I am writing this editorial as I prepare to step down as Editor-in-Chief of Asia Case Research Journal(ACRJ) and the journal transitions into new ownership and leadership. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the journal’s history and thank the many people who have contributed to it over the years. I will conclude with some parting comments about the future of ACRJ.
The Indian tea industry experienced a revolution thanks to Chaayos, a tea café chain founded in 2012 that merged traditional tea flavors with modern service innovations. Chaayos grew from its original Gurgaon-based café to become a multi-city brand operating a range of products, including physical cafés, cloud kitchens, and packaged items. While Chaayos had seen strong revenue growth and built a loyal customer base, its overall financial health remained negative, raising questions about business efficiency and long-term sustainability. The key strategic decision Chaayos faced was whether to pursue further aggressive market expansion and attempt to lead the industry or to first focus on improving operational efficiency in order to turn a profit from existing locations. This case offers educational insights into India’s rapidly expanding café scene, driven by digital advancements. It encourages students to analyze business model changes, strategic growth options, and financial viability, along with customer-focused service delivery. The case aims to help students critically evaluate real startup challenges and core strategic choices in growing business environments.
In July 2025, Mahavatar Narsimha — a 3D animated retelling of Hindu mythology directed by Ashwin Kumar of Kleem Productions, backed by Hombale Films, became India’s highest-grossing animated Film, earning ?326 crore worldwide on a reported budget of ₹15–40 crore. It achieved this without celebrity casting, without conventional Marketing Spend, and with an audience mobilized almost entirely through devotional communities, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) networks, religious group viewings, and organic social media. By November 2025, Ashwin Kumar was in pre-production for “Mahavatar Parshuram”, the second of seven planned films in the Mahavatar Cinematic Universe facing three documented and potentially incompatible strategic directions: deepen the devotional Community model that built the first film’s success; scale up the animation franchise to meet raised audience and investor expectations; or expand into live-action cinema in response to active solicitation from some of the most commercially powerful figures in Indian Film. The case places students at this moment of maximum strategic leverage and asks them to analyze what worked, why it worked, whether it can be sustained, and what Ashwin Kumar should do. [Formula: see text]It was a Monday evening in Mumbai, August 8, 2025, for the first time ever, a Movie’s success meet was held not in a five-star ballroom but at the ISKCON 1 Temple in Juhu. The filmmakers decided to skip the conventional route and embraced divinity, seeking the blessings of the divine force. The devotees gathered at the temple’s courtroom for the evening aarti (devotional prayer ritual). The fragrance of incense sticks hung in the air and a framed picture of Lord Narsimha was witnessing the celebration. Right from Hombale Films’ Co-founder Chaluve Gowda, distributors, producer, and director — Kumar gathered to celebrate the success. [Formula: see text]Another surprise which no one was ready for was Kumar announcing the forthcoming line-up of the animated franchise for the upcoming decade: “Mahavatar Parshuram (2027), Mahavatar Raghunandan (2029), Mahavatar Dwarkadhish (2031), Mahavatar Gokulananda (2033), Mahavatar Kalki Part 1 (2035), and Mahavatar Kalki Part 2 (2037)”. 2 This franchise represents a faith-driven creative act — the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu as penned in Indian religious scriptures. [Formula: see text]Kumar left the ISKCON Temple that evening holding two futures simultaneously. One was a devotional offering that had become a cultural phenomenon through faith, Community, and patience. The other was a 12-year commercial franchise, publicly committed, investor-backed, and now carrying the expectations of an industry that had watched Indian animation finally break through its ceiling. [Formula: see text]The first film had succeeded, in large part, because it had no conventional strategy. The next one could not be made without one. What should Kumar do? Should he follow the same unconventional approach and capitalize on the power of religious communities or plan something conventional with a huge marketing budget for the sequel? 1 ISKCON, a global Vaishnava Hindu movement founded in 1966, with centers across 150 countries. 2 Koimoi, “Mahavatar Narsimha Box Office Collection Day 20: Surpasses Ajay Devgn’s Raid 2, 15.29 Crores Away from a Historic Milestone”, 10, https://www.koimoi.com/box-office/mahavatar-narsimha-box-office-collection-day-20-surpasses-ajay-devgns-raid-2-15-29-crores-away-from-a-historic-milestone/.
Decision-focused cases have become the de facto standard genre for teaching cases used in business schools. There are many benefits of the genre to authors, students, and the outlets that publish them. Yet, there are also downsides to excluding other genres of case studies. This paper considers the opportunities and challenges involved with developing and publishing other genres of case studies.
This case study offers a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary global athletic footwear market, illustrating how the shifting marketing strategies, distribution channel configurations, and evolving consumer preferences have refined the traditional competitive playbook. It identifies and contrasts the strategic maneuvers of three groups of global brands: dominant giants (Nike and Adidas), resilient legacy players (Puma, ASICS, and Under Armour), and fast-growing challenger brands (Hoka, ON, Li-Ning, and Anta).Through a lens of global business development, the case study highlights the excellence and balance in product and marketing strategies that sports brands must constantly and delicately harness to expand and sustain their footwear market shares. This includes the balance between superior athletic performance (e.g., innovation in footwear cushioning technology) and lifestyle resonance (e.g., national culture and retro designs) in product strategy, as well as the balance in the brand's distribution strategy, between the high-margin direct-to-customer (DTC) sales model and the wide-reaching, partnership-based wholesale retail network.The narrative explores how market leaders could stumble when over-relying on a single strategy - such as Nike's aggressive pivoting in 2020 to digital DTC and data-driven performance marketing at the expense of its superior brand storytelling. Conversely, it shows how agile underdogs, such as Hoka and ON, had grown rapidly in the global market since circa 2010 by initially capturing high-end niche markets and progressively offering innovative footwear technologies. The study also discusses the developing paths of legacy sports brands, for example, Puma and Under Armour opting to persist in very different strategies on product portfolio and marketing mix. In addition, two local brands going global from an emerging market (Li-Ning and Anta from China) were examined in terms of how they leveraged domestic culture and aggressive international multi-brand acquisitions to challenge Western dominance in the sports goods market.
