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The purpose of this paper is to examine how changes in creditors' rights affect the dividend policy behavior of corporate firms.

The authors use the implementation of the bankruptcy and insolvency code (IBC) in India in 2016 as a quasi-natural experiment setup. Differential application of this law allows them to use the Difference in Differences approach to extract the marginal impact of change in creditors' rights on the dividend policy.

The authors show that firms responded to strengthening creditors' rights by decreasing their dividend payout. Further, the authors observe that this negative response is conditioned on firm leverage and the nature of the creditor, i.e. public or private. The firms with a greater leverage ratio and a greater proportion of private debt in the total debt in the pre-event period have shown greater response to the change in the law. Lastly, the authors show that stock markets positively respond to the observed decrease in dividends only when a corresponding decrease in the leverage accompanies such a decrease.

The authors contribute to the finance and law literature from several aspects. First, the authors extend this stream by bringing to light the dividend policy response of firms when they are subjected to a change in creditors' rights. Second, the authors also show how firm-level factors like financial policy and the nature of the creditor condition their response to IBC. Lastly, the authors also examine the market reaction to the dividend policy response of firms to the change in bankruptcy law.

The theoretical concepts and frameworks from the following literature are brought in to discuss the case situation. Freeman’s stakeholder framework, Yukl’s Influence Tactics, Johnson and Scholes’ Power-Interest Matrix Please see: Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Pitman Publishing Inc. Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in Organizations. Prentice-Hall. Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1999). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Prentice-Hall.

Information required for the case was primarily collected from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussorie, India, where the newly recruited civil service officers (probationary trainees) of India are trained. The main protagonist, a senior officer in the Indian Administrative Services was interviewed by one of the authors. Secondary data from contemporary newspaper reports and government orders were also made use of.

Palakkad District Magistrate Gayathri Nair was tasked with acquiring 130 hectares of land for a government-sponsored public-private partnership project to set up a railway coach factory in Palakkad. After taking the landowners into confidence and fast-tracking the administrative process through the line departments, she successfully acquired 93 hectares of land for Phase I of the project. However, the intervention from local politicians and activists halted the next phase. Gayathri was pressured by her bosses to solve the standstill in four weeks. Unable to make the owners realize the benefits of the project, she witnessed a showdown between the agitating masses and the district administration. The entire episode is worsened by the partisan media coverage. The only options open to Gayathri, as the head of the district administration, are either to go ahead with forceful land acquisition and thereby, risk the wrath of the public or abandon the project and bury the months-long back-breaking teamwork. How could Gayathri handle the situation better? What steps could she take at various stages to ensure a balanced outcome for all the stakeholders in the project?

This case is applicable for the courses/sessions in training programmes for executives, and undergraduate courses related to project management, strategic management, leadership and public policy. It is also useful for courses and training programmes on stakeholder mapping and conflict management.

This case uses two key theoretical notions for discussion and analysis: Policy-trade off model by Deborah Stone is adapted to the context of decision-making during the cyclone warning [Stone, Deborah. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision-Making. Third, New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2012.]. The critical success factors in disaster response- John R. Harrald’s five-stage framework is applied to analyse Case B. [Harrald, John R. “Agility and Discipline: Critical Success Factors for Disaster Response:” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 8 September 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716205285404.].

This case is written with the information collected through interviews, over three months from March 2020, with Ms Ranjana Chopra (Indian Administrative Services), a senior civil servant working for the Government of Odisha, who was associated with the event in the case. Secondary sources, including newspaper reports and meteorological bulletins from the Indian Meteorological Department, is also made use of.

Anupama Gowda was the District Magistrate of Kalinga in the state of Odisha, in the Eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. In April 2019, when the meteorological department issued a cyclone warning, she had to take a call on how to go ahead. Her team did not seem too enthused as Kalinga was away from the coast and meteorological warnings were taken as routine. The case discusses Gowda’s dilemma on whether to push for full-fledged preparations or a limited preparation at least or leave it laissez-faire. She made the decision by 24th April and “what happened” serve as Case B.

This case is intended to cover two key competencies: decision-making in ambiguity for public service professionals or bureaucrats and disaster response within a limited time period and resources. This case is useful for undergraduate-level foundational courses with decision-making under ambiguity as a component; in management, public policy and public administration disciplines. Executive training or short-term courses for early-career public service professionals (with no solid background in management/policy theory) on decision-making at the local administration level.

Kotter’s framework of change management adapted to the situation of public policy implementation under the leadership of a civil service officer in the rural areas of a developing economy in South Asia.

This case has been written using the primary data collected from the protagonist through personal and computer-based interviews. Some of the documents associated with the event shared by the protagonist are also reproduced as case exhibits. Secondary data from government official websites were also used to enrich the case.

Mahbubnagar, an arid agricultural district in central India faced the threat of a water crisis owing to the unscientific water extraction by the resident farmers. The government appointed a task force to investigate the problem. The team executed the idea to harvest excess water from the fields through a cheap and efficient method. Though it showed spectacular results in the initial months, the farmers gave up the innovation soon. When the team met two years later, they were shocked by the unenthusiastic response of the farmers. This case pertains to the failure of policy innovations and change management in government.

This case is useful for undergraduate-level courses in public management, public policy and governance with modules in change management, innovation management, rural development and programme implementation. Training modules for novice public service professionals and programme management personnel in government organisations. Elective courses on public policy, government relations and public sector management for undergraduate students of business administration.

