Cases in this issue
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| “Good” ‘Ol Camp Teddy Amidst the COVID Pandemic Target audience: Graduate courses in investment management, hospitality management, corporate finance or business strategy | George De Feis and Donald Grunewald | Camp Teddy is a seasonal camp for families in rural Connecticut adjacent to New York City and suburbs in New York and Connecticut. It is technically a for-profit organization but operates more like a nonprofit organization because many of the campers own shares and have used the Camp sometimes for several generations. The Camp has traditions that are liked by many of the shareholders and campers. Although net income has increased in the past year, there does not seem to be enough funds to support necessary capital expenditures to improve facilities for the future. The largest stockholder has recently died. His immediate heirs’ control 30% of the 1,000 shares and other family members control 40% with the remaining 30% of shares in the hands of small shareholders, many of whom use the Camp each summer. A large hotel chain is interested in possibly acquiring the Camp through a buyout or perhaps a hostile takeover, with a potential large gain to shareholders. The Board of Directors must consider a number of issues to ensure good occupancy of the Camp in the future and must decide what to do about a potential takeover attempt |
| Paranoiabox.ru: Russian Start-up Growth Decision Dilemma Target audience: Undergraduate or graduate students in entrepreneurship courses | Alla Dementieva, Olga Kandinskaia and Olga Khotyasheva | Paranoiabox.ru case presents an entrepreneurial and strategic marketing decision situation. In May 2019, in Moscow, Russia, two young residents of the MGIMO University business incubator Anastasia and Max founded the start-up business called Paranoiabox.ru. This project was a quest in a new format with home delivery: a mixture of escape, detective and board game. The player received by post a box containing various objects. Interacting with them, he or she unraveled the plot thread, found clues and gradually approached the final clue. The game with complex copyright puzzles had a built-in hint system and provided mechanisms for interaction online. By July 2019, 30 boxes for their first quest were sold. The subscribers were waiting for a new quest. Despite the first sales, Anastasia and Max had no budget for hiring freelancers or outsourcing. They were faced with an urgent and challenging dilemma: whether to concentrate on the current product sales and spend all the budget on promotion, or, alternatively, to launch a series of new quests and focus on the target market with high brand awareness. There was an additional funding dilemma: should they apply for crowdfunding? |
| Qualtrics and the Utah Jazz – A Paradoxical Relationship Target audience: Undergraduate and graduate students in Marketing or Corporate Social Responsibility courses | Skyler King, Anthony Allred and Clinton Amos | This case examines Qualtrics, a company that took an unprecedented approach to social responsibility. Qualtrics paid millions of dollars and provided significant promotional and administrative support for cancer research without directly identifying itself as the sponsor on the Utah Jazz NBA jersey patch |
| When Foreign Direct Investment is Threatened: Rio Tinto and Richards Bay Minerals Target audience: Undergraduate and graduate students in International Business or Financial Management courses | Amy Moore and Marianne Matthee | The case highlights the interrelated factors (civil society infrastructure, local and political unrest and community instability) which led to global mining company Rio Tinto announcing the halt of its operations and force majeure at its only South African business, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM). RBM was the largest business and employer in the province. Following destruction of some of its equipment, civil unrest such as blocking of roads and intimidation of staff and the murder of one of their executives, Nico Swart, RBM management consequently announced all supplier contracts and operations would be halted until it was safe for work to be resumed The case allows students to consider the interrelated factors that multinationals operating in developing countries are subject to in terms of different sub-national institutions and the potential impact of a large multinational ceasing operations in a local economy, both directly and indirectly. It concludes with considerations of what needs to be in place for RBM to continue operations |
| Alkem Laboratories: Managing Employee Motivation During Pandemics Target audience: Undergraduate and graduate courses in Organization Behavior, Organizational Change, and Supply Chain Risk Management | Subrat Sarangi, Ashok Priyadarshi, Gloryson Chalil and Rasananda Panda | Alkem Laboratories Ltd., is a leading pharma major from India with a global footprint. At the break of COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing unit of the company at Sikkim is facing the scare of mass absenteeism, especially among the contractual workers who account for 60% of the workforce of the unit. Ashok Priyadarshi, (Vice President, Human Resources) and his team along with the think tank of the unit have to find a solution to the problem at hand. What shall be the measures that the think tank will propose? The team sets out to find an answer to these questions so that Alkem could seize the business opportunity at the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Social Shopping at Goel Stores: Forging Ahead Through the Use of Social Media Target audience: Students in Marketing, Digital Marketing or Retail Marketing courses | Anagha Shukre and Naresh Verma | Family businesses, like that of Kiran Rai’s, owning a local Mom and Pop store in an emerging city were faced with a serious problem of sustaining their businesses. These family businesses countered immense competition from their own types, i.e. from other local Mom and Pop stores within the same cities; online stores; and the organized stores. The choice of the customers to buy goods from the neighborhood shops has remained largely as an age-old tradition in the households. With the millennials and the Gen Z exposed to an array of brands, can they become the first choice of young customers for shopping for all kinds of products and varieties? Can the local Mom and Pop stores spread their wings across the young generations, particularly the Millennials and Generation Z through inexpensive social media channels? What are their growth options? How can the social media serve this purpose? The case uses the social cognition theory and the use gratification theory to throw light on the new concept of Social Shopping |
