magicpin was a multisided platform that enabled users to discover online and offline offers from merchants and brands through the magicpin app, and to earn rewards and cashback. magicpin facilitated an increase in the sales of partner merchants and brands by diverting consumer traffic, and was paid by the merchants and brands if performance guarantees on an increase in sales were achieved. In its "mission to make hyperlocal magical," magicpin introduced a "phygital" service that enabled users to browse online offers from local offline merchants, check the availability of the merchandise in nearby stores, pay using magicpoints, and pick up the product from the store or have it delivered home. As the company sought to attract users that valued the shopping experience rather than deals, Anshoo Sharma, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of magicpin, was considering releasing a "manifesto" that explained the distinctiveness of magicpin's offering and reinforced its mission.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) handles all online and mobile ticketing for the Indian Railways, the largest passenger carrier in the world, with an annual footfall of more than 8 billion. The IRCTC wished to monetise its data assets and floated a tender in July 2022 to engage a consultant for its data monetisation initiative. The tender faced severe backlash on social media from the lay public as well as privacy rights advocates, and invited the scrutiny of a Parliamentary Committee of the Government of India. Faced with this opposition, the IRCTC recalled the tender. This case allows students to analyse if there is value to IRCTC's data monetisation project and, if so, for which stakeholders. Should the tender be redesigned or should the IRCTC or Indian Railways do this exercise internally? Can data monetisation coexist with data privacy of stakeholders or should this project be abandoned? Would a tender for hiring a consultant for data analytics have seen as much resistance? The case highlights the importance of a tender document to be seen as a medium of communication for the lay public and not just as a commercial document for vendors.
In 2022, Berger Paints Ltd. (Berger) was one of the leading paint manufacturing companies in India. Despite the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic affecting businesses worldwide, Berger had reported promising revenue and profit figures and indicated strong growth potential for the future. With modest beginnings in 1923, Berger was able to grow to become the second largest paint manufacturer in the country by the 21st century. However, the gap between Berger and the market share leader was still sizable, since the leader also was growing equally. Additionally, defending the second spot (especially in decorative paints) was not easy as the expectation of revival in the housing sector and popular sentiment post pandemic had buoyed many corporate giants including Aditya Birla Group and Jindal group to plunge into the paint market. The competition in the decorative segment was soon to become more intense. Berger needed to choose the right opportunities, and prioritise investments and efforts to continue growing rapidly, while also defending against new entrants. Abhijit Roy, Berger's MD & CEO, wondered where Berger should focus on in the next five years.
Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah co-founded Zomato as a food discovery platform that listed menus from restaurants in the Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR). Zomato quickly gained popularity and expanded its services to multiple cities in India and abroad. In 2015, Zomato shifted its focus from providing only restaurant discovery services to exploring new business initiatives. One such initiative was Zomaland, which was conceptualised as a food carnival that combined three elements-fun activities, lip-smacking food and entertainment. Zomato organised two seasons of Zomaland in various cities and formats in 2019 and 2020. However, because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was forced to suspend Zomaland operations. As the economy gradually returned to normal in 2022, Zomato had to reappraise the future of Zomaland and its synergy with other services offered by Zomato.
MyGate started its journey in 2016 as a gate management system for gated societies but soon evolved into a multi-sided platform offering solutions to the residents' day-to-day needs via the company's mobile application. Residents could approve entry and exit of visitors, search for local service providers like maids, carpenters, plumbers, etc., purchase groceries and a variety of FMCG and consumer durables, engage in group buying, list their properties for sale or rent and engage in peer-to-peer trade. The case highlights the challenges faced by co-founders in balancing the different expectations of stakeholders. As a gate management software, MyGate needed to balance between the security of the residents and the convenience of residents, visitors and service providers. As a communication medium for brands to reach consumers, MyGate needed to balance the frequency and placement of advertisements so that residents would not be irritated while the platform earned revenue for enabling the brands to reach target segments in specific locations. As a gatekeeper, MyGate needed to balance the privacy requirements of residents and the wish of brands to craft more meaningful messages for their target segments. In January 2022, MyGate was yet to turn profitable and needed to balance the objectives of monetisation and expansion of product offerings' geographic footprint. At the core of these dilemmas was the need to balance the current and future profits of a startup which relied on investor funds for survival.
