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Case i: chemco case.

  • ChemCo is a quality leader in the U.K. car batteries market.
  • Customer battery purchases in the automobile market are highly seasonal.
  • The fork-lift business was added to utilize idle capacity during periods of inactivity.
  • This is a low-growth industry (1% annual growth over the last two years)
  • Large customers are sophisticated and buy based on price and quality. Smaller customers buy solely on price.
  • There is a Spanish competitor in the market who offers low priced batteries of inferior quality.

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  • High quality product, but low end customers care more about price than quality
  • Mismanaged product diversification in a price sensitive market
  • Alternative 1: Establish an Off-Brand for the fork-lift business
  • Alternative 2: Educate the customer market about product quality
  • Alternative 3: Exit the fork-lift battery business
  • Establishing the firm's quality image
  • Increase in market share
  • Increase in sales
  • Cost of the product
  • Protect firm's quality image in the automobile industry
  • Redesigned product to reduce the cost of manufacture
  • Low price to enable it to compete with Spanish producer
  • Make use of the quality leadership in car batteries market
  • Offer reliability testing, extended warranties etc. to promote quality image
  • Set higher prices to extract surplus from these advantages
  • A passive strategy, not proactive
  • Recommendations: Alternative 1 is recommended in this case. Since the firm operates in an industry which has low growth, hence it can expand market share and sales only by taking the customers from other players. Hence, it needs to tackle the Spanish competitor head-on by aggressively pricing its product. At the same time, launching a low-priced product under the same brand name erodes the high quality image in the car batteries market. Hence, the best option is to go for an off-brand to target the fork-lift customers who are increasingly becoming price sensitive. This will enable the company to ward off the threat in short-term and build its position strongly in the long-term.

business environment case study for mba

Case II: NAKAMURA LACQUER COMPANY

  • The Nakamura Lacquer Company: The Nakamura Lacquer Company based in Kyoto, Japan was one of the many small handicraft shops making lacquerware for the daily table use of the Japanese people.
  • Mr. Nakamura- the personality: In 1948, a young Mr. Nakamura took over his family business. He saw an opportunity to cater to a new market of America, i.e. GI's of the Occupation Army who had begun to buy lacquer ware as souvenirs. However, he realized that the traditional handicraft methods were inadequate. He was an innovator and introduced simple methods of processing and inspection using machines. Four years later, when the Occupation Army left in 1952, Nakamura employed several thousand men, and produced 500,000 pieces of lacquers tableware each year for the Japanese mass consumer market. The profit from operations was $250,000.
  • The Brand: Nakamura named his brand “Chrysanthemum” after the national flower of Japan, which showed his patriotic fervor. The brand became Japan's best known and best selling brand, being synonymous with good quality, middle class and dependability.
  • The Market: The market for lacquerware in Japan seems to have matured, with the production steady at 500,000 pieces a year. Nakamura did practically no business outside of Japan. However, early in 1960, when the American interest in Japanese products began to grow, Nakamura received two offers
  • The Rose and Crown offer: The first offer was from Mr. Phil Rose, V.P Marketing at the National China Company. They were the largest manufacturer of good quality dinnerware in the U.S., with their “Rose and Crown” brand accounting for almost 30% of total sales. They were willing to give a firm order for three eyes for annual purchases of 400,000 sets of lacquer dinnerware, delivered in Japan and at 5% more than what the Japanese jobbers paid. However, Nakamura would have to forego the Chrysanthemum trademark to “Rose and Crown” and also undertaken to sell lacquer ware to anyone else the U.S. The offer promised returns of $720,000 over three years (with net returns of $83,000), but with little potential for the U.S. market on the Chrysanthemum brand beyond that period.
  • The Semmelback offer: The second offer was from Mr. Walter Sammelback of Sammelback, Sammelback and Whittacker, Chicago, the largest supplier of hotel and restaurant supplies in the U.S. They perceived a U.S. market of 600,000 sets a year, expecting it to go up to 2 million in around 5 years. Since the Japanese government did not allow overseas investment, Sammelback was willing to budget $1.5 million. Although the offer implied negative returns of $467,000 over the first five years, the offer had the potential to give a $1 million profit if sales picked up as anticipated.
  • Meeting the order: To meet the numbers requirement of the orders, Nakamura would either have to expand capacity or cut down on the domestic market. If he chose to expand capacity, the danger was of idle capacity in case the U.S. market did not respond. If he cut down on the domestic market, the danger was of losing out on a well-established market. Nakamura could also source part of the supply from other vendors. However, this option would not find favor with either of the American buyers since they had approached only Nakamura, realizing that he was the best person to meet the order.
  • Decision problem: Whether to accept any of the two offers and if yes, which one of the two and under what terms of conditions?
  • To expand into the U.S. market.
  • To maintain and build upon their reputation of the “Chrysanthemum” brand
  • To increase profit volumes by tapping the U.S. market and as a result, increasing scale of operations.
  • To increase its share in the U.S. lacquerware market.
  • Profit Maximization criterion: The most important criterion in the long run is profit maximization.
  • Risk criterion: Since the demand in the U.S. market is not as much as in Japan.
  • Brand identity criterion: Nakamura has painstakingly built up a brand name in Japan. It is desirable for him to compete in the U.S. market under the same brand name
  • Flexibility criterion: The chosen option should offer Nakamura flexibility in maneuvering the terms and conditions to his advantage. Additionally, Nakamura should have bargaining power at the time of renewal of the contract.
  • Short term returns: Nakamura should receive some returns on the investment he makes on the new offers. However, this criterion may be compromised in favor of profit maximization in the long run.?
  • Reject both: React both the offers and concentrate on the domestic market
  • Accept RC offer: Accept the Rose and Crown offer and supply the offer by cutting down on supplies to the domestic market or through capacity expansion or both
  • Accept SSW: offer; accept the SSW offer and meet it through cutting down on supply to the domestic market or through capacity expansion or both. Negotiate term of supply.
  • Reject both: This option would not meet the primary criterion of profit maximization. Further, the objective of growth would also not be met. Hence, this option is rejected.
  • Accept RC offer: The RC offer would assure net returns of $283,000 over the next three yeas. It also assures regular returns of $240,000 per year. However, Nakamura would have no presence in the U.S. with its Chrysanthemum brand name The RC offer would entail capacity expansion, as it would not be possible to siphon of 275,000 pieces from the domestic market over three years without adversely affecting operations there. At the end of three years, Nakamura would have little bargaining power with RC as it would have an excess capacity of 275,000 pieces and excess labor which it would want to utilize. In this sense the offer is risky. Further, the offer is not flexible. Long-term profit maximization is uncertain in this case a condition that can be controlled in the SSW offer. Hence, this offer is rejected.
  • Accept SSW offer: The SSW offer does not assure a firm order or any returns for the period of contract. Although, in its present form the offer is risky if the market in the U.S. does not pick up as expected, the offer is flexible. If Nakamura were to exhibit caution initially by supplying only 300,000 instead of the anticipated 600,000 pieces, it could siphon off the 175,000 required from the domestic market. If demand exists in the U.S., the capacity can be expanded. With this offer, risk is minimized. Further, it would be competing on its own brand name. Distribution would be taken care of and long-term profit maximization criterion would be satisfied as this option has the potential of $1 million in profits per year. At the time of renewal of the contract, Nakamura would have immense bargaining power.
  • Negotiate terms of offer with SSW: The terms would be that NLC would supply 300,000 pieces in the first year. If market demand exists, NLC should expand capacity to provide the expected demand.
  • Action Plan: In the first phase, NLC would supply SSW with 300,000 pieces. 125,000 of these would be obtained by utilizing excess capacity, while the remaining would be obtained from the domestic market. If the expected demand for lacquer ware exists in the U.S., NLC would expand capacity to meet the expected demand. The debt incurred would be paid off by the fifth year.
  • Contingency Plan:  In case the demand is not as expected in the first year, NLC should not service the U.S. market and instead concentrate on increasing penetration in the domestic market.

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This listing contains abstracts and ordering information for case studies written and published by faculty at Stanford GSB.

Publicly available cases in this collection are distributed by Harvard Business Publishing and The Case Centre .

Stanford case studies with diverse protagonists, along with case studies that build “equity fluency” by focusing on DEI-related issues and opportunities are listed in the Case Compendium developed by the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership at the Berkeley Haas School of Business.

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Across the globe, inspiring startup founders are creating a meaningful impact on people’s lives and generating economic growth through new applications of deep technology.

This category, often called “deep tech” for short, includes ventures whose key…

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MBA Case Studies From Top Business Schools

Where to Find Them

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Many business schools use the case method to teach MBA students how to analyze business problems and develop solutions from a leadership perspective. The case method involves presenting students with case studies , also known as cases, that document a real-life business situation or imagined business scenario.

Cases typically present a problem, issue, or challenge that must be addressed or solved for a business to prosper. For example, a case might present a problem like:

  • ABC Company needs to increase sales substantially over the next several years to attract potential buyers.
  • U-Rent-Stuff wants to expand but is not sure whether they want to own the locations or franchise them.
  • Ralphie's BBQ, a two-person company that makes spices for BBQ products, needs to figure out how to increase production from 1,000 bottles a month to 10,000 bottles a month.

As a business student. you are asked to read the case, analyze the problems that are presented, evaluate underlying issues, and present solutions that address the problem that was presented. Your analysis should include a realistic solution as well as an explanation as to why this solution is the best fit for the problem and the organization's goal. Your reasoning should be supported with evidence that has been gathered through outside research. Finally, your analysis should include specific strategies for accomplishing the solution you have proposed. 

Where to Find MBA Case Studies

The following business schools publish either abstracts or full MBA case studies online. Some of these case studies are free. Others can be downloaded and purchased for a small fee. 

  • Harvard Business School Cases - Harvard offers thousands of case studies on every business topic imaginable.
  • Darden Business Case Studies - Thousands of MBA case studies from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
  • Stanford Case Studies - A searchable database of MBA case studies from Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
  • Babson College Case Studies - A large collection of business case studies from the Babson faculty.
  • IMD Case Studies - 50 years of case studies from the IMD faculty and research staff.

Using Case Studies

Familiarizing yourself with case studies is a good way to prepare for business school. This will help you familiarize yourself with various components of a case study and allow you to practice putting yourself in the role of a business owner or manager. As you are reading through cases, you should learn how to identify relevant facts and key problems. Be sure to take notes so that you have a list of items and potential solutions that can be researched when you are done reading the case. As you are developing your solutions, make a list of pros and cons for each solution, and above all, make sure the solutions are realistic.

