Set in 2023, the case documents the initiatives of the Safe in India Foundation (SII), a non-profit organisation, that aims to improve workers' safety and social security in India's automobile manufacturing industry. The issue is complex and multifaceted as the industry's deep supply chain has many small and mid-sized factories comprising skilled and unskilled workers. SII's four-pillar programme - supporting workers directly, improving workplace safety in the automotive sector through systemic change, improving healthcare and compensation policy at ESIC, and spreading awareness, especially by empowering workers through knowledge - attempts to foster a safety culture in the industry and among workers. In the six years since it was established, the signs of systemic change to improve worker safety have been noticed. However, SII's leadership team wanted to scale the impact. For that, SII's Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Sachdeva, had to consider the strategic options and trade-offs involving key stakeholders that included the automobile brands, the government, and workers, among others.
Set in two parts the case documents the manoeuvres of a creative digital business school, Hyper Island (HI). Part A is set in December 2019 and narrates the biased decisions HI to pursue a flawed business model. The case is discussed from the perspective of Melanie Cook, the Asia-Pacific Managing Director of HI in Singapore. Cook played a key role in HI's strategy team. In 2017, HI launched a consulting service to design and deliver bespoke learning journeys for its corporate clients to generate more revenue and create a unique competitive advantage. Since it overlooked the potential pitfalls due to prolonged sales cycles and resultant costs, HI landed in financial troubles. Cook and her team faced the dilemma of abandoning the consultancy business model and switching to a new business model that would shorten the sales cycle, slash costs, and bring in more revenue. Part B of the case documents how pivoting to a productized business model helped HI gain revenue growth and improve its bottom line. While the course correction saved HI from imminent financial failure, new challenges emerged. Cook had to find means of keeping the employees engaged and securing their buy-in to drive the productized business model.
Set in two parts the case documents the manoeuvres of a creative digital business school, Hyper Island (HI). Part A is set in December 2019 and narrates the biased decisions HI to pursue a flawed business model. The case is discussed from the perspective of Melanie Cook, the Asia-Pacific Managing Director of HI in Singapore. Cook played a key role in HI's strategy team. In 2017, HI launched a consulting service to design and deliver bespoke learning journeys for its corporate clients to generate more revenue and create a unique competitive advantage. Since it overlooked the potential pitfalls due to prolonged sales cycles and resultant costs, HI landed in financial troubles. Cook and her team faced the dilemma of abandoning the consultancy business model and switching to a new business model that would shorten the sales cycle, slash costs, and bring in more revenue. Part B of the case documents how pivoting to a productized business model helped HI gain revenue growth and improve its bottom line. While the course correction saved HI from imminent financial failure, new challenges emerged. Cook had to find means of keeping the employees engaged and securing their buy-in to drive the productized business model.
Set in April 2021, the case study traces the process of amalgamation of the Union Bank of India (UBI) with the erstwhile Andhra Bank (e-AB) and Corporation Bank (e-CB) following the announcement by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of India (GoI), on August 30, 2019. With the Amalgamation Effective Date set as April 1, 2020, Rajkiran Rai G., the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UBI, who oversaw the amalgamation project was faced with formidable challenges. The banks had distinctive cultures and values. While UBI was pan-national, the employee and customer compositions of the e-AB and e-CB reflected their regional dominance. The case documents how Rai and his team successfully integrated people, products, policies, cultures, technology, and customers within a stringent and short timeline. It describes the sustained efforts to unify employees under a common identity and align them toward the shared vision of becoming the best in the industry. The case provides an overview of the differentiated measures undertaken by Rai and his team to engage the different stakeholders, the governance structure for decision making and implementation, comprehensive measures to ensure transparency through communication and access to resources, meticulous planning, delegation, monitoring, and course corrections in the face of obstacles. One year after the AED, the financial performance of UBI testified to the success of the amalgamation. However, Rai had to foster a customer-centric and performance-oriented culture at UBI. He had to fortify the bank's future prospects by institutionalizing the learnings from the transformation. As the bank embraced digital transformation more frequent changes were imminent. Rai had to tackle the challenge of building an agile, mission-driven, and learning-oriented organization.
