Case studies

The study enables students to critique the internationalisation strategy of an African business including elements of macroeconomic analysis, company fit with jurisdictions, non-market strategies and mode of entry.

Roland van Wijnen was the chief executive officer of Pretoria Portland Cement Company Limited (PPC), a 130-year-old cement maker based in South Africa. He joined after the business had embarked on an international expansion strategy that had taken the business to countries of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia in a matter of years. This expansion caused the deflation of the Johannesburg-listed company’s share price. The company failed to appreciate a number of success factors in each jurisdiction. The challenges included cultural misalignments, macroeconomic analysis and mode of market entry. The case dilemma involved the choices that van Wijnen faced in re-evaluating the international footprint of the business.

Undergraduate or postgraduate level.

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CSS 5: International business.

This case study covers different concepts related to leadership. It should help students analyze business situations from a leader’s perspective. By the end of this case study, students would be able to understand the role and the characteristics of leadership during a crisis using the 11 dimensions of character framework, map leadership personalities using the HEXACO model to understand the effectiveness of certain traits in crisis management and apply theories of change management using the Satir and Switch models, in addition to Kotter’s theory of change.

Elsewedy Electrometer Group (EMG) was owned and operated by Emad Zaki Elsewedy as the sole founder and chief executive officer (CEO). EMG was a leading company in the meters industry in Egypt. The time span of this case study covered the period from November 2011, when Elsewedy’s health was deteriorating, to his early retirement in September 2012, and his comeback, two years later, in September 2014. In November 2011, against the backdrop of Elsewedy’s deteriorating health and subsequent early retirement in September 2012, EMG faced several challenges in achieving its vision that hindered its business growth. These arose after Youssef Salah, the former export director of EMG, was appointed as the company CEO. In Elsewedy’s absence, EMG faced liquidity problems, as the banks demanded that it repay all its debts. At the same time, the business suffered severe losses owing to its inefficient operations. Elsewedy decided to return to EMG in September 2014 to find a solution and help the business recover to ensure its continuity and sustainability. After taking a holistic view of the crisis at hand, he was faced with a dilemma and several questions: Was the company leadership effective? Would a change in leadership be required? How could he lead effective change in light of the current crisis? How could he ensure that EMG did not end up in a similar predicament in the future? This case was designed to teach leadership in crisis and change management in the metering industry.

This case study is intended for graduate and undergraduate students studying a leadership or management course. It can help students comprehend the challenges that arise when a large business undergoes a management transition during a crisis. The case study also considers how leaders are shaped by crises. This case study can be considered as level 1 on a 1–3 scale, as the full description of the situation is given in the case study and the task of the students is to analyze the leader and his decisions using various academic concepts and theories (Erskin et al., 2003).

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CSS 7: Management science

This case study will allow students to understand and analyse the process for conducting equity valuation by building a three-statement financial model, to understand and apply the workings of discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation methodology and its components, to apply the concepts related to the calculation of the weighted average cost of capital in the determination of discounting rate, to understand the terminal value calculation and assumptions thereof and to analyse the intrinsic valuation for the target company using the traditional multi-stage DCF model for investment decision-making.

In July 2019, Kapil Agarwal, an equity analyst operating out of Mumbai, India, was carefully looking over the financials of Asian Paints, a leading paints company in India. As an equity analyst, Kapil was constantly on the lookout for fundamentally strong but undervalued companies that could create long-term wealth for his equity fund. To decide upon the right valuation of Asian Paints, Kapil conducted fundamental analysis using the DCF method on the basis of available financial information. This case study puts students in an investment analyst role wherein they forecast financial statements and conduct DCF valuation for Asian Paints to discover potentially undervalued stocks for investment decision-making.

This case study is designed for use in an undergraduate or postgraduate programme in business management, particularly in a course on business valuation or investment management or security analysis.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

After working through the case and assignment questions, the learning outcomes of this study are to understand the dividend policy of a company; compare different types of dividends that a company may give; assess the impact of stock splits and the issue of bonus shares (stock dividends); compare cash dividend and buy-backs as methods of cash distribution to shareholders; evaluate the methods of cash distribution that may be appropriate for the company; and assess the trade-off between long-term value creation and shareholder expectations.

This case study presents the dilemma faced by Partha DeSarkar, the executive director and global CEO of Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) Limited, a leading business process management (BPM) company. The company would have surplus cash of about US$1.2bn from the selling of its health-care service businesses. The company planned to invest a part of this cashflow into the company’s future growth, with some of it distributed among its shareholders. This case study provides an excellent opportunity for students to determine the best method for rewarding the shareholders. It allows students to compare various cash distribution methods. Students can examine in detail the process involved, the quantum of distribution, tax implications, financial implications, fundraising flexibility and valuation impact of available options.

This case study is best suited for senior undergraduate- and graduate-level business school students in courses focusing on corporate finance, financial management, strategic management and investment banking.

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CSS: 1 Accounting and Finance

The learning outcomes of this study are to assess the shared value model and elaborate on new multi-stakeholder approaches to business, where the stakeholders include the founders, investors, partners, employees, clients and the surrounding community; to consider the synergies between community development, environmental stewardship, sustainable business practices and the long-term health of organisations and communities, considering these as the new fundamentals of business; to examine the interconnectedness of vision, strategy, purpose and leadership in creating and evolving the shared value model; to explore the relationship between shared value practices and collective well-being, and a specific reference to nurturing transformative experiences through nature, personal development and community upliftment is made; and to assess Grootbos’ ability to translate their purpose and value proposition into a strategy and sustainable vision with a possibility of Grootbos achieving global impact through its evolving model, beyond the founder.

This case study explores the evolution of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Foundation, a luxury hospitality lodge and award-winning ecotourism destination, from humble beginnings in the Western Cape of South Africa to a global example of conservation, community, commerce sustainability and transformative experiences. The establishing of Grootbos and its growth and widespread recognition can be attributed to the vision and inspirational leadership of its founder, Michael Lutzeyer. Although much success has been achieved in conservation, community upliftment and individual development of community members within their region, Lutzeyer’s and ultimately, Grootbos’ vision extended well beyond South Africa and aspired to elevate their floral kingdom and model of development and conservation to a global platform of awareness. Although a shared value vision and strategy had transformed the business, placing Grootbos as a leader in transforming their industry and sparking an evolution in the shared value model itself through the interjection of transformative experiences, the larger question remained: How can Grootbos extend the impact, towards people and planetary well-being, beyond the scope of their individual place-based business and their industry? And in terms of the dilemma Lutzeyer and the management team at Grootbos faced: How will this vision and global ambition continue through succession, beyond Luzeyer’s personal drive at the helm?

Experienced leaders within a graduate degree program, executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) or executive education in the areas of leadership development, strategy, shared value and international business.

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CSS4: Environmental management.

The learning outcomes of this study are to examine the financial performance of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) during past five years, to compare the financial performance with the initial projections, to identify the causes of deviations in the performance, to recommend the measures to improve financial performance and to apply the learning from the BMRCL project to other similar upcoming projects in India.

BMRCL has been struggling to perform as per projections made in the initial detailed project report. The situation has further worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its post-impact on the overall economic level of activity. Ramana Rao, the consultant for infrastructure projects, was worried after reading a news article which deemed the project a white elephant. Various articles published in the newspaper also reported that BMRCL was incurring a loss of Rs 45 lakhs every day. The consultant worried about the sustainability of the project. He wanted new ideas and plans which could turn around these losses and convert them into profitable ones. He, however, does not have any immediate plans to execute and is therefore in a dilemma about how a project that was launched with so much fanfare could be made profitable. Because of COVID-19 pandemic, BMRCL’s financial situation, which although improving, had taken a significant hit. It looked like the corporation might need government assistance to cover its losses. The transport utility suffered a loss of Rs 170 crore, as a result of a decline in ridership as well as other revenue sources including parking fees and leasing revenues. This amounted to a daily loss of Rs 1 crore. The pressure on revenues was putting the officials in a tight spot about meeting the company’s debt obligations and market borrowings.

The case study aims to enable participants to understand financial performance and viability of large-scale projects such as metro rail in India.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

The learning outcomes of this study are to gain an understanding of the banking regulations and their impact on banking performance, to understand the intermediation role of banks by channelizing depositors’ savings and providing loans to borrowers, to explain an impact of a recent regulatory change in the Indian banking that directly impacts their financial performance, to critically evaluate the different financial ratios to analyze the performance of a bank and to build a DuPont analysis framework for banks.

The case serves as a primer on banking regulations in India and provides insights into banking performance. Banking regulations play an important role in maintaining financial stability, specifically in emerging economies like India. The protagonist of the case is Salil Kumar who presented his internship project to the review committee of Stock Investment Company on April 16, 2021. However, he had to rework and present his final project within seven days on the basis of the feedback received from the committee. Kumar faced the dilemma of bringing together a comparative study across two banks, namely, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI Bank) and State Bank of India (SBI) and building a DuPont framework covering the different aspects of banking performance. The case exemplifies the intricate regulatory landscape in India within which banks operate and highlights the recent alterations introduced by the Reserve Bank of India. For instance, the framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) was introduced in 2014 and subsequently adopted in August 2015. The D-SIB framework provides inherent guarantee to large banks such as ICICI Bank and SBI. This ensures government backup in the event of any failure, thereby securing financial stability. The case study is suitable for banking and financial accounting courses taught in postgraduate management programs. Once the case is studied, the students are expected to understand the basics of banking, regulations, impact of regulations on banking performance and financial measures.

The case provides valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of the banking industry, offering a critical perspective for analysis. A well-structured teaching note would serve as a valuable tool for instructors, allowing them to facilitate engaging classroom discussions and effectively guide students toward achieving the desired teaching objectives.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

The purpose of this study is to make students understand the logic behind and implications of the “Socio-Technical Imbrication Framework” that can help them understand the importance of aligning workforce motivation and capabilities with the modern technology deployed in the organization. Moreover, students will understand the essentiality and criticality of customer satisfaction for the organization.

