The case study discusses the development of the CSC Academy-a unique effort by the Indian government to expand education outreach across the country. The effort was especially geared towards educating and empowering rural citizens, and to this end, the Academy utilised a mix of innovative technology and human actors at the village level to expand its reach to remote parts of the country. The study follows the organization's journey since its inception, and offers a high-level overview of several on-ground challenges faced, as well as the specific strategies it deployed in response. The study includes voices from across levels in the organization, ranging from decision-making managers to on-ground service providers and participants, thus providing a comprehensive, 360º view of the demand- and supply-side issues that exist in the educational landscape in India, which can be extended to comparable emerging economy settings.
Hyderabad-based real estate developer Organo, led by Nagesh Battula and Vijay Durga, aimed to disrupt the market with their third project, Organo Damaragidda, focusing on eco-friendly living in Telangana. Following the success of their previous projects, Naandi and Antharam, Organo faced challenges in reaching their target audience for Damaragidda. This case study talks about how they navigate the difficult path of marketing a niche product to new market segment.
This case concerns the efforts of a multigenerational family business to leverage and benefit from the board on key related issues: succession of the CEO, chair, and other leadership roles; engagement of the fourth generation as future owners and potential business and governance leaders; and preservation of the family's unity, primarily through fair and transparent practices and processes. In early 2023, multibillion-dollar Wilbur-Ellis was more than 100 years old, with product lines including agribusiness, nutrition, and chemicals. Third-generation family member and CEO John Thacher had overseen organic and acquisition-based revenue growth, along with professionalization of the board, before transitioning to executive chair in 2018 and handing off operating leadership to nonfamily CEO John Buckley. Together, these leaders, along with the full board and family council (led by third-generation family member Matthew Rowland), had helped the business and family navigate multiple transitions, most recently the merger of Wilbur-Ellis's Asian chemical subsidiary into a global specialty distribution business. Readers will take the leaders' perspective as they consider how best to maintain continuity and engagement amid imminent business, governance, and family transitions.
Behavioral nudges can play an outsize role in closing the gender gap and increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups that a company hires. When these small, easy-to-implement, and often inexpensive interventions are applied to candidate attraction, recruitment, and onboarding, they can help make diversity and inclusion a natural feature of a company and capture its measurable competitive advantages.
It has been a bumpy few years since 2020 for JUMBO Group CEO and Executive Director Ang Kiam Meng. JUMBO Group, like many other firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. Prior to the pandemic, it had established itself as an iconic seafood restaurant chain in Singapore, attracting a large customer base of regular patrons including tourists from around the world, particularly from China. However, due to strict border controls and other regulations implemented during the pandemic, the Group experienced substantial losses. The case captures the challenges faced by JUMBO during the pandemic, while offering readers an opportunity to reflect on its reasoning to reposition its brand in the local Singapore market while also exploring expansion opportunities in overseas markets. Additionally, the case provides a detailed account of JUMBO's digital transformation journey prior to and during the pandemic. The case concludes by examining the strategic priorities and potential roadmaps for JUMBO's future growth. It sets the stage for a discussion on the broader impact of digital transformation within the F&B industry, both in Singapore and beyond.
Container shipping was responsible for moving more than 80% of globally traded goods, and almost 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A.P. Moeller-Maersk, one of the top three container lines, conducted an extensive lifecycle assessment (LCA) of alternative fuels, before deciding to bet on methanol. This case reviews the LCA methodology and the fuel choices, as well as the long term implications of their selection.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic approach to quantifying the environmental impacts-including resources consumed and wastes produced-associated with the entire life cycle of a product, from the production or extraction of the raw materials used in its creation, to its end-of-use disposition. LCAs are often used to better understand how choices made in a product's design (e.g., materials, assembly, energy sources, energy efficiency) would affect its overall environmental impact. This note provides an overview of the different types of LCAs, LCA methodology, and LCA tools and databases.
Annapurna Seva Sangh was a non-governmental organization (NGO) located in the civil hospital compound in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The organization’s primary objective was to assist the patients and their families at the district civil hospital. Most patients were living below the poverty line and lacked sufficient funds to cover their daily expenses while receiving treatment. Since the patients were accompanied by their family members, they were all under considerable financial pressure. To cater to the patients’ needs, Annapurna Seva Sangh managed a clothing bank, an oxygen bank (to supply oxygen concentrators and cylinders), and a dining hall that provided free lunch and dinner. The NGO also offered ambulance services and frequently organized blood donation clinics. The organization, which had grown tenfold since 2016, efficiently used its resources under limited funding opportunities. However, it was also operating with very thin cash reserves and was therefore exploring other sources of revenue so that it could provide uninterrupted services to people in need.
