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This case study concerns self-managed teams (SMTs) and high-performing work stations.

This study is applicable to training, employee satisfaction and developing economy in the society at large.

High-performance work systems (HPWS) are processes in which organizations utilize a fundamentally different approach for managing work in place of the traditional hierarchal approach. HPWS uses an approach that is fundamentally different from the traditional hierarchical or bureaucratic approach otherwise known as the control-oriented approach. The fundamental difference between control-oriented and involvement-oriented approach is in organizing and managing at the lowest level in an organization. The basic purpose of HPWS is to create an organization based on employee involvement, commitment and empowerment. In these kinds of highly involved organizations, employees demonstrate more responsibility and commitments because of high empowerment and have access to information/knowledge and awareness to perform at the highest level. In this case study, the authors make a complete study about the ten pillars of SMTs in Dr Reddy's Laboratories Private Ltd. and the situation of FTO-4 at the Yanam plant and FTO-7 at the Visakhapatnam plant post-implementation of the SMT concept. This paper attempts to demonstrate how SMTs differ from conventional teams, as well as how effectively they contribute to the organization objectives.

To understand HPWS and concept of SMT; to understand how the concepts of HPWS and SMT were implemented in Dr Reddy'S Laboratories in *FTO-4 AND *FTO-7; to understand the key difference between traditional hierarchical systems and SMTs; to find out how continuous process improvement has made SMT initiative an evolving one (from 2002 to 2011); to understand how involvement of different stakeholders has made SMT initiative a sustainable one; and to understand the importance of SMT in this twenty-first century as they lead to a better and brighter future for everyone.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Entrepreneurship, organizational behaviour, managerial decision making, strategic management, leadership and managing change.

Undergraduate business and management and MBA/Master's level management courses.

The case, “Vasili” examines the life, career, and leadership style of a successful entrepreneur like Mr Vasili Naci.The case illustrates the management challenges faced in moving from a very centralized economy to a free market one. It also raises issues having to do with the management of changes that are viewed as radical by those being affected. There were significant changes taking place in early years of the twenty-first century in Albania. Vasili was determined to make the necessary changes to confront and respond better the challenges opposed to him by the new environment. In addition this case examines the importance of a right balance between education and experience in successful leadership.

The case is written to serve a number of purposes: Understanding the entrepreneurial mindset and what it takes to start an enterprise (especially in a post communist emerging economy like Albania). The transition/changes that all entrepreneurs have to go through as they grow and develop their business. Examining ways to foster leadership skills through organization and training the next generation of leaders.

Teaching note.

Marketing Management, Business Strategy and Promotion & Advertising.

Associated degree, undergraduate and graduate students as well as executives from profit-making organizations.

Groupon is the world's largest daily-deal Web site and a pioneer in the group-buying industry. The major feature of the company's business model is that merchants use Groupon as a platform to offer coupons with a discounted price, and the coupon buyers can then redeem these coupons. Groupon has done business in over 50 countries and, by 2012, had over 39.5 million subscribers received its daily news. It had a 59.1 per cent share of the daily-deals market in 2013. Groupon is a publicly listed company on the NASDAQ in the USA, trading under the ticker symbol of “GPRN”.

The students' business knowledge and skills will be sharpened by working through this case, and students will be challenged to identify solutions to the marketing concerns: specifically, how the driving approach of its daily-deal business model enabled the company to adopt a growth strategy that will confront the difficulties of the emergent “golden age” of the daily-deal industry in the twenty-first century. In addition, it will also be of help to the students to take the active roles of thinker, analyst, evaluator, decision-maker and implementer to evaluate the continuing changes in a competitive environment and consider how Groupon can seize available opportunities to predict future performance by comparing data from 2008 and 2012.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Undergraduate.

This case deals with a Zambian entrepreneur named Frank Ngambi who had developed several lodges in Ndola and Lusaka, Zambia. His original intention had been to build lodges that would provide inexpensive lodging for domestic travelers. That strategy had succeeded, and the lodges had been so successful that Frank had been able to increase the size of his lodges in both cities. However, by the summer of 2015, Frank had decided to seek the patronage of international travelers. He knew that this change in strategy would be difficult to achieve. After analyzing one of his competitors, the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, he realized that he needed to increase his product offerings and also offer outstanding customer service. One problem in attaining that goal was the fact that there was very little training for human resources involved in the hospitality industry in Ndola where two of his lodges were located. Another problem he faced was figuring out how to market his lodges to international travelers, as he had never sought that segment of the market before.

