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Carris Reels, a reel-manufacturing company headquartered in Vermont, had long-standing goals of being employee owned and governed. They also had a strong organizational (ownership) culture. The Corporate Steering Committee (CSC), a committee composed of representatives from management and non-management employees, and the board of directors had a decision to make about adding two new members to the board. With these new members, the board of directors would be made up of both members of management and non-management employees. Was Carris forfeiting wiser outside counsel in favor of company insiders? What about for the future of the company?

The data for this case were collected from discussions and informal interviews with Carris Reels employees, and archival data from the company intranet which includes an archival of company newsletters, meeting minutes and announcements. Information on the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), board of directors, the CSC, and ESOP trustees from these sources were also used.

This case is suitable for strategic management, and social responsibility and social enterprise-focused courses for upper-level undergraduates and MBA students.

The sources, development, and outcomes of a strong organizational culture are important to this case. Schein (1989) and others (Harris and Ogbanna, 1999) address the role of a company’s founder in development of the company’s culture. Research addressing ownership and participation in the context of an ownership culture indicates positive outcomes to employees and to their companies (Logue and Yates, 2005; Ownership Associates, 1998).

At the end of the course, the participants are expected to be able to: understand and explain what is bridging leadership (BL); understand stakeholder, stakeholder engagement and stakeholder management; conduct a stakeholder analysis based on the details of the case; evaluate the BL processes based on the details of the case; and communicate how BL was used in Dumingag.

Mayor Nacianceno “Jun” Pacalioga’s journey towards the transformation of the municipality of Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao, Philippines has been rooted in his daily interaction with its residents by way of morning walks around the town. He has always been involved in organizing people in his youth and as a public servant, improving the plight of the people of the 4th class landlocked and agriculture-dependent municipality has always been his primary concern. There are currently an estimated 50,000 people from forty-four (44) barangays (communities/villages) in the Municipality of Dumingag. In 2007, most farming households of the municipality earned US$ 60 monthly. By 2016, after Pacalioga’s 9-year stint as local chief executive or as mayor, the percentage of households with income below the poverty threshold have significantly decreased to 38%. Local health indicators have also become exemplary with only 0.77% of children between 0-5 years old recorded as malnourished, with maternal mortality death rate. When it comes to food, only 0.25% of households experience food shortage.

This case highlights the Bridging Leadership Framework as a paradigm to help address social divides and inequities in complex environments such as Dumingag. In realizing bridging leadership as a community of practice, Pacalioga employed participatory processes to develop the Genuine People’s Agenda, and the integrated Transformative Education to build the capacity of different stakeholders in the municipality. These processes mobilized different stakeholders to move towards the common goal of improving the plight of the Duminganogs. Now Dumingag is enjoying the broad-based benefits of the program; including recognition by numerous local and international organizations and civic groups on the efforts of Pacalioga and the people of Dumingag in transforming their once poverty-stricken town in Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines.

Masters Level/Executive Education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

“Driving Strategic Change at the Junior League (A)” describes a troubled organizational environment. Challenges included a dissatisfied membership, declining membership numbers, a large diversity among local leagues, and limited resources to meet the organization's overall objectives. The case describes a “participatory roadmap” approach, drawing on the insights of comprehensive research, and highlights a strategic-change approach that focuses on participation and local-level flexibility.

The (B) case examines how the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) took initial steps to implement the participatory roadmap. Through a purposeful messaging strategy that involved many targets and various modes of communication, AJLI leaders sought to influence and inform active members, sustainers, and their local leaders. Further, through the use of design teams, AJLI gained deep insight into the ways that implementation might vary across local leagues. Finally, these design teams enabled AJLI to make initial gains in membership and develop a cross-league learning community.

After reading and analyzing the (B) case, students should be able to:

• Identify successful communication strategies for change

• Appraise the level of readiness for organizational change and design strategies to address that level of readiness

• Describe the three implementation strategies (i.e., normative-reeducative, power-coercive, empirical-rational) and the circumstances under which each would be appropriate

• Develop an interactive process for encouraging feedback on the change process

Identify successful communication strategies for change

Appraise the level of readiness for organizational change and design strategies to address that level of readiness

Describe the three implementation strategies (i.e., normative-reeducative, power-coercive, empirical-rational) and the circumstances under which each would be appropriate

Develop an interactive process for encouraging feedback on the change process

Kotter’s framework of change management adapted to the situation of public policy implementation under the leadership of a civil service officer in the rural areas of a developing economy in South Asia.

This case has been written using the primary data collected from the protagonist through personal and computer-based interviews. Some of the documents associated with the event shared by the protagonist are also reproduced as case exhibits. Secondary data from government official websites were also used to enrich the case.

Mahbubnagar, an arid agricultural district in central India faced the threat of a water crisis owing to the unscientific water extraction by the resident farmers. The government appointed a task force to investigate the problem. The team executed the idea to harvest excess water from the fields through a cheap and efficient method. Though it showed spectacular results in the initial months, the farmers gave up the innovation soon. When the team met two years later, they were shocked by the unenthusiastic response of the farmers. This case pertains to the failure of policy innovations and change management in government.

