Author(s):Dolphy M. Abraham, Mohan Gopinath, Edwin Castelino
Title – Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited: strategic innovation to achieve financial inclusion. Subject area – Strategic innovation through the deployment of a sophisticated collection of information systems and technologies to help accomplish financial inclusion for the urban poor. Study level/applicability – This case is suitable for graduate courses on strategic planning and innovation. Case overview – Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS) is a microfinance company that seeks to serve the financial service needs of the urban poor, a market segment with huge growth potential. This operation involves large numbers of cash transactions making effective control mechanisms necessary. However, small margins make an innovative strategy necessary. JFS states that information technology (IT) is its DNA. The way in which the leadership team used a variety of IT solutions to create an integrated set of well managed operations provides a very useful lesson in managing the process of strategic innovation. Expected learning outcomes – The primary learning objective is to help the student understand the impact of strategic innovation through the use of information systems and technologies. This is achieved by helping the student to: connect the abilities provided by information technology to the social objective of financial inclusion; understand what financial inclusion means to the urban poor and how this segment differs from other microfinance and banking segments; assess the approach (related to organizational design as well as systems) JFS has employed to accomplish the objective of financial inclusion among the urban poor in India; analyse the systems and processes JFS has used to deliver services to its target market while making processes more transparent and efficient at JFS; and assess the risks to which JFS is exposed through its business activity as well as the use of information technology. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access. Close

Author(s):Alka Chadha
Title – Daiichi Sankyo's generic (mis) adventure: the Ranbaxy takeover. Subject area – The case offers a study of change management in the pharmaceutical industry in India. Study level/applicability – The case is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students to examine strategic decision making in the context of mergers and acquisitions (M&As), firm capabilities and management practices. In particular, it has important pedagogical lessons for businesses eager to start operations in emerging countries. Students learn to recognize the unique nature of the pharmaceutical market and the factors affecting the demand and supply of drugs, including the economics of generics. The case can be discussed in one class session of approximately one-and-a-half to two hours duration. Case overview – In 2012, the pharmaceutical industry in India was undergoing dynamic changes. There was keen interest among MNC pharmaceutical giants to buy up Indian generic manufacturing companies since their revenues were drying up with the impending patent expirations of many blockbuster brand name drugs. Japan's Daiichi Sankyo's had taken over the largest Indian pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, known for its heritage of process innovations and market leadership. However, after the acquisition, Ranbaxy slipped to third position in the domestic market and was facing multiple problems including net losses and falling share prices, cultural differences in management practices, recall of drugs from foreign markets and a US FDA ban on its manufacturing plants. Further, Ranbaxy had always been viewed as a national champion and a customer-friendly company but drug prices had increased after the merger causing problems of affordability. The new CEO of Ranbaxy was facing a dilemma: how to regain the company's position as the market leader. Students are asked to advise the CEO of Ranbaxy how to tackle the challenges arising from the integration of an Indian company with a Japanese company. More specifically, the case focuses on M&A as a strategy for growth and also touches on issues related to competition, regulation, innovation and corporate governance. Expected learning outcomes – The case discusses the different motives behind the deal for Daiichi Sankyo and Ranbaxy and why it was a strategic move by both the alliance partners. The case also raises issues of corporate governance for the management of Ranbaxy and the need for a proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. The case provides students with the opportunity to develop their analytical skills in a real-life setting and apply theoretical concepts to the consideration of the various issues raised by the acquisition deal. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access. Close

Author(s):Jyoti Kainth
Title – Satya Bharti School Program: the kaizen way. Subject area – Strategic management. Study level/applicability – The case is suitable for undergraduates, MBA, and executive MBA courses. Case overview – This case on Satya Bharti School Program, an initiative of the Bharti Foundation, highlights the journey, achievements and challenges faced during the implementation of a noble vision. The case maps the strategy implemented from multiple vantage points and aims to show how the compelling need of providing quality education in rural India transformed the way people look at corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Expected learning outcomes – The case analysis aims to help students comprehend and understand: the concept of corporate social responsibility; the strategic decision-making process amidst constraints in the context of not-for-profit organizations; how organizational excellence models are embedded to improvise practices and processes; the concept of the multi-stakeholder framework; and how external and internal issues can affect the success of a CSR program. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; links to videos are provided. Close

Author(s):Monica Singhania, Sanjeev Sharma
Title – Financial turnaround of Indian Railways (B). Subject area – Financial management, strategic management. Study level/applicability – The study can be used by business schools, companies/organizations, individuals, students of business management, in the area of financial and strategic management to study and analyse management strategies by a Government organization that has to balance social objectives and commercial viability. Case overview – Indian Railways (IR) has mixed operations – passenger and freight – that generate resources for its development expenditure, as well as fully covering its operational costs. This is in sharp contrast to most world railways that depend on a subsidy for operations and development expenditure. While IR would strive to increase earnings through higher throughput levels and generate more funds through its own resources, the constraints of fixed expenditure, largely comprising staff related expenses and fuel costs make it difficult to achieve the target. Operational and safety considerations dictate the need to ensure adequate provision for working expenses. Global developments significantly influenced the Indian economy after 2008-2009 and resulted in moderation in growth compared with the robust growth in preceding years. IR is presently passing through a difficult phase which began with the slowdown in the economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. While earnings continue to grow both in the passenger and goods segments, the expenditure on account of increases in salaries, allowances and pensions has been much higher than after previous Pay Commissions. This case explores this difficult period for IR when there was a major increase in operating expenditure largely due to the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission and because of the global economic slowdown. Expected learning outcomes – These include: being able to analyse whether the turnaround phase of IR is over; and discussing the strategies to return IR to the path of growth. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access. Close

Author(s):José Camilo Dávila, Roberto Gutiérrez
Title – Tin Mining, Inc.: the paradox of organizational capabilities. Subject area – Strategy. Study level/applicability – The case study is intended for organization theory and strategic management courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate (MBA) levels. Case overview – The case describes a company located in a fictitious developing country. The main activity of the company is the exploitation and production of tin, which it has developed over its 40-year history (1971-2011). During the first 33 years, it developed three capabilities: namely, technical, productive and the generation of trust among employees. The case illustrates three characteristics of capabilities: problem solving and complexity, practicing and succeeding, and reliability over time. The case also illustrates a paradox related to capabilities and shows three of its causes: path dependency and lock-in to a given course of action, structural inertia, and the absence of a capability dynamization function. In 2009, the company was faced with the need to reshape its capabilities and the arrival of a new President to the company provided the appropriate occasion to analyse this option. Expected learning outcomes – These include: understanding what an organizational capability is and what its main characteristics are; understanding the process by which an organizational capability emerges and develops, and how it may be eroded in a given scenario; understanding a paradox an organization faces when capabilities are developed; and understanding why the concept of dynamic capabilities does not add power to the concept of capabilities. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access. Videos with interviews of employees of the case company are also available. Close