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The birth of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has instantly drawn the attention of scholars, academicians and learners. Millions of participants are learning through this freely accessible model of education. The purpose of this paper is to review the development of MOOCs, its characteristics and to explore its potential and challenges in Pakistan particularly.

The data were collected through interviews and focus group, and the respondents had completed at least one MOOC offering. This research used content and thematic analysis with the triangulation of methods and sources.

The finding of this study reflects that MOOCs are inspiring great number of learners in Pakistan despite of factors impeding the surge of e-learning. MOOCs in regional languages with better electricity and internet connectivity could be very useful for the rural areas’ people but it requires extra ordinary interest from government and academicians.

This is an exploratory qualitative study highlighting the potential and challenges of MOOCs from the perspective of faculty and students. However, it does not incorporate the views of university officials. Similar study could consider university officials and university owner as respondents. In addition, future studies could also investigate the factors inhibiting completion of MOOCs.

Despite of the sharp rise of published literature on MOOCs, there is less contribution from the developing countries. This research enables us to develop better understanding of the potential and challenges of MOOCs in the social context of Pakistan.

The purpose of this study is to address the issue of customer engagement faced by the hospitality industry. By employing the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and engagement theory, this study investigates the influence of social media marketing (SMM) and consumers' perceived innovativeness on customer engagement. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Lastly, it examines the moderating effect of service convenience between customer satisfaction and customer engagement.

This study is quantitative in nature. Data were collected through surveys using a three-wave time-lagged design from 564 consumers of various restaurants.

The findings reveal that SMM did not directly impact customer engagement; however, it showed a full mediation through customer satisfaction. Perceived innovativeness showed a significant relationship with customer engagement both directly and indirectly. Service convenience also showed significant moderation.

The study is useful for the hospitality managers and the restaurant industry as a whole in facilitating memorable customer experiences in order engage them for longer time periods. This study would also help give other firms in the service sector a direction to better engage with their customers.

This study by investigating the unique framework produces the useful information for hospitality managers, policy makers and contributes to the body of knowledge from a developing country's perspective. Testification of S-O-R model and engagement theory are also significant theoretical contributions.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: use advanced frameworks and tools to convey complex ideas related to corporate social responsibility and ethics; apply relevant concepts and theories of ethics and corporate governance to a practical situation while making decisions; demonstrate understanding of the importance of stakeholders when developing socially responsible thinking; and analyze ethical and legal conflicts that need to be considered by employees in situations of whistleblowing.

Sara Khan was a Pakistani-American who had moved to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2015 to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in accounting. After graduation, she started working for a baked products manufacturer, Dough Fresh, which was a business unit of Dubai-based Fresh Foods Co. Three years later, she enjoyed her work in the company that embraced strong ethical values and socially responsible practices. She was recently given the task of delivering a financial statements’, investment projections’ and cost-cutting presentation to the senior management of Dough Fresh. Her performance at completing this task was of critical importance for her obtaining the eagerly awaited promotion to the senior accountant position. One day, while Sara was looking through some files to update the financial statements’ records, she came across a deleted purchase order of poppy seeds that amounted to AED 680,000. While poppy seeds were widely used as ingredients in baked products in other countries, they were illegal in the UAE. After approaching her colleague from the purchasing department, she realized that the purchasing manager, who was the grandson of the chairman, was closely involved in the matter. Moreover, it appeared that poppy seeds were used unwashed, which triggered deleterious health consequences and made them highly dangerous to consume. As Sara spent more time researching about poppy seeds and whistleblowing laws in the UAE, she questioned whether she should divulge this information or keep it for herself. Making this decision was extremely challenging. Because the UAE laws regarding whistleblowing were not comprehensive and constantly evolving, she was not certain whether her identity and reputation would be protected in case she decided to blow the whistle. Even more, she worried immensely about the prospect of her colleagues losing their jobs if this information became public, as many of them needed the money to support their families back home and to finance expensive health-related treatments of their relatives. At the same time, she was also aware that if poppy seeds were consumed by people unknowingly, this could lead to serious and even fatal health consequences. All things considered, Sara was caught between deciding what was the right thing to do.

This case study can be used in a higher level undergraduate business course on Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of short-term incarceration on antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, virologic suppression, and engagement and retention in community care post-release.

A retrospective chart review of patients who attended the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Outreach Clinic at a Canadian remand center between September 2007 and December 2011 was carried out. Data extraction included CD4 lymphocyte count, HIV viral load, ART prescription refills, and community engagement and retention during and one-year pre- and post-incarceration.

