation projects) must be cascaded down to hard elements of structures, processes and systems, as well as to soft elements of skills, staff and management style.

The Kuwaiti branch of a Japanese corporation specialising in control systems and instruments, Rising Sun IT, hired a German professional, Alex, to handle the increasing demand for automation from customers. This recruitment followed several unsuccessful attempts by the company to deliver more advanced automation solutions. Recognising the need to adapt to Kuwaiti customer requirements or risk losing market share, Japanese management understood the importance of transforming their engineering staff. Failure to achieve this next automation step would result in a steady decline in market share and ultimately impact the company’s survival. However, Alex, who was supposed to lead automation projects, was confronted with opposition from the Indian engineering staff and managers. He was not able to find common ground with the staff and perceived issues such as lack of communication, delays in work schedules, missed deadlines and high levels of absenteeism, as a sign of low work morale. Although he tried to increase the awareness of his supervisor and other managers by informing them repeatedly about the problems regarding employee behaviours, his interventions went unheard. He felt ousted by his fellow colleagues and the other employees. Besides, from Alex’s point of view, the Japanese top management did not provide clear directions to the staff and explicit support to Alex in his efforts. This case study highlights three dimensions of Alex’s problem with establishing and maintaining working relationships with other people in the company:▪ Alex’s cultural “blindness” and ignorance of differences in work behaviours that ultimately led to his inability to build solid and trustful relationships with other employees. The case study demonstrates Germany’s performance-oriented and individual-centric culture versus India’s family- and community-oriented culture and the Japanese employees’ strongly hierarchical and company loyalty-oriented culture.▪ Lack of support from the Japanese top management to Alex, which is connected with a wider problem of the lack of a systematic strategic approach to managing a culturally diverse workforce. The case study pinpoints the rhetoric–reality gap in DM in the company, where the diversity, equity and inclusion programme and corporate values were applied only formally and had little attention from the leaders as well as non-managerial employees.▪ Employee resistance to change: The lack of positive communication from the top management level in the company regarding automation projects and the lack of support for Alex’s mission in the company resulted in steady resistance to executing projects, which endangered the company’s survival in the market. Also, one part of Alex’s problem with building a working relationship with the Indian engineering staff was based on the fact that others perceived him as the automation “change agent” – an advocate and catalyst of an undesirable change connected with adverse consequences on employment in the Indian community.

This case is intended for discussion in undergraduate management and business study programmes.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

Describes the winning formula at Neiman Marcus that has made it the No. 1 luxury retailer in the United States in terms of sales per square foot and profitability. Highlights Neiman Marcus' efforts to define who its customers are and are not and to achieve superior focus on its customers by aligning location, price, service, and merchandise to fulfill these customers' every need. Describes ways in which Neiman Marcus prevents typical silo behavior between merchandising and selling and how it ensures that the right merchandise gets to the right customer, despite the challenge of doing this in 36 micromarkets.

To show how a company integrates two strong high-performance functions—merchandising and sales—to get the right merchandise to each customer in more than 30 diverse selling locations while consistently providing exceptional customer service.

Padmanabhan A. 2017 “Civilian drones and India’s regulatory response”. Moushami P. Joshi and Jennifer E. Trock (2016) “India Moving Forward with Unmanned Aircraft Systems Regulations for Civil and Commercial Use” www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=6d596577-7a4a-4ecc-916e-83c4d37cc90c. www.indrones.com/2017/04/27/drone-industry-india/.Zeimpekis, Vasileios; Ichoua, Soumia; and Minis, Ioannis (2013), Humanitarian and Relief Logistics. Research Issues, Case Studies and Future Trends;Operations Research/Computer Sciences Interfaces Series. Springer Publications, www.springer.com/in/book/9781461470069.

The learning outcomes are to illustrate the concept and features of cost-effective and responsive supply chain, to explain the concept of hub and spoke and milk run methods used for delivery, to identify financial, operational and technological risks, to elaborate the importance of social dimension (behavioral dimension) in any technological change in an organization and to understand the concept of management of change in organizations.

