In 2017, Yosha Gupta established MeMeraki Retail and Tech Private Limited (MeMeraki) with the ambitious goal of digitizing the 3,000-plus art forms produced in India. She intended to create online and off-line experiences and products for consumers and create sustainable livelihoods for traditional artisans using technology as a differentiator. However, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the business presented Gupta with pressing dilemmas. One such challenge was how to articulate the ethical and fair pricing of art products to customers, particularly when similar art forms were available to customers on other websites at a variety of price ranges. Another critical concern was dissuading artists from disintermediating MeMeraki by bypassing the company and selling directly to the customers they had become acquainted with through the company. The challenge also extended to how to communicate the Indian ethos and culture to a global audience.
Fastech Fashions Private Ltd. was founded in Rourkela, India in 2017 with the goal to elevate the livelihoods of traditional Odia weavers. By 2022 the company had experienced notable success, focusing on T-shirts, school uniforms, traditional handicraft products, professional attire, and athleisure. However, tension between the investors and one of the owners grew when the owner's commitment to reinvesting in weavers for broader societal impact interfered with the company's profits. Balancing profitability and philanthropy became a critical challenge. The emotional and logical complexities of decision-making had to be made while under constant pressure from investors. Strategic choices needed to be considered, as well as the delicate balance between business success and social impact.
Origo Commodities Indian Pvt. Ltd. (Origo) had grown to achieve revenue of US$40 million in just a decade, making it one of the leading players in India’s agricultural commodity sector. The co-founders had explored various avenues to accelerate growth but had repeatedly encountered employees’ discomfort with implementing technology. By 2020, with emerging competition, growing investor interest, and the movement of government processes to online platforms, they needed to take tough decisions now to grow further. Would restructuring the organization and hiring technology-proficient replacements be their only option? Since the employees had been with Origo since its inception, replacing them would be an agonizing decision. The founders had to decide what to do and how to do it before their investors’ meeting in four weeks.
In 2016, BlewMinds Consulting LLP was launched as a storytelling consulting start-up with the vision of touching and transforming five billion lives by 2030. One of the two co-founders was already well-known on the LinkedIn social network platform, with more than 600,000 followers. He was also recognized as one of the 25 Top Voices in India by LinkedIn for 2019. The company transformed 725,000 lives directly and 200 million readers indirectly through social media stories, one-on-one training, group coaching sessions, webinars, and speaking engagements, driven mainly by the co-founder’s extensive LinkedIn follower base. However, to realize the company’s vision, several questions remained: How could the co-founders create a community of storytellers within the organization who could effectively establish trust through communication and contribute collectively to the company’s growth? How could they engage a wider audience by effectively leveraging the co-founder’s strategic influencer communication on social media? Should the company continue its bootstrapped business model or should investors be sought?
In May 2018, US-based multinational retail giant Walmart Inc. (Walmart) took control of India’s biggest e-commerce platform Flipkart Internet Private Ltd. (Flipkart). Despite being the industry leader, Flipkart had been continuously losing market share to Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) and was looking for support from a deep-pocketed investor. This created an opportunity for Walmart to enter the Indian e-commerce industry, bypassing regulations governing foreign direct investments. However, the unprecedented growth of Amazon, new foreign direct investment rules in India, Reliance Industries Ltd.’s entry into e-commerce, and challenges due to COVID-19 all created unexpected turbulence for the new partners. How would the Walmart–Flipkart duo overcome these challenges? Would Walmart divest its investment in Flipkart and end its aspirations to become one of the largest e-commerce companies in India? Or would the duo overcome these challenges together and emerge as winners?
On June 21, 2019, the human resources director at Renaissance Packaging and Manufacturing Ltd., in Nagpur, India, was feeling a considerable amount of stress. As the presiding officer of the company’s internal complaints committee, she was tasked with handling a sexual harassment complaint filed by the company’s chief engineer at the plant. In her complaint, the chief engineer accused the production manager, her superior, of sexual harassment. The internal complaints committee had to make an unbiased decision based on the specific details provided in the complaint. However, the human resources director worried that the situation raised underlying cultural issues at the plant, including a lack of awareness and sensitivity regarding interactions among male and female employees. How could the internal complaints committee resolve the complaint without creating hostility between the two co-workers and other employees? What kinds of organizational changes could help the company address sexual harassment in the workplace? What could the human resources director do to promote a positive and welcoming attitude toward female employees at the plant, especially women in leadership positions?
Jugnoo started its journey in 2014 as an autorickshaw aggregator providing ride-hailing services in India. Since then, the brand had grown and expanded to include hyperlocal services and business solutions. By May 2018, Jugnoo had five services under its umbrella that were offered primarily through applications and covered both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets. Jugnoo found itself in a very different market space from where it had started. A company co-founder wondered how Jugnoo would continue to sustain its strategy of disrupting traditional markets, given the fast-paced growth it was experiencing. How would it manage to build consumers' trust with such diverse business verticals and so much reliance on technology? With the company's growing numbers and opportunities, the co-founder wondered whether Jugnoo's use of word-of-mouth communication would continue to be possible, especially considering the aggressive communication tactics adopted by other players in the market.
In 2017, Gemini Edibles and Fats India Private Limited (GEF India), a Hyderabad-based company, was in the business of trading, manufacturing, and marketing edible oils and fats. In the eight years since it was founded, GEF India had become the top-selling edible oil company across South India with a 40 per cent market share. The company wanted to double its current revenues by 2021, which would place it in competition with national producers. Consumption of edible oil in India was increasing, and domestic production was not meeting demand. GEF India wanted to capitalize on the opportunity, but the revenue targets indicated no ordinary increase. What should its growth strategy be? Was there a need to revisit its marketing communication strategy in order to strengthen its brand amid increasing competition? From an organizational perspective, did the growth challenge require a shift in the company’s culture or internal communication strategy?
In 2007, when Tata Steel (Tata) bought the Anglo-Dutch steel maker, Corus Group plc (Corus), it was a moment of great promise for India’s growing steel industry. At almost 10 times the size of Tata, Corus was a company of enormous scale. The importance of that scale was reflected in Tata’s need to raise the price of its original offer by a premium of 34 per cent. Tata’s aim was to become a formidable force in the world steel industry. It stood to gain global market exposure, research and development, and technology, while Corus stood to gain cheap raw materials and access to emerging economies. However, negative indicators and market concerns by analysts eventually proved true on March 30, 2016, when Tata announced its decision to sell some units of its U.K. operations. When Brexit occurred in June 2016, confusion grew and Tata’s plans for a future sale of U.K. assets seemed in jeopardy. The removal of the chairman of Tata further added to the woes of Tata Steel Europe. How would the new leadership, after a major failure, bring about changes toward a better future?
Several experts had drawn attention to a peculiar problem existing in public-sector banks in India. There seemed to be two distinct generations: experienced employees who would be superannuated in the next four to five years; and newer employees who had come on board in the last four to five years. Though these young employees were academically sound, they lacked competence acquired through experience and thus were hesitant in taking on responsibilities. The older generation was slowly withdrawing. Management at Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) knew that in order to improve motivation and encourage higher productivity, the company had to trigger change and transform the mindsets of its employees.<br><br>Harnessing the energies of young members of the marketing team, IOB ran a unique campaign involving all employees called Rang De Basanti. Initial results were encouraging. However, two problems continued to arise: the underperformance of one particular region and the problem of keeping up the momentum and sustaining the change.