| Circular Beauty at Nafigate Cosmetics: Balancing New Brand Concepts With Growth Through Contract Manufacturing Target audience: Students in Marketing courses | Kveta Olsanova, Gina Cook and Petr Král | Nafigate Corporation is a small Czech company with a global presence and a solid organizational philosophy to create a better world through scientific knowledge and active use of technology. With an innovative new product, Nafigate is poised to revolutionize the cosmetics industry. The case explores elements of branding, strategic decision-making and how to balance competing priorities during a company’s growth phase |
| Case title and target audience | Authors | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| “Good” ‘Ol Camp Teddy Amidst the COVID Pandemic | George De Feis and Donald Grunewald | Camp Teddy is a seasonal camp for families in rural Connecticut adjacent to New York City and suburbs in New York and Connecticut. It is technically a for-profit organization but operates more like a nonprofit organization because many of the campers own shares and have used the Camp sometimes for several generations. The Camp has traditions that are liked by many of the shareholders and campers. Although net income has increased in the past year, there does not seem to be enough funds to support necessary capital expenditures to improve facilities for the future. The largest stockholder has recently died. His immediate heirs’ control 30% of the 1,000 shares and other family members control 40% with the remaining 30% of shares in the hands of small shareholders, many of whom use the Camp each summer. A large hotel chain is interested in possibly acquiring the Camp through a buyout or perhaps a hostile takeover, with a potential large gain to shareholders. The Board of Directors must consider a number of issues to ensure good occupancy of the Camp in the future and must decide what to do about a potential takeover attempt |
| Paranoiabox.ru: Russian Start-up Growth Decision Dilemma | Alla Dementieva, Olga Kandinskaia and Olga Khotyasheva | Paranoiabox.ru case presents an entrepreneurial and strategic marketing decision situation. In May 2019, in Moscow, Russia, two young residents of the MGIMO University business incubator Anastasia and Max founded the start-up business called Paranoiabox.ru. This project was a quest in a new format with home delivery: a mixture of escape, detective and board game. The player received by post a box containing various objects. Interacting with them, he or she unraveled the plot thread, found clues and gradually approached the final clue. The game with complex copyright puzzles had a built-in hint system and provided mechanisms for interaction online. By July 2019, 30 boxes for their first quest were sold. The subscribers were waiting for a new quest. Despite the first sales, Anastasia and Max had no budget for hiring freelancers or outsourcing. They were faced with an urgent and challenging dilemma: whether to concentrate on the current product sales and spend all the budget on promotion, or, alternatively, to launch a series of new quests and focus on the target market with high brand awareness. There was an additional funding dilemma: should they apply for crowdfunding? |
| Qualtrics and the Utah Jazz – A Paradoxical Relationship | Skyler King, Anthony Allred and Clinton Amos | This case examines Qualtrics, a company that took an unprecedented approach to social responsibility. Qualtrics paid millions of dollars and provided significant promotional and administrative support for cancer research without directly identifying itself as the sponsor on the Utah Jazz NBA jersey patch |
| When Foreign Direct Investment is Threatened: Rio Tinto and Richards Bay Minerals | Amy Moore and Marianne Matthee | The case highlights the interrelated factors (civil society infrastructure, local and political unrest and community instability) which led to global mining company Rio Tinto announcing the halt of its operations and force majeure at its only South African business, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM). RBM was the largest business and employer in the province. Following destruction of some of its equipment, civil unrest such as blocking of roads and intimidation of staff and the murder of one of their executives, Nico Swart, RBM management consequently announced all supplier contracts and operations would be halted until it was safe for work to be resumed |
| Alkem Laboratories: Managing Employee Motivation During Pandemics | Subrat Sarangi, Ashok Priyadarshi, Gloryson Chalil and Rasananda Panda | Alkem Laboratories Ltd., is a leading pharma major from India with a global footprint. At the break of COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing unit of the company at Sikkim is facing the scare of mass absenteeism, especially among the contractual workers who account for 60% of the workforce of the unit. Ashok Priyadarshi, (Vice President, Human Resources) and his team along with the think tank of the unit have to find a solution to the problem at hand. What shall be the measures that the think tank will propose? The team sets out to find an answer to these questions so that Alkem could seize the business opportunity at the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Social Shopping at Goel Stores: Forging Ahead Through the Use of Social Media | Anagha Shukre and Naresh Verma | Family businesses, like that of Kiran Rai’s, owning a local Mom and Pop store in an emerging city were faced with a serious problem of sustaining their businesses. These family businesses countered immense competition from their own types, i.e. from other local Mom and Pop stores within the same cities; online stores; and the organized stores. The choice of the customers to buy goods from the neighborhood shops has remained largely as an age-old tradition in the households. With the millennials and the Gen Z exposed to an array of brands, can they become the first choice of young customers for shopping for all kinds of products and varieties? Can the local Mom and Pop stores spread their wings across the young generations, particularly the Millennials and Generation Z through inexpensive social media channels? What are their growth options? How can the social media serve this purpose? The case uses the social cognition theory and the use gratification theory to throw light on the new concept of Social Shopping |
| Circular Beauty at Nafigate Cosmetics: Balancing New Brand Concepts With Growth Through Contract Manufacturing | Kveta Olsanova, Gina Cook and Petr Král | Nafigate Corporation is a small Czech company with a global presence and a solid organizational philosophy to create a better world through scientific knowledge and active use of technology. With an innovative new product, Nafigate is poised to revolutionize the cosmetics industry. The case explores elements of branding, strategic decision-making and how to balance competing priorities during a company’s growth phase |
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