Case studies

Operation and logistics.

Students and practitioners.

This case study analysis the logistical and operational issues that one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the MENA region is facing. The case provides a practical example of a company which positioned itself well to be a leading company. However, there are some inherent operational and logistical problems that hinder the company to reach its leading position. The first section of this case describes the company, its process and its operational problems. The second section is dedicated to the analysis of the operational capabilities and current key issues. The last section provides recommendations on how to improve the current operations and ways in which the improvements can be implemented, as well showing the benefits to the company based on the theoretical and practical frameworks.

Understand how operational issues affect company performance.

Analyse the effect that poor operational process can have on the overall company business.

Evaluate alternatives for process modifications.

Create plans for process improvements and assess its operational and logistical implications.

Teaching notes.

In August 2007 the Mainsail II SIV-Lite was frozen by its trustee as a result of the ongoing credit crisis. The state of Maine held $20 million of Mainsail commercial paper in its Cash Pool portfolio, a short-term portfolio that puts temporary, excess state revenues to work. When word of the potential loss became public, the Treasurer came under attack. The case introduces the functions of a state Treasury department, with particular emphasis on the investment objectives and guidelines for the cash pool as well as its composition. The case reviews the events leading up to and including August 2007, the month when the credit markets first began to seize and when the financial crisis effectively began. It examines securitization, structured finance, and the Mainsail SIV-Lite structure in some detail.

The given case deals with the fact that primary objectives of services producers and marketers are identical to those of all marketers: to develop and provide offerings that satisfy consumer needs and expectations, thereby ensuring their own economic survival. To achieve these objectives, service providers need to understand how consumers choose, experience, and evaluate their service offerings. It also talks about employing innovative techniques at the basic level by optimizing available resources offering quality service at value based pricing, thereby, increasing customer retention by developing the trust of the consumer.

Graduation or post graduation level students studying subjects pertaining to the services aspect of marketing, namely innovative service offerings, value for money, service experience and evaluation, challenge of integrating the 4 A's of services marketing and offering them in sustainable quality, promotional or communication mix for services and consumer behaviour.

Today's dual-career couples, single-parent families, and two-job families are realizing a burning consumer need: more time. Individuals in these and other non-traditional family configurations are overstressed with their work and home obligations and find that dealing with many of life's everyday tasks is overwhelming. For many customers, all types of shopping have become “drudgery or worse.” The antidote to this time deficiency is found in many new services that recover time for consumers. One such professional service is catering. The present case study deals with grass root level innovations in this service offering that adds flavour to our lives.

Understanding the catering services offering and its features in evolving consumer's world; analyzing the importance of optimizing available resources and offering customer satisfaction, ensuring marketers own economic survival; realizing the significance of value offering and related value based pricing for services; comprehending the importance of word of mouth in post experience evaluation in services; the effect of quality and quantity consciousness in marketers while offering catering services; and understanding obstacles and challenges faced by small and medium service industries at the initial level.

Teaching notes.

Operations management.

This case study is intended for MBA, final year industrial engineering and 1st year PhD students, for use in graduate engineering, post graduate and executive level management programs. The case study illustrates operational and participative management control system in a matrix and flexible organization structure.

Satish Arora (CEO) and Praveen Arora (Director Finance), a husband and wife team, own and operate Go-Goal Hydro Power Ltd (Go-GoalHPL) as a small medium enterprise (SME). Go-GoalHPL renovates hydro power generating machines up to 250 MW rating. Their current renovation/overhauling projects are located at different sites in India. Go-GoalHPL has grown its business by pursuing new avenues that include execution of major renovation projects and construction of new projects on a turnkey basis. Go-GoalHPL's management, despite their on-going successes, are concerned about severe capacity shortages if immediate actions were not taken. They have identified three capacity expansion options: continue current operating practices and obtain additional production space; undertake a make-versus-buy study and consider outsourcing parts; and implement world-class manufacturing techniques through adoption of focused factories. The first two options represented simple incremental changes while the third presents a radical alternative that required a major reorganization of the company operations and support functions.

These include knowledge about competitiveness, corporate survival, sustainable business, operations management, productivity, performance.

Teaching notes are available for faculty. Please consult your librarian.

Strategic management of nonprofit organizations.

This case is appropriate for graduate level program/executive education courses; advanced topics in nonprofit management or strategic management of nonprofit organizations.

This case focuses on the central dilemma faced by arteBA Foundation in 2008. arteBA Foundation's chairman, Facundo Gómez Minujín, received an offer from a foreign company to purchase the art fair launched 17 years before – and by then acknowledged as the most prestigious fair in Latin America. Leading art fairs around the world were managed by for-profit companies that could view arteBA as a strategic asset to tap into new markets. Gómez Minujín called for an urgent board meeting. The young chairman had his qualms about selling the fair. In addition to corroborating arteBA's brand positioning in the region and rewarding the organization's efforts over the years, this purchasing offer afforded the possibility to undertake several projects to further develop and promote Argentine art – the true driver for most arteBA's members. The case describes the foundation's background and the fair's growth until the crossroads in November 2008. They include several accounts of instances in which the foundation took financial risks to enhance the fair's positioning, such as granting subsidized space to emerging galleries at its Young Neighborhood Program, expanding to include aesthetically risky offerings at its Open Space section, and financially supporting Brazilian galleries to attend the fair in order to enhance its Latin American scope and regional consolidation. Similarly, the case depicts how the foundation chose to uphold fair continuity in critical years (2001) amidst a dismal domestic setting. The dilemma presented by this case hinges on an organization's ability to build a market-based venture while preserving and pursuing its mission. To promote Argentine artists and art, arteBA Foundation had to help art galleries – for-profit businesses – to adopt more professional practices. Another challenge described in this case revolves around the need to “manage quality” in detriment of greater, immediate revenues. The last section revisits the central dilemma faced by arteBA Foundation. The mixed reactions of board members on the fair's purchase offer described in the introduction unfolded in a passionate debate at the board meeting. Two prevailing positions emerged in reference to the future of the organization. For some board members selling the fair afforded arteBA a chance to finally undertake new challenges, such as launching a grant program, offering financial support to artists, consolidating a new venture (South Limit), etc. Opposing board members contended that, without the fair, the foundation made no sense and that no other initiative could have such an impact on its field of choice. Finally, the board found it impossible to reach a decision on this matter in just one meeting and decided to resume its discussion after a recess.

