The case talks about the marketing strategy behind the success of MakeMyTrip (MMT). It starts out with a brief history of MMT and then describes the company's unique marketing strategy, which includes the use of innovative digital technologies and launch of digital campaigns. The case touches upon the use of social media by MMT for the promotion of these campaigns. The case describes the impact of these marketing campaigns on the performance of the company, also highlights future plans.

The case talks about the efforts of Indian textile major Raymond Ltd. (Raymond) in repositioning India's traditional fabric 'Khadi' as a new fashionable fabric, as part of its growth strategy. The case starts with a brief look at Raymond's history and its textile innovations. It then gives a short history of Khadi and its importance in the Indian milieu. The case discusses in depth Raymond's deal with the statutory government body Khadi Village and Industries Commission (KVIC) that branded and promoted Khadi. The deal allowed the company to offer 'Khadi by Raymond'. The issues that Raymond faced in making Khadi market ready are also described. Raymond's efforts at changing certain preconceived notions about Khadi through a new advertising campaign are discussed as well. The case ends with a brief look at the future prospects of Raymond in the Khadi space.

This case is about the marketing strategies adopted by the makers of the blockbuster epic movie 'Baahubali - The Beginning', two years prior to its release. The stupendous success of the film was attributed to a well-executed promotional approach, which included regular movie updates, introductory videos of lead stars, and interactive quizzes on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Apart from this, the makers also launched a website and sold merchandise such as apparel for men and women, accessories, and collectibles like concept sketches and posters to promote the movie. The magnum opus was marketed as the most expensive movie ever made in Indian cinema. This created hype and helped in positioning the film crossing the language barrier. Despite being a regional film, Baahubali garnered tremendous national appeal and emerged as the biggest box-office opener in the country. With aggressive online promotional strategies for Baahubali, the makers had taken film promotions in India to a new level, opined analysts.

This case study provides a brief overview of the global and Indian OTT markets in terms of facts and figures sourced from recent industry reports. The evolution of OTT market in India and reasons for its growth have also been assessed. The case study explores the key players in Indian OTT market, briefly analysing their strengths. It ends with some key developments and trends that could contribute to the future growth of the OTT market in India and globally.

This case study is about the "Amul Girl", the moppet used by the Anand Milk Union Ltd's (Amul) for brand promotion and advertisement. The Amul Girl had been the face of Amul since 1966 and was considered the longest running advertising campaign in Indian advertising. The case traces the journey of the Amul Girl since inception and lists her crisp and witty takes on Indian and world events, with amusing slogans being used for Amul's brand promotion and product advertisement. The case also describes how Amul used its moppet in different mediums like the radio (1976), television commercials (since 1976 and a fresh start in 1994), and social media like Facebook (2014), Twitter (2014), and YouTube (2014), to increase the engagement rates of its users. It also describes the challenges faced by Amul in using the Amul Girl to connect with the millennial, lack of refreshing content on digital media, and Amul's no celebrity endorsement policy. The case concludes with the steps taken by Amul to be relevant and the launch of its new media strategy.

This case discusses Norwich, New York-based leading Greek yogurt manufacturer Chobani LLC (Chobani) and its reinvention strategy. In November 2017, the company unveiled a new look for its logo and redesigned packaging and announced several new additions to its product lines. The company also tried to morph into a "food-focused wellness company" with emphasis on Nutritional wellness, Social wellness, and Environmental wellness. Keeping in view the changing customer preferences and the predicted downfall in demand, Chobani adopted the strategy of reinvention to spark interest in yogurt again. But industry experts viewed this as a move to protect its place in the yogurt market. The competition among the players in the yogurt market had intensified over the years and they were eating into each other's market share. Moreover, a shift in consumer preference was also noticed with the increasing sales of yogurt smoothies and other drinks. This was an indication that the Greek yogurt was losing its luster and Chobani had no option than to reinvent itself.

The case talks about how India-based stationery products manufacturing company Linc Pen & Plastics Ltd. (Linc) navigated through the Covid-19 crisis. It starts out with the announcement made by the company regarding its sales achievement. The case gives a brief history of Linc and then describes the business strategies adopted by the company before the Covid-19 pandemic. This included launching of new products, innovative pricing, and its expansion to different locations across the world. The case then dwells upon the strategies implemented by Linc during the pandemic such as expansion of its distribution network and extension of product line. It also highlights how these strategies helped the company to protect its sales. The case ends with the future plans of Linc.

FedEx, a logistics service company based in the US, was always known for its innovations. It became the first shipping company to use computers to manage packages, brought parcel tracking to the shipping industry for the first time by introducing a hand-held bar code, and offered tracking of online packages by launching a website, thus allowing customers to conduct business via the internet. It also released a new BlackBerry application and an enhanced mobile website so that customers could ship, track, and find FedEx locations on the go. Similarly, FedEx recognized the growing importance of social media quite early and decided to take to it in a big way. They went beyond just setting up accounts on different social media platforms and made it an integral part of the company. FedEx also used social media to connect with the workforce and community, and build customer relationships. It was poised for further growth leveraging the power of social media.

The case study evaluates the key marketing effortsof Hershey's, one of the biggest chocolate producing companies globally. Hershey's had established a presence in more than 85 countries around the world and sold over 90 of its brands worldwide. One of the most significant features that led to Hershey's success was its readiness to change and the courage to make striking turns in the course of the business. The company positioned its chocolates as "affordable luxury," and made it available at economical prices. It was taking various measures to sustain its competitive advantage.

The case is about the crisis Subway faced after the arrest of its key spokesman Jared Fogle (Fogle). The case details the rise of Fogle as brand ambassador of Subway and his role in the gradual growth of the organization. Subway responded to the crisis, caused by Fogle's arrest by disassociating itself from Fogle. It strove to manage the crisis, even though the company did not have a crisis management plan. The case discusses the risks associated with a long-term brand endorser and puts forth various opinions of branding experts and public relations experts. It concludes by taking a look at Subway's decision to hire a management consulting firm to restructure its business and reduce its dependence on brand endorsers and to focus more on the brand itself.

This case discusses the logistics and distribution strategy of Nestle India Limited (NIL), the Indian subsidiary of the world's largest food and beverage company, Nestle SA. The case gives a brief insight into the distribution structure of Nestle and the terms of operations it employed for its intermediaries. It then provides details about how technology helped NIL's outbound logistics system at NIL. The case moves on to discuss the possibilities of channel conflicts and stresses the need for NIL to strengthen its own distribution channel in order to avoid differences between prices of its products in different regions, product positioning, and promotional campaigns. The hyper local cluster approach of NIL is dealt with as well - wherein it divided India into various clusters and then crafted product placements, distribution, marketing, and promotions for each cluster. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director of NIL, was hopeful that NIL would continue to improve its distribution strategies to serve the Indian markets better.

The case study sheds light on the inbound marketing concept conceptualized by Dharmesh Shah (Dharmesh) and Brian Halligan (Brian) in 2004. The two, founders of HubSpot, a US-based software company, developed a cloud-based marketing, sales, and customer service platform called 'Growth Platform,' which enabled clients to expand their businesses using the inbound marketing concept through a platform called the 'Growth Platform'. The case study also talks about the inbound marketing and sales strategies applied by HubSpot to sell the 'Growth Platform' as an apt marketing strategy in the information age for e-commerce firms, specifically SaaS businesses.

The case discusses the marketing and promotional strategies adopted by Nestle India Ltd (NIL) to revive the Maggi brand in India. In June 2015, Maggi was banned for six months across India after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of India found much higher than permissible amounts of lead in samples of Maggi 2-Minute noodles - one of NIL's best-selling products in India. The company had to recall 38,000 tons of Maggi noodles from millions of retail shelves across the country. After getting clearance from the apex court, the ban was relaxed in November 2015. The controversy affected the company significantly with Maggi losing over Rs.10 billion in sales and its brand image suffering a serious blow. Suresh Narayanan (Narayanan), Managing Director of NIL, was on a mission to resurrect the beleaguered Maggi brand. The plan included spending heavily on advertising and brand building initiatives in addition to stepping up consumer engagement on the digital platforms.

Baskin Robbins is one of the most loved and leading brands world-wide in the ice cream segment. It commands a vast world-wide distribution network with a variety of ice cream flavors. The implementation of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic badly affected the food industry, especially the ice cream sector. The summer of 2020 in India, Baskin Robbins' peak sales period, had been a disappointment, as sales dropped by almost 50 percent. Baskin Robbins quickly responded to the adverse effects of COVID-19 and came up with an agile survival strategy. The main objective of this case study is to understand the survival strategy of Baskin Robbins with respect to COVID-19.

This case study discusses the 'Worlds Apart' advertising campaign of the Netherlands-based beverage company, Heineken N.V. (Heineken). The company had launched the four-minute advert organically in April 2017. Heineken wanted to showcase the fact that people with polarized views could also open up and connect with each other. And to prove this, it brought people with differing views together, got them to crack open a bottle of beer and created great moments. The advert was well received in the social media and also won awards at the Cannes Lions festival of creativity in 2017. The case analyzes the advert in reference to the contact theory.

The case study describes how iD Fresh Food (India) Pvt. Ltd. (iD Fresh), a relatively new entrant in the Indian food and beverages market, forayed into the Indian coffee market by addressing the unmet demand for ready-to-make authentic filter coffee. In 2018, the company entered the beverages segment through 'iD Fresh - Traditional Filter Coffee Decoction' (iD Filter Coffee Decoction). The case study provides a brief note on the Indian ready-to-drink (RTD) market and explains the reasons for iD Fresh finding a potential market for iD Filter Coffee Decoction, especially with the lifestyle of many Indians becoming more hectic due to the rise in urbanization, increase in the number of nuclear families, and growth in the number of dual-income households. Many Indians had thus abandoned the practice of brewing filter coffee at home and turned towards instant coffee powders. However, many coffee connoisseurs continued to seek authentic filter coffee.

The case discusses the promotional campaigns undertaken by Tata Salt, India's first iodized salt brand, to enhance its market share in the Indian branded salt industry. Tata Salt was the first to introduce iodized, hygienic, and standardized salt in the Indian market. It started its product positioning on the rational platform of purity. Through its communication campaigns, Tata Salt advocated the importance of pure, iodized, and iron-rich salt in people's diet. The case discusses the various promotional strategies adopted by Tata Salt to capture the position of the most trusted brand in the Indian salt industry. Over the years, the brand was successful in establishing an emotional connect with customers by tapping the nationalist and patriotic fervor through campaigns such as 'Namak ho Tata ka - Tata namak', 'Desh ka Namak' and 'Ghul Milke'. The case concludes by discussing the need for the brand to identify future market needs and address them as it continues to grow.

The caselet talks about the failed attempt of Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc. (VSI) to reinvent itself in a bid to improve its business prospects. The case starts out with the circumstances that forced VSI to think about reinventing itself. It then explains the various measures taken by the company, as a part of its reinvention strategy. The case goes on to delve into the reasons for the reinvention strategy failing to improve the company's sales and financial position. It ends with the additional steps VSI was taking to avoid having such a failure again and takes a brief look at the possibility of the company's prospects brightening. Does VSI need to continue reinventing itself?

The case is about Facebook's rebranding to Meta. With the rebranding, Facebook would be one of many products under a parent company whose offerings include Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. The case discusses aspects of the rebranding decision taken by Co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who suggested that the company saw itself with a very different future focus - a focus on the idea of "metaverse", which was a vision of a social media universe that could move seamlessly between several connected devices. The case could be used to discuss the concept of rebranding, its objectives, risks, and advantages.

This case is about the rebranding exercise undertaken by the Dunkin Brands Group, Inc. (Dunkin) in the US. The company had dropped the word 'Donuts' from its brand name 'Dunkin Donuts' and rebranded to only 'Dunkin'. The rebranding created ripples in the restaurant industry because though the organization had changed its logo and appearance even earlier, this was the first time it was dropping the word 'Donuts' from its brand name. In fact, the word 'Donuts' was closely associated with the brand, and was almost synonymous with "Dunkin Donuts'. The case discusses the evolution of the brand name, the reasons for the rebranding initiative, and the strategies undertaken by Dunkin to successfully rebrand itself.

The case talks about the creative strategy behind Cavi Elettrci Affini Torino Limited (CEAT) Ltd.'s successful 'Be Idiot Safe' (Idiots Campaign) ad campaign, which went on to have several re-launches in later years. The case starts out by mentioning how the 'Big Idea' for the 'Idiots Campaign' was arrived at in 2010. It then describes the ads that were launched as part of the 'Idiots Campaign' and their impact on CEAT's brand value. Details are also provided about how the campaign was revisited in 2011 and 2014, and how this too turned out to be successful. The case ends with the latest re-launch of the 'Idiots Campaign', under the name 'Meet the 'Mahapurush' (Mahapurush campaign), in 2017.

Amul, the taste of India - the brand that changed the face of dairy in the country; the brand that benefitted both the suppliers and the consumers and continued to win over consumers with its utterly delicious milk products. Every generation from the baby boomers to the millennials had relished its products. Amul was not content with just being another dairy cooperative. It had a commitment to give the consumer the best quality product, and it was this commitment that made Amul different from other brands. This case focuses, among other things, on Amul's marketing strategies during the pandemic.

The case talks about the repercussions of the controversial TVC and print media ads put up by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), makers of Amul ice cream. The ads prompted Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), makers of 'Kwality Walls' frozen dessert and ice creams, along with Vadilal Industries Ltd. and Vadilal Diary International Ltd. to file a case in the Bombay High Court against Amul for product disparagement. HUL and its co-petitioners later won the case, thus preventing the controversial ads from being aired. The case starts off with a description of the controversial ads, which mainly talked about ice creams being a healthier option than frozen desserts. The case also delves into the reasons that prompted Amul to air the ads and the benefits it intended to gain from it. It then highlights how the ad war was in reality a disguise for an ongoing brand war between HUL and Amul for market share in the ice cream market.

The case study describes how cosmetics companies, from well-established multi-nationals to start-ups, are reaping rich dividends by adopting influencer marketing to engage consumers across different social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Various established cosmetic brands like L'Oreal and Avon and new entrants like The Man Company and Frank Body have used the influencer marketing strategy to improve brand relevance and brand awareness of existing beauty products and to launch new beauty products in the market.

This case study discusses the logo redesign exercise carried out by Spanish fast fashion retailer Zara SA (Zara). The changed logo, released in January 2019, was designed by the advertising agency Baron&Baron Inc., founded by French publisher and artistic director Fabien Baron. The existing logo of Zara had been in use since 2010 and had the letters ZARA printed in block capital sans serif characters with large spacing in between. But in the new logo, the text was crowded close together, the letters were kerned, and they overlapped. Also, there were curved intonations on the 'Z' and 'R'. The logo was redesigned as part of Zara's efforts to appeal to the millennials and retain its fast fashion brand image. It wanted to send out the message that it was willing to change according to the changing trends. The changed logo came in for a lot of criticism from designers as well as customers who said the name of the company was not clearly visible and vented their anger on social media. But Zara maintained that the new logo reflected its new identity.

The case study describes how Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd. (Mercedes-Benz India) regained its leadership position in the luxury car segment in India. Mercedes-Benz entered India in 1994, the first luxury car brand to do so. Despite this, Mercedes-Benz India fell behind BMW and Audi, its fellow German luxury car brands, in terms of sales volume between 2009 and 2014. The case study details the various targeting strategies that Mercedes-Benz India adopted, including revamping its product portfolio with compact and sporty models, introducing customer-friendly in-house finance schemes to prospective younger customers, and using an omni-channel approach to promotion. The case also focuses on how Mercedes-Benz India made use of digital technologies in its product, service, and marketing to offer enhanced personalized services to its customers, especially the younger segment.

This case study discusses the segmentation and targeting strategy adopted by Nike to launch its competition sportswear titled 'Pro Hijab', a performance headscarf targeted at Muslim Women Athletes (MWAs) in general, with a special focus on Middle-Eastern athletes. The case explores the reasons that caused Nike to come up with the idea of the Pro Hijab and how it consulted several famous MWAs across the globe before designing the sports headscarf. The case also presents the measures adopted by Nike to ensure that the Pro Hijab was designed in such a way as to meet all the needs of the MWAs. At the end, the case facilitates a critical discussion on Nike's decision to launch its new brand and the strengths and potential limitations attached to it. Will this decision to target such a niche segment be beneficial to Nike, given the criticism and negativity it had to face in launching the Pro Hijab?

The case discusses the product positioning and promotional strategy of Fevicol, the largest selling adhesive in Asia with a presence in over 50 countries. Fevicol had become successful not only due to its quality but also because of its unique advertising campaigns. The case discusses the innovative promotional strategies adopted by Pidilite, the parent company of Fevicol, to enable an industrial product like Fevicol to carve out a niche as a top consumer brand in the urban as well as rural markets in India. The creative strategy employed for Fevicol is to make bonding a Fevicol attribute, and its advertising has used intelligent humor to convey this meaning. The biggest challenge for the brand going forward would be to retain its dominant position in the Indian glue market in the light of increasing competition from the unorganized sector. It remains to be seen whether the uniqueness of its advertising strategy will give Fevicol a competitive advantage in the future.

The case describes how Safaricom, a Kenyan mobile communications company, used marketing research insights to effectively respond to a potential loss of market share and brand image due to dissatisfied millennial customers. The case brings to light the importance of understanding consumer segments and sub-segments and Safaricom's efforts to customize products, services, and marketing initiatives according to sub-segments, a practice that was previously not common in the Kenyan telecommunications industry. Safaricom gained a reputation in the Kenyan market through its successful mobile banking initiative M-Pesa, which provided basic banking services to several unbanked Africans.

SellMed Online Pvt. Ltd (SellMed) was a technology company whose stated purpose was to provide every Indian access to the best possible healthcare. It aimed to be the pioneer healthcare hub in India that would bring all stakeholders on to a single platform to ensure a seamless healthcare experience for the customers. The company offered two services - lab testing and diagnostic services - in collaboration with healthcare partners and the home delivery of online Pharma orders via its app. Silvia John (Silvia), Head of Sales of SellMed, was charged with developing corporate accounts and entering into a tie-up with pharmaceutical companies. She had put in place a standardized Corporate Outreach Program with clearly outlined procedures and an action plan to be followed by the sales team. The case looks at the challenges before Silvia as she sought to expand to newer areas, especially Tier 2 and 3 towns. She also wanted her sales team to be more productive and to improve the success rate of sales closure.

The case describes the various technology-based initiatives taken by Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris (Taj Hotels) to offer personalized services to its guests in India and abroad. The brand's unwavering commitment to offering customer-centric services resulted in its being listed by Brand Finance, a London-based brand valuation consultancy, as the strongest Indian brand in June 2020. It was also considered as a leader in the Customer Experience Excellence metric in a survey by KPMG, a global business consultancy, in 2018. The case study discusses the various digital and non-digital strategies adopted by Taj Hotels at individual properties as well as across its chain to provide personalized services and experiences to the millennials. In 2018, Taj Hotels launched Taj.Live, a digital media monitoring and response system, to listen, interact, engage, respond, and delight consumers across all digital media channels, including social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

The case talks about the omni-channel marketing strategy of Croma, an electronics retailer belonging to the India-based Tata Group. Croma was launched in 2006 and was termed as India's first large format specialist retail chain for consumer electronics and durables. It was among the first electronics retailers to launch the online portal 'cromaretail.com' in 2012 to face growing competition from both brick-and-mortar and online retailers, who were making their presence felt in the Indian market. The foray into e-commerce helped Croma integrate its physical stores with its web portal and mobile phones. This became popular as the omni-channel strategy. Through this, Croma allowed buyers to order online and pick up the product in the store. Or, customers could check the products online, order at the store, and have them delivered at home. This became highly popular, and almost 50% of the customers visited the website before visiting the store.

When soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo removed the Coca-Cola bottles from the table in front of him at a press conference during Euro 2020, it drew the attention of fans, the media, and many others. Ronaldo was one of several celebrities who were distancing themselves from unhealthy brands, either because of a feeling of social responsibility or a fear that the association might tarnish their image. The incident led to a fall in Coca Cola's valuation and dented its image. However, experts opined that other factors might have contributed to the fall in Coca-Cola's valuation.

The case describes how the retailer made use of the leave benefit policy as a lever to initiate a successful transformation of Myntra's employee experience program for a healthier, happier and productive workforce. It seeks to highlight the importance of cultivating a sense of belonging and well-being among employees since it is considered a strong driver of employee engagement. The case describes how Myntra addressed this issue by replacing the sick leaves with wellness leaves to indicate a change in approach to employee welfare that considered mental and emotional wellness along with physical health. This was necessary for the company since the key drivers of employee engagement shifted significantly during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Listening and acting on employee feedback, and top management support for the employee experience were a few key elements that led to the successful transformation of Myntra's employee experience program. It also touches upon existing leave and healthcare policies. The case ends with a brief mention of the impact of these initiatives which ensured that Myntra's workforce took good care of their mental and physical wellbeing.

The case is about cab aggregator Ola and its growth in the Indian market. It also describes some of the strategies Ola followed to make a mark in the Indian cab market. The case first discusses the history of Ola, and highlights the innovative services the company introduced to its customers and the marketing strategy it adopted to create brand awareness. The case then discusses the business model innovation at Ola and how it became successful in a short span of time. Ola needed to be very discerning about the opportunities it pursued because of the huge funding it has received. The company has raised 4.30 billion US dollars as of November 2021. Although Ola was successful, the question is whether the company would continue to be successful in the long run and whether the potential Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 2022 would open new avenues for growth.

In September 2015, Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel announced that it would move to a more affordable pay-per-second plan for all its prepaid mobile customers in the wake of government's warning to telecom service providers to compensate the customers for their call drops. Airtel's decision to go in for a per-second billing option would provide great relief to customers who were earlier charged on a per-minute basis irrespective of whether the call got disconnected midway. As per the new per-second billing option of Airtel, the users would be charged based on the length of time they used the network. Industry experts observed that though Airtel's per-second billing plan would benefit the users, it is not the best solution and that there need to be more stringent measures in place for addressing this issue.

The case details how Marie Kondo (Marie), a young Japanese woman, capitalized on the trend of consumer minimalism to build a business through her company KonMarie Inc. Her de-cluttering and organizing method, called the KonMari Method, helped her achieve a self-worth of $8 million in a decade. Marie had had a penchant for cleaning and organizing her home since childhood. By the time she turned 19 in 2003, her friends began offering her money for her tidying services. After graduation, though she took up regular employment at a staffing agency, she began to offer her tidying services as a part-time professional service. Marie soon had a waiting list of customers that stretched over six months. Realizing the business potential in this concept, Marie quit her regular job and converted her side hustle into a full-time business. The case focuses on the various promotional initiatives, including book publishing, talk shows, working with celebrities, and appearing in a Netflix series that led to Marie becoming a celebrity in Japan and later in the US.

The case study discusses the Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil fiasco that occurred when its brand ambassador, 48-year-old Sourav Ganguly, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and former captain of men's National Cricket Team, suffered a heart attack. It was a tough situation for the company as a whole and for the Fortune branding team in particular, as the oil brand had positioned itself as a healthy oil for the 40-plus age group. The brand manager had to take quick action to control the damage caused by the incident.

The case is about Indian consumer goods company Patanjali Ayurved Limited's foray into the apparel industry with the launch of its fashion arm, Patanjali Paridhan. The philosophy behind the launch of Paridhan was to leverage the brand value of Patanjali to provide a range of world class apparel for Indians. Targeting men and women across age groups, Paridhan offered denim, casual, ethnic, and formal clothes under the brands Livefit, Aastha, and Sanskar. With the aim of promoting the Indian traditional textile industry, Patanjali Paridhan focused on the concept of 'Swadeshi' or Indianness. To promote Paridhan, the company initiated an ad campaign that aimed at creating a movement toward embracing 'Swadeshi' fashion. Paridhan planned to make the apparel range available on e-commerce platforms, multi-brand outlets and the shop-in-shop stores, and also distribute through unorganized retailers across the country.

The case study throws light on the new and innovative product development and marketing strategies adopted by Reckitt Benckiser India (RB India) to increase the market share of its flagship brand, Dettol, in the Indian personal care products market. The case study takes a look at the history of brand Dettol, its introduction in India in 1933, and its gradual acceptance by Indians who until then had used naturally available spices and herbs as germicides and disinfectants. Next, the case study talks about the need for a new product category and the marketing research conducted by RB India, which led to its co-creating a product range with the contemporary, well-placed, millennial Indian mother. The case also details the innovative marketing campaign executed by RB India for the new 'Dettol Co-Created With Moms' range of soaps and liquid handwash.

The case study is about the social media marketing campaign, #SwiggyVoiceofHunger. The campaign was conceptualized by Swiggy - the biggest on-demand food delivery platform in India, and Dentsu Webchutney - a Gurugram-based online advertising agency. The case study provides details of the campaign objectives to make brand Swiggy the preferred food delivery platform among the millennials (its key target consumers), increase the number of Swiggy's Instagram followers, and engage consumers through a memorable experience. The case study also explains the conceptualization of the campaign by Dentsu Webchutney.

The case talks about the backlash resulting from the airing of an ad by Indian jewelry brand Tanishq, which sought to showcase religious harmony in India but ended up exposing the country's bitter religious divide. Tanishq, a division of Titan Company Limited - a subsidiary of the large Indian conglomerate, The Tata Group - released the ad in different Indian media channels for its new collection called 'Ekatvam' - which means 'oneness'. The case starts out by mentioning the reasons for Tanishq coming up with that particular ad. It then goes on to describe the key points on which the ad was criticized by several sections of society. It also provides the views of certain sections of society who lauded the ad for its message of religious unity. The hullabaloo around the ad led to Tanishq's withdrawing it within three days of its being aired.

The case discusses the nuances of the experiential marketing strategy adopted by one of the leading Indian alcohol beverages company, Bacardi India Private Limited (Bacardi), to attract millennials. As alcohol advertising in India was prohibited, Bacardi resorted to an experiential marketing strategy centered on music. Bacardi's experiential marketing strategy enabled it to overcome the advertising restrictions and create a strong brand identity. Will Bacardi's association with music enable it to keep attracting the coming generations?

