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Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing, Innovation, New Product Development (NPD).

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc.

This case illustrates the challenges related to designing and launching an innovative product in the market. It revolves around the issues pertaining to smart organic fertilizer's (SOF) pre- and post-launch experiences. Haji Sani Kimi, a Senior Research Officer of the Strategic Research Centre at MARDI, had developed a zeolite-based organic fertilizer which he believed to be the first of its kind in Malaysia. He had taken five years to complete his research in developing SOF. Seeing its potential benefits for the land and farmers, the then Director General of MARDI asked Sani to speed up the process of technology transfer to be the first to launch the product in the market. In 2005, MARDI established a five-year agreement with Hicotech Sendirian Berhad to license its intellectual property rights (IPR). Adnan, a successful automobile business entrepreneur, ventured into the organic fertilizer business, as this product was in high demand and extensively used by paddy farmers in Malaysia and was subsidized by the government. However, Hicotech failed to get government contract to supply organic fertilizer under the government subsidy program. As such, it had to compete in the open market which was dominated by already-established Chinese entrepreneurs. At the beginning, SOF was doing well in the market, but, during 2007, Hicotech experienced great financial loss due to its mismanagement of collecting payment from its customers. Hicotech tried to work in partnership with ABH Mega Sendirian Berhad to overcome its financial difficulties. However, due to some disagreements, the collaboration was terminated within a short period of time. From 2005 to the end of 2009, Hicotech was not able to pay any royalties to MARDI and the license of Hicotech was to expire in February 2010. Haji Sani was trying to get a solution to revive SOF in the market. Moreover, he was confused whether to renew the license of SOF IPR with Hicotech or to search for another company.

Using this case, students can learn how a small- and/or medium-scale companies can strategize their new product launch. Based on the given industry scenario, students can realize the potential challenges that are related to launching a new product. Furthermore, this case demonstrates that producing a high-quality product is not enough to succeed in the market; the right strategy also plays an important role in making it successful. Last, it can be also learned that proper managerial control and financial support are two important factors that contributes in any business success. Overall, strategic marketing/management students will learn the importance of adopting proper strategy, while the students who are undertaking the new product development course benefit by seeing the practical situation of a new product launch, its rise and its fall.

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Upon completion of this case study, students are expected to be able to reflect on strategic industry sectors and the formulation of long-view public policies; understand some of the main biases that affect making decisions in environments of high uncertainty; and build and apply judgment models to support decision-making processes.

Motivated by recent international events responsible for causing supply shock and great volatility in the price of imported fertilizers, Brazil, which in 2022 was responsible for producing only 15% of all the fertilizer consumed by its agribusiness, ran against time by launching a new national fertilizer plan (PNF). The plan proposed to boost Brazil’s national fertilizer industry to fulfil a long-term vision of reducing the country’s external dependence by 2050. While awaiting the first results of the PNF, this case study casts the student participants in the role of Breno Castelães, chief advisor of the special secretariat for strategic affairs of the presidency of the republic, whose role is to recommend the country’s position in the face of external pressures to adopt international embargoes of Russian fertilizers because of its war with Ukraine.

This case study is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students of business administration and public management courses who want to deal with topics such as public policy, judgment and decision-making.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public sector management.

1. Analyze the factors influencing the creation of a social enterprise, while appreciating the theoretical perspectives on social entrepreneurship and social innovations. 2. Analyze the impact of social enterprises on sustainable development. 3. Recognize the need for different types of strategies in the varied situation. 4. Analyze the business model.

Shashi Kumar, the CEO of Akshayakalpa Farms & Foods Pvt Ltd (Akshayakalpa), is determined to take the business to the next growth level. He has integrated technology to measure and monitor the quality of milk and to reach out to tech-savvy customers. Owing to the preservative-free and short life of milk, he believes that redesigning the marketing and distribution strategies is the only way to ensure the massive expansion and growth that will enable Akshayakalpa to reach out to customers directly and quickly. Another issue he was facing was a lag in receivables. Their receivables from vendors were delayed and held up because of issues related to product spoilage and returns. This has posed a liquidity challenge to Akshayakalpa. Amidst all these challenges, he wants to develop the best strategy to take the business forward to the next level.

