David S. Christensen, Paul Schneider and Jeff Orton
Students apply the new Institute of Management Accounting (IMA) ethics standard to “contribute to a positive ethical culture” and advice to “actively seek to resolve an ethical…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
Students apply the new Institute of Management Accounting (IMA) ethics standard to “contribute to a positive ethical culture” and advice to “actively seek to resolve an ethical issue.” By learning and practicing how to voice concerns students gain confidence in this approach to resolve ethical issues. In addition, most students are inspired by the moral courage of the chief financial officer (CFO) and report an increased resolve to have moral courage.
Research methodology
The case was based on the CFO’s published account of his experience and supplemented with an interview. It has been gradually refined in an ethics course for accounting students over several years and evaluated from a sample of students who completed the course.
Case overview/synopsis
The CFO of a mining company was pressured to pledge collateral that was already pledged on another loan. The CFO courageously refused his supervisor’s request and resigned his position immediately (flight). In its ethics guidelines, the IMA requires its members to actively seek to resolve ethical issues internally before disassociating from the organization (fight). In addition, ethics writers Gentile (2010) and Badaracco (2001) suggest ways to communicate ethical concerns. In this case, accounting students learn how to resolve ethical issues using the ethics guidelines and suggestions by analyzing and writing about the experience of the CFO.
Complexity academic level
The case is used in a graduate ethics course. It may also be used in undergraduate accounting courses.
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Alexandra L. Ferrentino, Meghan L. Maliga, Richard A. Bernardi and Susan M. Bosco
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in…
Abstract
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.
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Sanjeev Ganguly, Soumi Rai and Shreya Mukherjee
After completion of the case study, the students would be able to comprehend the crisis at hand for Milkbasket, why did it resist Reliance’s takeover in the first place, then to…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
After completion of the case study, the students would be able to comprehend the crisis at hand for Milkbasket, why did it resist Reliance’s takeover in the first place, then to evaluate the pros-cons and future prospects for the organization post-acquisition; to evaluate from an ethical standpoint the process of mergers and acquisitions using ethical frameworks to understand how, when, to whom and through what processes do mergers and acquisitions qualify the test of being ethical; and to analyse different hostile takeovers, especially through tender offers, proxy contests and toehold bidding strategy in this case.
Case overview/synopsis
Founded in 2015, Milkbasket was a micro-delivery start-up based in Gurugram (near New Delhi), India. Milkbasket would let its subscribers order till midnight and deliver groceries, milk and other everyday essentials to its subscribers before 7 a.m. next day. It had burnt a lot of cash and was facing difficulty in getting investors; as such they were engaged in discussions with many companies. Two of them – Reliance Retail Venture Limited and BigBasket – were not accepting the proposed valuation, but Milkbasket got term sheets from other two companies.
Complexity academic level
This case study can be used for graduate courses on strategic management, business ethics and corporate governance. This case study can also be used in corporate finance course to highlight the importance of making ethical/responsible judgements to protect stakeholder interests.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
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Lucas M. Dille, Arlisa Campbell and Deborah Goodner Combs
The case is a secondary sourced case. Information for the case was found from news articles and interviews.
Abstract
Research methodology
The case is a secondary sourced case. Information for the case was found from news articles and interviews.
Case overview/synopsis
David’s Bridal was a privately held corporation generating $1.3bn in annual revenue and employing over 12,000 employees. David’s Bridal filed bankruptcy not once but twice. This case examines the bridal industry and the environmental factors that led to the two bankruptcies. Bridal dresses are at the top of wedding categories. Environmental factors causing bankruptcy included online competition, reputation as seen through the eyes of the consumer, COVID, and supply chain challenges. David’s Bridal first looked to Jim Marcum to turn the corporation around and when this failed, they created a new management team after the second bankruptcy to save the company.
Complexity academic level
The case is designed as an interdisciplinary case for undergraduate leadership, advanced accounting or undergraduate strategy courses. The case was tested in MGMT 330: Leading People in Organizations. This case is appropriate for junior- and senior-level students.This case will be used in ACCT 402: Advanced Accounting – a senior-level course. The case gives perspective on going concern opinions and the strategic implications of bankruptcy.Possible textbooks▪ Christensen, T., Cottrell, D. and Budd, C. (2023). Advanced Financial Accounting (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill.▪ Hoyle, J., Schaefer, T. and Doupnik, T. (2024). Advanced Accounting (15th ed.). McGraw-Hill▪ Rothaermel, F. T. (2024). Strategic Management (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill
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Jasmin Mikl, David M. Herold, Kamila Pilch, Marek Ćwiklicki and Sebastian Kummer
Disruptive technologies in the global logistics industry are often regarded as a threat to the existing business models of incumbents’ companies. Existing research, however…
Abstract
Purpose
Disruptive technologies in the global logistics industry are often regarded as a threat to the existing business models of incumbents’ companies. Existing research, however, focuses mainly on whether technologies have disruptive potential, thereby neglecting when such disruptive transitions occur. To understand the timing of potential disruptive technological change, this paper aims to investigate the elements of the underlying ecosystem shaping these transitions.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the established ecosystem framework from Adner and Kapoor (2016a), this paper constructs four categories of technology substitution to assess how quickly disruptive change may occur in the global logistics industry and defines key technology substitution determinants in logistics to emphasize the role of ecosystems for further consideration into disruptive innovation theory.
