Case studies

This case serves as a useful backdrop for discussing a few important conceptual frameworks in the field of finance. The dilemmas are still evolving for Sharīʿah-compliant asset management company (AMC); i.e. Al Meezan, and may seem complex to the students – particularly in the Pakistan’s financial structure – but framing the discussion from a market perspective ought to help the students of finance.

This case study focuses on Al Meezan Investment Management Limited (Al Meezan) journey since inception. Al Meezan is a full-fledged Sharīʿah-compliant AMC and one of the major players in the mutual funds industry of Pakistan. Al Meezan offers a comprehensive range of Sharīʿah-compliant investment solutions especially designed to meet the financial goals of their existing and potential clients. The case study covers all the key events before the inception of Al Meezan, from late 1990s till March 2020. The case is based on interview with chief executive officer (CEO) (the protagonist) of Al Meezan. The case also covers various challenges faced by Mohammad Shoaib, CEO and his senior team, to make Al Meezan a vibrant institution offering Islamic financial services.

This case is aimed at undergraduate students in their final year (i.e. taking electives in the field of Finance/Islamic Finance) or graduate students majoring in Finance/Islamic Finance.

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The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding of the principles of choice overload and the impact of consumer choice overload on company sustainability and growth prospects; understanding of how several heuristics inform consumer decision-making; applying nudge theory to interpret and clarify the impact and consequences of nudges on consumer decision-making; and considering the challenge of a newly appointed CEO to influence consumer choice.

The case study and teaching note offers insights into the use of behavioural economics principles in consumer choice. The case study methodology was used to design, analyse and interpret the real-life application of behavioural economics in the retail sector. The case demonstrates how choice overload, dual process theory, decision heuristics and nudge theory play a role in consumer decision-making. The case offers insights into the application of behavioural economics to support the sustainability of a company in an emerging market context. Managers can use the findings to consider how to use behavioural economics principles to drive consumer choice. The application of behavioural economics to an industry facing challenges of sustainability offers new insights into how to design spaces and cues for consumer choice.

The case study is suitable for course in business administration, specifically at postgraduate level.

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This case study aims to provide students with: an understanding of the unique challenges companies in Africa face in attracting and retaining highly-skilled human resources. The ability to critically evaluate various talent recruitment, development and retention options available to companies in Africa.

This case study examines the talent management challenges faced by Chijioke Dozie, CEO of Nigeria-based financial services company One Finance (OneFi). Under the brand name Carbon, OneFi operated a digital financial services app that offered loans, bill payments, an investment platform and an electronic wallet. However, Nigeria did not have many professionals with experience in consumer lending and certain technical skills, particularly data scientists and software engineers, was hard to find. Data scientists, for instance, were not only in short supply in Nigeria but also they were in high demand globally. OneFi, therefore, competed against top employers throughout the world, but with a start-up budget. OneFi’s talent management dilemma is a common challenge faced by companies operating within under-developed African economies. The insights and learnings from this case are, therefore, also applicable to other businesses on the continent.

MBA Post Grad.

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Recognize the interest groups of the business as stakeholders and shareholders. Understand the role of strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) in attaining competitive advantage for the firm. Apply the techniques of financial statement analysis such as common-sized financial statements and ratio analysis. Analyze the overall financial position of the company such as its liquidity, solvency and profitability position. Evaluate the appropriateness of various CSR activities given the size of the company, its business model and financial position. Create a suitable CSR policy draft incorporating the critical elements of a CSR policy that enables the firm to operationalize it and fulfill the disclosure norms.

The management of Ball Industry Limited (BIL) had overlooked the mandatory requirement of CSR policy formulation. The company had not yet spent anything on CSR since the regulation had come into force. The company’s financial position was not healthy. Still, it fell under the regulatory clause as a borderline case and must spend 2% of its average three years’ profit on CSR activities. The company had previously ignored the requirement of formally drafting a CSR policy and deciding about the actions it might want to carry out. Now that the regulator had started sending show-cause notices to several companies who had not yet begun CSR, BIL was under immense time pressure to draft its CSR policy and initiate the relevant CSR activities. Emily, the chief operating officer of BIL, was assigned the task of preparing the blueprint of the CSR policy of the company and made it available for discussion in the upcoming meeting. The task at hand was to formulate a sound CSR policy under the constrained financial state considering its strategic planning, including the SWOT analysis, competitive environment and the overall general market and economic conditions. She submitted that rather than a vanilla CSR activity, strategic CSR would support the firm to differentiate itself from competitors. She was struggling to formulate a CSR strategy that could achieve both economic and social goals.

The case will be most suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate courses.

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This case study focuses on the problems that a company have in segmenting a local market of a gas distribution company and some strategies that they can use for developing a viable market segmentation to target the right segment that will provide a good economics, revenue base customers who also have the mindset to change to a new product. At the end of this exercise, students should have a clear understanding of the following: the essentials concepts of market segmentation, targeting and positioning and how they can be leveraged so that businesses increase their returns; the main elements/steps that drive market segmentation and business positioning; the appropriate methods for market segmentation when targeting local markets for a city gas project; and the challenges companies might face when changing a product.

In 2018, commercial customers began asking Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Distribution to provide a sustainable solution to ensure a continuous supply of safe gas and avoid the interruptions and hazards associated with the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to their premises. The request was discussed with the ADNOC marketing, supply and trading (MST) Division to investigate the possibility of growing the natural gas business in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, thus contributing to the Emirate’s security, economy, environment and community, and ultimately to ADNOC Strategy 2030. Khaled Salmeen, Director of the ADNOC MST Division, believed that industrial customers accounted for higher business volume and profitability. Nevertheless, he advised Shuhab Al Shehhi, the City Gas Project Manager, to study the potential benefits in targeting both residential and commercial customers as part of ADNOC’s responsibility towards community engagement and investments. Al Shehhi had to address several questions: How could the City Gas Project be strategized and positioned so as to target all market segments? What were the potential outcomes? Would targeting all market segments strengthen ADNOC’s brand position?

This case study was written for Marketing and Strategic Management courses in Bachelor of Business Administration programs.

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The case presents a lot of information, directly and via references and Web-based links, about the economic consequences of the virus. Several themes are evident: As an opening theory-base, the decades-long stakeholder versus shareholder debate is invoked – but does this extend beyond “stakeholders” to the “public good”? There are contexts (generally wars) in which governments are empowered to instruct private companies to engage in the public good – but how far should/must they voluntarily go? The underlying macro-economic issue is: where will we get the capital? Central banks have not recovered from the 2008 global financial crisis and have limited “ammunition” to address the anticipated economic problems introduced by the virus. The case presents data on selected financial metrics (interest rates, debt levels, risk pricing, etc.) and outlines the conventional stimulatory steps used: lowering short-term rates (monetary policy) and investment in assets (fiscal policy) and the less-conventional Quantitative Easing “QE”.

The coronavirus appears to herald a devastating blow to lives and to the world economy – its impact is yet unknown, but likely to be comparable to war and pestilence of biblical proportion. This case focuses on the possible economic trajectories as a consequence of the virus, with emphasis on bailing-out (restructuring) struggling companies and restoring jobs. Within the framework of a world desperately in need of capital, it raises questions about accountability and responsibility. Should retrenched workers in restaurants, banks and airlines feel the consequences of their poor career choices? Must shareholders (read pensioners) shoulder losses to support the public good? Ought governments bail-out whole industries – using tax-payer money? Or do we allow central banks to conjure-up billions and hope for the best? The case does not attempt to provide answers to these questions but presents several vignettes and offers a context in which participants can debate the merits of these problems.

MBA and Exec-ed.

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The case describes the origins of money, touching on the gold standard, the Fed’s 1942 purchase of US debt to fund the “war effort”, Bretton Woods (1944), Nixon’s 1971 pulling the currency peg and descent of money from gold to fiat. It also touches on theories of inflation and deflation, quantitative easing (QE) post the 2008 crisis and the “swamp” of (unorthodox) modern monetary theory (MMT). Aside from providing a brief history of monetary policy and economics, the case study seeks to widen students’ understanding of key economic issues including: fiat money, QE, government funding mechanisms, taxation, economic stimulation, inflation/deflation – and of course, the need for an ombudsman to limit excess.