This case is useful for undergraduate-level courses in public management, public policy and governance with modules in change management, innovation management, rural development and programme implementation. Training modules for novice public service professionals and programme management personnel in government organisations. Elective courses on public policy, government relations and public sector management for undergraduate students of business administration.

After studying this case, the students should be able to: explain the importance of employee engagement; illustrate the role of the participatory management style in an organizational context; discuss why managers may use engagement practices to operate effectively in businesses to lead change and innovation; identify the critical success factors, barriers and outcomes of employee involvement in driving high performance; and discuss the dilemma faced by the managers in the emerging economies while driving the momentum of excellence in the long run.

This is a real case about a leading health-care service company located in the Middle East. The health-care organization’s name is changed to NOVA for reasons of confidentiality. The NOVA is an independent, public joint stock company created to meet the curative needs of the public health-care system in Middle East. The company introduced the Employee Suggestion Scheme named Minara in 2011 in a Federal Government decree, introducing innovation as a major pillar of management in 2013 with intent to encourage organizations build innovative solutions and pioneer initiatives and apply it effectively in services, processes and programmes. Making the Minara programme work in line with the national health agenda, Ms. Fatima who headed the Excellence and Innovation Department took the initiative of accelerating the innovative Programme (Minara). The case data were collected based on both primary and secondary sources. Although the case is based on the real data, it has been ammonised. The case describes the transformation of the innovation process at NOVA through the employee engagement programme (Minara) in meeting the disruptive challenges. This case addresses the challenges faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager who used effective employee engagement practices through the Employee Suggestion Programme in a creative way to bring about innovation in the health-care sector. The case outlines the dilemma faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager in bringing about innovation through the Employee involvement programme in the emerging economic scenario. The case will focus on the analysis of the different aspects of the issues pertaining to employee engagement, employee motivation and the framing of empowerment strategies to bring about innovation and continuous improvement through an effective employee suggestion programme. The case is intended to give budding managers an insight into innovation and employee engagement practices that impact performance in the organization.

This case will be suitable to be used in Human Resource Management and Management of Change and Innovation course at undergraduate and Master’s level.

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 1: Accounting and Finance

This case is based on primary and secondary sources of information. These sources include interviews with senior executives as well as documents provided by Mondragon and Eroski. The interviews were conducted on-site. In addition, the authors researched the literature on both organizations.

Eroski is the largest of Mondragon Corporation’s coops. Since its founding, Eroski has faced numerous challenges. It has responded to each challenge with out-of-the-box thinking. In response to the pandemic, Eroski become an e-commerce supermarket as well as selectively continuing bricks and mortar stores. As the pandemic is winding down, Eroski is considering how to respond to the “new normal,” which is largely undefined. The question posited at the end of the case is, “Will Eroski be able to hold to its social principles, maintain its unusual governance model and other unusual practices, and survive this latest challenge?”

Eroski of Mondragon is a complex and unusual organization. To appreciate the challenges and how they were overcome by its unique business model, a student must have a minimum background in management, corporate finance and marketing. Thus, this case would fit well into a senior or graduate class on strategic human resource management. It is also recommended for the strategy capstone course usually offered during the last year of a business bachelor’s degree (senior level) to ensure that students are introduced to what Paul Adler refers to as an alternative business model. It can also be targeted for an advanced management course or a strategy course at the MBA and executive levels.

Public Finance

Masters level graduate studies for public and private sector managers.

The protagonist in this case is Mrs Maribeth Ocampo a manager of a reputable non-governmental organization (NGO) that plans to devise a position on the Philippines' Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) (or more pejoratively called “pork barrel”). This NGO manager intends to tap the assistance of their local legislator to fund some of their projects. Her NGO has been working with farmers in provinces in the Bicol region and one of the recent projects of the group involves skills training for the female farmers, which aims to provide the latter with a greater variety of income source which they can tap during the lean season. Expenses associated with the project include costs of the training sessions (e.g. cost of session kits and honorarium of resource people) and assistance that will be provided to the female farmers to start their venture.

However, recent reports have surfaced which cast doubts on the accountability and transparency associated with the PDAF of the legislators. Some reports indicate the presence of commissions that NGOs must allegedly pay to the legislators in exchange for their access to the said funds, while a recent scam involves the creation of bogus NGOs that allegedly serve as conduits through which legislators can take advantage of their allocation. The NGO manager needs to decide on whether and to what extent to engage with legislators on tapping the pork barrel funds. She also needs to address the question: “What is the position of my NGO (and possibly all reputable NGOs more broadly) on pork barrel funds moving forward?”

This case aims to familiarize the manager with key public finance concepts such as discretion and accountability; and to develop her/his appreciation of the politics surrounding the public sector budget and, in particular, discretionary funds. The case is focused on Philippine legislators' discretionary funds, the PDAF. However, it can be used to discuss issues surrounding public finance concepts of transparency, accountability and citizens' engagement in the budget process in a much broader context within developing democracies.

