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The Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) software market had just started to gain traction. Whatfix was emerging (and was recognised) as a leader in the DAP space. When the company had entered the market, its products had been industry-agnostic. However, with the acceleration in digital transformation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Whatfix was on a strong growth trajectory and had started to offer vertical solutions to its customers while using a combination of inbound and outbound marketing strategies. The company was evaluating its approach and processes as it planned to expand its customer base and market share.

The case highlights the journey of a digital gold loan start-up which offers low interest rates, doorstep service, speedy documentation, locker and quick gold withdrawal features to customers looking for a gold loan. This enables the customers to eliminate the fear of social stigma associated with gold loans and complete the formalities from the comfort of their home. The case also talks about the nature of the organized and unorganized gold loan markets. It stresses the relevance of a secure, guaranteed and affordable gold loan structure in a market where interest rates are skyrocketing and customers can easily wind up with unsustainable levels of debt, especially in unorganised gold loan markets.

Razorpay, a payments solution providing company in India, has recently achieved Unicorn status. They had entered the payments industry with the goal of democratising digital payments. However, they diversified their services and started offering capital support and neo-banking services to their customers. Demonetization had accelerated digital payments adoption in India and COVID-19 gave a fresh boost to the digital payments. With this, Razorpay's revenue had grown 3X in Financial Year (FY) 21 and were expected to increase by 2X in FY 22. They were evaluating their approach as they were planning to expand into other markets. The case revolves around the salesforce management and product development processes followed by Razorpay. The crux of the case is how a payments company diversifies its business and changes its organisational structure and processes as it evolves, and how they can keep growing going forward.

The Indian jewellery market is highly fragmented and ruled over by local players. Many unethical practices exist in the jewellery market, like the undercaratage of gold, misrepresentation of quality, etc. Tanishq, part of the Tata Group, is known for maintaining high ethical standards and delivering value to its customers through fair and transparent practices. It has a 6% share in the Indian jewellery retail market. With the festive and wedding season approaching, Ameya Kamat, the Area Business Manager (ABM) at Tanishq in Ahmedabad, had to develop the right mix of pricing approaches to stay ahead of competitors. This case revolves around forming the appropriate strategy for pricing, discounts and salesforce management practices that will drive sales during the festive season for Kamat in Ahmedabad. The crux of the case is how Tanishq, the jewellery business arm of Titan Company Ltd., forms and implements a pricing strategy in a highly unorganised and competitive market at a time of the year when a substantial portion of the annual sales is expected to take place.

Shivam Finance is a private lending firm operating in the Bhilwara district in Rajasthan. It offers loans for buying two-wheelers to customers of nearby districts. The firm applied for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence in 2019 as the lending regulations changed, and it became difficult for the firm to operate in the two-wheeler financing space as a private lending firm. With this licence, it plans to scale up its operations two times and adopt a fintech-based model for making its processes more efficient. The case revolves around the future strategy that Shivam Finance would adopt to expand its business and transition into a fintech-based model, given the regulatory and customer adoption challenges. Key questions addressed include the following: What will be the risks and challenges in implementing a fintech-based model? How will it help in onboarding more dealers and customers? What aspects of fintech would be required for creditworthiness appraisal, disbursement and collection processes? Given the current customer behaviour, how could Alok Bhandari, co-founder of Shivam Finance, ensure that the transition into fintech enhances customer acquisition outcomes amongst present and new customers? How will the firm resolve the potential skill gaps related to changes in the business model? What would be the impact of COVID-19 on the transition? How much would fintech benefit a small NBFC like Shivam Finance? The crux is how a private lending firm transitions into a fintech-based NBFC, given the challenges within the firm and changing legalities in the auto financing space in India.

HSBC (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) Holdings plc was a member of various trade finance consortia that aimed to digitise the traditional paper-based trade finance process. It had successfully executed multiple trade finance pilots by using a blockchain-based platform, Contour (formerly known as Voltron), and is planning to launch the platform commercially. The trade finance market was estimated at USD 18 trillion annually, and HSBC had a share of 12% in trade finance transactions worldwide. This case revolves around the challenges faced by banks or consortia while porting the traditional trade finance process to a blockchain-based system. Key aspects to be considered are the ways in which banks form consortia, implement blockchain and facilitate trading globally, given that blockchain is a new technology and the porting process will necessitate bringing all of the stakeholders involved in the trade finance value chain onto the blockchain-based platform. It is in this context that HSBC confronts questions related to making various decisions. What type of governance structure would facilitate a quick roll-out of services that could be provided robustly and with integrity of process and intent? How should HSBC price its trade finance services?