In May 2020, South Africa’s deputy finance minister David Masondo announced that he would support the South African Reserve Bank’s lending to the government. This statement followed President Ramaposa’s earlier announcement of a R500bn COVID-19 stimulus package. The case explores the economic history of money, from barter to gold to cryptos. The case examines the origins of central banks’ printing of money, initially to support the Second World War effort and more recently the 2008 global financial crisis and now the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, the case raises the question of central bank independence – “democratically elected governments always need money, is it appropriate for central banks provide it? And are there limits?”

MBA and Executive Education

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This case will help students to improve their understanding of several important aspects of an organization’s culture and the importance of ethics in developing an organization’s culture. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the concept of values and their importance in business and learn what organizations should do to make their culture more value-driven. Students will be able to identify the impact an organization’s blurred culture causes and understand the concept of “value congruence” and its need to get higher employee performance. Students will be able to understand the importance of Holland’s person-job fit theory, in an organizational context, along with the impact of Hofstede’s national culture on the organizations’ culture of a country. Students will realize how a result-driven performance management system impacts an employee’s morale negatively, and discover why an organization should balance on giving equal importance to both result and behavior-based performance appraisal system. Students will develop sensitivity to the application of the “triple bottom line” and deontological approach in ethics, and determine how to formulate policies for sustainable and ethical process-driven organizations.

There are two aspects to this case. On the one hand, it talks about the ethical dilemma faced by the protagonist Mr. Vijay Shekhar while working with Smartschool.com, with its head office in Bangalore, India. On the other hand, the case focuses on the performance management system at Smartschool.com, its existing framework and the impact it has on employees and other stakeholders. It also emphasizes the importance of establishing a value-driven culture in an organization for its long term sustenance.

Graduate and under-graduate business students/MBA level.

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Learning objectives of this case is to understand the hairdressing industry and develop the sub-branding strategy. After reading this case and practicing in class, students should be able to understand this business and marketing terminology and apply them in the real world. Students will learn the branding strategies: brand extension, brand architecture and brand portfolio. Students will design (DS) the brand name for the new store.

Case synopsis Mr. Tai-Hua Teng (aka TR) was a hair artist and opened his first hair salon, vis-à-vis (VS), in 1989 using a high-end positioning strategy. VS focused on offering superb and diverse services to keep ahead of the competition rather than trying to undercut prices. VS hair salon had a solid foundation based mainly on the elite, celebrities and high-salary customers. In 2017, TR owned 16 stores (including one in Canada and two intern salons), 1 academy, 265 employees and 3 brand names. The three brand names were VS, DS and concept (CC). DS and CC were less known to the public, so now these two brands had been carried the parent name and were known as VS DS and VS CC. Quick cut hairdressing businesses were thriving because customers needed quick and cheap hairdressing services. Acknowledging the benefits of entering the highly competitive quick haircut market, TR began to contemplate the new brand name and services to offer. VS had adopted the brand house strategy but TR wondered if it was better to have an individual brand name when entering the quick haircut market. The sub-branding strategy carried the established quality assurance of VS but there was possible brand overlap. An individual new brand name might lack the well-established values from VS but it also showed the potential to reach different segments of customers. TR’s decision to make: a branded house or hybrid? This case showed a high-end hair salon facing the need for simplicity in the market and considered how to expand its business to the lower-end market. Keywords: hairdressing, brand extension and sub-branding strategy.

Level of difficulty: easy/middle level to undergraduate courses specific prerequisites: it is not necessary for students to prepare or read any marketing theory or chapters of the textbook. However, it would help a more in-depth discussion if students know the CCs of brand architecture, brand portfolio, brand extension and line extension.

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This case was written to help students develop their analytical and decision-making skills with regard to sales force evaluation. It identifies a variety of issues – in the Pakistani context particularly – within the sales force environment, including union representation, sales force team conflicts and power dynamics between superiors and subordinates. The various case lessons will enhance students’ analytical, negotiation and team-management skills. This case can be used to discuss the following issues: the complexity of objective and subjective evaluations of a sales force, sales force perceptions and cultural nuances for succeeding in Pakistan. Distribution structures and management in Pakistan. Characteristic features of the Pakistani pharmaceutical market. Students will be able to explain how salesperson performance information can be used to identify problems, determine their causes and suggest sales management actions to solve them. Students will be able to differentiate between an outcome-based and a behaviour-based perspective for evaluating and controlling salesperson performance. Students will understand how to control one’s behaviour in conflict situations by identifying common interests and achieving a “win-win” situation.

The Al-Ain case describes sales force management and sales force evaluation in a situation that involves a high-performing team operating in a hostile environment. Al-Ain eye centre (Al-Ain), located in the city of Karachi in Sindh state of Southern Pakistan, is a small-scale hospital that has diversified into the pharmaceutical business. Al-Ain’s product portfolio includes analgesics, antibiotics, ophthalmology products and cardiology products. This case focusses on team management and the relationship between a sales manager and subordinate salespeople in the context of Pakistani culture. A sales representative has received a poor performance assessment, which he perceives to be an unfair evaluation of his efforts. As a result of the situation, he subsequently joins a union and creates problems for his superiors. As they explore these management issues within a sales force, students will develop an appreciation for objective methods of sales force evaluation, as well as for the complexity of handling high-performing teams, the importance of employee perceptions and the scope of subjective biases in sales force evaluation that can emerge in practice.

The case is suited to undergraduate or MBA courses on sales management, organizational behaviour, distribution management, marketing/strategy and pharmaceutical industries. It addresses issues of sales force management, sales territory allocations, sales target fixation, team conflict, promotion, team bonus and distribution management in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.

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The case would help students to learn the concept of high involvement innovation activity and how to apply it in large service organizations to increase innovation involvement. The case will help the students to reflect on the significance of organizing structure and culture of an organization for enabling innovation and innovation process models. The case would further help the students to develop the skill to plan and implement simple, innovative innovation process models which will increase the ideation capabilities of the organization. The students will also be able to understand the role of informal learning in innovation and how to facilitate it.

Cyient – a global services firm – had always focused on innovation as a key strategic capability winning various annual client awards for over a decade. However, in 2012, Cyient missed the innovation awards which led to the introduction of Idea Tree initiative in Aerospace & Defense (AED) business unit of Cyient. Cyient was able to co-create patents and offer cost savings to its clients through the Idea Tree initiative. This cost-effective and unique initiative resulted in re-organizing the structure (from formal to a quasi-formal), culture (open to new ideas, mistakes and failures) and process (stage-gate) inside Cyient AED business unit. However, Idea Tree also suffers from challenges such as lack of a digital format, lack of corporate presence across Cyient and its highly informal nature. In this context, the CEO wants to review the Idea Tree initiative to decide on its future in Cyient.

The case is suitable for teaching multiple facets of innovation for MBA and Executive MBA classes in core Strategy, Managing Organizations and Entrepreneurship and for elective courses such as Innovation Management, Organizing for Innovation or HRM for Innovation. The case is suitable for both fresher and experienced participants.

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The case presents students with the opportunity to do the following: students can pre-work questions; understand the relevant factors to be considered in the decision to expand; and list out the industry and macro-environment factors affecting the expansion decision. Assignment questions help understand the various measures used to evaluate the financial performance of the company; understand the practical implication of incremental analysis to estimate the profit; assess the operating profit and margin of safety of the restaurant Shri Sagar with and without expansion; and critically evaluate the impact of uncertainty on projected sales using the sensitivity model.

Shri Sagar (Central Tiffin Room – CTR) was started by Y.V. Subramanyam and his siblings (Y.V. Srikanteshwaran, Y.V. Krishna Iyer and Y.V. Ramachandran) in the 1920s, specialised in Benne (Butter) Masala dosa, Maddur Vada and Mangalore Bajji. In Bengaluru, there are few restaurants, which have the legacy of more than 50 years such as Vidyarthi Bhavan, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms and Shri Sagar (CTR). Shri Sagar has witnessed three different ownership right from 1920 to the present. Ganesh, an MBA graduate, took the active participation in the business from 2018 and found there are potential opportunities to expand the business. Although business was doing well, Ganesh wanted to assess his company’s financial strength before proceeding. He would require a financial forecast that took into account the strength of the competition and the peculiar nature of the restaurant business in Bengaluru. Ganesh wanted to assess the expansion plan; to address the proposed plan, the case had used cost–volume–profit analysis and sensitivity analysis techniques to make the students understand how these techniques can evaluate the alternatives.

