The production of tea increased by 10% and the Indian economy experienced an inflation of 5.24% in 2018; the average auction price for tea had been stagnant at Rs. 140 per kg since 2013. The existing auction system was built on an archaic technology and the auction rules were constraining the system. This was triggering the buyers to move away from the auction to private sales, and thus stifling price discovery. The Tea Board of India hired consultants to redesign the auction system based on the principles of design simplicity, ease of use, and sustainability. Three areas for auction design improvement related to the type, closure, and transparency of auctions, were identified. But would they have the desired effect? The case provides an opportunity for students to discuss if the proposed interventions will work from the lens of auction as a pricing mechanism. With increase in adoption of auctions from selling search words, ad-spaces, to surplus inventory, this case should be interesting for students intending to build different pricing/business models. It is also useful for students to understand the mechanism in order to improve the existing auction systems.
This case describes the managerial challenge faced by a mid-size hardware and software services company in determining the course of action that needs to be taken to address certain productivity and quality concerns raised by their customer. As the managing director of the company investigates the cause of the poor quality and under-productivity of a project team, he receives a plethora of equally plausible causes along with supporting data. The challenge is to sift through the myriad problems and causes in a systematic manner to identify the best course of action. This case is rooted in a B2B service business setting and can be used to comprehensively demonstrate the application and utility of the various quality control tools for managerial decision making.
Agricultural commodities often are characterized by two aspects, viz., seasonality, and shelf life of the produce. Further, in countries such as India there are significant public policy dimensions (governmental regulation on pricing and markets etc.) that critically influence production, distribution, and marketing of several agricultural commodities. Furthermore, unlike their counterpart in manufacturing, agricultural commodity supply chains typically are not well-organized in such countries. Therefore, prevalence of cooperatives as an organization structure for managing several supply chain activities is also a common feature. This case has contextually been set under these conditions and it deals primarily with the issue of marketing of tea. In addition to the above-mentioned issues pertaining to marketing of agricultural commodities, tea poses unique challenges arising out of numerous varieties/grades. Owing to several of these aspects understanding the factors that influence profitability of a firm engaged in procurement, production, marketing and brand creation of tea makes an interesting study for a student of management. The case thus offers a multidimensional perspective to the problem of improving the profitability and points to various alternatives in the hands of the management to address the same. The case can be used in the core marketing course, perhaps, as a capstone case toward the end to highlight the interrelationships among different elements of marketing. The case can also be used in other courses to introduce challenges of managing cooperatives, use of auction as the procurement mechanism and also to illustrate the use of Internet as a primary marketing channel.
Over the last five years, a variety of market mechanisms have emerged to address various issues pertaining to business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. However, there is a general lack of understanding on the part of researchers and practitioners on two key issues: What are the key characteristics of these market mechanisms? What factors drive the choice of one market mechanism over the other? Addresses these questions through a study of 12 different market mechanisms in 200 B2B electronic marketplaces. Four factors--degree of fragmentation, asset specificity, complexity of product description, and complexity of value assessment--significantly drive the choice of an appropriate market mechanism for an organization. To gainfully exploit these market structures, organizations need to devise new strategies and reconfigure their supply chains.
The success of Internet-based businesses in the business-to-customer segment in recent years has been impressive. It is widely projected that the business-to-business segment is poised for a spectacular growth as well. However, a consistent definition and a framework for a business model for Internet-based business is still non-existent. This article proposes a three-dimensional framework for defining a business model and applies it to the emerging market structure. It also identifies certain factors that can guide organizations in their choice of an appropriate business model.