Case studies

Micro Finance Institution (MFI) named Rojiroti had been doing good work for weaker sections of the society and had brought about significant transformation in the lives of poor people, especially the Scheduled Castes, in villages of Patna district, the capital city of Bihar, India. Rojiroti was run by Centre for Promoting Sustainable Livelihood (CPSL) and had tested successfully a unique innovative model in micro financing which focused on helping the weaker sections by addressing their imminent needs which usually required very small loan amounts. With the various types of benefits people got from buying government subsidized ration to health and education in family to construct home or buy small livelihood assets. The beneficiaries developed high level of respect and trust for the MFI, Rojiroti. Rojiroti had received international recognition from universities such as University of Nottingham, UK; the University was not only researching on the model and its contributions to society, but also had supported it with funding to cater to its audience. Rojiroti did not believe in just providing finance to people like other microfinance institutions (MFI) or corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding by private and public sector organizations; its model focused more on creating capacities in the beneficiaries to sustain their livelihoods. However, after a decades time, Sunil, the protagonist in the case found himself in a situation where he had to decide for the future journey of Rojiroti after having reached a decent stage of growth The case discusses the journey of Rojiroti where the protagonist Sunil had a significant role to play and dwells upon the Rojiroti business model, its beneficiaries and value offerings to them, the changing environment outside and leaves the discussion open on the question of the choice of best road suited for Rojiroti.

The case is intended for the course on Strategic Management with a focus on business models topic. The case introduces the working of social cooperative business model and the nuances around it which is very much pertinent in today’s times where social enterprises have gained space in business and where businesses work around inclusive business models. The case is designed to provide supplemental support or discussion piece while dealing with business model / cooperative enterprise business model. This case provides opportunity to discuss strategic framework for an organization from the promoter’s perspective. The teaching notes is written from the perspective of the entrepreneur (the protagonist in this case, Sunil) who initiated the enterprise, with a learning goal to empathize and develop skills to have strategic decision making for a social enterprise.

The case is designed to provide supplemental support or discussion piece while dealing with business model / cooperative enterprise business model. This case provides opportunity to discuss strategic framework for an organisation from the promoter’s perspective. The teaching notes is written from the perspective of the entrepreneur (the protagonist in this case, Sunil) who initiated the enterprise, with a learning goal to empathize and develop skills to have strategic decision making for a social enterprise.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

Odds & Edge, a micro venture based in Ahmedabad, India, has created a niche for itself in the affordable designer wear segment. Covid-19 induced lockdown pushed Odds & Edge to the brink of collapse. And because of the severe cash crunch partners need to take a call regarding the continuation or closure of the venture. The case is intended to be discussed in an entrepreneurship class for post-graduate level participants. The case setting is inside Odds & Edge and it was May 01, 2020, when Ms Jheel Jain - a partner & the protagonist, needed to decide the future of the venture. Participants will have a brief understanding of entrepreneurial traits and will also learn about the Ansoff Model of expansion in case of continuation and the different exit choices for an entrepreneur. As Odds & Edge operates in the fashion industry, students will be able to understand the concepts such as Ecopreneurship, Circular Economy, and Trashion. The case follows through the background of Ms Jain, the ideation stage, and the players in the Trashion Industry. It then moves on to the operation of Odds & Edge narrating the process, products, and partners of the venture. The case ends with the decision dilemma for Ms Jain i.e. should she continue? If yes then how could Odds and Edge expand & grow? Or Should Jheel surrender and exit? If yes then what are the probable exit choices for her?

1. to understand the concept of Ecopreneurship, Circular Economy and Trashion; 2. to identify and discuss common entrepreneurial traits; 3. to analyze the Ansoff Matrix for exploration of various expansion/growth strategies; and 4. to understand different exit strategies available to an entrepreneur.

The case is intended to be discussed in an entrepreneurship class for post-graduate level participants.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Small-scale Dairy Farmers

This case is appropriate for undergraduate final year/senior as well as graduate-level programme students.

This case explores the life of Saravanan, a small-scale dairy farmer in Malaysia. He inherited the business from his father. Small-scale farmers in Malaysia own farms with 30 (or fewer) milking cows. Over the years, milk consumption had been on the rise, but production was less than promising. Besides low-quality milk, Saravanan often experienced issues of low milk yield. Selling fresh milk as his only source of income and the milk collection centre as his sole marketing channel, Saravanan was caught in a financially tight situation when product diversification and marketing initiatives were limited. Saravanan’s problems began with rejected fresh milk, which landed him with zero income for the day. This issue was detected when the authorities identified a few contaminated batches of milk during a site visit. The problem compounded when Saravanan had to settle three months’ debt with the feed supplier on the same day. Saravanan’s predicament echoed the plight faced by small-scale farmers in Malaysia. After managing the farm for more than 30 years, Saravanan had plans to pass it to his son, Mugunthan. However, doubts about the sustainability of the business remained. Would Mugunthan suffer the same dire fate? Would he be able to find a way out? Based on the problem-solving framework, the case attempts to identify and assess the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia, and at the same time, to suggest solutions that will ensure the sustainability of their business.

After attempting the case, students should learn to empathise with the hardship small-scale dairy farmers endure in the pursuit of their businesses, analyse issues and determine the root causes of the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia based on the problem-solving framework, generate and justify sustainable solutions to solve the problems faced by these dairy farmers and present the case, discuss and work in teams, and critically offer sustainable solutions based on framework and theories.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Mr Qazi was sitting in his office in the Multan branch, reviewing his past month’s key performance indicators when he got a call from his Town Operations Supervisor, Mr Ahmed, based in Bahawalpur. Ahmed was recently promoted and transferred to Bahawalpur, from Multan branch. He informed Qazi about the huge inventory variances, which were not earlier reported by the previous Town Operations Supervisor, Mr Sagheer. Qazi was informed that differences were around 2.37% of total sales vs the allowable company limit of Zero inventory variance. Qazi was worried about whether to report these differences to higher management or not. He was very well aware that reporting might even cost him his job, and that of Sagheer too. He could not see any solution to the recovery of the inventory or cash against the same. Should Qazi take a risk and let go of Sagheer? Should he report the differences?

1. Demonstrate the fraud and integrity-related issues. Why and how happened? 2. Analyzed the role of organizational policies in the decision of blow the whistle. 3. Identify the behaviors that helped a whistle-blower. 4. Assess the ethical dilemmas in which professional duties may conflict with personal ethics. 5. Propose organizational policies to encourage whistle-blowing and to discourage the fraud or integrity-related issues.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

BBA.

This case is intended for use in undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education courses in Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Eric Kyere founded Brouges in 2015, an African brand, with the objective of designing, manufacturing and selling great shoes. His original plan was to produce Brouges’ shoes in Africa, but had several problems with suppliers (e.g. poor quality, poor raw materials, etc.). Therefore, Brouges had to partner with a European manufacturer to produce its first batch of shoes. Shortly thereafter, Eric partnered with Michael Asare Bediako, a young Ghanaian investor and entrepreneur, who had advanced plans to build a shoemaking factory in Ghana. The factory was likely to open in early 2021, following major delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This would be a major milestone for Brouges and a key step in Eric’s entrepreneurial journey. However, how can Eric and Brouges manage the challenge of growing and building a manufacturing and retail organization? How could they succeed where others had failed?

This case has five pedagogical objectives: strategic choices: evaluate the strategic choices that companies need to make (based on their predefined goals and aspirations) and show that they are effectively an integrated cascade of choices that need to be consistent and coherent; strategic planning: apply and analyze the key steps and key decision to be made as part of a high-level strategic plan; value proposition: apply and analyze the concept and key components of a company’s value proposition, leveraging Tovstiga’s framework; doing business in Africa: evaluate the specific generic challenges of doing business in Africa, particularly in the manufacturing sector; generalizability of frameworks: this case shows that the same frameworks that are used to analyze large firms and mature markets can be applied to smaller firms in less developed markets.

This case is intended for use in undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education courses in Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Risk Management, Communication.

Study level: MBA and Executive Education.

Applicability: This case can be taught in the project management course. It will cover the project-planning phase, which is an iterative or progressive elaboration for the entire project lifecycle. The case will help in discussing how project management is an important discipline to manage projects and stakeholders effectively.

The case depicts the dilemma of a passionate entrepreneur who is setting up an ambitious dairy business but project execution goes awry. The case discusses the challenges related to project planning and execution.

It captures the essence of proactive risk management, measures that can mitigate risks and create opportunities. The case also discusses the entire project lifecycle from project initiation to closure and the challenges a manager has to face in terms of stakeholder engagement, risk management, stakeholder communication and scope change.

To understand the alignment of the project with the organisation strategy; to learn to create a project plan and monitor and control the scope, schedule, resources and costs; to accurately estimate project costs, timelines, and quality and schedule, using tools like MS Project; to learn the risk management techniques for managing projects, teams and stakeholders; and to manage stakeholder communication effectively.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 2: Built Environment.

The case provides an opportunity for participants to step into the shoes of Doshi and plan a way to expand Vardhman Envirotech (VE) business by either entering the government segment or by undertaking international market expansion. In doing so, participants should understand the existing strategy by taking into consideration the aspects regarding the manner in which VE’s Injection Recharge Well differs from the existing recharge well solutions. VE lack of experience in government segment, as well as international markets provides an interesting context for the case discussion wherein participants have to examine the positives and challenges of both expansion opportunities and decide the way forward.

