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Trade Finance, International Trade, International Business, Emerging Markets, Textile Industry.

This case has been designed for the students studying courses on International Business during their graduation/post-graduation. Students are expected to have basic knowledge of International Trade and are also expected to study the different ways of financing the foreign trade to appreciate the case.

The case describes the various ways of financing of foreign trade. The case has been designed in the context of an Indian Textile Exporter who has grown steadily over the past years. As business has increased, simultaneously the requirement of funds for the exporter has also increased. Through the medium of conversations, the different ways of financing the foreign trade have been explained in detail. Equipped with this knowledge, students are required to discuss the pros and cons of the different ways of financing the foreign trade. The case also discusses the dilemma of foreign currency hedging. This is a common dilemma faced by importers and exporters as they grow over a period of time.

This case has been designed to: understand the various ways of financing the foreign trade and understand their merits and demerits; understand the difference between factoring and forfeiting understand how the Exim Bank of India plays an important role in supporting exporters and importers in India; and understand the various ways of hedging the foreign currency risk.

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

The case includes links to video clips on textile and apparel manufacture to familiarize students with the textile manufacturing process. The case also provides links to audio and video clips of the case protagonist discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the cluster at IK.

The case offers opportunities for the learner to analyze the situation from three cases as follows: industry, cluster (broadly location) and firm. Specific teaching objectives are as follows: How to identify and analyze the drivers of competitiveness of a cluster. Assess the strength of clusters using Porter’s Diamond framework. Map the linkages between players of a cluster as follows: across firms, industries and public organizations. Benchmark and compare clusters to identify opportunities for upgrading competitiveness.

The case describes the challenge facing Mr Nikunj Bagdia, the owner and chief executive of Ken Enterprises Private Limited (Ken), a textile manufacturing unit located in the town of Ichalkaranji (IK), in October of 2019. IK boasts the largest number of cutting-edge air-jet looms in India and Ken is IK’s largest exporter of woven textile fabrics. However, IK lags the textile and apparel manufacturing cluster of Tiruppur, in another region of the country. The case enables a microeconomic analysis of the business environment of industrial clusters and a cluster mapping exercise, which helps identify opportunities for enhancing IK’s textile cluster. As the case closes, Nikunj is trying to prioritize opportunities that could emerge from the analyzes.

Masters/MBA level courses on competitiveness, strategy for economic development and microeconomics of competitiveness.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The main pedagogical objectives of the case are: illustrate how Latin American companies dedicated to the production and harvesting of commodities can be vertically integrated to gain a larger share of the value created throughout the production chain. Understand how futures and options contracts in commodities can be used to hedge price risk on long and short positions in the underlying products. Understand how option contracts add value by hedging risk in those contexts where the counterparty has optionality. Discuss the implications of Fair Trade for commodity traders and producers.

In the case, Hernan Arosamena, CFO of The Specialty Coffee Trading Co. (TSCT), faces the challenge of designing an effective strategy to hedge the price risk caused by the increasing demand of the so-called Fair Trade coffee. Hernan Arosamena decides to review how the company has typically managed the price risk in its business transactions using future contracts to then incorporate the additional elements that trading Fair Trade coffee may entail. The typical price risk hedging strategy involves the use of coffee future contracts in long and short positions to ensure that the company obtains the desired margin in its coffee trading negotiations. To hedge the exposure to the risk of fluctuations in the price of coffee when the company sells Fair Trade coffee requires the additional use of put options.

The case is appropriate for students enrolled in courses or specialization programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International Business.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand the concept of clustering and identify clusters for improving capacity utilization, analyse transport routes to optimize logistics resources, analyse the impact of a full truckload on resource optimization, evaluate unused capacity and ascertain the impact of reverse milk run to reduce the same and apply clustering and reverse milk run to optimize the logistics resources.

The case study is about a freight forwarding company that offered end-to-end logistics solutions for the exporters based in India. Within a short time span, the company became one of the sought-after service providers for its clients. However, when the company planned to expand its business by expanding its client base, the efficiencies reduced and hurt the profitability of the company. It was all excellent with the limited number of clients, but as the number of distantly located clients surged, the operating costs increased. Trucks were running with partial loads, thus reducing efficiency. The rate of increase in cost surpassed the rate of revenue every time. The cost per mile of transportation was on the rise. The surging fuel prices were adding to the heat. In spite of being one of the first choices for clients, the company could not generate good profit margins. If they chose to increase prices, the company would have lost customers to the cheaper unorganized players in the market. It was time to choose between growth and survival. The company could not sustain itself without devising a mechanism to reduce costs. The company would not have sustained itself without devising a mechanism to reduce costs. To sustain in the business, the company had to device a mechanism to reduce costs. Whether to continue operating the conventional way or to transform? Was there a logistics strategy that would have improved transportation efficiency and reduced the costs for the company?

The case study is suitable for teaching post-graduate management courses in operations and logistics, supply chain management and supply chain analytics, as well as entrepreneurship-related courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 9: Operations and logistics.

This case study is developed from secondary sources. Two types of data were used to develop this case. The statistical data are gathered from sources such as Yahoo! Finance, Trading Economics, Investing.com and The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Reports on market developments are gathered from major news outlets such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

The year 2021 was a volatile year for the Turkish economy: it ended the year with 36% annual inflation, 44% currency devaluation, shortages of basic goods, street protests, etc. How does the Turkish currency crisis in 2021 play out in various financial markets such as the foreign exchange, bond, stock and cryptocurrency markets? This case study introduces students to Turkey’s economic crisis in 2021 and how the Turkish lira’s depreciation, home inflation and central bank policies interact to affect its various financial markets. In the bond market, a depreciated lira heightened the credit risk of Turkey’s bond issuers and effectively crippled the country’s bond market. In contrast, Turkey’s stock and cryptocurrency markets experienced a rally as Turks put their money into equities and cryptocurrencies to hedge against inflation. In international trade, the lira’s fall and the supply chain disruptions in Asia benefited Turkish exporters tremendously. In contrast, Turkish importers suffered. In the Turkish society, the impact of the currency and inflation crisis fell the hardest on ordinary folks, who saw the values of their wages and pension benefits erode. In times of hardship, socially responsible citizens helped the poor by anonymously paying for others’ unpaid bills.

Given the multicomplexity of a currency crisis, this case would be valuable for finance/economics students to understand how a country’s currency crisis and its central bank policies interact to impact its various financial markets. This case is appropriate for courses in Markets and Institutions with a global or cultural learning objective.

1. Describe how the Turkish lira’s depreciation affected its various financial markets, such as foreign exchange, bond, stock and cryptocurrency markets.2. Understand the cultural perspective on usury, how it exists in modern-day finance, and its’ role in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s economic policy.3. Compare and contrast Turkey’s export and import industries and how they are being affected by the lira’s depreciation.4. Evaluate the risk exposure of foreign investors who participate in Turkey’s stock market given a depreciating lira.5. Evaluate the creditworthiness of Turkish corporations who issued dollar- or euro-denominated bonds as well as issuers of lira-denominated bonds given a depreciating lira.6. Understand the social impacts of a currency crisis and the charitable acts of socially responsible citizens.

Rajan Overseas was founded by Rajan Makhija in the year 2014. It was into export of handloom products like rugs, throws, etc. Makhija wanted the company to grow from INR 7.6 crores to 100 crores in the next five years. However, the plan hit a roadblock as one of the largest customer of Makhija wanted him to sign an exclusive contract. Makhija was evaluating various growth options in the light of this new hurdle. The case can be taught in courses on entrepreneurship, internationalization and strategy for SMEs to teach topics related to effectuation and challenges of international business.

This case features a prominent antidumping case in the United States against six of its major foreign shrimp suppliers. The case fits well in a discussion and analysis of the (welfare) consequences of protectionism, the basic case for free trade, and the political economy of protectionism.

Organisational behaviour, strategic management and management of change, human resources management, business management.

Undergraduate and post-graduate management degrees: including courses on organizational behaviour, human resources management, marketing, business management and strategic management.

Dandiraz an electric appliance manufacturing company in Zimbabwe has an aggressive marketing director who had increased exports from 15 percent of the company's production to 40 percent and the company had won the National Exporter of the Year Award twice as a result of his efforts. The chairperson was uncomfortable with the outbursts of the marketing director when he talked to him about the production department. There was a disagreement between the marketing director and production director in the way certain issues were to be implemented. The chairperson was undecided on whose suggestions to follow since both directors were giving valid contributions but opposing each other.

Students can focus on the importance of how departmental conflicts can harm an organisation if not managed properly. Students will also appreciate the importance of making quality decisions by top management as an important ingredient for the success of an organisation.

Teaching notes are available. Consult the librarian for access.

Undergraduate/Masters/MBA.

Anamika Enterprise Limited (AEL) is an export-import company founded in 1988. Today, AEL primarily imports coal from India which it then sells to customers in Bangladesh. However, a recent ban on coal mining in the Indian state of Meghalaya has created a huge problem for AEL. It is now considering opening trade routes to China and Indonesia. For that, it will need to consider both the short- and long-term factors related to its decision. It will need to take into consideration the cultural, economic and social factors in all three countries and trade accordingly. Tariff barriers and transportation costs will be a problem for AEL in the short run but in the long run, that may be overcome because of the experience effect arising from international business. Information and communication technology is also expected to have a huge impact.

Students are expected to learn the challenges of running international business in the real world and ways to overcome these challenges.

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 5: International Business.

The case describes the evolution of Bangladesh's garment industry, the second largest garment exporter in the world, and its operational problems. The focus is on the fire that occurred on November 24, 2012 at Tazreen Fashions, a unit that is a part of a global supply chain for US and European retailers. The case explores the role of the government, western retailers, industry association and NGOs subsequent to the fire, and shows how increasing CSR expectations of corporations are making them take on responsibility for what should be that of the government or the garment unit.

Secondary sources; published materials.

International Business, Business and Society, Supply Chain Management, Doing Business in Emerging Markets.

Corporate social responsibility stakeholder theory market entry.