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The case illustrates application of the concepts of demand elasticities of an agricultural product with high protein contents - pulses. It considers the current situation where good monsoon has raised hopes for the bumper crop of pulses in India. From a deficit of about 20% met by imports the county now is looking for attaining self-sufficiency. Public Policy option in this regard are also considered.

e-Choupal, an initiative of ITC Ltd. launched in 2000, endeavours to place computers with internet connectivity in villages in rural India. 'Choupal' is Hindi for 'gathering place': the computer facility serves to bring villagers together for exchange of information and as an e-commerce hub. Although the primary objective of the project is to bring efficiency to ITC's procurement process, an important byproduct is the empowerment of farmers in areas where e-choupals are established.

Supplement to case IN1297. e-Choupal, an initiative of ITC Ltd. launched in 2000, endeavours to place computers with internet connectivity in villages in rural India. 'Choupal' is Hindi for 'gathering place': the computer facility serves to bring villagers together for exchange of information and as an e-commerce hub. Although the primary objective of the project is to bring efficiency to ITC's procurement process, an important byproduct is the empowerment of farmers in areas where e-choupals are established.

Technological innovation is on the brink of fuelling momentous change throughout the global economy, generating great benefits and challenges, in equal measure. So says the chairman of the World Economic Forum. He describes what he calls 'the fourth industrial revolution', which is based on three sets of megatrends: physical, digital and biological. To thrive in this environment, he argues, public-private research collaborations should increase, and should be structured towards building knowledge and human capital to the benefit of all.

The creative intensity of the global economy has grown substantially in recent years. However, 'Creative Class' workers are increasingly being propped up by a mass of hard-working routine workers, who are not participating in the economic upside. To prosper in the global economy, the authors argue that every region and industry must boost the creative content of all types of work, while continuing to encourage and support the growth of creative jobs.

Consumers of healthcare services throughout the world are imposing strong demands for efficiencies. At the same time, unconventional competition is arising from newly-converging technologies and services, creating a platform for transformative change in healthcare quality and access. The authors show how this disruption is challenging existing actors in the healthcare sector while at the same time, creating massive opportunities to create profitable businesses. More than ever, they argue, commercial players are at the centre of the opportunity to achieve a stronger balance of quality, cost and access to healthcare services.

This note argues that it is hard for private institutions to provide the public goods that the government provides. In other words, there will tend to be an under provision of public goods if private institutions provided them. The explanation this note provides hinges on the very nature of what public, as opposed to private, goods are.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the voluntary decision of companies to address social and environmental concerns by contributing to a public good, reducing external costs, and increasing fairness or distributional equity. CSR is looked at from an economic point of view, focusing on environmental and natural resource issues with a particular emphasis on water. The term CSR is first clarified and contextualized before being situated in the economics literature. This note studies CSR from an economic angle, and looks at how it is in line with economic incentives. It focuses on: (1) the extent to which there is a need for CSR in terms of the characteristics of the economic environment that make CSR policies effective; and (2) how CSR policies interact with firms' operations and profit maximization. This technical note supports cases in the Darden course elective, "The Global Economics of Water."

The case involves tapping global capital markets for an important revenue-driven project in a developing country. It addresses key issues in project and infrastructure finance in the context of a major Peruvian toll road project.

Privatization of state-owned enterprises represents a significant realm of business for investment banks around the world. It also involves balancing a number of sometimes conflicting objectives among buyers and sellers and a host of risks for both sides as well as the financial firm itself. This case focuses on a large partial privatization in the Middle East that illustrates all of these issues and came to define the requirements for investment banks to perform successfully in future privatizations.

Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, had been a source of wealth, pride and prestige for the Bancroft family for much of the 20th century. From 1928 to 2007, the family lived off company dividends and left the day-to-day management of the publishing business to senior journalists who had worked their way up through the ranks of the WSJ. But in 2007, when Rupert Murdoch - whose global media empire dwarfed that of the Bancrofts - offered to buy Dow Jones at a generous premium, the family was split down the middle. To sell or not to sell? The case explores the events that led up to the dynasty's exit and the grandiose entrance of an Australian-American media mogul onto the US media scene.

In September 2014, the Indiana Toll Road (ITR) in the US Mid-west, privatized as a 75-year concession at an impressive price of US$3.8 billion only nine years earlier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , having chalked up US$6.3 billion of debt. In the subsequent sell-off the ITR managed to attract an even bigger bid than before - of US$5.72 billion.

This note summarizes recent research on how information technology (such as mobile phones or internet) can be used to reduce costs associated with searching for prices, as well as the associated increases in social welfare.

Evive Health is a company that manages communication campaigns on behalf of health insurance plans and large employers. Using big data techniques and insights from behavioral economics, Evive deploys targeted and effective messages that improve individuals' health behaviors. This case follows Prashant Srivastava, Evive's Chief Operating Officer, and Jennifer Lindner, Evive's Creative Director, as they design a messaging strategy for promoting influenza vaccination at the free workplace clinics of a large utility company.

The military general is the newly appointed prime minister of Thailand as of May 2014. The country is developing and needs support from its government in making it more efficient. The former prime minister was ousted, after less than three years in office, under the assumption that their government was spending itself into a hole and that the rice subsidy program was inept and hurting the country. The former prime minister was accused of launching the program in large part to win over the farming community and party votes for the August 2011 election. It is now the decision of the new prime minister whether he will continue on with the government purchase of rice, above market price, or should he break the promise made by the former government and stop the subsidy program from continuing.

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home delivery of prescription drugs by mail-a process proven to lower prescription fill error rates, increase cost savings, and improve medication adherence.

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home delivery of prescription drugs by mail-a process proven to lower prescription fill error rates, increase cost savings, and improve medication adherence.

By 2013, the U.S. wireless industry was in the midst of a costly transition. As consumers began to embrace more sophisticated mobile devices, the industry's four main players spent heavily to improve their infrastructures for providing reliable high-speed data services. T-Mobile, the smallest of the four major carriers, lacked the scale of its competitors and risked falling further behind in the contest for market share. Faced with this daunting business environment, T-Mobile's new CEO declared war on the rest of the industry, decrying competitor pricing practices and upending the traditional contract-based business model. This case provides background information on the state of the wireless industry in 2013 and follows T-Mobile's early steps to transform its market position.

In 2008-09, Toyota Motor Corp. became engulfed in a perfect storm: oil prices spiked, the global financial crisis brought car loans to a halt, the dollar tanked against the yen, and millions of Toyota vehicles in North America were recalled. Toyota posted its first loss since 1950. The case describes how Akio Toyoda, scion of the dynasty behind the Toyota empire, ascended to the top job in 2009, and turned the struggling carmaker around. It also tells the story of the Toyoda family, whose 8% ownership stake has enabled it to maintain control of one of the world's most successful companies and steer it through one of the most difficult periods in its history.