Fibroheal Woundcare Pvt. Ltd. (Fibroheal) was the first company in India in the medical device sector to utilize the biomedical properties of silk. Launched in 2017, it focused on providing effective wound care to patients in a cost-effective manner. Fibroheal’s unique value proposition lay in its sustainable approach, ensuring balance across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Results showed that Fibrocare's products could reduce wound-healing time by almost half. By the end of 2021, Fibroheal had about 15 products in its kit covering acute, chronic, and post-operative wounds. It had also engaged more than 1,000 farmers, as well as over 150 hospitals in more than 20 states across the country, and was affecting over 50,000 patients. However, there were challenges around building trust among stakeholders in the medical device market, where big multinational firms were already operating. Considering the challenges, how could Fibroheal expand in the medical device market under its founder’s strategic leadership? How could the company build on the existing positive customer responses? What should be the firm’s expansion strategy?
Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited (Bowtie) was the first virtual insurance company licensed by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority. Since obtaining the licence in 2018 and raising two successful rounds of venture capital, Bowtie had developed into a reasonable size, of about a hundred employees, by early 2022. Bowtie was focused on developing and selling medical insurance products under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), while also selling term life insurance. The founders’ intention is to bring cheaper, more user-friendly insurance products directly to the mass market through online channels, while disrupting the traditional insurance industry by eliminating agents and brokers. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2022 brought both opportunities and risks to the virtual insurance sector. While online purchases increased significantly during this period, the overall gloomy macroeconomic outlook put downward pressure on insurtech, fintech industries, and the venture capital that funded them. With Hong Kong’s mortality rates soaring, Bowtie had to consider the effects of the pandemic on its profitability and determine its future strategy. While continuing to focus on the VHIS segment, how should Bowtie expand into other product segments? When and how should the company expand to Mainland China and/or other neighbouring markets outside of Hong Kong?
It was the afternoon of December 17, 2020, and Debojit Sen was concerned about the future of his educational technology (EdTech) start-up, Crack-ED, which was founded in March 2020 in Gurugram, Haryana, India. Crack-ED provided training to recent business school graduates in order to help them secure jobs in the competitive, post-COVID-19 marketplace. Several other EdTech start-ups such as such as Scalar Academy and upGrad Education Pvt. Ltd. had also emerged to address the gaps in the Indian education system. Crack-ED faced two challenges: it needed to differentiate its service from that of its competitors and promote its relatively new brand of EdTech service platform in a highly competitive market with stronger players. Most EdTech companies were aggressively promoting their brand digitally. Search engine optimization, video marketing, and social media promotion were among the options available for Sen to promote Crack-ED, and each option had its own pros and cons. Sen wondered which digital promotion strategy would be the best fit for Crack-ED as the company’s promotional budget did not allow him to choose all options available.
Fibroheal Woundcare Pvt. Ltd. (Fibroheal) was the first company in India in the medical device sector to utilize the biomedical properties of silk. Launched in 2017, it focused on providing effective wound care to patients in a cost-effective manner. Fibroheal's unique value proposition lay in its sustainable approach, ensuring balance across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Results showed that Fibrocare's products could reduce wound-healing time by almost half. By the end of 2021, Fibroheal had about 15 products in its kit covering acute, chronic, and post-operative wounds. It had also engaged more than 1,000 farmers, as well as over 150 hospitals in more than 20 states across the country, and was affecting over 50,000 patients. However, there were challenges around building trust among stakeholders in the medical device market, where big multinational firms were already operating. Considering the challenges, how could Fibroheal expand in the medical device market under its founder's strategic leadership? How could the company build on the existing positive customer responses? What should be the firm's expansion strategy?
Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited (Bowtie) was the first virtual insurance company licensed by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority. Since obtaining the licence in 2018 and raising two successful rounds of venture capital, Bowtie had developed into a reasonable size, of about a hundred employees, by early 2022. Bowtie was focused on developing and selling medical insurance products under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), while also selling term life insurance. The founders' intention is to bring cheaper, more user-friendly insurance products directly to the mass market through online channels, while disrupting the traditional insurance industry by eliminating agents and brokers. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022 brought both opportunities and risks to the virtual insurance sector. While online purchases increased significantly during this period, the overall gloomy macroeconomic outlook put downward pressure on insurtech, fintech industries, and the venture capital that funded them. With Hong Kong's mortality rates soaring, Bowtie had to consider the effects of the pandemic on its profitability and determine its future strategy. While continuing to focus on the VHIS segment, how should Bowtie expand into other product segments? When and how should the company expand to Mainland China and/or other neighbouring markets outside of Hong Kong?
