Modern Coast Express Limited, once a leading player in East Africa’s bus transport sector, faces imminent collapse, driven by family succession failures, internal conflicts, safety lapses and external pressures. Founded in 1985 by Shahid Pervez Butt, the company grew to over 200 luxury buses operating across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and beyond by 2010. Butt’s assassination in 2014 created a leadership vacuum that sparked protracted family ownership disputes, paralyzing strategic decision-making and eroding governance. In the ensuing years, Modern Coast’s safety record deteriorated, with multiple fatal accidents leading regulators to suspend its licence and prompting costly legal liabilities. Meanwhile, ageing infrastructure, new competitors (including Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway) and informal transport alternatives chipped away at its market share. This case invites students to critically analyze how effective succession planning and governance strategies can either enhance stability or contribute to instability within large family-owned enterprises operating in high-risk service industries. It also highlights how socioemotional wealth considerations and family dynamics can influence business decisions, often at the expense of professional management. The case therefore examines crisis leadership in the transport industry and shows how socioemotional wealth considerations and family dynamics can influence business decisions, often at the expense of professional management.
Srinarayan Srivastava, the founder and owner of New Pooja Instruments (NPI), was confronted with an ethical dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic. NPI, specializing in the installation and commissioning of commercial electrical instruments, has been successfully operating for over three decades. However, the onset of the pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns trapped Srinarayan in a situation where he had to choose between trimming down his workforce to cut costs and sustain the firm and retaining his employees and risking the depletion of the company’s financial reserves. The case narrates this incident, delving into the various challenges faced by small and medium enterprises in making business decisions, particularly in times of crisis.
This case study explores how a chief executive officer (CEO)’s transformational leadership styles and emotional intelligence (EI) competence impacted the turnaround of a tertiary South African public hospital in crisis. This case examines the intricacies of public health governance in an emerging economy, by analyzing the CEO’s EI competencies and leadership behaviours using a mixed-methods approach. The findings highlight the importance of transformational leadership and EI competencies, including empathy, self-regulation, self-awareness and social awareness, in navigating change within complex systems, influencing employee well-being, workplace culture and overall organizational performance. This case provides insightful perspectives on how to develop public leadership competence and implement organizational change. In the current context, can the CEO, now the newly appointed leader of the provincial health department, utilize her personal attributes and transformational leadership styles— proven effective in driving positive change at a single hospital—to bring about transformation across an entire provincial health system that encompasses multiple underperforming hospitals?
BYJU’s, an Edtech startup, was launched in 2011. It became the most valued Edtech in the world with a peak valuation of $22 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of the Indian Edtech industry to an unprecedented level. To put the huge COVID shift in perspective, BYJU’s saw its registered students and paid subscribers increase almost 2.85 and 2.5 times, respectively. With more and more funding rounds and the opportunity presented by COVID-19, the unicorn looked formidable. The startup made 19 acquisitions, trying to be the one-stop solution for the Edtech Industry. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the startup had spent almost $2.5 billion in almost 24 months. But with everything returning to normal, the startup seemed to have lost its growth spree. The startup got tangled in a host of issues. It faced regulatory and legal issues (court cases and ED raids), brand issues (aggressive marketing tactics and employee layoffs), investor issues (valuation cuts and board directors resigning) and financial issues (auditor resigning, worrying audited numbers and tough acquisitions). Things had drastically changed for them.
A comprehensive analysis of ‘Mission Shakti: Transformative Power of Women’s Collectives in Rural Empowerment’ has been made about India and its role in the collective empowerment among rural women in Odisha, India. (Mission Shakti, 2001). It established a vibrant system of systematic entrepreneurship for women by combining women’s self-help groups (WSHGs) to enable social and economic empowerment. The analysis also indicated the extent to which the initiative worked towards mobilizing 6 lakh groups of about 70 lakh women in the state’s blocks and urban local bodies. Some point out that the strategies needed to help already established WSHGs and the likely creation of new groups include regular support and supervision, linkage to market opportunities and access to credit. In addition, the case study examines two new departments that were set up to institutionalize and scale up the SHG movement in Odisha: a Department of Mission Shakti in June 2021 and a separate Directorate of Mission Shakti in April 2017. An examination of the process and achievements of Mission Shakti thus offers convincing proof of how women’s collectives can transform rural power structures, clearly demonstrated in this case (which is only a modest portrayal compared to actual progress in Odisha). The case study may be used by students aspiring to take courses in development economics, women’s studies, policymaking, management and social entrepreneurship. This article explores the revolutionary transitional changes due to community-driven projects in rural areas and collective work focused on advancing women economically.
This case study examines the contrasting business trajectories of two Zari-Zardozi artisans from Bareilly—Md Yameen, a traditional craftsman rooted in informal systems, and Noumaan, a digitally driven entrepreneur. It highlights the socio-economic and technological challenges faced by artisans like Yameen, including delayed payments, lack of digital literacy, financial exclusion and limited market access. In contrast, Noumaan leverages digital tools such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Vyapar, WhatsApp Business, and influencer-led marketing to enhance efficiency, transparency and visibility. His strategic use of social media and online workflows resulted in a 40% surge in sales, with 70% of the increase attributed to digital outreach. The study further explores gendered cultural constraints within this Muslim-dominated craft, where women’s contributions remain unrecognized. Through strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) analyses, multi-stakeholder insights, and practical visual aids, the case underscores the role of digital adoption in revitalizing traditional crafts. It concludes with a ‘replication potential’ assessment of Noumaan’s model and includes a reader-oriented, problem-solving prompt, encouraging practical thinking on digital transformation for grassroots artisans. The study offers actionable lessons for policymakers, researchers and entrepreneurs engaged in informal sector development.
Nagraj, the General Manager, Marketing & Sales at Comino Pharmaceuticals, has been a star performer consistently and is now one of the six participants in his division to be selected for the Business Leadership Programme at Comino Pharmaceuticals situated in Gujarat. The case describes his performance and evaluation in the assessment centre for the Business Leadership Programme. The case outlines the whole process of the Business Leadership Programme performed through a virtual assessment centre spread over four phases. While identifying his strengths and development areas and analyzing him on the Comino leadership qualities (CLQ), the case reflects on the feedback and suggestions for making his individual development plan (IDP). The case leaves the readers to ponder over the action plan that Nagraj has to include in his IDP for submission to the human resources department. Based on a real-life situation in the career of an employee, the case on ‘Assessment Centre: A Safe Room to Predict Credibility in Senior Leadership Position’ describes the performance and assessment of Nagraj, General Manager, Sales & Marketing, in the assessment centre as a part of the Business Leadership Programme of Comino Pharmaceuticals (name hidden). The case describes his assessment on CLQ through High Performance Trait Indicator (HPTI) conducted by Johnson International (Name hidden) and leaves the reader to help him derive an IDP. While presenting an analysis on the performance of Nagraj in the Business Leadership programme at Comino Pharmaceuticals, the article presents a detailed qualitative observation on Nagraj’s performance in the business case, ideation, situational judgement and the behavioural event interview. The more the employees are aware of their strengths and development needs, the better they are able to match their actual performance to their potential. The assessment centre at Comino had been planned in four phases on a virtual platform. While the first two phases include psychometric exercises and 360-degree feedback survey, the third phase subjects the participants to a series of individual and/or group simulations, and the fourth phase consists of feedback and IDP sessions, wherein each employee had a 75-min individual feedback session with their assessor (Johnson International, name hidden). Nagraj is left now to interpret the HPTI scores on his dashboard. A star performer and a go-getter, he now has scores assigned for his performance in the virtual assessment programme (VAC), on all six factors, including his conscientiousness, adjustment, curiosity, risk approach, ambiguity acceptance and competitiveness. His strengths as identified during VAC include innovative thinking and global and strategic mindset, while his weakness includes customer leadership and business and commercial acumen. Did that mean he was rated not too good in his ability to assume a business leadership role? Nagraj was a little perplexed. He was given pointers for framing his IDP. He read the report another time and pondered whether not having an MBA degree in any way made him less competitive. Should he enrol in one? Should he include a formal degree as one of his development plans? He wondered whether, with his kind of routine and travelling on a card every next day, this goal would be achievable. He had to make an IDP that was measurable and achievable. Based on a real-life situation of an employee, the case showcases how an assessment centre practically works and how IDPs are arrived at by an employee.
The objective of this case is to highlight the various aspects of the ongoing struggle faced by writers in the entertainment industry, specifically focusing on the dynamics between renowned writers and lesser-known talents, and the increasing inclination of producers towards hiring artificial intelligence (AI) scriptwriters. The case has also highlighted the various aspects of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and discussed the issue of the labour dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in the USA. This research explores the dilemma where established writers often receive better pay and opportunities due to their brand image, while emerging writers struggle for recognition and fair compensation despite potentially superior skills. Additionally, the case delves into producers’ perspectives on cost-cutting measures, including the employment of AI to generate scripts, which presents a significant threat to the livelihood of human writers. The case has also investigated the potential impact of the strike on the entertainment industry. The main focus points of the strike, such as residuals from streaming media and concerns about the use of AI, were extensively discussed in the case. The strike seems to be the biggest threat and disruption to American television and film production since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The significant impact of the strike was also explored, and the effect of the strike on movie production, including delayed or halted production, script limitations, changes in creative direction, financial implications and impact on industry reputation, has also been elaborated in the case. Additionally, the case has also thrown some light on the previous WGA strikes held in 1960, 1988 and 2007–2008 that highlighted the importance of demanding the rights for compensation of writers throughout history.
Principles of management. Entrepreneurship, principles of management, business strategy. The case revolves around the founder, Anant Kumar, of Life Circle, a home care start-up, and the struggles he went through even before the commencement of the firm. The case delves deep into the details of the system set in place to manage the different processes involved in carrying out the day-to-day operations. It also describes the planning, organizing, directing and controlling that are needed to face a major challenge of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and the current challenges of expansion. In sum, Life Circle’s bumpy ride in a topsy-turvy pandemic period provides several insights relating to the activities that a new firm with paper-thin margins can perform to survive and thrive. The readers are expected to learn how Henry Fayol’s four basic principles of management including planning, organizing, directing and controlling work for a start-up during periods of shocks.
Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have stayed in the shadows for far too long and played second fiddle to mainstream banks in India. NBFCs or shadow banks, as they are also called, are highly significant for the economy’s growth. However, due to their high vulnerability and susceptibility towards high risk and losses, they have predominantly existed in the shadows of the country’s financial sector and have not come out in the limelight. Moreover, this is not without reason. The recent meltdowns of big corporate houses such as Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) and Reliance Capital have cast numerous questions about the credibility and genuineness of shadow banks in India. Given such a scenario, the entire shadow banking industry was subject to strict surveillance by the regulator to strengthen the overall financial ecosystem. After the chaos in September 2019, Altico Capital India Ltd, an $800 million realty-based capital-backed housing finance company, surrendered its licence to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), projecting its incapability to run the business. The company had defaulted on a $91.99 million payout to a Dubai-based bank, followed by defaults to other lenders in the same year. As a result, SSG Capital, a Hong Kong-based company, acquired Altico’s bad debts with a 50% haircut to save the company. It was extremely unfortunate for the overall financial sector, and particularly the NBFC sector, that Altico was not the only company in this situation. Multiple other entities are contemplating liquidating or opting for a resolution plan to ensure a safe exit from their present debt-ridden situation. It is high time now to address the concerns of the NBFCs, rescue them from an early-stage crisis, and rescue the overall financial sector from further drowning before the situation turns out of control.
The case concerns the Rolex advertisement featuring Roger Federer that was recently released, eliciting diverse reactions from its audience across multiple social media channels. The promotional material emphasizes the exceptional tennis skills and enduring legacy of Roger Federer while promoting the Rolex Explorer II timepiece. The advertisement generated controversy by placing greater emphasis on Federer’s grace and elegance rather than his numerous championship titles, even though his competitors were equally accomplished during the time of the ad’s release. This particular case prompts inquiries into the merits and demerits of utilizing celebrity endorsements, the constituent elements of effective advertising, and the role of decision-making in the creation of successful advertising campaigns. The case study could potentially explore these topics in greater depth, highlighting the crucial importance of considering the target audience and messaging, as well as the potential advantages and disadvantages of timing in celebrity endorsement campaigns. The inquiry also delves into the creative methodology and decision-making involved in developing an advertisement that efficaciously promotes the brand while simultaneously resonating with customers.
The case is about the food start-up Zomato, which floated its initial public offering (IPO) on 14 July 2021, with the aim of raising money from the general public. It aims to evaluate whether the company is overpriced or underpriced compared to its price band and offer price despite being a loss-making food start-up. The case also highlights how the two valuation techniques—discounted cash flow technique and relative valuation technique can be used to calculate the implied price or intrinsic value of Zomato. Also, which techniques will be better for calculating the intrinsic value and comparing it with the current market price to conclude whether the IPO was overpriced or underpriced? It analyses the advantages and disadvantages of each of these techniques for a firm like Zomato.
Albert Bailey is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Spur Tree Spices, a Jamaican company specializing in authentic Jamaican spices. The company, which started in 2006, targets the Jamaican diaspora in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and has grown steadily, growing revenues from J$290M in 2016 to J$701M in 2020, primarily from internal financing. Bailey wanted to expand into Jamaican foods, which would complement the spices. Bailey and his management team debated whether they should raise resources to fund the expansion through debt or equity initial public offering (IPO).
The Shiksha Knowledge Solutions case study highlights the entrepreneurial journey of the chief executive officer. Sam and his dilemma about whether to serve the local Indian market or go international by entering the Middle East and North Africa region to offer its services for education and training business. The company is a turnkey solution provider in India that provides computer-aided tools and is a one-stop solution for the kindergarten to intermediate (K-12) segment. The company also imparted training to teachers before initiating contracts with client schools. This case study discussed how this startup was clueless about the next move and lacked a suitable strategy for entering an international market.
Anumula Shashank, a second-generation entrepreneur, considered himself fortunate to have inherited a loyal customer base of chai (tea) enthusiasts for his Café Niloufer. The café had previously sold an average of 20,000 cups of Irani chai daily, and even the 2019 pandemic had not impacted these Irani chai sales. Shashank faced competition from local and international chains, prompting him to explore new avenues to differentiate and stand out in the crowded market. On a fine 15th June morning in 2022, Shashank headed to a meeting with the owner of an 18,000 square feet facility in Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, contemplating the launch of a modern format tea café. He took over the company’s reins from his father, Mr Anumula Babu Rao. Rao had purchased Café Niloufer from its previous owner and transformed it into a well-known brand, serving the famous ready-to-drink (RTD) Irani chai, samosa and Osmania biscuit. Café Niloufer operated solely from a single outlet in Red Hills, Hyderabad, India. Shashank strongly felt the need to balance preserving Café Niloufer’s heritage with embracing change. As he was looking for a new space to launch the modern café, he had been grappling with a crucial decision. Should he continue their time-tested Irani tea cafe format, which had been successful for decades, or should he explore alternative business models to stay relevant and profitable in the changing market?
This case study titled ‘Josh Software organizational innovations: Dynamic capabilities for social causes’ deliberated regarding how Josh Software undertook its organizational innovations. The case set in the emerging market of India, illustrated how an organization engineered organizational innovations towards serving social causes. The primary protagonist of this case is Mr Gautam Rege (hereby referred to as Rege) and the secondary protagonist is Mr Sethupathi Asokan (hereby referred to as Asokan). Rege cofounded Josh Software ( https://joshsoftware.com/ ) along with Asokan in the year 2007. The case study timeline is between the years of 1999 and 2021. In the year 2007, Rege and Asokan had to decide whether to continue or discontinue ‘Kimaya NICU’ at Josh Software. The Josh Software founders figured out that if Josh Software focused towards social innovation initiatives that primarily benefited stakeholders then in the short run it did not benefit the organization economically. However, it brought reputational advantages in the long run. For undertaking innovations, the dynamic capabilities perspective (Sensing, Seizing and Reconfiguration) has been a good theoretical anchor over the years. This case study can be taught to illustrate how strategic initiatives of an organization were undertaken. This could be both in the strategy planning as well as strategy implementation contexts. The theoretical aspect of this case study was grounded in the literature of dynamic capabilities for innovation. Furthermore, this case study linked the concept of organizational innovation with organizational reputational egoism and organizational economic egoism literature.
In March 2019, Anubhav Dubay, the co-founder and CEO of Chai Sutta Bar (CSB), a fast-growing coffee chain, was prepared to discuss the company’s growth strategy with other leadership team members. He glanced at the crowded street with people tangled up in their work and remembered his college days of preparing for the Indian civil services. The aroma of the coffee, tea, and delicious seasoned snacks had engrossed commuters before heading towards work. He recalled the journey of CSB, which had begun in 2016 in Bhawarkua, a suburban area in Indore, an Indian city—the challenges and successes of his entrepreneurial journey, which he had taken with his two friends. Their main objective was to provide Indian consumers with affordable, low-cost beverages. CSB strategy of catering to consumers’ budgetary needs gained rapid popularity and garnered incentives for its expansion across the country. They have established over 150 outlets in different parts of India. Following this success, the company realized the need for a global presence by scaling up the business and expanding into other countries. They have three options: either CSB can follow their baseline strategy, which entails existing growth, similar to what they have done in India, or they can opt for shared ownership by selling a portion of their equity at a fivefold of their current Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA), which would allow them to remain the face of change; alternatively, they can choose a complete buyout for ten times their current EBITDA with a nominal lifetime royalty fee. Here, we will examine the opportunities and possible challenges that CSB may encounter while expanding into the international market.
While many of us are talking about Green Energy, there are some who are generating Green Energy. One such venture is run by two sisters, Ms Disha Ahuja and Ms Shruti Ahuja. Who are these two sisters, and how did they turn into saviours of the environment? Well, their venture’s mention in the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Batt (Annexure A) has raised curiosity among the researchers. To the researchers’ surprise, these sisters live next to their neighbourhood but were still unnoticed. This case is about Ahuja Engineering Services (AES), the pious vision of two sisters and their contribution to society and the environment. These sisters had an option of living a luxurious life in the United States but chose to serve their motherland. Food waste in the form of cooked food and waste generated during the process is quite common. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index 2012, 40% of food in India, which amounts to 92,000/- crore, is wasted every year. Each person in India wastes 55 kg of food every year. Though efforts are made to reduce food waste, there should be some mechanism to treat this food waste. The question in front of the Ahuja sisters is ‘What is best way to treat this food waste?’ Their academic background has given them a possible solution, which was backed by their family members. So, the journey began with a destination of generating biogas out of food waste. The idea sounds simple but the operations challenges in building a biogas plant are numerous. Undeterred by these challenges, the Ahuja sisters have focused on the application of their academic background to solve the food waste menace. Eventually, the idea of ‘Trash to Treasure’ germinated, and finally, their biogas plant could see the sunlight. While treading towards the path of their dreams, they never knew that their step in this direction of food waste management would bring a significant change in the way food waste is handled, and over the past 10 years, they have created a name for themselves in the waste-to-energy industry in India. This case is an attempt to understand the journey of two sisters who created a niche for themselves in the wet (food) waste management sector and are creating treasure out of trash. While you are reading this case, the Ahuja sisters would have generated biogas in some part of the country.
The present case study is based on the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a respected bank known for its strong focus on financing start-ups and venture capital firms. The objective is to provide an account of the events that led to the collapse of SVB. The reasons for the collapse are manifolds; including a liquidity crisis triggered by a significant bank run on its deposits by start-up clients, macro-economic factors such as inflation surge and interest rate hikes, Dodd-Frank Act Amendment 2018, corporate governance and risk management issues. The sudden collapse had significant implications for start-up financing, with many start-ups facing a liquidity crisis and some shutting down altogether. The case is analysed with data extracted from SVB financial statements and the Bloomberg database. The findings reveal that Asset liability mismatch, regularity loopholes, aggressive decision-making, specific client concentration and financial market changes are the major reasons for bank failures. The case also provides some important lessons, including the importance of diversification, monitoring financial health, and building strong relationships with the customer base. The subject that this case will fit in is financial statement analysis, corporate finance and auditing.
Jet Airways (India) Private Limited, one of India’s finest and largest private aviation companies commanded the Indian skies until 2005. On 5th May 1993, it began commercial operations. Five of the seven airlines that had been launched since 1992 had been grounded by the year 1997. It began with a fleet of four leased Boeing 737–300 planes. In the early 2000s, it surpassed the market leader, state-owned Indian Airlines, in passenger volume. Jet Airways was granted authorization to conduct international flights in 2003. However, as a result of changing market dynamics, Jet Airways became a victim of its own success. The corporation is in billions of dollars of debt, and the company’s closure has harmed almost 20,000 people. Porter’s Five Forces Framework and SWOT Analysis have been applied to interpret the strategic trajectory explaining characteristics in its different phases. This case examines the aspects that contributed to the end of one of India’s greatest airlines. The study’s observations provide a conclusion report on the challenges encountered by airlines. Moreover, a glimpse of the rise and fall of some of the major airlines is also highlighted.