Lupin, an India-based pharma firm, started its Novel Drug Discovery and Development (NDDD) division in 2010. In 2018, the division licensed MALT1 inhibitors to AbbVie, an MNC Pharma firm for a down payment of USD 30 million, to be followed by progressive payments of USD 947 million over 10 years. This was the first success for the division. The case revolves around the organizational system and processes (industry, company specific) and market conditions that influence innovation and commercialization of an innovation in the organization. Lupin now has two programmes in the clinical development stage and has to decide whether it should go ahead with clinical trials or license these two molecules as well. The case also is about the NDDD processes at an Indian pharma firm seeking to develop new drugs as compared to MNC pharma firms.

Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd. (STFCL), the flagship company of the Shriram Group, India's largest player in commercial vehicle finance is trying to transition from a Relationship based model to a Fintech based model in order to provide end consumers with speed, convenience, choice and savings. Digital transactions had reached an all-time high of 1.11 billion in January 2018 and digital payments were estimated to increase to USD 1 trillion by 2023. However, a judgement by the Supreme Court of India has created additional adoption challenges for the firm. This case revolves around the challenges that STFCL will have to face while adopting Fintech within the firm and getting its customers to adopt it as well. It needs to come up with an appropriate strategy to make the transition from traditional payment systems to digital payments systems, given the kind of business model and the organisational processes used in go-to-market activities.

The case centres around the challenges faced by Paytm, India's largest e-wallet, in its transition from a mobile wallet to a payments bank. The shift was the result of a push by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank of India and regulator of the banking system, in 2015, pending the approval of the new Payments Bill. The transition from Paytm mobile wallet to Paytm Payments Bank had added to the complexity of business for Paytm. Paytm Payments Bank had a target to increase its customer base from 180 million to 500 million by 2020. The road to achieving this target was far from smooth. Paytm Payments Bank had come under the scrutiny of RBI for not abiding by the prescribed Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and for the cashbacks it had offered customers to bring them on board. There were other regulatory challenges that Paytm Payments Bank had to deal with as well. One, the Supreme Court of India had struck down sections of the Aadhaar Act that required the use of Aadhaar cards for online verification and transactions. Two, regulatory uncertainty prevailed with new payments regulation, namely the Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2018, looming on the horizon. And three, in October 2018, RBI had released guidelines on interoperability among prepaid instruments and bank accounts, creating barriers for the adoption of Paytm Payments Bank. It was in this challenging environment that Paytm Payments Bank had to acquire customers and persuade them to transact actively using its services and to grow from an online financial technology (FinTech) firm in the payments space to a one-stop destination for a FinTech firm in India. The case revolves around the future strategy and marketing tactics that Paytm Payments Bank would have to adopt to become self-sustainable and profitable in the face of various regulatory and customer adoption challenges.

Mahindra Trucks and Bus Division (MTBD) of Mahindra & Mahindra is at an interesting stage of its evolution. Having gone through a bad patch with a product that was not quite up to the mark, it appears to have got the product right by early 2018 and truck sales had been going up in the country for the previous four years. While Mahindra & Mahindra as a company is a large firm with revenues of more than USD 15 billion, MTBD itself is a small player (INR 2400 crore , USD 350 million) within the firm and in an Indian truck industry that is dominated by goliaths, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland that between them had more than 81% market share and a customer mindset that was loath to leave the comfort of a known brand. The case provides data on product specifications, prices, marketing communication, channels, positioning, the context and competition. The intention is to use the case to go through the steps involved in evaluating and developing and creating a marketing plan for MTBD to increase its market share from the 4% in 2018 to an intended 8% in 2022.

Sai Coating, a small entrepreneurial firm, was one of the three firms that had received the license from ARCI for marketing the Detonation Spray Coating (DSC). Sai Coating made and sold the detonation gun (D-Gun) to three sectors, namely: Wire Drawing, Textiles and Aero components. The coating enhanced the life of the coated wire or surface and its functionality in some ways. The firm had a turnover of INR 4,500,000 and was looking to generate scale and maximize its revenues. The case revolves around the pricing strategy to be adopted by Sai coating to extract value from different set of customers. What should be the price levels given the nature of the product?

