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1 – 10 of 424Nitesh Kumar, Abinash Rath, Anil Kumar Singh and Sunildro L.S. Akoijam
This study aims to investigate the factors that contribute to the overall tour experience and services provided by Top Tier Holidays. The study is mixed in nature, and the…
Abstract
Research methodology
This study aims to investigate the factors that contribute to the overall tour experience and services provided by Top Tier Holidays. The study is mixed in nature, and the researchers have used analytical tools to analyse the data factually. Multiple regression using MS Excel is used in the study.
Case overview/synopsis
This case is based on the experiences of a real-life travel and tour company located in New Delhi, India. The case helps understand regression analysis to identify independent variables significantly impacting the tour experience. The CEO of the company is focused on improving the overall customer experience. The CEO has identified six principal determinants (variables) applicable to tour companies’ success. These variables are hotel experience, transportation, cab driver, on-tour support, itinerary planning and pricing.
Multiple regression analysis using Microsoft Excel is conducted on the above determinants (the independent variables) and the overall tour experience (the dependent variable). This analysis would help identify the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and find the variables that significantly impact the dependent variable. This case also helps us appreciate the importance of various parameters that affect the overall customer tour experience and the challenges a tour operator company faces in the current competitive business environment.
Complexity academic level
This case is designed for discussion with the undergraduate courses in business management, commerce and tourism management programmes. The case will build up readers’ understanding of linear regression with multiple variables. It shows how multiple linear regression can help companies identify the significant variables affecting business outcomes.
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Aparna Singh and Mitushi Singh
This case can facilitate students to develop a deeper understanding of the social mission-based business enterprises, startups, solopreneurship, one-man companies, women-led…
Abstract
Subject area
This case can facilitate students to develop a deeper understanding of the social mission-based business enterprises, startups, solopreneurship, one-man companies, women-led businesses, benefits and challenges associated with service innovation and design thinking, along with the competitive forces and funding problems in scaling up a social enterprise. It can be used for the BBA, MBA or Executive MBA programs for courses on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, design thinking, business strategy and service innovation.
Applicability/study level
This case is suitable for both the undergraduate or graduate-level programs in the area of entrepreneurship, innovation and startup management.
Case overview
Dr Anita Sharma was a solopreneur who started a car driving school in Amritsar, Punjab, deploying specially designed, retrofitted cars to train People with Disabilities (PwDs). She demonstrated exceptional prowess in defying the social taboos and popular stigmas associated with PwDs by establishing “Drive On My Own” (DOMO) as an innovative project, a first-of-its-kind car-driving training school in India to provide an accessible car-drive learning experience to PwDs. She ignored the extreme sensitivity displayed in the social behavior of people around her, who were either were too sensitive for the PwDs by treating them as Person with Special Abilities (PwSAs) or were completely insensitive toward them or their problems thinking that their disabilities are their misfortunes. This continuum of insensitive to overprotective societal attitudes and lack of infrastructure concerning travel for PwSAs made this service innovation possible by design thinking. This entrepreneurial initiative enabled solo as well as group travel and tours possible for PwDs, by bringing in new inclusive modes of communication and solutions for self-mobility. It has also paved a path for social inclusiveness and livelihood sustainability by bringing positive change in the lives of PwDs and their family members. Moreover, a new design implementation is in her plans, as she wants to redesign these cars further to be accessible for people using wheelchairs too. The potential growth of this solopreneur’s social enterprise calls for scaling up the business, but it may also attract competition as the existing big tech-travel automobile companies may enter this domain soon with their driver-less or self-drive cars. Considering all these factors, Dr Anita Sharma faced multiple dilemmas: Can she formalize her project? What can be the type of business she can proceed with? How can she sustain and scale up her women-led project, better qualifying as a PwD-led social enterprise? How can she resolve the challenges related to the design implementation, funding the project and facing competition while scaling up DOMO as her social and service innovation?
Expected learning outcomes
Thus, this case study enables the application of concepts and theories of business enterprise, business funding, service innovation and design thinking. It also helps recognize and understand the challenges related to social entrepreneurship.
