Search results

Entrepreneurship.

The case is suitable for analysis in an undergraduate/graduate entry level course on entrepreneurship. It may also be taught in a course for non-business majors who are unfamiliar with basic business concepts.

Shrey Gupta and Manoj Agarwal were the co-owners of “After 12”, a food facility in the Dhanakwadi area of Pune, India. In only nine months, their food enterprise had become quite popular among the local college going crowd. They were doing brisk business and sales had picked up quite a bit in the last two months. They both were quite pleased with the progress of their business. However, in spite of increasing sales figures in the last few months they hardly generated any profits. The revenue they generated was completely spent on buying raw materials like vegetables and other food materials and the rest was used in the payment of utility bills and wages of the cook and the helper. They only had enough money to continue for another month or so. Both pondered about what is the way to proceed. What can be done to make it sustainable? How would they arrange the extra money to get them going? Should they close down “After 12”?

The case will aid students to understand: how small businesses are started and may fail; the importance of researching your business idea; and SWOT analysis.

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 learning outcomes of this case are in understanding core concepts of brand management and brand dilution. Assessment of macro-economic risks and proper positioning strategies are the key take-away from this case. The case gives an understanding of how brands are built and positioned, and the pitfalls of poor brand planning and assessment that could lead to brand dilution. The case is useful for highlighting the importance of brand management and the challenges of re-positioning. The discussions would shed light on why it is important to plan and manage spending on marketing for brand building activities, and why brands would suffer when spending is reduced. This case is a teaching case and not a research case. It will help participants assimilate available information in combination with existing academic theories and publications to help develop an accurate assessment and prognosis of the events leading until the point of slicing the case.

Reid & Taylor in 2015 had been reduced to a discounter brand offering extended end-of-season sales when most other competitors have ended their promotions. In the 17 years since its big-budget launch in the Indian market in one of the most memorable brand introductions, Reid & Taylor changed its ambassador twice and repositioned itself thrice. The case would allow participants to delve deeper into aspects of marketing spending, brand management, positioning and advertising effectiveness. The case brings to the fore discussions on marketing, specifically on branding, positioning and its related advertising in the textile sector for a brand that has not been studied in academic literature until the present time. The discussion allows for novelty, involving both forward- and backward-looking assessments and evaluations to help participants better imbibe learnings in brand management and positioning.

The case is suitable for a graduate-level (Master’s level) course in marketing and brand management. This case is suitable for elective courses that discuss positioning and brands.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Risk Management, Communication.

Study level: MBA and Executive Education.

Applicability: This case can be taught in the project management course. It will cover the project-planning phase, which is an iterative or progressive elaboration for the entire project lifecycle. The case will help in discussing how project management is an important discipline to manage projects and stakeholders effectively.

The case depicts the dilemma of a passionate entrepreneur who is setting up an ambitious dairy business but project execution goes awry. The case discusses the challenges related to project planning and execution.

It captures the essence of proactive risk management, measures that can mitigate risks and create opportunities. The case also discusses the entire project lifecycle from project initiation to closure and the challenges a manager has to face in terms of stakeholder engagement, risk management, stakeholder communication and scope change.

To understand the alignment of the project with the organisation strategy; to learn to create a project plan and monitor and control the scope, schedule, resources and costs; to accurately estimate project costs, timelines, and quality and schedule, using tools like MS Project; to learn the risk management techniques for managing projects, teams and stakeholders; and to manage stakeholder communication effectively.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 2: Built Environment.

The key learning objectives are mentioned as follows: to understand the attractiveness of the co-living sector using Michael Porter’s five forces model; to do competitive analysis of ZOLO by understanding its objectives, strengths and weaknesses; to understand various competitive strategies which ZOLO’s competitors could apply against it; and to understand application of various defense strategies, which ZOLO would follow to retain its market leader position.

ZoloStays (ZOLO) was an Indian real-tech start-up based in Bengaluru. It was in the business of co-living, i.e. providing affordable accommodation for students and young professionals who had to leave their home and temporarily settle in other cities in search for jobs or education. ZOLO had grown 300% and had served over 50,000 customers across 10 Indian cities, since its inception in 2015. It had claimed to be the largest co-living brand in India in FY 2019. Nikhil Sikri (Sikri), who was a Co-founder of ZOLO, had big plans of expanding the firm to a million beds in 5 years. However, increasing awareness of a huge untapped market in the co-living sector had led to entry of a flurry of competitors. Notable among them were Nestaway, Colive, StayAbode, CoHo and OYO Life. Facing such intense competition Sikri had the challenge to be able to sustain his company’s early momentum. How would he retain ZOLO’s market leadership position? What would be the best strategy to achieve further growth? Should ZOLO diversify into allied services or apply a more focused strategy? Sikri was facing all these challenging questions and had to quickly address them to continue to lead in this competitive race.

