On January 16, 2023, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (Cognizant) appointed a new chief executive officer who was a former president of a key competitor. The US-based major multinational information technology company, with 70 per cent of its workforce in India, provided global consulting, technology, and outsourcing services with a focus on digital transformation across various industries. At the time, Cognizant was experiencing a high employee attrition rate, decreasing client base, and diminishing profile as a key services partner. The new chief executive officer faced several key challenges. The high rate of attrition was causing a shortage of senior executives, lower growth than competitors, and delivery constraints. Cognizant had to intensify its efforts to retain and attract leadership team members, and focus on recuperating its commercial impetus, with a focus on talent management and employee retention. How would the company address the talent gap caused by the mass exit of Cognizant executives and stabilize the market’s confidence in the company? How could Cognizant attract, engage, and retain top-level talent, and nurture intellectual capability in the workplace?
In May 2024, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. (SEC) faced its first-ever strike in its 55-year history, as the National Samsung Electronics Union called for a one-day work stoppage on June 7, 2024, to demand better pay. The strike targeted SEC’s semiconductor division, which produced critical components like memory chips, universal serial bus drives, and camera sensors. This division, once a leader in global semiconductor revenues, had fallen to third place by 2023, trailing Intel Corporation and Nvidia Corporation, and recorded its largest financial loss since the company’s founding. Amid mounting challenges from the artificial intelligence (AI)–driven market and declining revenue, the strike intensified pressure on SEC’s leadership. Jun Young-hyun, head of the semiconductor division at SEC, framed the AI era as both a challenge and an opportunity. The strike underscored the need for SEC to manage labour negotiations carefully to mitigate operational disruptions and safeguard its competitive position in the semiconductor industry.
On December 27, 2023, major daily newspapers in India reported that two information technology (IT) giants, Infosys Limited (Infosys) and Wipro Limited (Wipro), had accused their competitor Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (Cognizant) of “unethical” employee poaching. Although it was not unusual for employees to transition between companies in the IT sector, in 2023 Cognizant had hired more than 20 senior employees from its competitors. This poaching controversy was fuelled by IT firms’ need to hire and retain top talent, and it raised several critical questions: What should Cognizant do to create a more robust talent pipeline that would not require employee poaching? What should Infosys and Wipro do to address the concerns raised by Cognizant’s employee poaching? And how can employee poaching affect individuals and companies?
Fibroheal Woundcare Pvt. Ltd. (Fibroheal) was the first company in India in the medical device sector to utilize the biomedical properties of silk. Launched in 2017, it focused on providing effective wound care to patients in a cost-effective manner. Fibroheal’s unique value proposition lay in its sustainable approach, ensuring balance across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Results showed that Fibrocare's products could reduce wound-healing time by almost half. By the end of 2021, Fibroheal had about 15 products in its kit covering acute, chronic, and post-operative wounds. It had also engaged more than 1,000 farmers, as well as over 150 hospitals in more than 20 states across the country, and was affecting over 50,000 patients. However, there were challenges around building trust among stakeholders in the medical device market, where big multinational firms were already operating. Considering the challenges, how could Fibroheal expand in the medical device market under its founder’s strategic leadership? How could the company build on the existing positive customer responses? What should be the firm’s expansion strategy?