At the conclusion of the case discussion, the student should be able to apply Michael Porter’s General Business-Level Strategy to the present and anticipated strategies for the FATMOLS Lodges; to identify tactics that would apply to a low cost leadership strategy; to identify tactics that would apply to a differentiation strategy; to discuss reasons tourism has increased in Zambia in the twenty-first century; to analyze the financial strategy used in developing the FATMOLS Lodges; and to develop a plan for moving a company from a low-cost leadership strategy to one of differentiation.

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 11: Strategy.

This case study can be used in the following subject areas: tourism management; tourism policy; tourism planning and development; destination marketing and management; hospitality and tourism management; special event planning and management; and attraction management.

This case study is useful to both undergraduate and graduate students specializing in hospitality and tourism management.

This case study explored the nature of two forms of tourism development; resort-based and resource-based, and aimed to determine which is the more viable and sustainable option for the future of tourism in Jamaica, an island destination in the Caribbean which depends highly on the tourism industry. The literature established that both forms of tourism are challenged by several and varying factors and so their synergistic integration appears to be the most functional option for sustainable tourism development in Jamaica along with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders.

The students should be able to:

• Distinguish between resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism by identifying the elements and attributes that make them different.

• Explain the usefulness and drawbacks of both types of tourism model.

• Discuss the nature of culture and heritage tourism and eco-tourism.

• Analyze Jamaica's tourism model from the nineteenth to the twenty-firstst century by assessing the changes and developments.

• Discuss the role of government in facilitating the development of a “wholisitic tourism model” that will facilitate the synergy of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism.

• Assess the role of the private sector in encouraging and facilitating resource-based tourism.

Distinguish between resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism by identifying the elements and attributes that make them different.

Explain the usefulness and drawbacks of both types of tourism model.

Discuss the nature of culture and heritage tourism and eco-tourism.

Analyze Jamaica's tourism model from the nineteenth to the twenty-firstst century by assessing the changes and developments.

Discuss the role of government in facilitating the development of a “wholisitic tourism model” that will facilitate the synergy of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism.

Assess the role of the private sector in encouraging and facilitating resource-based tourism.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

This case study conceptually and empirically analyzed the tourism model in Jamaica to ascertain whether or not the future of Jamaica's tourism should remain dependent on resort-based tourism or should it opt for resource-based tourism as a more viable and sustainable option. The discussion however, indicates that resort-based tourism can synergize with resource-based tourism to achieve sustainable development along with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders including the government, hotel operators and the residents. The case synopsis likewise presented a concise summary of the literature reviewed regarding the concepts of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism; and the case of Jamaica's tourism.

The learning outcomes are intended to guide the teaching- learning process and stimulate students' understanding of the concepts of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism and their specific implications in terms of tourism development in Jamaica. This knowledge can also be generalized to other destinations with similar historical background and tourism resources. The applied questions will guide the discussions and provide additional resources for assessment purposes. They will also help the students to critically assess the dynamics of tourism development.

The case synopsis is consistent with the learning outcomes, corresponding applied questions and course recommendations. A total of two to three-hours teaching session can be used to discuss the constructs, analyze the case in point and answer the applied questions.

Innovation, marketing, strategic decision making.

Advanced undergraduate, MBA/executive education.

Zwack Unicum is an enduring icon of Hungarian business and culture having survived many generations of change. The case describes historical development of Zwack Unicum focusing on the years after 1989 through EU Accession of Hungary in 2004, while the company shifted away from a family business to become a publicly traded company. Elements hint at how corporate governance changes incentivize and constrain decisions of top management. The marketing strategy called “Innovate on tradition” is examined and it demonstrates how product and marketing innovation can be led by leveraging tradition, and how companies in emerging markets faced with competition from established developed-country brands can use local culture to outmaneuver attempts at market-share capture. Threats explored include the impact of a global economic crisis on sales domestically and internationally, and the changing demographics in their primary places of commercial activity (an overall aging and decreasing population in tandem with a growing minority population). Management must find a balance between short-term and long-term strategic decisions and revisit the sustainability of a marketing strategy associated with messages that are not necessarily preferred by a growing number of their consumers.

