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This case reviews the financial performance of the Fidelity Magellan Fund up to mid-1995. In essence, the Magellan Fund has managed to “beat the market” over time under three different fund managers despite its enormous size ($51 billion at the date of the case). The tasks for the student are to assess the adequacy of this performance, evaluate its likely sources, and opine on its sustainability. The case affords the opportunity to consider the appropriateness of various possible benchmarks in a risk-return framework and to assess the reasonableness of the efficient-markets hypothesis. The case can be used in an introductory finance course to present general information about equity markets and the behavior of large, sophisticated money managers.

After completion of the case, students will be able to understand the following: how to understand financial statements, income statements and cash-flow statements with the help of ratios; understand the concept of shareholding pattern along with different entities, namely, non-promoters, foreign institutional investor, domestic institutional investor and others; financial ratio analysis with traditional DuPont and extended DuPont analysis; understand the differences between comparable firms; how to analysis return, risk, covariance, correlation, market risk and capital assets pricing model (CAPM) and how to suggest an appropriate investment strategy.

The case presents company background and financial statements of four companies listed under departmental stores in India, namely, Vmart retail, V2 retail, Avenue Supermarts (known as DMart) and future retail. Students are asked to determine, which company is performing better to make a recommendation for investment. Students learn the tools of financial ratio i.e. profitability, efficiency, liquidity and market-based ratio along with the traditional DuPont decomposition and the extended DuPont analysis. Students also learn how to measure stock return, standard deviation, covariance, correlation, market risk and CAPM.

This case is suitable for management accounting, financial analysis and security analysis and portfolio management courses at the post-graduate or graduate levels. The case can be used in similar courses such as in financial statement analysis courses or security analysis and portfolio management courses.

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: 1 Accounting and finance.

This case serves as a useful backdrop for discussing a few important conceptual frameworks in the field of finance. The dilemmas are still evolving for Sharīʿah-compliant asset management company (AMC); i.e. Al Meezan, and may seem complex to the students – particularly in the Pakistan’s financial structure – but framing the discussion from a market perspective ought to help the students of finance.

This case study focuses on Al Meezan Investment Management Limited (Al Meezan) journey since inception. Al Meezan is a full-fledged Sharīʿah-compliant AMC and one of the major players in the mutual funds industry of Pakistan. Al Meezan offers a comprehensive range of Sharīʿah-compliant investment solutions especially designed to meet the financial goals of their existing and potential clients. The case study covers all the key events before the inception of Al Meezan, from late 1990s till March 2020. The case is based on interview with chief executive officer (CEO) (the protagonist) of Al Meezan. The case also covers various challenges faced by Mohammad Shoaib, CEO and his senior team, to make Al Meezan a vibrant institution offering Islamic financial services.

This case is aimed at undergraduate students in their final year (i.e. taking electives in the field of Finance/Islamic Finance) or graduate students majoring in Finance/Islamic Finance.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS1: Accounting and Finance.

The case is about an Indian company hedging soya oil price risk in the US futures market instead of in the Indian market to take advantage of better liquidity and wider choice of hedging instruments there. A stable long run relationship (cointegration) between the two markets appeared to make the cross border hedge viable, but hedge accounting considerations appeared to stand in the way.

This case examines the causes and consequences of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy during one of the most fascinating weekends in financial history. It's about the commercial paper market, a major funding market served by Lehman Brothers, and the events that led to “breaking the buck” on money market funds. It also examines the CDS market where Lehman was such a big player, the potential impact that CDSs had on the crisis, and the notion and validity of the too-big-to-fail hypothesis.

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.

The case fosters discussions on basic concepts of entrepreneurship that include building a minimum viable product before launching a finished product, the importance of doing market research for early-stage startups, challenges in understanding an unfamiliar domain or industry and understanding the dynamics of business to business market.

Team Arnetta’s founders were interviewed in relation to the case. After the initial round of interviews, a product demonstration was given by Arnetta. Follow up interviews were conducted to delve-deeper into the problem while secondary research was conducted to understand the market dynamics and competitive landscape at the point in time in the case.

The four founders of Arnetta Technologies debate go-to-market timing for Integrated Breeding and Research Management Software, a data handling software for the R&D process followed by seed enterprises in India. The founders had spent over US$75,000 on the product development on which they had been working for more than one year. Two of the founders had given up their full-time jobs to work dedicatedly on the venture. The product was being customized to the requirements of their only client. Product development was taking longer than anticipated. To add to the challenges, international competitors had started capturing the Indian market. The founders had two options. First, they could wait and finish the product development before reaching out to their prospective clients – leading to delays and losing out on the market. Second, they could reach out to prospective clients and convince them to use the work-in-progress version of the product – which could turn out to be a deal breaker. The founders had to come to a consensus soon.

The case is intended for students in undergraduate or graduate-level courses related to entrepreneurship, new venture creation, innovation management and business management.

In December 1999 Thomson Financial (TF) began a radical transformation from forty-one divisions toward a more integrated firm organized around customer segments. This required active, coordinated involvement from business, organization, and technology functions, as well as sustained investment and execution through the crises of the technology market crash and September 11, 2001. By 2005 TF had emerged as one of the top three financial information firms globally (with Bloomberg and Reuters).

Understand: 1. Building the customer-centric firm; “synchronizing” marketing (branding and sales), organizational, and technological infrastructure to focus on customer segments rather than products. 2. Making transformative, long-term investments under difficult circumstances. 3. Coordinating business, organization, and technology strategies throughout a long-term transformation process.

The learning outcomes are as follows: business model pivot, minimum viable product, strategic alliances, return on equity and burn-rate.

HMSolution’s (HM’s) mission is removing arsenic from drinking water. The case tells how HMS pivoted its business model between 2014 and 2015 and its challenge when faced with several growth opportunities. The first possible partner company proposed adopting HMS’s technology through either an alliance or outsourcing. The second company wanted to acquire HMS. However, Margaret – the founder and CEO – managed to find a third option in the form of an important sanitation sewage treatment company in Chile with international presence, with which she could reach a wider territory in her country of origin, as well as in other countries where that company had a presence. This case study presents Margaret’s dilemma of deciding the best course to follow and finding the best fit for her product and the needs of the market.

The instructor can adapt the requirements and depth of the topics addressed, ranging from an undergraduate audience to an executive training audience. Undergraduate courses, namely, entrepreneurship, business creation, administration and strategy. For students of business careers, administration, commercial engineering, industrial civil engineering and industrial engineering. Continuous training, namely, entrepreneurship, business creation, administration and strategy.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This case study outlines the marketing, strategic and organizational issues facing the ever-expanding agri-inputs market in India, through the perspective of Agroy – an agri-products company. This case can be used to assist in the teaching courses such as marketing management, rural marketing, business strategy, operations and logistics management, among others, for students of MBA or other specialized courses in management. The case has been developed to make students aware and to understand the arduous nature of setting up a company catering to the huge Indian agri-inputs market. This case delves into the complexities of marketing in rural India that is characterized by low technological awareness, low volumes of digital transactions and immense language barriers. The Indian agricultural market is huge and has undergone a considerable amount of change owing to competition among multinational companies and traditional local micro-retailers. This case discusses the various challenges faced by multinational companies in entering India and how they need to strategize to modify their Western model of a distribution channel which faces huge challenges when put to test in India. Specific learning outcomes include: the case study would help students to comprehend the new business strategies that an MNC could adopt in emerging markets. Some companies work on changing traditional and conventional value chains of activities to fit the emerging market customer’s best and hence companies needs to figure out a unique business model to compete in emerging markets. This case study gives readers the opportunity to think about strategy in an uncertain environment. The case illustrates the challenges associated with innovating new business ideas that would help the company serve a greater number of people from a diverse background. It highlights the importance of thinking about real options, a portfolio of projects and the type of organizational structure required to tackle the uncertainties associated with foreign companies aiming to enter the Indian market. It also explores marketing and distribution issues – which are the type of customers to target and which are the suitable geographic areas with suitable linguistic compatibility in which there shall be ease in doing business. Finally, it is an avenue for students to think about the changes necessary throughout the distribution channel to successfully implement and commercialize a project in rural India. The case is intended to work well as a learning tool for strategy implementation where uncertainty is inherent and as an application to lectures on real options and risk or for discussions related to marketing and distribution channels and its challenges.

The Indian agricultural market plays an important role in India’s economy having a staggering 58 per cent of rural households depending on it as the principal means of livelihood. However they have very small landholdings, and hence, they find it difficult to order either large quantities or in bulk, as a result of which the cost of agricultural inputs gets enhanced. Agroy, an MNC, is one of the many companies that have stepped in to bridge this gap by trying to tap into the huge agricultural market. Agroy aspires to be the “UBER of agriculture.” Agroy is a cloud-based buying platform for farmers to buy agri-inputs efficiently at scale and at the best price from around the world. With big data and smart farming, the company aims to enhance farm sustainability and productivity. Agroy’s competitors like Agro Star and Big Heart also have similar business models and hence the competition is stiff. The three debatable questions that the case poses are: Will Agroy be able to shatter the age-old loyalty that Indian farmers have toward local retailers and other Indian companies that have an existing strong foothold in the market? Will similar distribution models as practiced in developed Western countries work in India, given the distribution challenges in deep rural Indian hinterland? Will Agroy be able to create sustainable business models by marketing agri-inputs at low prices in India?

MBA in courses such as entrepreneurial marketing, strategic marketing, agricultural marketing.

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 8: Marketing.