This case examined Guanabana Handmade (owned by SUGAR CANE Sociedad Limitada) (Guanabana), a Spanish company specializing in handmade-fashion and home-decoration accessories manufactured in Colombia. Guanabana had built a strong reputation by overcoming operational challenges typical in the handicraft sector. Now, the company faced a strategic decision: should it expand its wholesaling model to incorporate new products and markets or should it transition into the retail market to capitalize on growth opportunities? Students would analyze Guanabana’s business model, competitive environment, and potential growth strategies, evaluating the trade-offs of possible growth strategies and considering issues such as market demand and organizational capabilities.
Monosha Biotech (MB), a social start-up in Baruipur, West Bengal, India, was founded in 2017 to tackle a significant public health issue: snakebites. India had the highest number of snakebite fatalities globally, and the efficacy of anti-snake venom (ASVs) varied significantly depending on the snake’s location. As the prominent snake-venom manufacturer was headquartered in southern India, the existing ASVs had been customized to provide optimal effectiveness in the southern part of the country, and this left individuals in other regions across the country exposed and in danger when they suffered snake bites, consequently adding to the high fatality rate. MB started commercial snake-venom production in 2021, after getting all the necessary clearance and approval from the authorities. Despite the company’s commercial success, in 2023, the company’s founders had concerns about the future of their market expansion, particularly regarding the company’s scalability and potential for continued growth. Their task was difficult, as they had to confront two significant challenges. First, how could they create an authentic brand with the company’s vision, mission, and value proposition as a social enterprise in mind? Second, what alternative for expansion in the anti-snake-venom market would be suitable to ensure further growth?
In December 2023, McDonald’s Corporation (McDonald’s) announced an ambitious growth plan that involved reaching 50,000 restaurants by 2027. In order to reach this unit count goal, McDonald’s planned to open approximately 7,000 new restaurants in China. The Chinese fast-food market was one of the world’s largest and was expected to grow in 2024 and beyond. Yet, it was littered with strong competition from both large US chains and local competitors. To further complicate matters, there were rising geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan. Should McDonald’s chief executive officer Chris Kempczinski have expanded the company’s operations in China? If so, where should McDonald’s have opened its new restaurants?
This exercise details a significant service failure in 2021 at the in-house bakery of Elite Hypermarket, based in Goregaon, Mumbai, India, involving the accidental sale of puff pastries containing non-vegetarian filling to two strict vegetarian customers. The incident may provoke a social-media backlash and hence threatens to damage the hypermarket's reputation, prompting the store manager to quickly investigate and find solutions that will address the crisis and prevent similar situations in the future. Students will be challenged to apply service-management concepts to address customer grievances, improve operational processes, and communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
The summer of 2014 posed challenges for the food start-up, EazyMeals, which operated in the low-cost daily meals segment (lunch and dinner only), catering to the densely populated region of Indirapuram, in the Delhi National Capital Region. EazyMeals catered to the young millennial population of the area, who were looking for low-cost, fresh food that was served in a hygienic way. It also catered to local small businesses, who mostly ordered lunch, and senior citizens residing there, who mostly ordered lunch and dinner. The company’s founder was facing multiple challenges. First, he faced the problem of unit economics: his operating margins per order were barely sufficient to meet his operational fixed costs. Second, even though order volumes had surged, which could have cushioned the overall margins, the demand for quicker deliveries meant faster turnaround times in the kitchen, and this in turn meant investing more on staff and fixed costs to meet customer expectations. Third, he needed a way to bypass the food-ordering platforms (FoPs) that were providing a large chunk of his orders. They operated on a commission basis, which was further eating into his operating margins.
In 2017, Yosha Gupta established MeMeraki Retail and Tech Private Limited (MeMeraki) with the ambitious goal of digitizing the 3,000-plus art forms produced in India. She intended to create online and off-line experiences and products for consumers and create sustainable livelihoods for traditional artisans using technology as a differentiator. However, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the business presented Gupta with pressing dilemmas. One such challenge was how to articulate the ethical and fair pricing of art products to customers, particularly when similar art forms were available to customers on other websites at a variety of price ranges. Another critical concern was dissuading artists from disintermediating MeMeraki by bypassing the company and selling directly to the customers they had become acquainted with through the company. The challenge also extended to how to communicate the Indian ethos and culture to a global audience.
Founded in 2012, Quadria Capital Investment Management Private Limited (Quadria Capital) was committed to its mission of using its expertise to do well by doing good through bringing affordable quality health care to Asia. In July 2013, it found such an investment opportunity in the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) Hospital in India. AIG was one of the largest gastric sciences hospitals in India that specialized in gastroenterology. It performed more endoscopic procedures per day than any other hospital in the world. It had earned a global reputation for clinical excellence, being among only twenty centres globally to be conferred World Organization of Digestive Endoscopy (recognition. This clinical excellence in the gastric science specialty and reputation put AIG in a strong leadership position and drove demand for its services. It was also renowned for its research and education in gastric sciences. As exciting as the opportunity was, the two founders of Quadria Capital knew this investment would use up a sizable portion of their funds, and they had to carefully consider the risks and what needed to be done to decide whether AIG was the right investment opportunity for Quadria Capital.