Findings
Based on the key determinants, this paper proposes first definitions of distinctive ecosystems elements linked to the three types of innovations, namely, sustaining innovations, low-end disruptions and new-market disruptions, thereby integrating ecosystems into Christensen’s (1997) disruptive innovation theory.
Originality/value
By developing a framework that conceptualizes the pace of technology substitution, this paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how logistics managers and academics can better predict disruptive transitions and develop strategies to allocate resources.
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This masterclass examines how customer-centric marketing, using new perspectives developed by Clayton Christensen and others, can guide new product and service innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
This masterclass examines how customer-centric marketing, using new perspectives developed by Clayton Christensen and others, can guide new product and service innovation. Christensen’s Jobs Theory revolves around the observation that “customers don’t buy products or services,” but rather “pull them into their lives to make progress” in some way that is particularly valuable to them.”
Design/methodology/approach
Two recent books are discussed in detail– Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice (2016), by Christensen and co-authors Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David Duncan and Sense & Respond: How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers and Create New Products Continuously (2017) by design and innovation experts, Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
Findings
In coming to view innovation through the lens of Jobs Theory, what you see is not so much the customer at the center of the innovation universe, but “the customer’s Job to Be Done,”which “may seem like a small distinction, but, in reality, “it changes everything.”
Practical Implications
Identifying a well-defined Job to Be Done offers a kind of innovation blueprint which is different’ from the traditional marketing concept of “needs” because of the ‘much higher degree of specificity required to identify precisely what it is you are trying to solve for in particular use-case contexts.
Originality/value
When applied astutely, the concept of “Job to Be Done”can improve a company’s track record at new product or service introduction. For the first time it gives managers and other corporate leaders a guidebook for making innovation initiatives more likely to be successful.
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Gurpreet Dhillon, David Coss and Ray Hackney
In interpreting the role of disruptive technologies in the relative success and failure of firms, this paper uses Christensen’s principles to review the strategies of Amazon.com…
Abstract
In interpreting the role of disruptive technologies in the relative success and failure of firms, this paper uses Christensen’s principles to review the strategies of Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobel. The core argument of the paper is based on the assertion that firms that fail to recognize the uniqueness of a disruptive technology fall short of succeeding in their line of business. The argument is conducted by reviewing the various aspects of disruptive technology, as they relate to the business of selling books online. In a final synthesis, insights based on occurrences within the US e‐business context are presented.
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Abiodun Adegbile and David Sarpong
The authors aim to examine the potential opportunities and challenges multinationals operating in Africa are likely to encounter when they seek to pioneer disruptive innovations…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aim to examine the potential opportunities and challenges multinationals operating in Africa are likely to encounter when they seek to pioneer disruptive innovations at the base of the pyramid (BoP) in African emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the extant literature on the BoP, disruptive innovation and the African business context, the authors explore the pioneering of disruptive innovations in the African socio-economic context.
Findings
This study develops various hypotheses to extend our understanding of disruptive innovations at the BoP. The authors also delineate potential managerial and institutional challenges multinational corporations (MNCs) are likely to encounter in their efforts to pioneering disruptive innovations for BoP customers in African emerging markets.
Practical implications
The authors develop some recommendations for MNCs on how to create and capture value from disruptive innovations in African emerging markets
Originality/value
The authors delineate African context-specific managerial and institutional challenges that MNCs might encounter when seeking to develop disruptive innovation at the BoP.
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C. Ganeshkumar, Arokiaraj David and D. Raja Jebasingh
The objective of this research work is to study the artificial intelligence (AI)-based product benefits and problems of the agritech industry. The research variables were…
Abstract
The objective of this research work is to study the artificial intelligence (AI)-based product benefits and problems of the agritech industry. The research variables were developed from the existing review of literature connecting to AI-based benefits and problems, and 90 samples of primary data from agritech industry managers were gathered using a survey of a well-structured research questionnaire. The statistical package of IBM-SPSS 21 was utilized to analyze the data using the statistical techniques of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Results show that better information for faster decision-making has been ranked as the topmost AI benefit. This implies that the executives of agritech units have a concern about the quality of decisions they make and resistance to change from employees and internal culture has been ranked as the topmost AI problem.
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Karen V. Fernandez and Michael B. Beverland
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the material nature of legacy technology makes its users passionately prefer it over its digital alternatives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the material nature of legacy technology makes its users passionately prefer it over its digital alternatives.
Design/methodology/approach
This ethnographic study uses data from 26 in-depth interviews with vinyl collectors, augmented with longitudinal participant–observation of vinyl collecting and music store events.
Findings
The findings reveal how the physicality of vinyl facilitates the passionate relationships (with music, the vinyl as performative object and other people) that make vinyl so significant in vinyl users’ lives.
Research limitations/implications
As this study examines a single research context (vinyl) from the perspective of participants from three developed, Anglophone nations, its key theoretical contributions should be examined in other technological contexts and other cultures.
Practical implications
The findings imply that miniturisation and automation have lower limits for some products, material attributes should be added to digitised products and that legacy technology products could be usually be reframed as tools of authentic self-expression.
Originality/value
This study explains what can happen beyond the top of the “S” curve in the Technology Acceptance Model, furthering our understanding of consumers’ reactions to the proliferation of digital technology in their lives.