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CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

Delee founders aimed to change the way cancer radically was detected, monitored, and treated. They created CytoCatch™, a highly sensitive automated benchtop device for the rapid isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells from blood samples to make this possible. Strategic alliances with Stanford University, Tecnologico de Monterrey, and UANL strengthened this innovative company’s purpose. Nevertheless, some questions arose when selecting a suitable business strategy to accomplish Delee’s vision. Liza Velarde, Delee’s CEO, was preparing the agenda for the company’s 2025 planning in November 2020. The journey has been challenging, and Liza Velarde faced critical decision-making milestones. What could be the most promising customer segment for her technology? What business model may work better for such a market? How can Delee reduce the time-to-market for their technology? Furthermore, how can Delee fund their development for the following years until FDA approves?

With the application of this case, the teacher aspires that students understand the following crucial insights: to understand the impact of a business model strategy, identify different possible business models, and explore options; in this sense, intellectual property can offer options to the strategy; to identify and analyze the gender gap in entrepreneurship and its strategic implications; and to identify the relevance of reducing the time to market for a technological product.

Gender inclusiveness in entrepreneurship.

Undergraduate and graduate-level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

• Identify challenges of operating a start-up business. • Understand the social enterprise and role of gender (women entrepreneurship). • Assess the responsibility of unskilled women entrepreneurs and the challenges faced by them. • Describe business and marketing strategies adopted in market segmentation and product promotion. • Discuss strategies adopted to sustain a small business.

Yola EcoSentials (YES) was a social enterprise originated from the American University of Nigeria, Yola, capital city of Adamawa, Nigeria. It was established in September, 2012. It started with the mission to improve the environment, reduce waste and empower women. It engaged in production of hand bags, wallets, table mats and iPad bags from the recycled waste items such as nylons. YES was founded and spearheaded by Charles Reith (Chief Executive Officer). YES faced certain major challenges in expanding its business, namely, maintenance of quality products and accountability of business operations including personal income savings plan and source of new customers. Moreover, YES was having a serious concern of project sustainability because of the availability and division of insufficient raw materials to operate their business. To overcome these challenges, in December 2016, YES planned to devise its growth strategy to operate their business run by local women in Yola, Nigeria.

Undergraduate and graduate early stage programme.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

It enables students to understand and design a business model canvas, design standard operating procedure (SOP) for very unorganized business operations and also devise base pricing for vendor negotiation.

Mr Gaurav Chaudhary, chief executive officer and Founder of Pashushala.com, established a first-ever Livestock online marketplace in India, leveraging the penetration of internet users in 2019. Pashsuhala.com evolved as an all-inclusive ecosystem that offered an innovative business model by bundling financial aid, logistics, veterinary and insurance solutions to its buyers and sellers. While every other aspect seemed to have had fallen in place, Gaurav was not convinced with the everyday handling of the cattle especially during transportation. Transporting cattle was the most challenging task tempered with issues such as changing weather conditions, stock density, lack of training on handling cattle while loading and unloading, long journey hours, feeding and watering procedures and many more for which Gaurav had to depend on the logistics partners. Gaurav was in a dilemma whether to have his own fleet armed with trained personnel for transporting the cattle or to streamline the existing operating procedures into SOP to be followed by logistics partners. If he continued with logistics partners he also had to work on standard costs i.e. fixed and variable costs incurred during the transportation of livestock. The case deals with business concepts such as supply chain risk management in the livestock sector, SOPs for a very unstructured and unpredictable ecosystem, pricing strategies and business model canvas.

Masters in business administration (MBA) and Executive MBA level.

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to assess the extent to which a new business concept or entrepreneurial idea represents a commercial success or practical failure, to estimate the complexities associated with the management of a partnership-based venture in the context of emerging markets, to demonstrate understanding of entrepreneurial action and strategic adaptation under the condition of uncontrollable external shocks (e.g. COVID-19) and to evaluate the pros and cons of different strategic options and provide viable recommendations for the future.

Startup entrepreneurship constitutes the backbone of the socioeconomic activity of any nation and a driver of innovation, industrial diversification and wealth generation, particularly in emerging market settings. Drawing upon narrative storytelling techniques, this case study immerses the reader into the intricacies of entrepreneurial venture creation within the dynamic startup ecosystem in the Middle East. It follows the story of a young serial entrepreneur, Omar, who decided to launch a business in the creative industry of arts in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with his friend, Ahmed. Their common venture, Mont8, showcased and promoted the artwork of budding and well-known Arab talents and was on track to become a recognizable brand in the Middle Eastern business of arts until the COVID-19 crisis shook the world taking everyone by surprise. In an attempt to build a successful post-pandemic future, Omar was convinced that Mont8 needed to fast-track its digital transformation. He envisioned an e-commerce marketplace that would empower Arab artists, designers and photographers to create customized virtual galleries on their own web-stores through the Mont8’s digital platform. Yet, Omar’s vision diverged drastically from the very conservative mindset of Ahmed, who did not want to disrupt tradition and argued in favor of a back-to-business-as-usual approach. It remains unclear whose option would be selected and whether the two partners would stay in this makeover together or rather part ways.

Upper-level undergraduate courses.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to identify the pros and cons of waged employment and entrepreneurship, to identify the contextual factors influencing entrepreneurship, to set up a new venture, namely, steps, challenges involved and decision-making process, to scale up a small business; when, how and where? And to tradeoff required for scaling up a small business.

Pooja, a young management graduate from Varanasi, decided to overcome all challenges and barriers faced by a women entrepreneur and chase her lifelong dream of creating her own event management startup. After having achieved phenomenal success in a short period of time within the city, she began to receive interest from neighbouring cities as well. The decision to scale up operations was particularly difficult for Pooja, as she had funded the venture through her personal funds and personally nurtured the business and her team based on the values of quality and creativity. Like any small business, she had to decide what level of trade-off was required between scaling and dilution of control over the operations.

The case study is applicable for students of management. The learnings from the case can be applied by an individual who is looking to start a business or expand one.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to understand the context of seaport logistics and supply chain design structure, to apply Monte Carlo simulation in the interface of the supply chain and to analyze the Monte Carlo simulation algorithm and statistical techniques for identifying the key seaport logistics factors.

It was 9:00 p.m. on November 10, 2020, and Nishadh Amonkar, the CEO of OCTO supply chain management (SCM) was glued to the television watching the final cricket match of the Indian Premier League, 2020. Amonkar’s mobile phone rang and it was a call from Vinod Nair, a member Logistics Panel of Ranji Industries Federation. Nair informed Amonkar that it was related to the rejection of several export consignments of agricultural products from Ranji (in the western part of India). The rejection was due to the deterioration in the quality of the exported agricultural products during transit from Ranji to various locations in Europe.

This course is suitable at the MBA level for the following courses: Operations research (Focus/Session: Applications on Monte Carlo Simulation). SCM (Focus/Session: Global SCM, Logistics Planning, Distribution Network). Logistics management (Focus/Session: Transportation Planning). Business statistics (Focus/Session: Application of Hypothesis Testing).

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

This case introduces the context of seaport logistics supply chain management with a focus on the issues of risk management in handling and transportation of dangerous goods (DG). The authors present the following learning objectives under the overarching framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy as follows: To understand the severity of handling and transportation of DG in the export supply chain context. To understand the relevance of multi-criteria decision-making in risk assessment. To apply Delphi Technique to appropriately explain the process of risk assessment in a supply-chain context.

It was midnight on December 21, 2020, and Nishadh Amonkar, Chief Executive Officer, Yorokobi, was still awake recollecting his telecon with Tushar Rane, the Head-Materials, Western Maharashtra site of Crop Life Pvt Ltd. The organization was developing and manufacturing pesticides and other specialty chemicals for its clients worldwide. As new and diverse products were being manufactured in the organization, transportation of the products was becoming challenging. The case highlights the need for a data driven risk assessment approach to manage supply chains that were prone to product driven risks such as the handling and transportation of DG.

This course is suitable at the Master of Business Administration level for the following courses: Supply Chain Management (Focus/Session: Supply Chain Risk Management), Logistics Management (Focus/Session: Risks in Logistics and Supply Chain), Research Methodology (Focus/Session: Application of Delphi Technique).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

This case discussion will enable learners to: demonstrate how the adoption of entrepreneurial leadership could aid the overwhelmed youth to successfully bounce back. Summarize various events and challenges faced. Demonstrate mindful entrepreneurial qualities to be effective. Identify various coping strategies in balancing a commercial viable model with a compassionate approach. Establish a roadmap for a healthy sustainable business model.

Ms Rahaf Raef Kobeissi was a 33-year solopreneur, mental health coach and personal development trainer who resided in Dubai. She encountered dilemmas while attempting to offer commercial, as well as empathy and compassion-based services. She tried to strike a balance between her own broken past life challenges and managing her clients’ healing journey. Another challenge was to assess whether she should adopt inductive counseling or deductive counseling principles, especially during a Covid-19 scenario. She needed to ensure a healthy work/life balance to prevent herself from suffering from burnout. Her personal journey to becoming a solopreneur was filled with grief and hardship over the years, which she endured with little support. She had the arduous task of dealing with a series of shocking incidents and events, which pushed her down through the cracks, leading to her attempting to take her own life three times when overwhelmed by tragedy. At the age of 23, Rahaf lost her father to suicide – they found him hanging in his apartment. Her abusive mother had several breakdowns due to severe depression and her drug addict brother accidentally killed his friend in her apartment with an overdose injection. The challenge before her was to strike a reasonable balance between managing the highest levels of clinical depression with suicidal tendencies and finding the right path and purpose for her own life. This was the very reason she chose to battle depression through therapy and bounced back as a stronger and more resilient woman.