Aravind Eye Care System (AECS) exploited economies of scale to offer affordable eye care for masses, with a mission to eliminate needless blindness. Over the years, AECS had built a strong organisational culture based on compassion and service. The organisation had made its first foray into large metro cities by establishing a presence in Chennai in 2017 and was gradually scaling up when the Covid-19 pandemic erupted globally in March 2020. The precipitous decline in patient volume triggered questions on the survival of the business model, which was dependent on high volumes. The case details various challenges faced by AECS and the responses of the leadership team during the March-July 2020 period. The pandemic jeopardised the delivery of eye care to patients in need; challenged organisational sustainability owing to dwindling volumes; and affected the morale of employees, who were afraid of contracting Covid-19. As eye camps were not being organised due to lockdown restrictions, vulnerable patients-economically disadvantaged people and older adults-were at risk of blindness; this risk was exacerbated by the postponement of surgery and fears of contracting Covid-19. Fear turned into panic among doctors, nurses and staff when two nurses at Aravind Eye Hospital Chennai tested positive for Covid-19. To tide over the crisis, Dr S. Aravind, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Aravind-Chennai, had to return to the roots of the organisation and reinforce its culture. The Covid-19 pandemic had exposed hidden fault lines in society and shortcomings of the efficiency-oriented business model of AECS. Dr Aravind had to determine ways to reduce the fragility and build resilience in the organisation.
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns, the management team at digital-first, Indian cosmetics brand SUGAR is deliberating over ways to respond to the new development in its influencer strategy. SUGAR grew into an INR 100-crore brand digitally by delivering content that was relevant to its young, urban customers in India through its Instagram page. Micro- and nano-influencers played a significant role in building its follower base of 1 million people. SUGAR was hungry for more. With the aim of becoming an INR 1,000-crore brand, the cosmetics firm began to expand its physical presence and grow in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. As the team planned this expansion, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the associated lockdown, a measure to slow down the spread of the disease, relegated everyone indoors. Unexpectedly, SUGAR's beauty advisers transformed into employee influencers, attracting customers from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India, while bringing in revenue through digital sales even when physical stores were shut. The company recognised using employee influencers as an opportunity to get new customers. However, the management team pondered over several questions. Did SUGAR have the resources to develop its employees as influencers? How would retailers respond if their sales employees focussed on online sales while manning physical counters? Would development of employee influencers dilute their existing influencer plan? The company had to also decide whether it would grow by focussing on traditional media and channels or by expanding its digital influencer plan.
This case describes the entrepreneurial journey of two college friends - Anchal Taatya and Abhiram Nukalapati. While studying at IIM Ahmedabad, they saw an opportunity for aggregating credit card discounts and launched a pilot in February 2019 under the name Circles. Circles helped discount seekers and credit card holders to connect and make transactions. Case A outlines their journey until the launch, where they faced the dilemma of choosing between a B2B and a B2C business model. Case B outlines their struggles in launching a B2C product and eventual shutdown of the venture. The key objective of this case is to understand the business formation stage of a college start-up, and how they arrived at opportunity identification. The case is aimed at enabling classroom discussions on the role of trust in platform businesses and how regulations - or lack thereof - can shape the destiny of new ventures.
This case describes the entrepreneurial journey of two college friends - Anchal Taatya and Abhiram Nukalapati. While studying at IIM Ahmedabad, they saw an opportunity for aggregating credit card discounts and launched a pilot in February 2019 under the name Circles. Circles helped discount seekers and credit card holders to connect and make transactions. Case A outlines their journey until the launch, where they faced the dilemma of choosing between a B2B and a B2C business model. Case B outlines their struggles in launching a B2C product and eventual shutdown of the venture. The key objective of this case is to understand the business formation stage of a college start-up, and how they arrived at opportunity identification. The case is aimed at enabling classroom discussions on the role of trust in platform businesses and how regulations - or lack thereof - can shape the destiny of new ventures.
Neons Fashion LLP was the entrepreneurial venture of Arthi Ramalingam after she completed her MBA. Arthi had been interested in jewellery since childhood and decided to focus on the design, manufacturing and retailing of fashion and costume jewellery items under the brand name of Eternz through different sales channels like exhibitions, retail stores, own website and as an independent seller on e-commerce marketplaces. She initially started selling on Amazon marketplace through a third party, Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd and later sold through other e-commerce marketplace operators like Flipkart, Jabong and FirstCry. As her business grew, Arthi planned to add the kids' shoes category and decided to participate in the Bangalore Fashion Week to build the Eternz brand. However, in November 2016, Cloudtail terminated her contract, which played havoc with the sales and profitability of her start-up. Neons Fashion LLP (B) describes the events after the Bangalore Fashion Week that ultimately led to the closure of business.
Neons Fashion LLP was the entrepreneurial venture of Arthi Ramalingam after she completed her MBA. Arthi had been interested in jewellery since childhood and decided to focus on the design, manufacturing and retailing of fashion and costume jewellery items under the brand name of Eternz through different sales channels like exhibitions, retail stores, own website and as an independent seller on e-commerce marketplaces. She initially started selling on Amazon marketplace through a third party, Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd and later sold through other e-commerce marketplace operators like Flipkart, Jabong and FirstCry. As her business grew, Arthi planned to add the kids' shoes category and decided to participate in the Bangalore Fashion Week to build the Eternz brand. However, in November 2016, Cloudtail terminated her contract, which played havoc with the sales and profitability of her start-up. Neons Fashion LLP (A) provides details of how independent sellers are at the mercy of marketplace operators and ends with the need to review the choices of sales channels for different categories like fashion garments and fashion accessories and for the upcoming launch of kids' shoes.
