Case studies

Upon completion of this case study, students will be able to identify the main conceptual foundations of strategy in international business, determine the strategy of entry into a country through the analysis of dual pressures and propose the mode of entry into a country by analyzing the sources of competitive advantage in a firm’s value chain.

Café Galavis stood out as one of the most outstanding family businesses in industrial development, with a century-long trajectory in the production and sale of roasted and ground coffee in Cucuta, Colombia. However, in 2015, the diplomatic, humanitarian and economic crisis between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela led to the indefinite closure of the Colombian–Venezuelan border. As a result, the illegal coffee trade increased, and competition from traditional brands significantly affected sales, leading to financial difficulties and an urgent need for change in senior management. In addition, the demise of the manager who had been leading the company until 2018 exacerbated the business situation. Juan Francisco Yáñez, the new manager, joined the management of an emblematic company. From his first years of management, he implemented different strategies related to organizational policies, production, innovation and export of products to achieve stability. For the year 2023, the challenges for the new CEO were to lead a brand with more than a century of tradition and business roots and to enter new markets, owing to the high dependence on the Venezuelan market. Which countries should they enter in the internationalization process? Furthermore, what type of strategy and entry mode should Café Galavis implement to penetrate new markets? These were some of the challenges faced by the CEO; therefore, he required objective information to make decisions in consensus with his collaborators.

This case study is suitable for students of postgraduate academic programs in knowledge areas of international management, international business or MBA.

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CSS 5: International business.

After analysing this case study, students will be able to understand the relationship between compensation, reward management and gig workers’ behaviour; apply the theory of organizational behaviour related to compensation management to address the motivational issues; analyse the challenges in managing the gig workers’ expectations related to compensation; and design innovative ways of retaining gig workers, especially delivery partners among the gig workers.

In April 2022, Riya, who worked as a business development manager at a newly established food delivery app company named “Our Kitchen” (located in Hyderabad, India), attended a meeting where the chief executive officer expressed concern about the difficulty in retaining their delivery partners. The company provided food delivery services to the customers by procuring ordered food from partner restaurants in select Indian cities. The delivery partners of the company worked part-time and received a commission for the hours they worked. With the rising fuel cost, minimal career growth and negligible social security benefits, it was hard for them to continue in their jobs. As a result, there were high attrition rates in the food delivery company. This case study is about the attrition issue being faced by the company and explores various strategies through which Riya could think of retaining the delivery partners so that there was a win-win situation for both parties. The dilemma given in the case study would help in understanding the motivational theories and factors that encouraged delivery partners to work for these jobs.

The case study is ideally suited for discussing human resources concepts, especially problems related to the retention of delivery partners without reducing the profit of the organization. It will help in understanding the motivational factors leading to job satisfaction and how that will help in the retention of delivery partners. The case study can also be used to teach the executives in a management development programme. This will help them to understand the gig workers’ motivational factors and the causes of their attrition.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.

This case study attempts to sensitize the impact of restructuring on the organization’s employer brand. The students shall learn to appreciate the criticality of maintaining a balance between being an employee-centric organization and building a sustainable business model, to analyze the alternative people management strategies in emerging start-ups.

This case study illustrates the innovative human resource (HR) policies adopted by the start-up Meesho. Meesho was started as “Fashnear” by two Indian Institute of Technology graduates Sanjeev Barnwal and Vidit Aatrey in the year 2015, with the headquarters located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It was a social commerce platform wherein the local apparel sellers or manufacturers could register themselves on the app and sell their products online to nearby consumers and the product would be delivered to their homes. Later, it was renamed Meesho (Meri E-Shop) with an improved business model. The innovative people-centric policies got Meesho recognition as one of the most employee-friendly start-ups and an innovative employer. However, later as part of the restructuring exercise, it had to lay off employees, which had a counter impact on its reputation and image as a desirable employer. This case study captures the dilemma faced by start-ups like Meesho who were in the process of sustaining their growth and optimizing their workforce and, at the same time, have to manage their employer brand in the process.

This case study can be used at the postgraduate level of management and in executive management programs.

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CSS6: Human resource management.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to understand the importance of being culturally savvy when working in a culturally diverse environment and managing people from different cultures; critically reflect on the risks resulting from the absence of a clear direction from the company’s top management regarding unifying corporate values and a diversity policy for cooperation across cultures; be aware of best practices in implementing diversity management (DM) initiatives in the company; and learn that changes in the strategic orientation (i.e. focus on automation projects) must be cascaded down to hard elements of structures, processes and systems, as well as to soft elements of skills, staff and management style.

The Kuwaiti branch of a Japanese corporation specialising in control systems and instruments, Rising Sun IT, hired a German professional, Alex, to handle the increasing demand for automation from customers. This recruitment followed several unsuccessful attempts by the company to deliver more advanced automation solutions. Recognising the need to adapt to Kuwaiti customer requirements or risk losing market share, Japanese management understood the importance of transforming their engineering staff. Failure to achieve this next automation step would result in a steady decline in market share and ultimately impact the company’s survival. However, Alex, who was supposed to lead automation projects, was confronted with opposition from the Indian engineering staff and managers. He was not able to find common ground with the staff and perceived issues such as lack of communication, delays in work schedules, missed deadlines and high levels of absenteeism, as a sign of low work morale. Although he tried to increase the awareness of his supervisor and other managers by informing them repeatedly about the problems regarding employee behaviours, his interventions went unheard. He felt ousted by his fellow colleagues and the other employees. Besides, from Alex’s point of view, the Japanese top management did not provide clear directions to the staff and explicit support to Alex in his efforts. This case study highlights three dimensions of Alex’s problem with establishing and maintaining working relationships with other people in the company:▪ Alex’s cultural “blindness” and ignorance of differences in work behaviours that ultimately led to his inability to build solid and trustful relationships with other employees. The case study demonstrates Germany’s performance-oriented and individual-centric culture versus India’s family- and community-oriented culture and the Japanese employees’ strongly hierarchical and company loyalty-oriented culture.▪ Lack of support from the Japanese top management to Alex, which is connected with a wider problem of the lack of a systematic strategic approach to managing a culturally diverse workforce. The case study pinpoints the rhetoric–reality gap in DM in the company, where the diversity, equity and inclusion programme and corporate values were applied only formally and had little attention from the leaders as well as non-managerial employees.▪ Employee resistance to change: The lack of positive communication from the top management level in the company regarding automation projects and the lack of support for Alex’s mission in the company resulted in steady resistance to executing projects, which endangered the company’s survival in the market. Also, one part of Alex’s problem with building a working relationship with the Indian engineering staff was based on the fact that others perceived him as the automation “change agent” – an advocate and catalyst of an undesirable change connected with adverse consequences on employment in the Indian community.

This case is intended for discussion in undergraduate management and business study programmes.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.

After reading and discussing the case study, students should be able to identify the reasons why the company needed to digitise and how this links to the company’s strategy around technology and innovation, analyse the digitalisation implementation process followed in the case study by using an organisational change management model and make recommendations and propose a solution for the protagonist to consider for the successful roll-out of the digitalisation project.

DRA Projects is part of the DRA Global business based in South Africa. The company is known locally in the mining and engineering industry for its project development, delivery, execution and operations capabilities. Digital transformation is a key strategic focus in the industry, as clients seek digitised integrated systems. For this client offering, J.C. Heslinga, managing director of DRA Projects, was tasked with leading the digitalisation of the project delivery system. From July 2020 until July 2022, Heslinga led the implementation team through different organisational change stages. As the next phase included rolling out digitalisation to pilot projects and engaging employees and clients in the new process, Heslinga wondered if enough was done to ready the business for this change. The end users would be executing the changes, so their adoption will be imperative for successfully rolling out digitalisation. The case study concludes with Heslinga pondering the approach needed for the next phase. The case study focuses on the digitalisation implementation process through the lens of organisational change. The case study presents an opportunity to analyse and identify the theories and models used in organisational change within a real-life business context. The organisational change learnings can be adapted to help students with any transformation changes in similar business scenarios.

Postgraduate- and master’s-level students and business executives attending short courses will benefit from the learnings. The learnings can be applied to improve decision-making, organisational behaviour and strategic implementation using the fundamental principles of organisational change.

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CSS 6: Human resource management

The learning outcomes of this case study are to understand the business model canvas and value propositions and apply advanced business innovation tools in electric vehicle business models; evaluate the current cargo vehicle scenarios at national and global levels and draw out the possibilities and costs for a new player; extrapolate the future scenario of the cargo economy, its electrification and positioning in a business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) segment, especially for a developing economy; and improve the student’s ability to get organisational buy-in and execute new business models.

LoadExx is a fully electrified electric cargo service focusing on logistics in Kolkata, a metropolitan city in the eastern part of the country. The service of LoadExx commenced in January 2021 in the B2B segment after overcoming its then issues of driver hesitancy and customer anxiety and financial issues to adopt electrified cargo systems. The conundrum faced by LoadExx in its commencement thus had been solved under the able guidance of its owner Amit Arora. The case study was positioned four months after the commencement of LoadExx. To gain market power and traction, Arora and his team came up with the idea of market expansion. However, the current conundrum was whether LoadExx would enter the B2C segment in its current location or expand with the same business model to other parts of the country. The expansion was to be implemented in the immediate future to retain its rarity and reduce the imitability of the business model of LoadExx. This case study details the logistics and market operations of the cargo sector, especially electric cargo, in a developing economy, especially India. A teaching note supplementing the “Cracking the conundrum of e-cargo logistics: curious case of LoadExx” case study has been provided.

This case study is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students and senior management professionals in executive education programmes undertaking courses in logistics management and supply chain operations and related cargo logistics courses. This case study denotes integrating key processes from end-users and gaining the trust of drivers, thereby showing the perspective of the plight and conundrums of a cargo aggregator working in the B2C segment. This case study could be used to discuss concepts related to not-for-profit firms, aggregators, policymakers and think tanks.

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CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

At the end of the session, learners are expected to be able to evaluate the detrimental impact of stress on blue-collar workers’ well-being in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; develop effective strategies to improve stressful conditions experienced by blue-collar workers in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; analyse and select appropriate approaches that can help maintain the motivation levels of blue-collar workers in Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; analyse the impact of Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd’s extensive investment in training new blue-collar workers, alongside the subsequent high turnover rate, on the decline in sales and profit; identify the critical changes that the managing director should have implemented to prioritize employee retention among blue-collar workers at Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd; discuss the strategic implementation of mechanization, specifically in the context of automating repetitive processes, as an innovative solution to address the challenges faced by the ship repair and maintenance service industry heavily reliant on blue-collar workers in emerging markets; cultivate thoughtful debates on ways to keep blue-collar workers in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, as well as active learner participation and group interaction; develop learners’ analytical and critical thinking skills by guiding them through the analysis of a real-world case study in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, concentrating on the difficulties and potential solutions for blue-collar worker retention; and equip learners with practical knowledge and insights on implementing effective human resources strategies for retaining blue-collar workers in the shipping repair and maintenance industry, emphasizing the conversion of theoretical concepts into workable solutions.

This teaching case study centres on Attainer Engineering Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian conglomerate that bestows ship repair and maintenance services. Regrettably, the corporation has been subjected to a decrease in profitability and productivity owing to its high turnover rate of blue-collar workers. The ship repair and maintenance service industry is accountable for delivering comprehensive repair and maintenance services to ships, including their engines, hulls, machinery and other related components. The fundamental aim of this case study is to ascertain the rudimentary factors that contribute to this issue and foster effective strategies to enhance the motivation and retention rate of blue-collar workers in the ship repair and maintenance service corporation, using appropriate management theories, models and concepts. The case study brings to light the importance of discovering the most suitable approaches to retain blue-collar workers in the corporation to improve its profitability and productivity in a highly competitive market. This teaching case study will be beneficial for students and practitioners who want to grasp the disputes associated with retaining blue-collar workers in the ship repair and maintenance service industry and learn how to apply management theories, models and concepts to address these disputes effectively.

This case discussion would be highly suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate university students who are pursuing their studies in management or related fields and are eager to delve into the nuances of the ship repair and maintenance service industry. Furthermore, trainers from both private and public agencies who are keen on gaining a deeper understanding of the issues pertaining to retaining blue-collar workers in this particular industry and devising result-oriented strategies to tackle these concerns would also find this case discussion immensely helpful.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.

After reading and analysing the case study, the students would be able to distinguish the leadership styles based on leaders’ traits and behaviours, argue the importance of trust in leader–follower relationships thanks to the real-life examples presented and defend their side on the debate of whether leadership is born or made with the related theories and examples.

The teams coached by the successful Turkish basketball coach, Çetin Yılmaz, had reached the finals of the Turkish Basketball League six times and became champions three times. He assumed the coaching position of the Tuborg basketball team in December 2005. Although Tuborg’s Turkey branch made a serious financial investment in basketball, they were at the bottom of the league in the middle of the season. When Yılmaz took over the coaching position, the Tuborg basketball team’s main objective was not to be relegated from the top league in the 2005–2006 season. The team, working very hard, overcame the fear of relegation in two months but still had a very symbolic goal in front of it: winning the most prestigious game of the season by defeating the Karşıyaka team. However, in the last minutes of the game, with the influence of passionate Karşıkaya fans, the Tuborg team got scared and lost the game. At the end of the match, the club president entered the locker room and started shouting at the players, forcing the coach to face a severe dilemma. Either he would remain silent and risk damaging his leading position in the eyes of the players, or he would risk being fired by going against the president, even though he thought the president was right in what he said.

The target audience of this case study is undergraduate students. The field of study is sports management, leadership and coaching. This case study can be used in management, organizational behaviour and sports management courses while covering leadership and coaching topics.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.

This case study would help students in understanding the dynamics of logistics and logistics vendor roles and contributions to overall business operations. The case study covers real-time information for applying the theoretical knowledge students gain related to the selection of logistics vendor. It would help students to understand and evaluate the dynamics of a new start-up related to cost, profits and dependency; understand and analyze the importance of third-party logistics (3PL) service providers in the supply chain; become aware of the key performance indicators (KPIs) important in the selection of logistics vendor; and develop and create measures for selecting logistics vendors on the basis of KPIs.

This case study was about an innovative start-up operating in the field of organic edible oils. The company catered to end consumers with its indigenous technology and processes. The innovative and healthy products were appreciated by the consumers, as was reflected in the surging demand figures. With the increasing popularity of organic products, the orders were surging. At the same time, issues such as damaged product delivery, increased cost per delivery of small packages and failure to deliver because of unserved pin codes by their logistics partners were being faced by the company. The case discusses the dilemma faced by the protagonist regarding the selection of the right 3PL partner. The case study is suitable for teaching courses in operations and logistics, supply chain management and entrepreneurship-related courses.

This case study is appropriate for postgraduate courses in entrepreneurship, operations management, logistics and supply chain management and general management.

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CSS9: Operations and logistics.

After reading and analyzing the case study, the students would be able to understand the complexities of leadership and decision-making in a diverse workplace, specifically when promoting differently abled employees; explore the importance of fostering an inclusive environment, addressing biases and developing empathy in the context of leadership and diversity; explore the challenges and considerations involved in managing a team with diverse backgrounds and abilities; and evaluate the potential impact of promoting employees with disabilities on the morale and retention of other team members.

This case study is about a hearing-impaired individual, Jessica, who was recently hired by a medium-sized organization, Zerial Education. She was the organization’s first hire with a disability, and some of her colleagues were skeptical about how she would fit in. There was a clear bias against her because of her disability, and she faced many challenges while proving herself and earning the respect of her colleagues. Despite the initial skepticism and bias, she quickly proved herself to be a valuable member of the team. As the appraisal period arrived, Stan Logan, her reporting manager, faced a tough decision. He wanted to be fair and avoid to seem to be biased, yet he was also committed to fostering diversity and inclusion. If he promoted Jessica, it would affirm the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and it would also validate Jessica’s impressive year of work. However, this might come at the cost of creating tensions among the other top performers who were also deserving of the promotion and potentially complicating client interactions owing to Jessica’s hearing impairment. Logan had to navigate these complexities and make a decision that aligned with both the company’s values and operational needs, while also considering the potential consequences on team morale and client relationships.

The case is suitable for use by students at an MBA level. Human resource management: In this course, students might learn about the legal and ethical issues surrounding disability in the workplace, as well as strategies for recruiting and retaining employees with disabilities. Organizational behavior: In this course, students might learn about the psychological and social factors that influence how individuals with disabilities are perceived and treated in organizations, as well as how to promote diversity and inclusion within a company.

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CSS 6: Human resource management