Set in June 2021, the case documents the evolution and outcomes of CALISTA, a trade facilitation platform launched by Global eTrade Services (GeTS), Singapore, in 2018. With an affordable subscription model, CALISTA aided smooth trade flow by enabling single window management of the compliance, logistics, and trade finance. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted international trade flows and altered consumer behaviour, spurring the boom of eCommerce. The scenario prompted the trade community to embrace trade automation in its quest for predictability, visibility and efficiency. Consequently, CALISTA's sales nearly doubled. However, driven by a legacy mindset, many SMEs were still doing trade the old-fashioned way. Kok Keong Chong, the Chief Executive Officer of GeTS, wondered how he could bring on board more customers to CALISTA.
Set in September 2021, the case traces the digital transformation of FoodXervices Inc, a Singapore SME operating in the food distribution industry. The case essays the challenges faced by Nichol as a leader helming the digital transformation and how the transformation helped the company redefine its value proposition to the stakeholders. To customers, it pivoted from being a distributor to a solution provider; to the labour market, it had become a foodtech company attracting savvy university graduates as employees; to the F&B community, it had become an incubator fostering innovations. However, Nichol wanted more value to justify the company's investment in digital technology and futuristic application. In addition, she wanted the technology to improve the business metrics by improving sales and margins.
Set in June 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the case traces the evolution of SensorFlow, an early-stage start-up offering an IoT-powered Energy Management Solution (EMS) to the hospitality sector in Southeast Asia. It documents the founding story and illustrates how the founders, Saikrishnan Ranganathan and Max Pagel, drove the adoption of their innovation by securing a distinctive value proposition and unique business model. SensorFlow's EMS was targeted at the hospitality sector struggling under pressure to reduce energy consumption and operations costs besides meeting sustainability norms. SensorFlow's EMS addressed the gaps in the incumbent solutions with its minimally invasive, less expensive plug-and-play design. In addition, the zero-upfront-cost and pay-as-you-save payment model shortened the sales cycle and accelerated customer acquisition and business growth. However, when the pandemic hit, the growth slowed, and as the long-term implications on the hospitality industry became apparent, the founders had to review their business plans.
Set in Mumbai, India, during 2020, the case explores how Munish Sharda, the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited (FGILI), turned around the firm's key business metrics. FGILI was a joint venture of Future Group, an Indian retail behemoth; Generali Group, a leading Italian insurance company; and Industrial Investment Trust Limited (IITL), an investment trust company. In 2014, seven years after its incorporation, FGILI was persistently underperforming on several key business metrics. The company brought Sharda on board to effect an organizational transformation. He implemented a well-orchestrated transformation plan by focusing on building an ethical foundation, fostering customer centricity, and grooming a strong leadership team to steer business strategies. He also harnessed technology to build organizational capacity for the transformation. Ruchira Bhardwaja, the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO), aided Sharda in operationalizing the transformation strategy. Five after the transformation began, FGILI had improved its rank among the country's life insurers, enhanced customer satisfaction, and mitigated workforce attrition. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in January 2020 brought the world to a standstill and hamstrung FGILI's transition. With most of its employees working from home, FIGILI had rolled out measures to sustain the changes and gains it had accomplished. With a surge in demand for coverage anticipated, Bhardwaja had to uphold the performance orientation and customer centricity of FGILI's workforce, which had suddenly become widely dispersed and remote. Meanwhile, Sharda, not satisfied with having risen to the 15th spot among the country's life insurers, wanted FGILI to become one of the top 10. He was concerned about the way forward for increasing FGILI's growth, which was short of the targeted 30% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