Outpatient engagement increased by 23 percent (p=0.01), as did ART adherence (55.2-70.7 percent, p=0.01), following incarceration. Retention into community care did not significantly improve following incarceration (22.4 percent pre-incarceration to 25.9 percent post-release, p=0.8). There was a trend toward improved virologic suppression (less than 40 copies/ml; 50-77.8 percent (p=0.08)) during incarceration and 70. 4 percent sustained this one-year post-incarceration (p=0.70).

The impact of short-term incarceration in a Canadian context of universal health coverage has not been previously reported and could have significant implications in optimizing HIV patient outcomes given the large number of HIV-positive patients cycling through short-term remand centers.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to appreciate and understand why brands are an essential asset to the company and how they can enhance business value, understand the factors needed to grow brands in the growth stages and evaluate the choices that start-up companies have to grow their brand in competitive and growing markets.

Mamaearth was born as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2016 by a couple who could not find chemical-free, safe products for their child. The company that introduced as a baby-care brand soon consolidated itself to play in the space of personal care category (targeting millennials), and by 2020, it was earning majority of its revenue from skincare. It started by leveraging the power of social media space and online commerce and slowly moved to be a national brand with offline footprint and mass-media communication. In its growth journey, it acquired many brands and launched a few to cater to the specialized needs of its target audience. As the company grew, attracted impressive investors and started clocking profits, it aspired for an initial public offering (IPO). Varun and Ghazal Alagh, the founders of Mamaearth, knew that to refloat an IPO and to grow the company further, they needed to redefine their portfolio and marketing strategy. They had a choice to either invest in building a broader portfolio – organically or inorganically – or expand across geographies. Both were an option, albeit expensive, which could cost Mamaearth its profitability.

This case is intended for discussion in undergraduate and graduate management courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Social robot, a subtype of robots that is designed for the various interactive services for human, which must deliver superior user experience (UX) by expressing human-like social behavior or service and emotional sensitivity. This study develops a social robot app called the “Music Buddy” in ASUS Zenbo that provides a situational music based on the users' electroencephalogram (EEG) data. The research uses this app to explore its UX criteria and the prioritization of human robot interaction (HRI).

The research methodologies include the both system development and decision analysis for the social robot. The first part is to design and develop a social robot app. The second part is to investigate the criteria of HRI through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) from UX aspects.

In view of the results of the AHP, the first-layer criteria consist of personalized function, easy-to-use the system and intelligent process. In terms of prioritization of multi-criteria, the overall ranking discloses the nine criteria in order including autonomy for robot, easy-to-use EEG device, accurate music preference, simple operations for brainwave device and easy-to-use applications, active music recommendation, automatic updates of music and easy-to-use robot as well as fast detection for emotion.

This research includes a self-developed social robot app and its UX research using AHP. This paper contributes to the improvement and innovation of the social robot design according to the results of UX research on HRI of social robot.

The case study has several objectives: to gauge the evaluation of the direct-to-consumer industry in the economy of India, to analyse the competition of the brands, to ascertain the evolution of smaller direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands on the purchasing capacity of consumers, to analyse challenges in branding in Tier 2 and 3 cities and to evaluate the strategic branding decisions of Mamaearth.

During her pregnancy, Ghazal Alagh and her husband Varun Alagh, the co-founders of Mamaearth, were looking for some good and natural products for their baby’s skincare. However, she could not find products that were 100% safe. Hence, as a concerned mother, she started using a few hands-on home remedies for her baby, which were 100% organic, and then the idea clicked to her to start a baby care brand named Mamaearth, which later also included personal care products. The company started as a DTC/internet-first brand in 2016, which only used to sell products online without any intermediaries when it was still trying to make its way in the market and was aware of the stiff competition by giants such as Hindustan Unilever and Proctor & Gamble, who were ruling the market for decades. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the market saw a shift in consumer buying patterns. There was greater use of e-commerce touch points for shopping, as various digital platforms such as the official site of products, social media and mobile platforms were used by consumers during the pandemic, leading to digitalization in buying and digitalization of consumer shopping journey. These technology platforms were expected to play a substantial role in reaching and creating consumer awareness, transaction and retention post-COVID according to reports by Deloitte 2020. Moreover, such a shift in behaviour amidst the COVID-19 pandemic shot up sales of this DTC brand and made itself the big shot it is today, where they were looking to get into an initial public offering in just seven years of its launch. They re-evaluated their strategy, which helped them become the biggest brand in no time.

This case study is suitable for Doctor of Philosophy students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.