It was the afternoon of December 17, 2020, and Debojit Sen was concerned about the future of his educational technology (EdTech) start-up, Crack-ED, which was founded in March 2020 in Gurugram, Haryana, India. Crack-ED provided training to recent business school graduates in order to help them secure jobs in the competitive, post-COVID-19 marketplace. Several other EdTech start-ups such as such as Scalar Academy and upGrad Education Pvt. Ltd. had also emerged to address the gaps in the Indian education system. Crack-ED faced two challenges: it needed to differentiate its service from that of its competitors and promote its relatively new brand of EdTech service platform in a highly competitive market with stronger players. Most EdTech companies were aggressively promoting their brand digitally. Search engine optimization, video marketing, and social media promotion were among the options available for Sen to promote Crack-ED, and each option had its own pros and cons. Sen wondered which digital promotion strategy would be the best fit for Crack-ED as the company's promotional budget did not allow him to choose all options available.
Annapurna Seva Sangh was a non-governmental organization (NGO) located in the civil hospital compound in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The organization's primary objective was to assist the patients and their families at the district civil hospital. Most patients were living below the poverty line and lacked sufficient funds to cover their daily expenses while receiving treatment. Since the patients were accompanied by their family members, they were all under considerable financial pressure. To cater to the patients' needs, Annapurna Seva Sangh managed a clothing bank, an oxygen bank (to supply oxygen concentrators and cylinders), and a dining hall that provided free lunch and dinner. The NGO also offered ambulance services and frequently organized blood donation clinics. The organization, which had grown tenfold since 2016, efficiently used its resources under limited funding opportunities. However, it was also operating with very thin cash reserves and was therefore exploring other sources of revenue so that it could provide uninterrupted services to people in need.
Set in 2023, this case describes the digitalisation and sustainability journey of Blue Bird, an Indonesia-based taxi business established in 1965. By 2014, when the company was publicly listed, it had become the country's largest taxi provider. In 2023, it had expanded its business to include car rental, car auction, as well as shuttle and chartered bus services. In 2022, Blue Bird announced its "multiproduct, multichannel, multi-payment" or 3M strategy to achieve its Mobility as a Service (MaaS) vision of a more efficient, sustainable, and digitally advanced company. Blue Bird had pressed on with its digitalisation efforts, despite its setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the same year, it won the Top UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Award. This achievement followed the company's announcement of its sustainability vision to halve its waste and emissions by 2030, and establish "3-Blues" - BlueSky, BlueLife, and BlueCorps - for driving its environment, social, and corporate governance goals. In 2023, Indonesia, along with the rest of the world, was still nursing the trauma of the pandemic. How should Blue Bird better drive its 'twin' and intertwined transformations of sustainable growth and digitalisation? What could be the trade-offs, particularly if the emphasis tips towards digital transformation? At the same time, what can we learn from Blue Bird's experience in terms of corporate governance as a family business in Indonesia which practices a two-tier board structure?
In 2019, Nissan India found itself facing a turbulent market situation as it contested market space against 14 competitors. Some of its recent product launches had not been well-received, and dealers nationwide were sceptical of associating with Nissan. The following year, Nissan appointed Rakesh Srivastava as the new Managing Director of Nissan Motor India Ltd. By the end of 2019, Srivastava had revamped the entire Nissan team and, by early 2020, he began to prepare for what would be Nissan's India market turnaround - the launch of the Magnite in the compact SUV market, one of India's fastest-growing personal vehicle segments. However, soon after the Magnite was conceived, the Covid-19 pandemic set in, and India went into an unprecedented lockdown. The economy came to a standstill, and every part of the value chain from brand communication, product launch, supply chain to customer service was paralysed. Nissan had to make several changes to meet emerging challenges at each step. Through concerted efforts, Nissan overcame hostile market forces and a negative reputation to emerge as the fastest-growing player in the market. It passed the 50,000 units manufactured milestone for the Magnite within two years, which provided a much-needed boost to its declining share and relevance in the Indian market. The case outlines the journey of Nissan Magnite's launch and draws lessons from the product launch.