This case has been designed to advance the following teaching objectives: gaining a better understanding of market-based ventures carried out by social organizations; discussing the alignment of market-based ventures to social missions at social organizations; adequately interpreting market trends to try to align them to a nonprofit's mission; identifying the primary capabilities needed by social organizations to manage profitable market-based ventures; developing a positive market orientation as a source of opportunities for a nonprofit; appreciating the significance of an active, committed board for market-based venture development; and highlighting the primary role of entrepreneurship and innovation when it comes to launching market-based ventures that add value to a nonprofit's brand.

Teaching notes are available.

The case deals with the Bullwhip phenomena that can be observed in a supply chain.

This case is suitable for all levels of students, undergraduate MBA to Executive MBA classes and practitioners. Assignment questions are designed from the perspective of teaching this case to a business student audience. The case is ideally suited for a supply chain management course and can be introduced to demonstrate the bullwhip effect in an operations management course.

Set in May 2011, the case presents the discussions in the meeting summoned by Mr Srinivas, the director (technical) of Health Pharma (not the name of a real organization) in response to the huge losses faced by the organization in the last financial year. The discussions point to the inability of the organization to appropriately forecast demand across the different echelons and also absence of information transparency, leading to the loss. The catastrophe indicated the need to adopt an ERP solution, which was earlier overlooked by Health Pharma management.

These are an introduction to the concepts of the bullwhip effect and the case presents a managerial solution to the supply chain problem demonstrated.

Teaching notes are available for facilitating the instructor to present and discuss the case in a classroom setting.

Venture capital and private equity.

This case is suitable for II MBA/Executive MBA (venture capital and private equity/entrepreneurship/business models/managing family business) courses.

Soliton is a technology and software services company with operations in India and the USA providing machine vision products and virtual instrumentation services. Soliton was started by Ganesh Devaraj in 1998 after his return from the United States after higher studies. Ganesh hails from a business family in Coimbatore that had interests in the textile spinning sector. The family had been in the textile business since the early 1940s and had revenues of Rs 400 million and employed about 700 people. Ganesh, not wanting to continue in the traditional family business, ventured into the technology sector using his academic and professional experience. His family was supportive of his venture and funded his company for the first two years of operation and for scaling up operations. Ganesh is now evaluating various sources of raising additional capital at a time when there was general slowdown in the automobile sector as a result of the global financial crisis.

The goal of this case study is to illustrate the complexities that exist in financing growth of companies in uncertain times. This following are the expected learning outcomes: discuss and understand the nuances between different sources of early stage funding: personal wealth, family, and angels; compare and contrast the differences between family funding and venture funding; and highlight the benefits and limitations of family funding.

Teaching notes are available.

Humanitarian logistics, aid response.

Master/advanced level; courses in: humanitarian logistics; port operations and management; supply chain management and logistics.

Recently, the humanitarian organization Global Food Aid (GFA) has received criticism for slow response to the on-going drought in East Africa. One of the reasons is the long lead times to transport and distribute food. Therefore, GFA has launched a project called “Strategic stock” where food will be pre-positioned in strategic locations around the world. Because of its importance as a gateway for East Africa, the Port of Mombasa has been selected as the pilot project. Headquarters of GFA has engaged a team of logistics and warehouse experts to plan, run and evaluate the pilot project in Mombasa.

Through this case, the students (who take on the role of the experts) will gain knowledge in a wide range of areas. First, they will gain a thorough insight to coordinating a port operation in one of the major ports in Africa. Second, the case increases the understanding of working with logistics in a humanitarian aid context. Third, the students will learn how to work with logistics both on a strategic level (planning the implementation of strategic stock) and on an operational level (handling the different events that occur throughout the case). There is also a learning element related to risk management.

Teaching notes are available.

The application of activity based costing (ABC); calculating the cost of a CNC Process using ABC; designing a pricing strategy.

The case can be used in the following courses: MBA program with specialisation in finance (to teach students the application of costing in services sector); MBA program in general management (to highlight the concept of activity based costing and its application); and under an elective course on management control systems in MBA programs (to highlight the strategy to determine price effectively).

The case highlights the application of activity based costing in arriving at cost and finally leading to development of price to be charged by KK Metals. The company wishes to compute the activity based cost of CNC process and develop the selling price for 194 precision turning services scientifically as opposed to the present strategy of being a price taker, largely on the basis of what essentially is prevalent in the local market within which KK Metals operates. The case gives an insight to numerous control variables that the management can consider while pricing its services.

The case can be used to understand management concepts such as ABC, pricing and the role of efficiency in business processes. It can be used to: teach complexities involved in identifying activity driver(s) in case of ABC as far as application to service sector is concerned; help understand the use of costing as an effective tool in pricing strategy of the company; and help students realize the significance of inputs used for calculating per hour cost.

Teaching notes are available. Consult your librarian for access.