Burger King failed to attract nutrition-conscious diners through Satisfries, a lower-calorie, healthier version of its French fries, with the result that the company withdrew the product from two-thirds of its restaurants. The failure of Satisfries was a major blow to the global fast food giant which was struggling to provide better dining experiences to customers by serving healthy fast food at its restaurants. Burger King introduced the lower-calorie fries with the objective of attracting more health-conscious consumers and boosting its health-friendly image among the fast food giants in the world. But critics questioned its claim about offering fewer calories and a healthier fast food option than its rivals. The product also failed to satisfy consumers who were not clear about the advantages of Satisfries, compared to the company's regular fries. Moreover, its overpricing, weak brand positioning, bad marketing decision, wrong social media advertisements, and lack of product differentiation, among others, resulted in the failure of Satisfries.

The case discusses the entry of Indian FMCG giant Dabur India Ltd (Dabur) into the ready-to-drink beverage category with the launch of Hajmola Yoodley (Yoodley), an ethnic drinks range. Yoodley is an extension of Dabur's popular digestive brand Hajmola into the fast growing ethnic beverages category in India. Yoodley is an example of Dabur's continued focus on innovation to drive strong growth. The case discusses the rationale behind the launch of Yoodley, product attributes, and competition in the ethnic beverages category. It concludes by discussing whether Yoodley would be able to make a dent in the crowded beverages market in India and give its competitors a run for their money.

The case is about the relaunch of the Rol-a-Cola candy of Parle Products Private Limited (Parle) in India. Rol-a-Cola candy was taken off the shelves in 2006 due to product rationalization. The case deals with the circumstances behind the re-launch of the Rol-a-Cola brand in 2019 due to demand from consumers who wanted the brand back in the market. Aided by digital media, Parle embarked on an advertising campaign on social media and re-launched the Rol-a-Cola brand in the market. The case next dwells on the state of the confectionery market in India and the various competitors of Parle. Digital media was used for the promotion and advertising of the Rol-a-Cola brand. The strong distribution network of Parle and the company's low-cost pricing strategy along with its advertising strategy on digital media garnered sales for the Rol-a-Cola brand across the country. The question was whether the momentum would last and bring in profits for Parle.

The caselet discusses home grown dairy brand Amul's foray into the carbonated drinks space in India with the launch of a fizzy fruit-based dairy drink 'Tru Seltzer' in October 2020. Said to be India's first seltzer, Amul Tru Seltzer was available in two flavors - lemon and orange - and was affordably priced at just Rs.15 for a 200ml PET bottle. The drink was targeted at the health-conscious younger generation. Given Amul's maiden foray into the carbonated beverages segment with Tru Seltzer, it was expected to face some challenges such as tough competition from big players in the Indian carbonated drinks space, defining the category as seltzers were still not a distinct category in the Indian beverages market, and scaling up the brand.

The caselet focuses on the advertising campaign launched by HDFC Life for its new term insurance plan - Click2Protect Plus. The objective of the campaign was to create awareness about the new and unique combination of features available in the Click 2 Protect Plus plan. It discusses how HDFC Life used an emotional appeal in its advertisements to explain the policy features of the plan and attract customers. The case concludes by discussing how the insurance company planned to take the campaign forward and reach a wider network.

This case discusses the customer service challenges faced by Canadian telecommunications giant Rogers Communications (Rogers). The company had been making efforts since 2009 to tackle its customer service issues but had not met with much success in improving its relations with its customers. For a wireless communications company like Rogers, it was essential to offer excellent customer service. However, the communications giant had been neglecting its customers and this had led to its losing its wireless subscribers to other Canadian communication majors such as Telus and Bell Canada Enterprise (BCE). And that was not all. The company's reputation and brand image were also at stake. While other communication companies benefited from customer loyalty programs, Rogers did not, as is evident from customers' complaints that enrolling for Rogers' 'First Rewards' program led to their losing discounts from other services.

The case study throws light on the various direct marketing initiatives implemented by Bata India Ltd (Bata India), India's largest organized footwear retailer, to drive sales and reach out to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and thereby sustain business activity. Bata India decided to slow down its retail expansion amid the coronavirus pandemic in mid-2020 and strengthen its online channels for growth. It segmented customers into Digital Natives, Digital Adopters, and Digital Novices based on their proficiency in using technology and introduced direct-to-home marketing initiatives targeted at different segments, namely, 'Bata Chat Shop' and 'Bata Store-On-Wheels,' that allowed consumers to shop from the comfort and safety of their homes.

The case study describes the product and distribution strategies of Britannia Industries Limited (Britannia) to strengthen its presence in rural India. This helped Britannia achieve a 21.5% year-on-year revenue growth even as other FMCG companies were registering sluggish growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Britannia's growth was attributed to its strong presence in the rural markets, which were not as adversely impacted as the urban markets by the COVID-19 pandemic. The case begins with the origins of Britannia's rural push, followed by the product strategy applied by its Managing Director, Varun Berry (Varun), for the rural markets in which appropriately priced and packaged Lower Unit Packs (LUPs) of both basic and premium products were offered. Next, the case focuses on the distribution strategies applied by Britannia, including the direct distribution and zero-day inventory models that ensured efficient and cost-effective delivery of its products. The case ends with a note on the future investment plans of Britannia to further deepen its distribution network in rural areas, launch vitamin-rich and immunity-boosting products, expand its dairy offerings and establish new production units.

This caselet is about Intel's campaign to augment rural digitization in India. Under the initiative, Intel joined hands with the national and state governments to work out a blueprint for a government-sponsored digital program in rural India. It started the program under the banner of 'Digital India' drive of the government which aimed at empowering rural citizens to change their lives through the adoption of technology. Further, Intel partnered with ecosystem players and undertook multiple initiatives to create a wider platform for realizing the 'Digital India' vision of the government.

The case talks about US-based toy manufacturer Mattel Inc.'s (Mattel's) campaign of 2015 to address the problem of falling sales that its flagship brand Barbie was experiencing. The campaign aimed to revamp the popularity of Barbie among its target audience and to promote a positive message about the Barbie doll. The case starts out by providing details about the company and the products it sold other than Barbie dolls. It then documents the rise of Barbie dolls and the advertisements launched by Mattel to influence the target audience, which included school-going girls, pre-teens, and teenagers. The case describes the fall of Barbie due to growing criticism and tough competition from various brands like Bratz dolls and Disney's popular Frozen line. It then discusses the newly launched campaign and provides insights from experts on whether the new campaign will be able to change the perception about the doll and help Mattel revive its fortunes.

The case briefly describes Flipkart's long-term business strategy to become a value player in the Tier-II and III cities of India. The case delves specifically into the various credit products offered by the e-tailer to attract more buyers from Tier-II cities to its e-commerce platform. These include partnerships with a number of large banks to offer equated monthly installments (EMIs) on debit cards, zero interest or no cost EMIs, and payment options through Paytm to buyers. The case also focuses on certain strategic moves by Flipkart to improve affordability and convenience for small town shoppers, including launching 'Flipkart Pay Later' and applying for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license. The case ends with a look at Flipkart's continuing efforts to scale up the GMV (gross merchandise value), bring more medium and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) onto its platform, and focus on video commerce aimed at consumers from small towns and lower-income groups.

The caselet is about an innovative marketing campaign launched by HUL in 2013 to provide entertainment to the people living in the media dark remote rural areas of India and to advertise the company's products through entertainment channels on the mobile platform. 'Give us a missed call and get free entertainment' was the promotional message of the campaign. The campaign was a win-win strategy for both consumers and the company. The people benefitted from the mobile entertainment, while the company gained a lot in terms of mobilizing potential consumers and running a massive awareness drive for its brand products.

The case talks about the digital marketing campaigns launched by KFC India to reinforce the connection between the brand and its customers in India. The campaigns also helped KFC to engage with its customers. The case touches upon the use of social media by KFC India to run the campaigns. It also describes the benefits KFC India accrued from the use of digital channels to reach out to its customers.

The case study describes the hyper-personalized, artificial intelligence-based campaign of Mondelez India, launched during the 2020 Diwali festival. Through the campaign, Mondelez India took its 'generosity' brand proposition to the next level by promoting over 1,800 local, small businesses for free. The digital campaigns were carried out through 'Not Just a Cadbury Ad, but the Most Generous Ad' and the '#TheSweetestDiwali' social media campaign that promoted Cadbury Celebrations gift box containing Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. The campaign underscored Mondelez India's 'Kuch Achha Ho Jaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye' (Let something good happen, let something sweet happen) brand proposition introduced in 2018

The case study describes the entrepreneurial journey of Zenoti, a US and India-based software company that offered an all-in-one cloud-based software solution for the wellness industry, including spas and salons. The case touches upon how the new software solution helped Zenoti's subscribers simplify both their front office operations (including customer service, marketing, and sales) and back office operations (including record maintenance, quality compliance, billing and payments, and customer feedback). This helped the wellness center to focus exclusively on offering superior customer experience.

After a couple of attempts at penetrating the Indian beverages market with their energy drinks, Frissia and Tzinga, proved unsuccessful, the four founders of India-based Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd. knew they had to overhaul their strategy. In 2013, they launched Paper Boat - a brand that represented a wide range of ethnic Indian drinks. The brand was priced to represent a premium product and was positioned as a drink that stood for hygiene with a blend of nostalgia. The ethnic flavors and appeal of Paper Boat quickly captured the Indian customers' attention and also attracted support from investors. With the addition of a wide variety of juices and flavors, tie-ups with major Indian restaurants, airlines, and railways and collaboration with a Japanese firm for deeper distribution, the sales grew rapidly.

Hushtek Corporation, a European FMCG company which was involved in selling detergents brands, entered the Indian market. The company wanted to gain a foothold in southern India before expanding to other parts of the country. A priority for the company was to enter Telangana state, for which it recruited Mr. Desai as head of sales operations for the state. Desai's immediate priority was to design the sales territories for the state of Telangana and recruit salespeople accordingly and present it to the country head. As an initial and immediate assignment, Desai had to design sales territories in one of the districts, Nizamabad. The case provides an overview of how a sales manager plans to design territories and the factors one needs to consider while designing sales territories and ensuring market coverage.

The case describes India's biggest automobile manufacturing company, Tata Motors Ltd. (Tata)'s rural marketing initiative - Project Neev. As part of the initiative, Tata hired prominent rural people to serve as Tata Gram Mitras and do word-of-mouth marketing for its vehicle range in far-flung villages with a population of less than 50,000. Furthermore, Tata distributed its vehicles in those markets through third-party outlets called Tata Kisan Mitra, apart from leveraging the rural outreach programs of other enterprises through strategic partnerships. Project Neev was a success, enhancing Tata's competitive strength and accounting for a large proportion of the company's vehicle sales. Within a decade, Tata expanded the scope of Project Neev to cover almost all Indian states. So, will Project Neev continue to reap dividends for Tata in the future?

The case talks about the rebranding exercise undertaken by Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL) in 2020. The case starts out with a brief history of both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular (Idea) and about their merger. It then describes the reasons behind VIL's rebranding exercise. The case touches upon the various elements involved in the rebranding exercise. It also describes the challenges that VIL could face in the future and the steps it could take to mitigate those challenges.

The case talks about Heineken's 'Champion the Match' campaign, which was launched in 2015 during the prestigious football tournament, UEFA Champions League (Champions League) in 2015. It was built on the success of its 2013 award-winning campaign called 'Share the Sofa'. The campaign, using social media and the second screen brought together players and fans of the game. Experts believed that the campaign was highly beneficial in terms of increased sales of Heineken beer and also increased awareness about Heineken at the global level.

The case focuses on how US-based toy maker Mattel lost the license for manufacturing the lucrative Disney Princess line, which it had been doing since 1996, to Hasbro. It discusses Mattel's focus on reviving the plunging fortunes of its flagship Barbie doll, and promoting its own princess-themed dolls and how this led to Disney withdrawing the license from Mattel and approaching Hasbro to revamp and launch a new Princess line. In the process, Mattel also lost the license to produce Disney's Frozen line of toys and accessories.

Charming has evolved from a C&F agency to a multi-product company of Rs.950 million employing 450 people. Its central stores with 5800 items catered to 10-line stores. The company has been recording high level of inventories with allegations of mismanagement. What has been causing an imbalance of inventories?

This case is about the epic historical film Bahubali, released in July 2015. Despite being made in the South Indian language of Telugu, the movie was successful all over the country. The movie was made with a budget of Rs.1,200 million ($18 million) but grossed Rs.6,000 million ($90 million) worldwide in the first fifty days of its release. Bahubali became the highest grossing Indian movie of all time by overcoming the inherent cultural differences prevalent in India. The first factor that contributed to the success of Bahubali was the focus on quality. Extensive sets and attention to detail given in the movie were unprecedented in the Indian movie industry. Arka Media Works, the production house which made the movie, followed innovative marketing strategies to create hype around the movie. Bahubali proved that movies made in South Indian languages could be successful all over the country.

The caselet talks about the goof-up by Indian film actor and social media influencer Disha Patani in her Instagram post promoting two new smartphones in the Samsung Galaxy M Series. It starts by providing details about Patani's Instagram post and the blunder that she committed. The repercussions of the post on Patani's social media image are described and questions are raised on the role of her social media team. Finally, the impact that the botch-up had on Samsung's campaign and brand image is discussed.

The case discusses the low-budget innovative marketing tactics of Warby Parker (WP), an online retailer of prescription glasses. Founded in 2010 by four Wharton Business School colleagues, Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Jeffery Raider and Andy Hunt, WP had defined itself as a lifestyle brand for those with a literary bent of mind. WP offered affordable prescription glasses which were priced at one-third of equivalent frames and donated one pair of glasses to the needy for every pair sold.

The case discusses the backlash faced by the India-based e-commerce company, Snapdeal, in the wake of its brand ambassador, film actor Aamir Khan (Aamir) expressing his concern and despondency over the rising intolerance in India. Outraged by Aamir's comment, many Indians tagged the comment as blasphemous and demanded that Snapdeal disassociate itself from Aamir. Some people also downgraded or deleted the app from their mobile devices. But the whole incident had an unexpected outcome: with a spike in the number of downloads of the Snapdeal app.

The case talks about Illumina Inc.'s journey to becoming the market leader in the genome sequencing market and the challenges it faced in growing the market. The case starts out with a brief history of the company and the role played by Jay Flatley, its CEO, in keeping the company at the forefront of technological innovation in the genome sequencing industry. It then focuses on the company's breakthrough product, the HiSeq X10 that drastically brought down genome sequencing costs, thereby making it more affordable and paving the way for the development of various applications. The case also documents Illumina's efforts to spur the development of applications of genome sequencing in various areas such as prenatal health, oncology, consumer applications, and population sequencing. It concludes with an insight into the impact of market saturation on Illumina and the strategies it was adopting to propel market growth.

The case discusses the various strategies used by Walmart to transition from a traditional brick-and- mortar retail chain to one that adopted an online and further an omnichannel strategy. It touches upon how Walmart planned its digital strategy by setting up a strong team at Walmart Labs, acquiring brands with strong digital presence and creating the role of a CTO. The case also focuses on the various initiatives taken to integrate online and offline operations that helped establish Walmart as a viable alternative to Amazon. Walmart also partnered with platforms like Shopify, streamlined product assortments, used stores as warehouses and invested in automation. This helped the retailer experience a 207% growth in its e-commerce buyer base between early 2017 and early 2019.

This case is about Pokemon GO, a free to play augmented reality game for iOS and Android smart devices, in which players had to physically move around the real world in order to capture Pokemons. The game was a hit across 45 countries and was getting ready for release in more countries. The companies associated with the creation of the game experienced a phenomenal growth in their profits. But there were complaints from many countries about the side effects of playing Pokemon Go. Many players became victims of accidents and robberies; a few even lost their lives while playing the game. There were technical issues with the game and device performance like fast draining of battery, hiccups in performance like lagging of phone, and data consumption. Nevertheless, the game was a huge success with people of all ages and players were seen searching for Pokemon with their mobile cameras at public places in countries where the game had been released.

The case describes the various challenges faced by Walmart with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that included operational and employee challenges as well as changes in consumer purchase behaviour. It focuses on Walmart's response plan for its various stakeholders to ensure business continuity and sustain growth. Walmart focused on changes in operating hours, new safety guidelines and enhanced health benefits for employees. The retailer invested in various technologies to offer contactless shopping services. It took steps to hire on contract basis employees laid off by other companies. The retailer also offered financing support to business partners and suppliers and collaborated with the national governments to offer vaccination support through its stores for the local communities.

The case is about China-based Cheetah Mobile's (Cheetah) efforts to sustain itself in the global mobile app market through various strategic moves and technological adaptations. It starts out by providing a brief history of Cheetah that started off as a PC (Personal Computer) software company, but later shifted to mobile apps, due to the growing prospects of the mobile industry. The monetization efforts of the company are also described briefly, especially its efforts in the in-app mobile advertising space. The case then delves into the reasons that prompted the company to target international markets and also documents its efforts in that regard. It mentions the various improvements made by the company in its apps to increase user engagement such as becoming a content provider, embedding the content app in its utility apps, and rolling out Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies across most of its utility apps. The case concludes with a look at the challenges faced in the future focus areas of the company and its efforts to further monetize its business.

The case focuses on iconic American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson's new turnaround plan known as the "Hardwire Strategy" designed to revive the struggling company and boost revenues. Under the new strategy, Jochen Zeitz, CEO of Harley Davidson, planned to shift the focus of the company back to its core customers and to go back to the basics of making big, expensive motorcycles for its devoted core customers, after struggling for several years to broaden its appeal beyond middle-aged riders. The plan focused on several key aspects that included ramping up investment in the touring, large cruiser, and trike bike segments; selling used bikes; scrapping entry-level models; and creating a new division dedicated to the development of electric motorcycles. However, it remains to be seen whether the company's back-to-basics strategy and shift in direction would boost volumes, improve profitability and help the motor cycle manufacturer regain its former glory.

The case study discusses one of the biggest merger and acquisition deals in the global payments industry. Fiserv, one of the leading players in the payments industry, acquired another prominent but debt-laden player, First Data Corporation, at a relatively cheap price. Fiserv was expecting significant cost and revenue synergies from the acquisition. The case details the factors that led to the decision of the two companies to come together and the synergies to be reaped after the merger.

The case talks about the hyperlocal strategy used by India's leading jewelry chain, Kalyan Jewelers India Private Limited (KJ) that served as a foundation for its success. The case starts out by mentioning the entrepreneurial journey of KJ's Founder T S Kalyanaraman Iyer (Kalyanaraman). It then talks about the various business practices adopted by Kalyanaraman that disrupted the Indian jewelry industry - by not only altering the way people bought gold, but also changing the way it was sold. The case then delves into the nuances of KJ's key business strategy, namely, the hyperlocal business strategy. It describes the company's promotional tactics that primarily involved using celebrity endorsement and were also centered on the hyperlocal strategy. The case then documents the rise of the company and its success in attracting private investment. Can KJ go in for a successful IPO and succeed in its endeavor to become one of the largest jewelry brands in the world?

The case discusses the problems faced by UK-based iconic retailer Marks and Spencer plc (M&S) and its revival. M&S was experiencing unprecedented troubles with its sales stagnating, profits collapsing, and market share falling. The retailer had been offering high quality clothing, home products, and its own outstanding food brands for 125 years. After being the leading retailer in the UK for decades, M&S started to lose its edge in clothing as well as food with the advent of e-commerce and changing consumer preferences. In May 2016, CEO Steve Rowe (Rowe) outlined a five-year turnaround plan to address the problems, position M&S to deliver profitable sales growth, and revive its dwindling fortunes.

The case talks about the various initiatives launched by India-based IDFC First Bank to be a leader in technology-led banking services in India. It case starts out with a brief history of IDFC First Bank and then describes the merger of IDFC Bank and Capital First Ltd. (Capital First). The case touches upon the use of digital technologies by IDFC Bank and the launch of its financial services. It then describes how the bank used digital media not only to promote its products and services but also to promote the brand - IDFC First Bank. The case also highlights the future plans of IDFC First Bank.

The case talks about the emergence of Skechers USA Inc. (Skechers) as one of the leading footwear companies in the US. It chronicles the early business ventures of Robert Greenberg (Greenberg), the founder of Skechers. The case then delves into the reasons for the collapse of Greenberg's earlier shoe company, L.A. Gear, Inc. (LAGI), in the early 1990s. It provides an overview of the product and marketing strategy undertaken by Greenberg to make Skechers a success. It gives details about the strategy adopted by Skechers to recover from the hit to its brand reputation, when it was accused of false advertising for a popular product. The case concludes with a look at the company's future plans for expansion.

The case talks about the journey of Chime from a fintech startup to a strong challenger bank in the US. The case highlights the factors that led to Chime emerging as a leader in the neobanks landscape in the US. It starts out with a brief history of the bank and then goes on to describe Chime's innovative products and services launched over the years which helped it to connect with the millennials. The case also highlights the competitive landscape in the US digital banking industry and how Chime was facing stiff competition from others players such as Venmo, Varo, and Simple. It ends with the challenges Chime faces in its bid to sustain its competitive position and the future plans of the bank.

The case discusses the acquisition of Zoox by Amazon. The deal was expected to help Amazon consolidate its efforts at automating its distribution network, especially its last-mile delivery service. However, many common shareholders of Zoox were not happy with the deal. They went to court and filed a lawsuit against Zoox, alleging that the proceeds of its sale were dwarfed by the bonuses paid to Zoox's executives by Amazon. The completion of the merger deal was crucial as it would ensure the commercial launch of Zoox's ride-hailing service by the end of 2020. The launch had already been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This case discusses the problems faced by leading Indian e-tailer Flipkart Online Services Private Limited (Flipkart) in the Indian e-commerce market. Faced with a fund crunch, heavy losses, tough competition, a management churn at the top, and tougher government regulations, Flipkart found itself in the middle of a storm with the imminent possibility of it ceding the top slot to rival Amazon in the online retail market in India. The company's new CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy (Krishnamurthy) faces an uphill challenge in improving Flipkart's flagging sales growth, stemming market share losses to Amazon, and sustaining its dominant position in the Indian e-commerce space.

The case talks about the growth of IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd. (IndiaMART) in the Indian B2B marketplace and the solutions provided by it for the buyers and sellers on its platform. Initially, IndiaMART catered to the needs of the exporters by listing them on its website and creating websites for them. Gradually, with the changing economic conditions, IndiaMART gravitated toward the domestic SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). The case provides details about the way IndiaMART facilitated business between sellers and buyers through its platform. The company's innovative technological solutions that enabled business interactions are described. Its impact on the Indian B2B marketplace is discussed, apart from the various challenges faced by it. The case ends with a glimpse into the future opportunities for the company that had targeted achieving Rs.2000 crore in revenues by the year 2020.

The case is about the acquisition of Avon Products, Inc (Avon) by its competitor, Brazilian cosmetics and personal care firm Natura&Co (Natura). The acquisition created the fourth-largest beauty company in the world. A lot of synergies were expected from the acquisition as both the companies were known for their direct selling models. At the same time, the companies were expected to face integration challenges due to their diverse cultures and values. Avon had been struggling for years, as there had been a fall in its door-to-door cosmetics sales due to changing consumer tastes, growing demand for online beauty products, and stiff competition from rivals. Natura was also fast expanding its footprint by broadening its exposure to the global market with the acquisition of The Body Shop and Aesop. In May 2019, Natura reached an agreement with Avon under which it would buy Avon via a share swap.

The case study describes the journey of Reliance Communications (RCom) from being an industry leader to going bankrupt. Despite being in a strong competitive position, RCom was unable to sustain its position due to the changing dynamics of the telecom industry and the acute competition from various players in the market. The failure to maintain its momentum in the face of the ever changing market dynamics put RCom in a critical position with a growing debt burden. The launch of Reliance Jio by Mukesh, which marked his re-entry into telecom, proved to be the death knell for RCom. The present case study provides scope to discuss the competitive scenario in the Indian telecom industry, the strategy adopted by RCom, the reasons for the failure of the company, and the future of the telecom industry in India.

Zoomcar, a self-drive car rental company, was founded in 2013 with a view to filling the gap of transportation challenges in Indian market. Making use of the emerging innovative technology solutions such as Internet of Things (IoT) the company aimed to provide a superior driving experience to its customers. Backed by several rounds of funding, Zoomcar targeted to expand its fleet size to 8,000 cars operating pan India. In order to achieve the objective, the company shifted its business model from 'asset heavy' to 'market place model,' which indicated a shift from owning the cars to letting individuals rent their car for use. Through its Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP), it further expanded its fleet size. However, the car rental market witnessed an increase in competition with the entry of players like JustRide and Myles. In the above scenario, would Zoomcar be able to sustain its growth in a market which was becoming increasingly competitive? How would it differentiate itself from its competitors? Would the modifications in its business model enable Zoomcar to achieve its targeted growth?

Sanjib Dutta and Anil Anirudhan

The case discusses the re-entry of homegrown smartphone brand Micromax Informatics Limited (Micromax) into the Indian smartphone market with a new range of 'In' smartphones launched in November 2020. In an attempt to cash in on the anti-China sentiment triggered by the India-China military clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 and backed by the Indian government's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, Micromax plotted a grand comeback to the Indian smartphone market. As Micromax embarks on its second innings in the highly competitive Indian smartphone market, it will face certain challenges, including intense competition from Chinese rivals, the onset of 5G, reduced customer spending due to COVID-19, and regaining the trust of customers. Whether Micromax can make a strong reentry and reclaim its lost market position remains to be seen.

The case is about the strategic alliance between US-based food and beverage company Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks) and Switzerland-based food company Nestle S.A. (Nestle). The former gave Nestle the perpetual rights to sell the packaged food products of Starbucks globally. Through this association, the two companies would work closely together on innovation and on marketing Starbucks' products globally. Starbucks was looking at ways to distribute its products globally, but did not have the capabilities to do so on its own. Developing a new distribution system was not a cost effective solution. Earlier, the company had entered into a partnership with Kraft Heinz to market its products, but it later called off the deal alleging that Kraft had mishandled the distribution. Nestle was looking at expanding its presence and appeal in the US market, where its Nespresso was facing competition from several players.

This caselet emphasizes the inorganic growth strategy of the Agthia Group PJSC (Agthia) by way of acquisitions and Joint Ventures (JVs). It describes the company's story since its inception in 1978. Agthia's struggles to prosper under government ownership and the operational problems it faced due to a vague organizational structure are described. It also takes a look at the acquisitions and JVs undertaken by the company to turn its operations around and grow. It discusses the company's restructuring exercise in 2015 and the strategies used. The opportunities existing in the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Food & Beverage (F&B) sector are highlighted. The caselet also goes into the challenges the company might face due to external factors in the UAE's F&B markets. It concludes with a glimpse into Agthia's future prospects.