This case can be used in undergraduate or postgraduate courses in Management, Social Entrepreneurship and Business Sustainability with special relevance to social enterprise creation, enterprise growth strategies, sustainable development, sustainable business models, etc.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Murrah Dairy Company Limited (Murrah Dairy) is a strategy and management case related to entrepreneurship, with a focus on marketing, expansion, strategy and management of a family-run small and medium enterprise (SME).

The case is suitable for senior undergraduate and/or graduate MBA strategic management, entrepreneurship and marketing courses.

The case is about Murrah Dairy, Thailand's first and only buffalo dairy producer. The company combines the concepts of regular SMEs together with community enterprises to build a business that can be used to achieve community benefits as well as private gains. With 11 years of experience, Murrah Dairy remains the first and only extensive dairy buffalo farm in Thailand. The market is growing, the brand is catching on and the company keeps expanding. Beginning with Murrah Farm in 2003, now Murrah Dairy now operates Murrah Farm, Murrah House and Mini Murrah Farm. The question now is where to go from here and what will it take to grow?

The expected learning outcomes are the increases in understanding on environment assessment (such as SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, success factors), marketing strategy (product portfolio analysis, market-product analysis) and SME management, as well as abilities to propose growth strategies and marketing strategies for the firm.

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Edward Rowan, 89 year-old patriarch and the Rowan family were trying to decide if they should start a vineyard in the Nova Scotia Annapolis Valley. Edward had a life-long dream of starting a vineyard on this five-acre farm. Edward, his son David and granddaughter Mary along with their respective spouses had agreed to be partners and provide financing to start the vineyard. The time had arrived to make a decision because they had to order the vines by the end of the month. While they have an extended family to provide free labor for planting, pruning and harvesting along with free access to the necessary machinery, they wanted to be sure that they did not lose money on the venture. They recognized the first four to five years would not generate profits, but they wanted to ensure that in the long term the venture would be viable.

This case was developed from an interview with Donna Rowan, a documentary review of the family’s estimates as well as an interview with the owner of a well-established vineyard in the Annapolis Valley. Secondary sources were used to provide information on the industry and average costs to operate a vineyard. The case uses a partial disguise with respect to the names of family members. The case was tested at the Atlantic Schools of Business student case competition where ten teams from different Atlantic universities participated. The authors were not judges and all suggested changes have been incorporated in the case.

The relevant courses are: managerial accounting undergraduate programs; intermediate accounting and entrepreneurship courses in undergraduate programs; second-level accounting and entrepreneurship courses in MBA programs; and professional accounting programs’ CPA.

This case examines the opportunity for the Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade (QTG) division of PepsiCo to invest in either or both of two small but fast-growing retail channels: the Dollar Channel and the Natural Foods Channel. The case gives an overview of PepsiCo's business strategy, focusing on health, wellness, and diversity and also provides a wide range of information. Students are challenged to take a broad, general management view in developing their recommendations.

Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy.

The case is designed for business students at the undergraduate or MBA levels in courses that deal with social entrepreneurship. The case describes the future growth potential of the exotic vegetable/fruit market in emerging economy India and lends itself for use in Rural Management courses as well.