This case is best used while teaching Managerial Accounting, which is a core course in MBA program with a module on break-even-analysis or it can also be used in an executive education class with a similar purpose. The teaching plan can be used for MBA students and entrepreneurial training programmes, which involve training on important managerial decisions, which includes business expansion, estimating business profits/revenue targets, etc. It assumes some basic knowledge of cost–benefit analysis concepts where participants have already exposed some basic understanding of break-even analysis and what-if analysis.

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The cases highlight the challenges in running a new start-up especially by women in a developing nation such as India in a high growth industry. The success of a business depends on employee motivation, sales, marketing, functional coordination and coordinated efforts from all the executives. Experten Office Supplies Pvt. Ltd. (EXOS) was women empowered entrepreneurial startup (printing) in Mumbai established themselves as a trustable brand among their clientele for their office stationeries need. At Initial stages, they started with a good pace and growth in revenue. Directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar, were facing a downturn, their declining sales and were stressed regarding the resignation of their core member Pravin. The reasons for the situation were many, including unplanned motivational factors, non-risk-taking ability, no proper sales management (organization structure), planning process issues, lack of reward system and dependency on a person, less marketing initiative. These issues must be resolved to come back in the business, increase its sales, better sales organization structure. After the case analysis, students should be able to: know the key role of marketing and sales as a management function. Develop motivation policies for the salesforce and key team members in the organization. Understand the salesforce retention strategies of the organization.

In September 2019, directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar were discussing the downturn of EXOS and were stressed regarding their declining sales and profit margin. Both were disappointed at the resignation of their Business Manager. They were in worry as the new deal that they were about to get which could have made them earn, but Pravin resigned from the job in short notice. The case has short- and long-term aspects. The short-term aspect is about the decision related to EXOS’s top performer, Pravin, how to retain him, which motivational factor will help him to rethink his resignation. The long-term aspect deals with framing a motivation model that will prevent the organization from a similar situation in the future. The case outlines the human resource management issues and particularly the importance of motivation to retain the talent of a small startup firm. Directors recognize the importance of Pravin and they have a realization that the deal on which Pravin is working is critical. Under this situation, Upasana has to stop Pravin.

Undergraduate, Master of Business Administration (MBA) or in the Management Development Programs.

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Through the discussion of this case, students will have better understanding of the conceptual stakes related to accounting treatment for goodwill and factors determining goodwill impairment testing. The case also discusses the determination of the cost of capital and the impact of taking into account certain factors related to country risk for determining the discount rate in an international framework.

Greenfields Company continues to expand through acquisitions in emerging markets. The company aims to overcome the complexity of measuring goodwill subsequent to the initial recognition. The case was written to illustrate challenges of estimating the appropriate discount rate to be used in the goodwill impairment testing as investments in emerging countries give rise to many discount rate measurement problems such as the availability of statistical data and the risk assessment to be considered.

The case can be used at undergraduate or postgraduate level and it requires fundamental knowledge in accounting and corporate finance.

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After reading and discussing this short case, the instructor should do the following: to enable the students to select and evaluate the main strength (sustainable competitive advantage) of an evolving brand whose leading manager needs to appreciate how it can be used to achieve the strategic objective of franchising it despite its challenges; to guide the students in choosing the most appropriate brand name that will sustainably reflect the parent organization’s identity and also retain its growing attractiveness to more event sponsors and other key partners in an environment of conflicting interests; to facilitate the students in choosing the appropriate strategy for strengthening the readiness to franchise and adapt a similar teaching and examining (annual event’s) model in a related course unit from among any of the target audience’s master and bachelor degree at another university elsewhere.

This short case shows how the annual Makerere University Business School (MUBS) hospitality day has evolved into a potential event franchise, which is attracting more VIPs, the media and demand to also be held in the country’s Vision 2040 cities where the respective campuses are located.

Bachelor (BA, BBA, BSc) and MBA/master degree level.

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The main teaching objective for the case is for students to build a better understanding of how to advance women (and other minorities) in the workplace through mentorship. This is achieved through recognizing the wide variety of issues that enable and constrains women’s advancement in the workplace; defining mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking; and highlighting how mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking can overcome the challenges of facing women’s advancement in the workplace?

The case study explores the role of senior women leaders in the career advancement of other women in the workplace. It helps us understand how mentoring can address the low prevalence of women at senior levels despite companies’ efforts to advance women. The case profiles the career and leadership journey of a senior female executive, Maserame Mouyeme. It documents her rise from the dusty streets of Soweto, South Africa to become one of the first black female executives in several corporate contexts across Africa and especially at Coca-Cola. The case illustrates her practice of mentoring and its impact on her and others’ careers. Also illustrated is Mouyeme’s leadership style, mentoring approach and workplace experiences. Students deliberate Mouyeme’s dilemma: whether to continue to advance a new generation of women leaders or whether to focus on her core role of building the business she is responsible for. The selected research method is a teaching case study, grounded in an exploratory approach. Primary data was collected via semi-structured interviews with the protagonist and four of her mentees. Secondary data was collected via studies about the protagonist and the companies she has worked for in her career. The case provides empirical insights about the role of leaders and especially women, in advancing women. The case shows the approaches in which organizations can advance women. It also shows how emerging leaders can better manage their own careers. The case deepens knowledge of women advancement and career development.

The case is appropriate for post-graduate level study, including MBA-level. It is also appropriate for use on executive development programs.

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Learning outcomes of this paper are to analyse, record and classify financial transactions; prepare unadjusted trial balance; record the adjustment and closing entries and prepare post-closing trial balance; and prepare financial statements.

The case aims to induce users to draw up financial statements from the details provided. The complete accounting process is covered through solving the case. The case follows a start-up company from its first set of financial transactions to preparing the first set of financial statements. The case will help in application of accounting concepts, principles and the processes for recording transactions and preparation of financial statements.

The case is best suited for senior undergraduate- and graduate-level students of management/business schools in the courses of introductory financial accounting, intermediate accounting and financial reporting.

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Identify the types of innovation that Gastón Acurio’s proposal has created. Understand the key strategies developed to grown and consolidate Peruvian food as a category internationally and as part of Acurio’s business. Identify elements of the business model using the business model canvas. Explain how elements of a business model are related, reinforce each other and drive results. Evaluate strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats to a business model. Analyze changes to the model that can capitalize upon or mitigate these factors based on evidence.

Gastón Acurio is a successful Peruvian chef and restauranteur who was key in shaping the country’s gastronomic industry. His innovative business model distinguished him from other Peruvian restauranteurs and allowed him to grow and take advantage of opportunities in Peru and internationally. His success and growth attracted US$52m in investment funding. However, his model’s challenges surfaced during a difficult restaurant launch exacerbated by a harsh review in the New York Times. Students must identify and analyze the key elements of Acurio’s business model to evaluate and propose changes to better take advantage of its strengths and opportunities, as well as to mitigate weaknesses and threats.

Master’s or MBA.

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The learning outcomes are as follows: developing an understanding of financial statement analysis among students; students would be able to calculate various ratios, understand their meaning and interpret them to take a financial decision; and exploring the relationship between financial leverage and risk.

Amtek Auto is a leading auto-components manufacturer established in 1988 which entered into bankruptcy in through the order of Reserve Bank of India in 2017. The company started with a humble beginning and later on the promoter decided to expand exponentially both through organic as well as inorganic growth in past 15 years. To grow a company kept on taking debt which made it riskier and deteriorated its financial position over a period. The case covers a 10-year timeline from 2008 to 2017. It gives an opportunity to analyze its financial statements to understand how its decisions shaped its performance

The case aims for students to take a comprehensive view of the financial statement analysis of Amtek Auto including the following: vertical and horizontal analysis; comprehensive ratio analysis including liquidity, profitability, leverage and turnover ratios with special emphasis on debt as a double-edged sword; analysis of Armtek Auto’s financial performance over a period of 10 years.

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The learning outcomes are as follows: to analyze host market characteristics and consumer behavior to develop sound value propositions; to distinguish the characteristics of traditional retail as opposed to the ones of modern retail; to identify the potential benefits and challenges of working with traditional retail; to discuss how informality may affect business relations; and to identify potential avenues to align divergent interests between the focal firm and traditional retailers.