This is a two-part case. Case A is set in October 2018, when Zenn Lee, Senior Analyst at a Shanghai-based securities brokerage, was working on the investment advisory to his clients on Kweichow Moutai (KM), the maker of the super-premium Moutai brand of baijiu, a Chinese spirit. The day before, KM's share price had hit the 10% daily limit down and wiped out US$9.3 billion from its valuation. The Moutai brand commanded a premium price in the market because of its iconic image as the 'national drink', its distinct taste, and five-year-long production process that kept the supply depressed against the incessantly soaring demand. In 2012, the Chinese government's 2012 austerity measures had stymied KM's momentum, but by 2017, KM had managed to recoup its revenue growth by adjusting its marketing mix. The comeback was extraordinary; it overtook Diageo to become the world's most valuable liquor company. By 2018 third quarter, KM's prospects had grossly diminished due to the US-China trade spat, economic slowdown, and dampened consumer sentiments. The situation was exacerbated by graft allegations, the government's intervention in pricing matters and a likely tax on alcohol consumption. With the lowest sales growth since 2012, KM's third-quarter results shook its stronghold, and its share price plummeted. Lee speculated on the options ahead of KM to turn around its fortunes - How could it further its revenue and thereby its profitability? Should it pursue opportunities overseas? Case B is set after the 2019 results of KM, when sales had expanded that year by 15.5%, and net profit had increased by 17%. Though not yet matching the level of its pre-2012 growth rate, it was a satisfactory growth rate that had defied the gravity of the broad-based slowdown and dampened consumer sentiments. Lee had to give, once again, his rating for KM's stock, and he wondered what fundamentals were driving the sales of Moutai regardless of the broader economic realities.
This is a two-part case. Case A is set in October 2018, when Zenn Lee, Senior Analyst at a Shanghai-based securities brokerage, was working on the investment advisory to his clients on Kweichow Moutai (KM), the maker of the super-premium Moutai brand of baijiu, a Chinese spirit. The day before, KM's share price had hit the 10% daily limit down and wiped out US$9.3 billion from its valuation. The Moutai brand commanded a premium price in the market because of its iconic image as the 'national drink', its distinct taste, and five-year-long production process that kept the supply depressed against the incessantly soaring demand. In 2012, the Chinese government's 2012 austerity measures had stymied KM's momentum, but by 2017, KM had managed to recoup its revenue growth by adjusting its marketing mix. The comeback was extraordinary; it overtook Diageo to become the world's most valuable liquor company. By 2018 third quarter, KM's prospects had grossly diminished due to the US-China trade spat, economic slowdown, and dampened consumer sentiments. The situation was exacerbated by graft allegations, the government's intervention in pricing matters and a likely tax on alcohol consumption. With the lowest sales growth since 2012, KM's third-quarter results shook its stronghold, and its share price plummeted. Lee speculated on the options ahead of KM to turn around its fortunes - How could it further its revenue and thereby its profitability? Should it pursue opportunities overseas? Case B is set after the 2019 results of KM, when sales had expanded that year by 15.5%, and net profit had increased by 17%. Though not yet matching the level of its pre-2012 growth rate, it was a satisfactory growth rate that had defied the gravity of the broad-based slowdown and dampened consumer sentiments. Lee had to give, once again, his rating for KM's stock, and he wondered what fundamentals were driving the sales of Moutai regardless of the broader economic realities.
Supplement to case SMU805 In May 2015, Filip Daw, a human capital strategist with a leading consultancy, is hired by the Indian subsidiary of Semicon Inc (SI), an American semiconductor manufacturing company, to uncover the reasons behind the high attrition rate in the company. Established in 2005, SI is a design centre - a skill-intensive core business unit that directly impacts the parent company's competitiveness as a supplier to the end-user industry. India's low-cost and abundant talent was expected to add to the design centre's competitiveness but SI's high attrition rate proved otherwise and had started eroding its competitiveness and revenue. Daw must identify the turnover drivers and analyse how the company's HR policies influenced these drivers. Besides adopting a data-driven approach to diagnose the attrition drivers, Daw needs to examine assumptions held by various stakeholders. The case on Daw's hand requires finding a proxy metric for performance and then connect that performance metric with turnover, developing hypotheses, collecting requisite data and making insightful recommendations. This case documents a real-life analytics project in a semiconductor company that was later bought over by another company. The name Semicon India is used to disguise the identity of the original company. The project was helmed by the author Dr Fermin Diez, who was then its Regional Chief HR Officer.