The case discusses Birchbox, a New York-based beauty products subscription start-up, which had executed a second round of lay-offs in June 2016 in an attempt to steer itself toward profitability. Birchbox's operations were labour-intensive, which was a limiting factor and kept the company from exploring more customization while keeping the same cost structure. Subscribers were finding a mismatch between their preferences and the samples which Birchbox delivered to them. The surprise element which happened to be one of the core offerings of Birchbox was fading. The only way to effectively monetize its model was to convert the subscribers to full product buyers on its online portal. But Birchbox's subscription also boosted its competitors' sales as customers were free to make full purchases from any site of their choice. Birchbox had a generous loyalty program in place, but its effectiveness came into question because there was a view that the subscribers were keener on earning loyalty points than on the products themselves.

This case is about the acquisition of Amplify Snack Brands, Inc. (Amplify) by The Hershey Company (Hershey) in end 2017 under its new CEO Michele Buck (Buck). It details the terms of the acquisition and provides a brief background of Hershey and Amplify. The various stated reasons for the acquisition by Hershey are discussed, including the necessity to capitalize on the growing consumer preference for healthy products and the need for greater product diversification. Hershey's revenues, which had been down in the previous three years, provided the right impetus for the acquisition. The case also discusses the various potential risks involved in the acquisition. Going forward, can Buck consolidate Hershey's position in the US snacking segment with more acquisitions?

The case is about JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail Limited, the retail arm of leading business conglomerate in India, Reliance Industries Limited. JioMart, launched in December 2019, aimed to integrate digital and neighborhood physical retail stores to help customers get easy access to household essentials. The JioMart platform aimed to connect local grocers through an offline-to-online business model that would help consumers to place orders online and get groceries delivered from a store located nearby. Reliance started signing up small kirana stores (mom-and-pop stores) to empanel them. JioMart acted as the digital storefront, representing a blend of Reliance Retail's distribution centers, Reliance Jio's customer base, the neighborhood mom-and-pop stores, and other organized retail outlets owned by Reliance. Reliance partnered with Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service in April 2020 to pilot its online food and grocery channel JioMart. JioMart expected the partnership to lead to WhatsApp being used by small businesses to connect with customers. Later, the online grocery platform extended its services to 200 cities and towns across India.

The case is about the tussle between US burger major McDonald's and its Indian joint venture partner Vikram Bakshi (Bakshi), which impacted the fortunes of the company in the highly attractive Quick Service Restaurant market in India. After more than 15 years of smooth operations, during which McDonald's acquired a pan-India presence and became synonymous with fast food in the country, the ties between Bakshi and McDonald's grew strained. McDonald's said CPRL did not maintain the required quality and had failed to pay royalties for two years. It sought to buy out CRPL at a low price. Bakshi claimed that the money meant for the royalty was used to settle a debt of which McDonald's was aware. At the same time, McDonald's went in for a friendly buyout of HRPL, after which its fortunes took a turn for the better. McDonald's issued notice to CPRL to close down its restaurants and terminated the agreements with its suppliers. But Bakshi continued to operate with a different set of suppliers. The parent company termed it as a breach of contract. As the stalemate continued, competitors started gaining ground in the Indian QSR market.

The demonetization decision by the Government of India in November 2016 opened new horizons for digital wallet companies. One of the objectives of demonetization was to transform the Indian economy into a cashless economy and the digital payments industry was in a position of strength to leverage on this opportunity. One of the biggest beneficiaries of demonetization was Paytm, one of the popular mobile wallet services in India, as people moved toward cashless payments. To take advantage of the growing use of digital payments, Paytm diversified its business to the payments banking industry and launched Paytm Payments Bank at the end of 2017. Even though the demonetization decision, high penetration of the Internet, and increase in the number of smartphones had created a new avenue for cashless transactions, it was not easy for Paytm Payments Bank to capitalize on the opportunity as the majority of the people still preferred cash transactions.

The case is about India-based online classifieds portal Quikr's expansion through acquisitions to fulfil its plans of becoming a sector leader. Founded as a classifieds platform, Quikr had identified five business segments - Cars, Homes, Jobs, Automobiles, and Real Estate - for its verticalization push. The company had focused on these segments in order to explore new sources of revenue and users. Over the years, Quikr had expanded inorganically by acquiring several companies. However, Quikr's acquisition strategy did not work out as well as the company expected. Like many other e-commerce platforms, the company was struggling to monetize its platform and was concentrating on businesses that were losing less money. It faced tough competition from the other players like OLX, which listed refurbished products on its platform. Even after a decade of existence, Quikr's revenues were only Rs.1.99 billion. It needed, therefore, to consolidate its position before thinking of other acquisitions, opined experts.

The online cab aggregator industry in India had witnessed tremendous growth since 2013. This was not only in terms of customer growth, but venture capitalists had also shown confidence in the industry by making investments of billions of dollars across a few companies including start-up firms, which might take a longer time to pay back the amount. What differentiated these cab aggregators from radio taxi operators was that there was no need for them to hold inventory and they had to face fewer legal hurdles as they neither owned the vehicles nor did they have any drivers on their payroll. The online cab aggregator industry operated on a pay-for-performance business model, where the cab drivers were paid for the pick-up and drop services of the cab aggregator companies.

The case focuses on how USAA, a US based financial services group, built a culture of innovation using a toolkit of different innovation programs over a century. It then describes how the management at USAA supported by a cross-functional organizational structure and sensitivity training for employees. The case also touches upon the establishment of an Innovation Lab where employees could partner with core innovation team to pilot new ideas. It also describes how USAA evaluated the ideas through employee participation which led to an innovation pipeline of products and services that were a first in the insurance sector. The case ends with the future plans of USAA to support customer-focused innovation and make the lives of its customers easier leading to enhanced customer experience. It can be used for postgraduate and executive programs in courses on Organizational Behaviour, Business Strategy and Human Resource Planning.

The case is about the American arm of the Italian corporation Diesel S.p.A, Diesel USA Inc. (Diesel USA), best known for its high-end denim. Diesel USA ran into problems due to some of the strategies it had adopted in the post-recession US market. Since its launch in 1995, it had been the sole distributor of Diesel products in the US. Its five-pocket jeans dominated pop culture in the 1990s and early 2000s. But the global recession had a negative impact on the retail sector and Diesel USA fell victim to it. In an attempt to turn the company around, the management wanted to develop an exclusive presence in high-end locations, for which it executed several long-term, expensive leases and repositioned some of the existing stores in premium locations. But these strategies were ill-timed and non-productive and impacted the profits of the company. Incidents of cyber theft and fraud in the company only added to its problems. These failed strategic decisions implemented by the management compelled Diesel USA to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 5, 2019. In the court filing, the company outlined a three-year restructuring plan.

With China becoming a major market for Lincoln cars, Ford Motors has to take the crucial decision of whether to start production of Lincoln cars in China. While the Chinese luxury car market is set to grow much faster than any other market, shifting production to China would bring with it new challenges like working with a joint venture partner and transfer of technology issues. Interestingly, Ford's competitors like BMW and Audi already produce their luxury cars in China.

In April 2019, Adidas AG of Germany launched its fully recyclable training shoes - FUTURECRAFT.LOOP (Loop). It took Adidas close to seven years to develop the Loop out of a single material and without using any form of glue or solvent. The shoes were launched in a beta phase and a full-scale commercial launch was slated for Spring 2021. The customers were supposed to return the Loop to Adidas once it had reached the end of its life. The company would then break down the shoes into their components and make a new shoe from the old one. For this purpose, Loop was constructed out of a single material - Thermoplastic Polye Utherane (TPU). Loop was a step toward reducing the waste and landfills created by the shoe industry. Making shoes out of used shoes was an entirely new concept as Adidas was recycling the old shoes instead of downcycling them. The company had been experimenting with various innovations to reduce waste and increase sustainability in the environment. And Loop was part of one such innovative offering from Adidas.

This case is about US-based automaker General Motors Company's (GM) exit from India and the resultant complications to its dealers and customers. The move came after GM's efforts at expanding its market share in the country failed to gain much traction. GM started on a successful note in India with its Opel cars and later on with Chevrolet cars, but it failed to sustain the momentum due to its lack of consistency in leadership, brands, and models. The tough competition in the Indian auto car market and the dominance of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai in the small car segment only added fuel to the fire. GM was not able to survive in the Indian market with less than 1% car sales in the country and decided to exit. GM said it would, however, continue its production in India owing to the cheap cost of production and export the cars to Mexico and Central and South America. GM's strategic failure to even moderately succeed in the booming Indian car market could be attributed to the company's inability to understand the Indian market and the customers' preferences and to make viable cars that suited the Indian market.

The caselet is about Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), one of the leading telecom networks in India. By 2019, Jio was next only to Vodafone in marketshare. Jio adopted a predatory pricing strategy to enter the Indian telecom market and initially offered free voice, data, and message services. Jio's move disrupted the competition and major competitors like Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone were forced to frame defense strategies to sustain their market share. They had no choice but to lower their tariffs to retain customers. Jio initially faced certain challenges like sharing of telecom spectrum, problems with other players related to Points of Interconnection, declining internet speed, number portability, etc. However, it moved ahead with its plans to start its commercial operations on April 1, 2017. By 2019, Jio's subscriber base was 340 million and it was rapidly adding more subscribers at the cost of its competitors. It remained to be seen whether Jio would be able to sustain its leadership position and how soon it would emerge as the biggest player in the Indian telecom market in terms of subscribers.

The case is about US-based clothing retail chain store Charlotte Russe Holdings Corp. that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2019 in a bid to get relief from mounting debt. The fashion retailer had been struggling to cope for some time after it had incurred heavy losses in its business and had announced a deal to renegotiate certain debts. However, this deal failed to deliver. Soon after, the company entered into talks with prospective buyers to avoid liquidation of all of its assets. Nearly a month later, it announced that it would go out of business and close down all its stores as it had failed to find a buyer. Later, Charlotte Russe sold its brand and related intellectual property to Canadian fashion house YM Inc. YM Inc. announced plans to re-launch the brand by opening 100 retail locations across the country. It also had plans to launch a new online shopping experience. It remains to be seen whether the new management can manage to revive the company.

The case talks about the adoption of Design Thinking (DT) at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA). It starts out with a brief history of BBVA and then goes on to describe the growth of BBVA over the years. The case covers in detail the concept of DT, the need for DT at BBVA, and the process followed by the bank to implement DT. It also touches upon the challenges faced by BBVA in adopting DT, the impact of DT on its operations, and the additional steps taken by the bank in its digital transformation journey.

The case talks about the factors that led to N26, a Germany-based neobank, becoming the highest valued German startup and one of the highest valued FinTechs in the world. It starts with a brief history of N26, and covers the innovative products and services which helped it to connect with millions of customers. The case also highlights the competition faced by N26 from FinTech companies like Revolut, Monzo Bank Ltd. (Monzo), and Atom Bank and how it was placed vis-a-vis the competition. The case ends with the future plans of N26, which include redesigning its banking operations and expanding geographically.

The case outlines the attempts of multinational technology company Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon)'s Indian subsidiary Amazon India to establish itself in the fast-growing online grocery delivery space. The case starts out by providing details about Amazon India's foray into the space with the Amazon Prime Now app. It then details the hardships that Amazon India faced with the Prime Now app that led to discontinuation of the app. Later, it takes a look at the company's decision to transition to the Amazon Fresh service - which was offered as part of the main shopping app/website - to remain relevant in the online grocery delivery space. The case then gives a glimpse into the Amazon Fresh service. Can Amazon India make a dent in the online grocery delivery space this time around with Amazon Fresh?

In March 2013, T-Mobile US Inc. (T-Mobile), a US-based wireless service provider, launched a marketing campaign called "Un-carrier". Some of the initiatives that the company took under the campaign disrupted the telecom industry in the US. Under the Un-carrier campaign, T-Mobile came out with monthly plans in an industry where long-term contracts were the norm. The complex pricing was replaced with flexible and easy-to-understand pricing. T-Mobile also allowed the customers to get their own phones, where the practice was for the customers to buy a phone from the carriers. T-Mobile came up with 13 Un-carrier plans till 2017. These plans were pocket-friendly for customers. There were "Un-carrier" programs such as unlimited streaming of Netflix.

The case is about diversified Indian conglomerate ITC Limited's acquisition of Kolkata, India-based spice business company Sunrise Foods Private Limited (SFPL). SFPL, a leading family-owned company, was engaged primarily in the spices business. Over the years, the spice brand had established a loyal consumer base, both in the basic and blended spices category. ITC, earlier called the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, was a private company with a diverse presence in FMCG, hotels, packaging, paperboards and specialty papers, agri-business, and information technology. The company was one of India's leading producers and exporters of high-quality foods and spices, sold under the Aashirvaad brand. To scale up its non-cigarette FMCG business and counter its rivals in the food business, ITC planned to grow in an inorganic manner. The FMCG giant looked to augment its product portfolio and significantly scale up its spice business across the country through acquisitions.

The case discusses the advent of McDonald's India in the country through its two master franchises. Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited (CPRL), run by Vikram Bakshi (Bakshi), was a 50:50 joint venture which operated the chain in north and east India. The second master franchisee, Westlife Development Limited (WDL) through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited (HRPL) run by Amit Jatia (Jatia), owned the master rights for the west and south India operations of MCD India. The case further describes the relations between McDonald's and its master franchises and the way the two franchicees operated, which was as different as chalk and cheese. A friendly buyout of McDonalds' stake by WDL launched HRPL into a high growth orbit, while the strained relations with CPRL led to a spiraling toward a deadlock in the north and east. Due to the dispute with one of the master franchises, was McDonald's losing ground in India?

The case discusses the growing challenges at Micromax Informatics Limited (Micromax), one of the leading smartphone makers in India. Micromax's market share in smartphones had dropped from 22% in Q4 2014 to 14.1% in the corresponding quarter of 2015. Moreover the company lost its coveted position as India's leading smartphone manufacturer to rival Samsung. Sales had plummeted and several top executives resigned from their positions. The case describes some of the steps taken by the top executives at Micromax to help the company reclaim its past glory. Whether the management would be able to come out with a strong strategy to tackle the issues and help Micromax regain its lost market position remained to be seen.

The Ambassador car began operating in pre-independent India, and by the sixties and the seventies, it earned an iconic car status, the much sought-after car representing officialdom and meant for the Indian terrain. It was an inseparable part of Indian urban lifestyle. By the early nineties, due to lack of design upgrades, fierce competition from indigenous cars and the entry of foreign-made cars, Ambassador started losing its shine in sales. By 2013, only five cars a day were made and the market share drastically dwindled, while the plant was running in losses. In May 2014, after seven decades of the car being rolled out, its production plant was shut down. CK Birla Group, the owner of Ambassador, was looking for a strategic investor to solve its financial situation. It was an opportune time when the French car maker, PSA Group was looking at expanding to emerging markets like India. The two groups struck an acquisition deal for Rs.80 crore and another for Rs.700 crore for setting up a new plant and produce at least one hundred thousand cars a year.

The case talks about the Tata Group eyeing a stake in online food and grocery store BigBasket. it gives an overview of the various Tata Group businesses and the revenues by segment along with a brief history of BigBasket. The case also covers the advantages of the potential deal for both the Tata Group and BigBasket. With this deal, the Tata Group was expected to get a foothold in the online grocery market, while BigBasket would be able to expand its business in India. The case also touches upon the level of competition in the Indian online grocery market and how the competition is set to intensify with the entry of the Tata Group.

The case continues from the second round of lay-offs followed by a round of funding which gave breathing room for the cash-strapped start-up Beauchamp, which tweaked the loyalty program, but was not well received by its subscribers. Birchbox also launched a new service called Birchbox Select which gave the subscribers more choices and control to customize their Birchbox for an extra fee of $5. In April 2017, Birchbox announced it had turned profitable because of all the cost-cutting measures it had adopted and maintained that profitability had also come with growth. Birchbox went on to sign strategic partnerships with beauty brands and Vogue, a lifestyle magazine. Case (B) concludes with challenges that Birchbox could face with the entry of well-established e-commerce platforms with a high degree of vertical integration, into the beauty subscription space.

The case talks about the decision taken by the world's largest independent bookstore, US-based Powell's Books (PB), to abandon the world's largest online marketplace, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), as a sales channel. The case provides the reasons that drove PB - that was at the end of the day, a small business - to take that particular decision. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on PB's decision is also discussed. An insight is given into how the particular discussion could impact the future prospects of PB. The case strives to ask questions about how small businesses can survive changes in buying behavior, advances in technology, and unexpected business upheavals.

GoDaddy Inc., a US-based domain registrar and web hosting company, decided in 2020 to expand beyond its core business of domain registration and web hosting. With this aim, it acquired a Cape Town, South Africa-based social content start-up Over Inc. (Over), in January 2020. GoDaddy intended to integrate Over's capabilities into its Websites + Marketing platform. It expected the move to improve user experience for small businesses and entrepreneurs who did not have much of an online presence or the technical knowhow to build an eye-catching website.

The case is about the business innovation of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd (BFIL), a subsidiary of IndusInd Bank. BFIL had come up with Bharat Money Stores (BMS), a Rural Distribution Service Points (RDSP), in the villages of India. BMS was a banking and transaction platform that enabled the small merchant shops or grocery stores to provide financial services to the rural population in the rural and remote areas. The case discusses the need for financial inclusion of the masses in the rural areas and also dwells upon the business model of BMS. Most of the merchants and the beneficiaries were satisfied with the services of BMS. As of June 2021, BMS had 65,000 small merchant shops in 27,500 villages across ten states in India. In the following two years, that is, by 2023, BMS planned to open 300,000 RDSPs in 180,000 villages across the country. Will the BMS model stand the test of time? Will it continue to provide financial services to the masses?

The caselet discusses the debacle of the Fire Phone which was a major setback for global online retailing giant Amazon. The failure of the Fire Phone was attributed to its high price, limited features, small App store, late market entry, and lacklustre approach to prime customers. Reportedly, Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos' (Bezos) focus on creating a high-end product, instead of the kind of service that has always distinguished the company, proved imprudent. Despite the fiasco of the Fire Phone, Bezos remained committed to the company's strategy of continuous innovation.

US-based Dollar Shave Club (DSC), with its unique low-cost business model of leveraging technology, ecommerce and online marketing, sold subscription-based men's razor shaving blades, shaving accessories and men's personal care products. Backed by efficient founders, within two years of its founding, DSC had more than 200,000 online subscriptions. Its share in the online men's shaving and personal grooming was seen growing causing a threat to even Gillette and Schick, the established retail brands that dominated the market. In mid-2016, Unilever, the company that owned over 400 brands, was intending to fill the void in personal care and men's grooming segment and shift its focus from the slow-growing food brands. Unilever struck the acquisition deal of DSC for $1 billion. The cost of acquisition surprised the analysts, as it was five times DSC's annual expected sales for 2016.

The case discusses the acquisition of leading US-based natural and organic grocer Whole Foods Market, Inc.(Whole Foods) by Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) and whether the combined entity can disrupt the US grocery market. Since the beginning of 2016, Whole Foods had been facing problems due to declining sales, growing competition, and increasingly price-conscious consumers. In February 2017, Whole Foods, which had reported a sales decline at its stores for seven consecutive quarters (4Q 2015-1Q 2017), came under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners LLC to consider putting itself up for sale. On June 16, 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion all-cash transaction. Post acquisition, Whole Foods continued to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand, with John Mackey (Mackey) remaining its CEO. Going forward, there were several challenges before Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos (Bezos) and Mackey.

The case discusses the merger between telecom giants Vodafone India and Idea Cellular and whether the combined entity can emerge as India's Top Telecom Provider. By combining their operations, Idea and Vodafone would boast of about 400 million customers, a 35% customer market share, and a 41% revenue market share, overtaking market leader Bharati Airtel Limited (Airtel) and posing a strong threat to new entrant Reliance Jio (Jio). The merger was expected to be completed by 2018. However, some analysts felt that longer timelines on deal conclusion and synergies in a hyper-competitive market as well as cultural and regulatory hurdles would pose some challenges. Moreover, it could also lead to job losses for employees of both the companies. Whether Vodafone and Idea would be able to overcome a host of challenges and emerge as a strong player in the Indian telecom sector remains to be seen.

The case is about US-based multi-level marketing company LuLaRoe, which sold colorful, patterned leggings, tunics, tops, skirts, and other clothes. Founded in 2012, LuLaRoe developed a cult following in just five years and achieved sales of $2 billion. The company could not, however, retain its popularity, with complaints pouring in about an unfair return policy, poor quality products, and an unresponsive leadership. Several lawsuits were filed, accusing the company of operating a pyramid scheme. The founder, DeAnne Stidham needed to take a quick decision before it was too late to revive the company.

The caselet discusses the various measures taken by US-based multinational consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. (Best Buy) to beat the business crisis that stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown restrictions in the US. Best Buy formulated a crisis management strategy and the case documents the various measures the company took to keep its stores up and running during an unprecedented crisis such as the pandemic. The case also mentions some of the human resource (HR) measures taken by Best Buy to keep up employee morale and encourage vaccination against COVID-19. The various measures taken by Corie Barry (Barry), the CEO of Best Buy, proved effective in keeping up the sales. Can Barry's successful crisis management strategy be an example to emulate in the retail industry?

In 2018, Amazon, the US-based online marketplace, launched 'Amazon Go', a chain of retail stores. These 'new retail' stores were different from the typical brick-and-mortar retail stores in the sense that they were cashier-less super stores that had phased out some of the conventional features of a retail super store - queues at the counter, billing of the purchase, swiping of the card, and a security check at the exit. This was made possible through three technology drivers - Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and Sensor Fusion. The case discusses whether Amazon Go will have a long-term impact on the retail industry.

The case is about the entry of India-based foodtech unicorn Zomato into the business-to-business (B2B) food ingredient ordering platform through HyperPure. Zomato, which was started in 2008, was looking at transforming itself into a farm-to-fork food company, and it acquired Bengaluru (India)-based raw materials and procurement start-up WOTU (We Organize The Unorganized) in August 2018. With this in mind, WOTU was rebranded as HyperPure, and through it, Zomato directly sourced products including vegetables, fruits, poultry, groceries, meats, dairy, and beverages from farmers, mills, producers, and processors, and supplied them to restaurants. The case details the operations of HyperPure and the challenges that Zomato is likely to face in taking HyperPure ahead.

The case study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business of the Mumbai dabbawalas, a 130-year-old organization primarily engaged in delivering lunchboxes mostly from customers' homes to their offices in the city. The case highlights the need for organizations to leverage on their core competence and diversify to survive and grow in a VUCA world. The case study focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dabbawalas' regular business and their struggle to eke out a living during the lockdown period. It goes on to describe how the dabbawalas decided to leverage their core competencies to take a relook at their iconic business model following the lockdown. The dabbawalas entered into partnerships with various organizations to offer different delivery services, including the delivery of fresh vegetables to households from December 2020. They also planned to use a mobile application in future to facilitate their delivery services.

The case focuses on Welspun India Limited (Welspun), the country's largest home textile manufacturer which had found itself confronted with a quality issue. US-based Target Corp (Target), Welspun's second largest customer, had declared that it was severing its decade-old ties with the company after discovering that around 750,000 sheets and pillow cases supplied by Welspun and labeled as being made from Egyptian cotton, were actually made from a different grade of cotton. The case further unfolds Welspun's response to the crisis.

This case is about the restructuring strategy taken up by India-based restaurant search and review website, Zomato. Zomato was launched in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal (Goyal), a management consultant. Zomato was able to raise funds from various investors and in no time expanded pan India, and by 2012 reached its first oversees location. By 2015, it was operating in 23 countries. With rapid expansion and increased competition, the revenue of the company kept growing. However, EBITDA was negative and was continuing to fall. Goyal then decided to downsize operations. This had a positive effect, and within a few months, the company managed to break even. The case discusses in detail the inception and growth of the company and the strategies that helped it break even.

The case talks about US-based toy company Mattel's opening of a Barbie flagship store - the House of Barbie - in Shanghai, China. The case starts out by providing details about the company, its launch in Sanghai, China, and its products such as children's bedroom furniture and young women's clothes in a 36,000-sq ft six-story building. The case then documents the reasons due to which Barbie was unable to impress the Chinese, leading to the closure of its flagship store in 2011. Further, the case also talks about the relaunching of Barbie in 2013. It concludes with an insight from experts and upper level managers on whether Barbie will make a successful comeback in China.

Samsung, the world's leading smartphone maker, launched its most awaited Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 major markets, including the US and South Korea, in August 2016. Within a week of its launch, there were incidents of Note 7s catching fire. Koh, the president of Samsung's mobile business, announced a recall and replacement of Note 7. But the replaced Notes also caught fire. The company had to announce a second recall and abandon the production of Note 7. With holiday season fast approaching, Samsung had to come up with a strategy to retain its loyal customers. Also its competitor Apple had just launched iPhone 7 and Google had launched its first smartphone - Google Pixel. The company had to also work on rebuilding its lost brand value and instill confidence in the customers, which was essential for Samsung to retain its position in the smartphone market.

The case is about the exit strategy adopted by Harley Davidson Inc. (Harley) in India. The iconic American motorcycle brand had ventured into India in 2009 with its heavyweight cruiser bikes. But it was not able to capture the market due to the high cost of its bikes and its failure to read the Indian mindset. The case dwells on the circumstances that led to Harley entering the Indian market and the challenges faced by it. Burdened with increasing losses, Harley had decided to exit the Indian market as part of the 'rewire strategy' adopted by its parent company. The case details the strategy adopted by Harley and discusses its planned exit and how it later decided to shelve its exit plan and enter instead into a strategic alliance with Hero MotoCorp to sell and service its bikes and other merchandise in the Indian market. It remains to be seen whether the strategic alliance with the Hero Group will bring Harley success.

After a long hiatus, the Tata Group (Tata) entered the civil aviation industry in India through a joint venture partnership with Malaysia-based Airline Group Air Asia Berhad (AAB) after Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms were eased in India in the year 2013. The joint venture partnership was formed under the name Air Asia India (AAI) in the year 2014. Though it was considered to be an ambitious project for both entities, AAI remained unprofitable. In 2020, with the global aviation industry heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, AAB decided to sell its stake to its partner Tata and exit the joint venture. However, for Tata, the decision to purchase a stake in AAI remained a matter of strategic choice. The present case study can be used to discuss the concepts of joint ventures, their benefits and limitations, and the reasons for the failure of joint ventures.