The case deals with a typical challenge of periodical delivery systems, in this case specifically of The Topical, an Indian periodical. The service manager of the company, Sara Jindal, recognized a problem with customer retention. She explored the causes and found that The Topical, a 20-year-old company, was losing its popularity due to the untimely delivery of the magazines. To solve the problem Jindal, tried to gain an understanding of the operational processes and realized that there was no issue in the warehouse regarding inventory control, management or order pickup. However, she found that the magazines were parceled through book post and that there was no tracking policy in the company for the deliveries. Therefore, it was not possible to know whether the magazines got delivered on time. The matter was taken seriously and as a solution, the possibility of integrating drones into the delivery system came up.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate students.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics

The learning outcomes of this study are to gain an understanding of the banking regulations and their impact on banking performance, to understand the intermediation role of banks by channelizing depositors’ savings and providing loans to borrowers, to explain an impact of a recent regulatory change in the Indian banking that directly impacts their financial performance, to critically evaluate the different financial ratios to analyze the performance of a bank and to build a DuPont analysis framework for banks.

The case serves as a primer on banking regulations in India and provides insights into banking performance. Banking regulations play an important role in maintaining financial stability, specifically in emerging economies like India. The protagonist of the case is Salil Kumar who presented his internship project to the review committee of Stock Investment Company on April 16, 2021. However, he had to rework and present his final project within seven days on the basis of the feedback received from the committee. Kumar faced the dilemma of bringing together a comparative study across two banks, namely, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI Bank) and State Bank of India (SBI) and building a DuPont framework covering the different aspects of banking performance. The case exemplifies the intricate regulatory landscape in India within which banks operate and highlights the recent alterations introduced by the Reserve Bank of India. For instance, the framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) was introduced in 2014 and subsequently adopted in August 2015. The D-SIB framework provides inherent guarantee to large banks such as ICICI Bank and SBI. This ensures government backup in the event of any failure, thereby securing financial stability. The case study is suitable for banking and financial accounting courses taught in postgraduate management programs. Once the case is studied, the students are expected to understand the basics of banking, regulations, impact of regulations on banking performance and financial measures.

The case provides valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of the banking industry, offering a critical perspective for analysis. A well-structured teaching note would serve as a valuable tool for instructors, allowing them to facilitate engaging classroom discussions and effectively guide students toward achieving the desired teaching objectives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Emerging markets, business models, information technology.

This case is designed for MBA groups or students from MSc in Management, International Business, Logistics, Information Systems or Environmental Management programs. It can be covered in courses on Strategy, Process Management, International Business, Process Management, Supply Chain Management and Managing Information Systems.

Returpack is a Hungarian company dealing with reverse vending machines (RVMs) that collect aluminum beverage cans, even in crushed form, based on a worldwide technology innovation. All RVMs are online and monitored and managed remotely. RVMs are mainly “fed” by the poorest, often homeless people, who are still motivated by the extremely low (less than 1 euro cent for a can) incentive that comes from the selling of the aluminum waste to recycling smelters. Based on the success of the business model in Hungary, projects were planned in the USA, Austria, Romania, and Turkey in 2013. However, beyond economic, legal and cultural challenges, a dramatic decline in the global aluminum waste prices early in 2014 questioned the return on investment at these projects. Advancements in the material-recognition technologies at waste sorting plants raise further questions.

Evaluating the business model innovation in the case by combining the different approaches of the business model concept with the knowledge on the recycling industry, the crowdsourcing method and the Internet of Things. Based upon this, students may identify and evaluate options for implementing the business model in and adapting to new markets, also by simulating these changes in a formal (numerical) business model.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Strategy.

CSS 11: Strategy

Arvind Mills incurred a loss of Rs.316 crores in the year 1999-2000 after a period of declining profits in spite of increasing sales. In January 2001 lenders to Arvind Mills received the Information Memorandum on Debt Restructuring which offered several alternative schemes. They had to decide whether they should accept the proposal and if they accept which specific scheme they should choose.

Retail marketing management.

Undergraduate management; MA; Master's in Business Administration and Master's in Strategic Marketing programs.