Nisarg Nirman Agro Products Private Limited (hereafter referred as NNPL), a social farming venture, was started by Anjali Churi in the year 1997 in India. Churi, an agriculturist at heart, was always interested in experimenting and conducting research on new crops. What started as a small research experiment soon prospered to become a commercial venture producing and selling exotic vegetables to the Indian business customers, such as the five-/four-star hotels, premier clubs, hypermarkets, etc. NNPL was one among the pioneers to start the cultivation of exotic vegetables in the country. Their indigenous produce was of high quality. Their business customers were benefitted by the freshness of their products as well as competitive pricing as compared to their earlier imports. In her journey to commercial prosperity, she adopted co-operative farming, thus providing employment and livelihood opportunities to Indian farmers. Over the period, NNPL was invited to provide agriculture consulting to some of the other countries, such as Maldives, Thailand and Israel. In 2014, the company boasted of an indigenous produce of 95 different varieties of exotic vegetables and fruits, with 34 clients across the country, revenues to the tune of INR40 million and touching lives of more than 600 farmers across the country. The Indian exotic vegetables market had a promising future. Churi desired to expand her venture but in a manner that could systematically impact and generate employment opportunities for the rural Indians. She was at crossroads to deciding what could be such a venture, agro-processing or agro-tourism? Any such expansions required substantial investments for agricultural research activities. The case is structured to achieve the following pedagogical objectives: a social entrepreneur's ability to identify and exploit the market opportunity for growing own venture as well as generating a larger social impact; understand the industry's change trajectory and its impact on the venture; understand the importance of such business models of cooperative farming in populous emerging economies such as India where 70 per cent of the population resides in rural India.

The case that maps the growth/challenges of a social farming venture and allows students to: understand that small social venture also has the ability to generate a larger social impact; evaluate the venture's strategic positioning and scope in a competitive environment; and evaluate the need and potential of business models as cooperative farming to generate employment at the base of the pyramid in populous emerging economy as India.

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Human Resource Management/Change Management.

MBA 1st Year students or in Executive Programs on managing change.

This case describes the dynamics of managing employees and productivity in a difficult scenario of low demand and a global recession. Soon after Trident Chemicals acquires Noble Chemicals, restructuring is undertaken to align production as per the market requirements. This gives rise to a whole gamut of issues ranging from a potential problem with the union to how employees would be incentivized in the changed scenario. A change in the working styles and organizational culture only adds to the complexity for the management. The issues seek an early and sustainable resolution as the company is losing money every day. The management has to pay attention to the employee needs as also meet the business challenges embedded in the context.

To help participants to look into the factors that impact complex change processes; to highlight factors responsible for inducing changes in strategy and culture; and to introduce to participants employee reactions towards complex change efforts in organizations.

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At the end of the case discussion, the students should be able to: evaluate the factors influencing entrepreneurship in an African context; discuss the relevance of developmental entrepreneurship in an African context; assess an enabling environment and ecosystem for stimulating entrepreneurship; analyse and resolve practical issues in starting a business under challenging conditions; understand how accelerator programmes work in an African context; appreciate how partnerships can be leveraged to foster entrepreneurship; evaluate relevant business models and their challenges to grow enterprises; and understand the social entrepreneurship journey of a founder.

In March 2019, Elena Gaffurini, managing partner of DEV Mozambique (DEV), sat down to evaluate the business. DEV, based in Maputo and launched in 2015, was a consulting and services company supporting entrepreneurial development in Mozambique, by training and supporting small businesses in agricultural-related sectors to improve food security. Gaffurini – a self-proclaimed purpose-driven person – now questioned whether DEV’s impact on social and economic development was significant enough to justify the effort she and her team put into it and whether DEV should reconsider its current business model to create more impact.

Postgraduate: MBA and Executive Education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Husk Power Systems, a young but widely celebrated firm based in India, needs $1.5 million to $2.5 million of expansion capital to grow quickly beyond the small footprint it had established in northeast India. It was a successful green-energy enterprise that aimed to provide electricity to millions of rural Indians in a financially viable way. With 10 “mini power plants” that used rice husks as a fuel source and a presence in 25 isolated Indian villages as of April 2009, the company's goal was to reach 350,000 to 400,000 consumers in 400 villages by the end of 2011. It was offered a convertible-note financing structure by a cleantech private equity firm and needed to assess whether it suited the company's and founders' interests.

This case was designed for and is used in Darden's Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity elective. With less of a focus on the financials, the Husk case has also been used in other Darden courses such as Social Entrepreneurship and Global Economies and Markets in a module focusing on emerging markets.