In January 2021, the founders of Meal’d, a lunch subscription service based in Kerala, India, were waiting in a cafe to meet with a potential new business partner. They took off their masks and recalled their first meeting in the same cafe, which had led to the beginning of Oru Pothichoru (later renamed Meal’d) in 2017. Now, three years later, their idea had prospered; however, it had reached a standstill with the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The operations of the company had stopped completely in August 2020, and since then, the founders had been struggling to pay employee salaries. Prior to the pandemic, they had been on the verge of obtaining a sizable investment to expand into cities in neighbouring states. But with the recent drastic changes in the business ecosystem, they simply needed money to stay afloat. The founders had been deliberating over the possible alternatives for survival to pitch to the potential partner. Were they back to square one, or could they sustain the brand?
We frequently engage in actions that facilitate the formation of new social connections, both in our personal and professional lives, and we say that having a strong network is important for success, but we do not really think about what that means. What qualities does a useful network have? How can someone build a stronger network? The purpose of the Social Network Inventory exercise is to help students think about these issues by guiding them through a network “health” check to identify their network’s strengths, weaknesses, approaches, and gaps.
In April 2022, the founder of Camncloud, a pioneer in surveillance service based in New Delhi, India, was facing a dilemma about hiring a potential candidate for his new venture. Camncloud offered an end-to-end remote streaming service targeted primarily at preschools. The company’s founder wanted to use his electronics background to carve a niche segment in India’s competitive technology market, but needed help in achieving that goal. Specifically, he was hoping to build a loyal, dynamic, and committed team of high-level experts who faced difficulty in paying competitive salaries to a potential workforce of candidates that were in high demand, with constant offers from competitors. After the early departure of all three of his employees, he was being more cautious in choosing new team members who would be more committed than the previous team. However, while in the process of offering a position to a highly recommended new candidate, he encountered a roadblock. How could he resolve this difficult recruiting dilemma?
In July 2016, Community Sponsorship Organization opened a retail outlet in Kochi, Kerala, India, called Aditya—The Solar Shop, which sold energy-saving and solar-powered products. The shop was opened with the support of the Indian government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for a limited period of two years. After that time, the shop would have to find its own means for sustainability. The shop helped support the local community by operating as a commercial business. However, Aditya—The Solar Shop was facing several business operation challenges, including reaching an agreement with manufacturers of solar systems on quota allocation, increasing sales at the shop, and determining how to provide after-sales support to customers.
The backwaters of Vembanad, in Kerala, India, were a renowned tourist attraction, known for their beautiful waters, schools of fish, and the people who lived along the shores. However, the exploitation of resources had taken a toll on the lake and its ecosystem. Pollution and the decline of the rich fish population had left the community impoverished. In 2008, the non-profit social enterprise Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) had launched an innovative educational and self-regulatory program that had begun to improve the ecosystem. However, by 2018, the resurgence of the fish population had also attracted a fisheries-based food company that wanted to begin processing and exporting fish caught in Vembanad. The immediate employment benefits were attractive to the impoverished local fishers, but the long-term consequences for the region and its community were severe. How should ATREE respond to this pending crisis? Should ATREE use incoming money for immediate relief for Vembanad’s stakeholders or should it use the money for long-term benefit by focusing on further conservation efforts?
In January 2017, the online cake company Ohmycake.in, which was started two years earlier by a young entrepreneur in Kerala, India, ran into trouble after a series of successful experiments. Adding to the company’s problems, customers were becoming more demanding and the competition was catching up. The entrepreneur had hired a new operations executive to help solve the company’s business strategy and scalability issues, including a current problem: whether to accept or reject demanding custom orders that were appearing in the company’s online order management system.