In May 2015, Filip Daw, a human capital strategist with a leading consultancy, is hired by the Indian subsidiary of Semicon Inc (SI), an American semiconductor manufacturing company, to uncover the reasons behind the high attrition rate in the company. Established in 2005, SI is a design centre - a skill-intensive core business unit that directly impacts the parent company's competitiveness as a supplier to the end-user industry. India's low-cost and abundant talent was expected to add to the design centre's competitiveness but SI's high attrition rate proved otherwise and had started eroding its competitiveness and revenue. Daw must identify the turnover drivers and analyse how the company's HR policies influenced these drivers. Besides adopting a data-driven approach to diagnose the attrition drivers, Daw needs to examine assumptions held by various stakeholders. The case on Daw's hand requires finding a proxy metric for performance and then connect that performance metric with turnover, developing hypotheses, collecting requisite data and making insightful recommendations. This case documents a real-life analytics project in a semiconductor company that was later bought over by another company. The name Semicon India is used to disguise the identity of the original company. The project was helmed by the author Dr Fermin Diez, who was then its Regional Chief HR Officer.
The case, set in May 2018, follows an analyst as she undertakes the challenge of decoding the acquisition strategy behind a deal that rattled both venture capitalist and tech startup circles in India. Ananya Menon, Chief Consultant for Retail and E-Commerce at a research and consulting firm in India, had been asked by a client to provide a report on the recent acquisition of the Indian marketplace major Flipkart Pvt. Limited by the Arkansas-based retail behemoth Walmart Inc. Founded in 2007, Flipkart, buoyed by multiple massive funding rounds, had registered meteoric growth both in terms of revenue and market share, and dominated the Indian online retail industry. Though it faced a few setbacks due to misplaced strategies and regulatory changes, it managed to cement its position as the market leader with a share of nearly 40% of the market in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV). However, analysts were sceptical about the sustainability of this position, as the company was a long way from profitability and was burning cash in the form of massive discounts to augment its customer base. Moreover, Amazon Inc., another leading global marketplace company, with deep pockets and top-of-the-line technological capabilities, was close on its heels. Walmart had waited on the fringes of the Indian retail industry since 2007 when the market was opened to foreign investors, but regulatory barriers had confined its operations to the wholesale segment. The e-commerce segment was opened to foreign investment eventually, but under several restrictive conditions. Walmart leapt at the chance and acquired a 77% stake in Flipkart, the leader in the online retail segment. However, the deal price of US$ 16 billion for a company that was consistently making huge net losses sent shockwaves across the VC and e-commerce community. As speculation and debate over the move mounted, Menon was tasked by her client with demystifying the strategic rationale behind the deal.
The case, set in August 2017 in the state of Punjab, India, follows the transformational efforts of Manjit Singh Brar, the Managing Director of Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited (Milkfed), the apex body of Punjab's dairy farmers' union. He had taken the reins of the cooperative in March 2015 after holding several top-level administrative positions as a civil servant. At the time of his appointment as the MD, the cooperative was witnessing a decline in its revenue and profit growth. More importantly, Milkfed's brand, Verka, was under siege from Amul, a brand of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which had invaded the Punjab market. Brar was tasked to turn around the cooperative and also to tackle the threat posed by Amul, a pan-national brand that was not only financially resourceful but also managed by a team of dairy technocrats and commercial experts. After securing the government's mandate for his transformation roadmap, Brar rolled out measures to overhaul the organization and shake it out of its bureaucratic complacency. He instituted accountability and efficiency across the organization by implementing commercial management principles and practices. He also put the cooperative on the track to attaining sustained growth in revenue and profitability by revamping its brand positioning, distribution and advertising, and by tweaking the product mix. Brar reinforced Verka's competitive advantage by unleashing defensive strategies and established new means of growing its revenue and market share to fortify its leadership position in the market against Amul. As a financially resourceful brand with a robust procurement network across the nation, Amul was keen on starting a price war in Punjab and disrupting both ends of Verka's value chain. Brar had to find the means to grow Verka's revenue and profits amid tough competition from Amul.
