The case is set in 2015, when DBS Bank applied to the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a locally incorporated subsidiary under the wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) scheme. DBS had a presence in India since 1995 and had grown to become the fifth largest foreign bank by assets. Upbeat about the growth prospects, it was the first foreign bank to apply for the conversion from branch operation to WOS. The scheme would extend near-equal treatment to locally-incorporated foreign banks as with national banks, and it aimed to incentivise them to scale up their operations in return for opening new branches in under-banked and unbanked cities and issuing credit to companies categorised under the priority lending sectors. However, the past year had been challenging for DBS India. Its profitability had taken a hit as bad loans rose more than four-fold, climbing to the top of the list among all private banks in India. The bad debts were primarily due to delayed servicing of loans by construction companies, which were granted credit during a previous period of aggressive lending. The case discusses the opportunities and challenges the WOS brings to DBS India, leading to its final decision to apply for the scheme.

Supplement to case SMU413. This case is a two-part series on the value of faculty teaching forums and peer coaching programmes in resolving conflicting pedagogical philosophies. Case A is set in September 2009, shortly after James Nelson, assistant professor at Singapore Management University sought guidance from practice associate professor Harry Denon on the issue of declining student ratings of his teaching performance. Den then observes Nelson's lectures, and has in-depth discussions with him on his teaching style. The discussions prove very helpful to Nelson, who is now able to decide how he should approach his class and to what extent he needs to alter his teaching approach. The case looks at the value of feedback received by faculty through various lenses: students, peer and self-reflection. It is highly suitable for faculty development and executive education courses that cover different pedagogical philosophies and the effectiveness of student appraisal processes. In Case B, Nelson reflects on his peer coaching experience and how his thought process has evolved through the course of the coaching programme. He also describes some of the changes he made in his instructional strategy and course assessment methods, and reveals how he has refined his teaching philosophy.

In March 2013, Zalora, a leading online fashion retailer in Asia-Pacific, had diversified it sales channels by launching the Zalora mobile app. Almost three years on, Tito Costa, the Managing Director of Zalora, is faced with some hard-hitting questions, specifically in relation to where he should focus the company's future investments. Although the mobile app was an important channel to draw in customers, conversion rates and retention needed improvement. Tito knew that the question was not whether to have a mobile app or not, it was about getting the best value from it. What investments and incentives were needed to create a large and growing set of loyal customers who would see the Zalora as their go-to app for all their fashion needs? Did Zalora have the resources to execute these plans? And, importantly, would these investments be worthwhile?

The case describes how Uber, the mobile ride hailing service provider, made an entry into China in July 2014 and, after facing stiff competition from local players, was forced to sell its stake and exit the country two years later. Prior to Uber's entry, China's major players, Didi and Kuaidi, had been competing fiercely to attract both riders and drivers by offering steep discounts and subsidies. To compete with the two local players, Uber established a strategic partnership with Baidu, one of China's largest Internet companies. Shortly after, Didi and Kuaidi merged to form a formidable, monopolistic competitor against Uber, controlling almost 95% of the ride hailing business. Uber's future in China appeared bleak. It had been losing over US$1 billion a year in China since its entry into the market. Faced with such stiff competition and recurring loses, Uber sold its stake and exited China in August 2016. Now Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, would have to assess what went wrong, what could have been done differently, and what should be the next steps for expanding and increasing Uber's market share in Asia.

This case is set in November 2012, when Olam International, a Singapore-based agricultural supply chain company, was in the midst of a reputational crisis. An analyst firm had shorted Olam's stock and raised red flags about the company's solvency and accounting practices. A poster boy for Singapore's leading businesses, Olam was a highly respected company in Singapore and within the commodity industry. Sunny Verghese, Co-founder, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Olam, had seen the company grow from a small exporter of cashews in Nigeria in 1989 to a multi-billion dollar business managing the global supply chains of more than 20 products across 65 countries. Verghese himself was known for his passion and zeal to see the company expand and perform. But equally, his 18,000 employees admired him for his humility and integrity, and for developing a cohesive culture throughout the organisation that combined ambition and ownership with mutual respect and teamwork. Olam had always prided itself in inculcating a culture of listening, learning and changing for the better. For Verghese, the priority was to win back the confidence and trust of his stakeholders. He came to realise that he had to use the company's culture of humility - and lead by example - to come out of what had evolved to be the worst crisis in the company's 23-year existence. It was time to think clearly, understand where Olam had gone wrong, and recalibrate the strategies for the future.

The BreadTalk Group was a leading Singapore-based bakery and restaurant chain, consisting of eight different brands that were sold across 15 countries in Asia. In a span of 12 years, it had become a premier lifestyle bakery brand in Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East, as well as a cherished household name in its native Singapore. BreadTalk prided itself on having a culture of "creative differentiation". The company strived to stay "fresh" by continuously changing and adapting to consumer demand; and "relevant" by offering localised and customised products to its customers. Although the company could boast of many past successes, there were new challenges ahead. With the number of new players growing rapidly, the marketplace was becoming increasingly competitive. New markets offered both opportunities and challenges. And customers had come to expect a constant stream of innovative products from the bakery chain. As BreadTalk enters its mature stage of growth and comes head on with the challenges of international expansion, is its business model equipped to identify and address the risks associated with global brand management? Is the brand positioned well to seize future opportunity? Should it focus on its core competency and brand, or should it be looking to develop and aggressively promote other brands?

