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The primary objective of this case was to grant the students an exposure to the students regarding how to manage a retail business during an economic crisis. In this case, all three of the aforementioned objectives as the students were given opportunity to dissect the business process through business model canvas, find out the key success factors and more importantly, were encouraged towards cost cutting behaviour by presenting the real-life dilemmas that were faced by an actual entrepreneur. Furthermore, the students were shown the importance of stakeholder management through this case, as support is very much needed for the retailers from macro-economic and micro-economic level.

This case study is the story of Global Gadget Limited, a premium retailer of cell phones and other relevant devises, which is located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The story is revolving around the challenge that Mr Shahadat Hossain Dipto, the owner of Global Gadget is facing over the past two years. Dipto mainly runs his business by selling budget phones from brands like Oppo, Xiaomi, Samsung and Vivo to the middle class and lower middle-class people of Bangladesh, who are very much cost conscious. To persuade these customers to buy his phones, he offers discounts, free gifts, equated monthly instalment services (a monthly instalment plan for the customers who cannot afford to pay the full amount when buying the phone) and sometimes even lottery. In the process, if he can sell more phones, these brands reward him with attractive commissions and all the necessary supports that help him run the business with marginal profit. However, due to the Russia–Ukraine war, he is now in crisis as the resulting economic crisis is causing a price increase on these phones, while drying out his customer’s pockets. This case study is designed to teach the students the importance of product segmentation, inventory management, cost management and relationship management to the students and future entrepreneur, so that they can understand, what does it take for an entrepreneur to survive an economic crisis.

This case study is aimed at undergraduate, masters’ students in business schools and Master of Business Administration students or short course executives and for the students of entrepreneurship education programme.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

At the end of this case study discussion, the learners should be able to identify the five-step consumer decision-making process, comprehend the role of consumer involvement and decision rules in determining the consumer choice sets, identify branding elements and cues critical to building a brand proposition, recognize the difference between point-of-parity and point-of-differentiation when building a brand proposition, develop comprehensive segment profiles in terms of their demographics, psychographics, usage and consumer–brand relationships and examine the merit of a psychographic versus benefit-based brand positioning and implication of the brand positioning on the firm’s branding and business strategy.

Country Delight, co-founded by Nitin Kaushal and Chakradhar Gade, tackled dairy industry challenges by embracing a direct-to-home consumer model, emphasizing consumer insights and maintaining stringent quality standards. In 2022, the company embraced “Live Better” as its brand mantra, advocating for healthier lifestyles. The next leg of the brand’s journey thus mandates crafting a distinct, user-specific brand promise that affiliates with the business strategy. The central dilemma revolves around identifying the consumer segment/s for a sustained relationship. While recognizing consumer pain points, the challenge emerges in aligning the brand proposition with the diverse interpretations of “Live Better” among consumers. The quest for the right brand persona prompts crucial questions about uniting distinct segments and devising a coherent communication strategy. Can Country Delight formulate a universally resonant brand promise that harmonizes across all consumer groups? Will the risk of diverse interpretations lead to fragmenting Country Delight’s brand narrative?

This teaching activity is aimed at Masters of Business Administration-level courses in marketing management, consumer behavior and brand management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS8: Marketing.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to appraise the importance of different methods of location planning in warehouse selection, analyze the load distance values for warehouse location and choose the optimum location based on the load distance analysis.

DB Builders, a prominent Indian construction company, faced a crucial decision in selecting an ideal storage warehouse for a project involving 100 flats spread across five locations. Mr Vijay Kumar, an experienced material handling expert, was entrusted with this task as part of transitioning the company’s material allocation system toward centralization. Using practical travel distances, Kumar meticulously scouted four potential warehouse locations. The selection process hinged on three primary factors: load, distance to apartment sites, safety and cost of the premises, each carrying specific weightage. The project planning department provided scores for safety and cost, helping evaluate the options. This unique challenge arises due to varying material requirements across the apartment locations, demanding an efficient warehouse planning. The selection of the optimal storage warehouse holds paramount importance in facilitating the smooth execution of these larger projects. Kumar’s expertise and strategic decision-making are pivotal in ensuring a seamless transition toward centralized material handling, which is essential for the company’s future success.