The case, set in October 2017, follows the predicament of two enterprising young women, Saranya Das Sharma (Saranya) and Aamiya Viswanathan (Aamiya ), the founders of Project Sashakt. After learning that a large number of girls dropped out of school after reaching puberty due to lack of access to affordable disposable sanitary napkin and the adverse impact on the environment caused by the rampant use of disposal of non-indegradable sanitary napkins, Saranya and Aamiya founded Project Sashakt (Sashakt). It crowdsourced fund and procured 100% compostable sanitary pads that it distributed free of cost to the beneficiaries in and around Delhi. In addition, Sashakt conducted awareness workshops and outreach programs to educate the girls on MHM and dispel the taboos surrounding menstruation and they eventually extended their outreach programs to nearby slums. Sashakt's suppliers, Aasma Foundation and Aakar Innovations, were supportive of the cause and supplied biodegradable sanitary napkins at subsidized prices. Yet, as Sashakt grew, in order to become financially self-reliant and sustainable, the founders began to seriously consider the idea of vertically integrating the operations by setting up a biodegradable sanitary pad manufacturing unit in a village in Bihar, a state in Eastern India with poor gender parity indicators. They hoped that the manufacturing unit would not only create employment opportunities for disadvantaged rural women but also produce cost-competitive supplies for the project's free distribution drives, thereby scaling the scope and impact of Sashakt. The proposed venture involved a large capital outlay, yet that was the least of their concerns. They were more concerned about the potential implications of a non-profit transitioning into a social enterprise and the challenges and risks involved in setting up - and scaling up - the proposed venture.
Set in February 2018, the case follows Gillian Tee and Lily Phang, the co-founders of Homage, a Singapore-based tech startup providing on-demand home care service to the elderly. Homage was founded as a solution to the growing social problems caused by an ageing population-the proportion of Singaporeans aged 65 years and above was on the rise while the support ratio was declining rapidly. Challenged by the shortage of skilled labour, the limited capacity of facilities, and rising costs, the government was keen on promoting the concept of families and communities as the first line of care for the elderly. However, tending to the needs of elderly family members was affecting the social, family and work life of family caregivers. Such informal caregiving was also causing discomfort to the elderly care recipients. The incumbent care agencies relied on foreign workers due to the shortage of a trained local workforce; their conventional operating model was less effective in meeting the requirements of the care recipients, and coordination between the care recipient and the care professionals was erratic and tedious. Homage's smartphone-based application addressed these problems in caregiving by matching elderly care recipients to care professionals based on more than 50 different criteria. The application empowered heretofore dormant caregivers to choose service requests that matched their terms and skill levels. By automating the entire process, the application rendered a seamless and cost-effective on-demand service for the elderly while creating flexible income opportunities for those who had dropped out of the workforce. After gaining ground in the market and securing funds for growth, Gillian and Lily were gearing up for scaling the business by driving up its adoption and usage. However, they had to prepare for the accompanying potential challenges.