Rhonda Klosler, chief operating officer at RSM Canada (RSM) is chairing a meeting to discuss post-COVID-19 pandemic work design. RSM has recognized that remote work offers employees greater flexibility and work satisfaction, while giving RSM the opportunity to recruit from remote locations. RSM would like to continue remote work. Focusing specifically on Generation Z, Klosler is seeking recommendations on the ideal work design. Specifically, how should remote and in-person work be balanced? How can RSM continue to build and maintain its company culture with employees who work remotely? What will a new approach to work mean for the other employee generational cohorts?
Instacart is an online grocery delivery platform that is seeking to go public through an initial public offering (IPO). Instacart has hired an investment bank to be its lead bookrunner, and the bank is responsible for coming up with an IPO price range. Maya Martinez, an investment banking analyst at the firm, has been tasked with building financial models to come up with an appropriate share range for the firm’s managing directors to present at the IPO roadshow.
In April 2023, an issue emerged around the elevated level of sugar found in Mondelez India’s nutritional beverage, Bournvita. The sequence of events began with the posting of a 90-second video by a prominent social media influencer, which rapidly gained widespread attention, accumulating more than 12 million views within a short period. The video emphasized the high amount of sugar in Bournvita and brought attention to the company’s transparency procedures. Mondelez India, owner of the Bournvita brand, promptly refuted the assertions put forth by the influencer and categorized the video as “unscientific.” In response to the accusations levelled against it, Mondelez India opted to issue a legal notice to the individual responsible for creating the video. The company’s legal action yielded positive results, as the influencer ultimately removed the video and issued an apology to the company. Nevertheless, public opinion remained mostly unaltered, and the dispute persisted on many social media sites. The leadership team faced a series of inquiries in the following weeks on the wisdom of issuing a legal notice to the social media influencer. Did Mondelez India effectively address the crisis and utilize the appropriate communication channel? What message should Mondelez India have conveyed and what was the most effective method to do so?
This case encapsulates the challenges faced by Jegan Damodaraswamy in extending the core competency of quality and customer service for the renowned Hotel Annapoorna, in Coimbatore, India. In addition, he had to figure out how to overcome the hurdles after his grandfather’s death and retain the organization’s legacy. Damodaraswamy was a third-generation entrepreneur who took over the business as chief executive officer in 2023. Since taking over, he has introduced many changes and instilled business ethics in the organization. The organization bloomed under his leadership. However, COVID-19 caused a slump in the organization. They were unable to employ a full staff, and sales plunged drastically. How would Annapoorna rebuild its brand and reposition itself? Would Damodaraswamy re-envision his grandfather’s aspirations and strengthen the brand value? Should he drive toward transforming the organization and redefining its vision? The case illustrates change management in an organization and the trade-off between expanding a sustainably profitable core competency and growth to its other verticals.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most foreign backpackers could no longer travel to Hong Kong, a trend that continued well into 2021 and adversely affected the operations of a local hostel in the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood. The own and founder of Wontonmeen, Patricia Choi, was exploring the feasibility of repositioning to attract new customers. To explore the repositioning decision, an online survey was conducted along with consumer interviews to better understand a new market opportunity. The data provided useful information about the feasibility of repositioning the hostel to attract local Hong Kong based consumers. Using the data, Choi had to explore the risks and benefits and make a decision on how to position her beloved hostel.
In 2021, an investment management firm analyst needed to convince his portfolio manager that technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) could have a strong investment thesis since they improved upon existing business models. To make his argument, he used financial ratio analysis to compare one of the portfolio manager's favourite companies, Walmart Inc. (Walmart), with a more technologically focused competitor in the retail space, Amazon. By analyzing the two companies using ratio analysis to highlight their similarities, the analyst sought to show his portfolio manager that Amazon was not only a technology company, but a better version of Walmart.
Bosch Automotive Product (Changsha) Ltd Co, is a leading automotive parts manufacturer, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bosch, a multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. Since 2020, Bosch Changsha had accelerated its digital transformation through building an organizational culture that embraces digital innovation. By designing and implementing a portfolio of digital initiatives and programs, Bosch Changsha managed to establish a culture that embraces digital transformation and inspires employees to contribute to organizational change. Meanwhile, despite the significant success, the company also faced the question of how to continue leveraging culture to drive future digital transformation.
BYD Auto Co. Ltd. (BYD Auto) became the world’s biggest electric-vehicle (EV) maker in 2023. Before its inception in 2003, BYD Auto’s parent firm, BYD Co. Ltd. (BYD), was a Shenzhen, China–based battery manufacturer. Under the visionary leadership of the company’s chair and president, a trained chemist with an eye toward sustainable transportation, BYD diversified into the automotive industry and transformed into an EV leader. Based on site visits and interviews, this case examined the design and branding aspect of the transformation. Combining technology with deep-seated local culture, BYD Auto strategically designed a series of models that incrementally established its leadership domestically. What should be the company chair’s strategic move in 2024 to innovate on BYD Auto’s EVs?