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The learning objectives of this case study are to understand business-to-business (B2B) marketing in a logistics organization; apply go-to-market (GTM) strategy in the logistics industry; design B2B distribution strategy so as to enhance geographic penetration; and develop digital marketing strategies in the logistics industry.

V-Xpress is a leading B2B player in the express cargo category in the Indian logistics industry. In March 2017, Sachin Nair, Head of V-Xpress Marketing, was presenting three different GTM strategies to the CEO for the new Assured Timely Movement services. He wanted CEO views on each of them so that he can choose the best one. Sachin was also trying to find a solution to backhaul problem in eastern India. The resolution of this problem would have helped V-Xpress to become a truly pan-India B2B logistics company. Sachin was also revamping the digital marketing strategy as part of ambitious V-Xpress marketing strategy. These initiatives were taken as part of CEO’s vision for reaching annual revenue of INR 10bn by 2020. Sachin was thinking about various options so as to implement these changes with least investments.

This case study can be used in B2B marketing, marketing management and marketing strategy course of an MBA program.

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CSS: 8: Marketing

Learning objectives of this case is to understand the hairdressing industry and develop the sub-branding strategy. After reading this case and practicing in class, students should be able to understand this business and marketing terminology and apply them in the real world. Students will learn the branding strategies: brand extension, brand architecture and brand portfolio. Students will design (DS) the brand name for the new store.

Case synopsis Mr. Tai-Hua Teng (aka TR) was a hair artist and opened his first hair salon, vis-à-vis (VS), in 1989 using a high-end positioning strategy. VS focused on offering superb and diverse services to keep ahead of the competition rather than trying to undercut prices. VS hair salon had a solid foundation based mainly on the elite, celebrities and high-salary customers. In 2017, TR owned 16 stores (including one in Canada and two intern salons), 1 academy, 265 employees and 3 brand names. The three brand names were VS, DS and concept (CC). DS and CC were less known to the public, so now these two brands had been carried the parent name and were known as VS DS and VS CC. Quick cut hairdressing businesses were thriving because customers needed quick and cheap hairdressing services. Acknowledging the benefits of entering the highly competitive quick haircut market, TR began to contemplate the new brand name and services to offer. VS had adopted the brand house strategy but TR wondered if it was better to have an individual brand name when entering the quick haircut market. The sub-branding strategy carried the established quality assurance of VS but there was possible brand overlap. An individual new brand name might lack the well-established values from VS but it also showed the potential to reach different segments of customers. TR’s decision to make: a branded house or hybrid? This case showed a high-end hair salon facing the need for simplicity in the market and considered how to expand its business to the lower-end market. Keywords: hairdressing, brand extension and sub-branding strategy.

Level of difficulty: easy/middle level to undergraduate courses specific prerequisites: it is not necessary for students to prepare or read any marketing theory or chapters of the textbook. However, it would help a more in-depth discussion if students know the CCs of brand architecture, brand portfolio, brand extension and line extension.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Marketing.

The case is aimed at Business Administration students.

Udaipur based Aavaran – the echos of rural India – is a concept by COS-V, a leading non-governmental organization (NGO), which aims at connecting the tribal women of rural India with the mainstream. The NGO, set up in 1988 by Smt. Girija Vyas, was initially involved in imparting vocational training to the rural poor. Later, COS-V was taken up by Alka Sharma, a graduate from the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur, who completely changed the direction of the NGO. Her interest in textiles and crafts led to the genesis of the concept “Aavaran”. Aavaran is a retail outlet which was opened with a vision to provide the Indian market with traditional yet contemporary textiles and clothing. It offers a collection of women's and children's clothing and home textiles using a variety of traditional textiles and crafts. It is an artisan driven concept where the supply chain incorporates the essence of Indian textiles and crafts at every level. From the dyeing, printing, sampling and assembly of garments everything is done by the local women trained by COS-V with the support of DC-Handicrafts. The raw materials – the textiles, grey fabrics, etc. – are sourced directly from the rural weavers and artisans across India. The case study discusses how Aavaran developed the unique positioning of a retail platform for contemporary products made from traditional techniques, skills and hand-based processes; how it could revive the diminishing arts of Dabu and Phetia and how it carved a niche through its channelized marketing efforts.

