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The main teaching objective for the case is for students to build a better understanding of how to advance women (and other minorities) in the workplace through mentorship. This is achieved through recognizing the wide variety of issues that enable and constrains women’s advancement in the workplace; defining mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking; and highlighting how mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking can overcome the challenges of facing women’s advancement in the workplace?

The case study explores the role of senior women leaders in the career advancement of other women in the workplace. It helps us understand how mentoring can address the low prevalence of women at senior levels despite companies’ efforts to advance women. The case profiles the career and leadership journey of a senior female executive, Maserame Mouyeme. It documents her rise from the dusty streets of Soweto, South Africa to become one of the first black female executives in several corporate contexts across Africa and especially at Coca-Cola. The case illustrates her practice of mentoring and its impact on her and others’ careers. Also illustrated is Mouyeme’s leadership style, mentoring approach and workplace experiences. Students deliberate Mouyeme’s dilemma: whether to continue to advance a new generation of women leaders or whether to focus on her core role of building the business she is responsible for. The selected research method is a teaching case study, grounded in an exploratory approach. Primary data was collected via semi-structured interviews with the protagonist and four of her mentees. Secondary data was collected via studies about the protagonist and the companies she has worked for in her career. The case provides empirical insights about the role of leaders and especially women, in advancing women. The case shows the approaches in which organizations can advance women. It also shows how emerging leaders can better manage their own careers. The case deepens knowledge of women advancement and career development.

The case is appropriate for post-graduate level study, including MBA-level. It is also appropriate for use on executive development programs.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Entry of a service sector company based in Europe into the Middle East market with focus on Saudi Arabia.

The students should have some familiarity with case studies and should be able to successfully solve easy cases. This case can be used in all courses of general economics and management. It is best suited for courses on market entries, risk management in international business, intercultural management or developing and emerging markets.

Two market entry options are discussed: joint venture set-up with partner and independent direct investment without local partner. A tangible real life experience of the Middle East market will enhance the theoretical presentation and help students to gain practical solutions.

The students should be aware of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and Saudi Arabian markets for western companies from the service sector. He/She should be able to prioritize relevant economic data and simultaneously discuss several different options by dealing with complex situations.

Teaching note.

Entrepreneurship.

MBA level – entrepreneurship courses, MA level – women empowerment issues, MBA – thriving in unstructured environments.

Saundarya Rajesh, was the founder-president of AVTAR Career Creators (ACC) a talent consulting firm that offered solutions in training, hiring, selection process outsourcing and human resource information studies to over 400 clients. The case describes the progressive journey of Saundarya as an entrepreneur in discovering and exploiting opportunities as they arise at different points of her career. Saundarya did pioneering work for creating flexi-career opportunities that included tools for Flexidizing® and Unbundling® of jobs. She has won many accolades for her work that included Tie Stree Shakti Awards 2011 for excellence in entrepreneurship, Cavinkare's Chinnikrishnan Innovation Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship 2011 and India Today's Business Wizards of Tamil Nadu, 2011. Saundarya was happy with the fact that there were 23,000 women currently on the AVTAR I-WIN network and there were 13-15 lakh more women whose talent could be harnessed. She dreamt of ensuring that 1.2 million Indian women, who had dropped out of the workforce in the past 10-15 years, could be brought back to contribute productively. While there appeared to be an acceptance of the flexible working concept among the potential employees and employers, several questions about the future potential of such a work-force needed to be answered.

To understand the factors that constitute entrepreneur's alertness such as personality traits, social networks and prior knowledge. To understand the importance of entrepreneur's alertness for identifying business opportunities. To understand types of entrepreneurial opportunities. To understand the opportunity identification triad: recognition, development and evaluation. To understand how to develop a business model in under-defined contexts.

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

This case study outlined the strategic and organizational issues faced by an entrepreneurial firm operating in an emerging economy. While the traditional view is “more for more” and “less for less” with respect to quality and price, the medical devices sector demands “more for less” in an emerging economy such as India, i.e. the market demands quality products at affordable prices. This case was written to equip students with the knowledge of how entrepreneurs can overcome certain barriers and use technology to recognize and exploit an opportunity, using the Indian health-care industry as an example. The key learning outcomes for the case include the following:

• Entrepreneurs define their own market, come up with innovations and create a completely new market with suitable customer value proposition.

• Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition comes from being prepared, having prior knowledge of customers and the market and having a strong network.

• An entrepreneurial preference for error of omission or commission is the determining factor when deciding whether to exploit a recognized opportunity or not.

• Entrepreneurs exploit an opportunity by giving special emphasis on their entry and risk reduction strategy.

• A technology-based product with a combination of services that will create its own product ecosystem with data is the primary goal.

The Indian health-care sector is one of the largest sectors in India and incorporates the medical devices sector, and the heart monitor segment especially represents a huge untapped opportunity. India has the highest number of deaths because of heart disease in the world, yet there is no mechanism for affordable heart monitoring, which results in large number of deaths. As existing products are either B2B or unaffordable, there is an opportunity to leverage technology to come up with cgiq products similar to blood pressure and sugar monitors. However, there are certain challenges unique to the market and product. The case described how two young entrepreneurs founded a company called Agatsa and overcame certain challenges to create a credit card-sized ECG device and the importance of building an ecosystem in a new market. Some specific issues that the case posed included the following: will it be possible for Agatsa to come up with an ecosystem to monitor heart functioning and will that be accepted by the stakeholders in an emerging market such as India? Should Agatsa have a product-driven strategy or a data-driven strategy? Will Agatsa be able to find the right business model to create and capture value?

MBA in courses such as entrepreneurship development, new venture creation and entrepreneurship in emerging markets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship, Corporate sustainability, CSR, Supply chain.

Master's courses: Entrepreneurship, Strategic management.

In 2002, potential risks deriving from emerging normative demands in the CSR debate prompted Axel Springer (AS) to rethink their supply chain strategy for Russian wood. Being one of the first movers in CSR in the publishing business, AS realized that current practices could spark future public discussion that might put pressure on AS, a key player in these supply chains. In early 2002, AS and one of their main suppliers, Stora Enso, started a joint initiative to redesign the supply chain processes in two of the major Russian logging regions to improve their social and ecological performance. Sometime later, other major players in the publishing sector as well as critical reviewers from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were invited to participate in the design of the new voluntary sustainability initiative called “Tikhvin Chalna project”, the second phase of which was accomplished by the end of 2006.

Learn that organizations (specifically high-brand owners) are responsible for practices within their entire supply chains (social as well as environmental performance).

Explore proactive corporate sustainability, CSR strategies are market but also institutional driven; Strategizing involves forming and transforming the rules, norms and standard models of customers as well as institutions such as NGOs or governmental bodies. Whether the initiator of such strategy is successful in increasing or manipulating demands is dependent on its resources and capabilities as well as on its network position. The case supports students in understanding resources being used to successfully transform or create institutional arrangements.

Discover that the value of a business' relationships and its network position.

Teaching note, Video files

Appendixes for the case study, teaching notes with figures and suggested chart plan schema.

Students are expected to learn the use of networks for market growth; types of network connections; and ways to achieve international expansion through networks’ relations.

This teaching case describes the internationalization of an emerging country artist, the Brazilian singer Anitta, who seeks to expand her audience in foreign markets, while dealing with maintaining the public in her home country.

Recommended to International Business disciplines in specialization courses.

CSS 5: International Business.

Marketing.

This case can be used in an international marketing course or module, at executive or MBA level, and is particularly suitable as a case on global branding.

MTN was launched in 1994 as a leading provider of communication services, offering cellular network access and business solutions. After building up a successful operation in South Africa, achieving a market share of some 38 per cent (second only to Vodacom, the dominant mobile telecommunications provider), the group began its expansion into the rest of Africa in 1998. It was the first South African cell phone network operator to do so. The objective of this expansion was, despite the uncertain political and regulatory environment, to take advantage of the market opportunities in Africa, given its underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure and the transferability of MTN's skills into other African countries. At the time of the case (June 2005), MTN had established itself in eight different African countries, with a subscriber base of 14.3 million in South Africa and 2.9 million in the rest of Africa, with plans for further growth in the territory and elsewhere. As a result of this international expansion, a major challenge was to ensure consistent branding in the different countries.

The expected learning outcomes are: to explore the challenges of international expansion into new markets; to understand global brand building strategies, how to create a consistent identity and how to build a services brand; to understand the challenges of implementing a marketing change strategy across different countries with different cultures and with employees with different agendas and to highlight the importance of people in providing a service and in delivering the brand promise.

Teaching note.

International business and/or strategic management.

This case is useful for undergraduate and postgraduate level students majoring in international business management and/or strategic management.

Etihad Airways was established in 2003, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the UAE government as sole owner. It is the national carrier of UAE with Abu Dhabi as its centre of operations. Etihad is recognized as a fast-growing player in the aviation industry, and has become one of the dominant international players in the industry in a relatively short time. Etihad's fleet now contains more than 67 planes, with more than 1,300 flights per week to diverse destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. The company describes its business strategy as “sustainable growth”. Looking through a practitioner's lens, strategic partnerships have been the critical activities through which Etihad has delivered its strategy. The purpose of this case study is therefore to elaborate on its major and successful partnerships and the critical benefits of these. Secondary data were collected from credible sources including academic studies, relevant Etihad publications and industry reports published by official aviation associations.

Students will be able to understand the theory of strategic partnerships, their roles and benefits and critically evaluate the pre-staging “requirements” of such partnerships. In this case, the specific learning outcome of it is to help students to understand the importance of successful strategic partnerships for Etihad Airlines and how partnership strategies can improve the performance of Etihad Airlines.

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

They are as follows: to identify strategic growth opportunities for SMEs in the South African craft beer industry; to understand the complexities associated with operating a craft beer SME in the South African alcohol sector and analyse the SME’s strategic decision-making process that happens as a result; to understand the challenges and identify opportunities for entrepreneurship and growth in an emerging economy and niche segment; to develop a differentiation strategy for a small player in a competitive market; and to impart industry-specific knowledge and insight on the craft brewing industry.

The case is centred on the challenges that Hein Swart, managing director of Mitchell’s Brewery, is facing in sustaining business operations amid heavy regulations and increasing competition from existing craft breweries. In addition, there is the entry of a different type of competitor into the South African market that did not exist previously. The case narrative broadly presents several industry themes that interact with each other and create the existing complexities.

This case is targeted at postgraduate business school students with some work experience who want to build their critical thinking, business management and strategic decision-making skills such as Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive MBA academic programmes, and also delegates on Executive Education programmes. The case is expected to be used as a case study for courses in entrepreneurship and strategic management; however, it can also be applied in strategic marketing courses.

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 3: Entrepreneurship

Social implications are as follows: social activism; girls education; collaboration; collective action; and change agent.

Learning outcomes are as follows: evaluate the role of a change agent in a nonprofit organization; understand collaborative partnerships in a nonprofit organization; examine how a nonprofit organization is promoting education in conflict-affected countries; understand the importance of education for girls as a basic human right; understand and discuss the threats to girls’ education in conflict-affected countries; analyze the role of Malala Yousafzai in supporting girls’ education globally; identify the challenges unique to educating girls; and explore steps that Yousafzai needs to take to ensure girls have equal access to the knowledge and skills they need to learn and lead in a world affected by the pandemic and climate change.

The case discusses social activist Malala Yousafzai’s (She) diligent efforts to promote girls’ education in conflict-affected regions globally through her not-for-profit organization Malala Fund. Co-founded in 2013, Malala Fund worked to ensure every girl globally could access 12 years of free, safe, quality education. The fund worked towards this goal by building creative partnerships and investing in its global network of education activists and advocates fighting for girls’ education in communities where most girls missed out. Malala Fund supported girls’ education programs in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Turkey and Lebanon. The Fund’s projects were aimed at addressing gender norms, promoting the empowerment of girls through education, imparting gender-sensitive training for teachers and raising awareness about the need for girls’ education. In 2016, the fund created the Education Champion Network to support the work of local educators and advocates to advance.

Post-graduate level students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 11: Strategy.