This case has been focused on undergraduate and postgraduate-early stage level students pursuing business or psychology programs. Particularly those specializing in entrepreneurial, organizational behavioral and positive psychology courses.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Amongst others, these are that students should be able to: identify key components of corporate entrepreneurship; assess the role of technology innovation in terms of creating a competitive advantage; appreciate how an entrepreneurial orientation is related to innovation and growth; and make an informed decision regarding key success factors in influencing growth and sustainability.

TymeBank became the first fully branchless, digital bank in South Africa when it launched in February 2019. Since then, the bank’s customer base had grown beyond expectation, but the market had also become more competitive, as new digital banks opened for business and traditional banks expanded their range of digital offerings. The case situates the chief executive officer, Tauriq Keeran, in November 2019, considering how whether the bank was doing enough to grow, in the face of this competition.

Master’s level business students, as well as entrepreneurship, innovation and digital business at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This case is appropriate for the following courses in undergraduate, graduate or executive programs.

Sustainability, strategy, inclusive business, environmental sustainability and women in leadership. Upon completion of the case study discussion successful students will be able to:

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola brought to life Wecyclers, an urban waste management company in Nigeria that started as an idea during her MBA programme at MIT. Bilikiss served as its CEO from 2012 and mobilized efforts to sign up thousands of individuals, corporate bodies and agents who turn in waste to recycle. While waste management already had a lot of private sector participants (PSPs), there was no recycling company with a focus on community engagement as at the time Wecyclers came on board. The company went through several iterations to arrive at business model, develop its peculiar infrastructure, build partnerships and raise funds. The case study documents Wecyclers roll-out under the leadership of Bilikiss, whose work with Wecyclers has been shaped by her evolution as a professional woman with a background, education and network that has enabled her excel in the face of social norms which emphasize men as leaders. The case dilemma involves strategy cross-roads Bilikiss faced in mid-2017 as Wecyclers considered expanding its operation, pushed beyond waste collection, pushed by infrastructural weaknesses in the landscape which forced the company to consider vertical integration of its inclusive business model as a way forward to meaningfully serving its stakeholders – from communities, corporates to agents.

• Explore the strategic contexts of doing business in emerging markets;• understand the challenges and opportunities in inclusive business model for solving a social problem such as waste management; and • Examine the growth and evolution of women’s leadership, possibilities and hurdles, in a range of contexts.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

In this way, the case study contributes to the limited body of knowledge about strategic and pragmatic facing social enterprises in emerging markets, including funding, community engagement, infrastructure, etc. It also gives us a view of inclusive business models and the evolution of women’s leadership.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how Dianne Savastano, founder and CEO of Healthassist, Inc., a US-based health-care advocacy firm, successfully led her clients and team through the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. To gather the data for this case study, the authors interviewed the protagonists, the members of her team and two clients. The authors read Healthassist Newsletters and the firm’s documents; and in fact, they included one Newsletter and several documents in the Exhibits of the case study. The authors conducted a literature review for articles in newspapers and journals about the newly developing field of “health-care advocacy,” a field which Savastano helped to create.

The authors illustrate how Savastano, using the five practices of exemplary leadership by Kouzes and Posner, in The Leadership Challenge, led her team through the pandemic of 2020. This is a story of a woman leader, using traits such as warmth, empathy, analysis and decisiveness, keeps her small business afloat when so many other firms collapsed in 2020.

The authors conducted seven interviews and literature searches on the topics of health-care advocacy; women leaders; leading through a crisis; and COVID-19.

The case study illustrates how a woman founder and CEO can lead her firm through a crisis.

This is an example of how a woman leader managed through the 2020 pandemic.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The case can be taught to MBA/PGDM students to give them experiential learning in the course on entrepreneurship. The case can be used to specifically make the student understand the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the male-dominated business sector and recognize the entrepreneurial competencies needed to run a business.

Entrepreneurship.

Shany Jalal, Promoter and Managing Director of Servicecare Pvt. Ltd., and the protagonist of the case proud owner of Servicecare Pvt. Ltd. reminisced the circumstances that drove her to start the business venture in Bangalore, India. At the age of 17, a personal setback instilled in Shany a strong desire to become self-reliant and independent. Backed with a degree in hotel management and a meager loan amount of INR 10,000 provided by her father on certain terms and conditions, Shany deep dived into the soft facility management sector business way back in the year 1999 and since then there has been no turning back. Today, Shany Jalal is proud that her venture by starting a proprietorship company “Service Care”, and later converted it into a Private Limited Company, “Servicecare Private Limited” in 2011. Shany Jalal was proud that her venture is a name to reckon with in Bangalore. She has had a team of 4,200 employees, which operates Pan India, providing top-notch corporate cleaning solutions. Her motto was not to compromise on quality and she continues to provide the highest level of service to her esteemed clients, some of them even dating back to the days of inception. Her determination powered by a strong value system is what keeps the company a cut above the rest. Being in the soft facilities management service for almost 20 years, Shany Jalal feels she has achieved her dream. Today, she is a highly successful woman entrepreneur. As she retraces her career path, she owes her success earned through years of dedication, commitment, hard work and timely intervention of some kind-hearted individuals. Since 2011, the company witnessed an average growth of 41% year on year. Though there was stiff competition from domestic and multinational property management companies, Shany sailed through. However, in the global pandemic of 2020, when her business was impacted, Shany realized that to sustain organizational growth, she had to integrate technology with service. She contemplated ways and means of integrating technology with services to meet the clients’ demands. However, Shany believes that to sustain organization growth, technology must be integrated with service. She is currently contemplating ways to introduce and integrate technology with services to efficiently and effectively meet clients’ demands.

1. Understand the gender issues in India and its impact on women entrepreneurs. 2. Analyse the ecosystem that supports supported women entrepreneurs in creating a new venture. 3. Identify the leadership traits and style, entrepreneurial competencies and capacities of the women entrepreneur in this case. 4. Recognize the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the facilities management business sector. 5. Explore various options of integrating technology to improve facilities management services provided to the clients.

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Shany was able to face the challenges that came her way successfully with grit and courage. She was able to expand her business. Her business helped lighten the lives of many people as she provided a means of livelihood to the underprivileged. Shany was also able to motivate her husband to start a business venture and stood by him. She encouraged women to stand on their own feet especially motivating women to set up their own businesses. She is also in constant touch with other like-minded women entrepreneurs who share similar experiences in handling crises. This gives her more insight to take proper decisions.

Women entrepreneur, Facilities management services, Technology supported services

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case is suitable for all post-graduate students and executives doing a course in human resource management (HRM). The case will enable these students to apply concepts such as inclusion, empowerment, glass ceiling, in business situations involving women. It will help them to trace the evolution path for women employees who have the traits to lead a department or organisation and assume entrepreneurial roles.

The case study is particularly beneficial for MBA students specialising in HRM focussed on leadership and training. It can be used in courses such as gender and entrepreneurship for students of MBA entrepreneurship and MBA family business management. As the case is written in India, it can explore the gender issues in emerging markets surreptitiously. Most importantly, the case addresses COVID-19 perspective adequately, to teach modules embedded in main courses of any MBA program.

PRISM World Pvt Ltd is a leading training and consultancy firm in Delhi, India. The firm is owned and managed by a young woman Dr Anubha Walia. She started her career as a human resource manager in leading Indian companies, but somewhere down the line, she felt the job was not allowing her to realise the fullest potential. The Indian corporate training industry was male dominated with self-serving men, supporting the “glass ceiling”. To break the barrier, Anubha opened her training firm founded on the basis of a new philosophy, which should serve the ideals of helping and promoting women in workplace. This new philosophy was called PRISM. Anubha provided an inclusive environment which allowed her trainers to grow and feel empowered in a gender-biased industry.Very recently, when COVID-19 pandemic happened, female trainers were under tremendous strain as training requirements completely dried up, and they were rendered jobless. Most of these educated young women had small kids and paid monthly installments for their home loans, sharing the financial burden with their husbands. Some mature trainers were single women who had to support themselves through savings in these difficult times. But Anubha’s sense of empowerment at PRISM helped these women to do things which made their livelihoods turnaround even in uncertain circumstances. PRISM philosophy made a turnaround too. While employees were thinking of abandoning their companies and vice-versa, trainers at PRISM went for free webinars to draw clients to their firms and changed the concept of training and delivery in corona times.PRISM acquired a new meaning of wellness and spirituality in these difficult times and soared ahead successfully.