Anglo Dutch FMCG Major Unilever found itself amidst a salmonella crisis in Israel, when Telma cereals were found to be contaminated in August 2016. Without the company's knowledge, the contaminated batch of cereals was distributed and reached the consumers. Unilever then recalled the cereals, but its production license was suspended. Unilever rapidly lost market share to its competitors. Before it could emerge from the crisis, the company faced another round of contamination. With two contamination occurrences in quick succession, Unilever was again in trouble. CEO of Unilever Israel, Anat Gabriel, faced the challenge of minimizing the damage done to the company's image and regaining the lost market share.

The case is about India's mobile app-based ride-sharing firm Ola's attempt to make a reentry into the fast-growing food delivery space, which it had earlier exited. It starts out by mentioning the reasons that had driven Ola to make an exit from the Indian food delivery space. Ola's reentry through the acquisition of the fast-growing Indian food delivery company, Foodpanda, is then described. The caselet touches upon the advantages that Ola expected to gain through the reentry. It concludes with a look at the future prospects of Ola's food delivery business.

The case discusses the digital transformation brought about by India-based multinational automotive company Ashok Leyland (Leyland) in the past decade (2010-2020). The case starts with a brief history of how Leyland grew to its stature of being one of the leading manufacturers of automobiles in India and across the world. It then provides details of how the company inculcated an information-led culture and adopted a user-friendly Business Intelligence (BI) tool. Having implemented digital solutions for improving efficiency and productivity, Leyland looked at how digital could play a role in generating new revenue models and profits. The case then discusses the varied features of Leyland's shared IT (Information Technology) services platforms - Digital Marketplace and Digital Nxt that harnessed the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), mobile and cloud technology. Can Venkatesh Natarajan (Natarajan), SVP-IT of Leyland, the key person who orchestrated the revolutionary changes in Leyland, continue to harness new technologies to win in the competitive automotive industry?

The case discusses the earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile and its devastating impact. The event, known as F27, displaced 1.5 million people from their homes, damaged around 370,000 houses, and killed 525 people. The low casualty figure was attributable to the proactive steps taken by the Chile government, which included designing seismic codes that prevented buildings from collapsing during temblors. The setting up of the National Emergency Office of the Ministry of Interior (ONEMI) in 1974 in the aftermath of the 1960 Valdivia earthquake that killed nearly 5,000 people, also helped Chile in better disaster preparedness as the ONEMI carried out frequent evacuation drills and earthquake simulations. Disaster management experts appreciated Chile for its disaster preparedness and recovery. But some experts pointed out that Chile's disaster planning did not focus on the community rehabilitation that would have to take place after a disaster.

On October 12, 2014, a massive tropical cyclone, Hudhud, lashed the coastal states of southern India, killing around 46 people in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The cyclone had made landfall at Vishakapatnam (also known as Vizag), a port city in Andhra Pradesh, and some districts of Odisha. It had a devastating impact on the two states, damaging houses and crops, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes, and uprooting thousands of trees. The state governments had prepared themselves to handle the cyclonic disaster after the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a warning on October 8, 2014, about a landfall in Vizag and Odisha. The state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha received appreciation for their disaster preparedness that helped in mitigating the loss of human lives. While the toll was low compared to the past cyclonic disasters in India, the economic losses due to Hudhud stood at US$ 11 billion.

The case discusses how the manufacturing and the R&D strategies that the Samsung Group (Samsung) formulated to excel in India could help it succeed internationally. In the mid-2010s, Samsung launched the "Make in India" initiative and enhanced its domestic manufacturing to take advantage of certain sops given by the Government of India (GoI) to induce multinationals to make India their manufacturing base. In conjunction with that initiative, Samsung also launched the "Make for India" initiative, through which its Indian R&D centers came up with innovative products after studying Indian customer needs and taking into account customer feedback. Samsung eventually announced the launch of its "Make for the World" initiative, under which it planned to shift its production from other countries and make India a base from which to supply products internationally. Will Samsung make India its sole production base in future in Asia? Will its customer-centric products help beat the competition?

The case talks about the migration of US-based internet streaming company Netflix Inc. (Netflix)'s streaming services to the public cloud system through Amazon Web Services (AWS) owned by Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon). The case starts out by mentioning the problems Netflix faced with regard to data storage and data scalability, given its growing business needs. It then documents how Netflix migrated to AWS by undertaking business process re-engineering, bringing about a sea change in its IT infrastructure and database systems, and designing some proprietary cloud-based systems. It also provides information about the benefits gained by Netflix after migrating to AWS. Though some analysts wondered whether Netflix would be ready for any failure of AWS in future, Netflix's Vice-President, Cloud and Platform Engineering, Yury Izrailevsky (Izrailevsky), was confident about the Netflix's data security future on the public cloud.

This case discusses the changes in the Information Systems (IS) at Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in its key operations, through the years. Based on the changes sweeping through the industry, TMC integrated new information processing technologies in processes such as new product development, production, general operations, sales, and customer service. The IS at TMC not only helped the company gain valuable business insights to improve its processes and produce innovative cars, but also assisted it in complying with global environmental standards and changes in the Japanese and global economy. TMC was open to innovative technology, and by adopting it in its IS, it tried to outdo others in the highly competitive and dynamic global automobile industry. Akio Toyoda, President and CEO of TMC, was confident that the IS capabilities of TMC would enable it to process and analyze data in such a way that it could be used to develop vehicles of the future.

The case documents the measures taken by US-based banking conglomerate US Bancorp to fend off malicious attacks on its information systems and the steps taken by it to ensure business continuity after any disaster. The case describes in detail the cyber threats faced by the bank, and the vulnerabilities of its information systems. It then provides an insight into the tools and technologies adopted by the bank, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and geolocation services, to prevent malicious attacks. The case also takes an in-depth look at the framework for security and control at the bank, including disaster recovery planning and business continuity planning.

The case discusses how India-based food tech operator Rebel Foods emerged as the world's largest Internet restaurant company operating in the cloud kitchen segment. Rebel Foods gained a head start as it pivoted from being a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain to a multi brand cloud kitchen model powered by an efficient operating system for building and scaling brands globally. From a small food joint called Faasos in 2011, Rebel Foods grew to a 4000+ Internet restaurants chain with 450+ cloud kitchens spread across 50+ cities in 10 countries as of October 2021. Rebel Foods struck the right balance between exquisite culinary craftsmanship and technological infrastructure and built an efficient operating system with a full stack tech platform, culinary innovation center, cloud kitchen network/ supply chain, and robust operating DNA, with smart infrastructure at its core. The food tech platform leveraged modern technologies such as IoT, AI, and robotics in all its cloud kitchens that allowed it to automate cooking processes, and keep track of inventory, procurement, manufacturing, and warehousing. Sales of food products through its network of cloud kitchens grew by 83% to Rs 5.575 billion during fiscal 2020 as compared to Rs 3.051 billion in 2019. In October 2021, Rebel Foods turned a Unicorn with $175 million funding. Despite its stupendous success, it seemed likely that Rebel Foods would face some challenges going forward such as growing competition in the cloud kitchen space, excessive dependence on online food aggregators, no direct offline relationship with customers, huge operational investments, and sustaining profits as it aimed to expand and grow its brands globally.

The case talks about the Government of India (GoI)'s initiative to undertake e-procurement of goods and services for Central and State Government Organizations through the national public procurement portal (NPPP) - Government e-Marketplace (GeM). The GoI transformed legacy procurement systems through GeM, which used technology, analytics, and digitization of processes. The case provides details about the procedures of GeM's unified public procurement system. It also touches upon the benefits provided by GeM to both the buyers and sellers. In addition, the way the online, end-to-end marketplace-enabled inclusiveness and encouraged startups is briefly described. The case discusses in detail the issues preventing the wide scale adoption of GeM and the efforts being made by the GoI to make it popular. Can GeM emerge as the sole platform handling India's public procurement?

The case describes the resilience exhibited by the community during the 2018 Kerala floods which killed scores of people and forced thousands into relief camps. The case starts out with a background note on Kerala, a coastal state in the south-west of India. The state led in the service sector, tourism sector, and agriculture sector in India. It then provides details about the 2018 Kerala floods. The floods had detrimental effects on key areas of its economy, including agriculture and tourism. It then describes the rescue and relief efforts and the resilience exhibited by different sections in the state in overcoming the disaster. The case then follows the preparedness lessons learned from the 2018 Kerala floods. It ends with an insight into the challenges faced by Kerala in restoring and rebuilding the state and its economy after the 2018 floods.

The case discusses the automation strategy of Tesla, Inc (Tesla), the world's largest Electric Vehicle (EV) maker. Tesla vigorously pursued automation solutions to develop high-performance environment-friendly cars that were not only sustainable, but also superior to fossil-fuel alternatives, delivering massive savings in energy costs, performance, efficiency, and reliability. In 2017, Elon Musk (Musk), CEO of Tesla, focused on hyper-automation, including a robotic assembly line, to increase manufacturing speed and drive down costs. Tesla's Fremont manufacturing facility in California was heavily automated with hundreds of industrial robots being used for manufacturing, replacing many of the human workers employed there. Automation processes actually slowed down production at Tesla. Eventually, Musk admitted that his company had gone way overboard with automation and ultimately had to turn back to human assembly line workers to achieve the production targets of Model 3. Despite the setbacks, Musk stated in 2019 that automation would be the key to the company's future.

The case describes the various measures taken by the US retail giant The Kroger Company (Kroger) to use cloud computing to enhance the shopping experience of its customers. The case starts out by providing a brief history of Kroger that is considered to be an innovator and pioneer in the US food retail industry. It then delves into the details of the strategic partnerships that Kroger had with technology giants Google, LLC and Microsoft Corporation to develop retail innovations using their cloud platforms. The case also takes an in-depth look at the various new retail technologies that Kroger's in-house technology division developed and launched. Kroger's retail technologies not only disrupted the retail space, but were also expected to have extensive scope for commercialization. The implications of adopting innovative retail technologies for the company's financials and market position are also discussed in detail. Can Kroger successfully commercialize its retail technologies and eventually become a technology company that sells groceries?

The case primarily discusses how the world's largest beverage company, The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), employed various Business Intelligence (BI) tools throughout its organization to improve its different business processes. The company's most successful adoption of BI technology was at its largest independent bottling partner Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (CCBC), where manual reporting procedures had created various problems for the company. The case discusses in detail the adoption of Tableau Mobile Dashboards, a set of BI tools that served the needs of a variety of audiences and roles in CCBC. Coca-Cola used various other technologies that had close links with BI such as Business Analytics (BA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and personalized data analytics. As the sales of sugary, carbonated drink products had begun to decline in recent years, Coca-Cola was depending on BI to help to produce and market healthier options such as orange juice.

Amit, a fresher working for a consultancy company, took up a task of understanding the e-commerce buying behavior in India. He wanted to understand if the time consumers spent on e-commerce websites had any influence on their buying decisions and the amount spent. He also wanted to check if the membership on the websites, like Prime membership provided by Amazon, had any impact on sales. He set about the task by collecting data from Kaggle. He drew all the relevant tables to represent the data. Amit had to analyze the tables to draw relevant conclusions.

The Ethics & Compliance team at 3M was an independent function that reported directly to the Audit Committee of the 3M Board of Directors. This was to ensure autonomy in reporting so that the Ethics & Compliance team could act independently when compliance issues rose at 3M. The Ethics and Compliance team created reports to be presented to stakeholders for analysis. With business growing globally, so did the data handled by the compliance department. The department had learned well to change with time and adopt new technology as and when required. The data journey of the ethics and compliance department started with activity-based reporting and went on to increase its reach by creating dialogues with third party associates of 3M as well as employees of the company from various departments. Over a period of time, the reporting in the compliance department evolved from activity-based simple reporting to the use of predictive analytics for complex and more precise reporting and data analysis. Use of predictive analytics helped the department to leverage the humungous amount of compliance data in a proactive way, driving insights and improving performances of employees and departments.

Ottawa, Canada-based Shopify, a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) e-commerce solution provider, helped entrepreneurs, small to medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises to set up their e-stores. The company offered a web builder along with various templates, secure payment options, Search Engine Optimization, analytics, and many more features to facilitate the setting up of online stores. The Shopify web builder was user-friendly; even people with no coding or e-commerce experience could easily set up their online stores. Even though Shopify offered a feature-rich solution to e-commerce merchants, it was criticized for the cost that merchants had to incur to set up a website of their liking. Despite the cost concerns that many people had, Shopify was hosting close to 377,000 online stores by 2020 and boasted customers like Budweiser, the World Wildlife Fund, General Electric, Amnesty International, Tesla Motors, Encyclopedia Britannica, Foo Fighters, and GitHub.

The case talks about the adoption of automation technology by leading Indian e-commerce company Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. (Flipkart) in its supply chain to make its delivery process faster with fewer errors and improve its competitive strength. The case describes the circumstances that led Flipkart to adopt automation in its warehouse and order fulfillment operations. It then elaborates on the various measures taken by the company as a part of its automation implementation. The case delves into the impact of automation on the operational and financial performance of the company. It ends with a brief look at the future prospects of automation in the supply chain of e-commerce companies.

Sweden-based Hennes and Mauritz (H&M), one of the leading fast fashion retailers in the world, was staring at an uncertain future in 2018. As of November 2017, the company had unsold stock worth $4.3 billion. With H&M's products not able to keep up with customers' expectations, inventory started to pile up. The company did not make any major changes to its supply chain for over two decades, and continued to produce in Asia without paying any attention to the changing trends in the fast fashion industry. Users said that the offerings from H&M had become dull and unfashionable. Though H&M went online in the late 1990s itself, it did not do much to develop its e-commerce capabilities. As a result, the company's unsold inventory swelled to 20% of its total sales. H&M resorted to markdowns, which adversely impacted its profits.

The case discusses the logistics and distribution strategy of Nestle India Limited (NIL), the Indian subsidiary of the world's largest food and beverage company, Nestle SA. The case gives a brief insight into the distribution structure of Nestle, and the terms of operations it employed for its intermediaries. It then provides details about how technology helped NIL's outbound logistics system at NIL. The case moves on to discuss the possibilities of channel conflicts and stresses upon the need for NIL to strengthen its own distribution channel in order to avoid differences between prices of its products in different regions, product positioning, and promotional campaigns. The hyper local cluster approach of NIL is dealt with as well, wherein it divided India into various clusters and then crafted product placements, distribution, marketing, and promotions for each cluster. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director of NIL, was hopeful that NIL would continue to improve its distribution strategies to serve the Indian markets better.

The US-based Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. (Popeyes), a chain of fast food restaurants, offered items like chicken, seafood, sandwiches, wraps, kids' meals, sauces, desserts, and beverages. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Popeyes was founded in 1972 by entrepreneur and culinary innovator Al Copeland. On August 12, 2019, Popeyes added a temporary item to its menu - Fried Chicken Sandwich. Initially, the product received lukewarm response, until Chik-Fil-A, Popeyes' competitor, tweeted claiming its own chicken sandwich was the most authentic. Popeyes replied with a tweet, which started a tweet war between the two. Soon some other quick service restaurants in the US joined the fray. The Twitter war made the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich famous and pushed up their sales, so much that Popeyes' stock of two months finished by August 27 and it had to declare the sandwiches "Sold Out". It took the chain another two months to relaunch the chicken sandwich.

In the annual report for the year 2017-18, UK-based luxury fashion giant Burberry Group PLC (Burberry) mentioned that it had physically destroyed surplus stock worth ? 28.6 million. Experts said that the company had destroyed excess stock to maintain its exclusivity, while Burberry maintained that it wanted to avoid its clothes falling into the hands of counterfeiters and grey marketers who could sell them at a discount, thereby devaluing the brand. The total value of goods destroyed by the label since 2013 was ?90 million. The company faced a huge backlash from analysts and environmentalists for opting to incinerate the stock when it could have given it to charity instead or used it in some other way. The critics voiced their outrage on various social media platforms. Burberry eventually called off its policy of burning excess stock and pledged to instead recycle it.

The case discusses the challenges faced by Luca Fichera, Executive Vice-President (Supply Chain) of Nestle India Limited (Nestle), in dealing with the mandatory recall of Maggi noodles imposed on the company by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Luca and his team faced a daunting task in completing the reverse distribution exercise of 400 million Maggi noodles packets in a country the size of India with all the complexities involved and that too within a very short planning horizon. The case helps students understand the structure of reverse and closed-loop supply chain and the challenges relating to the collection, transportation, warehousing, and disposal of the products.

The case talks about the security and privacy issues faced by Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (Zoom) and the company's response. The case starts out with a brief history of Zoom. It then describes the growth of Zoom over the years. The case covers in detail the various security and privacy lapses at Zoom and the measures taken by the company to strengthen security and privacy features to ensure that such issues do not happen in the future. The case also touches upon the rise of various other video communications apps. Though Zoom had many competitors, users continued using it in spite of the security issues, which underlined its popularity with them. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for Zoom to grow further, provided it took steps to avoid security lapses in future.

On September 26, 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its report on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft raised a big question about the design approval process of Boeing and the certification process of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). NTSB had conducted a month-long investigation on the possible lapses in the design and approval of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, following two aircraft crashes - one of Lion Air and another of Ethiopian Airlines that killed 346 people on board, both involving Boeing 737 MAX aircrafts. According to the results declared on January 29, 2020, Boeing announced its first annual loss since 1997 attributed to the 737 Max crisis. Boeing had put the total cost of 737 MAX crisis at $18.6 billion as on the day it announced the results. Boeing feared that the total cost would mount further as it did not include probable settlements against lawsuits from more than 100 victims' families from both the crashes.

This case discusses the different projects taken up by various organizations in India to clean River Ganga and the challenges they faced. Represented as a goddess, Ganga in the Hindu religion is considered to be a holy river. The case chronicles the various events that resulted in the river becoming polluted. To clean the filth and garbage, many initiatives were taken by the Government of India over the years with huge amounts of money being spent. The Ganga Action Plans I & II failed drastically. In 2015, the ruling government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi (Modi) made attempts to rejuvenate the river with the 'Namami Gange' project. The estimated time frame for project completion was 18 years.

This case discusses the security concerns over the Aadhaar card, a national identity project launched by the Government of India (GoI), which seeks to collect biometric and demographic data of residents of India and store this data in a centralized database. Using Aadhaar, a person's identity can be certified and authenticated in an easy and cost-effective way. Aadhaar has been linked to many GoI welfare schemes and is used as identity proof to open a bank account, get a passport, etc. However, there have been substantial deliberations over the privacy and security issues related to the Aadhaar project. Aadhaar is considered to be prone to possible system hacks, insider leaks, and tampering of authentication records and audit trails in the absence of proper security policies. There have been reports of Aadhaar breach in different regions of India and people are skeptical about its security. Even though the GoI is taking a lot of measures to safeguard Aadhaar data, there is a lot to be done to enhance the safekeeping of the data.

The case study walks us through the largest data breach in the history of the aviation industry, one which compromised the financial and personal data of 380,000 passengers in 2018. The data breach was a result of a cyber-attack on the website and mobile application of British Airways (BA), for booking transactions done between August 21 and September 5, 2018. Accepting the magnitude of the privacy intrusion, BA apologized to its customers and promised to reimburse them for any financial losses they had suffered due to the data breach. The case also highlights the importance of the airline's software and website being updated (last updated in 2012) at periodic intervals to save it from future hacks and the resultant data breach. It concludes with BA's attempt to save its brand image (as it is the largest international carrier of UK), and throws light on measures BA might adopt to tighten its IT governance, given the stringent European law.

Denmark-based The Lego Group (Lego) was a family-owned company well known for the eponymous LEGO blocks, interlocking plastic blocks which can be assembled to construct different objects. LEGO blocks were a hit among kids and adults, and LEGO experienced immense success during the 70s and the 80s. But things took a turn during the 90s, and Lego landed in troubled waters. There was growing competition from video games, automated toys and the internet. The toy market was changing fast with new games coming in the market frequently. To cope with the dynamic market, Digital Solutions (DS) department at LEGO also expanded. DS was involved in the creation and maintenance of online digital games. To streamline the operations and collaborations, DS implemented SAFe. This new initiative motivated the employees to work better and also helped LEGO in achieving its core values. Implementing SAFe brought many benefits to DS. Teams were less dependent on each other to complete their own tasks, thus saving a lot of time. This also improved the ability of DS to meet their commitments on time. There was better synchronization among teams with reduced redundancy of tasks.

ASOS, a British online retailer launched in 2000, sold clothes and other fashion accessories. Its clientele were primarily in the age group of 20-30. In July 2019, ASOS issued a profit warning, stating that the profits would be a third lower than what was expected in the year. This was the third profit warning in seven months, the first coming right before Christmas in 2018, after which the company lost 60% of its value. These profit warnings were issued after problems erupted during ASOS's migration to an automated warehouse system in its Berlin warehouse. The other issue ASOS faced at the same time was at its Atlanta warehouse where the company said it had failed to effectively plan the expansion of its global presence.

This case study discusses the implementation of Odd-Even scheme for cars in Delhi, India, on a pilot basis with the aim of controlling pollution. On December 4, 2015, the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, announced that the odd-even rule would be implemented from January 1, 2016, for private cars in Delhi, the capital city of India, as a pilot study for a period of 15 days. According to the announcement, private vehicles would be allowed across the city based on their registration numbers. For example, if a vehicle's registration number ended with an odd digit, it would be allowed on the roads on odd dates such as January 1, 2016, while an even number vehicle would be allowed on even dates.

In 2016, Mitsui & Co. (Mitsui), a general trading company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, experienced its first ever consolidated loss. This loss prompted the company to devise a Medium-Term Management Plan in 2017 to deal with these challenges. The plan focused on four key initiatives to be achieved by 2020, which were based on the two pillars of "work-style innovation" and "digital transformation." Mitsui wanted a platform for communication and collaboration that could link the information and technologies of its employees working in 66 countries and regions around the world. For the purpose, it used various teamwork and collaboration tools provided by Microsoft and saw positive results in the organization.

The case is about India's leading crowdsourced logistics platform Shadowfax Technologies' (Shadowfax) launch of the SuperApp, a single delivery platform for riders and sellers. Shadowfax provided an on-demand hyperlocal delivery service for its clients, including restaurants and retailers across the country. It had a crowdsourced network of active delivery partners to deliver goods and services for the businesses. The company's technology platform connected delivery executives to the e-commerce companies and businesses. Shadowfax launched a delivery app called SuperApp to address the challenges faced by delivery executives in accessing a number of partners on different platforms. The company believed that riders could have access to all companies through one app, instead of registering themselves individually with each company. The app not only made the process of accessing all companies convenient and time-saving for the delivery partners, it also empowered them to access multiple opportunities, such as daily payouts and financial benefits like loans and insurance, on a single platform. With the launch of the SuperApp, Shadowfax was able to provide last-mile logistic solutions to business partners and become the all-in-one solution of the on-demand delivery marketplace for enterprises.

On September 22, 2016, Adani Green Energy opened the world's largest single location solar power plant in Kamuthi village in Ramanathapuram district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 648MW power plant with an outlay of $680 million was completed in less than a year. This was a significant achievement given the scale of the project. Though the Kamuthi project was completed within record time, it had to deal with its share of challenges. The project faced several logistical challenges owing to its remote location as well as the delays caused by unseasonal torrential rains.

The case describes how Narendra K Pasuparthy (Narendra), an IT employee who had returned from the US, used technology as an enabler to build Nandu's Foods Pvt. Ltd. (Nandu's). Nandu's, the Bengaluru-based retail arm of the Nanda Group, offered antibiotics, steroids, chemicals, and hormone-free hygienic and fresh poultry meat to consumers. Narendra found that the Indian meat industry was fragmented and meat retailing was unorganized and done through butchers. He identified an opportunity as there was consumer demand for good quality, fresh, and nutritious poultry meat in India. The technology strategy adopted by Nandu's included investing in business analytics, cloud-based technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence for better data-based decision making and inventory management. Nandu's also planned to raise funds from private investors for its pan-India scale-up.

The case is about the data security breach at digital payment platform MobiKwik. In early March 2021, the data of nearly 110 million users of the mobile wallet was reported to be on sale on a hacker forum on the dark web. The dataset included details of KYC documents, Aadhaar card and credit card details, and mobile phone numbers linked to the MobiKwik app. The breach was first exposed by an independent security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia. However, MobiKwik denied that any such breach had occurred and stated that it was fully compliant with all applicable data security laws. It blamed users instead for their data ending up on the dark web. The company even targeted the cybersecurity experts who brought the hack to light. The evidence of the hack, however, was hard to ignore, and the breach had serious implications both for the company and its customers. Following the data breach allegations, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered a forensic data security audit of the company's systems by a certified auditor. The MobiKwik data breach turned the spotlight on data privacy and the need for strict laws to penalize entities involved in data breaches.

NFC mobile payment services, the latest technological development in mobile payment services, was launched by ICICI Bank in India in the year 2016. Though the new payment system had a lot of potential and would benefit consumers in several ways, its adoption was very low. The adoption and acceptance of an innovation depends on the consumers as well as the factors which motivate them to use it or inhibit them from doing so. In the case of NFC-mobile payment services too, the motivating factors included the ability to use smartphones, and the facts that it was time-saving, transactions were secure, people could carry less cash, and it was convenient. The factors inhibiting adoption of NFC-mobile payment services included consumers being reluctant to use the mobile mode of payment, lack of NFC-chip installed in POS machines, and lack of awareness programs. Since the NFC mode of payment could be beneficial on several counts, the government needs to take several initiatives to educate the consumers about the processes and benefits of NFC-mobile payment services. This could encourage them to adopt it.

ABC automotive is one of the largest automobile dealers in south Gujarat. ABC automotive was experiencing increasing losses due to fall in sales of cars and other accessories along with decreasing pay-out in finance and insurance of newly sold car. Abhishek Bansal, an analyst, identified the issues and presented a report to the board with recommendations on how to arrest the loss. The board worked on the strategy, which helped ABC automotive to regain its market share and prevent losses.