The case described the situation faced by French International Company (FICO), a leading manufacturer of cigarettes, after the acquisition of Fosforera Colombiana (FOCOSA) in Colombia. FICO aimed to leverage the leadership position of FOCOSA and of its flagship brand Ferrari Lights that possess a 60% market share. However, after just a few months, it was clear that the acquired subsidiary was not performing adequately. The financial results obtained were disastrous. To face this situation, FICO appointed as the new marketing director to Waldo Tarantini who has experienced dealing with informal markets. To be aligned to the Colombian consumption pattern of five cigarettes daily, Waldo decided to launch a new presentation of the leading brand denominated Ferrari five, a package of 5 cigarettes at COP 1000. Considering that more than 60% of the sale can be explained by traditional retail, it was mandatory to secure its participation. Nevertheless, traditional retailers obtained up to 56% margin by selling single sticks. Waldo and his team rapidly needed to craft a commercial strategy to secure the participation of traditional retailers in a market plagued by informality, smuggling products and lack of control from national authorities.

The case is intended to be used at the early stages of post-graduate studies and in executive education programs addressing issues such as emerging markets, informality, the base of the pyramid, trade marketing and product launches. In particular, the case can be used in MSc in Marketing’s students, first-year MBA students or executives following short courses. The field of studies in which the case should be taught is marketing or trade marketing in particular when analyzing emerging economies.

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The learning outcomes of this paper is to understand the working capital finances offered by bank; comprehend application by the company, loan proposal and bank procedure for additional finance; compute, analyze and interpret financial statements of company and its peers; and assess various factors to be considered while taking loan sanctioning decisions.

Sunshine had expanded its business by starting in-house manufacturing of a few stages of production of fasteners. Sunshine was in urgent need of additional finance for working capital and had applied to Rajya Bank of India Ltd. (RBIL), requesting to enhance working capital finance limits and other changes. Ruchit Mehta, Relationship Manager of S.G. Highway Branch of RBIL have to assess this request and include his evaluations in the proposal, which he had to present to Assistant General Manager of RBIL.

MBA or related program in finance courses such as financial management, corporate finance, financial statement analysis, bank management/finance and training program on “credit management” for bank employees.

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Identificar el tipo de innovación que ha generado la propuesta de Gastón Acurio. Ya que si bien desarrolla productos nuevos su principal innovación es en el modelo de negocio. Comprender las principales estrategias desarrolladas para el crecimiento y consolidación de la comida peruana como categoría a nivel mundial y del grupo Acurio. Identificar los elementos de un modelo de negocio usando un Business Model Canvas. Explicar cómo los elementos de un modelo de negocio se relacionan y refuerzan entre sí y cómo son driver de buen desempeño. Evaluar las fortalezas, oportunidades, debilidades y amenazas a un modelo de negocio. Analizar los cambios al modelo que podrían capitalizar o mitigar estos factores, sustentado con evidencia.

Gastón Acurio es un exitoso chef y empresario Peruano que ha sido clave en la formación de la industria gastronómica nacional. Se distingue de otros empresarios del rubro por su innovador modelo de negocio que le ha permitido crecer y aprovechar nuevas oportunidades a nivel local como internacional. Su éxito y crecimiento atrajeron US $52 millones en capital de dos fondos de inversión. Sin embargo, los desafíos del modelo quedan en evidencia durante una difícil apertura de un local en el extranjero exacerbado por una dura crítica del New York Times. Los estudiantes deben identificar y analizar los elementos clave del modelo de negocio desarrollado por Acurio para evaluar y proponer cambios que podrían mejor aprovechar sus fortalezas y oportunidades, así como mitigar sus debilidades y amenazas.

Maestría o MBA

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CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding issues involved in the employee motivation, particularly those engaged in social change and development in emerging economies; develop insights into how to motivate team members by drawing on relevant theories of motivation; and orient students towards the application of these theories in the organization.

Resource cell for juvenile justice (RCJJ) was initiated as a field action project at the centre for criminology and justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences with the objective of working on issues of children with a special focus on juveniles in conflict with law (JCL). RCJJ aimed at highlighting the socio-legal issues of juvenile children who were in conflict of law providing aid to these children and their families, and working towards their eventual social reintegration. RCJJ also trained stakeholders in the juvenile justice system and facilitated rehabilitation and social integration of JCLs as directed by the juvenile justice boards (JJBs). RCJJ had teams at six places within India. These teams worked with various government institutions, parents and JCLs to eventually effect change in the conditions of JCLs. The social workers engaged by RCJJ had a challenging task of facilitating social integration of the children, in coordination with the police, JJBs, families and lawyers. They had to actively manage help desks at the judicial observation homes where JCLs were housed. The social workers were under great stress because of antagonism from lawyers and police. The JJBs were prejudiced against them for being “outside watchdogs”. This resulted in high demotivation and attrition among employees. Jyoti Mhatre, project manager, interviewed past and present field workers to gauge the extent and reasons for demotivation. This intervention highlighted the positive and negative aspects of the organizational culture and the stress points that were causing demotivation. The situation was alarming and Jyoti had to develop an action plan to improve the motivation of the social workers to bring down the attrition.

Courses in human resource management, organizational behaviour and general management as part of masters-level programmes in business administration and management, and executive development programmes on employee motivation for middle/senior management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

The case highlights the initiatives that can be taken by the management of a large organization to bring more objectivity in promotion policies and to make the process of succession management more scientific. After completing the case, the following teaching objectives should be achieved. Students should be able to comprehend the industrial structure and the key challenges faced by oil and gas industry in an emerging economy – India; students should understand how a large organization can bring objectivity and transparency in its promotion policy by focussing on merit; students can analyse the challenges faced by a large organization in implementing changes in its promotion policy; and students should be able to understand the mechanism of alignment of assessment centres with the promotion policy.

The case deals with bringing change in the competency planning in a large organization. The focus of the case is to explain how a large organization can bring about a radical change in promotion policy especially for employees at the senior positions. The key issue highlighted in the case relates to building competency and linking rewards with merit. The case also highlights the kind of resistance by the stakeholders while enforcing the changes in the organization.

MBA and other similar programmes at the post-graduation level.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

The learning outcomes are as follows: what tasks are to be done by medical representatives in pharmaceutical industry? This study also highlights various competencies required to do effective selling in this industry; analyzes and discusses different unethical practices going on in the market; explains why ethical norms are necessary in sales context when sales targets are already achievable with unethical means; and develops and comments on strategies Flori Pharmaceutical can make to overcome on these unethical issues. What should be the response of Dahar to the email of Naveed khan? What course of action should be taken by Dahar in the deceitful reporting case of Mohsin Ali?

Flori is considered a leading and growing multinational organization in the highly competitive environment of Pakistan pharmaceutical industry with over 40 years of experience. The company aims to command a leading position in developing new health-care products as it offers a wide range of diabetic, cardiovascular, respiratory and vitamin products based on quality as a result of high research and examination. Recently, an email to Bilal Dahar on March 2017 from Flori’s star sales person Naveed Khan has forced management to take some strong decisions regarding ethical norms and values to be adopted by medical representatives of Flori pharmaceuticals. The email highlighted the issues related to sales pressure which are leading toward unethical sales practices. Dahar just not have to maintain Flori’s ethical code of conduct but he and his team also has to work hard to achieve more than 26% growth rate in sales revenue as compared to last year. Dahar knew that the highly competitive environment of pharmaceutical industry has led most of the stake holders to indulge in unethical behavior to achieve their individual targets. He knew that this is dangerous in long term for the multinational organizations such as Flori pharmaceuticals as if the similar behavior continues, the sales culture and values of the organization would be on stake. He also has to decide what decision to be taken against deceitful reporting issue of one of the top-performer territory managers, who was key person in helping Flori to close the sales year 2016 with the revenue of Rs. 6.4bn, a 26% growth over the last year. The case is rich enough to provide a platform regarding management of several ethical challenges in pharmaceutical selling and developing strategies based on them.

BBA, MBA final year.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the linkage between brand development and advertising/marketing communications plan; and to understand the critical role of branding for organizations and its clients against competition in a business-to-business environment.