The case will familiarize management students with the concept of niche marketing with Udaipur based firm Aavaran as an example which developed a unique positioning through its traditionally developed products. It will also acquaint students with a basic understanding of a supply chain with a cooperative firm in focus.

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Examines the lease vs. buy decision for investments in technology. Addresses pivotal investment decision issues such as varying the length of the lease, the useful life of the equipment, and alignment with the company's overall financial strategy. The scenario is for a real financial services firm that has been disguised for confidentiality reasons. Presents an investment decision: should a company buy or lease technology with a relatively short useful life? The new controller at AMG, a Fortune 500 financial services firm, has been tasked with determining how to finance the acquisition of 7,542 new PCs to be rolled out over the next 12 months. This is a $6.7 million investment decision and the rollout schedule adds significant complexity to the solution. The controller must choose between buying or leasing the computers over 24- or 36-month time frames. Provides a framework for analyzing similar investment decisions. The key learning point is that leasing information technology can be cheaper than buying. This is contradictory to a car lease, which may be familiar from everyday experience. A new car has a potentially long useful life and can retain significant value after several years, hence, intuition is that buying should always be cheaper than leasing. Shows that this is not the case for information technology. Teaches the correct application of the mid-quarter convention within MACRS depreciation for technology, and the implications of operating vs. capital leases and off-balance-sheet financing. In the process, introduces the four tests for a capital lease. Finally, shows how creative analysis techniques can be used to simplify complex decisions. These techniques aid in arriving at a conclusion faster and with less effort.

To illustrate the fundamentals of lease vs. buy decisions in technology and how they differ from the typical capital equipment lease vs. buy decision. Topics covered include MACRS depreciation and off-balance-sheet financing for a complex leasing scenario staggered in time across multiple business units.

The case presents students with the opportunity to do the following: students can pre-work questions; understand the relevant factors to be considered in the decision to expand; and list out the industry and macro-environment factors affecting the expansion decision. Assignment questions help understand the various measures used to evaluate the financial performance of the company; understand the practical implication of incremental analysis to estimate the profit; assess the operating profit and margin of safety of the restaurant Shri Sagar with and without expansion; and critically evaluate the impact of uncertainty on projected sales using the sensitivity model.

Shri Sagar (Central Tiffin Room – CTR) was started by Y.V. Subramanyam and his siblings (Y.V. Srikanteshwaran, Y.V. Krishna Iyer and Y.V. Ramachandran) in the 1920s, specialised in Benne (Butter) Masala dosa, Maddur Vada and Mangalore Bajji. In Bengaluru, there are few restaurants, which have the legacy of more than 50 years such as Vidyarthi Bhavan, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms and Shri Sagar (CTR). Shri Sagar has witnessed three different ownership right from 1920 to the present. Ganesh, an MBA graduate, took the active participation in the business from 2018 and found there are potential opportunities to expand the business. Although business was doing well, Ganesh wanted to assess his company’s financial strength before proceeding. He would require a financial forecast that took into account the strength of the competition and the peculiar nature of the restaurant business in Bengaluru. Ganesh wanted to assess the expansion plan; to address the proposed plan, the case had used cost–volume–profit analysis and sensitivity analysis techniques to make the students understand how these techniques can evaluate the alternatives.

This case is best used while teaching Managerial Accounting, which is a core course in MBA program with a module on break-even-analysis or it can also be used in an executive education class with a similar purpose. The teaching plan can be used for MBA students and entrepreneurial training programmes, which involve training on important managerial decisions, which includes business expansion, estimating business profits/revenue targets, etc. It assumes some basic knowledge of cost–benefit analysis concepts where participants have already exposed some basic understanding of break-even analysis and what-if analysis.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

Strategic Management.

The case is designed for a) MBA students b) Short-duration executive MBA courses.

