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Akshaya Patra was founded by ISKCON (religious foundation) in 2000. It started by serving Mid-Day Meals to about 1,500 students in 5 government schools. By 2017, it was serving ~ 1.7 million children in 33 locations across 11 states in India. Akshaya Patra had built state-of-the-art "mega-kitchens" along with a well-developed food supply chain. The meals were prepared in a hygienic environment but, to ensure safety and taste, a quality check was also carried out for every batch, before dispatching the same for consumption. However, the exponential growth was a cause of concern. The cost of meal preparation after reimbursement by the government kept increasing, but the donations that had helped bridge this gap in the past were not keeping pace. In addition, the organization had set an ambitious "Mission 2020" to reach 5 million children daily by 2020. It was this challenge of scaling up that forced Akshaya Patra to look at various options and led to the setting up of Akshaya Nidhi, a for-profit organization in support of Akshaya Patra. Over a period of 3 years, Akshaya Nidhi had grown steadily and entered various businesses. In such a scenario Vinay, CEO, Akshaya Nidhi, was wondering about the appropriate path forward, that is, which opportunities to pursue, and the related organization structure that was needed to support the same.

Stellar Auto Ltd. (SAL) is upgrading its current Galaxy product to Galaxy X. With pricing expected at a 20% discount to the current Galaxy model, Galaxy X is expected to generate sales of approximately 26,000/year. To achieve financial feasibility, SAL plans to increase the local content from the existing 12% in Galaxy to 75% in Galaxy X. To meet the sales requirements, SAL plans to operate its plant at the rate of 120 cars/day for 236 days/year, giving itself a capacity of 28,320 cars/year. Feasibility studies have shown that this target can be achieved with the current setup in the body and paint shops, but cannot be achieved as per current arrangements in the final assembly area (FAA). FAA comprises 84 work stations in three areas - trim, chassis, and final (assembly and testing). To meet the increased production requirements, various sub-assemblies needed capacity enhancement and there was no space lineside for the same. The matter was further complicated by the fact that since Galaxy X was being introduced in 6 variants, significant space was also needed to store inventory. After significant analysis and negotiations, the final open issue was with regard to the cockpit subassembly which the supplier Instruments Sophistiques D'auto (ISD) agreed to do. The cockpit subassembly is planned to be installed at station 9 in the FAA, and could not be shifted to a later station. So SAL, along with ISD, had to design a system to make the cockpit subassembly at ISD and deliver the same, in right sequence at the right time, at station 9. The system design required the determination of various factors. This case study identifies and determines the various system parameters that are needed to design such a system.

The case traces the growth of Asian Paints Limited ("APL") from being a small paint manufacturer in 1942 into the undisputed leader of the Indian paints industry. The case invites students to analyze the strategic decisions made by APL's management over its 75+ year journey and identify key factors that enabled the company to dominate this industry for the last five decades. The case enables students to unpack how a firm's strategy that is hidden in plain sight affords sustainable competitive advantage.

Faircent is a leading P2P lending platform in India and this case study traces the evolution of the FinTech platform. It illustrates the myriad challenges the firm had to navigate while establishing a collateral free peer lending platform in the financial sector in the absence of established regulations. As a P2P marketplace in India, Faircent built out a full-fledged loan analytics platform by bringing onboard lenders and borrowers by providing them online tools to discover each other and transact. The case brings forth viewpoints from different platform sides such as the lenders and borrowers, along with an analysis on how the firm has shaped policy regulations by actively engaging with the central regulators. This case can be used to teach the basics of multi-sided platform business models, the different actors in the platform business along with the concepts of platform envelopment and the various strategic options for Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) to fight envelopment, including racing to acquire customers. It should help the students appreciate the platform business model and the competitive differentiation it can bring in.

