In 2024, the managing director of a pharma company faced an ethical dilemma after being informed that a senior manager had falsified her resumé and manipulated the reference check process when she applied for her position three and a half years before. After first denying all allegations, the senior manager eventually confessed. However, her pregnancy may have complicated the situation for the company. Given that the company had planned to promote her, would firing her be appropriate? Dismissing her could jeopardize the company’s relationship with major customers and five orders totalling over $20 million. Under these circumstances, how can the company balance its core values with potential business impacts and sensitivity for the manager’s well-being?
In May 2024, the National Company Law Tribunal of India approved the merger of Star India Private Limited (Star India) and Viacom18 Media Private Limited (Viacom18). Star India was a broadcasting service owned by The Walt Disney Company and Viacom18 was a media company owned by Reliance Industries Limited. The two companies had been working on an agreement to merge the two media and entertainment businesses since December 2023. A new subsidiary of Viacom18 was planned to integrate Star India with an immediate capital investment of US$1–1.5 billion. Facing financial challenges, Viacom18 and Star India saw this merger as a strategic solution to enhance competitiveness and address profit declines. However, questions about regulatory challenges and potential changes in content and service offerings had to be addressed before the deal to be finalized.
In January 2022, Maha Research Labs Private Limited (MRL) needed to boost its sales force effectiveness (SFE). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MRL experienced losses in sales revenue and saw dwindling profits through 2020 and 2021. The pandemic had changed the sales ecosystem of the pharmaceutical industry, with many physicians and retailers now preferring online sales presentations. MRL’s managing director was concerned about the increased marketing and selling expenses that were affecting the company’s profitability, and he had identified gaps in the company’s sales process, performance, and SFE. The managing director proposed investing ₹40 million for the implementation of an SFE program, and he had one week to convince his team that this investment would create a smarter, more efficient sales force, restrain operating costs, and generate much-needed profitability for MRL.
In October 2020, the managing director of Laurs & Bridz Pharmaceuticals Private Limited was considering changing the company’s sales strategy to reflect the challenges that India’s pharmaceutical industry was facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was also considering launching a new antiviral drug. The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted many routine sales practices, such as in-person meetings with customers, and had also affected drug distribution. Consequently, the sales team had managed to achieve only 87.4 per cent of its sales targets in the first three quarters, with a mere 9.3 per cent growth over the previous year against a targeted growth rate of 25.1 per cent. The managing director had to consider all factors affecting his company’s sales performance during the COVID-19 crisis. What strategies could he devise to motivate sales managers and representatives facing uneven growth across different zones? Should he revise sales targets this late in the year? What were the pros and cons of launching a new product during these times of market uncertainty?
In January 2020, Jai Prakash Chaubey, the managing director of Sarva Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (Sarva), needed to decide whether or not to accept a proposal from Gursim Pharmaceutical Limited (Gursim) to market some of Sarva’s products in Cambodia. Sarva had been performing well; however, the company’s profitability in Cambodia was minimal. Should Chaubey accept Gursim’s offer? Or should he hire a new country head who could drive the sales in the country and motivate the sales team for better results? Other options included restructuring Sarva’s product portfolio or shutting down the company’s marketing arm to focus solely on distribution. What strategies should he adopt to turn around his company's performance, strengthen its presence in Cambodia, and remain on course to achieve the company’s target for 2020?
Brewing Peace was a company based in the Philippines that sold coffee beans. Despite having a base of 80 customers, 70 per cent of its business depended on 9 key accounts; this included its biggest buyer, Concepcion Coffee Enterprises Limited (CCEL), which accounted for 20 per cent of Brewing Peace’s revenues. After a ₱30 million order from CCEL with a profit margin of less than 20 per cent, a payment period of 90 days, and a short delivery time, the co-founder of Brewing Peace was forced to review its relationship with its biggest client. The dilemma facing Brewing Peace was that it could not accept this order on CCEL’s terms without jeopardizing the company’s payment terms with its vendors and affecting the supply for orders, worth ₱25 million, to its other customers.
In December 2018, Hindustan Unilever Limited announced that it would buy out GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Consumer Healthcare Ltd. India business, which included popular brands such as Horlicks, Boost, and Viva. With Horlicks in its portfolio, Hindustan Unilever Limited expected to gain market share, draw synergies from individual strengths, and gain access to a larger consumer base. However, India’s health food drink category had registered only single-digit growth in 2017. Its primary target audience of parents, physicians, and nutritionists had concerns regarding the side effects of sugar as a key ingredient in beverages such as Horlicks. With consumer focus shifting to healthier, preservative-free alternatives, among other issues, Hindustan Unilever Limited was faced with a challenge: how could it build on Horlicks’s brand equity to sustain its leadership position in the disrupting health food drink market, leverage its leadership position to grow the company in this segment, and take that growth to double digits?
In May 2018, B9 Beverages Private Limited (B9 Beverages), the owner of craft beer Bira 91, reached a total of over US$100 million in funding after receiving $50 million from Sofina SA, a Belgian investment firm. This third round of funding would allow the company to meet the various objectives that the founder and chief executive officer had planned for the company’s new Bira 91. He wanted his India business to break even by 2019 and expand fivefold over the next three years. He also wanted to establish a leadership position in the Indian premium beer market. The company also planned to launch Bira 91 as a public company through an initial public offering within the next few years. His long-term goal was to make Bira 91 a product rooted in India, as well as a global leader in craft beer. As the market and competition continued to grow, B9 Beverages had to develop a strategy to differentiate Bira 91 in the crowded global beer market.
In the fall of 2017, Ajanta Packaging (Ajanta) was among the fastest growing glass bottle-packaging companies in India. Although the company had a large buyer base of 1,700 customers, it still earned around 50 per cent of its business from 10 key accounts, including its biggest buyer, S.F. Foods (SF), which accounted for 15 per cent of Ajanta’s revenue. The position of privilege enjoyed by SF became a cause of concern for a director at Ajanta because of the client’s unrealistic demands. After a $25 million order from SF with a profit margin of less than 7 per cent, a payment period of 60 days, and a very short turnaround time, the director was forced to review his relationship with his company’s biggest client, and to decide whether to accept the order on SF’s terms, or renegotiate the price, payment terms, and delivery schedule to benefit Ajanta.