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Marketing management.

Undergraduate/Postgraduate.

The present case is a disguised one and is meant to enable students to critically analyse the operations and functioning of a fitness centre located in a city. Despite a runaway success, “Fit in” was facing problems of time-management and members’ management. Thus, catering to the members was becoming unwieldy, especially with respect to providing the personalized experience to the members, which was their forte. Thus, Mukesh and Naina faced the challenge of motivating their existing members and getting fresh referrals. Should they cut some of their services? Should they make some changes in manpower management? Or, should they change the operating strategy for their business?

Expected learning outcomes are as follows: how to ensure customer loyalty in service organization settings and how to enhance motivation among the service customers.

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: 3: Entrepreneurship.

The primary teaching objective is to discuss the capital raising efforts of a firm under financial distress. It also provides supporting data to calculate cost of capital, DuPont/modified DuPont values and Altman’s Z-Score that can appropriately be incorporated into the discussion. Case-B provides information and data of the company’s recent performance and to changes in bankruptcy law in India. Overall, this case study provides ample scope to discuss, understand and provide the solution to the following key corporate finance themes as follows: 1. Analyzing accounting statements and examine potential earnings quality issue. 2. Predicting default and bankruptcy using qualitative analysis, financial ratios, traditional and modified DuPont models and Altman’s Z score model. 3. Examining the capital raising efforts of a distressed firm, which has already defaulted on borrowings. 4. To explore the impact of changes in regulation on the turnaround efforts of the firm as well as on the promoters of the firm.

Since 2005, Amtek Auto moved at a breathtaking speed with the goal of reaching $10bn in sales, from the current level of about $1.2bn. The group had acquired more than a dozen companies spending about Rs.5,000cr. ($850m) during this period primarily through borrowed funds. However, the market and business expansion was not happening as expected. The company’s capacity utilization was just about 40% (approx.) during much of this period. The mounting fixed costs of operation and debt servicing grew to the level of unsustainability, led the firm to default on its borrowing. Now the company had to quickly recapitalize itself to run its operations and retain the premier position in auto component industry. The company and its promoters were considering various methods of debt restructuring, asset sale and further equity infusion.

Introductory and elective level corporate finance.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

The case, “Shivani Carriers Pvt. Ltd.: Managing Employee Motivation at the Bottom of the Pyramid”, has been designed to teach students about the basic principles of employee motivation. The case is also a representative example of the problems faced by small and medium-sized businesses in employee acquisition, motivation, and retention, especially at junior levels i.e. entry-level operational and front-line roles. The case documents the history and evolution of the driver management system (DMS) instituted by Vandana and Hemant Laddha at Shivani Carriers Pvt. Ltd. (SCPL). It looks at the constraints faced by the company and the challenges that emerged during the implementation of the new system. After initial success, Vandana Laddha faced a dilemma around the future direction of the DMS. The original incentive scheme had been a success: driver productivity and motivation had improved significantly. Given that the scheme had achieved its desired objectives, the firm had decided to modify it to further improve efficiency. However, employee discontent was brewing since the scheme had been modified. Vandana Laddha had to decide if she should she bring back the original incentive management scheme to quell employee discontent or should she introduce alternate initiatives to manage driver motivation? If she chose to introduce new initiatives, what could these be? What mechanisms would she need to put in place to support the new initiatives? What about the complaints of the drivers? What should she do to address the complaints of the drivers? The case provides students with an opportunity to understand the principles of employee motivation with the help of extant and contemporary research on motivation. It also sheds light on the link between initiatives aimed at increasing motivation and other managerial activities and mechanisms. Importantly, it helps students arrive at an integrated framework that links various aspects of employee motivation such as needs, cognitions, work design factors, organizational support and actions, organizational culture and industry context.

Operations and human resourcing.

This case study is intended for use in graduate, executive level management and doctoral programs. The case study illustrates a combined IT and HR driven participative management control system in a flexible organization structure. It is intended for a class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.

The case describes the situation of managing unskilled workforces (≥14,000 workers) during the construction phase of the 4 × 250MW power plants both for purposes of turnout as well as due compensation, in the event of an accident. The approved labour forces appointed for 45 × 8 h. Man-days after a rigorous fitness test and approvals of the safety officer are allocated housing and other necessary amenities and a commensurate compensation system.

These include: illustrating typical organizational responsibility structure at a construction site of a large power plant; illustrating the planning and administrative control mechanism in implementing strategy at a construction site of a large power plant; offering students the opportunity to understand and view a typical operational (project) structure; allowing students to speculate adaptations in the wake of an ever-changing business and company environment; and providing an opportunity to introduce a power scenario in India, Indian labour laws and radio frequency identification technology and to relate this to the case in context.

Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.

In 2010 Drive Property Solutions, a special servicing firm in Chicago, had partnered with Spiner Capital to win an FDIC auction of distressed debt. Included in that auction was the defaulted mortgage note on Northwinds Community Crossing, a retail strip mall in suburban Savannah, Georgia, which had been in default since November 2009. Sam Schey, an asset manager at Drive, needed to decide how to maximize recoveries from the nonperforming loan.

Align Inc. is a start-up company with a revolutionary, patent-protected new technology for straightening teeth called Invisalign. Invisalign is a set of invisible plastic aligners made to each patient's specific needs that substitute for metal or ceramic braces in adults (it is not sold for children's orthodontic needs). The company has created tremendous consumer awareness and affect for its product, yet sales results are dismal. Requires the reader to analyze the reasons for such poor sales and what to do to remedy the problem.

To examine distribution channel issues as well as the marketing mix for a new product introduction.

Capital structure theory.

The case is meant for teaching and class discussion, and uses only secondary data based on published sources. The interpretation and perspectives presented are based solely on the secondary data.

This paper aims to help current and future managers understand capital structure theory and the various equity and debt finance options available for raising capital. It also examines the financial analysis and strategic management of black swan events. After the class discussion, students will understand how to financially and strategically manage a company during black swan events and also have a deep dive into capital structure analysis of a large company.

MBA/postgraduate/undergraduate courses on corporate finance or advanced corporate finance. Executive/management development programs and short duration Massive Open Online Courses on investment decision-making and advanced corporate finance. MBA/postgraduate/undergraduate courses on corporate strategy and economic environment and planning.

This case will help students to understand the following: Develop a basic understanding of competency building processes. Learn about the mentoring process and its application in leadership development. Develop awareness about the methodology for assessment of the effectiveness of training.

Dr A. R. K. Pillai founded the Indian Leprosy Foundation in 1970 in response to the national call by late Mrs Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, to the public-spirited people to take up leprosy eradication. It collaborated with international agencies to reduce leprosy drastically in India from four million, in 1982 to around a hundred thousand cases in 2006. In 2006, the Indian Leprosy Foundation was renamed as Indian Development Foundation (IDF) as the trustees decided to expand the work of IDF in the areas of health, children’s education and women’s empowerment. Dr Narayan Iyer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IDF initiated a leadership development intervention called the Students’ leadership programme (SLP) for children in the age group of 12 to 14, from the urban poor households in 2014. It was a structured mentoring programme spanning over three months in collaboration with the schools. It aimed at incubating skills in the areas of leadership, teamwork, personality, behavioural traits and provided career guidance. It had a humble beginning in 2014 with a coverage of 50 students. Initially, IDF welcomed executives from the corporate sector as mentors. As there was a need to rapidly expand the scope of SLP to the other cities of India, IDF tied up with the graduate colleges and invited the students to be the mentors. The other objective behind this move was to create social awareness among the students from more affluent strata of society. IDF was able to dramatically increase the participation of the students through SLP by approximately up to 100,000 by 2020. However, rapid progress threw up multiple challenges. The teachers complained about the non-availability of the students for regular classes to teach the syllabus as the students were busy with SLP. The schools forced IDF to shorten the duration of SLP to two months. Also, many undergraduate mentors were unable to coach the participants due to lack of maturity and found wanting to strike a rapport with them. There was a shortage of corporate executives who volunteered for the mentoring, due to work pressures. Dr Narayan, CEO & National Coordinator and Ms Mallika Ramchandran, the project head of SLP at IDF, were worried about the desired impact of SLP on the participants and its sustainability due to these challenges. So, with the support of Dr Narayan, she initiated a detailed survey to assess the ground-level impact of SLP. The objective was to get clarity about what was working for SLP and what aspects needed to improve, to make the programme more effective. Overall feedback from the survey was very positive. The mothers had seen very positive changes in the participants’ behaviour post-SLP. The teachers had specific concerns about the effectiveness of undergraduate mentors. The need for a refresher course to inculcate ethical behaviour and the inadequacy of the two-month duration of the SLP to reinforce values were highlighted. Respondents also voiced the requirement to build responsible citizenship behaviours among the participants. Mallika was all for preparing a model to further enhance the effectiveness of SLP. Dr Narayan and Mallika embraced the challenge and they were raring to go to develop SLP as a cutting-edge leadership programme and to take it to new heights.

This case can be used in courses on human resource management in postgraduate and graduate management programmes. It can also be used in the general and development management courses and during executive education programmes to teach methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of the training interventions, with emphasis on the voluntary sector.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

This case presents financial and macroeconomic data for the United States between 2007 and 2013, a period covering the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2007–2009 and the slow economic recovery from 2009 onward. During this period, the Federal Reserve had set the federal funds rate, its primary monetary policy instrument, near zero and was using additional monetary policy tools to stimulate the economy. One of these additional tools was quantitative easing (QE).

Students will use the data provided in the case to examine how financial markets reacted to QE actions by the Federal Reserve and to analyze the potential impact of QE on the macroeconomy.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

• Apply the event study methodology to analyze economic effects

• Recognize how macroeconomic news affects the prices of financial securities

• Describe the connections between the prices of financial securities and the macroeconomy

• • Debate the relative costs and benefits of quantitative easing and the optimality of Federal Reserve policy

Apply the event study methodology to analyze economic effects

Recognize how macroeconomic news affects the prices of financial securities

Describe the connections between the prices of financial securities and the macroeconomy

• Debate the relative costs and benefits of quantitative easing and the optimality of Federal Reserve policy

Strategic management and management of innovation and technology.

The course can be used for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The case would be relevant in the strategic management course to understand the concept of technology strategy and the various evaluation parameters guiding firms in their technology decisions. A refresher of the concept of value chain analysis can also be done through the case. It can also be used to teach innovation and technology management to understand the innovation process and the importance of various organizational factors for taking technology decisions.

The case tries to bring together different aspects of technological innovation and technology strategy at North Delhi Power Ltd, Delhi which has taken various initiatives to turnaround the dilapidated power distribution industry in India. It details the various technological initiatives taken by the company to revamp the power distribution situation of the country. Discussion in the case also revolves around the technology decisions (technology strategy) taken by the company to drive the technological initiatives. The organizational culture supporting technology decisions and the technological initiatives are also woven into the case.

After a discussion on the case students will be in a better position to appreciate various decisions which firms take with respect to technology. They will get an understanding of what is technological innovation and about the technological innovation process. The importance of organizational factors to supplement technology decisions and innovation will be brought out in the case.

Teaching note.