The case study hopes to achieve the following pedagogical objectives: 1. To educate students on manners and traits of women entrepreneurs. Besides, the usual difficulties of financing and running a business, women face adversities at home in the form of lack of access to working capital, trust deficit amongst family and friends. Basically, lack of support system to propels women into the tougher role of an entrepreneur graduating from a regular employee. Gender becomes a disability, which women had to fight in the workplace. The case introduces the PRISM philosophy as a unique methodology to inculcate inclusivity in work environment leading to women empowerment. 2. To outline all issues related to ‘glass ceiling” – the barrier which existed in the corporate world for businesswomen. Students need to know about problems women faced in the business environment as well as shortcomings within themselves, which can make them unproductive. 3. To align students first hand with the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, specific to women. The case talks about educated young and mature women in Anubha’s firm PRISM, fighting for lost livelihood owing to reduced levels of business. But women are known to be highly resilient and empowered in the right direction will turnaround the situation in their favour.

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The case has tremendous social implication for educated working women in traditional patriarchal Indian societies. Though a sizeable percentage of women have achieved higher education and started working in a male-dominated corporate world, only a small number of them are visible as entrepreneurs and/or leaders. Every woman needs to trace her journey from an employee to an entrepreneur or a CEO to assume a position of leadership. This case can be an eye opener for many such ambitious women who can build small- to mid-size businesses in a short span of time. Digital intervention is very important in COVID times to stay afloat. The author has shared links for many videos which can disseminate ideas for digital transformation in businesses. The case tries to showcase an ideal inclusive environment which will propel women to achieve their latent goals and desires breaking the 'glass ceiling.'

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Case can be taught at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, including executive Master of Business Administration programs.

This case is intended for courses in strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation at the undergraduate or postgraduate level.

The case is about challenges faced by Linda Portnoff, the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Riteband, a Sweden-based fintech startup. In March 2020, Portnoff was conducting beta testing of Riteband’s app, which experts considered the world’s first stock exchange for music trading. After completing a PhD, Portnoff who was working as a Research Analyst, left her job to pursue entrepreneurship. Through Riteband, Portnoff helped to resolve pain points of artists who were forced to give the copyright of their music tracks or albums to distributors, in lieu of funds or promotional campaigns that distributors arranged for them. Portnoff invested in developing a patent-pending machine learning-based algorithm that based on several parameters could predict the likelihood of a music track or an album to become a success. Based on this prediction and royalty that artists were interested in sharing with fans, shares were issued to investors, who were also fans of the artists. As Portnoff identified an innovative business opportunity to trade music on a stock exchange based on Riteband’s machine learning algorithm, competition in Riteband’s strategic group was also becoming intense. Consequently, Portnoff was facing challenges of establishing competitive advantage of Riteband. Furthermore, as women in general faced challenges in raising funds for their startups, and even though Portnoff obtained some funding for Riteband, but overall, funding was a challenge for her as well. Moreover, as machine learning was a technical aspect for artists and potential investors, Portnoff also faced challenges to monetize on its machine learning algorithm.

By the end of the case study discussion, students should be able to: understand the principles of cross-industry innovation and explain the creation of new business opportunities based on cross-industry innovation; differentiate between direct and indirect competitors through strategic group analysis and further critically analyze the competitive advantage of business over other direct competitors; determine ways of reducing gender biases in venture capital funding; describe how machine learning works and further formulate ways to monetize a business through machine learning; and demonstrate the application of the value proposition canvas and business model canvas.

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The students should be able to understand the potential and competitive advantage of community-based business model. The students should be able to familiarise themselves with the concept of entrepreneurship through acquisitions. The students should be able to decide when a firm should use acquisition as a key driver coupled with fewer efforts on organic growth or vice-versa. The student should be able to evaluate the success or failure acquisition as a growth strategy. The student should be able to evaluate the key metrics and other variables in the acquisition of target companies. The students should be able to wear the shoes of the protagonist and resolve the dilemma.

The teaching case looks at the dilemma of Sairee Chahal. Chahal is the founder of SHEROES, an online community for women. SHEROES started as an online career ecosystem for women. As time progressed Chahal witnessed conversations beyond career and moved towards women-centric themes. Chahal decided to pivot it into an online community for women. Her growth strategy for SHEROES has primarily been driven by serial acquisitions coupled with dispersed efforts on organic growth. In the meanwhile, Chahal had harboured an ambition to bring 100 million users to SHEROES by the year 2024. In a period spanning from 2016–2020, SHEROES acquired six niche women-centric companies. SHEROES grew to be a community of 1 million users to 20+million women users by 2020. On the other hand, the industry leader, Mogul used a diametrical approach to grow the platform into 30+million users by 2020. It had primarily used organic growth strategies such as content development, designing courses, referrals and many more. However, Chahal found herself in a dilemma when a reporter posed a question to Chahal. Chahal’s growth strategy depended on acquisitions, coupled with less effort in organic growth. Conversely, Mogul grew primarily via organic growth strategies. The reporter’s question forced her to question and revisit her growth strategies. She wondered if a target of 100 million users could be achieved with the acquisition as a major driver and less effort invested in organic growth or whether it might be better to make organic growth the key growth strategy while pushing acquisitions to the back seat. The uniqueness of the case lies in the female protagonist who is trying to build a larger-than-life community primarily via acquisitions with little effort on organic growth. Such a phenomenon has rarely been explored in teaching cases. The case is based on secondary data and the information is available in the public domain.

The case is designed for post-graduate students in the entrepreneurship curriculum. Within entrepreneurship, it is well-suited for use in specialised courses on “growth of an entrepreneurial venture” or “entrepreneurial strategies”. An instructor may take it up in the middle of the module as students would have familiarised themselves with various growth strategies. An instructor may use the case for a very niche course such as entrepreneurship through acquisition. An instructor may take it up as an introductory case in such a course. It can also be used in the executive programme aimed at “women entrepreneurship”, “community-based model” and “serial acquisitions” to teach how women or founders create and grow entrepreneurial ventures with acquisitions or communities as their focal tenet. The case has been tested in the authors’ post-graduate student’s entrepreneurship course. An instructor can use it when the instructor wants to discuss the various growth strategies available to an entrepreneurial firm.

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The case is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate business students. The suggestions in the teaching note would suit classes of varying sizes and can be organized by teams or for individual work.

The case is suitable for classes discussing a range of topics including business ethics, values-based leadership and entrepreneurship. The case is told from the perspective of a Hispanic, first-generation female CEO in tech – a male-dominated field. As some of its decision points include discussions with other female entrepreneurs in similar positions, this case is also suitable for discussions on gender and minority leader representation.

This case tells the story of a female tech entrepreneur in Baltimore, how her personal values influenced the values of her company and how she successfully applied those values even in the early stages of her venture. It includes a discussion of her former career in the military and her experiences as a first-generation American.

The case offers several decision points where students are invited to anticipate and discuss the protagonists’ values and their application of them in her work. It likewise invites students to reflect on their own values and how they influence their business decisions. As the case is based on true events and uses real names, students may also perform research on the real business and its context to extend this case even further.

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Women are chronically underrepresented in leadership positions and some choose to become entrepreneurs because it offers a surer path to CEO roles. Additionally, this case offers some perspective on the different leadership styles of women, such as this protagonist’s choice to allow her personal and corporate values to drive important early decisions for her business. The instructor and students also may wish to focus on aspects of the case related to the protagonist’s ethnicity and her family’s status as recent immigrants to the USA. Ideally, class discussions will consider the protagonist holistically, and her identities as intersectional.

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Graduate or Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Majors

Entrepreneurship/Venture Capital (VC) Investing

The case highlights a women-founded venture capital firm that values investments in diverse entrepreneurs and an innovative retail business started by two minority entrepreneurs. Students will be asked whether the firm should invest in the venture and will also be asked to discuss models that may help transform the retail business into a VC-backed scalable technology business.

By the end of the discussion, students will be able to evaluate the feasibility and scalability of a new business venture; and evaluate the alignment between a venture capital company and a new venture.

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This case highlights the lack of resources for women and minority entrepreneurs as well as the underrepresentation of minority women in the VC industry.

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The case provides a great illustration of women leadership in crisis times. A failed merger forced a deep review of the firm strategy and a realization that the legacy leadership arrangement was not optimal anymore. The hustand-and-wife team ended up swapping executive positions, with Charlotte resolutely taking on the CEO position.

The case is designed as an integrative case looking simultaneously at key subjects such as leadership, entrepreneurship and management of a fast growing service firm, strategy as applied to IT consulting and finally gender studies, with the possibility to discuss the impact of gender roles.

The case investigates Charlotte's efforts at building an original Search Engine Optimization firm in Seattle, progressively taking control from her husband to save the firm from bad strategic decisions.

The case is written to convey the emotional rollercoaster lived by Charlotte and key decisions she had to make as the leader of this fast growing data analytics firm. Learning outcomes focus on what is expected of a leader in such situation, in particular a female leader in a male-dominated technology environment.

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Consulting in general, and data analytics consulting in particular, are male-dominated worlds where a female leader faces many obstacles to realize their potential. Charlotte provides a masterful example of how to contribute to and lead a fast-growing firm and manage the family and the relationship to a partner who also happens to be the co-founder of the firm.

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This case is appropriate for early-stage postgraduate courses in entrepreneurship or business modeling.

Entrepreneurship.

Cosmobio case study presents the journey of Antonella Bognanni, founder and CEO of Cosmobio, along seven years of operations, from the initial assessment of the business opportunity to the launch, relaunch and closure of the business.

