Search results

The case study will help to learn about the importance of pre-sanction precautionary measures before lending to self-help groups (SHGs), to learn about the potential lapses and errors while sanctioning SHG finance and to learn about the importance of bank’s guidelines and compliance before sanctioning loans.

This case study details the tenure of Seema in a rural branch of Safe Bank of India located in Haryana which she joined as a manager in the year 2016. She overachieved the target given by the district collector office, and going by the tide, she kept her reliance on the references provided by non-government organization (NGO) without complying the bank’s instructions. She committed errors while sanctioning the loans, which led towards the upsurge of non-performing assets of the branch. Later on, after investigation it was discovered that she did not follow fundamental bank’s instructions. In wake of those lapses and errors, how she could have avoided those lapses and secure the public money? What were the most important documents while granting agriculture finance and what due diligence she should have taken? How did she treat calls from the government departments? Was she right in trusting the suggestions of the NGO?

This case study caters to students of various streams, namely, management, business administration and law, and can be targeted at both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It could be suitable for several types of courses and students. Furthermore, this case study can also be targeted for various training programmes for bank employees and employees of various lending institutions engaged in agriculture finance and credit linkage programmes.

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.

HSBC (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) Holdings Plc. is a part of various trade finance consortia which aimed to digitise the traditional paper-based trade finance process. It had successfully executed multiple trade finance pilots using a blockchain based platform Voltron and was launching its Contour blockchain trade finance platform as a service to its clients. The trade finance market was estimated to be USD 18 trillion on an annual basis and HSBC had a 12% share in the trade finance transactions worldwide. This case revolves around the challenges facing banks/consortia while porting the traditional trade finance process to the blockchain based system. The crux is how the banks form the consortia, implement blockchain and facilitate trading globally given that it is a new technology and will require bringing all the stakeholders involved in the trade finance value chain to the blockchain based platform. HSBC is facing some decision questions on the formation, governance and management of the consortium, on the interoperability between consortia and on how to price its services to its customers.

On March 18, 2019, Yuvraj Mehta, head Corporate Brand Management & Communications (CBMC) at Larsen & Toubro (L&T), heard about negative media narratives against L&T, following a high-profile merger and acquisition (M&A) between the company and Mindtree. Some of the allegations against L&T were “hostile takeover” and “destruction of Mindtree's culture.” Mehta was faced with the issue of influencing all stakeholders; turning the tide and changing the narrative from hostile takeover to continuity, growth and profitability; and integrating Mindtree and its employees and culture into L&T. Compared to L&T's previous acquisitions, which were small, and other strategic initiatives, which were mostly organic, Mindtree acquisition was the largest (in value terms) in its history. It was also the most complex as Mindtree promoters aggressively resisted the acquisition, and L&T had to acquire a large number of shares through an open offer. Media speculations began in January 2019 when L&T, the engineering and construction giant, planned to acquire a majority stake in the young IT firm, Mindtree. Soon the reporting changed to aggressive media ranting. Time was at a premium. Mehta knew he would need to begin strategising almost immediately. How should he proceed? What should be his first move?

After the completion of this case study, students will be able to understand the importance of being close to local people when embarking on social business; understand that clear purpose and good decision-making can lead to great outcomes; and learn that innovation is crucial to ensure sustainability of both business and impact.

The case highlights the journey of Laiterie du Berger (LDB), a social enterprise in the agribusiness industry and the challenges faced as it expands and innovates. LDB’s roots lie in its commitment to social impact, aiming to uplift the Fulani livestock farmers and address socioeconomic issues. The company’s business model prioritizes people over profits, focusing on sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The LDB case showcases the challenges and opportunities in the agribusiness industry. LDB’s commitment to social impact, demonstrated through its support for farmers and sustainable farming practices, has been integral to its success. As the company expands and innovates, it faces critical decisions that require balancing financial growth with social responsibility. By embracing development, innovation and collaboration, LDB can continue to be a catalyst for positive change in the agribusiness industry while staying true to its roots and the principles that have defined its journey.

This case study is designed for bachelor’s and master’s degree students in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as MBA students. The case focuses on social entrepreneurship with the example of an agribusiness company located in Senegal, prioritizing social impact and quality of life. The case study explores the dynamics of the sector, including expansion strategy, innovation initiatives and the dilemma of balancing social mission and profit that social entrepreneurs may be facing. By analyzing this real-world situation of LDB, students will have the opportunity to enhance their decision-making skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The learning objectives have been prepared following Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). After completing the case study, the students will be able to identify and recall the prerequisites necessary for establishing a pathology laboratory. (knowledge); analyze the micro- and macroenvironmental factors considered by Mr Sabihul Haque in the development of the strategic plan for Healthcare Laboratories (HCL) (knowledge and application); explain the key components of the Porter’s value chain and their significance in the operation of HCL (comprehension and evaluation); use the TOWS analysis to map the internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of HCL (application and synthesis); and analyze the challenges faced by protagonist in managing HCL and generate suggestions for addressing the challenges (analysis and synthesis).