Industry note for case IMB753

We Sell Everything in Software' WSES Inc. is a products company and specializes in software solutions for different industries such as defense, clinical research, consumer goods, capital markets, security, banks, and insurance among others. One of the divisions of WSES focuses on enterprise software product. Every quarter, Jack Williams, CEO had to give forecast of sales to the stakeholders for the enterprise software product division. The forecast which he had given for the last quarter was USD 2.4 billion whereas the actual sales booking was only USD 1.48 Billion. Jack wanted more accurate forecasting of sales and he had a discussion with Michael Summers, the CFO. Michael explained to Jack that this was something which was not in his hand since he was taking the numbers from Ben Osborne, Vice President of Marketing. Ben explained to Jack that the process they were following was taking the last quarter's sales and adding their estimate of 1.5% to it. Jack did not approve of this method. He felt that since WSES has such rich sales data over the years, they should be having a way to hear what the data is saying. They engaged Mark, with Ph.D. in Statistics, to understand if they could find a structured way to forecast the sales number based on historical data available with WSES.

Spreadsheet supplement to case IMB757

To achieve positive economic, environmental, and social benefits, many incumbent manufacturing firms attempt to apply circular economy principles to their business practices. However, these firms often struggle to change their existing linear business models to circular models because the steps required for successful transformation are still poorly understood. Based on a multiple case study of eight business model transformation journeys, this article proposes a roadmap for circular business model transformation. It provides a step-by-step process to enable circular transition, allowing companies to meet environmental, social, and financial objectives and proactively address sustainability.

The emerging growth of the sharing economy demonstrates the need to understand the factors driving this growth and the business models and practices of sharing economy service (SES) companies. Using case vignettes as the research method, this article analyzes the operations of a large number of these companies and presents a set of building blocks that are useful for generating the business models of SES companies. An examination of the successes and failures in the practices of SES companies provides a number of managerial recommendations.

Fulfillment strategies that offer consumers a consistent shopping experience across different channels and devices through a variety of last-mile delivery options have emerged as a powerful engine for growth in the retail sector. To thrive in this new environment, retailers need to (re)configure their last-mile supply networks to achieve better alignment between delivery responsiveness, product variety, and convenience. This article reviews multiple case studies of leading retailers across geographical regions, maps these retailers' network configurations, and conducts consumer surveys to examine how retailers operate their last-mile distribution to cope with omnichannel demands. This study develops a typology consisting of four ideal forms of last-mile supply networks differentiated by the speed of delivery responsiveness and level of product variety. It proposes a set of prescriptive guidelines for retailers to undertake reconfiguration of their last-mile distribution.

Digital piracy challenges firms by reducing revenues and shifting consumption habits. Recently, some firms have successfully leveraged business models against piracy, but the understanding about this phenomenon still lacks depth and structure. This study examines the characteristics of digital piracy in some of the most affected industries; presents comparative case studies of two iconic firms, Spotify and Netflix; and analyzes their digital business model responses. This article then considers a generic digital content distributor and explains how business model responses contribute to generating and capturing value. Theoretical and practical implications for technological innovation, firm diversification, and network competition are also discussed.

The future of health care may change dramatically as entrepreneurs offer solutions that change how we prevent, diagnose, and cure health conditions, using artificial intelligence (AI). This article provides a timely and critical analysis of AI-driven health care startups and identifies emerging business model archetypes that entrepreneurs from around the world are using to bring AI solutions to the marketplace. It identifies areas of value creation for the application of AI in health care and proposes an approach to designing business models for AI health care startups.

Business models that unlock efficiency across entire networks are becoming increasingly common in the so-called sharing economy. However, the principles underlying these models can also be used in B2B settings. This article proposes some simple rules that managers can use in a systematic process to build similar disruptive business models. It illustrates these rules by deconstructing the go-to-market strategy that resulted in Vizio becoming the dominant flat panel TV vendor in the United States.

A new era of disruptive technologies and changing business practices is moving a number of industries toward the "real-time" enterprise. With increased capabilities and intensity of online digital platforms, managers need to deliver goods and services faster, and to respond rapidly to customers within a disruptive and dynamic business environment. It is therefore critical to ask what "real time" means to managers, what real-time management entails, and learn how enterprises capture business value through real-time management, especially when the ability to adjust and operate in real time must be ingrained in organization's culture, structures, and processes. We surveyed over 1,000 senior managers to better understand those issues and to get broader insights into enabling technologies and organizational mechanisms needed to transition more effectively into real-time management. Interviews provided deeper insights about managerial perceptions of real time, and about how, depending on the manager's focus, real time generates value to the enterprise. We show that managers, who use "real time" in different ways, articulate different facets of experience and practices, leading to the Fast & Flow framework. Thinking of real time as "Fast & Flow" presents a sensemaking that is better attuned to the organization, the market, and a technology-driven state of flux. We provide insights for managers to build a "Fast & Flow" responsive enterprise and to transition to real-time management.