The case, set in mid-2017, traces the evolution of a gender-responsive regional level multi-stakeholder platform called GREAT Women ASEAN, dedicated to the economic empowerment of women micro-producers. In 2008, Jeannie Javelosa (Jeannie) and her friends Regina Francisco and Pacita Juan, had set up ECHOstore under a private entity called Earth Life Store Supply Inc. ECHOstore retailed organic products to upmarket consumers of Manila, Philippines. Identifying the potential to improve the marketability and earnings of the micro-producers, the trio founded ECHOsi, a non-profit foundation in 2009. ECHOsi helped micro-producers improve their products as well as their market base by providing market-linking and business support services through its network of business owners and intermediaries. The Philippines Commission on Women (PCW) roped in ECHOsi as the private sector partner to implement the projects of GREAT Women Programme (GWP), a Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) programme funded by the Canadian government. The efforts resulted in a seamless ecosystem of government agencies, private enterprises and non-profits collaborating to create an inclusive economy for micro-entrepreneurs. As the GREAT Women brand garnered commercial traction, its ownership was transferred to ECHOsi, which entrusted its commercialisation to Earth Life Store Supply Inc. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) eventually identified the GWP as an ideal WEE model to be replicated in the ASEAN region. It enlisted the help of ECHOsi to integrate women micro-entrepreneurs into the regional value chain. Jeannie was in the process of creating a collaborative network of business owners, intermediaries, facilitators, donors and government agencies to sell the products of beneficiaries under the GREAT Women brand. As the impact model scaled, Jeannie had to prepare for the risks involved in franchising the social enterprise and also find the means of funding the expansion.
Asyraf and Nasrul, two young trainees of SMRT Corporation Limited (SMRT), a multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore, were killed on the tracks near the Pasir Ris MRT station on 22 March 2016. They were part of a 15-member team led by an assistant engineer. The team had walked in single file on the maintenance walkway beside the track towards the device that had registered a warning for a signalling fault. At 11:08 am, a train entering the Pasir Ris station from the opposite direction of the work party hit the two trainees who were second and third in the line behind the assistant engineer. Despite applying the breaks, the train captain could not stop the train in time. Meanwhile, the assistant engineer and the rest of the team had jumped to safety upon noticing the oncoming train. No other injuries were reported. The accident impacted organisational morale and reputation, which was already affected by the falling rail reliability and increasing public criticism. Preliminary investigations revealed non-compliance with safety protocol as the cause of the accident, and this exacerbated the situation. The crisis management team sprang into action to mitigate the impact and support the Next of Kin (NoK) of the deceased. In the days following the accident, Desmond Kuek (DK), the President and Group CEO of SMRT, worked to restore confidence and clarity among the employees, besides comforting and supporting the NoK. While DK's energy was focused on promoting a culture of compliance with safety protocol and driving organisational change, his decision to terminate the assistant engineer and the train captain for breach of safety protocols was met with criticism from some factions of the public and employees.
The 'Stranded' game is an experiential platform to learn lessons on team leadership in a situational context based on sudden changes of events. It is modelled primarily upon variables associated with contingency theories of leadership. The setting is a future dystopian world where resources are scarce and different cities are at war with each other as they compete for resources. The player (the student) has to assume the role of a leader of a team now stranded in a desert because their vehicle in the form of a van is damaged. If not repaired quickly, they may be raided by their enemies, thus delaying or diminishing the hope of escape. The team comprises three males, Bastian, Daya, and Jiro, and one female, Jessa; all, including the leader, are strangers to each other. They all have different personality traits and respond differently to tasks and instruction. During the course of the game, the player (the student), has to discover the followers' personalities, assess the availability and limitation of resources, prioritise and assign tasks appropriately so that the van is repaired on time for them to escape from the dangerous situation. The daily tasks involve repairing the van, growing food, building a shelter and scavenging for resources, namely, provisions for food and materials to repair. Meanwhile, the camp must also be guarded from the enemies who would attack and raid the camp's food and materials. The game progresses in number of days. During the nights the leader interacts with the followers to gauge the energy, motivation and temperament of the team. The leader rations the provisions and motivates the followers. At the start of each day, the leader has to choose from three different leadership styles and assign task to the followers. When the Van is restored to 100% driving condition they all can escape to safety.