In recent years, natural disasters have become more common all over the world. People have suffered a lot due to earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts, and heavy snowfall, among other calamities. These natural disasters have claimed thousands of human lives and affected various industries. One such natural calamity was faced by Chennai, one of the largest hubs of the Indian automobile industry, in December 2015 when heavy rainfall, which broke a 114-year record, killed hundreds of people and displaced about two million. The automobile industry was devastated by the Chennai flood and suffered a loss of about Rs. 150 billion. The crisis served as an eye opener to the automobile industry. Industry players have to now re-plan their strategies and think of how to de-risk themselves from such natural disasters

This case deals with the debacle of Google Glass, a wearable technology device launched by technology giant Google. Google Glass failed to capture the smart eyeglass technology market segment and found it difficult to sustain itself in the long run. The failure of the device was a major debacle for Google. Google launched its ambitious Google Glass Explorer program with the objective of building on the concept of projecting digital information into the wearer's field of vision. Critics pointed out that Google had made the mistake of launching the prototype product without assessing customer feedback and promoted it as a consumer device instead of targeting the B2B audience, and said this was the reason for its failure. Besides, its poor quality battery, bulky design, product flaws, and privacy concerns seemed to be the major challenges for Google Glass in a diversified competitive market. However, the company committed to continuing the project by launching its new enterprise edition of Glass in 2016.

The case study describes how Asian Paints Limited (Asian Paints) used IT systems to help reinvent itself consistently over the last 4 decades. It touches upon the various initiatives taken by Asian Paints to offer support to dealers and retailers during the COVID-19 pandemic such as sanitizing dealer premises free of charge and extending credit facilities. The case also covers the future plans of Asian Paints to continue investing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to improve operations and customer experience.

The case discusses the data security breach at UK-based telecom and Internet service provider Virgin Media Inc. (Virgin Media). On March 5, 2020, the company published a statement on its website stating that one of its marketing databases containing the personal details of about 900,000 existing and potential customers had been left unsecured online since April 2019 and had been accessed without its authorization. Though the company was taking several steps to prevent such data leaks in future, it remained to be seen whether it could fix its reputation. Virgin Media's CEO Lutz Schuler apologized for the breach, but was that enough to regain the trust of customers?

The case discusses the data security breach at UK-based telecom and Internet service provider Virgin Media Inc. (Virgin Media). On March 5, 2020, the company published a statement on its website stating that one of its marketing databases containing the personal details of about 900,000 existing and potential customers had been left unsecured online since April 2019 and had been accessed without its authorization. Though the company was taking several steps to prevent such data leaks in future, it remained to be seen whether it could fix its reputation. Virgin Media's CEO Lutz Schuler apologized for the breach, but was that enough to regain the trust of customers?

US-based Slack Technologies Inc. owned a proprietary business communication platform - Slack. The goal of this tool was to improve productivity in everyday office tasks through an organized and easy-to-use communication and collaboration system. Slack provided teams with real-time messaging and file sharing for one-to-one and group conversations. It also integrated with dozens of popular services such as Twitter, Trello, Asana, Google Docs, MailChimp, Stripe, Zendesk, etc. Thus, Slack made collaboration and communication among teams much easier. As of 2021, Slack was being used by almost 77% of Fortune 100 companies. It was also used by NASA in their project to send robots to Mars. At the same time, the tool was also criticized for negatively impacting the productivity of employees in large organizations due to over-dependency and over usage of the tool.

This case is about the US-based online retailer Amazon.com Inc (Amazon). It illustrates the Amazon fulfillment center's storage system and contemplates its storage practices, which are in total contrast to the traditional practices of storing products by characteristics and attributes. The case also highlights the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon's practices of storing its products by available shelf or storage space, though a few products are exempt from the rule. This presents a picture of 'organized' confusion to anyone who steps into Amazon's warehouse. However, Amazon has been largely successful in redefining the way the products were effectively stored and retrieved in the warehouse. This case discusses the critical success factors that help operations managers to develop a decision framework for a warehouse storage system in the supply chain context.

India-based online seller of tea, Teabox, disrupted the 200-year-old Indian tea industry and changed the tea supply chain from a long 5 step process to a leaner 2 step process. Teabox vertically integrated the tea manufacturing process and was directly involved in the process right from manufacturing the tea to selling it to customers. In the process, Teabox emerged as the only vertically integrated tea business in the world.

Jaypore E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd. was an e-commerce platform through which Indian artisans and independent producers could sell their handcrafted products. It sourced its products like apparel, jewelry, lifestyle accessories, and home decor from a large number of artisans, craft cooperatives, etc. from all across India. Apart from having an online presence, Jaypore also opened a few offline stores. The handloom and handicraft industry has been the backbone of India's rural economy for many years, but it was highly unorganized and fragmented. Jaypore's way of business worked towards bringing in quality and pricing standards to handcrafted products.

In 2018, despite knowing about the growing demand requirements for its mid-range apparel products in the North American market, the management of Adidas failed to source the required products from its suppliers spread across the Asian region on time. Adidas outsourced its manufacturing requirements across the globe to different partners. The present case provides an insight into the concept of responsive supply chains, their needs and their features. It also illustrates how Adidas' production processes were unable to meet the demand, and the initiatives taken by the company to ensure that the products reached the customers on time.

The period between 1980 and 1982 saw a recession in the US, which also caused trouble to the American automobile industry. Ford Motor Company was affected as well by the slowdown. The situation triggered a search by Ford executives for ways to reduce overhead and administrative costs. The executives at Ford realized that they had a large headcount in their accounts payable department, and the procure-to-pay process for purchase orders was also very error-prone. To make the department lean and the process more accurate, the company decided to bring about a radical change in the process by re-engineering the entire system. Ford introduced invoiceless processing in procure-to-pay process, which was simple and also reduced discrepancy errors in invoice clearance. Through the new system Ford was able to reduce the headcount by 75% and also improve vendor relations.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI), an Austrian Bank headquartered in Vienna, was one of the most preferred banks in Austria as well as Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. The bank was dealing with a humongous amount of data of its customers. Frequently this data was also used to create reports for analysis and evaluation of business. The bank was therefore using business analytics tool - Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) for its reporting and analysis purpose. The bank was using OLAP with IBM Cognos. Over a period of time, increase in number of customers also increased the data, and so did their business requirements which called for more refined analytical reports. The bank wanted a sophisticated and powerful Business Intelligence (BI) tool, but at the same time wanted to keep its costs low. So the bank decided to use Microsoft OLAP tool, which would expand the existing reporting and analysis instead of completely replacing the existing system of business intelligence analysis. Microsoft OLAP tool proved quite beneficial to the company. The reporting and analysis became precise as all unwanted data was filtered in early stages of analysis. Removal of unwanted data also made reporting process more flexible, as employees were now able to select the data required for their reports instead of getting the entire database to go through.

Julie Andrews (Julie), Marketing Manager of a medium-sized airline, had been tasked with finding out the extent of overbooking the airline could permit on one of its flights. The young airline's CEO, Steve Jackson (Steve), wanted to get this right so that the airline would not find itself in the kind of situation United Airlines Limited (UAL) faced in April 2017 when a passenger was forcibly deplaned, leading to a huge backlash against the airline.

Lululemon Athletica (Lululemon), a Canada-based sports and yoga wear retailer, was founded by Dennis Chip Wilson (Wilson) in 1999. Lululemon's products, which were premium priced, gained popularity among yoga practitioners and other fitness-conscious people. As of 2014, the company operated through 254 stores across the world. Since its inception, Lululemon has emphasized sustainable business and ethical operations. The company projected its sustainability vision as elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness by embracing social, environmental, and economic health in every part of its organization and its global communities. But over the years, it became mired in several controversies, ranging from false claims about the presence of seaweed in its clothing, to the presence of lead in some of its products, transparent yoga pants, etc., which made even loyal customers shy away from the brand.

Global Water Challenge (GWC), a social service organization, is playing a crucial role by collaborating with various governments, non-governmental organizations, business entities, and other social service organizations that are investing in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) projects in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The primary objective of GWC is to ensure universal accessibility to WASH facilities across the globe by encouraging member organizations and improving the sustainability of investments in the WASH sector. By end-2016, GWC associated with over 50 organizations and was operating in 200 countries across the world. By leveraging on technology and expertise, it has been successful in fostering collaborations and identifying innovative solutions in the WASH sector.

WeWork Inc. (WeWork), US's leading commercial real estate company offering co-working space, was founded by Adam Neumann (Neumann) and Miguel McKelvey (McKelvey) in 2010. By 2019, WeWork had expanded to 847 international locations. It was valued at $47 billion in August 2019. WeWork filed for its first IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), US, on August 14, 2019. The filing invited a scrutiny of the company's financial statements and revealed that WeWork had suffered consecutive losses from 2016 to 2018. In 2016, WeWork suffered a loss of $430 million upon revenue of $436 million. In 2017, its loss was $890 million upon revenue of $886 million, and in 2018, it suffered a loss of $1.61 billion upon revenues of $1.81 billion. Subsequently, WeWork's valuation fell to $10 billion in September 2019 due to apprehensions among its investors. The scrutiny further revealed its co-founder and CEO Neumann's extravagant lifestyle. Neumann was compelled to step down from his position as CEO in September 2019.

On January 4, 2016, the United States Department of Justice filed a civil case on behalf of the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) against Volkswagen AG (VW) for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA). The complaint alleged that VW had installed illegal defeat devices in about 600,000 of its diesel vehicles in the US which impaired EPA's emission test system and the vehicles caused emissions that exceeded EPA's standards, resulting in air pollution. The scandal dragged VW into the worst crisis it had faced in its 78-year history. It not only brought down VW's stock price drastically but also raised the possibility of the automobile major having to pay out billions of dollars as fines and penalties. The scandal cast a shadow on the reputation of the company, known for selling some of the world's most luxurious and best-selling brands. VW saw a massive drop in sales post the scandal.

The case elaborates on Indian business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist Azim Premji's (Premji) philanthropic initiative - the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) - which envisioned transforming the Indian primary education sector. The case also throws light on the persona of Azim Premji - the values, beliefs, principles, and practices which shaped him into a successful entrepreneur and a passionate philanthropist. However, the task was a mammoth one and the road ahead was replete with challenges - systemic, administrative, involving people, etc. Though the primary education sector in India attracted substantial donor interest, it was known for the low quality of its outcomes due to inherent problems. While Premji along with his associates worked relentlessly towards the mission, how far they would succeed in achieving the ambitious targets remains to be seen.

The case elaborates on Indian business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist Azim Premji's (Premji) philanthropic initiative - the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) - which envisioned transforming the Indian primary education sector. The case also throws light on the persona of Azim Premji - the values, beliefs, principles, and practices which shaped him into a successful entrepreneur and a passionate philanthropist. However, the task was a mammoth one and the road ahead was replete with challenges - systemic, administrative, involving people, etc. Though the primary education sector in India attracted substantial donor interest, it was known for the low quality of its outcomes due to inherent problems. While Premji along with his associates worked relentlessly toward the mission, how far they would succeed in achieving the ambitious targets remained to be seen.

The case describes the various data privacy issues related to Facebook and the approach taken by the company to ensure that its reputation and brand image are not diluted. The case also touches upon the rising concerns from various quarters and how Facebook planned to look at ways to move away from these concerns.

The case brings into focus gross ethical violations in the drug trials conducted by Switzerland-based pharmaceutical major F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Roche), in Egypt. Healthcare in Egypt was predominantly driven by private hospitals, owing to the precarious condition of the public healthcare infrastructure and the regulatory frameworks that had crippled the government healthcare system. The poor penetration of insurance coverage made it necessary for many Egyptians to pay out of their own pockets for healthcare. Economic deprivation and lack of insurance coverage left many patients in Egypt with no option but to agree to participate in drug trials, predominantly conducted by transnational companies like Roche. The nascent stage of the Egyptian laws around the clinical trials had largely failed in observing and ensuring adherence to the laws concerned with human trials.

In India, the Companies Bill, 2013, mandated that firms spend 2% of their average net profits on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Going beyond the mandated 2%, Thermax spent about 3% of its net profit on CSR activities. Among its various activities, it set up a model school to provide free education to underprivileged children to train them in non-formal education, mentor adolescents for personality development and career counselling, etc. It developed workplace safety policies and practices at its manufacturing locations and offices. Employees were encouraged to report unsafe conditions and incidents. It had a Leadership Development Program that focused on developing leaders through various programs. Thermax supported human rights and labor rights as prescribed by the law, and all its vendors were required to follow the labor laws applicable in the country of operation.

Revlon is a global color cosmetics, beauty tools, hair color, skincare, fragrances, anti-perspirant deodorant and beauty care products company that produces and markets Almay and Revlon brand makeup and beauty tools. Its vision is "Glamour, Excitement and Innovation through high-quality products at affordable prices." The case deals with how the power of passion, the power of innovation, and the power of motivation can drive not only corporate growth, but also lead to social good. Revlon's marketing manager demonstrates that aligned partnerships with meaningful insights can present significant opportunities for organizations to propel their business along with helping communities around us. The case presents ample opportunities for an exciting discussion on how motivated managers can drive innovation and sustainable business growth.

This case discusses the scandal in which Mitsubishi was accused of cheating on mileage tests for its models eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars and the Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan. Later, it also admitted that its models sold over the previous 10 years were affected by the fuel economy scandal. As a consequence, President Tetsuro Aikawa said he would step down, taking responsibility for the mileage scandal. The company would post a $480 million special loss for the fiscal year 2016-17 to pay compensation to customers for the years of cheating on fuel economy tests. Mitsubishi's employees opined that the scandal was the result of the company's narrow-minded corporate culture focused on its financial interests and that it had not learnt any lessons from its earlier scandals. The analysts opined that the company covered up safety problems and overlooked customer complaints about unsafe vehicles.

Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd (MIFL), the confectionery giant, was known for its brands Cadbury and Oreo, among others, in India. In March 2021, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against MIFL for claiming unlawful tax exemptions for its factory built in Himachal Pradesh, India. During the process of investigation, MIFL paid $13 million in civil penalties, a fine of Rs.0.34 million in unpaid taxes, and Rs.0.23 billion as penalty. Even though the CBI registered a First Information Report (FIR) against MIFL and booked 12 individuals, including two Central Excise officials, and imposed a fine of Rs.2.41 billion on it, MIFL did not admit to the charges against it. The company said its executives had acted in good faith based on legal advice for availing of tax exemptions.

This case discusses the controversies faced by American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices, and consumer packaged goods manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J). The company had been facing issues since 2014 when Chicago-based law firm, Moll Law Group filed its first lawsuit on behalf of its client, Barbara Ross (Ross), a woman in Chicago who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Ross believed that her cancer was due to her daily use of J&J's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower. The law firm filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Northern district of Illinois alleging that J&J had already known or should have known about the potential risks associated with the use of its products and against its negligent practices in failing to warn the consumers.

Satyarthi, the first Indian origin citizen to win the Nobel Peace Prize, had been working tirelessly for the elimination of child labor and for the protection children's rights. He was instrumental in freeing more than 84,580 child laborers, in India and in many other countries. His activities also resulted in governments brining out crucial legislations, which include Right to Education Act and Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. The case study goes behind the personality of Satyarthi and gives insights into how he became a globally prominent child right activist.

The case talks about the legal tussle between leading Indian food companies, Britannia Industries Limited (BIL) and ITC Limited (ITC). In recent years, the two companies had accused each other of infringing on their product packaging trademark to cause a loss of goodwill and confuse prospective buyers. The case provides in detail the various accusations of one party and the counters from the other party. It also briefly mentions the reasons for the two companies' indulging in such a tussle. The case highlights the importance of trademark laws and the actions to be taken in case of infringement, apart from emphasizing the marketing ethics to be followed.

In July 2015, Google launched 'Internet Saathi,' a technology-enabled program, to foster internet literacy among women in rural India in association with Tata Trusts & Intel. The joint initiative aimed to bridge the technology-gender divide in India in general and generate awareness among the rural women of the benefits of the Internet in their lives in particular. As part of the program, Google designed cycling carts (Internet bicycles) fitted with computer equipment which would help the rural women of the Internet in their villages. The program involved the deployment of 1,000 Internet bicycles in the rural areas of three states of India on a pilot basis to enable easy Internet access to the women before it was scaled up to cover other parts of the country. The Internet carts engaged the rural women through awareness creation and training on the benefits and use of Internet, so that they would be able to use it independently.

The case describes how the US-based oil ExxonMobil acquired an oil block in Liberia, a war-torn African country, by bribing officials. The block itself was the subject of a major controversy as it was owned by politicians and ministers in the country. The issue was brought out by an advocacy group, leading to a probe by the government.

After surviving an attack on her life from Taliban, Malala intensified her efforts to fight for children's rights and girls' education. In her endeavor to achieve the objectives, she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize award for the year 2014. This case therefore focuses on the life and work of Malala and provides a discussion point on the management concepts of motivation and leadership.

The case describes how Tata Steel went for the acquisition of Bhushan Steel. The process of acquisition is discussed in detail. Unlike many cases which focus on the details of the M&A process, valuation parameters and the cost of acquisition, the present case attempts to understand the situation from the point of synergistic benefits that could be reaped by both the entities. It attempts to understand the various benefits that can be attained based on a good understanding of the various types of synergies that companies look forward to in an acquisition and how it can help in developing a competitive advantage. While many cases dwell on potential synergies in abstract terms, the current case tries to unfold the four major types of synergies that companies look forward to in an acquisition. It also analyses the future challenges that Tata Group would have to meet while seeking to address the question of how the company would maintain its growth in an emerging market like India in the long term.

Bajaj Auto Ltd. was the largest exporter of two-wheelers and the fourth-largest two-wheeler player in the Indian market. In FY19, the company exported over 2 million motorcycles, three-wheelers, and its new quadricycle the QUTE, to more than 79 countries. It recorded an increase of 16.45% in PAT from FY18 to FY19. The case study elaborates on the background of Bajaj Auto and highlights its financial performance. It also provides a note on the Indian automobile industry. It enables students to analyze the financial performance of Bajaj Auto Ltd. through Ratio analysis, Common Size, and Common Base, and the DuPont model and helps them analyze the Degree of Operating Leverage of the company.

The case is about the IPO of Indian cosmetic e-retailer Nykaa E-Retail Private Limited (Nykaa). Nykaa, a leading specialty beauty and personal care (BPC) retailer, offered a wide range of beauty, fashion, and other luxury products across its website, mobile apps, and offline stores in the country. With the growth of the BPC industry in the country, Nykaa became one of the fastest growing brands and a preferred destination for consumers to shop for luxury products through the digital platform. After establishing a strong footprint in makeup and skincare online delivery space, Nykaa decided to go public to build itself into a more sustainable organization. On October 28, 2021, it launched its public issue to raise more than Rs.53,520 million. The price band for the offer was fixed at Rs.1,085-1,125 per equity share. The IPO comprised fresh issue and offer for sale shares. The company planned to use the proceeds of the IPO to meet debt obligations and capital expenditure requirements, fund expansion of operations in growing markets, and for general corporate purposes. On the last day of the issue, November 01, 2021, the IPO was subscribed 81.78 times as the offer received bids for 2165.9 million equity shares as against the IPO size of 26.4 million equity shares. Considering the potential growth of the BPC market in the country, Nykaa's future prospects looked good and its IPO seemed pretty attractive.

The case study highlights the financial performance of Shree Cement Limited and the Indian cement industry. The case provides sufficient information to conduct a ratio analysis of Shree Cement Limited and compare it with the Indian cement industry ratios provided in the case study. Additionally, it helps to analyze the financial performance of SCL through common size analysis, common base analysis, and DuPont analysis.

The case study discusses the delisting attempt of Vedanta Limited (VL) by Vedanta Resources Limited (VRL), the majority shareholder and parent company. The whole delisting process went through smoothly, but due to issues like offer price and unconfirmed bids, it failed. The case discusses these issues as well as other issues such as unpaid dividends to VL shareholders and the sudden asset write-offs by the management. The case follows the delisting process from the initial proposal to the final fiasco. It helps students not only to understand the nitty-gritty of share delisting regulations but also realize how companies respond when they trade below their intrinsic value in turbulent times.

This case presents the dilemma faced by Rishabh Bansal, Senior Research Analyst at Banyan Investment Private Limited, in suggesting a risk and return trade-off for a new client. The case provides enough scope to discuss and understand the concept as well as the measurement of risk and return for various securities and portfolios. It further helps in understanding the Efficient Frontier, Capital Market Line, and construction of optimal portfolio using real data from the National Stock Exchange. This case provides sufficient data and helps learners to understand how to construct the minimum risk portfolio that generates the required expected return after considering the given constraints.

The case discusses the particulars of the unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) between public sector entity Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) and India-based lighting solutions company Syska LED (Syska), to supply 10 million LED bulbs in the rural areas of India. This PPP was undertaken to support the Government of India's 'Gramin Ujala Scheme' (GUS), a customized program for rural India under which LED bulbs would be provided to people in these areas for Rs.10 - making them the lowest priced LED bulbs in the world. CESL offered Syska co-investment on a revenue-sharing basis - where the costs and profits involved in LED distribution would be shared equally. The GUS was expected to claim carbon credits and sell them through an open process, the proceeds of which were to be shared equally by CESL and Syska. The scheme was the first social program in India to be financed entirely through carbon credits. Can this particular PPP serve as a template for more private players to collaborate with the government towards the common goal of climate change mitigation?

This case examines Vedanta Resources Limited's (VRL) desperate attempt to acquire its Indian subsidiary Vedanta Limited (VL). VRL first went in for delisting of VL in October 2020. But after that proved unsuccessful, it went in for a voluntary open offer in January 2020. However, investors tendered only 57.49% of the 651 million shares which VRL intended to buy through the open offer. Although the open offer was not successful, it did help VRL to increase its stake in VL. Though, VRL was still a long way from having the 90% stake which was mandatory under the law for it to delist VL. This is a unique case where the parent company was desperately looking to acquire its cash-rich operating subsidiary but was unable to do so as it was offering a price lower than the shareholders of VL expected. It remains to be seen what steps VRL takes in the future to acquire and delist its profitable subsidiary.

Impossible Foods, a US-based maker of plant-based meat, managed to raise $700 million in the pandemic year 2020. In just 10 years of inception, it had managed to raise $1.5 billion from the likes of Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, UBS, Temasek, and a host of celebrities including Serena Williams and Jay Z, who bet on plant-based meat, which they believed would revolutionize the environmentally unsustainable meat-based food industry. Its rival, Beyond Meat, launched its IPO in May 2019 and saw its valuation soar. Impossible Foods, on the other hand, seemed to be in no hurry for a public issue and raised record private investments in 2020. The case study captures the growth story of Impossible Foods and puts the reader in a position to understand the market structure of the plant-based food industry, competition among players, and the challenges faced by Impossible Foods. It helps the reader to better analyze the valuation challenges of a pioneering start-up in a nascent industry.

Kapil Shah (Kapil) started investing in the share market in his mid-twenties and has seen some ups and downs over a decade. Kapil then decided to overhaul all his existing stock positions on the increasing prospects of the National Democratic Alliance coming to power in India in May 2014. On the election results day - May 16, 2014 - he bought 10 stocks to ride the possible development wave agenda of the new government. However, by the end of February 12, 2016, his portfolio had generated a return of only 1.96%. Things became tough for Kapil as repayment for a loan fell due on August 22, 2016. He wanted someone's help to ensure he generated good returns from his portfolio so that he could repay the loan by liquidating a part or even his complete stock portfolio.

The case deals with the difficulties faced by a consortium of banks in arriving at a consensus on dealing with bad loans. Citing the example of Bhushan Steel Limited that availed finance to the tune of Rs. 400 billion from 51 lenders, the case highlights the issues and challenges associated with joint lending. The substantive focus of the case is how a large group of lenders with divergent views, came together and dealt with the problem loans of crisis-ridden Bhusan Steel Limited.

This case discusses the journey of a Trader from a Middleman to a Service Provider and how he did this by tapping the Commodity Derivative Market in India. Through protagonist Kundan Shah (Kundan), a trader from Punjab, India, the case draws attention to the importance of Warehouse Receipts under the inventory financing system. It also brings to light the different players of the collateral management system, their roles and responsibilities, and their importance in the entire inventory financing scheme.

This case depicts the financial crisis faced by low-cost Indian carrier SpiceJet Airlines Ltd in 2014. The popular domestic carrier had come to a near collapse mid-2014 due to its inability to meet the working capital needs. In the September quarter of FY 2014-15, though operational performance had improved comparatively, the accumulated losses, negative net worth and huge amount of pending liabilities created an immense cash flow pressure on the Company. Many times, the airline was forced to ground. There seemed no hope for the airline. The banks and financial institutions were reluctant to lend money to SpiceJet, especially after the Kingfisher debacle in 2012. Ultimately, the airline had to arrange a large amount of fund to survive. This case can be used to teach various aspects of financial performance analysis and financial management.

On December 17, 2020, Indian pharma company Divi's Laboratories (Divi's) achieved a market capitalization of Rs. 1 trillion, gaining a position among the top listed companies in the country, and becoming the second Pharma company to achieve this remarkable feat. In terms of revenue generation, Divi's stood at the 12th position among pharma companies. Its stable business model, and the growing demand for the products and services offered by Divi's placed it in a strong position in the global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) segment and in Contract Research and Manufacturing Services (CRAMS). To fulfil the growing demand for APIs and CRAMS, the management had invested in expanding the capacity of manufacturing units and establishing new plants. The investors and analysts were bullish about the stock price given the positive forecast for Divi's. The present case study can be used to discuss the concept of market capitalization, factors that contribute to the growth of market prices of a share, market capitalization, and investment decisions.

Hero Motor Corporation Limited (Hero) is a leading India-based two-wheeler manufacturer with operations across different countries. Despite having a market share of above 50% in the motorcycle segment, the company was facing a challenge in the scooter segment and the premium motorcycle segment. The management of Hero has been cautious and has made plans according to the changing market requirements to sustain its market share and improve overall profitability. The present case study provides scope to analyze the trend in the overall profitability of Hero using profitability ratios, and can be used to determine the growth rate of Hero for the fiscal year 2018-19.

In the year 2014, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in its election manifesto promised to bring back the black money stashed abroad in tax havens, and promised to initiate measures to curb the malaise of black money in India. NDA, after forming government, formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and enacted the Black Money Act that aimed to curb black money generation in the country. However, there has been no substantial progress in either curbing black money or in getting back the money stashed in tax havens. The case study gives a brief preview into the level of black money of Indians, the steps taken by the government of India and the challenges faced by the Indian government in its efforts to bring back black money. The case gives scope for discussing whether the Indian government would be able to fulfill its election promise.

