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In January 2011, during the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jason Sterling, a hedge fund manager, was conducting online research to see if he could trade on any newsworthy information emerging from the summit. Sterling's fund traded primarily in sovereign debt, and he needed to figure out if European leaders would be able to come up with a viable solution to the crisis or whether the debt crisis would lead to the default of several European nations. He knew that if a solution was not found in the coming weeks, the sovereign debt markets could be thrown into turmoil.

The case traces the evolution of the offshore Analytics operations of a large US based bank in India. It recounts the challenges of coupling geographically-disparate, culturally-alien and, somewhat antagonistic groups of employees within the organization to ensure a productive operation. It touches upon the unique dimensions of organization design in a globally operated organization. Besides all these, the case points to the issues related to work flows and coordination across teams that are operating in different time zones, have skewed capabilities and, do not interact on a person-to-person contact except over the wire. Overall, this case provides exposure into more challenges than solutions for new age global organizations. Given the topical nature of these problems, the case provides ample opportunities for participants to delve into the long term issues of managing such geographically-spaced organizations.

Change in culture brought about by effective leadership is at the core of this case. Therefore, two broad topics can be discussed using this case: organizational culture change and Change Leadership OR Role of leaders in organzational change.

The case was prepared using primary data collected through a series of interviews conducted with participants of the change process. The participants included R. Sivanesan, Senior Vice President (Quality, Sourcing and Supply Chain) of Ashok Leyland, many members of the quality team, production department, HR executives and members of the marketing team. Secondary data in the form of an interview of Mr Vinod Dasari published in a popular magazine Autocar Professionals and organizational documents/presentations used during the change process were also used to build the case.

In 2011, when Vinod Dasari took over as the Managing Director and CEO of Ashok Leyland (AL), he hired R. Sivanesan. The quality standards of the vehicles produced in the AL plants in 2011 was far from satisfactory. He decided to change this. Part A of the case discusses the challenges faced by Sivanesan and Vinod Dasari in bringing about a change in the quality management practices at AL. Part B discusses the steps they actually took and the change that resulted from it.

At the end of the case discussion, the participants will be able to develop an understanding of the various aspects of organizational culture and how it manifests itself; become aware of the underlying causes of resistance to change; critically evaluate and apply various theories of change management; create an action plan for changing the culture of any organization; and appreciate the role of leaders as change agents.

The central theme in this case is managing culture change within organizations through effective leadership. Instructors teaching courses in organizational theory, organization structure/culture and leadership will find this case relevant. It is primarily intended for use in MBA and Executive Education programs in Management.

Quality management among multiple business units of a large organization is often difficult if each unit is run independently in terms on their quality standards. In this case, participants will discuss how Bukhari Group of Companies should establish a common brand image through standardized quality. Participants should also understand that common brand image for diverse products does not mean identical level of rejection or customer complaints. It should be understood that different markets have different tolerance for product failures. The participants can chalk out the measures the protagonist of the case should be able to take to effectively steer the Bhukari Group to achieve profits and excellence.

An interview was conducted with the general manager and semi-structured interviews with Likert scale to the main clients, collaborators and suppliers to establish the key competencies of the firm. Secondary information was collected through the organization’s historical and strategic documents.

At the end of the case study, students will be able to learn international marketing, innovation, strategic management, international business strategy; analyze the brand equity construct through the associative neural network model for decision-making; determine the internationalization strategy using the dual pressures model and sources of competitive advantage for international marketing management; and propose the innovation of a product by applying creativity techniques or innovation models to enter international markets.

Café Galavis is a family business leader in the production and commercialization of roasted and ground coffee for 103 years in Colombia. The new chief executive officer recovered the financial stability during his management during the period from 2015 to 2019, implementing internationalization processes. However, the sanitary crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Colombia, generated an economic recession, which led to a decrease in coffee consumption. How to innovate in the development of a product or service in times of pandemic? What internationalization strategy implement? These are the challenges that the new management and its collaborators will confront.

The teaching case is aimed at students of postgraduate academic programs in areas Management or MBA. In the modules of Marketing the case allows the orientation of the concepts of brand equity or branding. Likewise, in the modules of International Management, the definition of the internationalization strategy through the analysis of dual pressures and sources of competitive advantage. Finally, in the modules of Innovation different methodologies or techniques for innovation can be applied such as: SCAMPER, Design thinking or the Stage Gate Model.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International Business

The case is positioned in the domain of building, managing and communicating corporate reputation. It discusses the entry of Lenovo in the Indian market where the company faced reputational challenges. Definition of a corporate reputation strategy which was aligned to the overall strategy of the company, helped Lenovo traverse difficult terrains. The case would be relevant for courses on corporate reputation, communication and strategy.

The case is targeted at MBA students, corporate and PR professionals. The case can be used for MBA courses or management development programmes on corporate reputation, communication, and strategy.

The case brings out key elements of entry into an emerging market flooded with international, well-positioned players and discusses the entry of Lenovo in the Indian market where the problem was compounded by perceptions of Chinese origin. How does Lenovo bring about a turnaround in positioning, building, communicating and managing reputation, how does it steer stakeholder opinion in its favour? Will Lenovo India be able to replicate the success model in China? The case presents the challenges and discusses the strategies adopted by Amar Babu, MD Lenovo to bring about a change in the existing perceptions of stakeholders.

To discuss strategies for building corporate reputation.

To critically examine and analyze the strategies adopted by Lenovo India to build reputation and gain market share.

To analyse links between strategy generation and reputation management.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian to access these.

