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Operations management.

Logistics, Warehousing, India.

Joy Banerjee and Gaurav Tripathi have recently joined as Managers in the Planning Department at All India Warehousing Private Limited (AIWPL). Their on-job training is completed. They have met with almost all the officials at the warehouse, have interacted with labour to understand the company and its functions, and are planning to meet Kamlesh Patel, their Managing Director, to discuss the challenges and opportunities and to suggest strategies. Will they be able to make a satisfactory presentation to Kamlesh Patel on the company performance and the parameters that are going to be crucial to AIWPL's continued success? This case study may prove useful to practicing managers and management students on understanding the working of a family run private warehouse, business environment in the warehousing sector, use of technology and organizational capability to manage multi-product, multi-location warehouses.

To illustrate typical organizational responsibility structure at a private warehousing site. To illustrate the planning and administrative control mechanism in implementing strategy at a warehousing site. Offer students opportunity to understand and take view of a typical operational (project) structure. Opportunity for students to speculate adaptations in the wake of ever-changing business and company environment. Opportunity to introduce Logistic Scenario in India, warehousing technology and relate with the case in context.

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Business contracts are formed through negotiations, where the parties agree on some terms, disagree on others and keep yet others undecided. Over a period of time, they see themselves as having moved from being negotiating parties to contracting parties, settling on most of the terms. The law, however, states that a contract is formed when a person makes an offer and the other accepts it. The principle arose from the rudimentary trade practices in the past. The principles coming from the prior centuries and the modern business practices may not be in consonance. The Gibson v. Manchester City Council Case, a judgement of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, reviewed attempts to modernize the law.

Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s Founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement.

The authors observed over 30 h of video and audio recordings of speeches, interviews and other events involving Pebble’s founder, other Pebble executives, investors and competitors. These recordings are all publicly available. Whenever possible, the authors also reviewed the Twitter feeds, Facebook sites and personal websites of Pebble’s top executives over time. Similarly, the authors followed Pebble’s official website, corporate blog and Kickstarter campaign websites. The authors also drew from numerous media reports. Due to the public nature of the data, no company release is provided nor has any information been disguised in any way.

The case is designed for both undergraduate and graduate students for courses in strategic management.

The case includes theoretical references to family business, organizational culture, resource-based value and leadership.

The case combines primary and secondary data. There is ample public information about Martin Guitar including histories of the company and its instruments. These were used for background. Primary data were provided by the company in the form of customized data and interviews.. The case writer has served Martin Guitar as a consultant and also plays Martin instruments. The case writer had numerous opportunities to interview Chris and his key lieutenants.

In 2019, C.F. Martin IV (Chris) was in his fourth decade leading one of the America’s oldest family-owned companies, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc. Martin Guitar is a globally known maker of fine guitars that are prized by collectors, working musicians and amateur musicians. Chris was raised in the family business and took on the CEO’s position at the age of 30. The case describes the company’s management practices and the culture that has emerged from them. In 2019, at age 64, Chris confronted issues faced by his predecessors over multiple generations: how to prepare the company for succession, and maintain its strong performance as a family-owned company in a dynamic industry environment.

The case is designed for a management course for upper-level undergraduates.

This case study can be used in the following subject areas: tourism management; tourism policy; tourism planning and development; destination marketing and management; hospitality and tourism management; special event planning and management; and attraction management.

This case study is useful to both undergraduate and graduate students specializing in hospitality and tourism management.

This case study explored the nature of two forms of tourism development; resort-based and resource-based, and aimed to determine which is the more viable and sustainable option for the future of tourism in Jamaica, an island destination in the Caribbean which depends highly on the tourism industry. The literature established that both forms of tourism are challenged by several and varying factors and so their synergistic integration appears to be the most functional option for sustainable tourism development in Jamaica along with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders.

The students should be able to:

• Distinguish between resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism by identifying the elements and attributes that make them different.

• Explain the usefulness and drawbacks of both types of tourism model.

• Discuss the nature of culture and heritage tourism and eco-tourism.

• Analyze Jamaica's tourism model from the nineteenth to the twenty-firstst century by assessing the changes and developments.