Arun and Akshit, two students studying finance, had been given an assignment by their professor to analyze the liquidity position of India-based telecom company Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) for the financial years 2019-20 and 2018-19. In his briefing, the professor told them that the liquidity position of a company can be determined by analyzing various components of current assets and current liabilities. Arun and Akshit started identifying the current assets and current liabilities of VIL in order to analyze the short term liquidity of the company. However, after identifying and classifying the current assets and current liabilities, they were not clear how to go about determining the liquidity. They needed to understand the criteria to be considered and the process to be followed in determining the liquidity position of the company. The present case study can be helpful in discussing the concept of short term liquidity, various ratios, and the criteria to be considered in analyzing and determining the short term solvency of a company.

The risk management committee at multinational information technology service and consulting company Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) - is responsible for framing the financial risk management policy of the company. Liquidity risk management forms a part of the overall financial risk management. In managing liquidity, the risk management committee, in addition to focusing on managing various current assets and current liabilities, also takes into consideration the cash flows generated from operations. The case study provides scope to analyze the composition of current assets and current liabilities of TCS for the financial years 2018-19 and 2017-18. It also helps in understanding the liquidity risk management at TCS using liquidity ratios.

The management of India-based pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories observed that the company had not fared as expected in the fiscal year 2017-18 as a result of increasing competition in the global markets - particularly the US market - challenges in complying with international regulatory controls, and the changing dynamics of the Indian market. The management intended to keep a close watch on the changing market dynamics and to implement strategies to improve revenue share. At the same time, it was also focusing on reducing unnecessary costs and expenses to achieve its objectives of improving profitability for the fiscal year 2018-19. The present case study provides information regarding the various sources of revenue and income of the company and the expenses it incurred to analyze the profitability position of the company using key profitability ratios like gross profit ratio, operating profit ratio, and net profit ratio and also to figure out the impact of tax on the net profit available to the shareholders.

The case captures the various episodes in the story of funding of India-based e-commerce company Flipkart, which stood as the highest valued venture-capital-backed company in the country. The case briefly narrates the beginning of the Indian e-tail giant, and focuses exclusively on its funding episodes. The case broadly captures the initial years and the growth years of Flipkart and elaborates on the types of the funding sources Flipkart chose through its expansion. The case discusses Flipkart's tactics of dealing with competition and its expansion into fashion retail zone. The case also brings into light the challenges Flipkart faced for being reportedly over-valued.

Cipla Limited is a leading Indian pharmaceutical company operating in India and across the world either directly or through subsidiaries or joint ventures. From being a domestically focused company in the early 1990s, Cipla has transformed itself into a multinational company with its share of revenues from international operations increasing from10% in the early 1990s to 60% during the fiscal year 2017-18. The management of the company initiated several measures to transform its business operations to meet the ever-changing market dynamics in India and across the globe. Of the major objectives Cipla planned to achieve during the fiscal year 2018-19, improving its operational performance was one key short-term motive. The present case study helps in assessing the trend in the operational performance of Cipla using profitability ratios.

Warehouse receipt financing (pledge financing) is a relatively new concept in India. Although it has been growing steadily, its outreach is still not significant enough to impact the lives of farmers in India. This case attempts to highlight the importance and benefits of warehouse receipt financing for farmers through the story of its protagonist Manjeet Singh, a small farmer from Govindpur village in Punjab, India. It compares all the agri-financing options available to him. After studying those options, the students can discuss their relative merits and demerits. It also brings to light the plight of farmers in India who, in spite of having bumper crops, do not have storage options easily accessible, leading to crop damage and wastage and subsequently to income not commensurate with crop production.

This case is a discussion between a professor and his class of budding financial analysts, where the professor responds to a query on financial distress. The case is built on the premise that a historical and trend analysis of Cashflows can provide some significant clues about a forthcoming distress, especially based on "Cash Losses". As a contemporary example and to integrate theory and practice better, the professor chooses Vodafone Idea Limited's financial distress to convey the concept, and uses the building of cash flows statement (as per the IndAS-7 guidelines) to sensitize the students to the various channels of cashflows that can make or mar a company's financial future.

The trainees of an investment advisory company were given the financials of Maruti Suzuki India Limited for the financial year 2017-18 and asked to analyze financial position. Before the trainer could get down to the actual analysis procedure, one of the trainees expressed concern over the composition of the company's current assets and current liabilities. The trainer then constituted the trainees into groups and assigned each group the task of observing different components of current assets and current liabilities. The case study provides scope to analyze the company on its liquidity position, and the impact of composition of current assets and current liabilities on the liquidity position of the company.

On the request of the manager of a leading bank, the credit evaluator at the bank analyzed the liquidity position of India-based pharmaceutical company Cipla Limited (Cipla) for the financial year 2017-18. He was required to provide inputs on the liquidity position of the company, so as to consider the possibility of a credit facility being extended to it. The case study provides information about the composition of current assets and current liabilities of Cipla and their nature. It helps to calculate, analyze, and interpret the liquidity position of the company using liquidity ratios: Current ratio, Quick ratio, and Cash ratio.

This case provides scope for assessing and analyzing the liquidity position of Infosys Limited during the fiscal year 2018-19, and also helps to understand the perception of the management on the liquidity position of the company. The short-term liquidity position of the company can be assessed by analyzing various components of current assets and current liabilities using liquidity ratios. The case also provides scope for a discussion on the broader perspective of liquidity management at software companies.

In mid-2016, the Indian government approved the merger of State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in India, with its 6 associate banks. This merger created a banking powerhouse with a balance sheet size of Rs. 37 trillion. On one side the merger brought many opportunities to SBI, especially in the area of increasing operational efficiency, while on the other hand, it also throws up some challenges, especially in the form of NPA management and HR issues, which it has to overcome quickly to realize the benefits of the merger. The case provides sufficient scope to discuss the challenges faced to ensure the success of the merger.

The case study discusses the financial planning of a high networth individual (HNI), Dr. Vimal Kumar Srivastava. Dr. Srivastava was looking for a financial advisor who could help him develop a strategy for his business plan, savings, investments, and retirement from government service. He also wanted the advisor to evaluate his current financial status and prepare a financial plan for him for the next nine years keeping his requirements in mind. The case study provides material for a discussion on 'Personal Financial Planning' for HNIs, including 'Client Profiling'.

In March 2018, Hero Motor Corporation Limited, Chairman Pawan Munjal briefed the stakeholders of the company on the future challenges and opportunities before the company. He spoke about HMCL's strategy to expand its market position in the scooter and premium motor vehicle segment during the fiscal year 2018-19. The investors of the company went through the financial statements with a specific focus on the short-term solvency of the firm, which would be an indicator of the efficiency of the operations during the year and which could help them in taking a suitable decision on the investment position they should take in the company for the financial year 2018-19. The case study provides information necessary to calculate and interpret the liquidity ratios of the company and derive a conclusion on the efficiency operations during the financial year 2017-18.

The case study discusses India's leading IT services company - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. - becoming the most valuable IT services company in the world in October 2020, surpassing Accenture Plc (Accenture) in terms of market capitalization. This case is mainly useful in understanding market capitalization and various related concepts. It helps in understanding the significance of market capitalization, its determinants, and how to calculate market capitalization and free-float market capitalization of any public listed company with real data.

The case discusses the inventory management issues faced by Super Cement Private Limited (Super Cement). It starts with the dilemma faced by S Lakshmi, founder of the company. Lakshmi was concerned with the rising cost of maintaining inventory, especially limestone, the main raw material used in producing cement. She wanted to optimize the cost of inventory for the company. She was also concerned about the gap between the time the order was placed for limestone and the time it was received. She called Minal, Finance Manager with Super Cement, and asked her to come up with a solution for various issues related to inventory management at Super Cement. The case helps students understand various concepts related to inventory management like how to calculate Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), Modified EOQ, re-order point, and safety stock.

The case study discusses the various sources of capital available to the Tecnet Steel Limited (TSL) such as common equity, preference equity (convertible preference shares and irredeemable preference shares), and debt (bank loan, non-convertible debentures, and deep discount bond). The student is expected to put herself/himself in the shoes of a financial analyst and calculate the cost of each component of TSL's capital and help the management of TSL to select the right project among the various options available by comparing the ROI of each project and the WMCC of TSL, which keep changing with the size of investment required.

The case study discusses Indian pension schemes and the importance of savings for elderly people. It helps in understanding the factors necessary for the proper management of the funds available during one's lifetime and how to properly utilize the funds. The case ponders on the sum of money an aged person would require to survive during crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. The importance of taking inflation into consideration while calculating the returns of the planned investment by an individual is discussed as also the fact of possible shifting of the poverty line during a crisis. The case underlines the importance of proper investment in helping to plan better management of expenses in life.

In April 2018, the Financial Manager of Dr. Reddy Laboratories (DRL), wanted to understand the liquidity position of the company for the financial year 2017-18 before the operations for the financial year 2018-19 commenced. He held discussions with the management accountant of the company to find out about the composition of various current assets and current liabilities, so as to come to a conclusion about the decisions to be taken with respect to the company's operations for the financial year 2018-19. The present case study provides information for analyzing and interpreting the key liquidity ratios; current ratio, quick ratio, and cash ratio, which will be helpful in understanding the liquidity position of the company.

Anand Vihar Food Processing Limited (AVFP) is in the business of exporting processed poultry meat to Oman, the Maldives, and Japan. After discussions with the marketing department on the company's progress in terms of achievement of export targets during the third quarter of the financial year 2019-20, the top management wanted to revise the export targets for the last quarter of the fiscal year. Based on the instructions of the top management, the marketing department revised its requirement to achieve the set targets and sent communications to each department associated with it. Each department in turn sent its requirement for the financial approvals to the accounts department. The present case study provides scope for a discussion on the process of financial decision making and the role of the accounting process in providing the requisite financial information for each department.

This case discusses whether Vedanta Resources plc (Vedanta Resources), India's biggest diversified natural resources company, should merge two of its businesses - India's largest private miner, Vedanta Ltd. (Vedanta), and oil and gas exploration and production firm, Cairn India Ltd. (Cairn India). The move was intended to cut debt at Vedanta and simplify the group structure of Vedanta Resources. Where Cairn India was concerned, the deal would help diversify earnings from oil and gas to electricity and an array of commodities from copper to zinc to aluminum. The shareholders of Cairn India would also gain from Vedanta's asset base and output-increase forecast compared to Cairn India's moderate output-growth plan. The deal came in for severe criticism from the minority shareholders of Cairn India.

This case is about the evaluation of mutual funds through technical analysis by an intern for HCL Infosystems Ltd. Some parameters were mentioned by the authors like market risk and fund volatility. In the company, the management was inclined to invest in debt funds. However, in mutual funds there are hybrid funds with combinations of equity and debts. The intern finds there is huge potential in other mutual funds that are hybrid in nature. Therefore, the readers of this case are expected to suggest two mutual funds - one a debt fund and the other an equity fund - with a weekly dividend pay-out.

The case discusses Indian mining major Hindustan Zinc Limited's announcement of interim dividend in 2020, its highest ever dividend in 12 years since 2007. The case study helps to understand factors that should be evaluated by the board while considering a dividend payment. It also helps to understand various concepts of dividends, including ex-date, record date, dividend yield, and dividend payout ratio, among others.

Meghna, a trader at Wellvet Partners, a financial services provider, needed to plan and implement option strategies for volatile markets. In consultation with Aruna, Senior Options Strategist, she planned to use Nifty March 2020 options to trade option strategies for volatile markets. India VIX (Volatility Index), a proxy of stocks return volatility traded on NSE, rose by 70% during the fourth week of February. This added to her confidence that the market was going to be volatile and Nifty would move by at least 10% in either direction in March 2020. However, Aruna warned her that the market could turn out to be stable instead and she should, hence, assign equal probabilities to volatile and stable markets while choosing an option strategy.

During the last week of November 2020, the Government of India (GoI) approved the merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with Singapore-based DBS Group Holding's Indian subsidiary, DBS Bank India Limited (DBS). This was the first time in the history of banking in India that a local bank was being merged with a foreign bank. By initiating the merger proceedings of LVB with DBS, the Reserve Bank of India set a benchmark and, in the process, safeguarded the Indian banking system by allowing banks that were struggling financially to receive investment from strong foreign banks. The present case study can be used to discuss the concept of moratorium period, Prompt Corrective Action, challenges Indian banks face, and the operational challenges that foreign banks in India are confronted with.

The case talks about the reasons for Wipro Ltd. (Wipro) deciding to buyback its shares. The case starts out with a brief history of Wipro. It outlines the buyback history of the company and its financials. The case also covers in detail the impact of the share buyback on the share price of Wipro. It concludes by detailing the benefits of share buyback for retail investors.

The case provides an overview of Apex Industries which established itself from a small firm in 2010 to one of the leading players in the contract manufacturing space. In 2021, it was selected by Vedanjali Limited (Vedanjali), one of the leading Ayurvedic and natural products brands, for an annual supply of 20 million units of Triphala Juice in one-liter bottles for 10 years starting from April 2022. Vedanjali wanted the bottles to be priced at Rs.145 per bottle. Jitin and Kamlesh, co-founders of Apex Industries, have to decide whether to accept Vedanjali's offer on the basis of various Capital Budgeting techniques. From the case, students are expected to understand the concepts of Operating Cash Flow (OCF), Terminal Cash Flow (TCF), Net Cash Flow After Tax (NCFAT), and Net Present Value (NPV). The case would also help Finance students to hone their Excel skills.

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HDFC Bank Limited (HDFC) is a leading private sector bank in India. During the year 2020-21, the bank earned revenue of Rs.15,58,852.736 million, while its consolidated profit before tax was Rs.427,725.836 million after adjusting for expenses. The present case study can help in analyzing and understanding the cash flows from the operating, investing, and financing activities of a banking company. The case study can also be used to understand how to determine the amount of total cash and cash equivalents generated during the year.

The case study discusses the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Equitas Small Finance Bank (Equitas). Small Finance Banks are growing popular in the Indian financial markets as they cater to the underserved and unserved customer segment. The present case study can be used to discuss the scope of small finance banks in India, the IPO and its process and eligibility, and the grey market and the grey market premium.

Alekhya, a young entrepreneur who had successfully run a cotton bags manufacturing unit for five years, decided to expand the business by making an additional investment in the plant and machinery of the company. She approached the bank which had given her a loan to start the business for an additional loan and submitted the necessary documents. However, the bank rejected the loan request stating that the valuation of the plant and machinery looked inconsistent. The present case study provides scope for a discussion on the concept of consistency in the accounting process and how it facilitates the decision-making process by ensuring the reliability of accounting information.

The case study discusses the dilemma faced by Shreya Singhal, a B. Tech graduate, who started her sole proprietorship business of Office Equipment and Supplies with capital of Rs. 150,000 and a bank loan of Rs. 100,000. Later, her close friend also joined her business with an equal amount of capital. At the end of the first month of her business, she decided to do a transactional analysis for the business translation that occurred during the month. However, Shreya's other friend Namitha, who was a Master in Commerce, suggested her to keep a proper book of accounts for her partnership business. Namitha's suggestions left Shreya in a state of confusion. Her first dilemma was the kind of organization she was running and the second was about which accounting method she should use: accounting equation method or a traditional accounting method and whether the resultant financial performance and financial position would be the same in both the methods.

Devi, a young and enthusiastic fashion designer, started a boutique called Devi Fashions (DF) after graduating with a degree in fashion designing. Within a short span of time, DF became hugely popular among urban college students, working women, and premium segment customers, for its unique, customized, and fashionable contemporary as well as traditional wear. Overwhelmed by the success of the business, Devi wanted to launch new models during the third quarter of the financial year 2019-20, based on the expected revenues for the quarter. However, she was in a dilemma about estimating the actual revenues. The present case study can be used to discuss the criteria of uncertainty in revenue recognition process, and how it impacts revenue generation in accounting. The Accounting Standard-9 (Revenue Recognition) provides guidelines for the recognition of revenue when there is uncertainty in the revenue recognition process.

The case study can be used to discuss the concept of share buyback and the advantages and limitations it holds for companies and shareholders. It can also be used to understand the motive behind the companies going in for a share buyback, the different modes of share buyback, and the impact of share buyback on the market price of the share. The context provided in the case from the perspective of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) can be used to discuss these aspects and can be helpful in understanding the practical implications of share buyback.

On November 6, 2020, leading messaging app WhatsApp, owned by the US-based Facebook Inc., entered the digital payments ecosystem in India by launching its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based mobile payment option, WhatsApp Pay. UPI has revolutionized the payment ecosystem in India with the interoperability feature that enables money transfer between different bank accounts. The UPI based ecosystem is dominated by Google Pay and PhonePe with a combined market share of 80%. WhatsApp entered the space with significant challenges in terms of restrictions on number of users and number of transactions. The present case study can be used to discuss the concept of UPIs, third party mobile applications, the digital payments ecosystem in India, and the Digital India Initiative.

The case discusses the US economy under President Donald Trump and the decisions taken by him after assuming office. It explores the impact of the policies launched by Trump. Various analysts and economists opined that his policies would lead to making the US a protectionist nation. Many feared that Trump?s policies would isolate the country from the rest of the world, which could be harmful for the US and for the world as a whole. There were experts who believed that Trump?s policies pointed to the growing wave of protectionism across the globe, which could shrink the size of global trade and economy. There was growing skepticism among analysts of the successful implementation of Trump?s policies and plans.

The case discusses the eight-year-long battle between the world?s largest semiconductor company, Intel Corporation (Intel) and the European Union (EU). In 2009, the European Commission (EC) had imposed a ?1.06 billion fine on Intel for violating the antitrust policies of the EU. The EC alleged that Intel had abused its monopoly in the computer microprocessors market by coercing manufacturers to purchase all their chips from Intel instead of rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). After the EC handed down the fine on Intel, in 2014, the chipmaker appealed to the General Court, stating that the fine was huge. However, in June 2014, the General Court upheld the ?1.06 billion fine against Intel stating that the penalty was proportionate to Intel?s anticompetitive practices. In August 2014, Intel appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the EU?s top court, to overturn the General Court?s decision. In September 2017, the CJEU ruled that the General Court could re-examine the fine against the company.

The case discusses the two-year economic recession (2015-2016) in Brazil which hit Latin America?s largest economy hard. The economic crisis and political corruption aggravated the situation in the country, leading to a sharp contraction of the economy in 2015-16. The case discusses the economic and political reasons that led to the crisis in Brazil. The deterioration in Brazil?s economic situation led to credit rating agencies? downgrading the recession-hit nation?s sovereign debt status to ?junk? with a negative outlook. Despite political instability and degenerating economic conditions in the country, Brazilians remained optimistic that their economy would improve.

The case describes the tiff between India?s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Indian government over the autonomy of the central bank. India had witnessed innumerable tiffs between the government and the RBI since its establishment in 1935. It then describes the spat between Urjit Patel (Urjit), former governor of the RBI; Viral Acharya, Deputy Governor of the RBI; and Arun Jaitley (Jaitley), Minister of Finance, India. Further the case provides details about the threat of invocation of Section 7 of the RBI Act by the Indian government. Next the case talks about reasons for the rift between the RBI and the government. the two major contentious issues were transfer of surplus reserves and relaxing of norms for weak banks. The case ends with an insight into various steps taken by the two to resolve the issues.

In August 2016, US-based department store retailer Macy?s announced that it was closing down 100 of its more than 700 stores. This was in addition to the 40 stores it had closed during the year. This came in the aftermath of six quarters of drop in same store sales, and dwindling profits, amidst a changing environment, growing competition, and changing consumer preferences. In such a scenario, the company announced the closure of stores whose annual net sales was estimated at $1 billion. While a debate was raging about whether closure was the right move, Macy?s announced that its CEO who had steered the company for 13 years would step down, and a three-decade company veteran Jeff Gennette (Gennette) would take over as the new CEO. Gennette was inheriting a company facing challenges from all the sides ? dwindling sales and share value, falling same store sales, competition, changing customer preferences, an industry that was facing an upheaval, and a legacy that he had to carry forward.

The case discusses the culture of debt waiver and relief in India, its history, and implications. In April 2017, the government of Uttar Pradesh, one of India?s highly indebted states, waived huge amounts of farmer loans. Following this, farmers in other states started demanding similar waivers, and some states experienced protests and violence. The Indian agriculture sector with its complete dependency on the monsoons, poor and outdated technologies, and negligible development, was facing a tough time. Farmers in parts of the country were burdened by heavy loans which they could not repay. As a result, there were many cases of farmer suicides. While some state governments tried to help the farmers with loan waiver schemes, others took it as an opportunity to achieve electoral gains.

The case discusses Britain?s exit from the European Union (Brexit) and its impact on Britain and the EU. The case explains the two aspects of the referendum and the final result when Britons voted to exit the EU. Brexit was expected to affect various sectors of Britain including trade, manufacturing, FDI, immigration, and financial services. Analysts feared that Brexit might lead to disintegration of the EU in the long run. Further, post Brexit, the EU and Britain, would be entering into new agreements whose terms and conditions were yet to be decided. It remained to be seen how well Britain would perform after exiting the bloc and how member countries of EU would cope with Brexit. Only the coming years would reveal how well Britain and the EU would handle the challenges facing them post Brexit. The case poses the question whether Brexit signaled a move by countries toward protectionism and away from globalization.

The case is about the cannabis glut in Canada that led to a price drop and excess supply after the drug was legalized in the country for recreational use in 2018. By July 2019, only 4% of the total cannabis inventory had been sold in the country, raising concerns of oversupply. Further, the cannabis companies had more unfinished products than finished products in their inventories. An oversupply of cannabis in the country led to a dramatic price drop. Oversupply and cash crunch issues forced many of the Canadian cannabis producers to report a profit decline, and some filed for bankruptcy protection. The case discusses how the legal cannabis market in Canada is still maturing, highlighting the trial- and- error dynamic of moving to a market equilibrium.

The case discusses the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reforms in the Retail sector in India. In 2015, changes made in the retail sector aimed at further relaxing and simplifying the process of foreign investment in the country. It talks about the history of FDI in retail, followed by the first change in the retail sector in 1997, when FDI up to 100% was allowed under the government route in cash and carry (wholesale) trade. The impact of the change was positive and led to a series of reforms over the years. The FDI changes in 2012 in single brand and multi-brand were termed as major changes in the retail industry. These reforms led to a transition in the retail industry in India. While the 1990s were dominated by mom-and-pop stores, various international brands like Gap, Zara, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Versace, DKNY, Diesel, etc. had established a presence in the country by 2016.

The case discusses in detail the decision of the public sector undertaking, Indian Railways (IR), to go in for a limited form of privatization by allowing another entity to operate one of its premier trains, the Tejas Express (TE), between New Delhi and Lucknow. While IR remained in charge of the physical infrastructure, the services aspect was given over to its wholly-held subsidiary, The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The case ends with the question of whether it is possible to successfully privatize the largest public service in a vast country like India and what the repercussions of such a move are likely to be.

It was in mid-July 2020 that the devastating effects of the COVID-19 virus were being felt across the world and in India, affecting a large number of people. Almost every state and union territory in India was affected by the spread of virus, with hundreds of deaths being reported every day. In such a situation, one territory under the administration of the Indian Government, Lakshadweep Islands (Islands), was unique. The islands reported zero COVID-19 cases, even as cases in the rest of the country had reached one million. Though the Islands had certain geographical advantages compared to the other territories, what made Lakshadweep achieve such a feat was the steps followed by the administration of the Islands in designing and implementing its strategy by assessing the strengths and weaknesses in the Islands, and coming up with strategies to control the spread of virus.

The case discusses the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 of India passed by the Union Cabinet in August 2016. The bill had several provisions which aimed at putting an end to the perceived exploitation of women belonging to the poorer sections in the country who had been forced to become surrogates. Another main objective of the proposed law was to protect the rights of surrogate mothers and the children born out of surrogacy. The Surrogacy Bill allowed only married heterosexual couples to have a child through surrogacy, while restricting the number of surrogate children they could have to one. It barred singles, homosexual couples, widows and NRIs from opting for surrogacy. Though the bill intended to safeguard poor women, it did not touch on many important issues which required immediate attention from the Government of India. Analysts, doctors, and industry experts from across the country believed that the Indian surrogacy industry was booming and needed regulation. However, by banning commercial surrogacy, the bill took away a major source of livelihood of many women, while dashing the last hopes of many infertile couples in India and abroad to have children.

The case is about the Government of Kerala?s (GoK) fight against the novel Coronavirus disease (Covid-19). In January 2020, Kerala became the first state in India to be affected by the Covid-19 disease. The Kerala model is discussed in detail and provides an insight into the working and effectiveness of the crisis management undertaken by the GoK. The Kerala model received accolades both at the national and international level and many other states in India were poised to implement the model. The case ends with the future plans of the GoK and its efforts to bring normalcy back to the state.

The case is about the price discrimination strategy followed by Sweden-based music streaming platform service, Spotify Technology S.A. (Spotify). The online platform offered digital audio content and allowed users to search for an artist and listen to music, create playlists, and share them with others. Customers could access Spotify?s library of millions of songs by signing up with the platform for free. Spotify adopted a freemium pricing model where it offered basic functionality for free, but charged for product- specific benefits. While Spotify was a free streaming service, consumers needed to pay for additional features such as advertisement-free streaming and offline music downloads. This has become a dominant business model to acquire and retain users on the platform.

The case explains the events that led to the closure of the Sterlite Copper (Sterlite) plant in Thoothukudi in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Massive protests by anti-Sterlite activists against the alleged environmental hazards caused by the Sterlite plant culminated in the death of 10 people in police firing and eventually led to the Tamil Nadu state government shutting down the Sterlite plant. The case highlights the flouting of environmental rules and regulations by Sterlite. The impact of the environmental pollution caused by the Sterlite plant on air, water, and land is explained with the help of various reports and studies conducted by environmental agencies. The case also points to the fact that Sterlite was contributing to the development of the area by generating employment opportunities and providing a livelihood to thousands of people.