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A century of MBA case studies: exacting examples from business life

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Andrew Jack

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

In 1921, Harvard Business School produced its first, single-page mimeographed case study for students (view here and bottom) , about the practical dilemmas faced by managers at the General Shoe Company. Intended to prompt class discussions, the case method has since been adopted by schools around the world as a core part of teaching.

Today, Harvard , Ivey Business School in Canada and The Case Centre are leaders among 50 producers and distributors of thousands of cases, of which millions of copies are sold annually. They are written by a growing number of institutions, in formats including video, describing challenges on an ever broader range of issues, geographies and protagonists.

Below is an abstract of one of Harvard’s most recent cases, on the African media company EbonyLife.

Decision maker: Mosunmola Abudu of EbonyLife Media

One unusually quiet morning in Lagos, Nigeria in December 2020, Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu, founder and chief executive of EbonyLife Media and one of Africa’s biggest names in the business, brought her laptop to work on the rooftop patio of EbonyLife Place, the company’s flagship lifestyle and entertainment resort.

Founded by Abudu in 2012 with a mission to bring high-quality African stories to the world, EbonyLife was the company behind many of Nigeria’s biggest movies and television shows. It began with a linear TV channel on the Africa-wide direct broadcast satellite service DStv. By 2020, it had produced more than 5,000 hours of TV content and Nigeria’s top-three highest grossing movies.

With a desire for greater control over production and following the end of its relationship with DStv, EbonyLife launched EbonyLife ON (EL ON), an on-demand streaming service. However, it struggled to grow the number of EL ON subscribers.

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Abudu started to think about whether she should continue fighting to grow EL ON. Should EbonyLife focus instead on co-production deals with international media distributors such as Netflix, Sony and AMC? Abudu, who had been in the media business for nearly 20 years, needed to make this significant decision for EbonyLife.

Her interest in the media and entertainment industry emerged from a desire to correct harmful stereotypes about Africa. Born in London to Nigerian parents, she grew up in the UK and Nigeria. Drawn to African stories, she wanted to address the fact that there was so much the world did not know about Africa. “I think somewhere deeply buried in my subconscious was a need to tell Africa’s story,” she says.

Growing up in the UK, she routinely encountered misconceptions about Africa and was surprised by how they persisted when she was an adult. “The same questions I was being asked in England [40 years ago],” she says, “are the same questions my children were being asked when they went to school in England.” Questions like, “Do you guys live in trees?”

In July 2020, following its exit from DStv, EbonyLife publicly announced EL ON, with plans to make the platform its main distribution channel. While EbonyLife had already created extensive programming, “a lot of that content was consumed on a daily basis and had a very minimal shelf life”, Abudu explains.

She began to explore the new opportunity of co-productions with global partners that would eventually be distributed through Nigerian TV channels. She signed a multi-title co-production deal with Netflix to make several movies and TV series. Partnering with such companies reduced the upfront financial risks of production. But it was difficult to assess the size of the global audience “ Nollywood ” (Nigeria’s Hollywood) films gained because of the reluctance of the international platforms to share viewership data. Also, Nollywood producers could not interact directly with these viewers. As a result, it was difficult for them to learn who had viewed the content and what aspects of the stories the audience had enjoyed, and then use this insight to plan their future productions.

Beyond producing content, EbonyLife sought to build its own media and entertainment ecosystem. It helped grow the pipeline of local talent through a creative academy that enabled students to attend classes free of charge, funded by the Lagos state government. Abudu also believed EbonyLife could grow further by investing more in its audience’s experiences. In December 2019 in Lagos, she opened the multi-purpose resort EbonyLife Place, which included two restaurants, a boutique hotel, five movie theatres, meeting rooms and a larger multipurpose function hall.

A year later, Abudu was at EbonyLife Place to plan for its relaunch after the lifting of pandemic restrictions. However, she faced other pressing concerns. She reflected on her options around how EbonyLife would distribute its content. Was it too early to make judgments about EL ON? What changes should EbonyLife make to EL ON? Equally, she considered the alternative: could she realistically build a sustainable media business just on international partnerships with streaming services? Was there a scenario in which she could keep EL ON operational while pursuing these international partnerships? After two decades in the industry, pivots were no longer quick or painless. Abudu wondered which option she should pursue. 

The above is an adapted abstract of Harvard Business School’s teaching case study EbonyLife Media, written by Andy Wu, Feng Zhu, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The original 1921 Harvard Business School case study

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HBS Case Selections

business environment case study for mba

Innovation at Moog Inc.

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Juan Valdez: Innovation in Caffeination

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UGG Steps into the Metaverse

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Metaverse Wars

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Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

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Timnit Gebru: "SILENCED No More" on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models

  • Tsedal Neeley
  • Stefani Ruper

Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

  • Shane Greenstein
  • Kerry Herman
  • Sarah Gulick

SmartOne: Building an AI Data Business

  • Karim R. Lakhani
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  • Gamze Yucaoglu
  • Fares Khrais

Honeywell and the Great Recession (A)

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Target: Responding to the Recession

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Hometown Foods: Changing Price Amid Inflation

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  • Das Narayandas

Elon Musk's Big Bets

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Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

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Tesla's CEO Compensation Plan

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China Rapid Finance: The Collapse of China's P2P Lending Industry

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  • Bonnie Yining Cao
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Forbidden City: Launching a Craft Beer in China

  • Christopher A. Bartlett
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Booking.com

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  • Daniela Beyersdorfer

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

  • Chiara Farronato
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Racial Discrimination on Airbnb (A)

  • Michael Luca
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GitLab and the Future of All-Remote Work (A)

  • Prithwiraj Choudhury
  • Emma Salomon

TCS: From Physical Offices to Borderless Work

Creating a virtual internship at goldman sachs.

  • Iavor Bojinov

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

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  • Emilie Billaud
  • Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

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  • Carl Kreitzberg

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oreal

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  • Vincent Dessain
  • Emer Moloney
  • William W. George
  • Andrew N. McLean

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

  • Steven S. Rogers
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United Housing - Otis Gates

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The Home Depot: Leadership in Crisis Management

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  • Marc J. Epstein
  • Melissa Tritter

The Great East Japan Earthquake (B): Fast Retailing Group's Response

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  • Sergey Vartanov

Insurer of Last Resort?: The Federal Financial Response to September 11

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Under Armour

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Hunley, Inc.: Casting for Growth

  • John A. Quelch
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Bitfury: Blockchain for Government

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Deutsche Bank: Pursuing Blockchain Opportunities (A)

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Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

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Yum! Brands

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Bharti Airtel in Africa

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Li & Fung 2012

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Sony and the JK Wedding Dance

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United Breaks Guitars

David dao on united airlines.

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Marketing Reading: Digital Marketing

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Social Strategy at Nike

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The Tate's Digital Transformation

Social strategy at american express, mellon financial and the bank of new york.

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The Walt Disney Company and Pixar, Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire?

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Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

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Finance Reading: The Mergers and Acquisitions Process

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Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

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Data Breach at Equifax

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Apple's Core

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Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

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Apple Inc. in 2012

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Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization (Abridged)

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Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit

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Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

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JCPenney: Back in Business

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Home Nursing of North Carolina

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business environment case study for mba

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Coach Hurley at St. Anthony High School

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Carol Fishman Cohen: Professional Career Reentry (A)

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Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

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Michelle Levene (A)

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John and Andrea Rice: Entrepreneurship and Life

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10 Business Case Studies to Teach Online

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FEATURED CASE STUDIES

COVID-19 at Oxford University Hospitals. Karthik Ramanna of University of Oxford

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital. Laura Huang of Harvard Business School

Showrooming at BestBuy. Chen Lin of CEIBS

The Case of the Unidentified Industries, 2018. Mihir Desai of Harvard Business School

“Dear White Boss…” Meredith Burnett of Kogod School of Business at American University

Unilever’s New Global Strategy: Competing Through Sustainability. Christopher Bartlett of Harvard Business School

TrustSphere: Building a Market for Relationship Analytics. Anna Tavis of NYU School of Professional Studies

Benevento Foods: When the Rubber Hits the Dough. David Wood of Ivey Business School

Dollar Shave Club. Karin Kollenz-Quetard of EDHEC Business School

Uber Africa: Making Cash and Alternative Payments Work in Kenya through Contextual Leadership. Caren Scheepers of University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science

Curious to understand how educators are teaching business case studies virtually (whether they’ve done so for years or only recently transitioned their teaching online in the pandemic’s wake), we asked 10 experienced case teachers to share a case that they’ve found works particularly well in an online environment. The educators also reveal whether they’ve changed their approach to teaching the case—and how—to keep students engaged in a fully virtual setting.

We previously asked educators to share their favorite cases to teach in the classroom; the list below expands on that theme to include cases that work particularly well online. These cases range in topic from COVID-19 to race in the workplace and also represent a variety of disciplines, from entrepreneurship to operations management.

1. COVID-19 at Oxford University Hospitals

Karthik Ramanna, Professor of Business and Public Policy, University of Oxford

Karthik Ramanna

“The case COVID-19 at Oxford University Hospitals is set in mid-March of this year, just before the lockdowns and the first wave of the pandemic was expected to hit the West. There was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about the virus, and government advice was often contradictory. The case protagonist is the chief medical officer of one of the largest public hospitals in Europe, and she has to convene a hybrid meeting of her doctors explaining to them that the government wants elective surgeries to continue for a few more days, even as there are critical shortages of PPE. The reason is the government doesn’t want the hospital systems to back up with elective surgeries as we enter a potentially indefinite shutdown. But the surgeons are themselves nervous, and some want to defy the government order.

It’s a case about active listening, morale management, and collective decision-making in a crisis. The issues might seem, at first, very specific to medics, but all organizations—business, government, and nonprofit—are being stretched to make decisions that involve staff taking risks to keep operations going. How do you take the team along and reinforce your organizational culture through that journey? The protagonist has to communicate and work with her team in a hybrid environment (in person and online), so this case works really well for hybrid and online classrooms.

The first thing that comes up during the case discussion is the sheer number of issues on the CMO’s plate on just that one morning in mid-March. So, students need to learn how to prioritize, to triage. This is a great activity to disperse students into smaller breakout rooms to come up with a top-three priorities list. In the breakouts, they quickly see how varied their priorities are and how difficult it is in even a small group to come up with a consensus list. They start to understand what it means to have good judgment on such matters.

