Case studies

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to understand lead and lag indicators, understand job performance and its linkage with job satisfaction, calculate the cost of turnover and design solutions to the problem of attrition and low satisfaction.

Pace Control Gears was a small-scale enterprise based out of Sonipat, India. It was an entrepreneurial venture by Rajesh Kumar, who had set Pace in 2010 to manufacture low-voltage electrical apparatus. Recently, Pace had begun to experience issues with quality control that were largely the result of human error. The company was facing a drop in satisfaction levels and higher attrition levels among the employees. Kumar had to find a solution quickly to address the problem, as it had direct implications for the company’s margins and the assurance of quality that it was associated with in the market.

This case study is suited to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in human resource management and general management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resources Management.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to identify and analyze the importance of operations management in a situation demanding minimizing environmental impact and maintaining operational momentum; access the risks faced during project executions and apply project management concepts to facilitate Karachi Steel in implementing indigenous technological solutions; and evaluate the importance of adaptability, continuous improvement and innovation in creating sustainable solutions to address complex challenges.

Javaid Iqbal, CEO of Karachi Steel, was the case’s protagonist. With capacity expansion, Javaid relocated the steel facility from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, Pakistan. The company encountered several difficulties because of the air emissions’ inconvenience to nearby residents and the strict environmental regulations. To push the emissions into the air, the company first installed a locally fabricated chimney. Later, they hired a foreign Pakistani engineering firm to install air filters, but the project proved unsuccessful. To control emissions, the company developed a Wet Particulate Control (WPC) system based on a water-sprinkling mechanism. The endeavor was successful, but it resulted in water pollution. As a result, Karachi Steel signed a contract with a local engineering company that invented and effectively installed an air filtration system. Karachi Steel not only devised solutions for their predicaments but also made significant contributions toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the emissions reporting and monitoring mechanism continued to cause inconvenience for regulators. In addition, the filtration facility encountered a blocked duct conveying zinc sulfate from smoke, resulting in the periodic suspension of operations. As Karachi Steel seek long-term solutions to current challenges, it is critical to examine the relationship between internal circumstances and external forces and stimulate a holistic approach to resolving issues within the realms of operations management and project management.

The case study is suitable for students pursuing their undergraduate degree programs in business studies or management sciences. This case can be taught in specific subjects in the domain of management sciences, including project management and operations management. Furthermore, undergraduate students pursuing degrees in environmental sciences, specializing in environmental impact assessment and sustainable development, can also learn from this case study. These subjects have the potential to provide students with a detailed understanding of the dynamic relationship between environmental problems caused by business activities, and how to address these challenges using principles of project management and operations management. There is no pre-requisite for this case study, and the level of difficulty is moderate. The recommended teaching pedagogy for this multidisciplinary case study includes role-playing exercises, simulations to replicate real-world situations and the Socratic method, which encourages critical thinking.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science.

The primary learning objectives/outcome of case discussion is to apply design thinking principles to design innovative and socially responsible strategies that promote financial sustainability for organizations serving unique societal needs. The secondary learning objectives/outcome of case discussion is to gain a deeper appreciation for the potential social impact of their innovative ideas and understand the complexities and ethical considerations in social entrepreneurship, especially when working with individuals with special needs.

The case study describes the challenge facing Anil Kumar Kundra, the founder and trustee of Autism Ashram and Autism Guardian Village in Hyderabad and Gujarat, an organization that provides shelter and care for individuals with autism and residential facilities for their parents. Autistic individuals often lack social skills and may face challenges in reading, writing and communicating. In addition, they may experience behavioral issues, making it difficult for them to obtain employment or run their own ventures, resulting in a lifetime financial dependency on their guardians. In August 2023, Kundra, in pursuit of sustainability, aims to empower autistic individuals in the ashram to attain financial independence. He envisions Autism Ashrama as a self-sustaining entity, no longer dependent on contributions from parents. The dilemma facing Kundra is the need to identify innovative ideas that will enable these autistic individuals to contribute to revenue generation. The challenges faced by autistic individuals in their day-to-day lives make Kundra’s decision-making complex. While he acknowledges the challenge, he firmly believes that a handful of transformative ideas can bring about a revolutionary shift in the ecosystem for autistic individuals, rendering this business model truly sustainable. The case study invites students to help Kundra identify innovative ideas using design idea techniques, such as the Stanford d.school model.

This take-home assignment is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and is designed to explore the integration of sustainable business practices and design thinking in a real-world context.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

After reading the case and answering the case assignments, students will be able to understand and explain the challenges and opportunities for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors and their subcontractors; understand and critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of insourcing and outsourcing of engineering, procurement and construction in EPC projects; determine which situations merit insourcing or outsourcing within each of engineering, procurement and construction in EPC projects; understand and identify the competencies and qualifications that a subcontractor must possess if any EPC activity is outsourced to them; and develop a decision-making framework to determine which EPC activities must be kept in-house or outsourced in EPC projects.