The case presents a very dilemma faced by firms such as Bharat Oil Company in developing economies such as India. The public sector entities in India have always enjoyed state-vested power, authority and control. Employees in the organizations lack the appreciation for concepts such as branding and marketing communications. It is a similar situation with the case protagonist Deepak Dixit. The company has completed its first phase of marketing communications/advertising exercise for Prosell, the petrochemical brand. Deepak’s boss Aakash wants Deepak to prepare the marketing communications plan for the second phase of Prosell. Deepak’s meeting with the customers and line managers left him perturbed about the success of the first phase of brand Prosell. The case ends at a point where Deepak has to come up with a branding and marketing communications plan rather than an advertising plan. Research methods: this case is based on data gathered from primary interviews with the case protagonist (name disguised), five line managers and eleven actual business customers of the Bharat Oil Company. Secondary data has been collected from published reports and company website. The name of the company has been disguised.

Postgraduate, Executive, Undergraduate.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This case study focuses on change management and employee resistance when implementing a new initiative. The case may be helpful to students to clarify their understanding of the following: the importance of employee involvement in the change management process in the government sector. Understand how to help employees to deal with change more effectively, maintaining their commitment and bringing them successfully through the change. Understand the importance of communication during the change process. Successful approaches used when implementing change, such as the Lewin model and Kotter 8. The obstacles to change, including resistance and adverse reactions to change and connecting employees, as well as the causes of resistance when implementing a change.

The Crown Prince’s Court is an independent government entity established in 1971, providing support to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi with the help of almost 300 employees. The Training and Career Development subsection headed by Sumaya Al Saedi decided to initiate an online training and development program for employees. Given that national service, maternity leave and emergency leave had led to working pressure and less training and development for the employees, Sumaya and her team realized that few employees were registering for the course and few of those that did register actually completed their course. Several causes were identified that had led to employees avoiding the online courses. Work pressure and technical issues were among the most salient reasons that kept registered employees from completing the course. The lack of policies at an institutional level to aid changes in training structures reduced the number of employees who felt that they could register for the courses. Therefore, Sumaya and her team had to decide how to attract their employees to online courses and how to support them.

This case study was written for Change Management courses in Bachelor of Business Administration programs. This case examines employee resistance to change when implementing a new system. It can, therefore, be used for undergraduate-level courses. As it concerns employees during the implementation of changes, this case study can be used to help students develop their planning and implementation skills. By focusing on internal departmental challenges, students are introduced to the change process of implementing an initiative and how to deal with employees in the organization.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case is supported with a teaching note, discussion questions and suggested responses to those as well as verbatim transcripts from interviews conducted with managers and others for purposes of a research project after the strike had ended. Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

The learning outcomes are as follows: students will be able to critique the approach to collective bargaining of both the company and the union in the case and suggest alternative approaches; identify the steps the company could take to both deal with the aftermath of the strike and develop preventive measures for the future; and advise the company on a series of questions it needs advice on.

A violent strike erupted after failed wage negotiations. It laid bare deep divisions between African and non-African employees and between permanent employees and those appointed as temporary employees only. It also revealed the mindsets of people on both sides of the conflict, as well as several errors made by management in the manner in which they viewed the role of the union and failed to build strong relations with employees on the shop floor.

The case is suitable for students at honours or masters level in conflict studies, dispute resolution, employment relations, human resource management and negotiation.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

Ethical leadership and decision-making, engaging and managing multiple conflicting stakeholders.

Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), an ambitious Greenfield project of Hindalco Industries Ltd. faced the challenges of conflicting multiple stakeholders and collective resistance that did not allow UAIL to be commissioned for almost two decades. The case portrayed the journey of a new leader of UAIL in the path of transforming collective resistance to collective collaboration. In the case, the author was introspecting about how far the author could achieve the objective of collective collaborations through stakeholders’ engagements and what would be the next path of the journey.

MBA and executive development programs.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resources.

The case can be used in the subject areas of marketing, strategy, business model innovation, and general business growth, particularly those with a focus on emerging markets.

This case can be used in postgraduate and post-experience business courses such as Master's degrees in Business Administration, postgraduate diplomas, executive education, or specialist Master's degrees.

This case looks at craft beer business Jack Black's Brewing Co. started in 2006 in Cape Town. After humble beginnings, protagonist McCulloch grew the company rapidly with a focus on the strategic “tap” market across the country. After systematically working with a number of contract brewers the company finally invested in their own, industrial-scale brewery and brewpub. The dilemma facing McCulloch and Jack Black's Brewing Co. is one of cash flow. In order to generate cash flow, the management team needs to drive sales so that the brewery operates at full capacity. While it strives to attain this goal, there are considerable cash flow and liquidity challenges.

The development of an understanding of an effective marketing mix to position a niche and young brand.

An understanding of the concept “co-opetition” and how it works in a growing market.

The ability to assess the various growth stages of a business.

The case can be used in the subject areas of marketing, strategy, business model innovation in an emerging market. The case introduces a practical example of brand extension as a growth strategy employed by an existing brand to secure additional revenue channels and customer touch points.

This teaching case is aimed at postgraduate business students such as Master's degrees in Business Administration degrees, postgraduate diplomas, executive education, or specialist Master's degrees.

Kauai is a health restaurant with 150 stores across South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, more than 50% of which are franchise-owned. An acquisition of the original Kauai quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain by Real Foods in 2015 leads to a complete rebrand and overhaul of its product offering and store experience. Since the acquisition, the business operates as a startup with few formal processes and KPIs in place to drive performance. Despite the obvious success the team is battling with the factors that need to be considered to ensure that they can scale adequately to realise full potential. Plus how should they position the existing brand effectively within the FMCG space to maximise the contribution of brand equity to its success?

–The understanding around the business model of a strong, existing brand entering a highly competitive and price-sensitive FMCG.

–Analysing the marketing strategy and brand identity approaches that could be used.

–An understanding of the brand extension strategy that could be implemented in light of various challenges.

–Understanding how retail marketing works in an emerging market context.

The case provides an opportunity to the students to learn some of the analytical processes in making a credit decision, including interpretation of financial ratios for credit analysis, forecasting a stress scenario, analysing cash flow adequacy, assessment of financial flexibility and, finally, recommend a credit decision.

The case discusses the analytical challenges facing a bank credit officer while assessing the credit quality of Kwality Ltd., an India-based dairy product manufacturer. Kwality Ltd. had undertaken a significant capacity expansion and business transformation to strengthen its market position in value-added dairy products business and improve its profit margins. The capacity expansion had recently been completed and the management, credit rating agency, equity analysts and investors appear to be optimistic regarding the company’s prospects. However, the capital investment had been almost entirely debt-funded and large long-term debt repayments would have become due shortly. The company had also built up large trade receivables. The banker had to assess if Kwality would be in a position to repay its debt and should his bank increase working capital disbursement to the company.

Complexity: Academic level. Applicability: MBA, Executive MBA.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS1: Accounting and Finance.

To appreciate the link of marketing strategy in terms of a brand launch, implementation and sustainability for business growth; to appreciate the complexity of consumer behavior in the purchase and usage journey of consumers for condoms; to analyze the nature of competition for the entry of a differentiated new brand; to analyze points-of-parity and points-of differentiation for uniquely positioning a new brand in the condom category; and to examine, analyze and evaluate strategic options for the next stage of growth. To make choices from the options.

Vishal Vyas, General Manager Marketing, TTK Protective Devices Limited (TTKPDL), had been a part of the exciting journey of launching SKORE, their new brand of condoms. In 2010, the company found itself in a rather unusual circumstance when it lost its rights to the most successful condom brands in the country. However, they had with them their sales and marketing expertise, a good team and a strong and loyal network of retailers. TTKPDL decided to enter the rather crowded Indian condom market and launch a new brand, SKORE. As a product category, condoms were particularly complex, socially, as well as in attitude toward their purchase and usage. SKORE went on to optimally using marketing strategy and gaining a strong foothold by capturing market share from strong players with a differentiated positioning of a brand that was youthful and quirky. By 2017 after having steadily grown the brand, Vyas was now looking for the next level of growth in a market, which not only appeared to be stagnating but also one where competitive activity was increasing. He was considering different options for SKORE’s growth. For TTKPDL, the strategic choice may be between expanding to new markets and new segments of consumers or capturing more of their currently defined target group or both. If they wanted to do something different, should they also look at expanding their product portfolio? Vyas needed to decide on the next move.