• Discuss the role of government in facilitating the development of a “wholisitic tourism model” that will facilitate the synergy of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism.

• Assess the role of the private sector in encouraging and facilitating resource-based tourism.

Distinguish between resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism by identifying the elements and attributes that make them different.

Explain the usefulness and drawbacks of both types of tourism model.

Discuss the nature of culture and heritage tourism and eco-tourism.

Analyze Jamaica's tourism model from the nineteenth to the twenty-firstst century by assessing the changes and developments.

Discuss the role of government in facilitating the development of a “wholisitic tourism model” that will facilitate the synergy of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism.

Assess the role of the private sector in encouraging and facilitating resource-based tourism.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

This case study conceptually and empirically analyzed the tourism model in Jamaica to ascertain whether or not the future of Jamaica's tourism should remain dependent on resort-based tourism or should it opt for resource-based tourism as a more viable and sustainable option. The discussion however, indicates that resort-based tourism can synergize with resource-based tourism to achieve sustainable development along with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders including the government, hotel operators and the residents. The case synopsis likewise presented a concise summary of the literature reviewed regarding the concepts of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism; and the case of Jamaica's tourism.

The learning outcomes are intended to guide the teaching- learning process and stimulate students' understanding of the concepts of resort-based tourism and resource-based tourism and their specific implications in terms of tourism development in Jamaica. This knowledge can also be generalized to other destinations with similar historical background and tourism resources. The applied questions will guide the discussions and provide additional resources for assessment purposes. They will also help the students to critically assess the dynamics of tourism development.

The case synopsis is consistent with the learning outcomes, corresponding applied questions and course recommendations. A total of two to three-hours teaching session can be used to discuss the constructs, analyze the case in point and answer the applied questions.

Research for the case study was conducted using a combination of semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources.

This case traces the international expansion of Sadowsky Guitars’ bass guitar product line. Roger Sadowsky is one of the most respected instrument makers in the world and gained early acclaim for his outstanding repair and restoration work on guitars and basses. Some of his early clients included Prince, Will Lee (The Tonight Show), Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, Jason Newsted of Metallica, Eddie Van Halen and Marcus Miller. Roger’s reputation and the demand for his instruments led to some customers having to wait for more than a year to obtain the chance to purchase a Sadowsky instrument, while others were unable to do so due to financial constraints. In 2003, Roger made the decision to form Sadowsky Japan to begin the contract manufacturing of more affordable Sadowsky instruments in Tokyo, Japan. As the company grew in size, Roger realized he was becoming more focused on running a business than building instruments. Furthermore, his Japanese partners were only interested in serving the Japanese market. This required him to handle the sales and distribution in the remaining parts of the world. In December of 2019, he announced a new, exclusive licensing agreement and distribution partnership between Sadowsky Guitars and Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG. The new agreement allowed Roger to continue running the Sadowsky NYC Custom Shop while Warwick would take over building and distributing the Metro instruments and a less-expensive, Chinese-built version of the MetroExpress instruments.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate-level courses related to marketing and consumer behavior. The case walks students through a real-life scenario when the founder of a well-known musical brand sought to expand internationally as a way to meet growing market demand. Students are asked to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the five key international market entry strategies: exporting, licensing, contract manufacturing, joint ventures and investment (equity/acquisition).

The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the musical instrument retail industry. Participants are most likely aware of some of the artists and musicians mentioned in the case. Some may also be or know musicians. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Roger Sadowsky’s vision for his instruments and the opportunities and challenges of expanding product offerings and increasing market share.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

All business-to-business contracts have now come to be done on standard contract terms. Every company has its General Conditions of Contract on which it would deal with its customers. Business parties negotiate, converge and do business with each other. However, if a dispute arises, both the parties claim that there is a contract between them. And each party also claims that the contract is on its terms. The claim is important, for each party sets terms favourable to itself. This is called the ‘battle of forms’. The Butler Machine Tool Case of the Court of Appeal explores the rules of this battle.

