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After reading the case study, the students will be able to analyze the impact of post-pandemic “new normal” customer behavioral change on a start-up aggregator operating virtually. Recognize the need for the service marketing strategy to prepare a service provider/aggregator to sustain a dynamic and volatile consumer environment. Understand the importance of competitors’ analysis as a primary step of service marketing strategy in influencing “new normal” consumer behavior. Examine the utility of customer engagement through website blogs, social media posts, videos and continuously updated information on the mobile application in influencing the “new normal” customer behavior, from skinner operant conditioning behavior and Rusbolt’s investment model perspectives.

Rafeeg is a mobile application-based home maintenance service providing company, conceived and founded in 2017 by Khamis Alsheryani – who, as an Emirati entrepreneur, has a prior record of accomplishing successful mobile applications and business ventures since 2004. The unique selling proposition of Rafeeg in the Abu Dhabi market is its functioning as the home maintenance services aggregator bringing its suppliers and consumers under-one-roof alongside maintaining ensuring high quality, punctuality and security at competitive prices. Rafeeg has collaborated with approximately 1,000 licensed suppliers using nearly 5,000 technicians and maintenance workers with a customer base of about 70,000 households. Although it is formally situated in Al Salam St, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company communicates with its consumers virtually. However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE in March 2020, Rafeeg witnessed a considerable decrease in service requests. Consumers’ psychological fear of the pandemics spread into their houses through the technicians and maintenance workers and the degree of hygienic practices the latter follows before their service provision acted as the major reason behind the fall in requests. Despite Alsheryani’s assurance on the provision of only those suppliers who are verified of their hygienic practices, negative COVID-19 test reports and their availability to the consumers as proof and regular temperature checks of the technicians, the consumer apprehensions remained stagnant and the loss of new service requests, as well as revenue, continued. The pandemic’s spread and consequent lockdown of services in the UAE affected Rafeeg’s business operations gravely, as projected by its sudden drop-in service requests – from 53,638 average monthly customer requests in January and February to approximately 10,000 in March and April. The sudden drop of 81% in new requests drove Alsheryani to develop a service marketing strategy in May to boost consumer behavior, encouraging them to resume their requests without further apprehensions. However, with the continuous rise in the pandemic and vaccines still under trial and research, Alsheryani contemplates the viability of the new marketing strategy. Alsheryani took measures in supplier training programs, excommunicating with suppliers who fail to comply with his strict safety regulations, developing the app with clearly stated, uniform, safety procedures and bearing the additional safety-related costs small suppliers provide quality work as part of the strategy. Despite so, will there be an increase in new requests? Will the bearing of additional costs on the suppliers’ behalf jeopardize its competitive advantage in UAE? Should he consider an alternate business model to adapt to the new normal environment?

This case is written for undergraduate students majoring in consumer behavior, consumer engagement approaches, digital marketing approaches using websites, mobile applications, social media communities and service marketing strategies. Students, through this case, can relate the importance of virtual space in engaging consumers and the importance of the latter in addressing the dynamicity of consumer behavior, especially affected by sudden environmental change, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study also subtly highlights the importance of collaboration with suppliers in an aggregator business model to capture the essence of changing consumer behavior. This case study is appropriate for students having previous knowledge of Rusbolt’s investment model and skinner’s operant behavioral model of consumer behavior and their application in service marketing. Besides, students must be aware of the online business model and aggregator businesses in the service industry of the UAE. The case study purports to motivate critical analytical thinking among students and build their understanding of the importance of consumer behavior for business sustenance.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 8: Marketing.

Choice Behavior.

The case study deals with cross-gender analysis of impulse buying behavior in apparel shopping in India. Any extrapolation of this study to other markets should take into account that Indian consumers are price sensitive. The buying behavior in apparel shopping may not be directly related to other retail categories such as ready-to-eat food, consumer electronics, etc.

Mr Khuswant Chaddha’s family business is in tatters. Market dynamics have changed over the years and his textile mill is no longer the cash cow it once was. His son, Gaurav Chaddha, a recent engineering graduate, plans to save the business by venturing into branded apparel retailing. A key component of this strategy is to figure out impulse shopping behavior in apparel purchases. The gender angle is used to better comprehend the differences in impulse buying emotions so that males and females can be targeted with greater success. A survey of shoppers belonging to suitable demographics is used as the backbone of this study. The analysis of the data presents several dilemmas in some critical business decisions.