Next, there is the issue of communicating with the nervous surgeons. The case lends itself well to role plays online, because the protagonist has to address the surgeons in the same way. How do you placate your key employees in a remote setup during a pandemic when your own boss is requiring you to ask those employees to take more risks? Ideally, you’d want to have a difficult conversation like that in person, but we just aren’t being afforded that reality right now. Students learn to adapt their online presence for the task at hand.”

Educators interested in this case should email the Oxford Case Centre .

2. Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

Laura Huang, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Laura Huang

Excerpted from Associate Professor Huang’s Inside the Case video :

“ Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital is a case I wrote that explores the journey of venture capitalist and founder Arlan Hamilton, a Black woman who identifies as LGBTQ. The case talks about the norms around venture capital and how women, people of color, and people with nontraditional backgrounds really struggle to secure the necessary venture capital for their firms and for entrepreneurial success. While the protagonist once lived in her car, she was able to go on to start Backstage Capital, an investment fund that seeks to support underestimated, disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

It’s a great case to really introduce important concepts in entrepreneurship, as well as early stage financing; what it means in terms of diversity, equality, and implicit bias; and really how pioneering individuals and organizations can change the world of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial financing and make it a more inclusive space. My hope is that this case pushes students to consider what these types of industries look like, and the types of progress that can be made, while really understanding entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurship and the opportunities within.”

“This is a great case to teach online because I find there are lots of things that people are willing to debate—and there are strong opinions. Over the course of going through this case in the class discussion, we’ll see lots of polarizing comments come out. And then what I like to do is put students into dyads or pairs. I often have someone who is assisting that helps put students into these pairs, where one person has one perspective and one person has a very different perspective. Then, when we put them in breakout rooms, they have a chance to one-on-one debate. When we come back as a class, we debrief, and we talk about these perspectives and the different points and the different ways in which they were able to communicate with each other.

We use lots of online tools here, such as breakout rooms and the chat features, to really stimulate discussion, and it makes the debrief really rich.”

Additional comments from Associate Professor Huang:

“In general, the biggest change that I’ve made in teaching online (instead of in the classroom), is using the online tools as an opportunity to get frequent and quick ‘pulse checks’ on what the students are thinking at any moment.

For example, if there’s a particularly provocative topic that we’re discussing, I love to ask students to just ‘chat in one adjective that describes your current feeling right now,’ This gives me a sense for how some are feeling, for example, ‘frustrated,’ while others are feeling ‘determined,’ and so on. I never would have been able to get such a quick check on the emotions in the entire room, in such a quick fashion, when in the physical classroom. This is extremely helpful when we’re discussing contentious issues, such as the ones that we discuss in Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital . I also encourage students to share examples from their own work experiences in this way.”

3. TrustSphere: Building a Market for Relationship Analytics

Anna A. Tavis, Clinical Associate Professor, NYU, School of Professional Studies

Anna A. Tavis

“I teach this case in a synchronous online course called People and Organizational Management, which serves as an immersion and introduction to the MS in the Human Capital Analytics and Technology program at NYU’s School of Professional Studies.

The case describes a seven-year-old advanced-stage startup that introduces a cutting-edge relationship analytics technology to the market. The fact that this case is focused on measuring and interpreting patterns of digital communications is perfectly fitting with the current reality of remote working and learning that the students in this class are experiencing.

The case lends itself perfectly to online teaching. Here is how I make this case come alive for my students.

Manish Goel, the protagonist in this case, is based in London while the majority of my students are in the United States. As I’m now teaching the case online, I can (and do!) invite Manish Goel to guest lecture in class and tell his own story.

I also demo TrustSphere technology for the students just in time to enable them to understand how it works, as well as give them an opportunity to log in and try out the technology for themselves.

Once the facts are established and the initial business case is described and agreed upon, I divide the students into breakout groups and ask them to develop solutions for the case’s main dilemma. The online setting allows all teams to work in parallel on their own scenarios. I can also circulate and drop into the teams’ individual discussions.

When the groups are joined back, they showcase and defend their solutions. We keep a whiteboard running to record the key points in the presentations. In the end, we do an anonymous poll to vote for the best solutions among them all.

Finally, as a class, we prepare one agreed-upon presentation for Manish Goel, the CEO. The case ends with the class receiving the feedback from Manish on our solution in the next class.

A clear advantage of teaching this case online is that we are able to connect with the company, bring the CEO to a live class, establish parallel teams to work on the solutions, and learn from the CEO himself as to the efficacy of the solution we proposed. Additionally, the students learn the technology together in the demo presented in class and are able to connect not only to the content but also the context of the case.”

4. The Case of the Unidentified Industries, 2018

Mihir A. Desai, Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School

Mihir A. Desai

Excerpted from Professor Desai’s Inside the Case video :

“I developed versions of this case over the last 10 years as I was seeking a tool that would allow me to introduce finance in a rigorous but accessible way to audiences who might feel that finance could be intimidating or challenging.

This case’s format of a puzzle, almost like a game, is a really fun way to let people in so they discover finance is actually really fun. Although some of the concepts might be new to them, students quickly develop some really big intuitions about finance and the process. I’ve found this case to be the ideal way to introduce a finance course, and to introduce the idea of finance to MBA students, undergrads, and even executives.”

“I have taught this case online, and it’s really fun. I mean, the key thing to remember is the case takes some time, especially if you are willing to really explore what all those different ratios and numbers do, and it can take two sessions. So, in that kind of setting, I think the key thing to remember with online teaching is that I’ve at least found it to be somewhat less efficient. I just get through less. And so, some of the places you can go down a path, yet you might want to curtail that a little bit more.

For example, I take the bank, which is one of the first companies to be identified, and in traditional classrooms I do a little digression on banks. And when you’re doing it online, it’s just too costly to do that because it can take five or 10 minutes in a way that maybe would not happen in a classroom. So, the only thing I would say that’s really different about being online is you may want to just trim your sails a little bit in terms of the amount that you try to accomplish.”

Additional comments from Professor Desai:

“One of the challenges to teaching online is keeping attention and energy high. The Case of the Unidentified Industries, 2018 is a challenging but doable puzzle, so it provides lots of intrigue and morsels of rewards along the way to sustain an online format. Finally, it culminates in a tidy resolution, which provides students with a great feeling of satisfaction. The case can be punctuated with lots of shorter opportunities for breakout rooms where smaller groups can tackle a piece of the puzzle and then reconvene to share their ideas. Ideally, you could teach it over two one-and-a-quarter-hour sessions, with over 10 breakout rooms of three minutes each spread along the way. Students can prepare in advance or do it on the fly. To me, it’s the perfect antidote to the cold medium of online teaching.”

5. “Dear White Boss…”

Meredith Burnett, Professorial Lecturer, Kogod School of Business at American University

Meredith Burnett

“This Harvard Business Review article , which behaves much like a case, is about Black employees working in a majority white work environment. They feel like their work is monotonous. The job is very transactional. It’s about making numbers and motivating people to get those numbers, and if they don’t make it, they’re fired. But at the same time, their managers have created such a tense work environment that employees are reluctant to excel in the workplace, or even to contribute at the best level that they can. The case features a fictitious letter written from the perspective of a Black manager to a white boss explaining the tension and stress they feel. The letters describe how it feels to be Black employees. Written from the heart, they talk about how they feel alienated and that they are expected to be the official interpreters for other Black people in the workplace. They also feel like they’re always on the spot, being held personally culpable for every situation involving Black people in the workplace. It’s as if they are the authority on race relations just for being Black.

Even though it’s an older case, I enjoy teaching it because every year there’s something going on that makes this relevant. This semester, what I did differently online is I had students write their own letters and post them to the discussion forum. My students wrote over 100 letters, whether to a fictitious boss or a real one, and I found it useful to see how my 20- to 21-year-old students are experiencing race right now, especially when race is salient for them. It also prepares them for some of the issues that they may face as new entrants into the workforce.

It’s interesting because the majority of my students are not Black, so most of these letters were written by white students—giving them a voice on a subject that they may not otherwise be asked about and an opportunity to speak up about how management should be handling issues around race.

Because the letters are posted to the discussion board, students get to see every other student’s letter and comment. They give feedback to each other on the content of their letters and see how other students who are not like themselves feel about what the most important issues are around race in their organization.

I then take the letters and put them in a word cloud, which allows me to look visually at what students believe are the most important issues in a workplace around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In an online setting, it’s hard to create engagement, but this allows students to see what their classmates are really thinking and feeling. We would never have been able to do that during in-person class time—in 75 minutes, you might hear from a few students with big voices. Doing this online, students have been able to participate extensively.”

6. Unilever’s New Global Strategy: Competing Through Sustainability

Christopher A. Bartlett, Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Christopher A. Bartlett

Excerpted from Professor Bartlett’s Inside the Case video :

“To be honest, I never intended to write this case. I think this case found me. I’d already retired after writing 100 or more teaching notes and cases and other pedagogic material. I was reading a Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Captain Planet,’ and it was an interview with Paul Polman, who had recently been appointed CEO of Unilever. Paul made some passionate statements, such as, ‘I want to double sales at Unilever by 2020,’ and, ‘I want to halve our carbon footprint at the same time.’ Then to my great amusement, he said, ‘And by the way, I don’t want any hedge funds investing.’ He wanted long-term investors who were sympathetic to and supportive of what he was trying to do. So, I thought, this is an interesting company and an interesting guy. I learned a huge amount and had a great deal of fun writing this case, and I hope you learn as much and have as much fun teaching it.”

“When it comes to the challenge of keeping Zoom-fatigued students engaged in online learning, this case gives you a lot of opportunities to keep them engaged and involved. There’s 13 minutes of video that can be introduced at four stages through the lesson. There’s also, up early, opportunities for breakouts around the role playing—the four role-playing roles can assemble in breakout groups and then come back into the main discussion.

At the end of the class, there is a decision—students choose which of three options they should decide on. And again, this is a perfect opportunity to bring in online polling. So, it will enrich and give variety to the teaching plan that’s outlined in the teaching note.”

Additional comments from Professor Bartlett on how his approach changed in teaching the case online:

“One of the main differences in online case teaching is recognizing the reality of Zoom fatigue. One effective way to respond is to bring more pedagogic variety into the class to reengage attention and drive discussion. In-class video supplements have long provided such a powerful way to enrich the classroom experience, and now online tools such as breakout rooms and online polling offer additional ways to keep students engaged and to energize discussion.”

7. Showrooming at BestBuy

Chen Lin, Assistant Professor of Marketing, CEIBS

Chen Lin

“My favorite case to teach online is Showrooming at BestBuy . Of course, this is a classic case with a well-defined question, strong theoretical support, and a good execution outcome that is great to teach whether you’re online, offline, or hybrid. We have to be sympathetic that online students this year have lots to deal with in their lives—so picking a case that’s simple, prevalent, and easy enough for them to understand the question (even if they don’t have time to fully read and digest the case) is an important first step to ensuring a successful discussion.

I did need to make some adjustments to teach this case online. Previously, in in-person settings, I would come up to students and randomly pick them to role play—either as the BestBuy manager, the price-sensitive customer, the supplier, or the Amazon manager. Students would often jump in to help their peers (‘Oh, I would also do X’ or ‘No, that’s not going to work’). In an online setting, because the communication process is more sequential than simultaneous, we lose these important dynamics if we don’t play up these subtle classroom rapports. So, it’s important to give students a few extra minutes for breakout discussion to put together their thoughts in a cohesive structure.

To teach this case online, I use Zoom’s poll function and breakout rooms. I don’t just use pre-set polls; I also create live polls on the spot. For example, ‘Student A’s point is interesting. Do you agree with their proposal that we should reduce the size of the showroom?’ The flow looks more natural using polls this way, and students get a chance to further develop their arguments. Good-paced polls and breakout sessions also help the online students direct their attention back every 15 to 20 minutes.

In short, one of the biggest differences of teaching cases online is that we need to find creative ways to chop long, sequential, one-way communication arguments into short, interactive, group-based responses. Digital tools such as polls and breakout rooms help, but more important is choosing a case that is conducive to facilitating a simple design of paced interactions.”

8. Benevento Foods: When the Rubber Hits the Dough

David Wood, Faculty Member, Ivey Business School

David Wood

“For most of us, case teaching was exclusively an in-person practice until March of 2020. Fortunately, we have learned that online case teaching can be equally as effective when adaptations are made to a traditional teaching plan. Benevento Foods is a good example of the potential for an online case learning experience. I use this case to introduce my students to quality management.

Now online, I have replaced traditional readings with videos and activities so students can practice the key concepts that they need in order to analyze the case. Students then work together in their learning teams to complete the quantitative analysis before discussing the case asynchronously. With a good understanding of the basics, the synchronous class can focus on the more challenging aspects of quality management—people. I use the responses from students to offer an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning. I use random breakout rooms to dive deeper into the root cause of the problem. And students help each other by posting and sharing their completed models and analyses. Class is lively and full of those precious ‘aha moments’ just like when we were back on campus. Then, when class concludes, students go online to complete their learning journals, where they record their most important takeaways from Benevento Foods. ”

9. Dollar Shave Club

Karin Kollenz-Quetard, Professor of Strategy and Innovation, EDHEC Business School

Karin Kollenz-Quetard

“Hi, my name is Karen Kollenz, and I’m a teacher of strategy and innovation at EDHEC Business School in France. My favorite case to teach online is Dollar Shave Club . Why? Well, there are three reasons.

First, it’s a highly versatile case; I teach it in my strategy courses and in my innovation courses. And I know from colleagues that they teach it in marketing and entrepreneurship. You can teach it to all kinds of audiences. I teach it mainly with master level students, MBAs, but also with executive audiences. And I know of a colleague who has discussed the case with undergrad audiences. And last but not least, it can be adapted to different lengths. I’ve used it in one-and-a-half-hour sessions, but I’ve also used it as the basis for six hours of discussion with executives. Of course, if you talk about it for a day, you go a little bit beyond the case. So that means for us teachers, we prepare one case and we can use it in many different courses and with many different audiences.

The second reason why I like Dollar Shave Club is because it’s highly interactive. Basically, it’s super easy with this case to change the topic and the activity every 15 minutes, which I believe is really necessary for online teaching. I do use polls; I do use quizzes, mainly with Socrative, but I’ve also tried Poll Everywhere. And for short voting, I use “hand up” or the polls that are included in Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate. I also do breakout groups—at least one every one-and-a-half hours. Sometimes I do short buzz groups in addition to that, where I send students to discuss a topic for two to five minutes.

And the third reason why I love Dollar Shave Club is it’s just fun to teach. We laugh a lot in class; the advertisements for Dollar Shave Club are just hilarious. I have not seen a single student who doesn’t love watching these ads. And everybody can relate to shaving, so it’s really easy to start a discussion.

What have I changed when moving it online? Well, I think one of the main things I changed was the videos I used to show in class. That doesn’t really work perfectly in an online setting. So now I share the links in the chat, and the students watch the videos individually. Of course, as with every case, there are more planned interactions with all students using polls, quizzes, etc., as I already mentioned, which is the case for anything that you move from face to face to online. So, don’t hesitate to contact me if you think I can help you in teaching Dollar Shave Club .”

10. Uber Africa: Making Cash and Alternative Payments Work in Kenya Through Contextual Leadership

Caren B. Scheepers, Associate Professor, University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science

Caren B. Scheepers

“I love to teach my Uber case online, whether MBA or MPhil or executive education (corporate programs). I coauthored two cases on Uber, one about Uber in Kenya, where customers’ reluctance to use credit cards resulted in a cash option and mobile money option that had to be designed, and another one on Uber South Africa’s business-model innovation response to COVID-19. I have brought in the CEO to be a guest speaker online, and the students loved it.

Another case that I love to teach is one that won the European Foundation for Case Management (EFMD) award for the best written case in Africa. It’s about SweepSouth , an electronic platform for domestic workers, which is a commercial organization with a social value creation focus. Students identify with this platform easily too, since we call it the “Uber of domestic workers,” and it works well in teaching my class entitled Contextualizing Women Entrepreneurship.

Both of these cases demonstrate the strength of the sharing economy and the impact on the triple bottom line, especially for Uber, with its sharing of rides having a positive impact on conserving our planet.

I also make a point of writing and teaching cases where the protagonist is a Black man or Black woman to balance the focus on cases with white male protagonists. ( SweepSouth features a mixed-race female entrepreneur).”

Karthik Ramanna is a professor of business and public policy at the University of Oxford, where he is also director of the Oxford MPP and of the Oxford Case Centre on Public Leadership. He was previously on the faculty of Harvard Business School.

Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Prior to joining HBS, she was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines early-stage entrepreneurship, and the role of interpersonal relationships and implicit factors in the investment decisions of financiers such as angel investors and VCs.

Anna A. Tavis is a professor and academic director of the Human Capital Management Department at NYU School of Professional Studies, senior fellow with the Conference Board, and the academic in residence with Executive Networks. She was named for inclusion in Thinkers50 Radar for 2020.

Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a professor of law at Harvard Law School. His areas of expertise include tax policy, international finance, and corporate finance.

Meredith Burnett is a professorial lecturer in the Kogod School of Business at American University. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of organizational behavior and human resource management, and her research examines how individual differences and human resource policies interact to influence employee behavior. She is particularly interested in examining how these factors influence outcomes such as employee retention and employee knowledge sharing.

Christopher A. Bartlett is the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. As a practicing manager prior to HBS, he worked as a marketing manager with Alcoa in Australia, as a management consultant in McKinsey’s London office, and as the country general manager of Baxter Laboratories’ subsidiary company in France. His research interests after joining HBS in 1979 focused on the strategic and organizational challenges confronting managers in large, complex corporations, and on the organizational and managerial impact of transformational change.

Chen Lin is an assistant professor of marketing at CEIBS and a former assistant professor of marketing at the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. Her research interests include digital and social media, internet marketing, and empirical marketing models. She has taught marketing research, digital marketing, and business technology innovation at the EMBA, EED, and MBA levels, and has been a marketing columnist for SINA Finance , Forbes , and Economist EIU.

David Wood is a member of the faculty in operations management at Ivey Business School, as well as a graduate of both the HBA and MBA programs. He spent many years in industry as the director of sales and marketing and then as vice president of manufacturing before becoming president for W. C. Wood Company, a global manufacturer of home appliances. He has written many cases on process design, quality management, and operations strategy. Wood is the coauthor of a series of books on learning with cases and writing cases, and he has won a number of teaching awards, including the David G. Burgoyne Teaching Award and Outstanding Case Teacher from The Case Centre.

Karin Kollenz-Quetard is professor of strategy and innovation at EDHEC Business School, and she also intervenes in customized programs at other business schools such as London Business School (UK) and HEC (France). She develops and delivers face-to-face and online executive-management development programs and keynotes with a focus on strategy and innovation. In December 2016, Karin was named one of the world’s leading business school professors by Financial Times .

Caren B. Scheepers is an associate professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria. She lectures on strategic implementation, MBA electives titled Contextual Leadership Intelligence and Diversity and Inclusion (Identity Work), and on strategic leadership on the MPhil in corporate strategy. She also developed and is hosting a GIBS Online Strategic Leadership course. She is also passionate about executive education programs and supporting companies in their strategy execution.

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Corporate Governance Crisis at Startups: The Zilingo Story

The case discusses how Zilingo Pte Ltd (Zilingo), a Singapore-based B2B fashion tech platform, ended up in liquidation after a protracted crisis due to issues that led to corporate governance failure. Founded in 2016 by Ankiti Bose (Bose) and Dhruv Kapoor, Zilingo was an online fashion and beauty startup company that empowered apparel supply chain players to produce, source, and trade efficiently through its technology platform. It was one of Southeast Asia’s vaunted startups...

Amazon's Private Label Brands: An Ethical Perspective

The case “Amazon’s Private Label Brands: An Ethical Perspective” discusses the ethical implications surrounding the promotion of US-based multinational technology company Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) of Amazon Private Label (APL) products on its online marketplace. The case starts out with a brief look at– the world's largest e-commerce platform's launch of various APL products from the late 2000s. It then delves into the various controversies surrounding APL products through the years...

Twitter under Elon Musk: Present Tense, Future Perfect?

The case discusses the problems faced by social media platform Twitter and its future under the ownership of Elon Musk. After he acquired Twitter for US$44 billion in October 2022, Musk primarily known for his innovative efforts, introduced a list of controversial policy and feature changes to the platform. These included rebranding Twitter to ‘X’, making policy changes and sweeping layoffs, resorting to cost cutting, reinstating accounts, and introducing paid verification...

Google's Post-Pandemic Multi-Purpose Workplace Design

The case touches upon the early office design initiatives at Google including at its headquarters Googolplex. Next, it describes in detail how Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services team (REWS) focused on redesigning the existing office spaces in 2022 and creating and testing new multi-purpose offices and private workspaces to enable employees to collaborate effectively across work environments. Google designed Team Pods with chairs, desks, white boards, and storage units on casters that could be shifted based...

Reliance's Foreign Currency Bond

The case study is about Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)'s foreign currency bond issuance and listing on international stock exchanges. The case starts with a brief history of the company, from the founding of RIL by Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 to being led by Mukesh Ambani in 2022.The case then moves on to the details of RIL's financials, showcasing how the company has grown over the years, and how efficiently it has raised funds from the global capital market and utilized these funds for expansion. Finally, it delves into the details of foreign currency bonds issued by RIL...

Enbridge: A Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Leader in the Energy Industry

The case describes the various initiatives taken by Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, to create a diverse and inclusive culture where employees would feel good coming to work, collaborate across teams, and be successful and grow their careers. The case first touches upon the main goals of the D&I strategy put in place at Enbridge. It then describes how Enbridge decided to encourage its employee community through various initiatives that included activities, education, and networking...

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Case Studies on Business Environment - Vol. I

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Snapshot of the casebook

The microenvironment of the business is characterised by explosive industrial growth in some segments and at the same time, rapid technological development is rendering existing solutions to customer problems obsolete. On the macro-economic front, governments are increasingly facing the dilemma of choosing between economic progress and welfare - affecting government expenditure, and in turn the economic growth of the country. On the other hand, recessionary conditions in other countries have forced many companies out of business. Added to these, are the regulatory frameworks of the country and socio-cultural factors. The scenarios become even more complex when companies expand to new geographical regions. They have to deal with multiple � yet distinct � business environments. Organisations have no control over the changes happening in its external environment; but these factors cannot be ignored as they have a profound impact on the business operations and its profitability.

With the ongoing rapid change in business environment, the conventional bases of competitive strategy are continuously eroding. In such a scenario, any company that is not continually developing, acquiring, and adapting to new technological advances and to the changing business environment is preparing itself to be out of the business within a few years. So, an extensive study of the business environment has become an essential prerequisite for success.

The case studies featured in this book provide an in-depth and rigorous perspective on various business environment issues across the globe. Starting with a short theoretical framework, the book, Case Studies on Business Environment - Vol. I , provides insights into some of the companies that have been successful in managing their ever-changing and demanding business environments. This book would definitely be an essential reading for all those executives managing or desirous of managing different business environments.

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business environment case study for mba

  • 21 Mar 2024

SVMP Gave Me the Courage to Fail

Clicking the submit button on my Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP) application felt like an act of courage, one that left me feeling vulnerable and open to rejection, a sentiment likely shared by many of my peers. As we each prepared, reviewed, and submitted our applications, the vulnerability involved in the process prompted me to reflect and truly determine my motivation and what I hoped to gain from the experience. Throughout the program, we were encouraged to take risks and recalibrate through internal case preparation and case discussions. I also had the opportunity to give one of the student speeches at our closing ceremony. Despite my initial fears, SVMP provided me with a safe environment to grow in this regard, too.

The courage to fail at leading internal case teams.

At the start of the program, we were assigned to small teams to prepare for the broader case discussions. The small teams provided safe spaces to test new ideas and learn about the case topic from a new perspective. In these teams, each of us was encouraged to lead the discussion, which was a new experience for many of us. In a small way, this experience emphasized the program’s commitment to building and developing leaders in such an insular and risk-free environment. While leading the small group case discussions, I learned to question ideas, push the conversation forward, and approach each conversation with a student mindset, which has given me the courage to transfer this mindset to all areas of my life.

The courage to fail during case discussions.

At the beginning of the program, the fear of saying the wrong thing held many of us back from expressing our thoughts. However, as we worked through more case studies, our confidence grew, and we became more adept at articulating our ideas in ways that advanced the discussions. Exposure to cases such as “Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone” and “Toto Wolff and the Mercedes Formula One Team” reinforced these themes. Primarily, the importance of taking calculated risks, maintaining high standards, and leading by example. The highlight of the week was meeting Toto Wolff in person, which provided an excellent opportunity to understand the foundation behind his successful track record. The cases and in-person case discussions helped us improve our approach to problem-solving and high-stakes decision-making.

The courage to fail at giving speeches.

During one of our final meals, HBS professor Anita Elberse announced that a student from each section would be selected to speak to the overall class (over 180+ people) at the closing ceremony as a way to inspire and connect us all. This opportunity would challenge us to engage in public speaking despite our fear of failure. With less than 5 minutes to prepare, many of my classmates courageously took the stage and addressed the entire class. When it was my turn, despite feeling terrified, I recognized it as a chance to grow in public speaking. I felt safe enough to try because the program emphasized taking risks while learning and growing from the results. I was ultimately chosen to represent Section A and was once again terrified about finding the “right” words to articulate the experience in a way that felt authentic to me and my peers. Thanks to the support of my new friends in the program, I wrote, practiced, and delivered my speech successfully. Through the speech preparation and delivery process, I learned about the importance of community and pushing past fear to achieve my goals. SVMP provided me with a safe environment to grow and build meaningful relationships with other dedicated and motivated young professionals.

SVMP truly gave me insight into the value and resources associated with an MBA degree. The program taught me the importance of being courageous enough to fail and staying open to new experiences. My peers and I have emerged with more exposure, a wider network, and a taste of how an MBA can complement our careers and dreams.

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CBSE Class 12 Case Studies In Business Studies – Business Environment

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Business Environment: Definition The term ‘business environment’ means the sum total of all individuals, institutions and other forces that are outside the control of a business enterprise but that may affect its performance.

Importance of Business Environment

  • It enables the firm to identify opportunities and getting the first mover advantage instead of losing them to its competitors.
  • It helps the firm to identify threats and early warning signals which are likely to hinder a firm’s performance and take timely actions.
  • It helps in tapping useful resources as the enterprise designs policies that allow it to get the resources that it needs so that it can convert those resources into outputs that the environment desires.
  • It helps in coping with rapid changes as the managers are able to understand and examine the environment and develop appropriate courses of action.
  • It helps in assisting in planning and policy formulation as its understanding and analysis can be the basis for deciding the future course of action or decision making. It helps in improving performance of an enterprise through continuous monitoring of the environment and adopting suitable business practices which help to improve both their present and future performance
  • It helps in improving performance of an enterprise through continuous monitoring of the environment and adopting suitable business practices which help to improve both their present and future performance.

You can see the applications of Tata motors pivot point to explore more…

Features of Business Environment

  • It is a sum total of all the forces external to business firms.
  • It consists of both specific forces such as investors, customers, competitors and suppliers which affect individual enterprises directly and immediately in their day-to¬day working and general forces such as social, political, legal and technological conditions which have impact on all business enterprises and thus may affect an individual firm only indirectly.
  • All the elements of business environment are closely interrelated.
  • It is dynamic in nature and keeps on changing due to technological upgradations, shifts in consumer preferences or increase in competition in the market.
  • It is highly uncertain as it is not always possible to predict future happenings, especially when environment changes are taking place too frequently as in the case of information technology or fashion industries.
  • It is complex in nature as it is relatively easier to understand in parts but difficult to comprehend in its totality because it consists of numerous interrelated and dynamic conditions or forces which arise from different sources.
  • It is a relative concept since it differs from country to country and even region to region

DIMENSIONS OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Dimensions of the business environment include economic, social, technological, political and legal conditions which are considered relevant for decision-making and improving the performance of an enterprise.

Various Factors Constituting the General Environment of Business

  • Economic Environment comprises of factors that can affect management practices ina business enterprise. It includes interest rates, inflation rates, changes in disposable income of people, stock market indices and the value of rupee etc.
  • Social Environment includes the social forces like customs and traditions, values, social trends, society’s expectations from business, etc.
  • Technological Environment includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating business.
  • Political Environment includes political conditions such as general stability and peace in the country and specific attitudes that elected government representatives hold towards business.
  • Legal Environment includes various legislations passed by the Government administrative orders issued by government authorities, court judgments as well as the decisions rendered by various commissions and agencies at every level of the government— center, state or local.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT IN INDIA  Various Macro-level Factors of Economic Environment in India

  • Stage of economic development of the country.
  • The economic structure in the form of mixed economy which recognises the role of both public and private sectors.
  • Economic policies of the Government, including industrial, monetary and fiscal policies.
  • Economic planning, including five year plans, annual budgets, and so on.
  • Economic indices, like national income, distribution of income, rate and growth of GNP, per capita income, disposal personal income, rate of savings and investments, value of exports and imports, balance of payments, etc.
  • Infrastructural factors, such as, financial institutions, banks, modes of transportation communication facilities etc.

The Constituents of Economic Environment of Business in India at the time of Independence

  • The Indian economy was mainly agricultural and rural in character.
  • About 70% of the working population was employed in agriculture.
  • About 85% of the population was living in the villages.
  • Production was carried out using irrational, low productivity technology
  • Communicable diseases were widespread, mortality rates were high and there was no good public health system.

Key Aspects of the Economic Planning in India After Independence

  • Initiate rapid economic growth to raise the standard of living, reduce unemployment and poverty.
  • Become self-reliant and set upa strong industrial base with emphasis on heavy and basic industries.
  • Reduce inequalities of income and wealth.
  • Adopt a socialist pattern of development— based on equality and prevent exploitation of man by man.

NEW INDUSTRIAL POLICY OF 1991 Three Major Componenets of New Industrial Policy of 1991

  • Liberalisation
  • Privatisation
  • Globalisation

Disinvestment definition Disinvestments refers to transfer from public sector enterprises to the private sector through dilution of state of the Government in the public enterprise

The Broad Feature of New Industrial Policy, 1991

  • The Government reduced the number of industries under compulsory licensing to six.
  • Many of the industries reserved for the public sector under the earlier policy, were dereserved. The role of the public sector was limited only to four industries of strategic importance.
  • Disinvestment was carried out in case of many public sector industrial enterprises.
  • The share of foreign equity participation was increased and in many activities 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was permitted.
  • Automatic permission was now granted for technology agreements with foreign companies.
  • Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was set up to promote and channelise foreign investment in India.

Liberalisation  These economic reforms signalled the The new set of economic Globalisation means the end of the licence-permit-quota raj reforms aimed at giving integration of the various and were aimed at liberalising the greater role to the private economies of the world Indian business and industry from all sector in the nation building leading towards the unnecessary controls and restrictions. Simplifying procedures for imports and exports. Key initiatives of the government:

  • Abolishing licensing requirement in most of the industries except a short list .
  • Freedom in deciding the scale of business activities
  • Removal of restrictions on the movement of goods and services.
  • Freedom in fixing the prices of goods and services.
  • Reduction in tax rates and lifting of unnecessary controls over the economy.
  • Making it easier to attract foreign capital and technology to India.

Privatisation The new set of economic Globalisation means the end of the licence-permit-quota raj reforms aimed at giving integration of the various and were aimed at liberalising the greater role to the private economies of the world Indian business and industry from all sector in the nation building leading towards the unnecessary controls and restrictions. process and a reduced role emergence of a cohesive to the public sector. Key initiatives of the government:

  • Adopted the policy of planned disinvestments of the public sector.
  • Decided to refer the loss making and sick enterprises to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

Globalisation These economic reforms signalled the The new set of economic Globalisation means the end of the licence-permit-quota raj reforms aimed at giving integration of the various and were aimed at liberalising the greater role to the private economies of the world Indian business and industry from all sector in the nation building leading towards the unnecessary controls and restrictions. process and a reduced role emergence of a cohesive to the public sector. global economy. Key initiatives of the government:

  • Import liberalisation and export promotion through rationalisation of the tariff structure and reforms with respect to foreign exchange.
  • Increased level of interaction and interdependence among the various nations of the global economy.

Impact of Government Policy Changes on Business and Industry/ Challenges faced by the Indian Corporate Sector

  • Increasing competition for Indian firms due to changes in the rules of industrial licensing and entry of foreign firms.
  • More demanding customers as they are more aware and are offered wider choice in purchasing better quality of goods and services due to high competition.
  • Repidly changing technological environment creates tough challenges before smaller firms.
  • Necessity for change in the way of their operations.
  • Need for developing human resource as the new market conditions require people with higher competence and greater commitment. Hence the need for developing human resources.
  • Market orientation as the firms have to study and analyse the market first and produce goods accordingly.
  • Loss of budgetary support to the public sector has declined over the years

Managerial Response to Changes in Business Environment

  • Acquisitions and mergers
  • Diversification
  • Brand building
  • Innovative distribution and selling techniques.
  • Changes in capital structure
  • Customer-oriented approach
  • Technological developments
  • Better labour relations

LATEST CBSE QUESTIONS

Question 1: Metlapp Networks and Technologies Ltd. is a leader in technology innovation in the United States, creating products and solutions for connecting the world. It has,, a large research and development team which invented the first smart watch, named as W-7. The watch besides showing the time, also monitors few health parameters like heart beat, blood pressure etc. While in search of markets abroad, the company found that in India, the reform process was underway with the aim of accelerating the pace of economic growth. The company decided to take advantage of simplified export procedure and removal of quantitative as well as tariff restrictions in India. It set up its office in Jamnagar with a view to capture the Indian market. In a short span of time, the company emerged as a market leader. Success of the company attracted many other players to enter the market. Competition resulted in reduction in prices, thereby benefiting the customers.

  • In the above paragraph, two major concepts related to government policy have been discussed. Identify and explain these concepts.
  • Also, explain briefly any three impacts of these concepts on Indian business and industry.
  • Liberalisation: These economic reforms signalled the end of the licence-pemit-quota raj and were aimed at liberalising the Indian business and industry from all unnecessary controls and restrictions.
  • Globalisation: Globalisation means the integration of the various economies of the world leading towards the emergence of a cohesive global economy.
  • Increasing competition: The Indian firms are facing lot of competition due to changes in the rules of industrial licensing and entry of foreign firms. This change is more apparent in the sectors which were earlier reserved for private sector only like banking, insurance, telecommunications, etc.
  • More demanding customers: With the easy availability of wider choice in purchasing better quality of goods and services due to high competition consumers have become more aware and demanding. The growing expections of the consumers has increased the pressure on the business firms.
  • Rapidly changing technological environment: With the entry of new firms which are far more superior in terms of technology the small firms are facing a lot of challenges. Moreover, the firms are constantly involved in innovating new products and upgrading present products with the help of better technologies in order to satisfy the customers demands.

Question 2: Naman and Govind after finishing their graduation under vocational stream decided to start their own travel agency which will book Rail Tickets and Air Tickets on commission basis. They also thought of providing tickets within ten minutes through the use of internet. They discussed the idea with their Professor Mr. Mehta who liked the idea and suggested them to first analyse the business environment which consists of investors’, competitors and other forces like social, political etc. that may affect their business directly or indirectly. He further told them about the technological improvements and shifts in consumer preferences that were taking place and hence they should be aware of the environmental trends and changes which may hinder their business performance. He emphasised on making plans keeping in mind the threat posed by the competitors, so that they can deal with the situation effectively. This alignment of business operations with the business environment will result in better performance.

  • Identify and state the component of business environment highlighted in the above Para.
  • State any two features of business environment as discussed by Professor Mehta with Naman and Govind.
  • Also state two points of importance of business environment as stated by Professor Mehta in the above situation.
  • Technological Environment is the component of business environment highlighted in the above Para. Technological Environment includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating a business.
  • Dynamic nature: It is dynamic in nature and keeps on changing due to technological upgradations, shifts in consumer preferences or increase in competition in the market.
  • Inter-relatedness: All the elements of business environment are closely interrelated. Therefore, any change is one element may necessitate corresponding changes in the other elements as well.
  • It enables the firm to identify opportunities and getting the first mover advantage: The dynamic business environment provides numerous opportunities for a business to evolve as per the changing needs. Therefore, early identification of the forthcoming opportunities helps an enterprise to be the first to exploit them instead of losing them to the competitors.
  • It helps the firm to identify threats and early warning signals: Sometimes the changes in the external environment may pose as a threat and hinder a firm’s performance. An awareness about the business environment helps the managers to identify such threats on time and take necessary decisions and action.

Question 3: With changes in the consumption habits of people, Neelesh, who was running a sweet shop, shifted to the chocolate business. On the eve of Diwali, he offered chocolates in attractive packages at reasonable prices. He anticipated huge demand and created a website chocolove. com for taking orders online. He got a lot of orders online and earned huge profits by selling the chocolate. Identify and explain the dimensions of business environment discussed in the above case. Answer: The various dimensions of business environment being referred to in the above case are as follows:

  • Social environment: Social Environment includes the social forces like customs and traditions, values, social trends, society’s expectations from business, etc.
  • Technological environment: Technological Environment includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating a business.

Question 4: A recent rate cut in the interest on loans announced by the banks encouraged Amit, a science student of Progressive School, to take a loan from State Bank of India to experiment and develop cars to be powered by fuel produced from garbage. He developed such a car and exhibited it in the Science Fair organised by the Directorate of Education. He was awarded the first prize for his invention. Identify and explain the dimensions of business environment discussed in the above case. Answer: The various dimensions of business environment being referred to in the above case are as follows:

  • Economic Environment: It comprises of factors that can affect management practices in a business enterprise includes interest rates, inflation rates, changes in disposable income of people, stock market indices and the value of rupee etc.
  • Technological Environment: It includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating a business.

Question 5: ‘Accent Electronics Ltd.’ was operating its business in Malaysia. The company started exporting its products to India when the Prime Minister announced relaxation in import duties on electronic items. The company appointed retailers in India who had direct online links with the suppliers to replenish stocks when needed. Identify and explain the dimensions of business environment discussed in the above case. Answer: The various dimensions of business environment being referred to in the above case are as follows:

  • Political Environment: Political Environment includes political conditions such as general stability and peace in the country and specific attitudes that elected government representatives hold towards business.
  • Technological Environment: Technological Environment includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating a business.

Question 6: After completing her MBA, Beni took up a job with a multinational company named Fortio. The company paid good salaries and perks to its employees. The wages were within the paying capacity of the company that provided the employees with a reasonable standard of living. The company also had a good work-culture and the behaviour of superiors was very good towards their subordinates. Beni was very happy in this organisation but due to long working hours, she did not have time to cook her meals. She had to depend upon outside food which was deteriorating her health. She observed that this problem was faced by many of her colleagues, not only in her company but also in many other companies. This was because of increase in the number of working women and non-availability of hygienic home-cooked food. She identified this as a great opportunity and decided to give up her job to supply packaged home-cooked food to office-goers at a reasonable price. At the end of the day, she also distributed the leftover food to the nearby night-shelters.

  • State the dimension of business environment being discussed above.
  • State the principle of management being followed by Fortio.
  • Identify any two values being communicated by the company to society in above case.
  • The dimension of business environment being discussed above is Social. Social Environment includes the social forces like customs and traditions, values, social trends, society’s expectations from business, etc.
  • The principle of management being followed by Fortio is ‘Remuneration of employees’. Remuneration of employees: The overall pay and compensation should be fair to both employees and the organization. The employees should be paid fair wages, which should give them at least a reasonable standard of living. At the same time it should be within the paying capacity of the company i.e. remuneration should be just and equitable.
  • Ethical Behaviour

Question 7: After completing his MBA from the USA, Mr. Ajay came to India to start a new business under the banner Ecom Creations Ltd. He launched a new product in e-learning for senior secondary school students in the commerce stream which already had an established market in the UK and the USA but not in India. His business started flourishing in India. As a result, more Indian companies entered into the market with other subjects also. Identify and quote the lines from the above paragraph which highlight the significance of understanding business environment. Answer:

  • The understanding of business environment helps in assisting in planning and policy formulation as its understanding and analysis can be the basis for deciding the future course of action or decision making. It enables the firm to identify opportunities and getting the first mover advantage instead of losing them to its competitors. ” After completing his MBA from USA, Mr. Ajay came to India .to start a new business under the banner Ecom Creations Ltd. He launched a new product in e-learning for senior secondary school students in the commerce stream which already had an established market in UK and the USA but not in India.”
  • It helps in improving performance of an enterprise through continuous monitoring of the environment and adopting suitable business practices which help to improve both their present and future performance. “His business started flourishing in India.”
  • It helps the firm to identify threats and early warning signals that is likely to hinder a firm’s performance and take timely actions. “As a result, more Indian companies entered into the market with other subjects.”