HCL, an enterprise established in 2018 in Sahdeo Khap, Gaya, Bihar, India, aims to provide high-quality pathological diagnostic services in semi-urban and rural areas. This health-care initiative is pioneering, offering pathology services to make high-quality, low-cost diagnostic services accessible in rural India. In rural settings, numerous health-care hurdles make it challenging for individuals to access the care they need. Since its inception, HCL has expanded its reach to connect more areas, facilitating diagnostic services for people in remote regions. The establishment of laboratories in semi-urban areas aims to reduce patient travel time, costs and health risks by bringing services directly to their doorstep. Haque, the chief executive officer of the lab, grappled with multiple challenges, including selecting an appropriate location for the lab, recruiting and retaining skilled workforce, managing logistics supply, collaborating with local health-care providers, dispelling the stigma among the population that superior services are only available in cities and enhancing health literacy in rural communities. Following numerous meetings with Ms Ummati Naiyyer, head of operations, they worked collaboratively to address these challenges, developing a blueprint and future plan to operate services in rural areas. This case study provides insights into the obstacles faced by HCL striving for success in rural areas. It elucidates the beneficial application of the Porter’s value chain, along with an analysis of macro- and microenvironmental factors. Unique challenges such as societal stigma and mistrust are specifically emphasized. Students engaging with this case study will enhance their problem-solving skills through brainstorming and providing recommendations, contributing to potential solutions for HCL’s difficulties.

The teaching notes for the HCL case is designed to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate and graduate students within the context of the course. This case study serves as a valuable teaching tool, allowing students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios in the health-care industry. The notes provide a framework for instructors to facilitate discussions, encourage critical thinking and promote a deeper understanding of key concepts related to establishing diagnostic laboratories in rural areas.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to conduct a marketing environmental analysis to aid strategic decisions; analyse the first-mover advantages of a retail firm and how these can be sustained; comprehend online retail business models and the challenges therein; understand the trade-offs of online/offline retail experiences specific to an emerging market’s beauty and personal care sector; conceptualize and formulate actionable growth strategies that balance the individual and collective requirements of brick and mortar and retail e-commerce environments.

The case is set in 2022, right after Nykaa – the pioneer of beauty and wellness e-commerce platforms in India makes a blockbuster stock market debut in 2021. Starting in 2012 with a disruptive online model for selling beauty and wellness products online in India, Nykaa had come a long way with expansions in physical retail and other segments such as fashion. The firm, which initially aimed to be a virtual store, is now thinking of aggressively expanding in the brick-and-mortar retail space as it opens its 85th retail outlet.

Falguni S. Nayar, founder and CEO of Nykaa, wanted to roll out 300 physical stores targeting 100 cities in India in the next couple of years. She aspired to establish Nykaa as a category leader as the “Indian Sephora” in the beauty and personal care market. Nykaa’s first-mover advantage in the online beauty and personal care marketplace worked well to establish it as a brand with positive endorsements by digital shoppers that enhanced the investment potential with potential financiers. However, the pandemic had brought every physical retailer to the online platform. Most e-commerce platforms dealing in grocery to lifestyle had added personal care products to their existing merchandise.

Additionally, several start-ups had ventured into the online marketplace. Online was a cluttered marketplace with little to no differentiation. In this bloodbath, would the first-mover advantage for Nykaa in the online space still count as a competitive advantage? Nayar was all set to expand Nykaa’s physical presence aggressively. The concern was that the beauty and personal care segment had also moved online as a function of long stay-at-home periods. In the post-pandemic times, would the customer indeed revert to brick and mortar once again? Nykaa was also into product formulations, but so was every big and small player in the space. What was the differentiated winning formula for the consumer’s heart and mind?

The case can be effectively used in foundation courses in marketing and a wide range of specialized courses on marketing management (core/foundation course), retail marketing and e-commerce/digital marketing and e-commerce for B-school learners. The complex decision points faced by an innovative e-commerce start-up firm on its road to market expansion make the case suitable for niche courses such as Marketing for Start-ups. Moreover, learners in executive MBA programs with considerable experience can benefit from the case analysis that balances a growing retail company’s long- and short-run objectives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This case will help students to analyse and develop insights into the concepts of servant leadership; to analyse and develop insights into women’s empowerment and a process to achieve such empowerment; and to explore the social business models for scaling up.

The Lakhpati Kisan programme under the aegis of Tata Trusts focussed on empowering women marginal farmers in the tribal belts in India to significantly increase their income from 2015. Ganesh Neelam, Executive Director, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a nodal agency of Tata Trusts, advocated various livelihood options in agriculture, livestock, non-timber forest resources and water conversation. Initially, CInI faced the challenge of getting the farmers to sign up for the programme due to lack of trust. CInI facilitators educated the farmers about the purpose of the initiative and the benefits they would accrue and built trust. CInI created awareness through knowledge-sharing sessions on best practices in agriculture. They formed self-help groups of farmers for decision-making and for easy access to capital. CInI established farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to bring in a business perspective among farmers. The farmers as Board members and executives ran the FPOs like commercial organisations. CInI built capabilities to create a sustainable and autonomous ecosystem that looked impressive. But still the programme was falling short of the desired target. The farmers were so far reluctant to move forward independently. Ganesh felt that the social business model that CInI had evolved needed a re-look to achieve a significant and lasting impact on the majority of the marginal farmers in India.