Subject code
CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.
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The case is suitable for a course on entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Subject area
The case is suitable for a course on entrepreneurship.
Study level/applicability
The case is suitable for analysis in a MBA level course on entrepreneurship where the theories of opportunity recognition and exploitation can be introduced.
Case overview
Phanindra Sama, was the founder and CEO of redBus.in, the largest bus ticketing company in India selling around 220 million tickets per year and serving over 10,000 bus routes. The case describes the progressive journey of Phanindra as an entrepreneur in discovering and exploiting opportunities in India's fragmented bus industry. He had won many accolades in this process that included Global Shaper 2011 of the World Economic Forum and Entrepreneur of the year award under IT/ITES category by ETNow in 2011. In February 2012 redBus was listed in the world's top 50 most innovative companies by US business magazine Fast Company along with companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Starbucks. While Phanindra was happy with the fact that there were 700 bus operators currently on the redBus network, several questions ran across his mind about the future of redBus. Is the current business model scalable? What might be the challenges that emerge in managing growth and scalability of such a business proposition? Is there a potential for a new business opportunity in scaling up?
Expected learning outcomes
To understand the factors that constitutes entrepreneur's alertness such as personality traits, social networks, prior knowledge.
To understand the importance of entrepreneur's alertness for identifying business opportunities.
To understand types of entrepreneurial opportunities.
To understand the opportunity identification triad: recognition, development and evaluation.
To understand how to develop a business idea into a viable business proposition.
Social implications
The case will provide sufficient insights for a budding entrepreneur to identify and exploit opportunities and become a successful entrepreneur.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian to access.
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Abderrahman Hassi, Dalal Rachid and Badr Lahrichi
The case is designed for students with prior knowledge of principles of management, particularly leadership theories. The case would also benefit bachelor students who already…
Abstract
Subject area
The case is designed for students with prior knowledge of principles of management, particularly leadership theories. The case would also benefit bachelor students who already took an introductory course to leadership such as organizational behavior or graduate students who are familiar with the leadership and/or entrepreneurship literature. This case study may be used in the following academic courses: theories of leadership, leadership and leaders, organizational leaders’ roles, management skills, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial management.
Study level/applicability
This case study may be used in the following academic programs: Bachelor’s in Business Administration Master of Science in Business Administration MBA Programs.
Case overview
Kamal Reggad is a Moroccan entrepreneur who created the company Menaclick, an online business that aims to sell and promote various products and services nationally and internationally at discounted prices. Goods and services are posted on Menaclick’s website www.hmizate.ma, which means “good deals” in Moroccan Arabic. The Hmizate platform operates a daily-deals and group-buying website offering discounted deals to Moroccan customers. The deals are mainly on goods and services such as traveling, food, esthetics, shopping, high-tech gadgets and recreational events (Eco, 2013). Menaclick is based in Casablanca, Morocco, and its website www.hmizate.ma is one of the most popular websites in the country with over 40,000 visitors per day. In the past few years, Kamal has been significantly contributing to building the groundwork of the e-commerce industry in Morocco, a course that has been changing the way Moroccan customers shop for goods and services. In fact, it is because of the merits of group-buying sites such as Hmizate that over 16 million Moroccan internet users navigate the net daily to buy products and services online with ease and facility (Maroc Numeric Cluster, 2014). Kamal Reggad is a fitting example of an innate leader who introduced a new leadership style to Morocco. Kamal took a colossal risk by targeting a new and unexplored market in Morocco which is the e-commerce business; his risks have paid off. As the case explains, Kamal’s success is because of his passion, perseverance and positive attitude.
