Rebel Foods (Rebel) was the world’s largest internet restaurant company, with 45 food brands and 450 kitchens in 10 countries. As Rebel scaled up, they were gradually venturing into the business-to-business (B2B) space by partnering with other food brands. Their transition to a B2B model, although necessary, had some challenges. As their reliance on third-party food delivery partners continued to drive up costs, Rebel considered how to better integrate their supply chain. However, their food delivery partners provided greater brand visibility. In Rebel’s one-kitchen many brands model, would they be able to leverage technology and automation to scale up and expand successfully?
China-based Xiaomi entered India’s smartphone industry in 2014. In 2015, it had a meagre market share of 3 per cent, which by the first quarter of 2018 had grown to a 31 per cent market share, making it India’s number one smartphone player. Xiaomi was set to expand its offerings to additional product categories in an effort to disrupt the electronics market in India. How had Xiaomi achieved its phenomenal growth in India in just a few years? Would it be able to maintain its brand image of product reliability as it extended its offerings to additional product categories and continued selling at low price points? Could the strategies that had made Xiaomi the number one smartphone player in India also help it to disrupt other product categories?
In July 2015, the largest automobile company in India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), took the initiative to improve its market penetration in a particular category of the passenger car market—the premium segment. Although MSIL was the current market leader in India’s entry-level car segment, the company had not been successful in establishing itself as a dominant player in the premium segment—a segment that had seen intense competition since 2008. By launching Nexa, a new nationwide premium dealership, through its existing dealer network, MSIL was attempting to create a differentiated car buying experience. MSIL planned for all-new premium models to be launched exclusively from Nexa outlets. Would the launch of Nexa help MSIL attain its desired objective of becoming a major player in India’s premium car market?
In April 2015, Bharti Airtel — India’s largest telecom provider and a leading global telecommunications company — launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that would allow Airtel customers to access mobile applications with zero data charges. Application developers would pay Airtel to join the platform, but would in turn attract more users to their products. Immediately after its launch, Airtel Zero was subjected to severe criticism on the grounds that it violated the net neutrality principle, which advocated that content should be available to customers without any form of prioritization. Subsequently, in support of net neutrality, Flipkart — a prominent Indian e-commerce company — pulled out of the platform. Was Airtel Zero a potential threat to net neutrality? With the pending decision of the government of India on the regulatory framework for over-the-top (OTT) applications and services, would Airtel Zero stand out as a viable platform?