The case can be used in the organisation behaviour, human resource management courses and courses on social enterprises as part of the MBA or post-graduate management programme or in executive education programmes.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Kaleidofin was co-founded in 2017 by Puneet Gupta and Sucharita Mukherjee; former CFO and CEO of IFMR (Institute for Financial Management and Research) Holdings Pvt Ltd. As part of their roles at IFMR, Gupta and Mukherjee focused on designing products and developing technology to push for financial inclusion. In their field interactions, the co-founders had an epiphany of the challenges faced by people while trying to save towards important life goals. They saw an opportunity in the large segment of financially under-served people in India and quit their jobs to start Kaleidofin. Kaleidofin was conceptualised as a digital platform that offers customised financial solutions to help customers meet their life goals. The start-up partnered with mutual fund companies for solutions on one hand and network partners (NGOs, microfinance organizations, cooperative banks) on the other for access to their existing customers.

Kaleidofin grew from 50 customers in January 2018 to 15,000 customers by March 2019. Aiming to grow to 1 million customers in the next 30 months Kaleidofin faces a dilemma about its future course. The start-up could continue to grow by expanding its current target segment which is the low-income households and preserve its vision at the risk of increasing costs. The second option would be to look at other potential target segments, such as, middle-income households and risk diluting their vision. The case study highlights the unique customer-centric model of Kaleidofin and the need for start-ups to understand the value proposition of their products/services.

Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to apply lessons learned in core readings, analysis and discussion to a specific case study dealing with a current, real-world situation, specifically: critically assess Livestock Wealth’s case facts and present and justify their point of view – based on attentive reading, critical analysis and engagement – about the company; use a range of strategic tools such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis, PESTLE analysis and the Ansoff matrix to thoroughly evaluate Livestock Wealth’s internal and external business environment for developing strategic options for business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; use strategic thinking to develop a range of creative solutions to guide the company’s business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; and assess their own growth and development in terms of personal preparation and organisation, collaboration, critical thinking, decision-making skills, participation and problem-solving.

By February 2022, Ntuthuko Shezi, the founder and chief executive officer of Livestock Wealth, had turned his idea of “crowd farming”, which enables anyone to invest in living farm assets and earn a profit at harvest, into a full-fledged business that was creating wealth for both investors and farmers. Underpinning this case study is Shezi’s vision of an African continent where there is “no ground that is not planted with something of value”, local economies are created in those areas, communities are wealthy, there is abundance, there is money for children to attend school and ultimately where “cows (and agricultural produce in general) are seen as money”. Shezi had grown up in a rural area with grandparents who owned a couple of cows, realizing that the cows were the bedrock of the family’s finances. Describing his business, he says, “Cattle are like a walking bank, and we see ourselves as the bank of the future, where every person who owns a cow can access financial services through Livestock Wealth, just like it has always been in Africa.” This case study describes the two key decisions that Shezi needed to make – what direction to take in terms of business growth and how to improve his marketing strategy (with a limited budget) to attract sufficient investment into Livestock Wealth to make his dreams a reality.

This case study is suitable for use for a post-graduate diploma in business, master of business administration or master’s in management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The learning objectives are intended to stimulate the students’ comprehension of the various challenges faced by Indian startups in the digital ecosystem. With the changing working dynamics in organizations around the globe, managers are expected to explore unconventional business models to facilitate operational growth. The case study is a valuable resource for graduate students to enhance and evolve their critical thinking and solution-oriented skills as forthcoming managers of digital businesses. Students should be able to analyze the case, respond to the questions and evaluate the consequences of workplace flexibility, moonlighting and its applicability in an organizational context. With the Indian Government introducing schemes such as the Digital India initiative and Startup India, it is predicted that numerous startups will opt for digital business standards and a remote work approach. The case bridges classroom theories and a real-life digital company to help students connect with emerging market scenarios.

During the digital era, India witnessed a shift in companies’ work culture, which amplified when COVID-19 hit the country. Organizations started to work remotely and experienced the numerous benefits it brought. The comfort of working from home was greater for digital businesses whose significant operations could be performed online. However, is it really that productive for digital companies to telecommute? The case illustrates how a digital company, Career Pandit, formed in 2018, unfurls and expands its business and further highlights the challenges the pandemic raised concerning people management. In addition to the discussion, the purpose of the case is to determine the implication of workplace flexibility and moonlighting and how Indian startups cope with the uncertain future challenges it brings.

Under graduate and postgraduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.