1. To establish whether or not a business idea is a business opportunity. 2. To articulate aspects related to management prowess and liability of newness. 3. To differentiate between a lean versus a more traditional approach to business planning. 4. To discuss the potential bias of preliminary research. 5. To apply definitions of first-mover advantage. 6. To discuss how to conduct an environmental analysis; identify industry and target markets; and perform a competitor analysis. 7. To compare low-cost strategies to differentiation strategies. 8. To discuss marketing mix and marketing strategy. 9. To illustrate challenges related to being a solopreneur and related leadership styles or gender issues implications. 10. To illustrate implications related to business failure, past mistakes and lessons learned.

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This case can be used in the core course on entrepreneurship for Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration/Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA/PGDM) students. It will help them to understand the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs, strategies to manage challenges, interactive style of leadership and their contribution to the economic growth of the country.

Entrepreneurship.

Roopa Rani, co-founded a digital design company, DesignTheme Innoventics (DTI), with her husband Yoganand, in November 2007, on the first floor of their residence. Yoganand’s creativity and Roopa’s determination made them bootstrap, scale slow and steady. As a novice to the industry, the initial days posed many challenges. Roopa hired artists to be appointed as designers, which gave them a unique selling preposition. They progressed slowly from a team of 2 to 20, with a revenue of INR 0.3M per annum to INR 12M per annum. As the company grew, Roopa wanted Yoganand’s support in handling the responsibilities, and hence, converted DTI into a limited liability partnership in 2013 and the couple were directors. As the client base improved, the need for shifting to a bigger space became more evident. A calculative risk-taker, Roopa, was forced to move DTI to a bigger office space end 2017, with a rent of INR60,000 per month. Meanwhile, they became a team of 20, with revenue of INR12m. The shift from no rent to a rented space made DTI slip to break-even. However, after two years, they moved into a smaller space and it coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak. Although the backlog orders were processed during the first quarter of 2020–2021, the business for the next quarter was affected. Social distancing norms created a shift in the way of doing business, which was a boon for a designing company like DTI. Now, the task before this self-made woman entrepreneur was to formulate strategies to scale up the business.

After analysing the case, the students will be able to: i. Value the contribution of women entrepreneurs towards the economy. ii. Examine the motivational factors and challenges of women entrepreneurs. iii. Understand the importance of networking. iv. Appraise the socio-cultural factors in a patriarchal society and their impact on the work-life balance of a woman entrepreneur. v. Appreciate the interactive leadership style of women entrepreneurs. vi. Formulate strategies to scale up the business.

• Agarwal, S., & Lenka, U. (2015). Study on work-life balance of women entrepreneurs – review and research agenda. Industrial and Commercial Training, 47(7), 356–362. doi:10.1108/ict-01–2015-0006 • Amit, R., & Muller, E. (1995). “Push” And “Pull” Entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 12(4), 64–80. doi:10.1080/08276331.1995.10600505 • Buttner, E. H. (2001). Examining Female Entrepreneurs' Management Style: An Application of a Relational Frame. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(3), 253–269. doi:10.1023/a:1026460615436 • Carter, S.C. (1997). E. Holly Buttner and Dorothy P. Moore (1997), ‘Women’s Organisational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-reported Motivations and Correlates with Success', Journal of Small Business Management, January, pp34-47. • Cohoon, J. McGrath and Wadhwa, Vivek and Mitchell, Lesa, Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men? (May 11, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract = 1604653 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1604653 •Fletcher, J. (1998), Relational Practice: A Feminist Reconstruction of Work, Journal of Management Inquiry, 7(2), 163-186. • Kirkwood, J. (2009). Motivational factors in a push‐pull theory of entrepreneurship. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 24(5), 346–364. doi:10.1108/17542410910968805. • Malyadri, G., Dr. (2012). Role of women Entrepreneurs in the Economic Development of India. Paripex – Indian Journal of Research, 3(3), 104–105. doi: 10.15373/22501991/mar2014/36. Pal, N. (2016). Women Entrepreneurship in India: Important for Economic Growth. International Journal of Pure and Applied Researches, 4(1), 55–64. Pugazhendhi, D. P. (2019). Problems, Challenges and Development of Women Entrepreneurs. Emperor Journal of Economics and Social Science Research, 1(4), 48–53. doi:10.35338/ejessr.2019.1407. Shastri, S., Shastri, S., & Pareek, A. (2019). Motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(5/6), 338–355. doi:10.1108/ijssp-09–2018-0146. Tende, S.B. (2016). The Impact of Women Entrepreneurs towards National Development: Selected Study on Taraba State. Information and Knowledge Management, 6, 30–43. Xheneti, M., Karki, S. T., & Madden, A. (2018). Negotiating business and family demands within a patriarchal society – the case of women entrepreneurs in the Nepalese context. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 31(3–4), 259–278. doi:10.1080/08985626.2018.1551792

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The case could be effectively used in courses on entrepreneurship, strategy and brand management in MBA programs and executive-level training programs.

Entrepreneurship, strategy, marketing, women leadership and women in business.

This case deals with the business decision-making situation of Ms Jyotsna Ramachandran, a first-generation woman entrepreneur from Southern India, who has created a Global collaborative business network in self-publishing of books from India. After gaining industry experience for five years in some of the leading retail brands of India, she decided to take a plunge in entrepreneurship. She tried several businesses ranging from retail staffing to custom-made chocolates. Though it was profitable, the volumes and margins were smaller, and Jyotsna aspired big. As, at that time she was on her family way, she decided to identify a profitable business with better value creation and premium for the consumers and at the same time free from minute-by-minute concentration to take care of her child. In other words, a less-hassle home-based business with better revenue streams and margins. The case gives a thorough background of her rise in the industry and talks about some of her new ideas and plans.

Students will be in a position to: 1. Understand gender issues and bias affecting women in work. 2. Illustrate the initial phases of entrepreneurship. 3. Understand and apply the evaluation tools like PESTLE, SWOT and then business model canvas. 4. Understand the value chain and the intensive and integrative growth strategies. 5. Illustrate blue oceans in an industry setup – irrespective of the industry growth rate. 6. Apply perspectives on brand management.

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The case addresses the important gender issues affecting women’s work–life balance. It will also inspire many women through the success of the woman protagonist and her project head well documented in this case study.

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This trio of cases is appropriate for upper-level undergraduate classes or for postgraduate programs in non-profit management, leadership and community development, international development, global studies, women’s and gender studies and social entrepreneurship. It allows the instructors and students to engage with classical leadership tenets and emerging social entrepreneurship literature. Upon completion of the case study discussion and assignments, students will be able to: identify diverse obstacles that African women face in starting social enterprises; understand the ways that African women leaders build a social dimension to their enterprise; and identify characteristics of women’s leadership and critique the value of women’s leadership for establishing sustainable social enterprises.

The case stories of the three African social enterprises portray how female leaders have fostered sustainable organisations through prioritising social, over economic and governance investments. Martha Letsoalo, a former domestic worker, founded the Heartfelt Project in South Africa, which now employs fifteen women, ships products all around the world and enriches the community of Makapanstad with its workshop, training and education centre. Victoria Nalongo Namusisi, daughter of a fisherman in rural Uganda, founded Bright Kids Uganda, a thriving care facility, school and community centre that educates vulnerable children, empowers victims of gender-based violence and distributes micro-loans to female entrepreneurs. Gertrude, abandoned in Lusaka, Zambia, founded Chikumbuso, a home of resilience and remembrance to educate children and offer women employment in a cooperative business. Each case documents the founding years of the social enterprise and outlines some of the shared women’s leadership approaches. The case dilemma focuses on why and how women start social enterprises in socially and economically difficult contexts.

This trio of cases is appropriate for undergraduate or graduate-level programs in non-profit management, leadership and community development, international development, global studies and social entrepreneurship.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

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By the end of their studies, students are expected to: undergraduate level. Learning objective 1: Describe the concept of social entrepreneurship. Learning objective 2: Explain the sources and challenges of funding social entrepreneurial activities. Learning objective 3: Discuss the different strategies that social entrepreneurs may use to raise funds. Postgraduate level. Learning Objective 1: Use theory to explain the concept of social entrepreneurship. Learning objective 2: Discuss the role of social capital in facilitating resource acquisition for social entrepreneurial activities. Learning objective 3: Evaluate the current action for fundamental change and development (AFFCAD) funding model and propose strategies that may be used by a social enterprise to achieve financial sustainability when donor funding expires.