The objectives of the case include: understanding how marketplaces change over time; realizing the fact that businesses should evolve over time and even highly profitable business models can become obsolete pretty fast; studying the factors which influence the choice of an apparel store; understanding impulse buying behavior and how gender plays a decisive role in it and analyzing post purchase behavior with respect to gender.

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.

This comprehensive case has been written for an undergraduate-level course on general management and a post-graduate-level course on organizational behavior and strategic management. After working through the case and conducting an in-depth discussion of the assignment questions, students will be able to do the following: 1. perform a comprehensive assessment of the institute’s internal context to measure its resources and preparedness to deal with COVID-19; 2. apply organizational change frameworks (to understand the trigger of the change, type of change and change process); 3. qualitatively analyze the dynamic capabilities and resources available to reopen the institute; and 4. suggest ways to institutionalize agility in the organization to improve the preparations and future responses to student management on campus based on a thorough analysis.

Founded in 1996, the Indian Managerial Studies Institute, Indore, has emerged as a leader in management education by appropriately weaving the pertinent roles of industry, government and PSUs into a common thread. With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, IMSI Indore began to respond to educational and administrative challenges by building on resilient strategies. Two decision-making situations cropped up as the situation improved and again converged to the more lethal second wave in March 2021. Dr Hemant Vishwas, Dean of IMSI Indore, needed to determine whether the institute should continue with the reduced employee and hybrid classroom model or reopen with full-fledged operations for the following academic year.

This comprehensive case has been written considering the teaching pedagogy for an undergraduate-level course on organizational behavior (organizational development and change module) and a post-graduate-level course on organizational behavior and strategic management. This case is suitable for courses on organizational development, change and strategy implementation. Organizational behavior and organizational development and change can be used to understand the core concepts of the change content and process, i.e. the scope and scale of the change. The case also touches on inducing a dynamic change in response to the pandemic in an educational setting, teaching the concepts of dynamic capabilities. It is also expected to be useful for teaching courses related to operations strategies in educational services for executive degree programs and faculty development workshops.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Mohan Dixit, Head, Sales and Marketing, India Operations, EuroMotoCorp Pvt. Ltd., an automobile manufacturing multinational company headquartered in Munich, Germany. This case outlines the harried nature of his life: professional problems (decrease in the market share, not being able to say ‘no’, unable to delegate, pressed for time, member of too many committees) and personal issues (weight gain, not able to spend time for his personal interests) and family problems (work-life balance issue). The case can be taught through different angles, including individual behaviour, transaction analysis, time and stress management, career management and general management. Apart from this, the case discusses the emotional instability of Dixit and the automatic cycle of behavior of Dixit in various situations and events. The case also discusses the ‘ego-self’ and the ‘natural—self’ of a person and how the two should be balanced for a good quality of life. The case thus delves deep into the psychology of a person and discusses how his/her thoughts or inner talk should be managed for a content and successful personal and professional life.

AfrobitLink Ltd was an information technology (IT) firm with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. AfrobitLink started as a very small IT firm with less than two dozen staff. Within a few years of its founding, AfrobitLink established itself as a dependable organization known for delivering high-quality IT services. However, starting in 2004, AfrobitLink experienced rapid growth as it expanded to serve the telecommunications firms taking advantage of the deregulated market. This rapid expansion resulted in many challenges for AfrobitLink. The firm rapidly expanded into all 36 states in Nigeria, hiring a manager to oversee the company’s operations in each of the states. Poor hiring practices, inadequate training, excessive spans of control, low accountability, a subjective reward system, and other cultural issues, such as a relaxed attitude to time, resulted in low motivation, high employee turnover, poor customer service, and financial losses. By 2013, the firm was operating at a loss and its reputation was in shambles. Generally, the culture was toxic: employees did not identify with the firm or care about its goals, there were no performance standards, employees were not held accountable, self-interest and discrimination prevailed. The organization was in a downward spiral. Consultants were hired to help sort out the firm’s problems but these efforts yielded few results. Ken Wilson, the founder’s son, was hired in 2014 as VP of Administration to help get the firm back on track. As a change agent, Ken had to decide how to address the issues facing the firm and how to achieve profitable growth.