The case describes the growth trajectory of Vodafone Gujarat, one of the most successful circles of Vodafone India. Successive leaders of Vodafone Gujarat followed a highly entrepreneurial approach for building a market leadership position in urban and rural markets. The case provides a detailed description of how to execute growth strategies in the telecom sector, especially by designing a decentralized distribution structure, cementing first-mover advantage through trust, customizing products and services, and integrating with network rollout. The context of the rural market and bottom of pyramid customer segments makes this case relevant to other emerging economies.
In mid-2014, revenue market share of Vodafone Gujarat declined slightly ending decades of consistent growth. The cirlce had emerged as the market leader against some stiff competition from other leading players, viz. Airtel and Idea in one of key circles- Gujarat- in western India. Successive leaders had followed growth principles of superior network coverage, customer centricity, and innovation. The aggressive entrepreneurial approach was supported by autonomous structure. The new head of circle had the onerous task of arresting the decline and reviving local team.
UrbanClap is a marketplace for on-demand services available through a smartphone app. It was established in October 2014 to bring the unorganised sector workforce into the mainstream using the power of technology. Initially, UrbanClap-developed as a horizontal marketplace-faced intense competition from existing and new players operating in the hyperlocal service space. It competed in the on-demand service marketplace by categorising its services into a lead-generation business (connecting the customer with the service provider and charging a fee for matchmaking) and a fulfilment business (taking end-to-end responsibility for service delivery quality). After three and a half years of operations, UrbanClap's co-founders wondered whether they should close the lead-generation business and focus on the fulfilment business.
Razorpay is one of the leading Indian business-to-business (B2B) payment solution providers. Its growth has been based on its technological leadership and service differentiation. While it has worked in a matured market so far, the company has recognised the need to enhance its business model and service offerings. It intends to reduce its dependence on its core payment gateway by launching multiple products covering payment processing and disbursement. It also plans to move to a more platform-centric business model by launching a digital lending marketplace. The case provides details for discussing the challenges involved in transforming the product and market strategy of Razorpay in an evolving B2B payment market.
The Indian digital payment market was estimated to grow to around USD 700 billion - USD 1 trillion by 2022. A number of players had entered the market to challenge Paytm which aimed to maintain its prominent position in the Indian mobile wallet space. To increase its user base and use-cases, Paytm introduced the Lucky Lifafa campaign to provide Indian users a novel way of sending money as a gift. The campaign bore similarities to the Red Envelope campaign used by WeChat to garner a wide user base in Chine. In spite of gift-giving being an integral part of Indian culture, the acceptance of Lucky Lifafa among Indian users was significantly different from that of the Red Envelope among Chinese users. The case describes the Lucky Lifafa campaign and the context in which it was executed, thus highlighting the differences in the way gifts are given in Chinese and Indian societies. Additionally, the case also provides details of existing and upcoming players in the mobile wallet market space in India.
BloombergQuint (BQ) was started as a collaboration between Quintillion Media (QM) and Bloomberg in April 2016. In the competitive landscape of business news broadcasters in India, it started by providing stock updates, financial sector news and opinion articles on financial issues on its website. BQ later expended by providing video content in September 2017. It had applied for a television broadcasting license and awaited approval from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The lack of a suitable television channel obligated BQ to use alternate distribution channels for ensuring that its content reached a wider audience. One of the alternate channels used by Ankit Dikshit, Manager, Digital Marketing, at BQ, was WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app widely used in India. This case explains the process whereby BQ grew its user base through WhatsApp. Growth by WhatsApp has led to Anil Uniyal, the CEO of BQ, setting ambitious targets for Dikshit. Class participants have to guide Dikshit on the way forward for BQ.
The three cases (Case A: JSW Steel's Ispat Acquisition: The Opportunity; Case B: JSW Steel's Ispat Acqusition: The Setback & Case C: JSW Steel's Ispat Acquisition: The Turnaround Strategy) describe the business situation leading to acquisition of Ispat by JSW, the acquirer company's failure to realize synergies post-acquisition, and the subsequent turnaround initiatives to salvage the situation. In 2010, JSW Steel, a 14 mtpa Indian steel company acquired Ispat Steel with annual production capacity of 3 mtpa. The acquisition was part of JSW's multipronged strategy to realize its aspiration of being a 40 mtpa firm. At the time of acquisition, Ispat had huge debts, a long pipeline of unfinished projects, high production costs and unpredictable cash flows. Its main plant, Dolvi was shutdown for 45 days. However, the plant also had numerous advantages. It was located near the seashore and was technologically very advanced. Case A describes the events leading to acquisition of Ispat by JSW. It captures the facts, opinions and inferences around the acquisition decision, which were used as inputs in the due diligence process to assess synergies between JSW and Ispat. The case describes the economic, competitive, and industry factors prevailing in 2010 when JSW was thinking of acquiring Ispat.