The past decade has seen the emergence of many social enterprises from disadvantaged communities in low-income countries, seeking to provide solutions to social problems, which in developed countries would normally be addressed by government sponsored welfare programmes. The social entrepreneurs behind such initiatives are typically drawn from the disadvantaged communities they serve. They are often young people committed to improving the lives of their most disadvantaged community members. Being poor themselves and located in the poorest communities, establishing their enterprise faces fundamental challenges of obtaining resources and if accessed, sustaining the flow of resources to continue and grow their enterprise. Targeting external donors and mobilizing social resources within their community is a typical route to get their enterprise off the ground, but sustaining momentum when donor funding ceases requires changes of strategy and management. How are young social entrepreneurs dealing with these challenges? The case focusses on AFFCAD, a social enterprise founded by Mohammed Kisirisa and his three friends to support poor people in Bwaise, the largest slum in Kampala city. It illustrates how, like many other similar social enterprise teams, the AFFCAD team struggled to establish itself and its continuing difficulties in trying to financially sustain its activities. The case demonstrates how the youngsters mobilised social networks and collective action to gain access to donor funding and how they are modifying this strategy as donor funding expires. From an academic perspective, a positive theory of social entrepreneurship (Santos, 2012) is applied to create an understanding of the concept of social entrepreneurship. The case uses the social capital theory to demonstrate the role played by social ties in enabling social entrepreneurs to access financial and non-financial support in a resource scarce context (Bourdieu, 1983; Coleman, 1988, 1990). The National Council for Voluntary Organisations Income Spectrum is used as a tool to develop the options available for the AFFCAD team to sustain their activities in the absence of donor support. The case provides evidence that social entrepreneurs are not limited by an initial lack of resources especially if they create productive relationships at multiple levels in the communities where they work. However, their continued success depends on the ability to reinvent themselves by identifying ways to generate revenue to achieve their social goals.

This case study is aimed at Bachelor of Entrepreneurship students, MBA, MSc. Entrepreneurship and Masters of Social Innovation students.

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To understand the strategic importance of location selection within the organization. To analyze the constraints in decision-making for selection of location. To analyze the alternate options for a location selection. To understand the usage of the factor rating method.

Due to a countrywide anti-encroachment drive, Mr Mughal loses his shop. He had just received a notice that his shop including those of others near him was established on one of the amenity plots. The structure was declared as illegal and was to be demolished in 24 h. He had to vacate the shop and his display center to avoid the loss of his items. He along with other shop owners approached to Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to stop this demolishing act and to prove that these shops belonged to them for decades and that they had already paid the price of shops at that time. However, the SCP rejected their appeal straightforward and the anti-encroachment drive was carried out. Now, Mr Mughal had to find out an alternate location to establish his display center and to resume his business operations.

Undergraduate.

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The learning outcomes have been prepared in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). After completing the case, the students shall be able to do the following: • describe the challenges faced by the not-for-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organizations operating at a local level in a conflict-ridden zone (knowledge). • Explain the key features, roles and typologies associated with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (comprehension), apply such typologies to specific organizations (application) and differentiate between social enterprises and NGOs (analysis). • Analyse various scaling-up techniques and infer the technique(s) used or can be potentially used by a particular organization (analysis). • Synthesize different elements of the organizational environment and reflect on the potential influence of these elements on an organization (synthesis). • Develop frameworks by applying institutional theory and motivations for volunteerism to map challenges of organizational legitimacy and volunteer turnover, respectively, as well as make recommendations to tackle these challenges (synthesis and evaluation) • Develop recommendations for the problems faced by not-for-profit voluntary NGOs (evaluation).

Balgran, a local not-for-profit non-governmental voluntary organization operating in the conflict-ridden state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India was established in the year 1975 to empower destitute, orphans, abandoned and socially handicapped children. Since its inception, Balgran has expanded its services at a rapid pace including Bal Bharti public school, health care centre, vocational training and a computer centre. Mr A.K. Khajuria, President of Balgran, was concerned about the high turnover of the voluntary staff, mistrust among the potential donors concerning fund management of NGOs and inadequate funding. Mr Khajuria after a few failed attempts at resolving these issues, called for a meeting of the members of the governing body in February 2019 to decide the future plan of action to resolve these issues. Through this case, the students can understand the challenges faced by local NGOs in general and unique challenges (mistrust among potential donors) faced by NGOs operating in conflict-ridden areas such as J&K. The students will be able to enhance their skills in brainstorming and making recommendations while framing possible solutions to the challenges faced by Balgran. The case seeks to enable the students to comprehend the features and typologies associated with NGOs; the role played by local NGOs in community development; differences between social enterprises and NGOs; scaling-up techniques and paths with special reference to local NGOs and the environmental factors that can potentially influence the operation of NGOs.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-level students learning social entrepreneurship, social work and management of alternate organizations such as NGOs. This case could be used to discuss concepts related to not-for-profit organizations operating in voluntary settings.

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Illustrate the typical organizational responsibility of a small, medium industry dealing with precision manufacturing products. Introduce a balanced scorecard (BSC) as a concept about the case in the context. Introduce the parameters specific to small and medium enterprise (SME) that could be considered to be part of the key performance indicators. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of using a BSC in SMEs in emerging economies.

Gopika Rani, the recently hired Executive Assistant along with Sanjana M, the Business Development Manager of SEP India Private Ltd. (SEPI), a small medium enterprise, were finalizing a proposal for the forthcoming “India Small Business Excellence Awards 2020.” The proposal was to be considered by the Board of Directors scheduled to meet next week for approvals. Sanjana apprises Gopika on CRISIL’s policy advisory role and its annual awards scheme for SMEs in India. She also details recent modifications announced by the Government of India that had impacted SEPI and was pertinent for filling the application. Gopika understood that SEPI was well-known for the precision and durability of its component, and was poised for growth. The business catered to global suppliers (Tier-1 companies) of the Indian automotive industry that accounted for over 75% and the balance contributed to exports. SEPI’s unique products such as Starter Motor Ignition or the Fuel Vending pump (Automotive) or the non-automotive products such as arrowheads and bowstrings (sports) or the heart-valves (medical) have all the quality certifications. For new product development, customer feedback played a crucial role at all stages of development from prototype to pilot tests. SEPI’s mission “be our customers’ preferred supplier and business partner” drove their personnel and organizational objectives. Also, SEPI could get multiple benefits and be in a strong market position because of this award recognition. Gopika was, however, unclear about SEPI’s business strategies and use of appropriate performance measurement tools. Gopika desired to address the Board of Directors next week on her idea of applying a BSC as a useful “strategic planning and management tool.” The BSC methodology can be used to monitor the performance of SME firms against strategic goals. It can be successfully implemented in smaller organizations because of their simpler set-ups and tendency to arrive at a consensus quickly. However, implementation of BSC within the Indian micro, small and medium enterprises has been scant. Several studies found that the lack of ownership, resistance to change, a scarcity of training and coordination between the departments and lack of funds were among the challenges. The firms also had to make numerous changes to their strategies as business environments evolved. Gopika was convinced that the tool could blend in all the “four perspectives – customer, financial, internal business and learning and growth” and grow. The tool could demonstrate meeting all the prerequisites, “needs to have an exemplary vision, demonstrate outstanding business acumen, use best practices and create a legacy for the others to follow,” that were prerequisites for receipt of this award. Her next project would be to seek approval for the implementation of BSC, a beneficial and apt tool for SEPI. Do you agree with Gopika Rani that BSC is a suitable tool for SEPI? If yes, why? If no, why?

This case study titled leveraging the BSC – a tool for SME advancement is intended for use in the graduate management program (MBA) in subject electives, namely, entrepreneurship, strategy formulation, human resource management or production management.

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This paper aims to enable the application of Value Proposition Canvas and Business Model Canvas to evaluate an opportunity; understand the commonalities and differences between social and commercial enterprises; and recognize the challenges related to the paradox of the social mission and the financial/economic logic.

Neha Arora demonstrated exceptional capabilities of defying the social stigma associated with People with Disabilities (PwDs) to establish Planet Abled, a first in the world venture to provide accessible leisure excursions to PwDs. This entrepreneurial initiative enabling group and solo travel for PwDs as inclusive tourism has created the possibility of social sustainability by bringing change in the lives of PwDs and their family members by ignoring either the insensitive or overprotective societal attitudes and lack of infrastructure concerning travel for PwDs. Its potential growth qualifies for scaling-up, but it can also attract the existing big travel solution providers to enter this domain. Considering these facts, Neha faces multiple dilemmas: How can she sustain and scale up the early momentum created by her enterprise? How can she resolve the challenges related to the paradox of the social mission and the financial/ economic logic while scaling-up Planet Abled?

This case study is suitable for both undergraduate or graduate-level programs in the area of entrepreneurship.

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This case teaches participants to: identify evaluation feasibility criteria for project alternatives according to their typology (market, techniques, finances, environmental and social), starting from the analysis of the information available about them. Prepare a comparative project alternative evaluation table, applying good business analysis practices promoted by PMI® and other authors for selecting the most viable project option that will add the most value to the organization.

At the start of 2013, Acería Ecuatoriana, because of a million-dollar investment that had been started by its general manager, Pérez, increased its melting and steel production capacity from 100,000 tons per year to 220,000 tons per year. This implied a greater demand for industrial gases and require its main additional supplier to deliver. Demand increase caused Grupo Lindo Ecuador´s plant saturation, unit separation air 1. For this reason, Grupo Lindo Ecuador had to import considerable oxygen amounts and this increased its cost of production. This caused Cadena to seek the establishment of a strategic alliance with Acería Ecuatoriana, for the purpose of developing a project for gas production (oxygen, nitrogen and argon). In September of the same year, Nelson became interested but required to know the Grupo Lindo Ecuador project proposal before signing the strategic alliance.

The case is addressed to an audience made up of graduate students (graduation and Master’s Degree) who have managerial experience and would like to improve their project management empirical practices.

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Following are the learning outcomes: recognize the significance of project management as an integrated approach for managing projects in an unprecedented situation. Identify the issues related to managing contemporary projects such as shorter product life cycles, changing customer preferences and last-minute risks. Evaluate the role of sub-domains of project management such as project prioritization, project negotiation, project portfolio system, project risk assessment and management and project stakeholder management.

It is the year 2020, and the entire world is struggling to cope up with the crisis caused by the corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic. Normal life has come to a standstill. All industries have realized the significance of developing innovative strategies to move to the new normal situation. This case describes the plight of TVR Cinemas, a business vertical of Tiya Group, which caters to the business of production and distribution of Bollywood and Hollywood movies in India. With the lock-down of the Indian subcontinent, the multiplex business is badly hurt. With new norms of sanitation, social distancing, and a ‘stay home stay safe policy’ the company has to devise new ways to sustain in the market. This case invites students to put themselves in the shoes of the company project manager, Mr. Ramchandani, to provide recommendations about deciding ways to release seven pipe-lined Bollywood movie projects, deciding on the appropriate over-the-top (OTT) partner for tie-ups, and devising strategic steps to recover the reputation of the company by launching an OTT platform themselves.

The case is useful for introducing basics of project management along with decision making for projects in an uncertain situation. This case can be used for the students of undergraduate/postgraduate/executive level across the modules of project management/project risk management and negotiation management.

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CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

• Develop an understanding of how to institutionalize a family business. • Define the dynamics of the family business decision-making process in emerging markets. • Assess the cultural differences between founders and successors in an emerging markets context. • Identify the role of intergenerational differences in deciding the future strategy of a family business in emerging markets.

This case addresses El Batraa Manufacturers for Chemicals and Paints S.A.E., a privately owned family business operating in the coloring paste industry in Egypt. The main dilemma of the case is the existence of different visions about the business between the old and new generations. Also, it addresses the importance of understanding family dynamics to resolve existing challenges. The necessity of having governance in a family business is highlighted, together with a clear succession plan to secure family unity and business sustainability. Sandra the main protagonist within the case is trying to arrive to a resolution that can guarantee a motivating environment for her to join the family business. Her main dilemma is whether to choose to join the family business, with all the existing challenges or not. Accordingly, she proposes some steps to make the family business more appealing.

Under Graduate and Master of Business Administration level.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Understand the implementation phase of sustainable start-ups. Identifying the 4 Ps of sustainable start-ups. Understand the different types of challenges faced by Up-Fuse regarding their target customers and their value proposition. Highlighting the important strategic decisions that sustainable start-ups have to consider in their business cycle. Analyzing the differences between the market conditions globally and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Sustainable entrepreneurship is the type of entrepreneurship that is market-oriented and creative while at the same time putting the environment, society and economy into consideration. Sustainable entrepreneurs offer value through their goods and services that are beneficial or at least do not harm the environment or the society. The case provides background information and facts about doing business in the MENA region and Egypt specifically. Afterward, the case study emphasizes the challenges that are faced by sustainable entrepreneurs in Egypt through analyzing the case of a sustainable Egyptian start-up. The case study is on Up-Fuse, one of the sustainable start-ups in Egypt that produce backpacks, shoulder and waist bags, laptop sleeves, cases and pouches. This case study aims at describing the different challenges and strategic decisions that sustainable start-ups go through in Egypt.

This case targets undergraduate management students, marketing students, master of business administration students, entrepreneurship students and entrepreneurs. This case can be taught in courses with marketing, entrepreneurship and sustainability focus.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes of this paper is as follows: to strategically evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, threats and resulting opportunities that face an entrepreneurial startup. To apply the academic principle of competitiveness and evaluate the competitive advantage of the business and its competitors through the application of the Porter’s five forces model. To evaluate the contextual tensions that entrepreneurial ventures face, and how these affect the growth of a sustainable business. To develop the skills to create a target market analysis by using segmentation, targeting and positioning principles. To evaluate the best strategic actions to grow a business through the lens of sustainable entrepreneurship, by using principles such as the triple bottom line and people, opportunity, context and deal and framework.

The case look at business challenges faced by an entrepreneur, Renshia Manuel, the CEO of GrowBox, as she attempts to balance the profitability and social impact of her venture in Cape Town, South Africa. GrowBox sells customisable self-contained wooden boxes equipped with all materials to grow a variety of vegetables and herbs for consumers. Large volumes of boxes are often purchased by corporate clients who donated these to lower-income communities as part of their social responsibility projects. Additional landscaping and food-scaping services make up another revenue stream of the business. The case study documents the conception of GrowBox in 2016 and the growth of the business in the first four years of operation. The theft of equipment, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff due to the volatile social climate of where the business was situated, have put the business under great financial pressure and reduced the efficiency of business processes. The case highlights a number of the harsh realities of sustainable entrepreneurship where both profitability and social impact are vitally important to ensure business sustainability. The case dilemma involves the choices faced by Renshia at the beginning of 2020 regarding the future, sustainable growth of the business.

The target audience for this teaching case is primarily business students at a postgraduate level, particularly those studying in the fields of sustainable entrepreneurship and social development, as well as marketing in emerging markets. This teaching case is intended to be used as a case study in postgraduate business programmes such as postgraduate diplomas in management, specialist Masters programmes such as those focussed on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship or social development, as well as those studying a Master of Business Administration or related executive education programme.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

After studying this case, students should be able to: understand the process of opportunity identification for forming social enterprises (knowledge), discuss various concepts related to social entrepreneurship and not-for-profit firms (comprehension), apply tools to differentiate between social and commercial enterprises (application), analyze the role of environmental factors like culture in influencing business (analysis) and develop decision-making skills by critically evaluating the options (evaluation).

Sasta Bhojan Sewa (SBS) was one of the key projects of Parupkar Sewa Society. The social venture initiated by Jaswinder Singh, a young resident of Ambala (a small town in Haryana, India), got registered as a not-for-profit society in the year 2018. Mr. Singh initiated various social welfare projects since the year 2006 when he got inspired from the history of Sikh Gurus. As years passed, he was able to employ more and more people. This led to the development of a social venture, which had 33 employees at the end of the year 2019. The society was running seven major projects with the help of dasvandh (donations). Project SBS was about providing home-like hygienic meals to people at merely INR10. There were 11 canteens in Ambala city and cantonment, which were being run under that project. Around 1,500 people were eating daily in those canteens, out of which around 70–80 people were not able to pay even INR10. The project had employed 30 people. The salaries of the staff and other operating expenses like liquid petroleum gas (LPG) expense, transportation cost and electricity were met through dasvandh (donations) from the local households. When the project was initiated, the cost of preparing a meal was INR10, but by the end of 2019, the cost went up to INR12 per meal due to food inflation. The meal was still being sold at INR10 at a loss of INR2 per meal. On December 28, 2019, as founder of the society, Mr. Singh was thinking of raising the selling price to INR12 per meal, which had to be implemented on January 01, 2020 but he was doubtful in doing so. He thought increasing the price might defeat the purpose of starting SBS as he was reflecting on how poor people were and how each rupee mattered to them. He was also considering that it might affect the goodwill of the society that was known for selling food at an extremely low price. By using the example of SBS, we explain various concepts of not-for-profit social enterprises like opportunity identification, key drivers, business model canvas and environmental effects in this teaching note. The teaching note also provides cost–benefit analysis of the available options to facilitate effective decision-making.

Undergraduate and graduate-level business programs.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case helps learn various aspects of entrepreneurship, startups and startup-ecosystem in India. It also talks about challenges that a startup entrepreneur faces that others or people potential to enter business can learn. It develops one to identify diverse and holistic solutions for overcoming these challenges. Apply and explain strategies suitable to business management.

After facing lot of difficulties in personal life, Mr Mitesh Shethwala started an e-commerce business named Alagrand.com. This Ahmedabad city-based startup for selling apparels and accessories for all age group is doing so well that the valuation of company has gone beyond Rs. 20 crores. In spite of the high valuation, company is facing problem of funds and investments. The protagonist of the company has lot of plans for growing business and taking it to next level that can happen only if he gets funds for the business. The case talks about issue of investment and funding of this startup company. The company also has issues in the area of setting standard operating procedures and marketing.

Teachers can discuss this case study for various subjects like Strategic Management, Retail Management, Digital Marketing and Product and Brand Management that are taught to the students of management courses at graduate and post-graduate levels. Academicians and students should read current information and data regarding setting up startups, investment and capital budgeting related to startups and funding methods.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are to remember the overall context of global supply chain management from a stakeholder perspective, to understand the context of material handling movement in a mining industry, to apply the overall knowledge of linear programming in a supply chain context, to analyze the different constraints with flow of goods at different nodes in various location hubs and convert the same into the optimization problem and to evaluate carefully the different costs associated at different levels and then finding the optimal solution that minimizes the total cost.

This case proposes a mixed integer multi-echelon analytical model integrated with the scenario tree analysis. The integrated model is used to optimize the allocation of volumes at various stages of the supply chain of exporters of bulk materials like iron ore from Goa, India, to various countries in Asia. The scenario tree analysis is then used to evaluate decisions under certainty with demand as the stochastic parameter. The proposed integrated model has potential for collaboration in the supply chain and facilitating network design, inventory and transportation planning and policy analysis.

This course is suitable at the MBA level for the following courses: Operations Research (Focus/Session: Applications on Supply Chain Management), Supply Chain Management (Focus/Session: Global Supply Chain Management, Logistics Planning, Distribution Network), Logistics Management (Focus/Session: Transportation Planning) nd Operations Strategy (Focus/Session: Location Node Strategy).