Royal Challengers Bangalore, an IPL franchise cricket team, was representing Bangalore city in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team had a huge fan following and a brand valuation of USD 88 million in 2017. RCB made profits worth INR 3.15 crore for the first time in FY 17. Tickets formed a very small yet crucial part of team's revenue. Given the current leeway available for pricing the tickets, the team had to come up with a pricing model that is appropriate for its revenue model. The case revolves around the future pricing strategy to be adopted by the franchise to target the different segments of the customers to get a full house in the stadium and to maximise its revenue given the demographics of Bangalore city.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case A00281

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case A00281

Bharti Airtel, the Indian and global telecommunications player, is witnessing challenging times. As the market leader, Airtel experienced a shift from voice to data since its revenue from the latter was seen to be proliferating. This move was short lived as the new entrant Reliance Jio changed the landscape of the Indian Telecom Industry. It offered free voice services and competitive tariff plans. With Jio, the blend (data+voice) average revenue per user declined due to low data tariffs and voice cannibalisation by data. Airtel suddenly faced pressure to retain its position as well as postulate a pricing plan to protect its revenue. This case revolves around the future pricing strategy to be adopted by Airtel to retain its market share and come up with a pricing plan to counter the Jio effect of "free" voice calls. The crux is how a market leader develops and implements a pricing strategy to counter the entry of a behemoth competitor that has rock bottom prices, in a context, where the eventual front-runner will cannibalise its main revenue source.

Airtel, the leading mobile operator in India was going to launch the "Airtel Zero" platform that would charge service providers and OTT providers on the internet for mobile data traffic but would allow end consumers free access to the web sites that were signed up for the platform. The case revolves around the questions of pricing these data services to the service providers in a market where the price to one set of customers (the end consumer) was not independent of the price to another set of customers (the OTT service providers) - typical of two sided markets. Issues of net neutrality and competition have been considered alongside.

Written to accompany the Airtel Zero: Data Pricing Case (A00118), this note is intended to provide supporting information, models and frameworks on the issues of net neutrality in two two sided markets and how these influence the range of options available to price data services in the context of the online data services in the Indian market.

Ayojak was an online event management product solution offered by Signure Technologies Limited, a firm established in 2007 in India and the United Kingdom that had product development and business development centres in Pune and Bangalore, India. As of May 2011, Ayojak had two operational products and two more products in the development stage. Ayojak provided an end-to-end solution to any event organizer, including such activities as the creation of an event web page, ticket sales, collation of attendee information, event promotion on social media, and customer support for booking tickets online. <br><br><br><br>To promote its clients’ events, Ayojak made extensive use of such social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. It engaged in few offline marketing activities and hence depended solely on word-of-mouth through its social media presence. However, in April 2011, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Signure realized that Ayojak’s social media content strategy had been focusing on promoting its clients’ events. Now, with two more products soon to be launched, the CEO needed to rethink Ayojak’s content strategy. He wanted to build Ayojak’s brand among its stakeholders by leveraging its social media presence, instead of using this presence merely as a promotion platform for its clients’ events.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Dynamic pricing, in which prices respond to supply and demand pressures in real time or near-real time, has long been used by airlines and hotels. Now dynamic pricing is making inroads in many different sectors, including apparel, automobiles, consumer electronics, personal services, telecommunications, and second-hand goods. These companies are making use of new findings on dynamic pricing and of increases in data processing power to raise their average realized prices, thereby increasing revenues and profits. There are two mechanisms for dynamic pricing: posted prices that customers can see; and price-discovery mechanisms, in which customers determine prices through their own actions. These two mechanisms are employed in seven different forms: yield management (commonly used by airlines), demand-based pricing, three types of auctions, group buying, and negotiations. Describes eight situations for using the various forms of dynamic pricing. An important constraint in employing dynamic pricing is consumers' Latitude of Price Acceptance, which varies for different products and situations and which can be discovered through observation, surveys, or analysis of demand elasticities. Customer participation in the pricing process decreases the chances of a consumer backlash. Customers also tend to embrace dynamic pricing in the following situations: where the price reflects intensity of demand for the product, there is communication between the seller and the consumer, and the price difference is explained by a difference in perceived value across channels through which the transaction occurred. The more the seller understands the buying cycles and habits of the customer, the more he is able to manage price margins to the rhythm of the customer's shopping, to segment customers, and to develop price discrimination.