Nick Sugimoto, CEO of Honda Innovations-the open innovation organization of Honda, has to decide how to extend his organization's approach to innovation across the world. Honda Innovations dates back to 2000 when Honda created Honda Research Institute in Silicon Valley. Since then, the organization has evolved through various models from a venture capital fund to its current form as Honda's corporate innovation effort. The case describes the various approaches to innovation between Honda and outside firms and how it fits into an increasingly dynamic car industry.

Supplement to case 118044.

In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the country: the construction of a port in the poor district of Hambantota (also the previous president's hometown), for which Sri Lanka borrowed 1.2 bn USD from the China Ex-Im bank, and a major real estate project outside of Colombo. The new administration pursued renegotiation of both contracts. In 2016, a Chinese state-owned company purchased the asset of the Hambantota port, generating concerns about sovereignty in Sri Lanka and Chinese naval ambitions in Delhi and Washington, DC. This case explores the dynamics of Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a large-scale infrastructure and connectivity project launched under its powerful leader, Xi Jinping, as well as the politics and economics of sovereign borrowing in the age of Chinese lending. Did Sri Lanka fall victim to a sort of "debt diplomacy," or did the Chinese side fail to understand Sri Lanka's domestic political landscape? Was the sale of the asset the right choice for Sri Lanka? The right investment for China Merchants Group, which bought the 99-year lease?

Almost 500 million people are without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Governments and public utilities are challenged to bring generation and distribution to most of them. Considerable promise exists in "off-grid" or "mini-grid" technologies, notably using renewable energy from wind and photovoltaics in areas that have plentiful supplies of both yet limited access to traditional fuels due to other infrastructure constraints. Cross-Boundary is an experienced consulting firm and transaction facilitator run by several Harvard and Stanford MBAs, some with recent military experience. In the case, the company needs to analyze and select which of two nations in Africa to enter next (Tanzania or Ghana) based on many aspects of each nation, has to decide which kinds of customers to serve who will compensate it directly for electricity, and whether to partner with developers and contractors or build that capability in-house. Critically, the company has to evaluate as it matures whether it should be a) an aggregator of capital from multiple investing and lending sources, investing in a vendor agnostic manner into multiple energy developers and projects which it identifies from afar; or b), whether to be primarily a large scale multi-national competitive energy developer and project delivery company needing to attract capital from many sources, all of whom are selecting between several other developers and investment opportunities. What is their key value added and where can they build a defensible strategy? Which one best accomplishes the goal of matching up money and projects to help illuminate Africa?

Ford's F-Series of trucks were first introduced in 1948, and ever since they have represented American identity for their consumers. Both earned media, in movies like Urban Cowboy, and Ford's paid media positioned Ford as part of the pioneering culture. Ford also constantly introduced innovations to the F-Series to make the trucks more suitable to the changing needs of its consumers. In 2018, Ford's management decided to retreat from the low-margin cars segment and focus on trucks and SUVs. Ford was also working toward robot taxis and driverless delivery by 2021. These two parallel trajectories converge to pose a pivotal challenge for Ford: Should the company invest in developing driverless capabilities for its best-selling and highest-margin product, the F-150? The case provides students with a context in which to discuss the changing technologies in the auto industry and their implications for industry structure, along with the specific aspects of software-driven business models, consumer preferences, and brand identity. It also offers an opportunity to explore the challenges faced by traditional businesses as they develop digital capabilities and reimagine their business models to fully leverage artificial intelligence (AI). The competition among Ford, Google Inc. (Google), Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), and Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) in the automonous vehicle industry highlights the different routes these companies have taken to obtain develop autonomous vehicle capability that leverages their respective strategic capabilities.