This teaching activity is aimed at introductory/basic courses in Bachelors and Masters of Business administration.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The case is designed to be used with the digital business model framework developed by Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Weill and Woerner, 2015) and is referred to as the W & W framework. This approach provides a useful structure for thinking through the strategic options facing environments ripe for digital transformation.

Research for this case was conducted through face-to-face interviews with the protagonist, as well as through a review of their business planning documents and other data and documentation provided by the founder. Some of the market and industry data were obtained using secondary research and industry reports. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed to ensure accuracy.

The case follows the story of Kurt Waltenbaugh, a Minnesota entrepreneur who shared the dream of using data analytics to reduce costs within the US health-care system. In early 2014, Waltenbaugh and a physician colleague founded Carrot Health to bring together their personal experience and expertise in both consumer data analytics and health care. From the beginning, they focused on how to use data analytics to help identify high-risk/high-cost patients who had not yet sought medical treatment. They believed that they could use these insights to encourage early medical interventions and, as a result, lower the long-term cost of care.

Carrot’s initial success found them in a consultative role, working on behalf of insurance companies. Through this work, they honed their capabilities by helping their clients combine existing claims data with external consumer behavioral data to identify new potential customers. These initial consulting contracts gave Carrot the opportunity to develop its analytic tools, business model and, importantly, to earn some much-needed cash flow during the start-up phase. However, they also learned that, while insurance companies were willing to purchase data insights for one-off market expansion projects, it was much more difficult to motivate them to use data proactively to eliminate costs on an ongoing basis. Waltenbaugh believed that Carrot’s greatest potential lay in their ability to develop predictive models of health outcomes, and this case explores Carrot’s journey through strategic decisions and company transformation.

This case is intended for either an undergraduate or graduate course on entrepreneurial strategy. It provides an effective introduction to the unique structure and constraints which apply to an innovative start-up within the health-care industry. The case also serves as a platform to explore the critical criteria to be considered when developing a digital transformation strategy and exposing students to the digital business model developed by Weill and Woerner (2015) at MIT (referred to in this instructor’s manual as the W&W framework). The case was written to be used in an advanced strategy Master of Business Administration (MBA) class, an undergraduate specialty health-care course or as part of a health-care concentration in a regular MBA, Master of Health Care Administration (MHA) or Master of Public Health (MPH). It may be taught toward the end of a course on business strategy when students are building on generic strategy frameworks and adapting their strategic thinking to the characteristics of specific industries or sectors. However, the case can also be taught as part of a course on health-care innovation in which case it also serves well as an introduction to the health-care payments and insurance system in the USA. Finally, the case can be used in a specialized course on digital transformation strategy in which case it serves as an introduction to the MIT W&W framework.

The case is particularly well-suited to students who are familiar with traditional frameworks for business strategy and business models. The analysis builds on this knowledge and introduces students interested in learning about the opportunities and challenges of digital strategy. Equally, the case works well for students with clinical backgrounds, who are interested in how business strategy can influence changes within the health-care sphere. Finally, an important aspect of the case design was to develop students’ analytical confidence by encouraging them to “get their hands dirty” and to carry out some basic exploratory data analytics themselves. As such, the case requires students to combine and correlate data and to experience the potentially powerful combination of clinical and consumer data. Instructors should find that the insights from these activities give students unique insights into the potential for of data analytics to move health care from a reactive/treatment ethos to a proactive/intervention ethos. This experience can be particularly revealing for students with clinical backgrounds who may initially be resistant to the use of clinical data by commercial organizations.

The principal objective of this study is to identify and recommend auspicious research directions within the field of family business research, with a specific focus on the wealth creator. In conjunction with these research trajectories, the paper also aims to elucidate the potential implications of cultivating these lines of inquiry on the existing family business literature.

This perspective paper adopts a comprehensive approach to examine the multifaceted role of the wealth creator in the context of family businesses. It reviews the last decades of research that resulted in the identification of this role within family business and proposes future research avenues to further address their characterization and importance.