On April 1, 2013, the Supreme Court of India rejects Novartis' patent application for its cancer treatment drug, Glivec. Many share the opinion that Indians should have access to cheaper generic alternatives for life-saving drugs and that multinational pharmaceutical companies should not be allowed to benefit from prolonging a drug's patent life. However, these companies often spend decades and invest billions of dollars to develop just a single drug. Novartis' existing business models and pricing strategies in the United States, Western Europe and Japan now need to be re-evaluated for emerging markets such as India; taking into account affordability, limited access to health insurance and government safety nets, different marketing and distribution networks, and the powerful generics lobby. What should Novartis' strategy be in India, and for emerging markets in general?

In October 2008, State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest state-owned bank, makes its foray into Singapore's consumer banking market. A year into operations, Anil Kishora, chief executive officer of SBI, Singapore, is charged to double the remittance earnings in the next 12 months, an onerous task for a young branch that is just finding its feet in a new market. Yet Kishora's team manages to successfully meet the target - remittance volume rose by 96% in ten months. Despite these successes, Kishora is aware of the challenges that lay ahead. Remittances have been a quick win and have yielded the necessary cash flow for the new division. But will the growth from remittance earnings be sustainable over the longer term? How can SBI establish a strong presence and build an identity in Singapore's mature and fiercely competitive market, beyond the remittance story?

Tagit is a Singapore-based mobile solutions company. The company's offering was based on Mobeix, a ground-breaking technology that allowed enterprises to build secure, scalable and innovative mobile applications across multiple mobile devices and operating systems. Leveraging on Mobeix, Tagit had successfully secured its first contract from PVR Cinemas in India, offering the first online ticket-booking platform. Following this, in 2007, Tagit was contracted by Singapore Airlines to develop a mobile app for the airline's passenger services. Facing intense competition and rapid technological advancement in the online ticketing space, Naffi and his business partners started to consider other options to grow revenues and profits. At that time, many banks in Singapore were looking to offer mobile services. Tagit therefore seized such an opportunity and managed to get Citibank India signed up as a client. On the one hand, winning the Citibank contract opened up a whole new business space for Tagit. On the other, new business lines required the operations of Tagit to be scalable, yet controllable. Naffi was pondering over the possible solutions to this dilemma. Is Naffi able to handle the changes and expansion of business lines? Can Tagit's business model be scaled up? How can Naffi build up the credibility of Tagit?

Ratchtar Karasuddhi, the head of business development for general trade at Unilever, has an idea to assist a flood stricken owner of a local neighbourhood convenience store. He believed that with some upgrading and better visibility, the shop could be revived and become an alternative to the nearby modern trade convenience store. What started out as a simple wish to help a single distressed shop owner soon spawned into a viable business idea that would benefit the local community and the company. The number of Star Stores, or Platinum Stores as they were called within Unilever, expanded rapidly - the first outlet was inaugurated in March 2012 and there were 7,800 Platinum Stores by July 2014. The frenetic growth in the number of stores eventually affected business execution, as the operations side struggled to cope with the openings of four to five new outlets daily. Each store required the full engagement and cooperation of the shop owner, a customised planogram, and training and capability building of the shop owner. What is necessary for the sustained success of Platinum Stores in Thailand?

This case looks at the impact of an innovative digital marketing campaign on bringing new customers and increasing brand awareness and recognition.It is set in September 2013, when Groupon India, a local e-commerce marketplace, decided to sell onions online. The price of onions in India had been rising sharply throughout 2013, making this humble vegetable nearly unaffordable for the average Indian household. With the idea of launching a bold public relations campaign, the marketing team proposed selling onions on its website at a heavily discounted price. The deal, which was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign, was an immediate hit. At the end of seven days, Groupon India had acquired 15,000 new and the daily average value of business had increased by an impressive 50% over the seven days of the promotion. The media coverage of the deal was even more remarkable - both the Indian and the global press couldn't get enough of what was being termed as "the great onion digital deal". Now Ankur Warikoo, head of Groupon India, is thinking ahead. How will he ensure that the new and existing customers drawn in by the onion bargain continue to spend on his company's website? How can he convert the strides made in brand recognition into brand loyalty?

In September 2013, Alex Leong, co-founder of Rainmaker Labs, considers where to invest the limited resources available to his technology start-up company in order to grow the business. Earlier that year, Rainmaker Labs launched ShopGuru, a mobile shopping application that enables users to earn and redeem loyalty points for browsing or shopping at select retail outlets. The ShopGuru application works hand-in-hand with Rainmaker's proprietary iSenze hardware, which sends signals to the ShopGuru mobile application and captures information about each customer using the application. Keenly aware of the valuable customer data the company is collecting, Leong wants to further explore how this could be converted into a revenue opportunity. However, it has been a challenge to find investors, and after two and half years the company is still cash negative and operating on slim margins. Leong faces a common tech start-up dilemma - whether to focus their limited resources on expanding the business, or to strengthen their back-end systems and develop a stronger technology base to position future business growth. The flip side of this argument is equally relevant - good technology is only as good as its commercial application. This case also discusses the role of strategic business planning in commercialising a cutting-edge technology.

This case is a two-part series on the value of faculty teaching forums and peer coaching programmes in resolving conflicting pedagogical philosophies. Case A is set in September 2009, shortly after James Nelson, assistant professor at Singapore Management University sought guidance from practice associate professor Harry Denon on the issue of declining student ratings of his teaching performance. Den then observes Nelson's lectures, and has in-depth discussions with him on his teaching style. The discussions prove very helpful to Nelson, who is now able to decide how he should approach his class and to what extent he needs to alter his teaching approach. The case looks at the value of feedback received by faculty through various lenses: students, peer and self-reflection. It is highly suitable for faculty development and executive education courses that cover different pedagogical philosophies and the effectiveness of student appraisal processes. In Case B, Nelson reflects on his peer coaching experience and how his thought process has evolved through the course of the coaching programme. He also describes some of the changes he made in his instructional strategy and course assessment methods, and reveals how he has refined his teaching philosophy.

This case is the first part of a two-part series on Innova Technology, a technology start-up company based in Singapore. The two cases focus on: Case (A) - Developing, producing and marketing a product innovation Case (B) - Growth strategies for a young technology company The case is set in May 2012, and begins with the protagonist, Rick Tan, chief executive officer of Innova Technology Private Limited, contemplating what his company's go-to-market strategy should be. Tan and his business partner, Jonathan Lim, who is also the Chief Technology Officer for Innova Technology, developed PROTAG, a new anti-loss device, using Bluetooth technology. The device, which is about the size of two credit cards stacked together, is synched to a mobile phone and can be attached to valuable personal belongings such as keys, wallets, handbags, passports and even phones. If the valuable item were to be separated from the person by more than a certain distance, the device would set off an alarm alerting the owner of its potential loss. Tan and Lim are two young entrepreneurs who set up Innova Technology in January 2011 as a technology start-up under the auspices of Singapore Management University's Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Tan, the partner with the business and finance skills, focused on developing a sound business plan and raising funds for their product. Lim, the technology guru, channelled his efforts to fine-tune the technology and develop a design with unique functionality. After extensive market research and encouraging results from beta test sales using the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, Tan had confidence in his product. Yet, he was keenly aware that a great product could fall flat in the market if it was not backed by a well-designed marketing strategy. The partners had invested in manufacturing and 5,000 pieces of PROTAG had already been shipped out from the factory.

In January 2012, Starbucks enters into a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL), under which Starbucks will own and operate outlet stores in Mumbai. TGBL has a strong reputation and presence throughout the entire coffee production chain - growing, roasting and trading - that has helped Starbucks navigate its entry into the Indian market. But will this alliance be enough for Starbucks to overcome the political, economic, social and cultural challenges unique to the Indian market and establish its stamp? Would it even be possible to do so without a local partner?

SEMRI is the first not-for-profit public private partnership (PPP) arrangement in the healthcare sector in India. From its modest beginnings of providing emergency response services with 15 ambulances in a single city, EMRI grew its operations across 8 states to 1,550 ambulances serving 366 million people, free of cost. But the company now faces a major crisis as its chairman has resigned and been arrested for fraud. The CEO takes the reins of the organisation and adeptly manages the crisis. EMRI is then taken over by GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited. With a new sponsor, the CEO must decide whether to continue expanding EMRI's operations across India or offer other services in states where it already has a presence. Can the organisation obtain further funding and modify the PPP model whilst preserving the values that EMRI was built upon?

Supplement to case SMU403. This case is the second part of a two-part series on Innova Technology, a technology start-up company based in Singapore. The two cases focus on: Case (A) - Developing, producing and marketing a product innovation Case (B) - Growth strategies for a young technology company The case is set in May 2012, and begins with the protagonist, Rick Tan, chief executive officer of Innova Technology Private Limited, contemplating what his company's go-to-market strategy should be. Tan and his business partner, Jonathan Lim, who is also the Chief Technology Officer for Innova Technology, developed PROTAG, a new anti-loss device, using Bluetooth technology. The device, which is about the size of two credit cards stacked together, is synched to a mobile phone and can be attached to valuable personal belongings such as keys, wallets, handbags, passports and even phones. If the valuable item were to be separated from the person by more than a certain distance, the device would set off an alarm alerting the owner of its potential loss. Tan and Lim are two young entrepreneurs who set up Innova Technology in January 2011 as a technology start-up under the auspices of Singapore Management University's Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Tan, the partner with the business and finance skills, focused on developing a sound business plan and raising funds for their product. Lim, the technology guru, channelled his efforts to fine-tune the technology and develop a design with unique functionality. After extensive market research and encouraging results from beta test sales using the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, Tan had confidence in his product. Yet, he was keenly aware that a great product could fall flat in the market if it was not backed by a well-designed marketing strategy. The partners had invested in manufacturing and 5,000 pieces of PROTAG had already been shipped out from the factory.