To understand the need for wide-perspective, flexibility, and foresight in emerging markets and companies therein.

Teaching note.

The case deals with project management principles that are required for implementing a social project in India.

The study has been carried out at primary schools in an underdeveloped state, namely, Odisha, in India.

The case illustrates a project management approach for improving primary education in a government set up. The bureaucracy set up in education in a state like Odisha, India, needs to undergo radical changes. To be effective, an education system requires an optimal integration of the three main components, namely, people, infrastructure (this includes technology) and pedagogical processes. Using a public–private partnership model, American India Foundation (AIF) through its Digital Equalizer (DE) Program has been able to make a positive impact in an underdeveloped tribal dominated district like Keonjhar. The case study also illustrates the detailed execution plan predicated on total system planning, required to achieve this amount of success. The case study also explains how to measure success through different metrics where intervention has to be at multiple levels. The learning from the case study can also be adopted for designing an implementation strategy in other states.

Expected learning outcomes are as follows: how to approach implementation of technology-based intervention with involvement of all stakeholders; learn project management techniques related to digital learning model implementation; understand the DE methodology; and understand the challenges faced while implementing the DE Program.

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.

Marketing, brand management, promotion management and corporate social responsibility.

Undergraduate and postgraduate.

How does the “country-of-origin” issue affect brands, and what do brands need to do? The case of unique and small corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and their impact on creating brand awareness.

Aamer Khan, Managing Director Hafet Electrical LLC, the sole distributor for of Haier in United Arab Emirates (UAE) was reviewing their half yearly results. Among the more unconventional strategies they had adopted was one where they used community engagement to get an insight into the local market and develop brand awareness as a caring top quality brand. The CEO of Haier, Zhang Ruimin stressed that “quality is and will remain the essence of business sustainable, whether in the past, present or future”. Aamer was evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy and considering its impact. Should he use a similar strategy next year?

This case deals with the “country-of-origin” issue, an important aspect in branding a key strategy of marketing. The Haier brand and its country-of-origin were investigated among the Emirati (UAE nationals) consumers. This was done as part of a capstone research project by Meerah, Sara and Azza at Zayed University, Dubai. Further, the group created a unique CSR program for the Haier, whereby they invited people to join them in a Walkathon to raise money for a charitable cause. Haier donated various products like refrigerators, air coolers and air conditioners towards this charity. By creating this event, the group raised awareness of the Haier brand among the local population.

What is:

• “Country of origin” (coo) in marketing and its effect on brands?

• The role of CSR in corporate marketing communication?

• The role of small events in building brands?

“Country of origin” (coo) in marketing and its effect on brands?

The role of CSR in corporate marketing communication?

The role of small events in building brands?

Teaching notes.

The case includes theoretical references to family business, organizational culture, resource-based value and leadership.

The case combines primary and secondary data. There is ample public information about Martin Guitar including histories of the company and its instruments. These were used for background. Primary data were provided by the company in the form of customized data and interviews.. The case writer has served Martin Guitar as a consultant and also plays Martin instruments. The case writer had numerous opportunities to interview Chris and his key lieutenants.

In 2019, C.F. Martin IV (Chris) was in his fourth decade leading one of the America’s oldest family-owned companies, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc. Martin Guitar is a globally known maker of fine guitars that are prized by collectors, working musicians and amateur musicians. Chris was raised in the family business and took on the CEO’s position at the age of 30. The case describes the company’s management practices and the culture that has emerged from them. In 2019, at age 64, Chris confronted issues faced by his predecessors over multiple generations: how to prepare the company for succession, and maintain its strong performance as a family-owned company in a dynamic industry environment.

The case is designed for a management course for upper-level undergraduates.

This “mini-case” summarizes the beloved Chicago Cubs' many years of futility and remarkable turnaround in the early teens of the twenty-first century. Central to the case is the concept that despite being an incredibly popular, billion-dollar franchise holding a special place in the hearts of Chicagoans for more than a century, the organization's sale from the Tribune Company in 2009 to the Ricketts family effectively required a full reboot of the company's infrastructure, akin to a startup or to a “carve-out” situation popular in the private equity world. The case resonates because the brand is easily recognizable in an industry with the unique dynamics of professional sports, and yet the company's situation features similarities to any lower-profile organization trying to build or rebuild its SG&A infrastructure from scratch.