This case can be used in the core MBA Marketing Management course or core marketing course in the executive education program to highlight the important link of marketing strategy to business strategy. It can also find a place in marketing strategy and consumer behavior courses. It clearly demonstrates the launch and implementation of a new brand in a cluttered market of a sensitive product category and considers strategic options for further growth. The case is designed to help students appreciate consumer behavior for a sensitive product category and the entry of a new brand with five strong brands leading the market. It guides students toward looking at different options for the next level of growth and making recommendations.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This case study outlines the marketing, strategic and organizational issues facing the ever-expanding agri-inputs market in India, through the perspective of Agroy – an agri-products company. This case can be used to assist in the teaching courses such as marketing management, rural marketing, business strategy, operations and logistics management, among others, for students of MBA or other specialized courses in management. The case has been developed to make students aware and to understand the arduous nature of setting up a company catering to the huge Indian agri-inputs market. This case delves into the complexities of marketing in rural India that is characterized by low technological awareness, low volumes of digital transactions and immense language barriers. The Indian agricultural market is huge and has undergone a considerable amount of change owing to competition among multinational companies and traditional local micro-retailers. This case discusses the various challenges faced by multinational companies in entering India and how they need to strategize to modify their Western model of a distribution channel which faces huge challenges when put to test in India. Specific learning outcomes include: the case study would help students to comprehend the new business strategies that an MNC could adopt in emerging markets. Some companies work on changing traditional and conventional value chains of activities to fit the emerging market customer’s best and hence companies needs to figure out a unique business model to compete in emerging markets. This case study gives readers the opportunity to think about strategy in an uncertain environment. The case illustrates the challenges associated with innovating new business ideas that would help the company serve a greater number of people from a diverse background. It highlights the importance of thinking about real options, a portfolio of projects and the type of organizational structure required to tackle the uncertainties associated with foreign companies aiming to enter the Indian market. It also explores marketing and distribution issues – which are the type of customers to target and which are the suitable geographic areas with suitable linguistic compatibility in which there shall be ease in doing business. Finally, it is an avenue for students to think about the changes necessary throughout the distribution channel to successfully implement and commercialize a project in rural India. The case is intended to work well as a learning tool for strategy implementation where uncertainty is inherent and as an application to lectures on real options and risk or for discussions related to marketing and distribution channels and its challenges.

The Indian agricultural market plays an important role in India’s economy having a staggering 58 per cent of rural households depending on it as the principal means of livelihood. However they have very small landholdings, and hence, they find it difficult to order either large quantities or in bulk, as a result of which the cost of agricultural inputs gets enhanced. Agroy, an MNC, is one of the many companies that have stepped in to bridge this gap by trying to tap into the huge agricultural market. Agroy aspires to be the “UBER of agriculture.” Agroy is a cloud-based buying platform for farmers to buy agri-inputs efficiently at scale and at the best price from around the world. With big data and smart farming, the company aims to enhance farm sustainability and productivity. Agroy’s competitors like Agro Star and Big Heart also have similar business models and hence the competition is stiff. The three debatable questions that the case poses are: Will Agroy be able to shatter the age-old loyalty that Indian farmers have toward local retailers and other Indian companies that have an existing strong foothold in the market? Will similar distribution models as practiced in developed Western countries work in India, given the distribution challenges in deep rural Indian hinterland? Will Agroy be able to create sustainable business models by marketing agri-inputs at low prices in India?

MBA in courses such as entrepreneurial marketing, strategic marketing, agricultural marketing.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

Learning outcomes (objectives and outcomes) are as follows: to understand the brand positioning, brand building and category extension decisions of a pharmaceutical brand (operative in one of the most competitive and regulated industries in a developing country); to analyze the outcomes of decisions pertaining strategic sales, branding, marketing and strategic restructuring to overcome the challenges of growth; and to design strategic solutions for developing brand equity.

This case explores the strategy of launching and establishing a pharmaceutical brand in an industry that tends to be a highly technical and the most regulated industry. It depicts market research data, industry analysis, stiff competition and regulatory affairs, and elaborates various strategic decisions taken by the company. The primary data for the case is accumulated through in-depth interviews from six industry experts on pharma marketing who were well acquainted with Maple Pharma and secondary data is gleaned from substantive literature. Maple Pharmaceuticals launched Starpram, a high-growth, high-potential generic antidepressant brand (in the central nervous system category) containing Escitalopram molecule/chemical. It had expertise cum competitive advantage in cardiovascular and anti-diabetic streams, but such initiative appeared category extension, with the intention to diversify risk and expand the company to achieve greater economies of scale. The first year sales revenue for Starpram appeared too bleak to spur further product inaugurations. Consequently, strategic overhaul transpired to establish the brand in the highly fragmented pharmaceutical industry. The firm lacked experience in anti-depressants category, coupled with poor sales, marketing mix and overall marketing strategy. Eventually, the management exercised strategic restructuring to establish brand equity and observed growth.

Study levels/Applicability graduate (MBA), MS, PhD (management sciences).

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CSS 8: Marketing.

These are the three most important learning outcomes: discuss the relevance of capital asset pricing model (CAPM) as the methodology to estimate the cost of equity for an investment in an emerging market; analyze the different alternatives to estimate country risk discussing the pros and cons of each. Consider the additional complexity in estimating the cost of equity, contrasting the perspective of a local, non-diversified investor with that of a multinational company operating in 39 countries.

The Chief Financial Officer of a business group has to determine the correct discount rate for an investment in a new hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The group has traditionally used the same discount rate for all projects and is now presented with several alternatives by his team. Estimating the correct country risk adjustment for the project is an important challenge. He knows that there is no clear solution to this challenge that is accepted by all practitioners and academics, but he has to present a recommendation to the board.

The case study is designed for corporate finance, appraisal or international finance courses in both MBA and executive training programs. To discuss this case study, students are assumed to have been already exposed to the weighted average cost of capital and the CAPM.

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CSS 1: Accounting and finance.

Nota técnica: “Una mirada cercana a la gestión de cuentas clave en las empresas actuales”, preparada por los profesores Javier Silva, Fernando Zerboni, Martín Zemborain y la asistente de investigación Maricruz Prado, IAE Business School, Universidad Austral, septiembre de 2007. Apoyo audiovisual con la entrevista a Carlos Etcheverry.

Este caso puede resultar útil para: Entender la complejidad de la implementación de un sistema de gestión de cuentas clave (KAM), entender los conceptos de fuerza de ventas y las relaciones entre empresas. Analizar las dificultades que enfrentan las empresas al implementar un cambio en sus estrategias de venta y los efectos de este cambio en: la fuerza de ventas, la cultura corporativa, la organización en general, los sistemas administrativos.

En 2003, después de que Carlos Etcheverry se unió a San Antonio (SA) como vicepresidente regional para Latinoamérica, la compañía implementó un sistema KAM. Las relaciones de SA con sus dos clientes clave, Vintage y Chevron, parecían estar progresando bien hasta mediados de 2004, cuando el nuevo gerente de compras de Chevron decidió cambiar la estructura comercial de la compañía, volviendo su proceso de compras más burocrático y extremadamente competitivo. En marzo de 2005, Etcheverry debía reunirse con el gerente de compras de Chevron, puesto que dicha empresa había decidido reasignar un contrato de servicios mediante una licitación, dejando a San Antonio por fuera. El caso plantea las preguntas que Etcheverry enfrentó en el momento de la reunión: ¿Cómo había llegado San Antonio a poner en riesgo una cuenta clave? ¿Necesitaría un cambio la organización de SA? ¿Esta era la única solución disponible? ¿Qué otros factores había que considerar? Estas preguntas buscan llevar a los estudiantes a considerar cómo se podrían evitar o anticipar estos problemas, y a analizar diferentes tipos de sistemas KAM.

Se puede usar para cursos de segundo año de programas de mercadeo de MBA, así como en programas específicos de educación ejecutiva que traten temas de sistemas de gestión de cuentas clave (KAM), estrategias de negocios, mercadeo industrial y/o cursos de gestión de ventas. Este caso también se puede usar a nivel de pregrado y en cursos sobre ventas, gestión de ventas, negocios internacionales y conducta organizacional.