Primary sources included interviews with the company CEO, his wife, his son, and a volunteer staff member. Secondary sources included the company website. The names of the people and the firm in the case have been changed to provide anonymity.

This case is intended for use in graduate courses (although it can also be used in upper level undergraduate courses) in change management/organization development, organizational behavior, leadership, or international management. For graduate courses, students may focus on application or integration of several theories or concepts. For upper level undergraduate courses, students may focus on application of a single theory or concept. Below are suggested texts or readings for each type of student by subject.

Change management theories (e.g. Lewin’s force field analysis (Schein, 1996), Kotter’s eight-step change management process (Kotter, 2007), The change kaleidoscope approach (Balogun and Hailey, 2008)), social identity theory (Tajfel, 1981), attribution theory (Kelley, 1972), leadership theories (e.g. Hersey and Blanchard, 1969), intercultural/international management theories (e.g. Hofstede, 1980, 1991).

Organizational behavior, human resources, culture, international business, international entrepreneurship and emerging market studies.

MBA and MSc students (and some advanced-level undergraduates) in an MBA module being taught face-to-face in an emerging market context. MBA courses such as managing cultural diversity, cross-cultural management, organizational behavior, human resource management, international business and business in emerging markets. The exercise is also relevant to teaching the subject of assignment- and dissertation-writing, given the element of data collection and analysis.

This exercise is designed to be an MBA class exercise in which students try to answer the question: what are the national cultural characteristics of the typical executive or manager in my country? Are these behaviors as the textbooks describe, or have they changed, especially with economic development?

The example of country chosen for the class exercise can be any emerging market country, especially one undergoing significant change. Much of the research on cross-cultural management conducted in emerging markets was carried out 20 or 30 years ago and the changes in emerging markets have been dramatic since then. It is highly likely, when reaching the results of this exercise, that the culture of the chosen country has indeed changed dramatically, becoming more like a typical developed or “emerged” country. Much of the original cross-cultural management research was also based on a similar group – employees of US-based high technology companies, arguably similar to the sample to be involved in our exercise here.

National cultural characteristics can be described and defined in ways which will allow for comparisons, to gain useful insights – and these behaviors are not good or bad, just real and different.

Cultures can change or stay the same, due to certain demographic, economic and social influences, which we can study and measure.

If we proactively interview colleagues and other contacts to test our understanding of these national culture constructs, we can gain more insights and awareness (rather than just listening to a lecture).

Teaching notes, student assignment.

The “Anti-Racism in my Pocket” case illustrates how collaborative entrepreneurial leadership can build on personal experiences, expertise and a desire to change the status quo to support racial equity. The case will support students’ critical thinking skills and further heighten their understanding of the contributions of women in leadership, anti-racism and the role of technology. Moreover, the case is motivating for students with aspirations of using business skills and knowledge to contribute to social equity.

After completing this case, students should be able to identify the role of marketing in the development, implementation and evaluation of a behavior change initiative, the Anti-Racism Action Nuggets anti-racism training program; analyze qualitative and quantitative data to assess the impact of the Anti-Racism Action Nuggets Pilot using a logic model; identify marketing opportunities, challenges and strategies to scale the Anti-Racism Action Nuggets series for a broader impact; and discuss the relationship of gender in strategic positioning and marketing leadership to the development of the Anti-Racism Action Nuggets (Optional).

This case charts the development of an anti-racism training series by two friends, Allison Plyer (she/her) and Valerie (Val) Uccellani (she/her), called Anti-Racism Action Nuggets. The two protagonists aimed to change individual behaviors to reduce structural racism through lessons that were delivered in text messages to participants. Once the course is completed, they conduct a test pilot with members of NOW, LOVE, a women’s organization in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the end of the case, students are provided with the qualitative and quantitative pilot data for their analysis to recommend next steps and important marketing considerations for the Anti-Racism Action Nuggets series.

