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Innovation Strategy/Entrepreneurship.

The case can be used in an MBA/postgraduate management program for a course on Innovations Strategy with a focus on disruptive innovation, specifically in relation to disruption in the value chain with the adoption of new technologies or for a course on Entrepreneurship focusing on the opportunities created by the Internet-based technologies for start-up businesses. Alternatively, it can be used in a course on e-commerce strategies, particularly to demonstrate the efficiency of online distribution vis-à-vis physical channels.

The case illustrates how Medknow Publications created a profitable e-commerce model out of a struggling conventional business, namely, the learned society journal publishing. It also provides a useful ground to discuss the challenges faced by the conventional scholarly journal publishing models, the current crisis in scholarly journal publishing and how Medknow, a disruptive business model innovation, would address these issues. Besides, the case illustrates how Medknow created a sustainable “for-profit” alternative to the prevailing not-for-profit models of open access publishing.

After the analysis and discussion of this case, students will be able to: appreciate how technological innovation can disrupt existing business models; understand how digitization helps improve the efficiency of value chain in the content industry, particularly the scholarly journal publishing industry; and appreciate that the flexibility of digitized content and the global reach of the Internet have the potential to transform the scholarly journal publishing industry for good.

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This case was developed from secondary sources. The secondary sources included company websites, social media and news reports. This case has been classroom tested in multiple executive master of business administration (MBA) courses on business model innovation and entrepreneurship.

The case traces the entrepreneurial journey of Dozee, a remote patient monitoring system in India. Dozee was manufactured by Turtle Shell Technologies Private Limited, cofounded by Mudit and Gaurav. The primary customers of Dozee’s offering were households with elderly citizens and health-conscious individuals who sought preventive health care. The cofounders identified the unmet need for a convenient and user-friendly contactless health tracker. Dozee team built a thin sensor-embedded sheet and module that can be placed beneath the mattress to track sleep patterns and health vitals. They also provided data analysis and data interpretation services. After four years of conceptualization, Dozee launched its product and service in 2019. Although the initial response was lukewarm, the onset of the COVID-19 crisis led to significant changes in the health-care industry. Demand for virtual assistance and contactless monitoring devices became increasingly important elements of COVID-19 treatment. Unlike other sensor-based fitness trackers, the sheet could be easily placed under the patient’s bed to capture health vitals. Choosing to pivot from a home-based individual customer segment to a medical-grade device provider for hospitals could significantly increase the scale and scope of the offering for Dozee, but it would also place Dozee in direct competition with other health monitoring devices from different business categories.

This case is appropriate for MBA and executive-level courses related to entrepreneurship and business model innovation. The case explores issues such as digital disruption and how start-ups can design a go-to-market strategy. The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the health-care industry. Participants can certainly relate to the concept of adopting artificial intelligence–enabled devices for monitoring their health. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Dozee’s vision and the opportunities and challenges in adopting digital solutions in health care.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to identify stakeholder groups in an inter-country training intervention and apply contextual intelligence to a leadership role and to apply the theory of constraints in developing solutions to research constraint environments.

On 10 September 2018, the Director-General (DG) of South African National Department of Health (NDOH) Ms Precious Matsoso pondered over the scheduled meeting that afternoon with the South African Committee of Medical Deans in Pretoria. She was leading the initiative of the integration of the South African Cuban-trained medical students into the local medical schools for the final phase of their studies. She needed to streamline the assimilation process. The case highlights the dilemma to identify actions to improve the level of integration of these students.

MBA M Phil in Healthcare Management

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CSS 10: Public Sector Management

MBA, advanced undergrad, entrepreneurship and technology commercialization classes.

Entrepreneurial diversity, equity and inclusion, medical device innovation, and models of business accelerators.

The first half of the case explores Kathryne Cooper’s professional and personal journey and the ways her life experiences inform the goals she helps set for The West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP). As an African-American woman codirector of a medical device accelerator focused on the pediatric market, Cooper was acutely aware of the lack of diversity in the tech industry. The second half of the case explores the medical device market and the need for organizations such as CTIP. Cooper implemented a revised application process and system to encourage applications from underrepresented minority founders. CTIP was in a unique position to support concept stage products and nontraditional founders. The case concludes with a description of seven companies that have applied to join CTIP’s portfolio. Students are instructed to consider, as Cooper, which companies to support and what type of support to offer.

Explore the ways personal backgrounds inform leadership positions. Analyze how ventures are evaluated from a grant-funded accelerator (in contrast to an investment-fund accelerator). Examine the wide range of support that nontraditional founders require in the underserved pediatric market.

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A model to support diversity of gender and race in entrepreneurship.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Human resource management; Employee benefits management.

It can be used at undergraduate or postgraduate level for students at institutions of higher learning taking courses related to employee benefits management or human resource management.

The case is about the intention of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in purchasing health insurance for its employees in early 2011. For this purpose, a tender for group medical Takaful for UUM staff was placed in two major Malaysian newspapers on 20 February 2011. Then, after the tender closing date, a report was prepared and sent to the bursar of UUM, En Amron, on 28 April 2011. Ten companies had submitted their tenders; thus, En Amron had to identify the optimal group medical Takaful offered by the tenderers, so that he could put forward his recommendation to UUM tender committee board for its consideration and approval before the matter was brought to higher authorities for endorsement and implementation.

This teaching case will enable students to explain the reasons why an employer provides health insurance, to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of providing health insurance programme as non-contributory and contributory plans, to conduct company and plan assessment in making decision to purchase group medical Takaful and to evaluate either to purchase group health insurance directly from life insurer or to engage insurance broker.

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The learning outcomes of this paper is as follows: to analyse the drivers, mediators and threats of commoditisation. To critically evaluate the merits of different marketing options that may be employed to avoid commoditisation. To critically assess the branding-focussed or customer-focussed strategies that could be used. To develop appropriate strategies for Biotronik SA to counter commoditisation in the future.

The case begins with the protagonist and managing director of Biotronik SA, Robbie Nel, brewing over a new industry development. One of the leading private hospital groups has sent an open invitation to medical device suppliers to tender, where the lowest-priced products will win shelf space in their cathlabs. Robbie has to decide whether to sacrifice Biotronik SA’s profit margins to win the tender or risk not being stocked in their cathlabs. Or, he must find an alternative non-price-based strategy to pursue. The medical device industry is facing increasing price pressures from various stakeholders in the device-purchasing process. The decision to purchase is no longer the responsibility of specialist physicians alone. International and local market trends indicate that the medical device industry is threatened by commoditisation. Robbie has to make a decision on changing the Biotronik SA business model and strategy in response to these macro trends.

This teaching case is aimed at postgraduate students, particularly those pursuing MBA, EMBA and Postgraduate Diploma programmes, as well as specialist masters and executive education. The students should have some work experience to comprehend and assess the case from a practical perspective.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

The area of focus is on internationalization strategies, specifically on developing suitable strategies to support an internationalization initiative of a new medical device company.

This case is designed for final year undergraduate and MBA students. It is suitable for courses of organizational management, organization theory and design, strategic management, and international business as well as international marketing.

GranuLab, a medical device company that produced the synthetic bone graft substitute GranuMaS, aspired to be a high-growth company. To achieve this aspiration the company had made plans for internationalization, which include penetrating the ASEAN, Middle East, Latin American, and African markets within the next five years. By December 2010, GranuLab had completed the construction of its new manufacturing facility in Shah Alam, about 30km from Malaysia's capital city of Kuala Lumpur. This manufacturing facility had the capability to produce high volumes to support the company's high growth plan. However, the company's internationalization processes had taken longer than expected and this has led to a low business volume. By mid-2012, the company was forced to make a quick decision as it had suffered a year and a half of operations losses. GranuLab had to formulate a strategy as to how to position GranuMaS and penetrate the targeted markets. Failure to internationalize would incur even greater losses and might hinder the achievement of its high growth aspiration by 2015.

This case is designed to stimulate case analysts' thinking into providing recommendations for the appropriate internationalization strategies to be adopted by the management team to ensure that the company could succeed in achieving its goals. The case will expose students to the concepts and theories of strategic management, international business, international entrepreneurship; and facilitate the development of students' abilities to apply those concepts in managerial situations.

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The area of focus is on organization strategies, specifically in developing appropriate strategies for business expansion in a situation of high economic uncertainties.

This case is designed for advanced undergraduate in the business and management programs and students in the MBA programs. It is suitable for courses of organizational management, organization theory and design, strategic management, and managerial economics.

At the end of 2009, Kumpulan Perubatan Johor Healthcare Group was the largest public-listed healthcare service provider in Malaysia, with revenues of RM1.5 billion (approximately USD0.5 billion) and a net profit after tax of RM115 million (approximately USD38 million). The country was experiencing economic downturn, which affected demands of the affluent as well as medical tourism segments, which were the targeted market of the company. Datin Paduka Siti Sa'diah Sheikh Bakir, the group's CEO and her management team realized that the company needed to seek a new growth strategy. The case stimulates a discussion on the future strategy of a high-growth healthcare company that aspired to be the leading healthcare player in the region.

Understanding the process of analyzing an industry, as well as formulating strategies, enables case analysts to extend the practice of making strategic decisions to many business situations.

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The subject areas are strategy, general management, health-care management, change management and inclusive growth model and application of technology to manage health care.

The case can be used to teach challenges in managing change in a health-care facility.

Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) is dedicated to provide best health-care services in the field of cancer cure. TMC established its credentials for service, education and research, which contributed to it being rated among the ten best hospitals year on year. Starting from humble moorings, TMC has grown to an institution of high repute from an 80-bed hospital to a 700-bed hospital. TMC held a number of pioneering efforts, which included bone marrow transplantation, external beam radiotherapy (linear accelerator), tumor tissue bank and bio-imaging to name a few. The management team of TMC had ensured that the growth had been orderly and appropriate to the changing needs of the community. Managing a hospital with disparate skill sets in the face of ever-increasing demand for services had always been a challenge in itself. As a government-run facility and well funded by the trust, TMC offered excellent services and post-operative care to the patients. So, it became imperative for the hospital to adopt technology to improve its hospital services and maintain transparency. Patients came to the hospital from different states in India and across the globe. TMC registered international and national patients online. Online medical reports were checked before the patients visited the hospital. TMC has developed an e-system that will allow patients around the world to send their tissue samples that are suspected to be cancerous for medical advice to the hospital. This case study is developed to provide insights into the transformation of TMC into an e-health-care service and explains the process of change management.

They are to provide insights into the challenges in health-care management, to illustrate the challenges faced by organization in implementing information and communication technology- managing change and to bring about best practices in the case organization and find solutions to the following questions: What are challenges faced by health-care officials in providing health care using new technological innovations? How can hospitals equip themselves with new technology? With the advent of improved and modern communication methods, medical practices and cases are more easily shared. Cases are discussed, recorded and, in many cases, put up for general public viewing through the electronic media. How can hospitals manage change? How can hospital administrators manage speed of delivery, quality healthcare, innovation and brand image?

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CSS:11 Strategy.

The subject area is operations management.

The case is to be used at master’s level, for example, MBA courses on operations management, operations research, logistics management and supply chain management.

It was the morning of 20 September 2012 and the three directors of Distromed Bioclean Pvt. Ltd. were in the office discussing the developments from past night’s meeting with the Rajkot Chapter of the Indian Medical Association. They are a bio-medical waste treatment facility involved in collection, treatment and disposal services and charge yearly subscription fees. On 13 September 2012, fuel prices had gone up consecutively for the second year. Last year, the doctors resisted the fee hike and seemed reluctant this year again. In response, management of the company was looking for ways to minimize the total distance travelled by its fleet to reduce the operating cost.

The paper enables illustration of concepts of routing/scheduling and generation of optimal solutions in a realistic setting; and developing the understanding regarding the travelling salesman problem, Chinese postman problem and the entire family of vehicle routing problems and vehicle scheduling problems.

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.