CSS 8: Marketing

(Core) Objetivos de aprendizaje esperados (y resultados): 1) comprender las decisiones de posicionamiento de marca, construcción de marca y extensión de categoría de una marca farmacéutica (operativa en una de las industrias más competitivas y reguladas de un país en desarrollo); 2) analizar los resultados de las decisiones relacionadas con ventas estratégicas, creación de marca, marketing y reestructuración estratégica para superar los desafíos del crecimiento; y 3) Diseñar soluciones estratégicas para el desarrollo de la marca.

Este caso explora la estrategia de lanzar y establecer una marca farmacéutica en una industria que tiende a ser una industria altamente técnica y la más regulada. Representa datos de investigación de mercado, análisis de la industria, dura competencia, asuntos regulatorios y elabora diversas decisiones estratégicas tomadas por la empresa. Los datos primarios para el caso se acumulan a través de entrevistas en profundidad de seis expertos de la industria en marketing farmacéutico que estaban bien familiarizados con Maple Pharma y datos secundarios se extraen de la literatura sustantiva. Maple Pharmaceuticals lanzó Starpram, una marca de antidepresivos genéricos de alto crecimiento y alto potencial (en la categoría de sistema nervioso central) que contiene la molécula / sustancia química de escitalopram. Tenía experiencia y ventaja competitiva en flujos cardiovasculares y antidiabéticos, pero dicha iniciativa parecía tener una extensión de categoría, con la intención de diversificar el riesgo y expandir la compañía para lograr mayores economías de escala. El primer año en que los ingresos por ventas de Starpram parecieron demasiado sombríos como para estimular la inauguración de nuevos productos. En consecuencia, se realizó una revisión estratégica para establecer la marca en la industria farmacéutica altamente fragmentada. La empresa carecía de experiencia en la categoría de antidepresivos, junto con ventas deficientes, combinación de marketing y estrategia de marketing en general. Finalmente, la gerencia ejerció una reestructuración estratégica para establecer el valor de marca y el crecimiento observado.

Licenciados (MBA), MS, PhD (ciencias de la administración).

CSS 8: Marketing.

To understand how the external culture of an organization affects the internal decisions; to explore how employment stereotypes are used in recruitment; to grasp the general understanding of how line managers give more value to the bottom line than “non-discrimination statement”; to understand the challenges while managing a diverse workforce; and to critically analyze hiring decision and recommend practical solution.

Asma Malik was hired as a management trainee around five years ago. After successful completion of her one year as a management trainee, she was placed in the finance department. She outperformed all of her targets and received multiple rewards of a star performer. However, Malik was passionate and eager to work in the field and to work with the sales team. It was her dream to be an outstanding salesgirl. Based on the company’s policy of equal opportunity employer, she quickly got herself promoted to the position of wholesale manager and she was the first one to be provided such a challenging position. However, the market dynamics and market acceptability in a country like Pakistan were quite thought-provoking for a girl to be a wholesale manager. And it was observed that sales were constantly declining, as she had assigned this role. Now Country Manager (CM) had to make a decision, whether to transfer her to any other position or to retain her in the same position.

Bachelor of Business Administration and MBA.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Entender el lanzamiento de un nuevo banco en la esfera digital. Comprender la conducta de los consumidores en un entorno de creciente cobertura digital y difusión de dispositivos inteligentes. Reconocer que el valor de marca va mucho más allá del desarrollo y lanzamiento de productos. Tomar conciencia de las ventajas y los peligros de un banco puramente digital.

En 2016, Claire Solís estaba discutiendo con su equipo los caminos para impulsar el crecimiento y el conocimiento de marca de un banco sin sucursales en México. Con el fin de posicionar mejor la marca en el mercado financiero mexicano, Bankaool había decidido ser 100% digital, una institución sin sucursales. El caso presenta una historia condensada de la banca y de los cambios en la conducta de los consumidores digitales. A medida que el caso continúa, los productos de Bankaool se introducen junto con algunas preocupaciones por mantener el negocio andando, en particular con respecto a la salud del banco y su futuro crecimiento. La nueva directora de mercadeo y su equipo tienen que decidir los siguientes pasos a seguir para aumentar el crecimiento de productos justo antes de que la industria de la tecnología financiera se vuelva más madura y competitiva; un escenario de decisiones más complejas. Mientras consideran el potencial de ventas de Bankaool en el corto plazo, también necesitan una estrategia para posicionar la marca Bankaool a largo plazo mientras se esfuerzan por acelerar el crecimiento y generar retornos para los inversionistas.

Nivel de postgrado. Ocasionalmente para estudiantes de pregrado con un conocimiento avanzado de estrategias de marca y análisis estratégico. Aplicable para analizar cómo las compañías pueden mejorar sus estrategias de marca en industrias altamente reguladas.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

Se espera que los estudiantes logren: Identificar los requisitos previos y básicos a un proceso de institucionalización. Priorizar procesos estratégicos de recursos humanos como base para el crecimiento de la empresa. Analizar la importancia de las etapas en la gestión de recursos humanos. Definir las áreas de oportunidad y sus respectivos planes de acción. Proponer las habilidades de liderazgo que requiere un líder

Tramuntana^® es una agencia de viajes que destaca por ser un servicio de primer nivel, promovida por sus propios clientes. Su fundador desea institucionalizar la empresa. El principal problema al que se enfrenta para crecer y consolidarse es mantener sus recursos humanos y que no pueden ser retenidos, por lo tanto, no tienen una estructura sólida.

Escuela de pregrado y posgrado de negocios y educación ejecutiva

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

Revisar el CAPM como metodología para estimar el costo de los recursos propios en una inversión e ilustrar, mediante un ejemplo latinoamericano, los retos de aplicar el modelo fuera de Estados Unidos. Presentar diferentes alternativas para estimar el riesgo país con una discusión de sus pros y contras. Introducir complejidades adicionales en el estimado del costo de los recursos propios contrastando la perspectiva de un inversionista local no diversificado con el de una multinacional que opera en 39 países

El caso Hotel Business Inn se enfoca en la estimación del riesgo país para determinar el costo de los recursos propios en una inversión fuera de los Estados Unidos. La teoría financiera indica que este costo debería determinarse en base al riesgo no diversificable de la inversión y para obtener este estimado, los libros de texto recomiendan el CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). Los estimados del CAPM, sin embargo, generalmente se basan en el mercado financiero de Estados Unidos. Para aplicar este modelo en otros países, el consenso es que se debe ajustar por el riesgo país de la inversión pero existe un debate sobre cómo hacer este ajuste. El caso presenta las alternativas más utilizadas e introduce complejidades adicionales en el entorno de un país latinoamericano.

El caso está diseñado para cursos de Finanzas Corporativas, Valoración o Finanzas Internacionales tanto para estudiantes de MBA como en programas de formación ejecutiva.

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CSS 1: Contabilidad y Finanzas

Firms that are selling a relatively new market offering have to create the need for that offering. House Wonders entered a market that was not that well-informed about their market offering, and thus, have experimented with several communication channels that had different cost, and naturally different results. The purpose of this case is to encourage the students to compare and contrast the different communication methods, discuss their usage by House Wonders and come up with the best communication strategy.

This case simulates the challenges faced by a department store that is specialized in home improvement and hardware that recently started operations in Egypt. The store heavily emphasizes the role of “do it yourself” products, which is relatively new to the Egyptian customers. The case study presents the current economic conditions in Egypt, the company profile of the store and its parent company. The following sections involve explaining the concept of “do it yourself,” and other competitive advantages the store, House Wonders, has and how the management team managed to make the best out of it. The case study is concluded by explaining that in spite of all their efforts, the team is still faced with a number of challenges that are yet to be resolved, the most important of which is how to better reach the targeted segment.

Undergraduate/ MBA.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

Students are expected to achieve identify the prerequisites and basic to an institutionalization process; prioritize strategic human resources processes as a basis for the growth of the company; analyze the importance of the stages in human resources management; define the areas of opportunity and their respective action plans; and propose the leadership skills that a leader requires.

Tramuntana® is a travel agency that stands out for being a prime service, which is promoted by its own customers. Its founder wishes to institutionalize his company. The main problem in which they face to grow and consolidate is to maintain their human resources, and in which they cannot be retained, and therefore, do not have a solid structure.