The case refers to India’s leading steel company Tata Steel. Tata Tiscon, the steel rebar brand, is the organization’s leading retail brand. The case chronicles the period between the birth of the retail brand in the year 2000, its dramatic rise and dominance, to the end of 2013 when some of its initiatives had failed. Tata Tiscon was established as a pan Indian brand on the dint of a distribution network comprising 33 distributors and over 2000 retailers, many of them exclusive to the brand. The brand spawned a series of innovation in the category like “selling by piece”, fixed price concept and “free” home delivery. Together with its channel partners, the company achieved dramatic success which was reflected in its leading market share coupled with significant price premium in a category where price had traditionally being the only selling pitch. After 2010, the company saw an emerging challenge in the form of a new business model, where some companies were gearing to provide the complete portfolio of construction material including cement, steel, etc., and a turnkey construction solution for house builders. Tata Tiscon responded by attempting to enter the service space by launching a building design solution and later a construction supervision solution. Both of these initiatives failed. The protagonist of the case is Mr Keshav Viswanath (Chief of Marketing for retail business at Tata Steel), who is concerned with the failures of these key initiatives and is wondering how to ensure the “leader” status of Tata Tiscon in coming years.

The students are expected to understand how a core strategy like differentiation is implemented successfully in “practice”; understand the exploitation–exploration dichotomy in an organization; appreciate difference between radical innovation (based on new organizational routines, new business partners and new relationships) and incremental innovation based on fine tuning of existing organizational routines and relationships.

Rebar production: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6n9sci8j-8; Tata TISCON AV: www.youtube.com/watch?v=89kOUsbnaYQ; TQM – The Toyota Way: www.youstube.com/watch?v=qf3gdrIMxRw; Disruptive vs. Incremental Innovation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOOL_GiaLTo; Approach to innovation is dead wrong: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pii8tTx1UYM

CSS 11: Strategy.

A person can approach the High Court directly under Article 226 for a violation of a Fundamental Right. The Fundamental Rights, however, are available only against the bodies which are ‘state’ within Article 12 of the Constitution. The judgement of the Supreme Court in Dr. Janet Jeyapaul v. SRM University extends the ambit of Article 226 to all bodies, whether governmental or private, which are performing ‘public function’ or ‘public duty’. Imparting education is taken to be a public function. The judgement opens new dimensions of constitutional law

The Supreme Court judgement, Kailash Nath Associates v. Delhi Development Authority consolidates the law on award of liquidated damages and stipulations on penalties. Contractual damages are to cover losses and not to profit from or penalise the party in breach. Stipulated amounts in damages or penalties are appraised by the courts and only a reasonable compensation is given. Earnest money, and its forfeiture, stood distinct. It could be forfeited without appraisal. The case integrates the different categories and re-states the principles for award of damages.

The founding principle of contracts is the freedom of the parties. The parties are free to choose their terms and follow any modality of communication, oral or written. As they can freely make a contract, they can freely modify or unmake it. Written contracts have a clause, No Oral Modification Clause (NOM Clause), precluding oral modifications of the contract. Irrespective of it, business persons make oral agreements modifying the contract, and later, dispute its validity. If the parties are free to contract, why should the oral agreement not be binding? In a NOM Clause then, ineffective? The United Kingdom Supreme Court, in MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd, explores this fundamental question on contract law.

The purpose of this paper is to understand a new restaurant venture's target segment and create a consumer profile for the new restaurant; to design a positioning statement for the new restaurant; to appraise the marketing strategy and suggest improvements in the marketing mix of a new restaurant venture in the new normal; to discuss the augmentation of services by a new restaurant to compete effectively in the market; and to identify and discuss the vital marketing steps for opening a restaurant in the new normal.

Kelvin, an ambitious and budding restaurateur, had high aspirations with great plans. V café was his first running venture. The income from V café was not enough to improve his social position. He wanted to open a new restaurant (Haikou) and earn more. Kelvin was well aware of COVID-19's current condition and its severe implications for the restaurant business. He did not have any experience in marketing a restaurant. So he was puzzled about understanding the target segment, positioning and marketing mix of the proposed restaurant in the new normal.

The case will cater to business management students pursuing a postgraduate management program. The case can be applied in Marketing Management, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality Management and Services Marketing courses. The prerequisite for this case is a basic understanding of marketing concepts.

Supplementary materials teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing