Anurag Bhatt (AB), Managing Director (MD) of Coats Indonesia, was on a flight from Bangalore to Singapore on his way to Jakarta after a vacation. On the flight, he was reflecting on an issue that he had encountered just before the vacation but not yet addressed. It would definitely be one of the first issues he would have to handle on his return. An effort to fill a senior position, Head of Procurement, currently occupied by an expatriate, had not been received with enthusiasm by those who seemed to have the potential to take on the role. One-on-one conversations with the potential candidates had not helped as each one suggested the name of another person as more suitable for the role. He had faced similar difficulties in recruiting Indonesians to occupy other senior roles. Nothing in his past experience helped him understand how these people were unwilling to accept an opportunity for career growth. One of the goals that had been assigned to him as he accepted his current role was to reduce the number of expatriates in senior ranks in Coats Indonesia. This was not feasible unless local managers were willing to rise to the occasion. He needed a way to address the lack of enthusiasm among managers in Coats Indonesia to take on positions with greater responsibility. He had some ideas, based on the short experience in the country, but was willing to get inputs from anyone who might have a better understanding of the drivers of behavior of Indonesians in general and managers in particular.

Hemas Holding PLC (HHPLC) was a Colombo headquartered holding company. It had subsidiaries in a wide range of businesses. HHPLC was headed by Steven Enderby as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with Husein Esufally as Non-Executive Chairman. The professionally managed but family-controlled conglomerate, which was already one of the dominant private sector entities in Sri Lanka, was attempting to transform into a regional powerhouse in South Asia. The Esufally family held majority shares in HHPLC, and had members of the family on the HHPLC board. The family had also formed a Family Business Board (FBB) consisting of Murtaza Esufally, Abbas Esufally, Husein Esufally, and Imtiaz Esufally, to manage the relationship between the Esufally family and the HHPLC Board. The FBB was a device to ensure that the relationship between the larger family and the top management of HHPLC could be managed smoothly. The members of the FBB were proud of their journey so far. However, they wondered whether there could be further improvements in the mechanisms to ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders associated professionally with HHPLC were met, even as the interests of the current and future generations of the family were protected.

Dynamic Technologies (DT) is a India-based aerospace manufacturing company which is supplying sub-systems to a Tier 1 aerospace vendor. Owing to superior performance the aerospace OEM offered to directly source the entire system from DT. As a supplier to the Tier 1 vendor, DT was engaged primarily in labor-intensive assembly operations. However, as a direct supplier to the OEM, it will also involve complex precision manufacturing. The question is whether DT will be able to conduct this critical operation in-house or depend on a European company which was engaged in the precision manufacturing when DT was supplying to the Tier 1 vendor. There were other complexities, such as, the vendors for special grade metals were not available in India and these have to be sourced from Europe. The CEO of the company was grappling with two options suggested by his deputies and the inherent risks involved. Can he come up something different?

The Employee Provident Fund Scheme (EPFS) had been established as a social security scheme for the Indian industry and has established a huge corpus through its 42 million contributors. At a relatively risk-free rate of nearly 8.75% return, EPFS is recommended as a good retirement product in the debt portfolio. However, administration of the scheme had come under considerable criticism, which had resulted in changes in the regulatory norms around the scheme. The government's interest in promoting a defined contribution approach to retirement benefits appears to work at cross-purposes with the interest of the low-income employees. With recent regulatory changes in the minimum contribution level, the effect on bottom-of-the-pyramid employees covered by this scheme further reduces their net income. The case discusses the impact of changes in the regulatory scheme on all employees, but more specifically on the lower income workforce, the financial impact for organizations. It debates the efficacy of the current social security scheme in India and the options for organizations to design and administer variable compensation structures adapted to individual and life-stage needs.

The case describes a situation faced by the Starter Motor and Generator (SMG) Division of Bosch Limited in India as a consequence of the global restructuring of the Bosch Group in 2007. The SMG division had not earned profits for 22 years since its inception, but was accommodated as part of the India operations of Bosch Limited as other divisions cross-subsidized the division. However, after the restructuring, the division became part of the global product division which had no incentives to tolerate the continuation of a loss-making division. The local management was forced to make strategic and operational changes to make the division viable to avoid the harsh decision of closing down the operations of the business. The case briefly describes the operational changes that were implemented to improve profitability, and then focuses on the strategic decision related to choice of a new business model which had consequences for the organizational structure that was adopted.

Hemant Luthra, Chairman and Arvind Mehra, Executive Director and CEO, Mahindra Aerospace needed to examine the prospects of the aerospace industry in India and decide on the organization's growth strategy. Mahindra Aerospace was a leader among private sector organizations in India that, in addition to building capacity outside the country, had established manufacturing capacity in India for the aerospace industry. The top executives needed to take stock of how the situation had evolved since its entry into the industry to decide on the next major strategic moves. Luthra and Mehra had to decide the next major strategic moves for the company. The Mahindra Group had already established some relevant capabilities, and Mahindra Aerospace added some focused capabilities by acquisitions, and was well-poised to participate in engineering design, and also be a supplier to some majors. With strong technological capabilities relative to other new players and a relative cost advantage over traditional American and/or European players, Mahindra hoped to be able to chart a strategy that allowed them to move up the value chain. However, the top executives were sensitive to the unique features of the sector - long gestation periods for product development and production and high volatility in the market. Hence, prudent capital investment decisions were very critical for the long-term health of the organization.

Shree Cement Limited (SCL) is a unique company that has combined traditional Indian management practices and innovative initiatives based on emerging trends in contemporary management. SCL has always practised a ''people first'' policy that was informed by the ethos of a joint family and community, which is so integral to Indian society. By 2012, SCL was experiencing heady business growth and the top management was very keen to ''cement'' the culture of employee happiness and meaningfulness at the core of its human resource practices to avoid any people-related issues becoming a bottle-neck in the journey of growth. It hired Ernst and Young to conduct and employee perception survey which showed very high levels of engagement but also some areas of concern. Based on an analysis of the responses, and further focus group discussions, 18 improvement projects were initiated under the leadership of senior managers and volunteers from among the employees. Mahendra Singhi, Executive Director (ED) and Vikas Rai Bhatnagar, Chief People and Wellness Officer (CPWO) were examining the recommendations of the improvement project teams. They had to be careful to ensure that they took a holistic look at the implications of all the recommendations and implement an integrative set of initiatives that re-enforced each other's positive effects rather than proceed with a potpourri of recommendations that could potentially undermine each other's influences and worsen rather than improve the existing organizational climate.

The case describes the evolution of 3M as an innovative organization over its 110-year history. It highlights the early challenges faced by the founding entrepreneurs that had an impact on the tolerance for failure in the 3M culture, and also the entrenchment of its innovation philosophy in the ''William L. McKnight Management Principles''. Further, it describes the role of structures, processes, rewards and people in continuously sustaining the innovativeness of the company over its lifetime. The case then describes 3M's approach to innovation across its global subsidiaries, wherein innovators from subsidiaries in different geographies are expected to drive innovation for their context based on their understanding of local user needs. 3M's strategy for innovation among its subsidiaries is somewhat different from that of most other multinationals that still rely largely on innovation from their home country organization. The case throws light on the efforts by the parent company to transfer and entrench its innovative culture at 3M India, its subsidiary in India. While 3M had a presence in India for over 20 years, for much of this period, the emphasis on innovation was rather limited. However, with the inauguration of its new 3M Research and Development Centre in 2011, 3M India, with the full support of the parent organization, has provided a renewed thrust to innovation for the Indian market under its "In India for India" strategy. At the end, the case highlights some of the challenges faced by 3M India and some potential challenges that it might face as expected by analysts.

The case is based on the crisis faced by Kingfisher Airlines during November 2011. It describes the paradoxical situation faced by the airline industry in India which experienced exponential growth in passenger volumes; but with the exception of IndiGo Airlines, all the airlines failed to make profits. However, in general, the low-cost airlines did better than the full service airlines. Other than the government-owned Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, a full service airline, was in the worst possible shape and close to bankruptcy during that period. Lack of cash forced the airline to cancel about 35 flights in a day in November 2011, disappointing customers, the only stakeholder group that was happy with the airline. This event brought the whole industry under public scrutiny. Using the stakeholder perspective, the case suggests that owing to an excessive focus on one stakeholder group, the customers; and the neglect of the other four stakeholder groups, namely, suppliers, employees, community and society, including government agencies, and also the owners or shareholders; the organization had nearly gone bankrupt. The top management has to chalk out a strategy that reengages with all the stakeholders to get them to support it during Kingfisher's struggle for survival and to put the airline on a track of recovery.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services with a concentration in areas of automotive technology, industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology. The case describes the structural changes in Bosch over its lifetime, from its founding in 1886 to the most recent changes initiated in 2007 to make it into a transnational organization. The description focuses on two types of reasons for change - one driven by the growth of the organization and the other driven by the internationalization/globalization. Until recently, Bosch's operations were structured as global geographic divisions. In 2007, the organization initiated a program to re-organize the operations as a global matrix structure. The case describes in some detail the latest changes to adopt the transnational matrix structure with emphasis on global product divisions instead of the earlier emphasis on geographic divisions outside Europe. In the second part of the case, some of the opportunities and challenges that have emerged in the India operations of Bosch as a consequence of the global changes initiated by the headquarters are described. Prior to the recent changes, the companies of the Bosch Group in India operated as would any other local Indian company, with limited interface with other group companies, and little interference from headquarters. They were also doing quite well, and the managers and employees were not expecting any re-structuring. However, as part of the changes driven by global headquarters, the India operations had to undergo tremendous structural and process changes - there would be greater integration among the group companies in India, and greater integration with global product divisions. The case examines the challenges and opportunities of implementing organizational changes in a context where there is no felt need for change.

The case describes the opportunities and challenges in the cigarette industry in India. The description suggests that there are tremendous opportunities for growth in the cigarette industry. However, there are challenges due to the health hazards associated with cigarette smoking, distortion in the tax system as applied to the cigarette industry, and restrictions on smoking placed by new legislation. Further, there are challenges in the market due to smuggling, contraband products, and other issues. The case presents ITC Limited as a dominant player in the industry with a significant dependence on tobacco and tobacco products promising to pursue the triple bottom line approach by focusing on economic, environmental and social value. There is a need for the company to decide on some directions for the future to live up to the promise of a triple bottom line approach. The case, based on the real issues faced by ITC Limited, will allow students to understand the dilemmas the firm faced in trying to meet the social demands to ban or restrict smoking. Any decision to stop producing and selling cigarettes has negative implications for the business. How does ITC Limited arrive at the right balance?