Undergraduate and Graduate School of Business and executive education.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

The learning outcomes are as follows: analyze the risks and difficulties involved in the internationalization process and the impact of cultural variables (external analysis); understand how the balance between adaptation and standardization can be worked out in building a successful international marketing strategy (adaptation vs standardization dilemma); and analyze how a restructuring of marketing mix variables can shape an assertive and effective repositioning strategy (marketing-mix program).

The case of Vichy presents a specific internationalization process, from a European brand in a growing segment, to Brazil, a country with extreme cultural diversity where the barriers to internationalization are large and complex. The case can be analyzed from the point of view of brand repositioning, as it discusses the strategies adopted by the brand during entry into the Brazilian market, and its subsequent repositioning, bearing in mind a better adaptation to the market in question. The goal is to encourage discussions about how cultural barriers can influence the internationalization process of a brand and how the balance between adaptation and standardization can be worked out in building an assertive and effective international marketing strategy.

Master students.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

Desarrollar un plan de negocios integral para una empresa nueva. Entender el ambiente de negocios. Prepare un análisis DAFO. Desarrollar planes funcionales (de mercadeo, finanzas, recursos humanos, operaciones, etc.). Entender las oportunidades y desafíos del proceso de desarrollo de un nuevo producto.

Este estudio de caso traza el desarrollo de un plan de negocios para Ch’ulel Mendoza, un complejo de villas ubicado en la Cordillera de los Andes en Argentina, en donde los huéspedes disfrutan de lujosos tratamientos de spa basados en el uso de vino. El plan de negocios debe ser integral, pues se convertirá en la base de un proyecto completamente establecido para posibles inversionistas. Ch’ulel Mendoza está rodeado por los exuberantes viñedos de algunas de las fincas vinícolas más famosas de Argentina. El spa, las instalaciones y los servicios rinden homenaje al patrimonio vitivinícola de la región, promoviendo el vino entre sus huéspedes como algo placentero para consumir y propicio para llevar una vida saludable. El diseño arquitectónico es un guiño directo a la vid: el spa cubierto de tierra es donde los huéspedes absorben los nutrientes curativos de los tratamientos de vinoterapia y de agua, de la misma manera en la que las raíces se nutren de los elementos y el agua provenientes de la tierra; el área del resort aprovecha el espacio al aire libre con terrazas, patios abiertos y piscinas en las que los huéspedes pueden tomar el sol y disfrutar de otros elementos naturales, tal y como lo hacen las plantas de uva. Cuando entre en operación, Ch’ulel Mendoza simbolizará bienestar, recreación y el encanto de la cultura latinoamericana.

Nivel de pregrado y posgrado

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CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

The learning objectives have been prepared in accordance with the Blooms Taxonomy (Engelhart et al., 1984). After completion of this case, students would be able to examine and expand the concept of institutions (i.e. a sport as an institution in this case) and understand how important it is to incorporate them in the policy level decision-making (Knowledge); understand a different form of the social institution (i.e. Jallikattu) and capture its relevance for all the involved stakeholders by taking into consideration the challenges that could stem from their interplay (Application); analyze the interests of various stakeholders and their concerns that add to the complexity of a socially relevant issue (Analysis); and integrate the developments of an event (i.e. Jallikattu) over its timeline and develop an action plan for being prepared or for resolving such exigencies, especially for public policy decision making (Synthesis).

The case is centred on Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation whose primary aim is conservation and breeding of native breeds of cattle. The protagonist of the case, Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee of this foundation, has invested significant efforts to create awareness on the importance of Jallikattu. Jallikattu is an ancient Indian sport played in the rural regions of Tamil Nadu state in India and has been in existence for over 5,000 years. This issue has come into limelight due to its initial ban by the Supreme Court of India in 2014 and its subsequent stay on the ban in 2016. While there are several arguments surrounding this controversy, the arguments can be broadly classified under those who support the ban (i.e. oppose Jallikattu) and those who oppose the ban (i.e. support Jallikattu). Due to the involvement of various stakeholders (government supreme court, animal welfare boards and breed saviour groups) with conflicting objectives, the dynamics of decision-making to settle this issue became very complicated, confusing and time-consuming for Karthikeya. By using the lens of institutions and stakeholder theory, the authors explain the issue around Jallikattu in this teaching note. Teaching note also documents the unfolding of events that happened after 12 January 2017 which succeeded in lifting the ban on Jallikattu.

The case is written for undergraduate and graduate-level students pursuing business programmes and for senior management professionals participating in the executive education programmes. The case is suitable for those who are expected to work in an environment where there is a multitude of complex, formal as well as informal institutions. This case can be used to teach the concepts of institutions, the dynamics involved and to give the flavour of the interactions between these different institutions in solving a social issue. It will fit well into courses on strategic management, social movement and institutional theory.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Learning outcomes are as follows: understanding the difference between brand identity and brand image; applying various segmentation tools; understanding the appeal of the aspirational brand and its consequence on private and public consumption; exploring the strategic options available to a brand facing a brand appropriation; exploring the pros and cons of opposing a brand appropriation; and developing a plan for the implementation of this strategy.

This case will help students understand the difference between the brand identity that the brand owners intend and the brand image that consumers actually perceive.

This case is designed to be used in marketing management, brand strategy or consumer culture course. Specifically, the case is designed for college seniors or master students with basic strategic marketing training. It should provide the basis of discussions on the topics of brand management, consumer culture, brand portfolio management, international marketing, repositioning strategy, brand architecture, brand equity, brand assets, brand appropriation and consumer relationships with brands.

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CSS 8: Marketing

Entender la diferencia entre identidad de marca e imagen de marca. - Aplicar varias herramientas de segmentación - Entender el atractivo aspiracional de la marca y su consecuencia en el consumo privado y público. - Explorar las opciones estratégicas disponibles para una marca que enfrenta una apropiación de marca. - Explorar los pros y los contras de oponerse a una apropiación de marca. Desarrollar un plan para la implementación de esta estrategia - Explorar los pros y los contras de utilizar la estrategia de Laisser-Faire en la apropiación de la marca. Desarrollar un plan para la implementación de esta estrategia - Explorar los pros y los contras de instrumentalizar la apropiación de marca. Desarrollar un plan para la implementación de esta estrategia

Este caso pretende ayudar a los alumnos a comprender la diferencia entre la identidad de marca (la que los propietarios de estas pretenden que se perciba) y la imagen de marca (la que los consumidores perciben realmente).

Este caso está diseñado para ser utilizado en un curso de gestión de marketing, estrategias de marca o cultura del consumidor. Especificamente, el caso esta diseñado para estudiantes de último año de licenciatura o maestría en Mercadotecnia ya que tienen nociones básicas de mercadotecnia estratégica. Debería proporcionar bases para las discusiones sobre temas de gestión de marca, cultura del consumidor, gestión de carteras de marca, marketing internacional, estrategia de reposicionamiento, arquitectura de marca, el valor de la marca, los valores de la marca, apropiación de la marca y relaciones de los consumidores con estas.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

Se espera que al final de la discusión sobre el caso los estudiantes alcancen los siguientes objetivos de aprendizaje: (a) diseñar el camino de salida al mercado identificando el rol de los intermediarios; (b) identificar las alternativas de distribución y los miembros clave del canal; (c) percibir las ventajas y desventajas de la intermediación y su despliegue en la gestión de canal.

El caso reporta el dilema que experimentó en 2013 Osmar Buzin, uno de los socios de la Cervecería Noi, cuyas cervezas de especialidad habían alcanzado prestigio entre sus clientes, principalmente en la ciudad de Niterói, Río de Janeiro, donde nació la compañía. Este éxito suscitó interés en otros mercados que querían vender sus productos. La oportunidad de expansión generó la necesidad de decidir cómo llegar a estos nuevos mercados: entregar directamente en los puntos de ventas, como se hacía previamente, o emplear distribuidores. Osmar sabía que podía contar con Gilmar Gutbrodt, su socio y maestro cervecero, y con Bianca Buzin, Gerente General de la cervecería, para evaluar juntos la mejor estrategia para llegar a nuevos mercados.

El caso se desarrolló para estimular la discusión sobre las decisiones y estrategias de canal, y se recomienda para estudiantes de MBA en cursos como Canales de Mercadeo o Mercadeo Comercial en Administración de Empresas.

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CSS 8: Marketing