On December 3, 2016, Venezuela, once Latin America?s richest country, entered the record book of historical events to become the 57th country in the economic history of the world to have experienced hyper-inflation. Its central bank reported the highest-on-record inflation of 180 per cent and 240 per cent in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The country was facing the world?s worst ever economic disaster. The citizens were suffering from food shortages, hunger, death due to lack of medicines, and escalating homicide rates, which were turning the nation into the second most violent country in the world outside of open war. None of the steps taken by the government headed by President Nicol?s Maduro to control inflation, like implementing price control or fixing currency exchange rates, were effective in improving the situation. It remained to be seen how Venezuela would come out of this economic crisis.

The case is about the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) launched by the Telangana State Government (TSG) in India. RBS, a scheme providing financial support to farmers, and the Rythu Bhima Scheme, an insurance scheme for farmers, were selected for presentation at the international seminar at the Food and Agricultural Organization?s headquarters in Rome in 2018. The case explains the features of the RBS and the mode of implementation. The main objectives of the scheme were to increase agriculture production and protect farmers from private money lenders. Even though the scheme benefitted most of the farmers, tenant farmers were left out of the benefits of RBS. The question is, does continuation of the RBS lead to an increase in agriculture production and help the farmers in overcoming agrarian distress?

This case is about the challenges faced by the Tata Power due to Tata Mundra Project, a coal-based power plant project, in India. Mundra project was set up with the objective of providing low-cost electricity across the country. Tata Power was well-known for its ethical stance and corporate social responsibility, but it faced unprecedented challenges regarding its Mundra project. The project soon came to the verge of shut down, faced with criticism on economic, social and environmental fronts.

The case is about the new equilibrium price of eggs in the US in 2019. The 2015 outbreak of avian influenza caused a shortage of eggs in the country, leading to record high egg prices. But the high prices did not sustain for long and plunged in 2016 and 2017. The poultry industry saw some moderate recovery in egg prices in 2018, before they fell again in November 2018. The fall continued during the year 2019 with egg prices falling so low that they did not even cover the cost of production. The lower price was a reflection of the oversupply conditions prevailing in the US egg market since early 2018. The absence of a trade agreement between the US and other countries for the export of eggs and a global egg glut further aggravated the situation, creating the possibility of more price volatility issues in the coming years. The question is, will the egg prices fall further due to excess supply? Also, where are the declining egg prices headed? Is there a possibility of price recovery as the demand for eggs remains strong?

The case talks about the Government of Odisha?s (GoO) management of the crisis arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The case starts out with a look at the GoO management of earlier disasters and the lessons learnt which stood it in good stead during the COVID-19 crisis. Odisha?s crisis management model during the COVID-19 pandemic included use of IT, strict social distancing, setting up of exclusive COVID hospitals, ensuring community participation, and focusing on the livelihood of the people. All these measures helped the state to contain the spread of the virus. The case also talks about the challenges ahead for the Government such as inward migration, which might lead to a spike in COVID-19 positive cases in future.

The case is about the world?s leading integrated steel and mining company, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal?s troubles amid a shift in global steel demand. The year 2019 was challenging for the global steel industry as it affected steel production across the world (except in China). Steel demand in the rest of the world contracted due to slumping demand from automakers, slow global economic growth, trade tensions, and geopolitical issues across the world. Lower steel prices and higher raw material costs affected the global steelmaker ArcelorMittal in terms of its profitability. The company saw a fall in steel demand in its core markets such as the US and Europe, driven by macro headwinds, including depressed manufacturing activity and continued weakness in the automotive industry.

This case discusses a dispute relating to a transaction between a client and a trading member of the National Stock Exchange, India (NSE). The client had filed an appeal on the quantum of award passed by the arbitration panel for consideration by the appellate tribunal of the NSE. The Appellate Tribunal had to determine whether there had been any lapses on the part of the arbitrators in applying the margin trading rules of the exchange while analyzing the matter, determining the case and passing the award. Based on that, it had to decide whether to set aside the award passed by the arbitration panel or uphold it. The issue before the panel of arbitrators was whether or not to entertain the claim of the client about application of margin trading rules of NSE appropriately by the arbitration panel while determining the quantum of award.

After liberalization, especially with the coming of IPL, BCCI emerged as the single largest and richest sporting body in India as well as in the world. It controls the game of cricket associations in India at all the levels and also makes rules and regulations touching entire aspects of the game of cricket in India. Despite this, there are meager checks on the BCCI, and it has led to corruption and it eventually tainted the reputation of the game of cricket in India. Several appointments and award of franchise for IPL were done in an arbitrary manner. The funds to various state governments were also given in a discriminatory manner.

The case discusses the solar dispute between the US and India. It was reported that in 2010 India had launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) ? the national solar power program in India? under which the country aimed to produce 20,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2022. Since India did not have the capacity to manufacture the required equipment, it had to source solar equipment from other countries. However, in February 2013, the US filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute panel stating that India?s domestic country requirements (DCR) accorded less favorable treatment to imported solar modules and cells. In February 2014, the US filed another case against India when it began Phase II of the JNNSM emphasizing on DCR. The US stated that India had violated Article III: 4 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) by not giving national treatment to imported products. In addition to this, the US also stated that India had violated the WTO agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs), which prohibited the imposition of local content requirements.

The case describes the transformation of the market structure of Indian Automobile industry from 1897, when the first motor car ran on Indian roads, to 2016. With the economic liberalization in India and easing of licensing system during the 1990s, the automobile market opened up to new players. Ultimately, Ambassador, the monopolist till the 70s that had a major market share till the 90s was forced to close down in 2014, while failing to compete with the new entrants.

The case describes the cartelization of cement companies in India. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), in January 2017, levied a penalty of nearly Rs. 2.06 billion on seven cement companies on charges of cartelization. The penalty levied was 0.3% of last three fiscal years? average turnover at the seven companies: Shree Cement Ltd, UltraTech Cement Ltd, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, J.K. Cement Ltd, Ambuja Cements Ltd, ACC Ltd and J.K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd. The firms were found indulging in bid rigging in cement procurement tender by the Haryana government for supplying cement to state departments, boards and corporations. The CCI noted in its 120-page order that the anti-competitive activities of the companies had led to the cancellation of the tender and forced the Haryana government to start the process afresh. This had caused delay in timely supply for the execution of public infrastructure projects and overrunning of costs.

The caselet is about the dilemma faced by the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturing company Huawei Technologies Co. (Huawei) due to the sanctions imposed on it by the US, the UK, and other countries. The ban on Huawei?s telecom equipment was due to security issues that arose as the company had its headquarters in China and it was supposedly under the control of the Chinese government and therefore bound by the Chinese government?s rules and regulations. While security was one of the issues, trade disputes, protectionism, and unfair trade practices also had a role to play in the sanction. The case deals with the reasons for the ban on Huawei and its impact on the development and implementation of 5G technologies across the world. The trade war between the US and China is discussed along with analysts? comments on the ban on Huawei.

In the month of November, 2015, Chennai International Airport (CIA) was affected severely due to floods in Chennai. Despite facing the impact of Nature?s fury, the management of the Airport and Airports Authority of India had been criticized for constructing a runway bridge over the Adayar river. This case study therefore focuses on highlighting the objectives and events that had happened before initiating the construction of the bridge and provides scope to discuss the role and responsibilities of the governments, public servants and business organizations, in developing and implementing business plans and economic policies having less impact on the environment.

This case discusses the ?Make in India? initiative announced by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi (Modi), in September 2014. The initiative aimed to make India a global manufacturing hub, encouraging domestic companies as well as Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to manufacture their products in India. While this initiative aimed to give India global recognition, it also sought to create employment opportunities for India?s youth. With the Make in India initiative, the government of India (GoI) aimed to transform India ? a nation comprising farmers, IT professionals, and call center employees ? into a manufacturing hub. The GoI pledged to train around 500 million people in manufacturing by 2022. While India was trying to push the country as a global manufacturing hub, countries like China were making significant investments to progress the country?s innovation base.

The case is about the legal dilemma Subway faced on the status of its bread in Ireland. The Supreme Court of Ireland had passed the judgement that Subway?s bread could not be categorized as staple food because of its high sugar content and so it would not be eligible for VAT tax exemption. The case deals with the legal battle between the tax authorities of Ireland and the Subway franchise which had filed the case for tax exemption. A brief history of the company along with details of its operations in Ireland are put forth in the case. The case next discusses the court verdict and the opinions of the experts and dieticians on the sugar content in Subway?s breads. The case ends with the future plans of Subway to deal with the verdict of the court and to continue with its recipe for the baking of its signature breads. It remains to be seen whether consumers will continue to flock to Subway?s stores to indulge in its sandwiches despite the court ruling.

A normal demand curve shows a definite inverse relationship between the market price of a product and the quantity demanded of that product, other factors held constant. But there have been situations in the crude oil market in which there was a positive relationship between the market price and the quantity consumed. Moreover, the responsiveness of change in the quantity demanded of oil in the market was not uniform with the change in price. The demand for oil is mostly derived from other factors such as increased incomes and the availability of cost-effective substitutes.

On August 13, 2015, the Bombay High Court struck down the nationwide ban imposed on Nestl? Maggi instant noodles by FSSAI. The Court directed Nestl? to have fresh safety tests conducted on the product before bringing it back to the market. Nestl? was asked to provide samples of each variant of Maggi instant noodles for fresh test to three labs in Punjab, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. The results of the fresh tests conducted at the three labs went in favor of Nestl?. As a Consequence, Nestl? India resumed selling Maggi noodles in the month of November 2015. FSSAI challenged the lifting of the ban on the noodles in the Supreme Court of India. The Bombay High Court had erred in allowing Nestl? itself to pick the Maggi samples for the fresh tests instead of appointing a neutral authority to select the samples. FSSAI was of the opinion that the ban on Maggi should continue until a neutral agency picked the samples and had the tests performed again.

An effective review system significantly affects employee satisfaction, trust, productivity, and motivation. The present case study compares two performance review systems incorporated by Microsoft Corporation in the years 2000 and 2013 respectively, and describes how the two systems affected individual employee behavior and productivity as well as employee behavior in a team. The case also underscores how a performance review system may affect stress levels and result in a struggle for resources at managerial levels. The case study has been developed using secondary sources of information. It exhibits that it is possible to devise a review system that punishes employees even when they are working hard and performing well, whereas a good review system should offer employees opportunities to learn and grow, increase productivity, and help develop healthy interpersonal relations at the workplace. To what extent a good review system must be subjective and the degree to which it should be objective is indeed an interesting and worthy field of study. The present study offers several questions to consider when devising a new performance review system or refining an existing one. The study, in particular, helps examine in depth the issues associated with implementation of a forced distribution and subjective methods of employee appraisal respectively.

In July 2019, Total South Africa, a subsidiary of France-based energy conglomerate Total SA, announced that it had secured Level 1 in Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment rating. This was a culmination of more than 15 years of a dedicated transformation strategy that sought to bring about changes in ownership to include more blacks, introduce skill development programs for employees, procure from companies owned by blacks, and build sustainable access to the economy for black people in South Africa. The case discusses in detail the discrimination that was prevalent in South Africa during the apartheid era and the changes that successive governments have brought about to eliminate inequality among the people and help them get better livelihoods. It also discusses different policy initiatives that Total South Africa implemented.

This case discusses Chicago-based United Airlines, Inc., (United) and the change in policies announced by the company that was aimed at improving customer experience. The changes came in the wake of the infamous passenger dragging issue on one of its flights that landed the company in PR fiasco. The case provides the details of the incident and the chaos that followed. The authorities jumped into action when a lawsuit was initiated by Dao against the company. Thereafter the company was forced to revisit its policies and make amendments to ensure such incidents do not occur in future.

Australians identify themselves with cricket to such an extent that the captain of Australian Cricket team is considered to be the most important person, next only to the Prime Minister. The pressure of losing a match is unbearable for the Australian cricket team. The team was always ahead of their opponents in strategy and preparation before a match. In addition to this, the team was intimidatingly aggressive on the field. Ruthless cricket was ingrained into every Australian player at a very young age. Over a period of time, the opposition teams demonstrated superior skills on the field. Also, as the intimidation tactics of the Australian cricket players were deciphered, opponents started paying back in the same coin, leaving little edge to the Aussies.

The case is about the diversity initiatives by Hilton Hotels, one of the world's largest hotel companies. Hilton claimed to have a very sound diversity program and had won many accolades for its diversity initiatives. But over the years, it faced a number of lawsuits and negative press regarding discrimination both from customers and employees. These raised serious questions about the practices the company followed. With the motto 'We Are Hilton, We Are Hospitality', all the team members played a pivotal role in shaping the workforce at Hilton Hotels. Its workforce comprised people from different cultures and backgrounds who came together to create the element of hospitality for its guests. Understanding the unique needs of the guests, owners, suppliers, and partners helped the hotel to gain a competitive advantage. The case describes how some employees felt privileged and valued to come and work with Hilton and how a section of employees felt undervalued. A few customers too had complaints about having been humiliated and their dignity violated.

The case discusses the efforts of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, to rebrand the traditional Roman Catholic Church. Ever since Pope Francis, born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected as the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013, he had been making efforts to reposition the church. He wanted to make the Catholic Church an inclusive institution, and toward this end, he encouraged priests to be more welcoming towardS single parents, divorced couples, and gay people - groups which till then, had been shunned by the 2,000-year-old Church.

The case highlights the tragic case of Stefan Grimm (Grimm), a medical professor at Imperial College London (ICL) with a strong publication record, who committed suicide in September 2014, reportedly after being under intense and sustained pressure from his superiors over his failure to meet research funding targets. Grimm apparently left behind an email that accused his superiors of bullying through demands that he garner research grants worth ?200,000 every year. In the months leading up to his death, Grimm was under intense pressure to perform or face redundancy. He is reported to have felt let down by ICL because he felt that he did not receive sufficient support from management despite having a strong publication record.

The case focuses on the unique personality-based hiring process followed at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates (Bridgewater). The case describes the rationale given by Ray Dalio (Ray), the founder of Bridgewater, for adopting such a rigorous hiring process that lays emphasis on the values of an aspiring candidate and his/her abilities over traditional finance background. He sought brilliant people who graduated from world-class universities, had outstanding track records and shared Bridgewater's values of excelling through thoughtful disagreements. The case also gives readers a glimpse of the extraordinary work culture at Bridgewater that is based on a set of principles propounded by Ray facing near bankruptcy in 1982 due to a wrong prediction of the debt crisis. These principles, which were diligently followed by Ray, became the foundation for the company's work culture, especially its decision making that was based on the principle of 'believability weighing' decision making.

Dublin-based Experian plc was facing a high attrition rate since 2016. With every 1 percent turnover increase, the company was losing nearly $3 million. Due to manual workforce management methods, the company was unable to identify the root cause of the attrition. Thus, HR specialists at Experian decided to get a better view of the workforce by applying data and technology to its HR strategy. Being a data driven company, Experian's HR specialist used in-house predictive modeling technology to strategically analyze employee data and came up with an innovative solution called predictive workforce analytics. This case discusses how the implementation of predictive workforce analytics yielded favorable results for Experian. As of 2019, the company's global attrition rate decreased by 4 percent, saving the company C$14 million in a period of two years. Experian then started providing its solution to other businesses houses.

The case study focuses on the integration efforts undertaken following the merger between Idea Cellular (Idea) and Vodafone India (Vodafone) in August 2018 that resulted in the formation of Vodafone India Limited (VIL). In 2017, the Indian mobile industry witnessed hyper competition with the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) that offered extremely low-priced plans. To face the onslaught from Jio, the existing telecom operators went into consolidation mode. Idea and Vodafone decided to come together and announced a merger agreement on March 20, 2017. VIL focused on accelerated integration with a very clearly defined five-pillar strategy. This formed the blueprint under which several strategic initiatives were taken to improve its revenue, profitability, and competitive position in the marketplace.

This case study discusses the experience of an Indian IT outsourcing and consulting company -Tech Mahindra (TechM) Limited - with a Swedish customer. It discusses the challenges faced by the company, based in Pune, India, in executing a project on account of cultural gaps. The NC project, started in May 2012, faced several challenges at the beginning on the cultural and execution fronts. Raghav, the project manager who had been given this challenging task by Dinesh, had overcome these initial hiccups and made steady progress to reach a level where the client was satisfied with TechM's service delivery.

The case talks about the restructuring initiatives launched by OYO Rooms (OYO) as part of its new strategic objectives for 2020, which included employee downsizing. The case starts out with a brief history of OYO. It then describes OYO's growth over the years and its rising operating expenses and employee benefit expenses which made it necessary for it to take certain measures to remain afloat. These included employee restructuring initiatives such as layoffs in early 2020. The case describes in detail the layoff process and the separation package and outplacement support services provided by OYO to employees who were let go. It also captures the dissatisfaction of the employees who complained of lack of transparency in the downsizing process. The case also describes how the outbreak of the corona virus in China made matters worse for OYO, leaving it with no option but to lay off employees in China and Japan. It also briefly describes the various steps initiated by the company to simplify the work culture and make OYO a better place to work.

The case is about the factors that led to the leak of poisonous styrene gas from the LG Polymers India Pvt Ltd (LGPI), Visakhapatnam (Vizag) plant on May 7, 2020, and its repercussions on the plant and its surroundings. Twelve persons, including a minor, were killed and several hundreds fell ill after inhaling the poisonous chemical following the gas leak at the plant at R R Venkatapuram, near Vizag. The investigation by the National Green Tribunal and special committees set up by the Government of India found that the vapor leak occurred due to self-polymerization of the styrene monomer and a lack of proper maintenance of the plant by LGPI. LGPI was also accused of running the plant without proper environmental licenses. It has to be seen what kind of action plan the Indian Government will come up with to make hazardous industries like chemical industries adhere to the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 to stop such disasters recurring in the future.

The case 'Twitter's Onboarding Program; 'Yes-to-desk' describes the 'Yes-to-Desk' onboarding program developed by Twitter. The case touches upon the objectives of the program and the need to ensure that new hires had a seamless transition to the organization and their new role. The case discusses Twitter's hiring process to recruit the best talent that comprised three rounds of interviews, including recruiter screening, phone interviews, and on-site interviews, to obtain the right talent. Next, the case describes in detail the various features of 'Yes-to-Desk' program, which included team lunches, happy hours, on-the-job training and continuous feedback. The case also focuses on the impact of Twitter's onboarding program Yes-to-Desk which became one of the most recognized onboarding programs for the new employees. Then it focuses on how Twitter also rolled out 'Inclusive Hiring Principles' with campus and virtual tours and events. The case ends with Twitter's continued focus on improving the way it onboarded new employees even during the Covid-19 pandemic so that every new employee felt included right away even in a remote working environment.

This case is about the performance appraisal process at Larsen & Toubro Construction. India's largest construction organization and also ranked among the world's top 30 contractors. The case describes the appraisal process and recounts the predicament faced by an intern, Sheel, who was given an assignment to propose improvements in the new performance appraisal system. Armed with the information she had collected about the ongoing and the previous performance appraisal process, Sheel was required to identify areas for improvement and also propose changes to the performance appraisal process that would overcome concerns, if any, with the current system.

The case focuses on the role of technology and digitalization in enhancing job satisfaction and productivity with reference to the older workforce in the manufacturing sector. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) was worried about its aging workforce. This was a cause for concern as older employees reported sick more frequently and for longer durations and had to work harder to achieve the same output as younger employees on the production floor. Sacking or reallocating older employees was not an option for the company because of the lack of young workers in Germany. Besides, BMW believed that its older workers were worth retaining for their maturity, extensive knowledge, reliability, and skills, and that they would remain productive and happy if they were provided on-the-job aids that made demanding and repetitive assembly line work less tiring and more convenient.

The case describes Airbnb's compassionate approach toward employees who had to be laid off due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The company had forecast a 50 percent reduction in revenues for 2020 and despite raising $2 billion in capital in April 2020 reached the decision to lay off 1,900 employees globally or 25% of its 7,500 entire workforce in May 2020. The case looks at the guiding principles that the co-founder Brian Chesky had put in place to ensure that Airbnb started the process of layoffs based on the new focused business strategy built on a sustainable cost model.

The case is about the long-term wage settlement agreement entered into between the workers union and the management of Tata Motors at its Sanand Plant, Gujarat, on June 9, 2017. The reason for the strike by the workers is described in detail. The long-pending issue of a wage hike and the suspension of some of the workers due to indiscipline provided the trigger for the flare-up and the strike by the employees. After a long period of negotiations between the workers union, the management, and the representatives of the Labor Department of Government of Gujarat, a long-term wage settlement agreement was finally reached.

The case study describes the various employee benefits, health and wellness; and performance and career management programs that led to RMSI Pvt. Ltd. (RMSI) consistently being ranked as one of the best companies to work for since 2003. The company's practices were acknowledged time and again by the media and the industry in the form of several awards for over a decade. RMSI was listed in the IDC-Dataquest India's Top 20 Best IT Employers survey for four years in a row from 2003 to 2006. It was ranked No. 1 in the 'Great Places To Work' study three years in a row from 2007 to 2009. Also, it was ranked the best company to work for in India as per the 2015 study conducted by the Great Place To Work Institute and The Economic Times, a leading financial daily in India. In 2019, it was recognized as one of the top ten 'Great Places to Work' by 'Aon Best Employers India - 2019' study that covered more than 125 organizations across industries in India.

The case describes the various initiatives of Aries Group founder and CEO Sohan Roy (Roy) that were instrumental in the Aries Group becoming the leading design/inspection firm in the Middle East and growing into a consortium of 56 companies in 16 countries by 2020. Roy's initiatives focused on Model Management Principles and Efficiency Management Systems that helped the management and employees become more committed, valued, responsible, efficient, and productive. The case also describes Roy's holistic employee benefit programs for the staff, their children, spouse, and parents, including paying salaries to employees' wives, allocating 50% of the company profit to employees, introducing pension plans for employees' parents, and several other welfare schemes. A look at the Group's growth plans follows.

This caselet is about the recruitment process at Leo Burnett. Leo Burnett is one of the leading advertising agencies worldwide, and has also secured a good position in the Indian advertising industry. The case describes in depth the recruitment process at Leo Burnett and the factors that are considered while hiring any candidate. It deals with the declining number of applicants at Leo Burnett for vacancies. As the company was experiencing high growth, the unfilled vacancies could put additional pressure on the existing team. Therefore, after an employee survey, the HR team identified factors that could have created the problem. The challenge before the team was how to improve the recruitment strategy and make the recruitment process more effective.

The case describes Google's plans for a 'hybrid workforce model' to attract more people to return to office and also to improve productivity. This was necessary since the annual employee survey 'Googlegeist' conducted in February 2021 indicated that more than 70 percent employees were unwilling to return to work and ready to forego the facilities offered at the workplace. This was because since remote work was announced in early 2020, most employees of Google got used to life without commutes and were able to spend more quality time with family. Google planned to create new office locations so that employees had greater location options to work close to home. The new work plan announced in May 2021 mandated about 60 percent of employees to come to office three days a week; another 20 percent would work in new office locations; and 20 percent would work remotely.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), an oil and natural gas company which has many retail offices and depots all around India. The case revolves around the challenges faced by the human resource department of HPCL, examines the interventions and techniques needed to improve employee engagement for better performance management in the organization.

The case study highlights the digital initiatives taken by Bajaj Allianz for the Human Resources function. It details how the joint venture company implemented automation and machine learning technologies in both its life (Bajaj Allianz Life-BAL) and non-life (Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company - BAGIC) entities to make its recruitment process quick, seamless, and paperless. The case focuses on the robotic video interviewing function that was part of Tal.Port (an end-to-end automated Talent Acquisition platform) implemented by BAGIC that made the company more agile in the dynamic insurance industry. It also looks at 'i-RECRUIT', a first-of-its-kind mobile application designed for insurance agent on-boarding introduced by BAL.

The case study deals with the conditions at Amazon's workplace and the up-skilling initiatives it took as a means to improve its work culture. Amazon, in July 2019, announced that it would spend $700 million on up-skilling 100,000 of its employees in the US by 2025. This was nearly one-third of the US workforce. Up-skilling 2025 would provide new training opportunities as well as build on existing programs such as those offered by Amazon Technical Academy, Associate2Tech, Machine Learning University, Growing Career Choice, Amazon Apprenticeship, and Amazon Web Services training and certification to close the cloud skills gap in the industry.

This case is about the competency mapping process at EcelonRitter Design & Engineering Consultancy (EDEC), a business vertical of one of the world's leading steel manufacturing corporations. Shreya, a management intern at the company, had been given the task of setting up a competency mapping process for a newly created vertical of the company. She was also asked to identify if there was any competency gap and suggest ways by which the gap could be filled. The case discusses the requirement of employees in the company, the dilemma over whether to recruit people for the new vertical from external sources or from among existing employees, how competency mapping can be used to solve the problem, and the consequence of not solving the problem. It also defines what competency mapping is and the steps required to create an effective competency mapping process and its benefits. It also discusses the challenges.

The case study deals with L'Oreal's efforts to integrate new employees into the company and its culture. In 2005, L'Oreal, developed a comprehensive on-boarding ?Follow-Up and Integration Track (FIT)? program. This was a formal integration/induction program designed to help new employees learn to adapt to its culture. To better support and onboard its new employees all over the world and align itself with the digital learning trends of millennial employees, the company developed the FIT Culture App in 2017. The app was designed to assist its newcomers understand the unique company culture and key values through challenges, personal stories, and videos and was made available in 11 languages.

The case describes how sales compensation plans that were at the heart of HubSpot's sales strategy, powered its growth from $0 to $100 million in just seven years of its founding. HubSpot believed that its sales compensation plan had to be simple and clear for sales representatives. It believed that greater impact could be realized only through properly aligning the compensation plan with revenue. The company also believed that it was important to immediately reward the sales team.

The case describes the State Bank of India's (SBI) initiative to ensure a work-life balance for its more than 200,000 employees. SBI realized that a large number of its employees were working overtime or on holidays to meet their targets and this had led to low motivation and morale among most of them. The result was that many of these employees performed their jobs mechanically. The case describes the Nayi Disha initiative, a phase-wise ongoing employee engagement program to drive home the significance of being agile, inculcating the bank's values through employee engagement, and enhancing customer centricity.

The case describes Unilever's initiative to implement a new AI-powered internal online talent marketplace, 'FLEX Experiences'. The case focuses on how Unilever followed an entrepreneurial approach in developing FLEX by developing a 'minimal viable product' (MVP) and testing it on a small group of employees, followed by a phased roll-out across the organization over two years to cover 100,000 employees. The case then touches upon how the AI platform benefited both the company and its employees in various ways. FLEX offered great support to Unilever when business agility became critical for business continuity during COVID-19.