The Vigeo case is used in Darden’s Global EMBA “Business Ethics” course. The case raises the issue of how we determine what constitutes a socially responsible business, and how to apply that idea in a global context. It therefore could also be used effectively in courses in marketing, finance, or global economies and markets.

With a global leadership and sustainability perspective, this field-based case uses Vigeo, a European leader among environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agencies headquartered in Paris, to set the stage for an analysis of what it means to be a socially responsible business. It allows for an exploration of decision-making and moral overtones that are often difficult to resolve. The material also lets students explore the idea of global values-are there such things, and if so, what are they? The case opens with a summary of issues that include how CEO Nicole Notat plans to grow the company in 2012. She had to take a strategic view of where the SRI market was going and be prepared. The board had asked Notat to think more strategically about China. Would Vigeo adapt existing services and products to the Chinese market? Would entering an emerging market such as China mean rethinking the business model from the ground up? How would either strategy fit with the company’s overall mission?

This case is also available in French. Contact DBP to obtain the French version.

Human Resource Management & Social Entrepreneurship.

The target audiences for the case study are undergraduate and postgraduate (e.g. BSc, MSc as well as MBA) students and also management trainees and executives who are interested in understanding the social capital enhancing practices, policies and strategies adopted by the world’s largest commercial employer to ensure complete satisfaction and contentment of 1.7 million employees and their family. Even senior management teams could be targeted in executive education programs, as this case discusses time tested practices, policies and strategies which have been sparsely discussed so far and hence can be expected to provide insights to senior corporate managers. The case also demonstrates the application of different frameworks on social capital and corporate social responsibility which can be used by the participants in their firms to assess the social capital.

Indian Railways (IR) remains the world’s largest commercial employer, with approximately 1.7 million employees, which conveys the huge magnitude of social capital inventory accrued. This social capital, especially people side of IR, played a very crucial role in running the organization successfully for more than a century. As an organization, IR has guaranteed heavy importance for its employees while making decisions on strategic level. But recently, IR was moving towards automation and was cutting on cost incurred for its employees. IR was already exhibiting decreasing trend in the number of employees employed in the organization. These initiatives were resisted by IR employees due to fear of job losses and insecurity. In 2013, Chief Personnel Officer’s (CPO) of different zones have to rethink about their HR practices to assure confidence for employees on the security of their jobs and sustain the social capital accrued by IR over years. The objective of this case study is to describe the social capital accrued by IR over the years by offering livelihoods for nearly 1.7 million families across the country. Teaching note applies the frameworks on social capital in literature in the context of IR. Teaching note also discusses how CPOs of IR can pursue the change initiatives among the employees without affecting the social capital accrued so far.

Case study’s primary objective is to apply frameworks available in literature on social capital and corporate social responsibility to understand the social capital accrued by IR over decades. The case study attempts to answer the following assignment questions which forms the learning objectives of this case study: How do the existing frameworks on social capital measurement explain the social capital accrued by IR over decades? How can a firm assess its accrued social capital? How can one demonstrate the same using the case of IR? How can IR pursue change initiatives when it comes to its employees without affecting the social capital accrued over time?

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:10 Public sector management.

The learning outcomes have been prepared in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). After completing the case, the students shall be able to do the following: • describe the challenges faced by the not-for-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organizations operating at a local level in a conflict-ridden zone (knowledge). • Explain the key features, roles and typologies associated with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (comprehension), apply such typologies to specific organizations (application) and differentiate between social enterprises and NGOs (analysis). • Analyse various scaling-up techniques and infer the technique(s) used or can be potentially used by a particular organization (analysis). • Synthesize different elements of the organizational environment and reflect on the potential influence of these elements on an organization (synthesis). • Develop frameworks by applying institutional theory and motivations for volunteerism to map challenges of organizational legitimacy and volunteer turnover, respectively, as well as make recommendations to tackle these challenges (synthesis and evaluation) • Develop recommendations for the problems faced by not-for-profit voluntary NGOs (evaluation).

Balgran, a local not-for-profit non-governmental voluntary organization operating in the conflict-ridden state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India was established in the year 1975 to empower destitute, orphans, abandoned and socially handicapped children. Since its inception, Balgran has expanded its services at a rapid pace including Bal Bharti public school, health care centre, vocational training and a computer centre. Mr A.K. Khajuria, President of Balgran, was concerned about the high turnover of the voluntary staff, mistrust among the potential donors concerning fund management of NGOs and inadequate funding. Mr Khajuria after a few failed attempts at resolving these issues, called for a meeting of the members of the governing body in February 2019 to decide the future plan of action to resolve these issues. Through this case, the students can understand the challenges faced by local NGOs in general and unique challenges (mistrust among potential donors) faced by NGOs operating in conflict-ridden areas such as J&K. The students will be able to enhance their skills in brainstorming and making recommendations while framing possible solutions to the challenges faced by Balgran. The case seeks to enable the students to comprehend the features and typologies associated with NGOs; the role played by local NGOs in community development; differences between social enterprises and NGOs; scaling-up techniques and paths with special reference to local NGOs and the environmental factors that can potentially influence the operation of NGOs.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-level students learning social entrepreneurship, social work and management of alternate organizations such as NGOs. This case could be used to discuss concepts related to not-for-profit organizations operating in voluntary settings.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This case discusses the best-selling security system for preventing shoplifting and the dilemma its startup manufacturer faced when it learned there was a very remote possibility that the system might interfere with heart pacemakers. The theme of the case is that when health is involved, a company must carefully consider any level of preventable risk a product poses, even if that level of risk is extremely low.