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Strategic management (competitive strategy and supply chain management) and management accounting (product pricing and costing techniques).

Final year of business undergraduate programme and MBA programme.

This case illustrates how emergence of generic products had threatened the survival of DCPM and forced its management to urgently review the company's existing approach to pricing of its main herbicide product. The case presents opportunities for readers to discuss the deficiencies of DCPM's existing product costing approach and recommend modifications to meet the price and gross profit margin targets specified. It also highlights issues relating to supply chain management and human resource practices that might have to be improved to enhance DCPM's long-term competitiveness.

To understand the effects of globalisation and emergence of generic products on intensity of market competition for branded products. To identify deficiencies of the current product costing system of DCPM for pricing decision. To apply alternative contemporary approach to product costing and pricing of Metrix and the other value-added services. To identify measures to enhance supply chain management and inventory management in DCPM. To assess DCPM's human resources practices. To evaluate the effectiveness of DCPM's existing competitive strategy and formulate new competitive strategy to sustain DCPM's long-term competitiveness.

Teaching notes.

This case study can help the reader to understand how to build an effective board for family business, and why evolving board structure can help family firm to sustain for a longer period in Market. Reader can also learn about role of independent director, CEO's Succession process and ways to deal with duality issue that family owned enterprise may face during a transition from generation X to Y.

This teaching case study describes various decision-making situations using example of a Pakistani family firm and entrepreneurs who started the business few decades back in France. This partially disguised case is based on actual events. The data are collected based on discussions with family business owners and minutes of meetings. The objective of study is to make sense of the family business theories e.g. socio emotional wealth stakeholder and agency. Case readers can also learn about the family’s business governance practices using diverse scenarios presented in this case.

This study is suitable for graduate and undergraduate studies.

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 7: Management science.

Social media.

Under graduate/Easy.

The case study presents a discussion on how the Delhi Traffic Police has used social media, Facebook in particular, to collaborate with the commuters on Delhi road to improve its traffic management. This case study can be as an example to illustrate the use of social media by a government department, to address operational and resources limitations. The case traces the start and evolution of the Delhi Traffic Police’s journey on the social media as the department responds to the inputs from the commuters on its Facebook page.

The case study is an illustration of a non-traditional application of a new technology by a non-business organization, the challenges it faces in its adoption and the solutions it provides.

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 8: Marketing

After a successful discussion and analysis of the case, the participants will be able to distinguish and appreciate the situations of conflict of interest (COI), whistle-blowing, etc. Initiate appropriate methods to avoid/minimize the impact of COI and ensure justice and fair-play to all stake-holders. Identify and appreciate the work-context of each executive-position and initiate standard operating procedures to protect the interests of the enterprise and all its stakeholders. Appreciate the relevance of whistle-blowing and to initiate appropriate methods to ensure justice and fair-play to all stake-holders.

In the context of the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI)-bank, the systemic inadequacies seemed to have failed in preventing the incidences of COI. The organization was too centralized to be able to respond proactively to the allegations. The case lays bare the inadequacy of professionalism among the media in responding promptly to such instances. The case generalizes that, with increasing globalization, such incidences have global ramifications and the organizations face much greater risks than ever. The case concludes that to emerge as a mature and leading organization in the global market, ICICI-bank needed to strengthen various aspects of corporate governance; similarly to emerge as a developed economy, India needed to develop independent watchdogs to monitor the activities of corporations continuously. Media needed to be independent and mature to fulfil its duty of continuous and transparent communication to the public.

The case can be understood and analysed by management students in the post-graduate level or by working executives with at least four to five years of experience in the corporate sector.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

ThoughtWorks, a medium-size IT systems integrator, was growing quickly but identified "lack of clear positioning around which to build a brand" as the biggest impediment to continued growth. The company had identified features that it believed differentiated it from its competitors and was considering alternative segments to target. Asks readers to choose a target and develop a positioning statement for that target as well as identify the assumptions underlying the recommended positioning strategy and suggest how market research could help establish the validity of those assumptions.

Services management, strategy, marketing.

Services management, strategy, marketing.

Owned and operated by the Tata Group, Ginger Hotels is the first-of-its-kind of Smart Basics™ hotels across India. The case explores the business model and the relevance of the service concept given the Indian context and consumer behaviour, the marketing strategy, and communication strategy of Ginger. Challenges such as the use of outsourcing, learning and development, and attrition are discussed.

From a marketing perspective, this case can be used to demonstrate understanding of consumer behavior, reshaping customer expectations, perceived service quality, Gaps in service, service orientation, and value-for-money positioning, aggressive advertising and promotions, use of the marketing mix to introduce a new service concept in a market. From a management perspective, the case can be used to highlight how the marketing strategy is being delivered through a focus on service staff (selection, training, and motivation) and operations (logistics, IT, and communications), and branding (brand strategy – alignment to the corporate strategy).Third, the case is suitable for highlighting strategy – analyzing current competitive advantages, and carving out potential future competitive advantages in a services context. For example, strategic analysis models such as Porter's industry analysis and value-chain models can be applied to examine the sources and sustainability of Ginger's competitive advantages. The case can also be used for teaching service innovation.

Teaching note.

The case was created through personal interviews of the proprietor, Arzan Gandhi. The authors also researched data for investment advisory business along with current events relating to Indian stock market and its performance.

The case explores the fascinating entrepreneurial journey of Arzan Gandhi, 62 years old, from a cotton mill worker to an owner of a reputed investment advisory firm, “M/s A. N. Gandhi” in Ahmedabad, India. Reflecting upon the experiences that empowered Gandhi’s success in investment advisory business, students acquire an insight of real wealth creation challenges in business. Gandhi had to set the right priorities to take his business to the next level with intensified competition in the financial advisory field.

The case is best suited for graduate and post-graduate level courses on personal finance, financial planning elective or entrepreneurship. It is useful for teaching lessons on how financial planning and strategic decisions taken, through entrepreneurial traits and opportunity recognition helps in wealth creation and taking a venture to new heights.

Reflect on the influence of different lifecycle stages on the strategy of a family business; evaluate the impact of family, industry and company dynamics on the evolution of a family firm; assess the impact of ownership, governance and succession considerations on the sustainability of a family firm; and develop decision-making skills to overcome specific dilemmas and secure the family business longevity.

Five industries, three generations and one family business. What started off as an entrepreneur’s ambition, Almajid Limited has proven itself to a sustainable source of revenue and a diverse portfolio of businesses for multiple generations of a Saudi Arabian family. This case study offers an exclusive opportunity to follow the tumultuous journey of a Saudi family business and analyze the different phases of its evolution over seven decades and three generations. In particular, the case aims to highlight the complexities surrounding the management of a family firm and illustrate how various lifecycle stages stemming from a number of areas (e.g. family, company, industry, ownership and governance) simultaneously influence the family business strategy. Being deeply embedded in the context of Saudi Arabia, the case unveils the unique challenges of managing a family business in a conservative cultural setting. The case study is divided into four parts, with each of them putting the emphasis on a different lifecycle area of significance for the evolution of the family business. Each part culminates with the identification of an area-relevant dilemma that needs to be addressed for the family firm to be able to move into the next stage of its development. Part A focuses on the family area or axis, the Part B on the industry axis, Part C on the company axis, while Part D is based on the sustainability axis, which embraces as many as three dilemmas in relation to the ownership, governance and succession in the family firm. Moreover, each part incorporates a timeline of critical events that contributed to the emergence of a specific dilemma and a culturally-rooted anime that helps the readers visualize the story, picture somebody else’s reality, and empathize with the key protagonists of the case to achieve optimal decision-making.

Graduate audience: Master of Business Administration or Master of Global Entrepreneurial Management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This case study outlines the marketing, strategic and organizational issues facing the ever-expanding agri-inputs market in India, through the perspective of Agroy – an agri-products company. This case can be used to assist in the teaching courses such as marketing management, rural marketing, business strategy, operations and logistics management, among others, for students of MBA or other specialized courses in management. The case has been developed to make students aware and to understand the arduous nature of setting up a company catering to the huge Indian agri-inputs market. This case delves into the complexities of marketing in rural India that is characterized by low technological awareness, low volumes of digital transactions and immense language barriers. The Indian agricultural market is huge and has undergone a considerable amount of change owing to competition among multinational companies and traditional local micro-retailers. This case discusses the various challenges faced by multinational companies in entering India and how they need to strategize to modify their Western model of a distribution channel which faces huge challenges when put to test in India. Specific learning outcomes include: the case study would help students to comprehend the new business strategies that an MNC could adopt in emerging markets. Some companies work on changing traditional and conventional value chains of activities to fit the emerging market customer’s best and hence companies needs to figure out a unique business model to compete in emerging markets. This case study gives readers the opportunity to think about strategy in an uncertain environment. The case illustrates the challenges associated with innovating new business ideas that would help the company serve a greater number of people from a diverse background. It highlights the importance of thinking about real options, a portfolio of projects and the type of organizational structure required to tackle the uncertainties associated with foreign companies aiming to enter the Indian market. It also explores marketing and distribution issues – which are the type of customers to target and which are the suitable geographic areas with suitable linguistic compatibility in which there shall be ease in doing business. Finally, it is an avenue for students to think about the changes necessary throughout the distribution channel to successfully implement and commercialize a project in rural India. The case is intended to work well as a learning tool for strategy implementation where uncertainty is inherent and as an application to lectures on real options and risk or for discussions related to marketing and distribution channels and its challenges.

The Indian agricultural market plays an important role in India’s economy having a staggering 58 per cent of rural households depending on it as the principal means of livelihood. However they have very small landholdings, and hence, they find it difficult to order either large quantities or in bulk, as a result of which the cost of agricultural inputs gets enhanced. Agroy, an MNC, is one of the many companies that have stepped in to bridge this gap by trying to tap into the huge agricultural market. Agroy aspires to be the “UBER of agriculture.” Agroy is a cloud-based buying platform for farmers to buy agri-inputs efficiently at scale and at the best price from around the world. With big data and smart farming, the company aims to enhance farm sustainability and productivity. Agroy’s competitors like Agro Star and Big Heart also have similar business models and hence the competition is stiff. The three debatable questions that the case poses are: Will Agroy be able to shatter the age-old loyalty that Indian farmers have toward local retailers and other Indian companies that have an existing strong foothold in the market? Will similar distribution models as practiced in developed Western countries work in India, given the distribution challenges in deep rural Indian hinterland? Will Agroy be able to create sustainable business models by marketing agri-inputs at low prices in India?

MBA in courses such as entrepreneurial marketing, strategic marketing, agricultural marketing.

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 8: Marketing.

Verklar is the leading maker of roof windows based in Europe. Its Austrian subsidiary has historically dominated the Austrian market, with about 85% market share. However, at the time of the case, its market share has dropped to about 75%, and many of its dealers have either dropped the line entirely or are buying not from the company, but from the few remaining large dealers who still buy directly from Verklar. This has prompted the president of the subsidiary to devise a new way—called the Quota System—to run the distribution channel in the country to improve performance. Asks the reader to examine the sources of market share decline and whether the proposed Quota System solves the channel's problems.