This case is set in the midst of the attempted takeover of Walt Disney Productions by the raider Saul Steinberg in June 1984. Disney's chief executive officer ponders whether to fight the takeover or to pay “greenmail”. One significant influence on the decision is the “true” value of the firm. The case offers, either directly or through analysis of it, several estimates of value. The valuation question invites a review of Disney's past performance and current competitive position. Other significant influences on the decision are the ethics and economics of paying greenmail. The rich range of issues raised in the case (strategy, valuation, performance measurement, and ethics) makes it an effective first case, review case, or final exam in a corporate-finance course. A student worksheet file is available for use with this case.

This case is focused on the allegations of corrupt practices within the strategic leadership at the board level of an international sports organization – the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The theoretical premise is that the practices and decisions of the AFC’s leadership will have a profound impact on the AFC’s performance. However, because the AFC is the continental governing body, the impact is theorized to be far larger, across an entire industry. In writing the case, the authors were guided by upper Echelons theory (UET) (Hambrick and Mason, 1984; Hambrick, 2007; Hambrick et al., 2015), which argues that an organization’s strategic direction is directly influenced by its leader’s values. The authors selected UET for the theoretical framework, as it considered a spectrum of factors from industry, leader characters (values), their choices and the results of their actions. Such a comprehensive theory aligned with the complexities of the AFC and its leadership. In constructing the case roadmap using UET, the authors first adopted an ethnographic methodology. This was motivated by the fact that one of the authors had been embedded for many years as part of the leadership team at the AFC. His career work notes based on direct interactions and observations of these leaders helped in two ways: to identify the complex set of personal characteristics of these leaders (i.e. background, their careers outside football and financial standing) as they originated from 47 different nationalities. UET refers to these as observable factors to better theorize the hidden intentions of their alleged corrupt behaviors. UET identifies this second set of non-observable factors as psychological factors. These two different sets of observations combined helped to theorize their drivers, intentions and strategic decisions (options). For the second methodology, the authors accessed archival, publicly available media news and reports to understand the consequences of their actions to the AFC and the Asian football industry. This completed the final parts of the UET framework (Yamak et al., 2014).

This case relied on information that was widely reported within international media, press announcements by various organizations, published decisions by tribunals and publicly available information on the AFC. All of the names and positions in this case are actual persons.

This case focuses on the role and influence of the AFC as the Asian football governing body. The AFC is a member of the world football governing body – FIFA. With a US$1bn budget, the AFC has a strong impact on the future of football among Asia’s three billion people. Unfortunately, the AFC has been unable to create the value in its sports events or properties that attracts fans and investors. Central to this problem is the issue of corruption and corruption allegations within the AFC, especially with regard to its leadership. This case, therefore, attempts to highlight the various issues, discusses the circumstances around these challenges and brings forth the complexities of leading a truly international organization across 47 countries. Such factors are then tied to the value of the organization’s products or services in the marketplace.

The case is written and designed for a graduate level (MBA) class or an upper level undergraduate class such as corporate strategy, leadership, international management, international marketing, contemporary issues in management, cross-cultural management, sports management and sports marketing. In general, the case will also be a good fit for courses that discuss leadership, organizational strategy, organizational structure, organizational ethics and organizational behavior.

The teaching case study is based on a (real-life) complex organizational and strategic context, and several bodies of literature may be used to interpret, analyze, explore and discuss alternative solutions. Among several relevant theoretical basis are (educational) leadership, strategy, institutional change, organization, practice orientation of education and organizational learning. The Instructors’ Manual gives suggestions as to how the case may be used in teaching and gives references to relevant literature.

The teaching case study is based on participatory action research. The narrative of the case is based on empirical observations in form of a research diary recording events, dialogues and discussion with colleagues and organizational leaders during a five-year period. The case study is based on real proceedings. But, the narrative is generic, and names are anonymized, and organizational contexts and events are disguised. Any similarities to real institutions are coincidental.

The case tells the story of Birk Grimson (PhD), a professional who returns to academia after many years of business practice in the private sector. He is struck by how different the work ambience is in academia and how bureaucracy and a rigid organizational structure seem to quell innovation, resulting in resistance to systematic learning, organizational development and strategic change.

The teaching case study is appropriate for business, organizational or administrative students at master’s, PhD level or executive education. For students with other disciplinary educational backgrounds (such as engineering, education or health care), some basic knowledge of organization and management or alternatively relevant experience is recommended.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.