Opening of the “Dubai Mall” in November 2008 set a new benchmark in retail history. The mall is considered the largest in the world by space and 6th largest in the world in terms of gross leasable area. The Dubai Mall is the UAE's most ambitious retail launch to date. This case examines how in today's highly competitive retail environment, added-value retailing, experiential retailing, or retailtainment has become a major component of the retail strategy mix to establish a competitive advantage. The new phenomenon of “retailtainment” has caught the momentum worldwide and success of Dubai Mall is the live example of its strategic role in the retail mix. The case also highlights the importance of “good location” in the success of retail establishments, whilst examining primary retail location theories and there relation to the phenomenal success of Dubai Mall.

Through this case study students will be able to: understand the roles of “entertainment” and “location” in retail mix strategy; analyse the new trend of “retailtainment” and “quality location” in creating value-added services and gaining competitive advantage in global competitive retail environment; ascertain the importance and application of “retailtainment” and “strategic location” in the real world's successful example of “Dubai Mall”; and diagnose the role of these learnt concepts in the retailing strategies practiced by other retail establishments in their cities/country.

Teaching note.

In February 1991, the managers of this multinational specialty publishing company proposed to take the company private in a leveraged buyout (LBO). In addition to the ordinarily interesting features of the typical LBO, this transaction was the first to be denominated in ECUs and one of the few in which the managers provided all the equity financing. The tasks for the student are to value the company and evaluate the attractiveness of the transaction from the standpoints of seller, senior lender, mezzanine lender, and equity investor/manager. The case can be used to (1) exercise students' skills in valuing a highly leveraged company, (2) illustrate how deal structuring can mitigate potential agency problems, and (3) explore the problems and possible solutions associated with financing a global firm.

Entrepreneurship.

MBA and masters in management.

Raizcorp Chief Executive Allon Raiz was faced each day with many applications to join his business incubation prosperator programme. He knew what to look for in an entrepreneur, but it was not always “cut and dried”. In September 2012, he and his panel were considering an applicant who had passed all the tests with flying colours, and they were unanimous in their belief that he had what it took to be successful. His business, however, left them in doubt. It was a struggling IT support company, which they felt had no differentiating factors in an already overtraded industry. Raizcorp believed in “backing the jockey but not the horse”, which often meant having to change the entrepreneur's mindset and helping them explore new ideas. Would they be successful in this case? And was it worth the investment of time and resources? It worried Raiz, because he knew if the individual was to embark on a new venture, it would take some time before Raizcorp would see any return on its investment.

The case has the following objectives: to demonstrate understanding of the key concepts of entrepreneurship, to discuss entrepreneurship as a process, to analyse human and social capital attributes relating to successful entrepreneurship, to identify entrepreneurial motivations/cognitions/behaviours, to appreciate the key factors of successful entrepreneurship practices, to assess the relevance of the practice of entrepreneurship to individuals and society, to illustrate key ideas of entrepreneurship with reference to empirical case studies on entrepreneurship, and to analyse rigorously the RAMP model in the case study.

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 centers on Shilling & Smith's acquisition of Xteria Inc. and the resulting need to quickly scale the company's IT infrastructure to accommodate the acquisition. The case is based on a real leasing problem faced by a major retail firm in the Chicago area when it purchased a small credit card processing firm and scaled the operations to handle the retail firm's credit card transactions. The CIO of Shilling & Smith needs to determine which lease option is the best means of providing the technical infrastructure needed to support the firm after the acquisition of Xteria. Several issues will drive this decision, including the value and useful life of the equipment, as well as the strategic context of the firm. This case examines how to evaluate different lease options when acquiring data center information technology infrastructure. Specifically, the case addresses software vs. hardware leasing, different lease terms, and choosing between different lease structures depending on the strategy and needs of a company. This case enables students to understand the different types of technology leases and in which situations these leases would be employed.

The Shilling & Smith case examines how to evaluate different lease options when acquiring data center information technology infrastructure. Specifically, students learn software vs. hardware leasing, different lease terms, and how to choose between different lease structures depending on the strategy and needs of the company. A secondary objective of the case is to teach students the important components and relative costs of information technology infrastructure.