Question 8: As per the directions issued by the Supreme Court, the government passed an order to ban the sale of tobacco products within the area of 200 meters of all educational institutions as:

  • Its consumption is injurious to health.
  • People are becoming more conscious about health and fitness. This indicates the government’s attitude towards this business. Identify the business environment under three different dimensions by quoting from above paragraph.

Answer: The various dimensions of business environment being referred to the in the above case are as follows:

  • Legal Environment: “As per the directions issued by the Supreme Court.’
  • Political Environment: “The government passed an order to ban the sale of tobacco products within the area of 200 meters of all educational institutions.”
  • Social Environment: “Its consumption is injurious to health and people are becoming more conscious about health and fitness.”

Question 9: The court passed an order to ban polythene bags as:

  • These bags create many environmental problems which affect the life of people.
  • Innovative techniques are being developed to manufacture jute bags at low rates.
  • Incomes are rising and people can afford to buy these bags. Identify the different dimensions of business environment by quoting lines from the above particulars.

Answer: The various dimensions of business environment being referred to in the above case are as follows:

  • Legal Environment: “The court passed an order to ban polythene bags.”
  • Social Environment: “The bags create many environmental problems which affect the life of people and society at large is more concerned about the,,quality of life.”
  • Political Environment: “The government decided to give a subsidy to the jute industry in order to promote this business.”
  • Technological environment: “Innovative techniques are being developed to manufacture jute bags at low rate.”
  • Economic Environment: “Incomes are rising and people can afford to buy these bags.”

Question 10: The court passed an order that all schools must have water purifiers for the school children as:

  • Society in general is more concerned about the quality of life. .
  • Innovative techniques are being developed to manufacture water purifiers at competitive rates.
  • Incomes are rising and children are drinking purified water at their homes as well.
  • The Government is also showing a positive attitude towards the business of water purification. Identify the different dimensions of business environment by quoting from the above details.
  • Legal Environment: “The court passed an order that all schools must have water purifiers for the school children.”
  • Social Environment: “Society in general is more concerned about the quality of life.”
  • Political Environment: “The government is also showing a positive attitude towards the business of water purifiers.”
  • Technological environment: “Innovative techniques are being developed to manufacture water purifiers at competitive rate.”
  • Economic Environment: “Incomes are rising and children are drinking purified water at their homes as well.”

Question 11: Just after the declaration of the results of the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s price index (Sensex) rose by 2100 points in a day. Identify the environmental factor which led to this rise. Answer: Political environment has led to the rise in the sensex.

Question 12: The Government of India is seriously thinking of allowing the oil-marketing public sector undertaking to fix their own prices for petrol and diesel. Which economic reform is the reason for this change in the government’s policy? Answer: Privatisation as a reform is the reason for this change in the government policy.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

Question 1: On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation making all Rs.500 and Rs. 1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series invalid past midnight. The government claimed that the action would curtail the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism. The BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 stock indices fell over 6 percent on the day after the announcement. The decision was heavily criticised by members of the opposition parties, leading to debates in both houses of parliament and triggering organised protests against the government in several places across India. People seeking to exchange their bank notes had to stand in lengthy queues, and several deaths were linked to the inconveniences caused due to the rush to exchange cash. After demonetisation the demand for point of sales (POS) or card swipe machines has increased. E-payment options like PayTM has also seen a rise. In context of the above case:

  • Identify and explain the various dimensions of business environment which relate to the above mentioned case.
  • List any through two values that the government seeks to promote through demonetisation.
  • Legal environment: Legal Environment includes various legislations passed by the Government administrative orders issued by government authorities, court judgments as well as the decisions rendered by various commissions and agencies at every level of the government— centre, state or local .
  • Economic Environment: Economic Environment comprises of factors that can affect management practices in a business enterprise includes interest rates, inflation rates, changes in disposable income of people, stock market indices and the value of rupee etc.
  • Transparency in dealings
  • Promote well being of people

Question 2: Post demonitisation in a further push to cashless economy, the Central cabinet has recently approved the ordinance for paying wages via electronic means. Accordingly, the government approved to Amend Section 6 of the Payment Of Wages Act 1936, to allow employers of certain industries to make payment through the electronic mode and cheques . The new ordinance will be applicable to the public sector. Identify the various dimensions of business environment which relate to the above mentioned case. Answer: The various dimensions of business environment which relate to the above mentioned case stated below:

  • Political environment
  • Legal environment
  • Technology environment

Question 3: Make in India is an initiative launched by the Government of India to encourage national and multinational companies to manufacture their products in India. It focuses on job creation and skill enhancement and is in twenty five sectors of the economy. Under the initiative, brochures on these sectors and a web portal were released. The initiative aims at high quality standards and minimising the impact on the environment. It also seeks to attract foreign capital investment in India. In context of the above case:

  • Identify the various dimensions of business environment being referred to by quoting lines from the paragraph.
  • List any two values which the Government of India wants to convey through this initiative.
  • Political Environment: “Make in India is an initiative launched by the Government of India to encourage national and multinational companies to manufacture their products in India.”
  • Technological Environment: “Under the initiative, brochures on the twenty five sectors and a web portal were released.”
  • Economic Environment: “It also seeks to attract foreign capital investment in India.”
  • High quality standards
  • Concern for environment

Question 4: India’s retail sector has been undergoing structural changes for the last two decades. On one hand, the ‘mall culture’ has gradually become a way of life, especially in the metros and mini¬metros. On the other hand, there is accelerated growth in e-business as customers also prefer to buy products and services via the Internet, telephone and television. However, operating in either of the segments is marked by the presence of strong competitors. Identify the components of specific forces and general forces being discussed in the above paragraph. Answer: The components of specific forces discussed in the above paragraph are the customers and competitors. The components of general forces discussed in the above paragraph is the social and technological conditions.

Question 5: Kapil Sharma is working as the Country Head of a company which owns a chain of malls under the name of ‘Virtuoso’ in the various parts of India. Through an analysis report of the business environment, it has been brought to his notice that in the coming years, shopping at a mall will not be a necessity for the buyers as purchases can be made online from anywhere and at any time with ease and at the consumer’s convenience. Hence, malls will have to provide much more than shopping to be able to attract customers. So, he recommends that ‘Virtuoso’ malls should to be restructured into recreation centres, offering more spaces to socialise, host events and concerts, and provide ample Food and Beverages options. Consequently the share of entertainment segment and Food and Beverages segment in the overall mall space is increased by 20%. As a result, the company gains enormously by getting the first mover advantage. In context of the above case :

  • Define the term ‘Business Environment’.
  • Explain the terms ‘Threats’ and ‘Opportunities’ by quoting lines from the paragraph.
  • The term ‘Business Environment’ means the sum total of all individuals, institutions and other forces that are outside the control of a business enterprise but that may affect its performance.
  • The term ‘Threats’ refers to the external environment, trends and changes that will hinder a firm’s performance. “Through an analysis report of the business environment, it has been brought to his notice that in the coming years, shopping at a mall will not be a necessity for the buyers as purchases can be made online from anywhere and at any time with ease and at the consumer’s convenience. Hence, malls will have to provide much more than shopping to be able to attract customers.” The term ‘opportunities’ refers to the positive external trends or changes that will help a firm to improve its performance. “As a result, the company gains enormously by getting the first mover advantage.”

Question 6: “Zero Defect Zero Effect” (ZED) is a slogan coined by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi with reference to the Make in India initiative launched by the government. The slogan reflects the efficiency of production processes, i.e. the products have no defects and the process through which the product is made has zero adverse environmental and ecological effects. The ZED model aims to make India the manufacturing hub of the world and prevent the products developed in India from being rejected by the global market. Moreover, before the initiative was launched, the limits of foreign direct investment in various sectors had been relaxed. The application for licences was made available online and the validity of licences was increased to three years. Various other norms and procedures were also relaxed by the government. In the light of the above paragraph, identify and explain the major component of New Economic Policy of 1991 that are being referred to by quoting lines from the paragraph. Answer: The major components of New Economic Policy of 1991 that are being referred to are as follows:

  • Liberalisation: These economic reforms signalled the end of the licence-pemit-quota raj and were aimed at liberalising the Indian business and industry from all unnecessary controls and restrictions. “Moreover, before the initiative was launched, the limits of foreign direct investment in various sectors had been relaxed. The application for licences was made available online and the validity of licences was increased to three years. Various other norms and procedures were also relaxed by the government.”
  • Globalisation: Globalisation means the integration of the various economies of the world leading towards the emergence of a cohesive global economy. “The ZED model aims to make India the manufacturing hub of the world and prevent the products developed in India from being rejected by the global market.”

Question 7: It is interesting to know that the menu items of the multinational food chains are customised to suit the general palates of the local people in the region. When McDonald’s started its business in India in the year 1996, the company went through a complete localisation strategy. McDonald’s changed its product menu to accommodate the vegetable burger given the large vegetarian population. It also altered its store design and even reduced the product price by close to fifteen per cent. Also , the “McAloo Tikki burger” is not available anywhere but in the Indian outlets of McDonalds. Identify the relevant feature of business environment being discussed above. Answer: Relativity is the relevant feature of business environment which is being discussed above.

Question 8: Eco-friendly products are gaining power as the consumers’ awareness about environmental issues has increased over the years and they are conscious about choosing products that do not have adverse effects on the environment. They are now more conscious about the carbon emission and climate change effects, and want themselves to be ‘seen’ as a green advocate among their peers. In such a scenario, it has become a challenge for the companies as they have to not only meet the needs of the consumers but also ensure that their products are safe and environment friendly. As a result, there is growing need for better and advanced technologies to works as a catalyst in this regard.

  • Identify the relevant feature of business environment being discussed above.
  • Describe briefly any three points which highlight the importance of business environment and its understanding by managers.
  • Inter-relatedness is the relevant feature of business environment which is being discussed above.
  • It helps in tapping useful resources: As the enterprise designs policies that allow it to get the resources that it needs so that it can convert those resources into outputs that the environment desires.