Expected learning outcomes
In general, the objective of the case study is to further enhance the understanding of leadership in general and entrepreneurial spirit in particular. The case study will assist students in developing their leadership-related skills through the discussion of a real-life situation and experience and propose an example of the importance of participative leadership during the launching phase of a business venture. The case is designed to provoke and stimulate students’ personal reflections about a particular management style, especially in entrepreneurship.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
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The case takes place in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a booming regional tourist and commercial center located on the Arab (Persian) Gulf coast of the Arabian…
Abstract
The case takes place in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a booming regional tourist and commercial center located on the Arab (Persian) Gulf coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The story describes Vijay, the Indian (East Asian) entrepreneur, his personality, background, motivations and management style. The focus of the case is on how this entrepreneur grows the business over the seven years leading up to the decision to launch a travel club targeted toward East Asian travelers in the region. The details of the new venture are chronicled from inception to its eventual closure four years later under desperate financial circumstances. The richness of the case is enhanced by the inclusion of details of the legal, economic and cultural factors that define the business context and business risks. The case provides an interesting and informative view of a part of the world that is “in the news” but largely remains a mystery to the typical North American student.
Mohanbir Sawhney, Birju Shah, Ryan Yu, Evgeny Rubtsov and Pallavi Goodman
Uber had pioneered the growth and delivery of modern ridesharing services by leveraging the explosive growth of technology, GPS navigation, and smartphones. Ridesharing services…
Abstract
Uber had pioneered the growth and delivery of modern ridesharing services by leveraging the explosive growth of technology, GPS navigation, and smartphones. Ridesharing services had expanded across the world, growing rapidly in the United States, China, India, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Even as these services expanded and gained popularity, however, the pickup experience for drivers and riders did not always meet the expectations of either party. Pickups were complicated by traffic congestion, faulty GPS signals, and crowded pickup venues. Flawed pickups resulted in rider dissatisfaction and in lost revenues for drivers. Uber had identified the pickup experience as a top strategic priority, and a team at Uber, led by group product manager Birju Shah, was tasked with designing an automated solution to improve the pickup experience. This involved three steps. First, the team needed to analyze the pickup experience for various rider personas to identify problems at different stages in the pickup process. Next, it needed to create a model for predicting the best rider location for a pickup. The team also needed to develop a quantitative metric that would determine the quality of the pickup experience. These models and metrics would be used as inputs for a machine learning.
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Surajit Ghosh Dastidar and Rahul Thakurta
The case can be introduced in the information technology (IT) strategy course. The case can also fit well in courses like emergent technologies where the case forms the vehicle to…
Abstract
Subject area
The case can be introduced in the information technology (IT) strategy course. The case can also fit well in courses like emergent technologies where the case forms the vehicle to show how cloud-based solutions can provide leverage to an organization.
Study level/applicability
The case is aligned more for management participants, for example, students who are enrolled in master's or executive program in management. Considering the master's program in management, the case can be introduced in the IT strategy course. The case can also fit well in courses like emergent technologies where the case forms the vehicle to show how cloud-based solutions can provide leverage to an organization. Assignment questions addressed below are designed from the perspective of teaching this case to a business student audience. The case could certainly be adjusted to fit the needs of students in more technical disciplines.
Case overview
Set in March 2009, Charan Padmaraju, the CTO of redBus was grappling with his companies IT infrastructure and scalability issues. He was considering cloud computing as a solution to all his worries. redBus was founded in August 2006 as a bus ticketing company in India. From INR 50 lakhs of gross bookings in their first financial year 2006-07 to an estimated INR 300 million in gross bookings in the financial year ending 2008-09, redBus had registered phenomenal growth. From selling 10 tickets a day, it now sold more than 4,000 tickets a day for more than 5,000 routes across 15 states in India. However, the IT infrastructure of redBus could not match up with their business needs and required frequent upgrades. Charan thought “The procurement of new servers, upgrading existing servers and most of the developer's time went into circumventing scaling issues which were not adding values to our core business.” He wondered “Can cloud computing be an answer to all my worries? “But what exactly is cloud computing? Will it solve my existing scalability issues? How reliable it is? Is it expensive? What is the time for deployment?”