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The learning outcomes of this paper is as follows: understand the impact of macroeconomic challenges on startups; gain insights into the effects of self-management attribute over entrepreneurial effectiveness and performance; create a conceptual framework for customer satisfaction; analyze the internal and external factors affecting the entrepreneurial journey of new startups.

This case revolves around the entrepreneurial journey of Mr Khursheed Chohan who belonged to Sukkur (Pakistan). He started his journey as a daily wage worker in the year 2002 at the age of 17 years. After one year he acquired a rickshaw on rent and would drive the same as a taxi. In the year 2006, he started the job as a private driver. For achieving his dreams, he moved to Karachi (the land of opportunities) at the age of 27 years. During his stay in Karachi, he learned about insights into the wedding decoration industry. Keeping in view the market requirements, he also took some training courses on learning computers. By the age of 34, he returned to his hometown with the will to start his business venture of wedding decoration services. It had been around one year, he was successfully running his business. However, the emergence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the imposition of lockdown over businesses were his most recent challenges. While Chohan had pre-booked several orders and secured advance money, shall he be able to survive the COVID-19 effects? Shall he be able to continue his entrepreneurial journey?

Undergraduate.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Learning outcomes are as follows: students will discover the importance of process orientation in management; students will determine the root cause of the problem by applying root cause analysis technique; students will identify the failure modes, analyze their effect, score them on a scale and prioritize the corrective action to prevent the failures; students will analyze the processes and propose error-proof system/s; and students will analyze organizational culture and ethical issues.

Purpose: This case study is intended as a class-exercise, for students to discover the importance of process-orientation in management, analyze the ethical dilemma in health care and to apply quality management techniques, such as five-why, root cause analysis, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) and error-proofing, in the management of the health-care and service industry. Design/methodology/approach: A voluntary reporting of a case of “radiation overdose” in a hospital’s radio therapy treatment unit, which led to an ethical dilemma. Consequently, a study was conducted to establish the causes of the incident and to develop a fail-proof system, to avoid recurrence. Findings: After careful analysis of the process-flow and the root causes, 25 potential failure modes were detected and the team had assigned a risk priority number (RPN) for each potential incident, selected the top ten RPNs and developed an error-proofing system to prevent recurrence. Subsequently, the improvement process was carried out for all the 25 potential incidents and a new control mechanism was implemented. The question of ethical dilemma remained unresolved. Research limitations/implications: Ishikawa diagram, FMEA and Poka-Yoke techniques require a multi-disciplinary team with process knowledge in identifying the possible root causes for errors, potential risks and also the possible error-proofing method/s. Besides, these techniques need frank discussions and agreement among team members on the efforts for the development of action plan, implementation and control of the new processes. Practical implications: Students can take the case data to identify root cause analysis and the RPN (RPN = possibility of detection × probability of occurrence × severity), to redesign the protocols, through systematic identification of the deficiencies of the existing protocols. Further, they can recommend quality improvement projects. Faculty can navigate the case session orientation, emphasizing quality management or ethical practices, depending on the course for which the case is selected.

MBA or PG Diploma in Management – health-care management, hospital administration, operations management, services operations, total quality management (TQM) and ethics.

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

In the light of the case and the accompanying case questions, the students should understand the theoretical underpinnings of the Blue ocean strategy. Application and critical evaluation of analytical frameworks associated with the blue ocean strategy. Role of political, socio-cultural and technological factors undermining the success of any endeavor aimed at bringing about innovation in education in Pakistan. The critical balance that social enterprises need to develop between their commercial and social impact goals.

Founded in early 2014, LearnOBots was a young social enterprise spearheaded by Shamyl Bin Mansoor and Faisal Laghari. The venture aimed to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-based, tech supported experiential learning to young kids, which would eventually help improve the educational standards in the country. This case presents the complex dilemma of an enterprise, which achieved market traction to its novel business idea but soon faced changing competitive dynamics that posed a challenge to the uncontested blue ocean strategy that the venture attempted to create. The case is a rich description of the idiosyncrasies that an innovative startup faces in emerging markets context. It gives an insight on the balancing act that social enterprises need to achieve between their business goals and social impact aspirations.

This case is geared toward undergraduate students enrolled in courses of strategy and entrepreneurship.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Students should be able to appreciate the exigencies of managing social enterprises in a largely profit-oriented economic domain; understand the interplay of choice and trade-offs in business management and be equipped to make optimal choices; and appraise new, creative and profit-making approaches for sustaining social enterprise.

Daniel Mensah and his team were to deliberate on options available for ensuring financial sustainability of HealthKeepers Network (HKN), a not-for-profit organization focused on community health and grassroots capacity development. As the economy of Ghana moved towards middle-income status, funding from global organizations had begun to decline. To ensure HKN’s continuity, Mensah needed to re-engineer HKN’s finances and consider options available for ensuring cash inflows to support the organization’s operations. Each of the available options involved specific setbacks or challenges for HKN to overcome to achieve financial sustainability. Mensah and his team were to engage in a brainstorming session analyse the available options and map the way forward for HKN.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-level programmes in business management.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes include to identify and discuss important personality characteristics of an entrepreneur, to explore the business planning pitfalls that torment many new ventures and to understand key concepts of business model thinking.

The case is about Fetakart, a one-year old venture, which offered custom designed and printed t-shirts in Gujarat, India. The venture was launched by Himanshu Dhadnekar in 2018. Himanshu was a young first-generation entrepreneur who displayed entrepreneurial characteristics since his school days. Later, he was involved with a few failed startups, worked as an employee in different companies and curated new ventures. Fetakart was born out of another venture, MotivPrints, which sold a large variety of custom designed and high-quality printed products such as visiting cards, office essentials, apparels, packaging and marketing material. At MotivPrints, Himanshu discovered the market for customized t-shirts in India but with very little knowledge of the business model or capabilities of leading players such as Bewakoof.com. The venture started struggling and faced several problems including high cost demands by manufacturers and lack of funding. Where did Fetakart go wrong? Was Fetakart born out of impulse? Did Himanshu have a viable business model for Fetakart?

The case can be discussed in the class of entrepreneurship at master’s level. It can also be used in entrepreneurship specialization course and strategic management elective(s) in the second year of post-graduation. The case can be particularly useful for young entrepreneurs associated as incubatees with a business incubator and for an executive development program related to new ventures.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the process of procurement and describe the process of supplier selection; to understand the importance of vendor selection criteria and develop the same; and to develop the framework for steps involved in vendor selection.

Jelani was working in his office over weekends to select the supplier and finalize the contract for installation of SMD LED screen. It was going to be one of its kind in town, and the first ever project for the organization. He was working as procurement manager at Universal Ad Agency and based in their office at Hyderabad. Jelani had already missed the deadline of installation, and he knew that he was not going to get any extension in deadline for the second time. He had visited the markets of Lahore and Hyderabad to source out the best supplier. He had to prepare a strong case and present to CEO. With all the data available, would Jelani be able to select the best evaluated supplier from among the recently sourced out suppliers?

MBA elective courses of Purchase & Supply Management, and Operations Management.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics

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The learning outcomes are to understand the definition of public value and the strategic drivers behind public value creation, understand the nature of social innovation in the public sector, identify the critical opportunities and challenges involved in sustaining innovation in the public sector and identify the role that non-profit organizations can play in supporting and sustaining social innovation.

This case puts participants in the shoes of a global health innovator’s leadership team as the organization approaches a funding crisis. The organization, VillageReach, is on a quest to expand across the public health system of Mozambique and experiences a funding dilemma. The case reveals the challenges of working with governments to achieve large-scale, systemic change. It explores the conundrum of using international donor funding to embed new practices in government service delivery. Ultimately, it asks participants to choose between the pursuit of new, small-scale innovative projects and the large-scale rollout of a national programme.

This teaching case is written for courses focused on social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social change. It can also be used in courses focused on non-profit management and public sector innovation. Specifically, the teaching case is suitable for two audiences: social enterprise and non-profit managers focused on strategy, development and operations (the case focuses on an enterprise that relies primarily on donor funding) and health-care managers and administrators. Generally, the case is suitable for undergraduates in their final year of study as well as graduate-level business and public administration courses, including MBA, MPH, MPA, EMBA and Executive Education courses.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are as follows: students should be able to provide definitions for ethical dilemmas; students should be able to identify ethical dilemmas in a real business context; and students should be able to determine the outcomes of applying given decision-making models to a specific scenario.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the complexity of ethical decision-making in start-up enterprises in emerging markets. The study draws on two well-known decision-making models to illustrate how their application in this context may lead to conflicting outcomes. The study data was collected through reflective entries provided by the business proprietor. These were followed up by three in-depth interviews. The data was supported by analysis of company documents provided by the case. The study demonstrates the crucible moments in entrepreneurial startups that give rise to ethical questions and the need for decision making. It demonstrates the complexity of ethical decision making in emerging contexts. The study business elected to maintain anonymity for commercial protection. This limits the scope of information that may be divulged. The study and the accompanying teaching note provide context for how to apply decision-making frameworks to real business dilemmas. This study contributes to scholarly work on teaching business ethics to undergraduate students.

Final Year Undergraduate.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.