Question 9: In the year 2016, the State Government of Kerala had made it mandatory for anganwadis hostels and canteens in educational institutions to secure the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence to ensure food safety. As the educational institutions also get categorised as food business operators in the event of the annual turnover of the hostels, they run exceeding Rs. 12 lakh per annum. In context of the above case:

  • Identify and explain the various dimensions of business environment being referred to here.
  •  List any two values which the State Government of Kerala wants to convey through this initiative.
  • Political Environment: Political environment includes political conditions such as general stability and peace in the country and specific attitudes that elected government representatives hold towards business.
  • Legal Environment: Legal environment includes various legislations passed by the government administrative orders issued by government authorities, court judgments as well as the decisions rendered by various commissions and agencies at every level of the government -Center, State or Local .
  • Good health

Question 10: Postage stamps have been unveiled to commemorate 140 years of existence of the country’s first stock exchange the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The setting up of BSE is considered to be the greatest revolution that took place in the financial markets in India as it acts as a key driver for economic growth of a country. This is due to the fact that there exists a strong corelation between economic growth and capital accumulation. In the context of the above case:

  • Identify the dimension of business environment of India being referred here.
  • State any three factors which broadly affect the dimension of business environment of India as identified in part (a) of the question.
  • Economic environment is the dimension of business environment of India being referred here.

Question 11: The organic food market in India is growing at 25-30 per cent which reflects a clear shift in consumer tastes and preferences. The current growth in the organic food market is driven by multiplicity of factors like rising health consciousness, changing lifestyles, increase in disposable income and growing availability of organic food products in shopping malls, retail outlets and online. In context of the above case:

  • Identify and explain the features of business environment being referred to here.
  • By quoting phrases from the paragraph identify the various components of general forces which have led to a growth in the organic food market.
  • Social: “rising health consciousness, changing lifestyles”
  • Economic: “increase in disposable income”
  • Technological: “growing availability of organic food products in shopping malls, retail outlets and online.”

Question 12: Anurag, aspires to work with a socially and environmentally committed company as he does not want to work just for monetary benefits but also the brand value of the company he works for in the society matters a lot to him. Therefore, he has joined Cerebra Integrated Technologies a Bengaluru-based Infotech company. The company has built India’s largest e-waste recycling plant. The company strives to be one of the leading players in this business which has huge potential not only in terms of generating huge revenues and profits but also wants to contribute to the environment issues that have become crucial worldwide. The company sees big business in the mountains of e-waste in Bengaluru which produces 200,000 tonnes of e-waste a year. The company plans to make its millions by extracting metals such as gold and platinum from the e-waste piling up in the city. As a mobile phone, for example, is made up of a combination of rare earth and precious metals: it contains 250 mg of silver, 24 mg of gold and nine mg of palladium while a laptop has 1,000 mg of silver, 220 mg of gold and 500 grams of copper. To start the business, the company has obtained a licence from KSPCB ( Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) . In context of the above case:

  • List any two values which the company wants to convey to the society.
  • Technological Environment: Technological environment includes forces relating to scientific improvements and innovations which provide new ways of producing goods and services and new methods and techniques of operating a business.
  •  administrative orders issued by government authorities, court judgments as well as the decisions rendered by various commissions and agencies at every level of the government— center, state or local.
  • Social Environment: Social environment includes the social forces like customs and traditions, values, social trends, society’s expectations from business, etc.
  • Sustainable development
  • Concern for environment.

Question 13: The government wants to raise Rs.56,500 crore from the sale of stakes in state-owned enterprises National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in the financial year 2016-17. Identify and explain the related concept. Answer: Disinvestment: Disinvestment refers to transfer in the public sector enterprises to the private sector through dilution of stake of the Government in the public enterprise.

Question 14: Bharat is running an ice cream parlour in a local market. Keeping in mind the changing perceptions about health among the people, one of his employee Abhiraj suggests to him that they should introduce a range a flavoured yogurt. Bharat accepts his suggestion as a result both the image and the profitability of his business increases. In the context of the above case:

  • Identify the feature of management which is being highlighted.
  • State the related dimension of the business environment.
  • Name and explain the related principle of general management.
  • The feature of management which is being highlighted is Dynamic.
  • The related dimension of the business environment is Social.
  • The related principle of general management is Initiative.

Initiative means taking the first step with self-motivation. The workers should be encouraged to develop and carry out their plans for improvement. Suggestion system should be adopted in the organization.

Question 15: As a result of the decision by Britian to exit to European Union the new trade agreements will come into force from the EU as it accounts for 35-40% of auto component exports from India. Tata Motors owned Britain’s largest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been in Britain for three decades and makes 4,75,000 cars a year in the country of which most of them are exported inside the European Union and beyond. JLR estimates that their annual profit could be cut by one billion pounds ($1.47 billion) by the year 2020. In the context of the above case:

  • Explain why are all the elements of business environment considered to be closely interrelated?
  • Name any two related dimensions of the business environment.
  • All the elements of business environment are considered to be closely interrelated as any change in one of them may necessitate a series of changes in other dimensions as well.
  • The related dimensions of the business environment are Political and Legal.

Question 16: : After competing his education, Arun joins his father in their family business of manufacturing cookware. As a businessman, his father is rigid in his approach and has fixed ideas about various issues. He tends to maintain a distance from the factory workers. However, Arun is more receptive to the needs of the workers and doesn’t seem to believe in any class- differences. He believes that the prosperity of their business greatly depends upon the prosperity of their workers and vice versa. At the same time, he has a good understanding of the business environment. Therefore, he introduces a new range of green pans that provide a healthy cooking surface, as they are manufactured with all ceramic or silicon coating and are considered safer than the traditional petroleum based nonstick surfaces which may contain toxic substances. Although, the new cookware range is highly priced/, he expects a ready market for it as both the purchasing power of people and their preference for better quality products has increased over the years. In the context of the above case:

  • Identify the nature of management which is being reflected in the different styles of management in practice adopted by Arun and his father.
  • Name and explain the related principle of scientific management.
  • State the related dimensions of business environment.
  • The different styles of management in practice adopted by Arun and his father reflect that management is an art.
  •  ‘Harmony, Not Discord’ is the related principle of scientific management. Taylor emphasised that there should be complete harmony between the management and workers instead of a kind of class-conflict, the mangers versus workers. To achieve this state, Taylor called for complete mental revolution on the part of both management and workers. The prosperity for the employer cannot exist for a long time unless it is accompanied by prosperity for the employees and vice versa. He advocated paternalistic style of management should be in practice.
  • Economic Environment: Economic environment comprises of factors that can affect management practices in a business enterprise includes interest rates, inflation rates, changes in disposable income of people, stock market indices and the value of rupee etc.

Question 17: ‘Gallant’ is a well known FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company in India. However, for the past few years its profitability is diminishing due to the presence of a new company ‘Prakritik’. ‘Prakritik’ has gradually acquired a reasonable share in a wide variety segments like soaps, shampoos, detergents, dish wash and oral care. One of the key reason is that ‘Prakritik’ has positioned itself as a natural/Ayurvedic brand and this approach has worked well with the Indian consumer. In order to compete with this threat ‘Gallant’ has acquired a premium Ayurvedic brand ‘Madhumita’ from another group. Moreover its likely to increase its advertising budget to counter the threat from ‘Prakritik’. In the context of the above case:

  • Identify the related component of the business environment which has contributed effectively towards the success of Prakritik.
  • Also, state the two ways in which ‘Gallant’ has responded to the changes in its business environment.
  • Social aspect is the related component of the business environment which has contributed effectively towards the success of Prakritik.
  • Acquisition

Banknifty Pivot Point comes under business environment if you see in stock market.

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An architectural model of public facilities for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, India.

Top 40 Case Studies of 2022-23

A case about a unique partnership to bring public toilet facilities to Indian slums earned the top spot in the 2022-23 Top 40 Yale case studies round up.

Delving into the complex project management landscape of a partnership between governments, designers, academic, and NGOs in India, the Project Sammaan case study jumped to the #1 spot this year from #30 in 2021 based largely on its strong sales to academic institutions.

Cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz that took the top two spots last year continued their strong showing this year at #2 and #3.

Surprisingly, the abridged version of the Toyota 2010 case leapt from #40 in last year’s roundup to #4; perennial favorite Coffee 2016 took #5 and cases involving search funds, private equity, and Cadbury, another perennial favorite, rounded out the top 10.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

Other year-end data for 2022-23 showed that:

  • 26K case users from 156 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacted with 191 Yale cases.
  • Over fifty percent of case users came from outside the U.S. with India, Tanzania, and the Philippines making up the bulk.
  • 22 cases on the list are "raw" and 18 "cooked."
  • The top 40 cases were supervised by 21 different Yale SOM current and former faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

All of the 2022-23 Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases for 2022-23 are:

1 Project Sammaan

2 Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

3 Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4 Toyota 2010 (Abridged)

5 Coffee 2016

6 Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

7 Gardner Denver

8 Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

10 Suwanee Lumber Company (B)

11 Marina Bay Sands

12 IBM Corporate Service Corps

13 Shake Shack IPO

14 Children's Premier

15 Hirtle Callaghan & Co

16 Volkswagen

18 Commonfund ESG

19 Alternative Meat Industry

20 Mastercard

21 Palm Oil 2016

22 Design at the Mayo Clinic

23 Mercy Corps

24 Mike Erwin: An accidental social entrepreneur

25 DonorsChoose.org

28 The Alibaba Group

29 Giant Bicycle: Bike-Sharing in Taipei

30 American Greetings

31 Air Canada

32 Achievement First

33 Tesla in Germany

34 Nielsen: How Will the Company Maintain Its Commitments to Multiple Stakeholder Groups?

35 Climate Change Capital

36 2011 Debt Limit Crisis: How Should the Fed Respond?

37 The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

39 Herman Miller

40 AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

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COMMENTS

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  12. Business environment Case Studies with downloads & lesson plans

    Responding positively to a changing environment. When a new technology comes along that is capable of improving dramatically the products of a whole industry, every firm in that industry has... 1 2 Page 1 of 2. Learn about the business environment in the business studies curriculum, see real-life examples within our case studies with downloads.

  13. Curriculum

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    Business Environment ICMR Case Collection provides teachers, corporate trainers, and management professionals with a variety of teaching and reference material. The collection consists of case studies and research reports on a wide range of companies and industries - both Indian and international. The collection contains several kinds of case studies like Business Environment, Business Ethics ...

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    Ideally, you could teach it over two one-and-a-quarter-hour sessions, with over 10 breakout rooms of three minutes each spread along the way. Students can prepare in advance or do it on the fly. To me, it's the perfect antidote to the cold medium of online teaching.". 5. "Dear White Boss…".

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    MBA Two-year program for leaders in all industries.; MBA for Executives Rigorous executive MBA for accomplished professionals.; Master of Advanced Management MBA graduates of top business schools around the world spend a year at Yale.; Master's in Asset Management Intensive introduction to investing with leading faculty and practitioners.; Master's in Global Business & Society A year of ...

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