Beginning with an exploration of insurance player Ping An's evolution to contrast with HDFC ERGO's strategy adaptation to the Indian market, this case sheds light on HDFC ERGO's strategic shift towards a mindshare-centric ecosystem from its roots as a digitised insurance provider in India. The case starts with Ping An, which is perhaps the best-known successful example of an insurance-based multi-product (and multi-actor) ecosystem. It looks at Ping An's journey, emphasising its digital transformation, ecosystem expansions and technology integration. It then turns to HDFC ERGO, which aimed to create its own ecosystem, and considers the similarities and differences. Drawing parallels and contrasts with India's burgeoning startup ecosystem and the transformative India Stack, HDFC ERGO crafted unique strategic principles. It emphasised avoiding direct competition, offering tangential value, filling market voids and balancing mindshare with value. Utilising internal capabilities and market insights, HDFC ERGO focused on healthcare, leveraging data and digital infrastructure. The development of the 'Here' app exemplifies the company's strategic prowess, aligning healthcare solutions with customer preferences. The case illuminates HDFC ERGO's meticulous approach to tailoring an ecosystem strategy amid shifting market dynamics and technological landscapes, and shows how it built its multi-actor ecosystem in various verticals to support its multi-product ecosystem play. It showcases the company's adeptness in adapting strategies while embracing innovation, resonating with market needs to forge a unique path in the evolving digital insurance realm. This case study stands on its own, offering valuable lessons on strategic planning and execution in the rapidly evolving digital and consumer landscapes. However, when taught in conjunction with its sister case "HDFC ERGO: A product ecosystem built on mindshare" (LBS CS-24-009), students can gain a comprehensive understanding of both the macro-strategic vision and the micro-level steps that underpin HDFC ERGO's ecosystem approach. This complementary perspective enriches the learning experience, illustrating not just the 'why' and 'what' of HDFC ERGO's shift towards ecosystem building but also the 'how' of its implementation, which is what this case focuses on. This case sheds light on two sets of topics that are not covered in the previous case. First, it looks at the choices a firm needs to make as it builds an ecosystem: Which parts of it need to or should be built by itself?

Anuj Tyagi, Joint Managing Director of HDFC ERGO, is facing the challenge of transcending the traditional limitations of insurance interactions and establishing a significant presence in customers' minds beyond annual transactions. The case explores the context of the insurance industry in India before 2019, spans HDFC ERGO's history, exploring the impetus for digital transformation with an emphasis on "multi-product" ecosystems, the evolving regulatory landscape, market shifts, and the inception and strategies behind the Control N vertical - the spearhead of HDFC ERGO's digital innovation. The case delves into HDFC ERGO's pursuit of expanding its market presence beyond traditional insurance through an ecosystem play and illustrates one of the facets of industry convergence and the rise of digitally-enabled broad firms that span several sectors. The case focuses on Anuj, a key decision-maker in HDFC ERGO, as he is confronted with the need to enhance customer engagement (mindshare). The case then analyses HDFC ERGO's assessment of the healthcare and mobility sectors, examining opportunities for ecosystem expansion. This case can be taught independently or paired with its sister case, "From Ping An's inspiration to HDFC ERGO's journey: Building an insurance-based ecosystem" (CS-24-009) for a more in-depth analysis of the sequential steps HDFC ERGO took in this transformation. The present case focuses on the "what" and the linked case focuses on the "how".

This case study critically examines the evolution of the metaverse, interrogating its ascendancy, its perceived decline and the nascent indicators of its resurgence. Beginning with the concept's origins in science fiction, it tracks the metaverse's evolution through advancements in gaming and the growing interest of Big Tech, which saw potential in this convergence of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). The narrative captures the initial exuberance as investors and companies raced to stake their claim, buoyed by forecasts of a new era of digital interaction and economic activity. Looking at the nature of the sector and the ecosystems it fostered, the case considers what drove inflated expectations and subsequent market corrections. It explores the sobering challenges that faced the metaverse: technological limitations, user disillusionment and a harsh economic climate that eroded speculative investments. It discusses the strategic shifts by key players, from pursuit of domination to focused niches and smart partnerships, and the downsizing or redirection of metaverse initiatives in response to the market's reality checks. It also identifies emerging signs of vitality in the sector. It highlights how the integration of generative AI (GenAI) and targeted applications in gaming are rekindling interest, suggesting a potential pathway out of disillusionment. The case also provides the opportunity to track the emergence of multiple partly overlapping ecosystems and allows students to focus on the different roles and monetisation approaches that ecosystem participants take. It further allows us to see the upsides and downsides of more centralised ecosystems (like those driven by Big Tech) and more decentralised ecosystems (such as Web3) and consider how the ecosystem orchestrators try to leverage their strengths. The case can also be used to consider in what ways orchestrators benefit more broadly.