Case studies

The case was an application of a market demand and supply mechanism and its impact on the product’s price and focus on the following objectives:▪ Analyze the vegetable market in India and the challenges faced by the farmers (tomatoes) using demand and supply concepts.▪ Examine the impact of price elasticity on the revenue of the farmers.▪ Assess the challenges faced by the government in controlling prices of vegetables and food inflation.▪ Evaluate diversification strategies in agriculture to mitigate risk.

The market for tomatoes was highly cyclical because of erratic rainfall, and farmers went through a difficult time, especially when the prices fell below the cost of production. They moved out for crops that had stable prices. They expected government support for price stability. Government and policymakers considered price fluctuations a short-term phenomenon that required limited interventions when prices were high. This case was about Dilip, a farmer who was into farming tomatoes on a large scale in Karnataka, India. He was facing a dilemma as to whether he had to continue or move to other crops because of the low price of tomatoes in May 2023 or to diversify into some small but related business. He was worried at the same time, curious to understand the volatility in the prices of tomatoes, government responses, risks and returns associated with the cultivation of this crop and Agri-supply chain. Based on his understanding, he should make decisions to continue or diversify into some other farming or related business.

This case was written for microeconomics and managerial economics of undergraduate and postgraduate students. This case demonstrates the application of the demand and supply mechanism for a perishable product such as tomatoes. Price fluctuations are common in these markets because of various uncontrollable factors such as rain, pests and natural calamities. The case could show the relationship between the firm’s elasticities and revenue. This case also highlights the policy constraints in controlling the prices in the short run. This case could also be used for understanding macroeconomic concepts such as food inflation and its impact on general price inflation. The students or target audience with a background in the functioning of the markets could very well relate to the concepts discussed.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: Entrepreneurship (3); Management Science (7).

This case serves as a teaching tool to illustrate the application of data-driven decision-making approaches within the contexts of entrepreneurship and hospitality management. The following objectives also align with categories in Bloom’s taxonomy (keywords underlined).▪ Evaluate the merits and demerits of potential business decisions through a data-driven analytical framework. This objective maps to discussion Question 3, 4, 5.▪ Evaluate the relevance and usability of available data and market research reports for effective data-driven decision-making. This objective maps to discussion Question 2.▪ Analyze business data and financial reports to evaluate business strategies such as marketing, vendor management and workforce management strategies. This objective maps to discussion Question 1.▪ Apply industry-specific business metrics such as the Menu engineering matrix to analyze the performance of menu offerings. This objective maps to discussion Question 5.

The decision-based case explores the challenges faced by Siddhartha Das, the founder of FoodWise Pvt Ltd, a multi-cuisine restaurant based out of Kolkata, India. Das initially launched an online Bengali meal delivery service in 2017, which successfully expanded into an offline multi-cuisine retail outlet by October 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a significant blow to his business, preventing it from achieving profitability. The case is set in July 2021, where Das reviews his half-yearly performance report recognizing the imminent risks threatening his food venture unless immediate changes are undertaken. The multi-cuisine nature of his restaurant business necessitated higher expenditures on specialty chefs and costly vendors to maintain premium food quality. Faced with a dilemma, Das must decide whether to continue with the current multi-cuisine model and find ways to manage costs or to evaluate the performance of his six cuisines and consider switching his venture to a specialized cuisine restaurant. The case invites students to assist Das in making a data-driven strategic decision by using Menu Engineering and exploratory data analysis techniques.

This case study is designed for master’s level students in business management, with specializations in marketing, strategy or business analytics, as well as for students in specialized management programs in hospitality or entrepreneurship. It can also be included in management development programs on data-driven decision-making. It is particularly well-suited for management elective courses on hospitality management or entrepreneurship. The case can be positioned in the second half of the course, once students have been exposed to financial reporting and data analysis techniques. Topics such as menu engineering and data-driven decision-making can be effectively explored through this case.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

This case study aims to study cost benefit analysis, economic evaluation and its types, study and understand different costs involved in logistics and to identify the role of dynamic leadership in nonstructured organization.

This case study is about one such unique nongovernmental organization (NGO), which was working in commercial space but which did not work for profit. This NGO called Yuvashakti was a well-respected, nonprofit organization in Pune that promoted mountaineering, climbing and other outdoor adventure pursuits. About 30 years ago, a group of young adventure enthusiasts led by the late Dr Mohan Dharia, the organization’s founding president, established Yuvashakti with the goal of introducing young people to outdoor activities such as skiing, climbing and trekking. Since 1985, Yuvashakti had consistently organized several Himalayan trekking programs. Yuvashakti organized bike and motorbike tours, visits to wildlife sanctuaries and other types of excursions around India all year long. In the past 30 years, “Yuvashakti” had done a lot of good for the young people of Maharashtra. Their job was multifaceted.

