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Access to clean water is so critical for development and survival that the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number 6 (SDG-6) was to ensure availability and sustained management of water and sanitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 estimated that 97 million Indians lacked clean and safe water. Fluoride and total dissolvable solids (TDS) in drinking water were dangerously high at many parts of rural India, with adverse impacts. On the other hand, buying clean drinking water from commercial vendors at market rates was not a realistic alternative, a costly recurring expense that much of India's rural population could not afford. The case tracks the efforts of Huggahalli, head of the technology group of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations (SSSO), to devise a sustainable solution to the drinking water problem in rural India that is low on cost, high on impact. They eventually develop a model that satisfies all these criteria and becomes the basis for a project called Premamrutha Dhaara. Funded by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, the project aims to install water purification plants in more than 100 villages spanning six states in India, with the ultimate goal of turning over plant operations to the beneficiary villages and setting up a welfare fund in each village from the revenue generated. Social service projects, particularly in developing countries, have their unique challenges. The case highlights the importance of performing feasibility analysis as part of the project planning in social projects. The case also describes how the financial and operational dimensions of sustainability could lead to a self-sustainable system. The social innovation framework used to deploy the water purification project to achieve broader rural welfare has wider implications for project management, social innovation and change, sustainable operations management, strategic non-profit management, and public policy.

The case describes a complex problem faced by the Indian Railways (IR), a more than 150-year-old public sector enterprise, in India. During the summer of 2009, IR was under tremendous public pressure to address the problems of its age-old toilet disposal system. The train toilet problem was complicated as it touched on all three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. After examining a few technological options, Sanjeev Kishore, the Executive Director of Mechanical Engineering of the Ministry of Railways, had to decide whether to choose the most suitable solution from among the ready-to-use options available, or adopt a grounded approach to designing an alternative bio-toilets solution, using the Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) inoculum bacteria. The search for a solution led to a collaboration between IR and DRDO that gave birth to a customized bio-toilet design. After successfully testing a prototype, the IR team implemented 245,775 bio-toilets in 68,694 coaches over a 10-year period. Students are encouraged to use their critical thinking and decision-making skills to address the business situation.

Set in April 2017, this case centers around the digital technology dilemma facing the protagonist Dr. Vimohan, the chief intensivist of Prashant Hospital. The case describes the critical challenges afflicting the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital. It then follows Dr. Vimohan as he visits the Bengaluru headquarters of Cloudphysician Healthcare, a Tele-ICU provider. The visit leaves Dr. Vimohan wondering whether he can leverage the Tele-ICU solution to overcome the challenges at Prashant Hospital. He instinctively knew that he would need to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to resolve this dilemma.

Spreadsheet supplement for case ISB226

This case describes the plight of SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost airline that found itself in an acute liquidity crisis and on the brink of closure in December 2014. By the month's end, SpiceJet had no money to fuel its planes, run its operations or pay salaries, airport duties and taxes. Oil companies had refused to extend further credit to the airline until it settled its past dues. By late 2014, the operational footprint of SpiceJet, which had ballooned to 59 destinations, deflated when the airline had to reduce its fleet to 32 planes from 58 planes within a short span of six months. The lessors demanded that the planes be returned to them to reduce their risk exposure in SpiceJet. In January 2015, Ajay Singh, former chairman and founder of SpiceJet, came back on board five years after he sold the airline to media baron Kalanithi Maran of Sun Group. Singh was asked to bring the troubled airline back on track, a task that was fraught with challenges. Apart from managing the liquidity crisis, Singh had to find a way for SpiceJet to retain its key routes with a smaller fleet and recover ground where SpiceJet had been forced to recede. It was also crucial to raise employee morale and win back customer confidence and trust in the brand. The case unfolds the structural challenges of the Indian airline industry, which is characterized by steep discounting and overcapacity that eventually results in the underutilization of assets. Only an airline with limitless access to capital or very high operational efficiencies is likely to survive in this sector.