The technical services operations team at Cotton Web Limited formerly relied on JS Node, e-coordination system, to address customer complaints. There were many bugs in that system as it did not carry along the complaint tracking protocol, was slow in response, fundamentally structured upon manual complaint record keeping that resulted in piling up un-resolved complaints for a longer period of time. The team under the leadership of Mr. Hasan Ali, a competent expert working as GM Research and Data Analytics, undertook detailed analysis of recurring glitches in this system and replaced it with a novel Web-based automated complaint management system at Cotton Web Limited. This entire diagnosis and intervention process took almost three months till completion. The case is written for use in courses in the curriculum of BBA, BBIS, BSIT and BSCS programs at undergraduate level. It is most suitable for the courses in leadership, change management, business process reengineering, soft engineering, team building and business communication.

The case is suitable for teaching at Undergraduate level to the students of BBIS, BBA, BSCS and BSIT students in the last year of their degree programs. Teaching faculty can use case-based methodology for student learning by putting them into a real-life situation faced by an organization and letting them think critically and identify following points for further discussion and clarity: individual or in groups; problem identification through discussion; the stakeholders involved in the company’s situation through presentation or one-pager presentation; case analysis with reaching best solution to prevailing issue at hand through group discussion; reaching a decision or solution with reasonable logic and justification through group discussions; and create further dilemma on the basis of questions unanswered within this case story.

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CSS 7: Management Science.

The case has the following learning objectives:

1. understand the various types of comparisons that are possible between groups over time and across space;

2. evaluate a policy intervention using relevant data and different methods; and

3. understand the meaning of the phrase “controlling for other relevant factors” in regression and non-regression contexts.

The difference-in-differences (DID) approach is a useful tool for making meaningful comparisons. This case tries to provide a non-technical introduction to the approach using a basic comparison of crime rates among districts in Punjab (Pakistan's largest province). Being the most populous region of the country, Punjab faces many governance challenges, and street crime is one of them. (Exhibit 5 provides additional information about the geographical and administrative setting used in this case study.) In 2016, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif established the Dolphin (police) Force in different locations to improve urban patrolling and reduce street crime. There were debates about the effectiveness of the Dolphin Force (DF).

Those who are skeptical of DF point to various situations that were handled incorrectly by DF personnel, as well as other administrative and operational problems in the initiative. Optimists believe it is beneficial and want it to be expanded to other districts and regions. The threat of street crime claims many lives and, according to optimists, necessitates the formation of a special force. Whether the huge resources invested in the DF worth their lot or not can be known through sound statistical analysis that can identify the difference in the rate of crime because of the DF. In this instance, the case provides information to answer the following question:

Is there a significant difference in crime rates between areas where the DF is operating and districts where it has not yet been installed?

In quantitative/statistical analysis classes, the case can be used to teach the DID technique to MBA/MS Applied Statistics/Applied Data Analysis students. It can also be used in undergraduate Econometrics classes.

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CSS 7: Management Science.

The case aims to understand and analyse the capital structure decisions made by a profit-making, growing organisation which aimed to be India’s premier airline and the market leader. The company that had pursued a high debt policy, to take advantage of the financial leverage that it would get, was now facing problems in an operating environment that proved to be challenging. A decline in operating profit, coupled with high-interest costs and an uncertain environment with cutthroat competition, had caused the company to plunge into losses. Attempts to deleverage by equity infusion were proving to be difficult. The case can be used in MBA, Executive Education and doctoral programmes. The learning objectives of this case are: to analyse the capital structure of the company, to interpret the relationship between financial leverage and risk, to assess the pecking order theory, to analyse the nuances of the aviation sector and the factors influencing the profitability of the companies in the aviation industry, to estimate the risks and the rewards associated with foreign currency loans, to evaluate the magnifying impact of the financial leverage and to propose deleveraging methods like sale and leaseback, debt conversion to equity and devise a revival strategy for the company.

The case discusses the dilemma faced by Naresh Goyal, promoter and chairman of Jet Airways (India) Limited. At the initial stage, Jet Airways, like many other companies in its growth phase, relied on borrowed funds to meet its investment needs. However, over-reliance on borrowed funds with just one equity infusion resulted in a high leverage ratio and an aggressive capital structure. Moreover, the company operated in a sector that was highly regulated, with competition that was cutthroat and a cost structure that was volatile. A high operating risk, coupled with high financial leverage, pushed the company into incurring losses. Having run out of cash, Jet Airways eventually defaulted on loan repayments to its lenders. Facing the eventuality of losing control of the company to lenders or to a strategic investor, Goyal was trying to figure out a way to save the company from insolvency and liquidation. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Goyal to keep Jet Airways, the company he had nurtured like a baby, airborne.

The case can be taught in both online and offline modes of delivery in a 90-minute session. Post-covid, the delivery mode of classes has changed. In online sessions, it may be a challenging task to ensure student participation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.