This case study is suitable for undergraduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS12: Tourism and hospitality.

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 case describes a hypothetical hedge fund manager who is examining whether to invest in bitcoin. The case discusses potential risks and rewards of investing in bitcoin, the role of bitcoin and digital currencies more broadly, and financial innovation in the space, such as ICOs. It can be taught as part of a second-year MBA elective course in investments, financial institutions/capital markets, or fintech.

Few cases allow the student to understand the relationship between brand strategy, marketing strategy, implementation, and analysis. While some conceive of the process as being sequential, this case demonstrates that in fact, this process is more fluid, and that implementation and analysis impact subsequent strategy.

This field-based case provides a rare glimpse into the turnaround of a brand that was all but dead. After Buick suffered more than five decades of declining business results and an inferior brand image versus all rivals, few thought that the brand could be resuscitated. This case provides a valuable under-the-hood look at how the Buick team, over time, progresses through a series of marketing improvements all anchored on an evolved strategy. Specifically, Buick introduced a shift in brand strategy behind an evolved brand essence statement (i.e., brand positioning), improved product lineup, new-to-the-world innovation, enhanced dealership service, and more compelling advertising. The results led to a record number of product awards, significantly improved advertising measures, improved service ratings, and better business results.

Despite significant improvement across multiple dimensions of the business, Buick still trailed key competitors on one of the most important measures Buick tracked—the brand momentum rating—suggesting that there was still more work needed to complete the brand turnaround. The case introduces Molly Peck, the new marketing director on Buick, who is wondering what more, if anything, Buick should do. The material allows for instruction around marketing strategy and the process of converting it into implementation through the use of a creative brief.

This case replaces UVA-M-0837. It can be used in a variety of marketing and strategy classes to understand how (1) at a macro level, a shift in consumer and environmental factors can impact firm strategy and (2) at a micro level, an e-mail-based marketing campaign designed to address these changes can impact firm-level performance.

The case puts the students in the position of CEO Robert Huth as he is preparing for a board meeting. He had taken David's Bridal from a loss in 1996 to sales of over $1 billion by 2011, but he was concerned about future growth. People were waiting longer and longer to get married and, once they decided to, were spending much less than in the past, so the industry had seen year-over-year declines since 2007. How would David's Bridal establish its brand in the minds of a new generation of brides who shopped, purchased, and decided differently than had brides in past generations?

This public-sourced case describes the latest restructuring efforts by Deutsche Bank (DB) and gives a short history of prior restructuring efforts from the decade before. In July 2019, Christian Sewing, the new CEO of DB, announced a series of measures that included, among others, the elimination of global equity trading, the layoff of 18,000 employees, the creation of a “bad bank” to transfer noncore assets, and the suspension of dividends until 2022. The case describes key decisions a bank CEO makes when a bank needs to change course to return to profitability and growth. The case offers an opportunity to debate these key decisions, as well as discuss some of the prior ones during earlier restructuring efforts, and put the students in the CEO's shoes: What would you do and why? The case also describes key banking performance metrics (e.g., ROE, ROA) and other critical variables such as those reflecting capital health (Tier 1 ratio), as well as gives an overview of the bank business model and factors impacting bank profitability and value.

This case teaches students the importance of maintaining a strong FICO score by illustrating the consequences of paying bills late or not at all. The protagonist is David Molina, a waiter at a struggling Italian restaurant located down the block from where he lives. Money is tight for Molina right now—his limited income means he lives paycheck to paycheck. However, Molina knows things will be looking up for him soon because he recently accepted a job as a bank teller across town—his first desk job.

Molina has been putting off paying two of his bills: a cable bill and his Bank of America credit card bill, both of which are late and have been issued, this time, in the form of threats to impact Molina's credit score if he doesn't pay them. He has just enough money to afford the minimum payments on each overdue bill. But then he receives a phone call from his friend, Jim Lindsey, reminding him about an invitation to go to Myrtle Beach for the upcoming weekend. Molina knows he cannot afford it, but a woman he's attracted to, Jessica, will be there too. Should Molina put off the bills yet again, and if so, how exactly will being late on them hurt his credit score?