In mid-March 2021, PetroSahand International Group, a leading EPC contractor specializing in the oil, gas and petrochemicals industries in Iran, encountered significant challenges with its subcontractors in engineering and construction. These issues resulted in widespread repercussions for the company, including project delays and mounting debts. At the peak of these crises, PetroSahand’s senior management embarked on a thorough examination of whether to insource or outsource various aspects of their operations, such as engineering, procurement and construction. Their objective was twofold: to prevent similar setbacks in future projects and to navigate existing projects with minimal disruption to the company’s reputation. To address this critical dilemma, PetroSahand enlisted the expertise of a consulting team from Sharif University of Technology. Comprising esteemed professors, graduates and students from one of Iran’s most respected institutions, this team undertook an exhaustive analysis of the insourcing versus outsourcing debate across EPC domains. Subsequently, they presented their comprehensive findings, thereby confronting PetroSahand’s senior management with a pivotal choice regarding the optimal approach for each activity.

The audience of this work is undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in project management courses, both fundamentals and advanced. In addition, this case helps senior managers of EPC contractors gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of insourcing or outsourcing different project activities.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

This case aims to study the growth, evolution, and social innovation of iThrive Games, a socially minded initiative that aims to create meaningful opportunities using technology for teens to enhance the knowledge, mindsets, and skills they need to thrive through development and across the continuum of mental disorder to wellness. iThrive's focus has been on creating “meaningful games”—that is, games that promote health and well-being of teen players. Founded in 2014 by Dorothy Batten, President of DN Batten Foundation, the organization's mission was to collaborate with game developers, partner with teens across the game development cycle (ideation to testing), and provide resources to foster teen thriving through gameplay. To do so, the organization took a unique social entrepreneurial approach. Drawing on a positive psychology framework and building the brand among key stakeholders including game developers, researchers, funders, youth, educators, and parents, the organization orchestrated a community dedicated to advancing the meaningful games field, and in doing so, have widespread impact.

Suning Group launched Suning.com when its chain stores were developing at the highest speed, realizing the transformation to an Internet retailer. Suning continued to follow the growth strategy of “Technological transformation and Smart Services”, and was renamed Suning Commerce Co. Ltd. It launched a business model of “e-commerce + stores + retail service providers”. Riding on the brand new O2O business model, Suning is thinking and practicing from simple donation to actual implementation, from constructing public welfare network to extending CSR ecosystem in a bid to advance towards deeper and more extensive Internet economy, and to create greater social value.

This short case challenges students to review an array of corporate financial metrics and to match them to one of 13 listed industries. As such, students must use their intuition and common sense pertaining to the distinctive characteristics of, and the key differences between, the 13 named industries, and then identify the financial metrics that are most indicative of those traits.

This case studies the growth of OYO Hotels (OYO) to illustrate the operational processes necessary to succeed in the service sector. The case allows for a discussion of employee- and customer-management systems, tech-driven solutions, and profit drivers. The material unfolds OYO's growth and its solution for making economy hotels discoverable and bookable online.

The case raises a series of questions around OYO's business model, its ability to translate across global markets, and growth potential. It has been successfully taught in a second-year MBA class on the management of service operations.

This case is used in Darden's required first-year course, “Strategic Thinking and Action.”

In 2015, Steve and Heidi Crandall, the founders of Devils Backbone Brewing, LLC (DBB), were looking back on eight years of unanticipated success and significant growth. DBB had created a destination, a brand, and beer that drew people from all over, and it was the largest craft brewery in its region. The entire community, not just loyal beer drinkers, had supported DBB. In addition to funding and zoning accommodations, so many local residents had built their own economic lives around what had been their “little brewery that could.”

But the success had brought challenges, specifically in terms of growth. DBB was consistently not meeting demand in its existing markets and was receiving complaints about out-of-stocks. The Crandalls and their team had to figure out how to grow with, or preferably ahead of, demand for DBB's product. Should DBB build further capacity despite an already exhausted line of credit? Should it employ a contract brewer despite the local authenticity concerns such a move might stir up? Or should it just keep trying to manage business within its existing footprint, comfortably serving its loyal customer base?

Dialogue in Darkness (DID) is a global social enterprise, which provides products and services such as workshops, exhibitions and activities in the dark in China. The corporate workshops are designed for companies, institutions and government agencies to provide unique leadership training and some other training in teamwork, communication, innovation and change management. And education workshops are aimed at providing young people with unique leadership training and training in teamwork, innovation and empathy and so on for the educational institutions. Over the past five years, DID, headquartered in Shanghai, has expanded to Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen, realizing strategic coverage of East, West, North and South of China. DID achieved break-even within less than one year since its inception. Its sound and healthy development offers an innovative way for the sustainable development of social enterprises.