The Indian Companies Act 2013 mandated auditor rotations in the financial year 2018–2019. Similar regulations are being considered in many countries, based on the assumption that longer tenure is detrimental to audit quality; yet, the evidence from investigations of this assumption is inconclusive. This paper aims to examine the effect of moderating factors on the relation between audit quality and audit tenure, given the regulatory trend and the lack of consensus in extant literature.

This paper examines the relationship between audit quality and audit tenure among Indian firms from 2001 to 2015 and tests for moderating factors including auditor compensation, business group affiliation and chief executive officer (CEO) duality.

Contrary to the objective of mandatory rotations, this study finds that longer auditor tenure generally enhanced audit quality among Indian firms prior to mandatory rotations. However, for companies paying abnormally high compensation to auditors, this paper finds that longer tenure decreases audit quality, particularly if the firm is affiliated with a business group or firms where the CEO also serves as the board chair. Thus, the potential benefits of mandated shorter tenure appear to be confined to high-fee paying companies with a business group affiliation and/or a dual-role CEO.

This study is one of the first to examine conditioning factors that affect the relationship between audit quality and auditor tenure. Results suggest that regulations limiting auditor tenure would be beneficial only to the shareholders of a narrow group of firms; while for the majority of firms, limiting auditor tenure may actually be counter-productive.

The improvement of the agri-food supply chain sustainability plays pivotal role in the planet’s survival and in overcoming of climate disasters. Digital technologies that support the collection of Big Data produced along the agri-food supply chain (SC) emerge as powerful tools to accelerate the ecological transition of the sector. Digital technologies can support the implementation of circular business models by sharing data across the SC, monitoring in real time the materials flow, automatizing some agricultural practices and improving the decision-making through the development of decision support systems. Despite the relevance of these arguments, there is a lack of shared frameworks and guidelines for the effective development of a “data-driven circular economy” in the agri-food SC. In this scenario, this chapter examines how scholars investigate data-oriented strategies to accelerate the ecological transition and the adoption of circular economy (CE) models in the agri-food sector (AFS). To this end, a systematic literature review (SLR) was performed. Twenty-nine papers were selected following a rigorous sampling process. Both bibliometric and descriptive results are provided in the first part of this chapter. According to the analytical framework developed, the selected papers were examined in light of the “reduce, reuse and recycle” (3R) paradigm. Moreover, an additional R was retrieved from the systematic review (i.e., redesign), broadening the analytical perspective. The results indicate that scholars have predominantly provided theoretical contributions concerning the role of digital technologies and big data for the agri-food circular transition from a macro-perspective. The findings are useful for policy-makers and managers, who can promote and implement the big data-oriented approach to facilitate the circular transition. Limitations and future research directions are also provided.

Consolidation through mergers and acquisitions indicates one of the major outcomes of the financial transformation process and contemporary trend in the Indian banking sector. Literature suggests that the pre-merger financials of banks are crucial in deciding the post-merger performance of merged entities. In this context, the aim of the present study is to provide insights on the strategic and financial similarities of merging partners in the bank mergers that occurred in the post-liberalization India.

This paper considers all bank merger deals in the post-liberalization period, which involve purchase consideration either in the form of stock or cash. Hypotheses about the strategic similarities and dissimilarities are tested. The study considers all important aspects such as relative size of targets, diversity of earnings, efficiency, financial leverage, prudential norms and profitability.

The study finds that banks are dissimilar in most of the key areas, and these might have an adverse impact on the post-merger performance.

The study is original because we take into account all the bank merger deals in the period, which involve purchase consideration either in the form of stock or cash.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand the format of for-profit social enterprise working for menstrual hygiene sustainability and its contribution toward U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, to appreciate the company’s alignment with the triple bottom line framework, to analyze the blue ocean mechanism that the company has developed to create an impact and to critique the strategies the Asan Cups company could adopt to increase its market share and growth.

Asan Cups was a for-profit social enterprise founded by Ira Guha in 2021. The company crafted reusable menstrual cups from liquid silicone, sporting a patented design in India, the UK, Europe and the USA. Successfully retailing its products in India, the UK and Europe, Asan Cups operated on a bootstrap model with a compact team of four, led by its visionary founder. From the get-go, the company embraced a compelling 1-for-1 donation initiative. For every cup sold, Asan Cups generously donated another to women who could not afford it. Collaborating with nongovernmental organizations, schools, educational institutions and social workers, the company spearheaded campaigns to heighten menstrual hygiene awareness. This proactive approach aimed to boost the acceptance of menstrual cups among rural women and championed the cause of environmental sustainability. The company did not just stop at providing an eco-friendly alternative. Asan Cups fervently educated the masses on the detrimental environmental impact of traditional disposable period products like sanitary pads and tampons. Fast-forwarding to 2023, Asan Cups had garnered approximately 30,000 users, with the adoption rate steadily climbing. The company strategically used an education-intensive model to foster awareness about period products in collaboration with partners nationwide. However, being a for-profit entity, the founder, Guha, was at a crossroads. Balancing the need for profitability, there was mounting pressure to explore additional revenue streams and expand operations and market reach. The dilemma loomed large: opt for a quicker marketing strategy or stay true to the company’s foundational education-centered approach. This case study delves into the dynamic strategies, impactful operations and growth scenarios Asan Cups navigated since its inception. It examines the pivotal choices faced by the founder and explores potential strategies for sustained growth.

This case study can be used at both undergraduate and master’s levels. The case study will be handy for strategic management and business strategy courses and can also be used for social entrepreneurship, marketing and entrepreneurship courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.