Expected learning outcomes
To understand what is a business model; to appreciate the technical issues related to business expansion decisions; to explain the concepts behind cloud based solutions; and to demonstrate how adoption of the cloud solution can enable an organization to achieve competitive advantage.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
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Luis Demetrio Gómez García and Gloria María Zambrano Aranda
After reading and analyzing the case study, the students would be able to understand the critical role of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)-compliant…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
After reading and analyzing the case study, the students would be able to understand the critical role of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)-compliant accounting principles in facilitating strategic alliances between publicly traded international corporations and emerging companies in informal business environments, design the company’s accounting system to ensure the application of the accounting standards contained in IFRS and understand the accounting process for properly recording a company’s transactions.
Case overview/synopsis
This case study deals with Giulia’s decision to take on the proposal of a conglomerate to acquire a 45% stake in her travel agency, Know Cuba First Travel Agency (KCF). Giulia was an Italian entrepreneur based in Havana, Cuba. She has dealt with informal business practices in the Cuban tourism industry. However, Foreign Investments Ltd., a publicly listed company, needs formal accounting if investing in the venture. If Giulia agrees with the proposal, an accounting information system would have to be implemented to comply with the investor’s requirements.
Complexity academic level
This case study is suitable for financial accounting undergraduate courses.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 1: Accounting and finance.
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Sonal Sisodia and Nimit Chowdhary
Pharmaceutical marketing, brand protection.
Abstract
Subject area
Pharmaceutical marketing, brand protection.
Study level/applicability
It could be used with the pharmaceutical marketing students and MBA students for analysing counterfeit medicines' menace in developing countries and positioning of a disruptive technology. The case could be used for marketing consultants, Brand managers and executive development programmes to explore issues such as protecting brands through technology, pharmaceutical packaging marketing, competitiveness of counterfeit drugs, global harmonisation.
Case overview
Against the backdrop of rising menace of counterfeit drugs in developing countries, the case talks in particular about an innovative pharmaceutical packaging company. The company has developed a unique security technology called non-ClonableID™ which can enable products to be authenticated throughout the supply chain, thus protecting brands and preventing misuse. Despite a promising technology, it poses challenges regarding its adoption and commercial success.
Expected learning outcomes
Counterfeiting as an inevitable result of Globalization has become a global nuisance and has to be dealt at global level. Brand protection could be one of the lowest cost tools for pharmaceutical companies to restore public confidence in their products and themselves. While all methods for anti-counterfeiting are known to have short lives the menace still must be dealt with. For this, companies need to deploy anti-counterfeiting strategies that set up various layers of security.
Supplementary materials
Teaching note.
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Kristina Moreva, Yelena Krupina and Anjan Ghosh
This case will enable students to: understand reasons for mergers and acquisitions (M&A); identify and explain the risks associated with M&A and corresponding risk mitigation…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
This case will enable students to: understand reasons for mergers and acquisitions (M&A); identify and explain the risks associated with M&A and corresponding risk mitigation approaches; and decision-making on postmerger integrations.
Case overview/synopsis
The case discusses the integration dilemma around ChocoTravel’s M&A of Aviata. Both are among the largest online travel agencies in Kazakhstan. The acquisition of Aviata was not the first M&A deal for ChocoFamily – the Holding Company of ChocoTravel; however, it was the largest one. By combining their operations, ChocoTravel and Aviata together could capture 70% of the market share and become the market leader. Although the M&A had high potential toward superior business performance, it had significant risks. Threats of integration failures often make M&As fail. The management of ChocoTravel, therefore, had to consider several factors that could act as potential threats to post-M&A integration. First, each company had its own operating model and corporate culture. Second, both brands, ChocoTravel and Aviata, were well established and recognized in the market; each of them had its own loyal clients. Taking into account low switching costs to customers, the CEO of the new joint company needed to decide whether to integrate ChocoTravel and Aviata or keep them separate or even discontinue one. So, the important thing was not to disrupt operations and lose customers while introducing the post-M&A integration strategy. This case focuses on the challenges of post M&A integration.
Complexity academic level
The case targets last year’s bachelor’s students, Master of Business Administration/Master of Science students as part of the business strategy, marketing and branding and M&A classes. It allows students to have a broad in-class discussion and apply knowledge to make strategic management decisions in postmerger integration situations.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 11: Strategy.
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