The case revolves around the scandal surrounding the pork barrel funds of some legislators that were exposed for apparent abuse in early 2013. The scandal and its repercussions are still ongoing at the time of writing this case, so the authors expect to update this case moving forward. It aims to highlight an example of the role of public institutions and its respective challenges when it comes to critical decisions of keeping public financial a credible undertaking. It is also expected that this case will help develop an understanding of the pros and cons in the use of discretionary funds and help the student identify potential risks for abuse in public finance management with respect to these funds.

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

By the end of the case study discussion, it is expected that students will have learned to assess what makes it likely that firms will respond to episodes of stakeholder activism; establish the interplay between nonmarket strategies and corporate governance mechanisms in assessing shareholder activism; explain about the board of directors as a corporate governance mechanism; evaluate the threats of nonmarket dimensions as a strategic response from the board; and understand the impact and increasing power of shareholders over board decisions.

In April 2019, to pressure Rumo S.A. regarding the duplication of the Itirapina–Cubatão railroad, indigenous peoples from 12 São Paulo villages bought six Rumo shares, which were quoted on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at around BRL17 each. Duplication of the railroad started in 2011 and affected the lives of the Indians. The company promised to implement more than 100 improvements to the villages, but as of 2019, half of the improvements were at a standstill. After buying enough shares to entitle them to participate in the annual general meeting (AGM) of shareholders, the Indians went to Rumo’s AGM to voice their concerns and show how the villages had been affected. It was the audit committee that needed to discuss and solve the case of the indigenous peoples. What steps would Rumo take next? What was the best thing to do with regard to the claims of the Indians? This case shows the start of corporate activism in Brazil. This case reports the dilemma that Rumo faced with the indigenous activism at the beginning of 2019 because of the expansion of their railroad network across indigenous lands.

This case is suited for a class in which the students are exposed to a corporate governance framework and internal and external governance mechanisms. The case can be applied at the graduate and executive levels in relevant courses such as corporate governance, corporate responsibility, strategic management, and the stock market.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Poverty, business strategy and sustainable development. International development planning and poverty alleviation strategies have moved beyond centralised, top-down approaches and now emphasise decentralised, community-based approaches that incorporate actors from the community, government, non-governmental agencies and business. Collective action by Bottom of the Pyramid residents gives them greater control in self-managing environmental commons and addressing the problems of environmental degradation. Co-creation and engaging in deep dialogue with stakeholders offer significant potential for launching new businesses and generating mutual value. The case study rests on the tenets of corporate social responsibility. It serves as an example of corporate best practices towards ensuring environmental sustainability and community engagement for providing livelihood support and well-being. It illustrates the tool kit for building community-based adaptive capacities against climate change.

The field-based case study was prepared from inputs received from detailed interviews of company functionaries. Company documents were shared by the company and used with their permission. Secondary data was accessed from newspapers, journal articles available online and information from the company website.

The case study is about the coming together of several vital agencies working in forest and wildlife conservation, climate change adaptation planning for ecosystems and communities, social upliftment and corporate social responsibility in the Kanha Pench landscape of Madhya Pradesh in Central India. The case traces several challenges. First, the landscape is degrading rapidly; it requires urgent intervention to revive it. Second, the human inhabitants are strained with debilitating poverty. Third, the long-term sustainability of the species of tigers living in the protected tiger reserves of Kanha and Pench needs attention as human-animal conflicts rise.

The case would help undergraduate and postgraduate students studying sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

“Driving Strategic Change at the Junior League (A)” describes a troubled organizational environment. Challenges included a dissatisfied membership, declining membership numbers, a large diversity among local leagues, and limited resources to meet the organization's overall objectives. The case describes a “participatory roadmap” approach, drawing on the insights of comprehensive research, and highlights a strategic-change approach that focuses on participation and local-level flexibility.

The (B) case examines how the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) took initial steps to implement the participatory roadmap. Through a purposeful messaging strategy that involved many targets and various modes of communication, AJLI leaders sought to influence and inform active members, sustainers, and their local leaders. Further, through the use of design teams, AJLI gained deep insight into the ways that implementation might vary across local leagues. Finally, these design teams enabled AJLI to make initial gains in membership and develop a cross-league learning community.

After reading and analyzing the (A) case, students should be able to:

• Describe the challenges of leading organizational change in a federated membership nonprofit

• Appraise different forms of data to determine the types of changes needed in a large-scale nonprofit transformation

• Identify ways to unfreeze the organization, encouraging individual members' readiness for change

• Formulate a plan for collaborative, large-scale organizational transformation, as opposed to a coercive strategy

Describe the challenges of leading organizational change in a federated membership nonprofit

Appraise different forms of data to determine the types of changes needed in a large-scale nonprofit transformation

Identify ways to unfreeze the organization, encouraging individual members' readiness for change

Formulate a plan for collaborative, large-scale organizational transformation, as opposed to a coercive strategy