This case encapsulates the challenges faced by Jegan Damodaraswamy in extending the core competency of quality and customer service for the renowned Hotel Annapoorna, in Coimbatore, India. In addition, he had to figure out how to overcome the hurdles after his grandfather’s death and retain the organization’s legacy. Damodaraswamy was a third-generation entrepreneur who took over the business as chief executive officer in 2023. Since taking over, he has introduced many changes and instilled business ethics in the organization. The organization bloomed under his leadership. However, COVID-19 caused a slump in the organization. They were unable to employ a full staff, and sales plunged drastically. How would Annapoorna rebuild its brand and reposition itself? Would Damodaraswamy re-envision his grandfather’s aspirations and strengthen the brand value? Should he drive toward transforming the organization and redefining its vision? The case illustrates change management in an organization and the trade-off between expanding a sustainably profitable core competency and growth to its other verticals.
On June 5, 2023, the head of hospital administration and joint medical superintendent at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was contemplating his responsibility to the streams of outpatients that were coming from various parts of eastern India with hope and anxiety. Elderly, young, fragile, poor, and needy patients alike placed strong confidence in the professional excellence of medical practitioners at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, located in Odisha, India. The large medical institution, housing India’s top medical talent, offered high quality medical education and supported the health care needs of the country’s underserved population. However, the head of hospital administration wondered if the AIIMS goals should reflect the deep-rooted philosophy, objectives, and deliverables of the doctors. Should patient service be featured in the formally stated institutional goals that had been an integral part of the purpose of the medical fraternity at AIIMS? Could a shared vision be built and strengthened in the letter and spirit of this leading medical institution? Integrating shared values into the institution’s goals would require answering these questions.
The YouTube channel Digital Vidya Kendra (DVK) was launched by J. Singh in 2011 with a mission to develop future managers and researchers. However, the company soon encountered hurdles in its goal to fulfill its mission. DVK maintained a high level of quality in the content of its videos, but increasing the number of subscribers proved difficult. By November 2019, DVK had registered only 500 subscribers—half the minimum number needed to start earning money on YouTube. Its unique videos helped it to gain viewership from scholars, researchers, and academics. However, despite a potential for rapid global growth, DVK’s growth rate started dropping in 2020. Something needed to be done to save the company; therefore, Singh tasked his digital marketing team to conduct surveys and research, using 67 of the company’s videos, to investigate the issues and problems that had arisen. The DVK research team had to determine what information the numbers were revealing, what factors were affecting DVK’s performance, what demographics were affecting business performance, and how cost effective Google Ads were in terms of user traffic, revenue, and hours watched.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (Cognizant) was a multinational corporation that operated in the information technology (IT) services sector and provided consulting and business process outsourcing services to its clients. As the world fell into the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company faced a series of challenges, through 2020 and into the start of 2021, that rocketed its employee attrition rates to an all-time high while also affecting revenue. During early 2021, the company was faced with the herculean task of retaining employees in the face of uncertainty and an extremely competitive market, even if this meant putting a dent in the company’s cash reserves. Cognizant had to determine how to build a better employee value proposition and develop initiatives to both retain and regain employees. Were the measures it had taken sufficient? Amid the scare of the pandemic and the war raging in India for talent, would Cognizant need a more robust human resources (HR) plan? Would it need to improve its measures for promoting the well-being of employees? Was the company too focused on performance and the bottom line?