The case can be taught in advanced undergraduate, MBA or executive-level programs dealing with marketing. This case study helps students in dealing with issues pertaining to a given market sector where a firm is operating, the strategies that could be used by the competitors and application of competitive strategies which the firm can apply.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

The case study “Maruti Suzuki – toward cleaner mobility” has been written keeping in view the requirements in the field of strategic management. The key learning objectives are as follows:• Analysis of business environment.• Product development strategy – creating market segment to gain competitive advantage by leveraging available organizational capabilities.• Strategic decision-making – understanding strategic decision-making process in a complex and highly competitive business scenario.

Maruti Suzuki, a leader in Indian automotive market with around 50% market share in passenger cars, was likely to face intense competition because of disruption by electric vehicles. As electric vehicles adoption was increasing globally in developed countries, automotive companies shaped their strategy accordingly to stay relevant. Maruti Suzuki was yet to be ready with electric vehicles and approached this space differently than other competitors. However, with Indian Government pushing toward cleaner mobility, it was yet to be seen how the company would manage to comply with legislations and compete effectively in marketplace. Indian Auto major, Maruti Suzuki, was on the edge to decide future strategy on electric vehicles to sustain its leadership position. The Indian automotive sector was going through the transformation where auto original equipment manufacturers were bringing electric vehicles and supporting policies from government likely to accelerate its adoption. Maruti Suzuki was striving to counter the competition with available resources to create competitive advantage in changing environment and continue to remain profitable with leadership position in Indian automotive market. The company had successfully maintained its leading position over three decades and transformed the automotive space with its strategies ahead of the curve. Now the company was standing at crossroads with regard to future technology on cleaner mobility. Mr Bhargava had to decide whether to throw the hat in EV ring or wait for other alternate technology disruption.

Management studies and executive development programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

This case describes the events following an incident of a rape in a taxi associated with Uber, by its driver. Uber was an application based taxi operator. The events raised several issues for government systems and processes, such as need for regulation of new formats of business like application based taxi services, integrated databases, checks against forgery and holistic approach towards women safety. The case also brings out how an e-commerce business raises regulatory concerns.

National Innovation Foundation (NIF) was a partner organization of the Honey Bee Network (HBN) which was a networked organization of individuals, innovators, farmers, scholars, academicians, policy makers, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The HBN worked to create a network of grassroot innovators and acknowledged them by protecting their IPR. NIF was an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, which provided institutional support to grassroot innovators, and facilitated the diffusion of traditional knowledge through various channels. NIF also handled filing patents and licensing of grassroot technology.

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

The Indian telecom market was witnessing a fierce price war, especially from an aggressive entry of a new player Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) with a predatory pricing strategy. To react to the increasingly intense rivalry and maintain top positions, the second and third largest telecom operator like Vodafone India and Idea Cellular Limited (Idea) decided to merge together. The combined entity would become the largest wireless carrier in India. Was the merger the right competitive strategy for Vodafone India and Idea to fight against the wars? What synergies could the merger bring about? Given Vodafone India and Idea agreed to maintain their respective brands after the merger, would the two brands compete and cannibalize each other’s market share? As the Indian telecom industry was undergoing the liberalization of airwaves, how should the merged entity overcome potential regulatory hurdles? If this mega merger went through, what could be the impacts on the Indian telecom industry? If not, how should the companies move forward with the competition?

This case study research is based on published information of the focal companies and their operating environment. The case is written in such a way that can be depicted by related theoretical perspectives available from leading journals and books. There is no disguise of any actual persons or entities and no personal relationship between the authors and the organizations or individuals mentioned in the case.

The case study is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate level business school students in courses, including mergers and acquisitions, competitive strategies, industry analysis and marketing strategies.

The case is grounded on the industrial organization and resource-based theories, where the actions and reactions of competitors in the market are driven by their awareness, motivation and capability toward the competitive situation. Leveraging on a highly competitive and consolidated, unique Indian telecom market, the authors analyze competitive situations of the industry, evaluate potential synergistic benefits and market power from the merger of competitors, and give recommendations for the merged entity to overcome regulatory hurdles in the industry that is undergoing deregulation and to move forward with effective strategies to compete and strengthen market positions in such industry environment.

Learning outcomes are as follows: understanding the importance of aligning an entrepreneur’s personal orientation and values (e.g. detachment from the enterprise) with business decisions related to enterprise development; appreciating how prior exposure to business settings can be a source of entrepreneurship pursuits for an entrepreneur; and understand whether a different type of leadership can be instrumental in the creation, running and growth of an entrepreneurial venture, especially in terms of introducing differentiated offerings in the target market.

The case is about an entrepreneur, Sangeeth Varghese, with a very humble and conservative background, who worked in various firms, small and large, and become a young global leader at World Economic Forum, before foraying into entrepreneurship. He is driven by the core values of detachment and democratization, which is reflected throughout his life course and has developed his own views on leadership. After running his first venture LeadCap Ventures with some measure of success, Sangeeth is about to launch his new venture LeadBurg, a web- and mobile-based application for behavioral rating and competency discovery for individuals. The predicament for Sangeeth is about the uncertainties related to the new launch from a business perspective, as well as the concern whether the core principles of democratization and detachment that he identified with, would stand the test in this launch.

Master level program (e.g. MBA).

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.