Case studies

The Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow is preparing to face two challenges: maintaining the educational purpose of transforming students into down-to-earth managers and lifelong champions of the institute, and attracting and retaining good faculty. The case illustrates the institutional processes that a school which is part of a chain needs to consider. The tension between autonomy and conformity, and the concept of a corporate office, which is new to educational settings, are illustrated.

Armstrong, a world famous cyclist, was charged with doping in 2012. Subsequent to this news, most of his endorsers terminated their contracts with him. Armstrong had started a foundation called Livestrong (formerly Louis Armstrong Foundation), to support cancer-survivors, which depended heavily on sponsorships received by Armstrong. Despite his resignation, the foundation was fast losing its sponsorships. Armstrong was trying to find a way to reduce negative publicity and save the foundation.

This exercise describes the competitive dynamics situation faced by two large companies, Colgate – Palmolive and Proctor and Gamble in oral care business. Both of them introduced a tooth whitening solutions and anticipated to sustain their competitive lead. P&G introduced its solution in August 2000 and Colgate followed it in September 2002. This was followed by another introduction by Colgate April 2003. The intensified the competitive battle between the two companies. The participants are required to get into the shoes of either Colgate or P&G to think through a competitive strategy. The case provides information on the estimated demand for tooth whitening solutions, gains and losses of the two companies, R&D expenditure, players in the oral hygiene market and legal framework for complaining to facilitate the analysis of the situation and decision making by the participants. The case can be used in modules on competitive strategy, innovation, and economics of strategy.

The case deals with an ethical dilemma of an entrepreneur. Chandran, a qualified contractor, had secured an electrical contract from a premier government organization. It was a turnkey project to be executed in a given period of time. In the process of work, he comes across major problems. He could not abandon the project or compromise on his moral values. He wanted a way out to salvage this project that was slowly slipping from his control. This case examines the ethical issues that confront small businesses, employees, suppliers and key stakeholders of every organization and explores the mindset of participants, their personal values and their decision making rationale. The participants get an opportunity to identify with the difficult choices a business situation may throw when ethical mindset clashes with the decision making process.

Supply chain management and particularly the significance of vendors as a strategic decision making tool.

The case is suitable for use in the following courses: MBA programs with specialisation in operations management where it can be used to teach students the significance of vendor selection and vendor rating in supply chain management (SCM); marketing research in management where it can be used to highlight the concept of multi attribute utility theory (MAUT) and its application; advanced statistics for multi criteria decision making (MCDM); and MBA/post graduate programs in management in strategic management where it can be used to introduce the concept of SWOT analysis and Porter's five forces model. An understanding of business process improvement will enable students get a comprehensive view about the case.

This case showcases the concepts of MCDM and SCM in manufacturing industry. The company wanted to select vendors and rate them in each category of raw materials in order to have a competitive advantage over competitors. Since there are multiple attributes (often contradictory in nature) based on which the vendors would be selected Kaul, Vice-President, Commercial uses multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) to help solve the problem. The case has implications for manufacturing industry in selecting vendors to meet a raw materials need.

The case can be used to understand management concepts such as market research, supply chain management and multi criteria decision making. It can be used to: teach complexities involved in identifying attributes for vendor selection and vendor rating; help understand supply chain management in business process improvement; help students understand the application of MCDM; and help MBA students studying marketing research. The case will also be useful to students in understanding the application of MCDM in operations management. Some knowledge about cigarette manufacturing will help students to realize the depth of the case.

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Public management, sustainability.

The case is suitable for undergraduate and masters' courses.

The case is about the dilemma between the lucrative economic profit from swiftlet farming and the invaluable heritage and social wellbeing of the residents in a world heritage city. In 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued a letter to the Malaysian government expressing concern over the issue of the swiftlet industry in Georgetown, Penang. Swiftlet farming is a lucrative agriculture sector in Malaysia and is considered one of the key projects under the Malaysian Economic Transformation Program. Yet, this industry posed a threat to the well being of George Town due to its impact towards the city's heritage status. The operation of swiftlet farms in shop houses in George Town not only forces residents to coexist with thousands of swiftlets in the populated city, but also deteriorates the condition of its heritage buildings. A quick solution by the government authorities is needed in order to respond to UNESCO's enquiries. A fair consideration looking at the aspects of economy, environment and society is vital in ensuring the future of the city.

These include: understanding the complex issues of trade-offs between economic profit vis-à-vis the environmental social heritage; understanding and appreciating the conflicting governmental objectives and the way to address the conflicting demands of the stakeholders (NGOs, industry and business association and the general public); identifying and determining ways to align environmental interests with economic interests in order to formulate sustainable solutions; and formulating an action plan and providing practical recommendations to solve the problem.

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Frankies For You is a comprehensive case on standard costing. It stresses the importance of adopting cost control tools like budgeting by small organizations. FFY is a small food joint started by Mr. Raj Singh. After the first month of operation, he finds that though sales volume has increased compared to the budget, the actual profit has fallen. Detailed variance analysis has to be used to find the cause for this anomaly, to evaluate the performance of the staff and to assign responsibilities. The case also refers to Activity Based Pricing, an important contemporary costing principle.

This case is in four parts, highlighting the crossroads at which the protagonist Savita finds herself in and the difficulties she faces in balancing her career aspirations with family responsibilities. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, Savita's dilemmas concern working in a prestigious management institute in Kolkata versus getting a job in Mumbai in order to psychologically and financially support her family and get married; joining her husband in China on his posting versus going to the US on a prestigious fellowship prioritizing her career, and finally, starting a family versus postponing the decision till the couple were together and reasonably settled in their respective careers.

In 2009, Brigade Enterprises Limited, with operations in the real estate sector and construction in South India, prepared a blueprint for implementing Total Transformation in the organization. A central communication channel was identified as a “must” area for improvement. Aided by Wipro Consulting Services, active and passive measures were adopted to make the internal communication vibrant, which would, it was envisioned, change organizational culture and bring about attitudinal change. However, the review after 18 months pointed towards gaps in the existing model. Should BEL continue with the existing strategies or amend? Given the organizational dynamics, what new changes, if necessary, can be initiated?

This case deals with hedging and risk management in companies. Surya Textiles had significant export revenues in euros and was looking for innovative ways of hedging foreign exchange risk to make their treasury a profit centre. Target Redemption Forward which hedged the euros into dollars was an attractive option which their Chief Financial Officer wanted to try. This instrument was designed to be a net-zero-premium hedging strategy that could provide Surya with monthly hedging rates that were better than market rates. The case analyses the pros and cons of this instrument.