The case describes the various initiatives taken by the management of the Calgary, Canada-based airline WestJet to prepare itself for the future. WestJet recognized the need for embracing digital technologies to streamline its operations and customer experience as it sought to transform itself from a budget carrier into a global network airline. The company's management also realized that despite the regulations, the airline industry was bound to be disrupted by digital technologies. They understood that unless it embraced change and a working culture that supported change, it would not be able to shift from the traditional airline culture.

The caselet describes HCL's gender diversity and inclusivity initiative that helped empower its women employees. It focuses on how the company's women empowerment programs and initiatives helped HCL create an inclusive, open, and transparent culture. Women empowerment programs helped HCL increase the number of women in senior leadership in fiscal 2020 by 30 percent from fiscal 2019. The gender diversity ratio for senior leadership also increased from 5.4 percent in fiscal 2019 to 7.5 percent in fiscal 2020. HCL was also recognized by various associations and industry forums across the globe; its awards included NASSCOM's Award for Excellence in Gender Diversity in 2019.

Google LLC, the US-based multinational technology company whose mission is to ?organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,? considered diversity, equity, and inclusion as business imperatives. According to Google, it was committed to increasing workforce representation and to creating a more inclusive culture. It came out with its first Annual Diversity Report in 2014, and over the years, the reports showed how the company had been building a more representative workforce. This case study is about the Diversity Report published in 2019. The students are asked to check Google's claims about growing diversity and inclusivity in its workforce against this report.

The case deals with the violent protests that broke out in Wistron's Narasapura unit near Bengaluru. Wistron, one of the leading suppliers of Apple's phones in the world, had to shut down the factory at Narasapura after protests by employees turned violent on December 12, 2020. A thorough investigation by police and appointed auditors found violation of labor codes by the workforce contractor and management negligence in dealing with the grievances of employees, leading to an industrial dispute. Wistron reworked its organizational processes, took corrective actions, and finally restarted its operations on March 17, 2021.

The case describes TCS's focus on creating a happy, healthy, inclusive, and vibrant work culture. To create such a work culture, its HR team introduced employee engagement activities from time to time. The case touches upon employee engagement activities that encompassed various facets of the work culture and included regularly appreciating the performance of the employees, ensuring continuous communication and feedback to them, and offering them learning and development opportunities. TCS introduced the 'Star of the Month' program to recognize and appreciate the efforts of its employees on a regular basis. The company rolled out the 'Pulse' survey which provided an opportunity for the employees to grade their satisfaction levels across all aspects of the business.

The case focuses on the interests of contract workers who are part of the alternative work arrangements being increasingly adopted by companies. It first describes the objectives of Indian Railways and its arm, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), to hire contract employees as part of their operations plan. The case then talks about the common reasons given by these employers for terminating the contract workers. It touches on the concerns raised by the contract workers with regard to their termination. It ends with a look at a few policy initiatives taken up by Indian Railways to safeguard the interests of contract workers and the future plans of the railway operator to privatize operations.

The case describes the various factors that led to the outbreak of violence at the iPhone manufacturing facility of Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) Pvt. Ltd (Wistron) at Narasapura in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The case focuses on the details of violent unrest on December 12, 2020, when thousands of contract workers and some outsiders vandalized Wistron's Narasapura facility alleging their salaries had been reduced and that payments had been delayed for over six months. The case details the preliminary enquiries initiated by the Karnataka State Labor Department, The Department of Factories, Boilers and Industrial Safety, and Apple which found several violations by Wistron and its contractors. The case ends with the corrective measures taken by Wistron and the possible direct impact of this event on the company's future and its supplier relationship with Apple.

The case describes the initiatives taken by Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT) on the issues of employee diversity and development. In line with the focus on internal branding by its parent company Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (Yokohama) and the strategic role of YOHT in the global strategy of Yokohama, the management decided to increase its focus on learning and development programs for early and mid-level managers. It also planned to increase employee diversity at its manufacturing facilities by hiring women employees who would comprise a large part of the total workforce

The caselet is about a small pharmaceutical company in India. Shyam, the Unit Head HR, was faced with tough questions on whether training given to the employees was effective. While he had certain notions on why employee training had been required during the past year, he wanted to use HR analytics. He wanted to understand whether there was any correlation between the training programs and improvement in employee performance within the company so that he could take remedial measures.

The case is about the employee experience initiatives at Pandora Media Inc. (Pandora) that aimed at creating a positive work environment at the company. The HR system at Pandora was designed in such a way that every employee could contribute to it as their unique experience with the company. Employee experience at Pandora revolved around its music business, which the company felt was a great way to make employees relax and to motivate them to work in a more productive way. Pandora initiated a number of innovative programs to boost the morale of its employees through better work place management and manager-employee relationship. Its internship program for self-motivated college students laid the foundation for shaping its recruitment system.

This case is about the labor unrest at Gurugram, India-based Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, Limited, Japan. Trouble started after the management of HMSI asked 200 temporary workers to go on leave on November 5, 2019. The company claimed that the workers had been laid off due to a slowdown in the automobile sector due to sluggish growth in the Indian economy, which had led to reduced production. About 2000 contract workers went on a tool down strike, and were soon joined by permanent workers. The members of the HMSI union claimed that production was going on normally at the company's other plants, and demanded compensation for the retrenched workers. The management of HMSI gave a call to the permanent workers to join duty by the end of November. While many employees rejoined after signing a good conduct agreement, union members claimed that without the contract workers it would not be possible to resume production. While the impasse continued, HMSI continued to produce vehicles at its other plants and the contract workers were left staring at an uncertain future.

The case describes Tata Sky's HR initiatives that helped it get the best out of its employees and also contributed to its business objectives. Revamping of the HR initiatives helped Tata Sky to smoothly switch to a productive work-from-home scenario mandated by the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company used the pandemic as a springboard to create a world with happier employees and customers.

The case describes Adecco India's initiative to implement Artificial intelligence (AI) and Computer Vision technologies to withstand competition due to changes in the Indian business sector in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. It focuses on Adecco India's requirement to implement digital technologies to speed up its recruitment activities and improve productivity as part of its digital strategy. AI and Computer Vision technologies helped automate time-consuming tasks like candidate screening and interview scheduling, helping the recruiter to focus only on the final filtering process and provide real value to clients. The digital strategy was in line with the company strategy to create significant differentiated value to clients by focusing only on the parts of the value chain where it had an advantage over other players in the staffing services sector in India.

Sanofi Canada (SC) had been witnessing a drop in revenues since 2005 when its exclusive rights to a number of medicines started to expire and patients began to switch over to low-cost generics. Consequently, SC laid off employees, and in 2011 decided to sell off its dermatology business, Dermik. The sale also included the company's existing 45-year-old head office building. These developments had an adverse impact on employee morale, leading to higher attrition rates. Jon Fairest (Jon) took over as CEO in 2012 and was immediately tasked with shifting the head office to a modern facility with an open-plan working environment. Jon along with a steering committee that comprised top management members and personnel from the Communications and Human Resources teams developed a year-long change management campaign. The change leadership strategy focused on empowering employees to actively take part and support the forthcoming change. In line with this strategy, 30 employees were roped in as Change Ambassadors to educate their peers about the transitions.

This caselet is about a senior HR manager of a large textile company, who along with her team conducted a mass recruitment drive. It gives basic facts and figures pertaining to the response time, time to fill the jobs, time to start, cost incurred on recruitment, acceptance rate, and quality of hires. The caselet should help the students in understanding the different recruitment indexes involved in the measurement of recruiter effectiveness. It will also help students in understanding the recruiter effectiveness at face value or actual raw data result, overall average percentage of effectiveness, and weighted evaluation of recruiter effectiveness. Furthermore, with the limited time and budget allocated to the hiring exercise, the students as future managers should be able to calculate the key recruitment indexes and do the cost-benefit analysis.

This Case Study is about how a young entrepreneur implemented a new idea in real business life. It describes the journey of the ActiPass organization, which is a platform that helps parents discover and book extracurricular activities for their children. The organization was launched in mid-2019 and it started with a subscription-based Unlimited Pass for Rs.1,499 per month for a bunch of activities in the Vapi region of Gujarat. In March 2020, the Indian government announced a countrywide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, Actipass began working in the online mode. It is active in different countries like the UAE, the UK, South Africa, and India. In India, it operates in various cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Vapi. This Case Study narrates the various traits required for entrepreneurship through the narration of the journey of ActiPass.

Alasdair Harris (Harris), a marine ecologist, while on a research expedition to study the coral reef in Madagascar, felt that conservation needed new tools and business-based solutions to address the problems. He started Blue Ventures (BV) in 2003, a social organization that worked with the locals and came up with community-led marine conservation approaches to save and rebuild the fragile ecosystem. It encouraged communities to take up temporary fishing closures, which increased the fishing catch and resulted in a doubling of incomes. This approach generated overwhelming interest that gave a stimulus to the setting up of Madagascar's first locally managed marine area (LMMA). Over the years, BV helped set up more than 65 LMMAs in Madagascar and many more around the world. With experience and by listening to the needs of the communities it served, BV evolved its business model and constantly came up with transformative approaches for catalyzing and sustaining locally led marine initiatives. It recognized that conservation would not be sustainable in the long run if it did not address the pressing issues facing the communities it served. Health, family planning, education, and generating alternate livelihoods were interlinked with conservation. The case exposes the students to the challenges and issues facing a social enterprise in its efforts to build innovative sustainable approaches to make a lasting impact on millions of people living in remote parts of the world.

The case traces the growth of MakeMyTrip Private Limited (MMT) that was considered to be the market leader in the Online Travel Agency (OTA) business in India. It starts out by mentioning the entrepreneurial journey of MMT's chief founder, Deep Kalra. It then describes the measures taken by the company to grow the OTA business in India, where Internet penetration was low and hesitancy to do online transactions was high. Later, the case documents MMT's shift in focus from flight ticketing business to the hotels and holiday packages businesses that had comparatively higher margins. The case also mentions the various technologies and innovations that the company adopted to improve its service offering. It concludes with a look into the challenges faced by the company and its prospects for future growth.

This case study presents the story of the early years of the entrepreneurial venture of Selvakumar Varadarajan, an entrepreneur in Tamil Nadu, India. After completing his education and working in corporates and academic institutions, Selvakumar decided to try his hand at entrepreneurship in 2016. Selvakumar's venture, which he called Laymen Agro Ventures, had three priorities: Enriching farmers, empowering rural youth, and exciting urban consumers with farm fresh products. In the initial years of the venture, Laymen Agro's brand, Vilfresh, made successful inroads into both the institutional market and among end consumers. The brand won several awards and recognitions. Laymen Agro Ventures had a healthy growth rate of 30 per cent and the founding team was looking at expanding its footprint. However, the team had to make some critical decisions before they could embark on the next phase of growth of Vilfresh.

The case discusses Cyrus Mistry's (Mistry) unceremonious exit as the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, in October 2016. Citing several reasons for his ouster, the Tata Group stated that there was a disconnect between Mistry and Tata Sons with regard to values, ethos, vision, and the direction in which the Tata Group was heading. While Mistry focused on divesting non-performing assets and reducing the group's debt burden, his predecessor Ratan Tata was known for building the group through organic as well as inorganic growth strategies, transforming the group into a $100 billion conglomerate by 2012. Mistry's way of handling business did not go down well with Ratan Tata and other shareholders at Tata Trust. Creating shock in the corporate world, on October 24, 2016, Mistry was ousted from Tata Sons. The boardroom tussle that started with both sides trading allegations morphed into a full-fledged legal battle with both Mistry and Ratan Tata levelling serious accusations against each other.

The case talks about the unique one-for-one business model of TOMS Shoes, LLC (TOMS) that was pioneered by Blake Mycoskie. It starts out by mentioning the rationale behind Mycoskie's adoption of the one-for-one model, wherein he promised to give away one pair of shoes for each pair sold. The case then talks about the marketing strategy adopted by Mycoskie for TOMS and gives an insight into the reasons for the success of the company. Mycoskie's other ventures that followed the same business model are also chronicled. The case also describes in detail the criticism that the particular business model faced from non-profit organizations and social activists. It ends with details about the future expansion plans of TOMS.

The case discusses the rise and fall of Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya (Mallya) who successfully expanded the business empire he inherited from his father and transformed it into a global conglomerate with diverse interests. However, Mallya's foray into the aviation sector with his airline service, the Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), was a big misstep. His fortunes came tumbling down in 2012 when the airline was grounded, leaving thousands of workers unemployed and more than Rs.70 billion in unpaid loans. Mallya was declared a wilful defaulter and had the banks, regulators, and the Indian judiciary after him. Thereafter, he fled to London and the Indian government is seeking his extradition. The case concludes by discussing the various possibilities in the Mallya case: Should Mallya be given a fair opportunity to settle the loan-default issues with banks? Will he be able to endure the bad phase and bounce back or is it the end of the road for him?

This case is about the hotel aggregator Stayzilla that was founded by Yogendra Vasupal and his partners in 2005. The beginning was encouraging. Inasra, which was the name Stayzilla had started with signed contracts with 300 hotels in a year. By 2007, the number had reached 800 across 150 cities. In 2007, as a part of its re-branding exercise, Inasra was re-named as Stayzilla. By 2010, Stayzilla.com had covered 560 cities and towns in India; by 2012, it had witnessed nimble growth in its network of hotels and boasted a network of about 3,751 hotels. Stayzilla swiftly expanded its formats that ranged anywhere between $4 and $1,000. In an attempt to capture market share, Stayzilla entered the alternative stay segment (home stay aggregating) in 2014, inspired by a model popularized by the US hospitality major, Airbnb. With 25000 hotel stays, 40000 properties and 8000 homestays in over 4500 towns a part of social stay model, Stayzilla depicted a rosy picture. However, not all was rosy with its financials. Extensive investments and not much of a focus on profitability dragged Stayzilla into the red. Eventually, Stayzilla failed to generate the revenue needed to cover costs.

The case talks about the journey of iD Fresh (founded by PC Musthafa) from a start-up to becoming a niche player in the ready-to-cook breakfast market in India. It starts with a brief history of Musthafa. It then describes the creation of the iD brand, launching of new products, and expansion of iD Fresh to different locations across India and the Middle East. The case also touches upon the launch of different marketing campaigns by iD Fresh and its use of innovative packaging. Besides, it highlights the challenges faced by iD Fresh and its future plans.

On January 30, 2020, Kerala became the first state in India to report a positive case of COVID-19. By the last week of March, the number of cases had increased to 100. After the first case was reported, the Government of Kerala (GoK) under the deft leadership of K K Shailaja (Shailaja), Minister of Health and Social Justice, immediately sprang into action and went in for aggressive testing, tightened surveillance, and social distancing. By April 6, 2020, in Kerala; the number of positive cases had touched 327 but 59 (18%) had recovered and only two (0.61%) died. By April 21, 2020, India had 18,601 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 3252 recoveries, and 590 fatalities. Of the total number of confirmed cases, Kerala accounted for just 408 cases, a share of 2%. Of the 408 confirmed cases, 291 had recovered (71%) and there were just three deaths, the lowest number of deaths in the country. The recovery was also considered the best in the world. Experts opined that under the determined leadership of Shailaja, Kerala had been able to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

The case study describes the journey of an Indian startup from its inception to its becoming a global hotel chain. It weaves the story of the company since it began in 2012 as Oravel Stays and Private Ltd. (Oravel). The rebranding of Oravel into ?OYO Hotels and Rooms? in 2013 and OYO's business model before and after the remodeling (2017) are discussed. OYO's marketing strategy, financing, and operational strategies are also elaborated on. The case also takes a look at OYO's domestic and global expansions till date. Its strategy to enhance customer satisfaction with the help of technology is discussed as well. The case concludes with the future plans of the company in terms of global expansion and how it aims to become the largest hotel chain in the world.

Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger (Kielburgers) started a charity called WE Charity (formerly ?Free the Children?) in 1995 to free children from child labor and help their families come out of poverty and exploitative situations. When the brothers realized that solely relying on donations would not help achieve the mission of WE Charity, they established a social enterprise called WE to ME in 2009 with guidance from Jeff Skoll, the first president of eBay and a billionaire. WE to ME faced several allegations in 2017-18, with former employees accusing it of paying low salaries, making them work long working hours without suitable compensation, having an abusive work culture, adopting aggressive tactics while canvassing for donations, focusing excessively on entering into numerous contracts with corporates, entering into partnerships with corporates that sold products made by children, and not honoring the commitment of donating 50% of WE to ME's revenues to WE Charity and others. The Kielburgers, nonetheless, planned to expand the operations of WE Charity to several newer communities. In Canada, they planned to extend the reach of the WE Schools program to 24,000 schools by 2024 and increase the number of participants of the WE Schools to 4.8 million by 2020/2021.

The case study highlights the various aspects of social entrepreneurship and innovation required to tackle a social issue and create impact in a large way. It discusses how five young professionals from different fields came together to overcome the challenges confronting the Tanzanian education system and devised highly innovative and cost-effective learning solutions through Ubongo. Tanzania's education system was plagued by numerous issues that included low enrollments in pre-primary schools, a dearth of good quality teachers, archaic policies of the government, and widespread poverty. As a result, a majority of Tanzanian children did not have the requisite literacy, numeracy, cognitive, and social skills to earn a decent living on reaching adulthood. Ubongo tackled these challenges by producing highly engaging edutainment cartoons (both audio and video) and distributing them through numerous low-cost platforms such as TV, radio, and mobile phones that were accessible to a majority of Tanzanians. After starting in Tanzania, Ubongo forayed into sub-Saharan and francophone (French speaking) Africa. Its mission is to reach 30 million children in Africa by 2022 and eventually to reach every child in Africa (440 million).

The case talks about how the women leaders of Finland, Iceland, and Norway navigated through the COVID-19 crisis. The case starts out by giving a brief history of Sanna Mirella Marin (Marin) - Prime Minister of Finland; Katrin Jakobsdottir (Jakobsdottir) - Prime Minister of Iceland; and Erna Solberg (Solberg) - Prime Minister of Norway. It then describes the various strategies adopted by these leaders to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. It also touches upon the measures taken by them to protect both the lives and livelihoods of their citizens. The case also covers the impact of the strategies adopted by these women leaders in their respective countries. Lastly, the case provides a brief comparison of how these three countries - all led by women leaders - fared compared to countries led by male leaders such as the UK, France, and Italy in combatting the COVID-19 crisis.

This case study discusses the journey of online grocery delivery service company, Grofers India Private Ltd (Grofers), and its growing ambition since its inception in 2013. It describes the problems faced by the company, which included losses amounting to Rs.2.25 billion in FY2016, a fragmented supply chain, diseconomies of scale, and dislocation of activities and eventual shutting down of its operations in 9 cities. The case then describes how Grofers improved its supply chain by establishing company warehouses in 2016 and how it changed its delivery slot from 90 minutes to 24 hours the same year. However, it faced difficulties with losses mounting to Rs.2.68 billion at the close of FY2017. From 2017; Grofers re-launched its operations in 5 out of 9 cities; expanded its product categories (2017); launched its own label; ?Grofers? (2018); began bringing local kiranas under the Grofers brand (2018); and modified its supply chain by adding 6;500 local service partners to solve the pick-up and distribution problems (2018). Grofers recorded revenues of Rs.10 billion in FY2018; amidst losses of Rs.2.58 billion.

The case talks about the journey of 'Biryani by Kilo' (BBK), founded by three friends - Kaushik Roy (Roy); Vishal Jindal (Jindal); and Ritesh Sinha (Sinha), from a startup to being a dominant player in the Indian online food market. The case starts with a brief history of BBK and then describes the unique business model it uses. The case touches upon the launch of different promotional activities by BBK and its pricing method. It also highlights the competition faced by BBK and its future plans.

This case is about the 'Teach for Change' campaign launched by an NGO, the Passionate Foundation, in 2014. The objective of the campaign was to improve the overall literacy levels in government schools and to deliver quality education with a focus on leadership in these schools. As part of the campaign, volunteers were invited to teach leadership and English at the primary and high school levels in the government schools in Hyderabad. The case describes the objectives of the campaign and how it helped in improving the lives of underprivileged children by improving the education standards in government schools and evoking social responsibility in individuals. The case concludes by highlighting the challenges faced by the campaign and its future prospects.

The case presents the enthusiasm and passion with which Jignesh Shah (Shah) started a fintech company and the success it enjoyed. It elaborates how Shah, son of an iron and steel trader in Mumbai, India, became a billionaire by 40. Shah's was a success story until he decided to violate legal and ethical norms and took some decisions that transgressed legal boundaries.

The case is about Razorpay Software Pvt. Ltd. (Razorpay), an Indian fintech startup that had attained unicorn status within a span of six years. The case dwells upon the growth of the fintech company and the entrepreneurial musings of its founders who overcame the difficulties that plague startups and created innovative solutions in the payments industry. The case also discusses the challenges faced by fintech firms in their quest to provide innovative payment solutions and help banks go digital. Razorpay's innovative products are described in detail along with its business model. The case ends with customer accolades for the company and the future plans of Razorpay. It remains to be seen whether Razorpay will continue with its quest for innovative products in the fintech space and make the payment experience simple for customers.

Paytm, launched as a prepaid-mobile-recharge web-based company in January 2010, was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was known for his never-give-up attitude. It was a time when millions of Indian customers were entering online payment process; but there were billions more who were averse towards online payments. While Sharma was grappling with increasing his customer base, he struck luck when the government announced the ban of two of the country's largest banknotes on November 8, 2016. Paytm made great business when Indians, fed up of standing in long queues to exchange currency, signed up for Paytm as the best alternative. Moreover, Paytm also received the regulatory approval to launch its Paytm Payments Bank in December 2016.

The case is about India's first electric tractor manufactured by Sonalika International Tractors Limited (Sonalika). The electric tractor heralded a new era in agri innovation in the country and was a technological marvel with high performance. The case discusses the growth of the company and its foray into the farm equipments sector. The case also details the history of tractor manufacturing in India. The innovative technological features of Tiger Electric are put forth and discussed. With its electric tractor, Sonalika embarked upon introducing efficient and pollution-free tractors in the agriculture sector in the country. Sonalika's product offensive strategy is described in detail along with its corporate social responsibility initiatives. The case ends with the future plans of the company. It remains to be seen whether the farmers in India adopt the electric tractor for their field operations and whether Sonalika's 'Tiger Electric' becomes a disruptive innovation in the tractor industry in India.

The case talks about the journey of Wow! MomoFoods Pvt. Ltd (WOW! Momo), founded by Sagar Daryani (Daryani), from a startup to becoming a niche player in the quick service restaurant (QSR) business in India. It starts out with a brief history of WOW! Momo. It then describes the business model of the company. The case also touches upon the challenges faced by WOW! Momo and its future plans to meet such challenges.

The case elaborates the ground-breaking efforts of Narayana Peesapaty (Peesapaty), a former scientist in groundwater research at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) who resigned from his comfortable job in his quest for substitutes for plastic cutlery. Driven by his deep concern over plastic being used as cutlery, he understood the long-term consequences of the toxic effects of plastic as cutlery on the people, the environment, and the Earth. Through his rigorous 6 years of research and 4 years of marketing, Peesapaty came up with a product that offered a potential solution to these global concerns. From 2014 onward, he started getting enquiries and orders for product- the edible cutlery- from within as well as outside India. While there was still a long way to go, Peesapaty demonstrated how through diligent research, creative thinking, and effective entrepreneurship, it was possible to deal with economic, social, and environmental challenges together, without compromising on or conflicting with any of the factors.

Women Will was launched in India in 2021. Through the platform, Google promised to transform the lives of female entrepreneurs in the country digitally. The search giant announced that it would offer community support, mentorship, and accelerator programs to rural women entrepreneurs who wanted to convert an existing skill or talent into a business. The economic empowerment program was expected to support 1 million rural women in the country to become entrepreneurs. Under the program, Google collaborated with the social arm of NASSCOM (Chamber of Commerce for Tech Industry in India), NASSCOM Foundation, to empower 100,000 women farmers across six Indian states by imparting digital and financial literacy skills to them. Google's CEO Sundar Pichai announced a grant worth $25 million for non-profits across the world working on advancing women and girls' economic empowerment.

The case is about the enterprising initiatives undertaken by young entrepreneur Sandhya Raju through the launch of CallHealth to provide improved medical services to people at their doorstep to help them live a healthy and better life. CallHealth is an innovative and integrated healthcare system to cater to the comprehensive healthcare needs of the people in their homes. As an aggregator of healthcare services, CallHealth provided a complete range of healthcare services under a single platform. It originated from the emerging need to build connectivity and collaboration among the stakeholders of the healthcare system to provide a wholesome healthcare package to people at their doorstep. It aimed to offer the best of kind healthcare services to the people by combining technology and the best minds in the healthcare sector. By integrating technology with the healthcare system, CallHealth made an attempt to gain rich patient experience about its top healthcare products and services.

The case is about Maharashtra, India-based food processing company, Mapro Foods (Mapro). The company was started in the 1950s by a pharmacist Kishore Vora, who, with the intention of helping the local farmers, started making jam with locally available strawberry. He soon started a food processing unit where jams and squashes were made from different fruits. Later on, Kishore Vora's nephew took up the reins of the company and developed Mapro. As the company entered its third generation, it ventured into other products like chocolates and fruit-based jelly. The success of its fruit jelly brand 'Falero', along with growing competition from both domestic and MNC confectionery companies, made the owners think about establishing a pan-India presence. They chose to bring professionals into the key management roles to run the company, with the family not involving itself in day-to-day activities. The company also moved its headquarters to Mumbai and inducted a new sales team. This left analysts wondering what lay ahead for the company that till then, had been run as a closely managed family venture.

The case discusses the entrepreneurial venture of Sarvesh Shashi (Sarvesh). Sarvesh underwent a yoga course which transformed his thinking and perception of life. When the course was followed by a stringent phase of penance under the guidance of a shaman, Sarvesh gained immaculate clarity of what goals he should pursue in his life. With this motivation, he founded Zorba-the Renaissance Studio-which gained quick acceptance from the people. Sarvesh's primary motive was to spread happiness to people through the medium of yoga and meditation. He designed several courses that addressed the various issues and challenges people faced, ranging from depression and diabetes to cancer. Sarvesh did face some teething troubles, but his efforts soon yielded results.