Undergraduate, graduate and executive education

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 8: Marketing

PageWell, an e-reading platform provider, was preparing to launch PageWell 2.0 to the larger full-time MBA student market after a successful trial of PageWell 1.0 in Executive MBA (EMBA) classes at the Kellogg School of Management. Research had shown that full-time MBA students would be very interested in using products that allowed electronic access to course materials everywhere and across many platforms and that allowed electronic note-taking and storage. To better understand this user group, PageWell conducted a market research survey of students, faculty, and administrators to gauge their needs, preferences, and potential interest in the PageWell product. The study revealed that MBA student usage patterns, scenarios, and behavior varied significantly from EMBA student needs and perceptions. PageWell now had the task of prioritizing the product requirements and recalibrating the market requirements document to more accurately reflect student needs and thus create a viable product

After students have analyzed the case, they will be able to:

• Use customer feedback to help define requirements for a new product

• Understand the role of personas and scenarios in defining requirements

• Understand how to use scenarios and scenario templates to derive scenario implementation requirements

• Understand how to prioritize scenarios based on customer, company, and competitive criteria

• Write a market requirements document for a next-version technology produc

Use customer feedback to help define requirements for a new product

Understand the role of personas and scenarios in defining requirements

Understand how to use scenarios and scenario templates to derive scenario implementation requirements

Understand how to prioritize scenarios based on customer, company, and competitive criteria

Write a market requirements document for a next-version technology produc

By reading and understanding this case study, students are expected to: 1.Able to understand and review the impact of unethical practices from accounting perspective; 2.Able to make an analysis of how one unethical act triggers a series of forced unethical acts (ripple effect); 3.Identify the unfair practices as well as be proactive in preventing unfair practices in the business day to day affairs; 4.Able to relate the function of various ratios (current ratio, quick ration, debt to asset ratio, debt to equity ratio etc.) and its impact on the business performance; and 5.Able to apply various lean quality tools, doing the root cause analysis in identifying and solving problems.

T.M. Exports (TME) was an India-based privately owned and operated enterprise. The company had a brilliant employee named Sanjay, who was a 12-year veteran. TME’s Business Intelligence (BI) department at TME head office, Kanpur, India, ostensibly learned on April 8, 2019, from the rumors about a brand-new vehicle dished out to Sanjay by his friend who made fortune worth of millions from certain transactions. To add fuel to the fire, another incident surfaced concerning a warehouse keeper, Mohit, who was also involved in embezzlement in one of the sales offices. On May 16, 2019, BI reported these two incidents to the internal auditor who launched an internal investigation to get to root of this case. Consequently, the company owner, Tariq Mahmood got himself caught up in a dilemma to fire both Sanjay and Mohit only or restructure the organization for better transparency and integrative approach in future. Moreover, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer had the dilemma of keeping high safety stock to maximize service level or keeping conservative safety stock and rely on-spot market-buying if demand spiked. He decided and instructed all the warehouses to keep higher inventories to meet the forecasted demand, considering unexpected spikes in demand witnessed historically. Thus, increase in inventory caused panic in the sales department as demand was sluggish. He, therefore, offered high discounted prices to liquidate the stock. This study integrated the theories of accounting/financial ratio metrics, accounts reconciliation, business ethics and lean tools. It was demonstrated in this case that the irregularities in sales accounting and their inability of reconciliation had a serious impact on business performance. The concept of total reward was also invoked to understand the disruptive and unscrupulous practices.

This case has been particularly focused on undergraduate and postgraduate early-stage-level students pursuing business or commerce program, particularly those specializing in accounting (sales accounting) and human resource management courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

The case helps learn various aspects of entrepreneurship, startups and startup-ecosystem in India. It also talks about challenges that a startup entrepreneur faces that others or people potential to enter business can learn. It develops one to identify diverse and holistic solutions for overcoming these challenges. Apply and explain strategies suitable to business management.

After facing lot of difficulties in personal life, Mr Mitesh Shethwala started an e-commerce business named Alagrand.com. This Ahmedabad city-based startup for selling apparels and accessories for all age group is doing so well that the valuation of company has gone beyond Rs. 20 crores. In spite of the high valuation, company is facing problem of funds and investments. The protagonist of the company has lot of plans for growing business and taking it to next level that can happen only if he gets funds for the business. The case talks about issue of investment and funding of this startup company. The company also has issues in the area of setting standard operating procedures and marketing.

Teachers can discuss this case study for various subjects like Strategic Management, Retail Management, Digital Marketing and Product and Brand Management that are taught to the students of management courses at graduate and post-graduate levels. Academicians and students should read current information and data regarding setting up startups, investment and capital budgeting related to startups and funding methods.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.