"This case is set in December 2006 when the management at Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL) was faced with the critical decision of whether to pursue a strategic partnership with Optical Media and Technology (OM&T) and what form such a partnership should take. MBIL was India's largest and the world's third largest optical storage media manufacturer with a presence in over 82 countries, serviced through marketing offices in India, the United States and Europe. In 2006, MBIL had also entered the photovoltaic (PV) cells industry and aimed to succeed in this new business by leveraging its core process strength in "coating thin films on substrates". OM&T was based in a high technology cluster in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and was known in the industry for its contribution to prototyping, standardization and pilot production of advanced optical disc formats such as Digital Versatile/ Video Disc (DVD) and Blue Laser Discs (Blu-ray discs). For the MBIL management team, all the options were on the table -- a licensing arrangement, a strategic alliance by taking an equity stake in the company or a complete acquisition of the company. After careful evaluation, they had to choose the most appropriate option and arrive at a decision."

Manish Bhardwaj, co-founder of Innovators in Health, is contemplating setting up Aahan, a community based tuberculosis (TB) control program in rural India. The case describes TB diagnosis and treatment in the public and private healthcare sectors in India and the attendant challenges. A number of candidate interventions aimed at improving the existing system of healthcare delivery are presented at the end of the case, each one of which could form the core of Aahan. Students are encouraged to use operations management principles to quantify the potential public health benefits and costs of these interventions and prioritize them accordingly. Key concepts include process flow mapping, flow balance, Little's Law and selection of appropriate process measures based on the strategic objective of the process.

Spreadsheet Supplement for ISB013