Investigating the wealth creator's attributes can provide insights into their role, the importance of timely identification and its preparatory elements. Furthermore, this exploration can shed light on the dynamics of inter-family relationships within family businesses and enrich the literature on power transition and continuity in family enterprises. Additionally, the maturation of the wealth creator concept may significantly impact the management of wealth portfolios, facilitating smoother wealth transfer, strategic portfolio management and the preservation of multi-generational wealth.

This research offers a diverse understanding of the role of the wealth creator in family businesses. The findings also enhance the comprehension of family business dynamics, enriching the literature on succession. Lastly, the offered research avenues contribute to addressing the challenges of sustaining family wealth and ensuring the continuity of family businesses across generations.

This study aims to perform the bibliometric analysis of the customer engagement (CE) literature, highlights the major research themes and classifies the subdomains. The study also identifies antecedents and consequences, as well as dimension evolution, and suggests future research directions.

This study used a comprehensive bibliometric approach using Scopus data from 2002 to January 2024. Advanced analytical techniques, including bibliometric and cocitation analysis using R and bibexcel, were used. In addition, machine learning (ML)-based Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used to extract latent themes.

This study reveals the domain’s past trend and present research scenario. The thematic analysis of CE is classified into three phases. Document cocitation analysis provided four broad clusters: conceptualization and operationalization, value creation through engagement, building relationships with brands and engagement-social media interface. The antecedents and consequences are categorized and presented along with the evolution of the multidimensional nature of CE.

This study adds to the literature in two key ways. First, the entire scholarly production has been compiled into one frame. Second, multiple methods were used to unravel citation, cocitation and textual data. Furthermore, ML-based LDA was used to extract latent themes from clusters and future research directions were proposed.

This case study was based on an in-depth investigation of multiple interactions with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and feedback from customers. Secondary research approaches involved reviewing articles and reports published on various media platforms. One of the authors has direct access to the CEO and staff members to collaborate on data and information for this case study.

The case study is about a dairy company operating its business in Manipur (Northeast India).YVU Milk Producer Company Limited (YVUMPCL) is focusing on the growth of its brand YVU Dairy in the northeast Indian market and neighbouring country Myanmar. It was founded in 2013 to provide a livelihood for dairy farmers and fill a demand gap for dairy products in Manipur. Despite numerous opportunities, competencies and efforts, the firm has yet to expand its business significantly. It faced several challenges in expanding the business. This case discusses the strategies adopted by YVU to overcome those obstacles and emphasises the strategy for its expansion.

This case study is designed for use in courses in the Bachelor of Business Administration and early Master of Business Administration program. It is ideal for topics such as international marketing, marketing, strategy and entrepreneurship.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to understand competitive business and corporate strategies; understand various standard models and frameworks related to business and corporate strategy development such as Porter’s five forces model, Ansoff matrix, three value disciplines frameworks, scenario planning matrix and value chain analysis; and practice competitive strategy formulation using the latest analyzing tools/frameworks/models.

Although the digital wallet industry in Nepal was in its initial stage, it was growing rapidly. A digital wallet brand – Khalti, launched in 2017, could secure the second position in the industry within two years of establishment. In recent times, the leading digital wallet brand was eSewa which was developed by Kathmandu-based company – F1Soft International in 2009. Khalti team was better for creativity, risk-bearing capability, intact bond among co-founders, innovative skills and aggressive growth. Mr Amit Agrawal, the chief executive officer of Sparrow Pay Pvt. Ltd, was preparing to formulate some strategies for his company’s product, Khalti, on March 24, 2020. The next day, he was going to present his ideas about the future directions of Khalti with the co-founders of Janaki Technology, the parent company of Sparrow Pay Ltd. Therefore, his major agenda was how to design effective strategies to make Khalti more competitive against eSewa and probably lead the industry. Based on such a scenario, this case study deals with various competitive business and corporate strategies such as marketing, product and cost differentiation that Khalti could formulate to maintain its position and further become a leading firm in the industry.

This case study is suitable for business training programs at the master’s level, including Master of Business Administration and executive education. It is also appropriate for undergraduate students, particularly those who want to understand more about competitive business, strategic management and corporate strategy in developing economies. It is especially useful for students who have taken courses in strategic management, corporate strategy, marketing management and business expansion management. This case study is suitable for provoking skills of students such as critical and creative thinking, risk analysis and business planning.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy