Learning outcomes At the end of this discussion, students will be able to apply key theoretical frameworks – tensions of hybridity, institutional logics and hybrid organizing archetypes – to analyze Centre for Health and Development (CHD) Group India’s strategic challenges and emerging market context; evaluate whether CHD should accept, reject or seek to modify the donor’s hybrid condition, considering the trade-offs among financial resilience, mission integrity, stakeholder legitimacy and organizational capacity; develop and justify an organizational and governance arrangement appropriate to the recommended strategic pathway. Where the recommendation includes earned-income activities, students should explain how those activities can be structured and governed without undermining CHD’s mission; and assess the role of partnerships and stakeholder engagement in supporting CHD’s chosen sustainability pathway while protecting community access, organizational legitimacy and long-term impact. Case overview/synopsis This case examines the strategic dilemma faced by Dr Edmond Fernandes, founder of CHD Group India – a public health nonprofit organization operating in underserved communities in India. Despite reporting program reached of over four million people through health-care delivery, disaster preparedness and climate-health advocacy, CHD is encountering financial stagnation. As grant and CSR funding plateau, an international donor offers multi-year support, on the condition that CHD adopted a hybrid model with earned income. The case invites students to evaluate whether CHD should accept the donor’s condition, seek to negotiate a more limited or phased hybrid arrangement or reject the condition and pursue alternative nonprofit, partnership-based or public-financing pathways. The core dilemma revolves around balancing long-term financial sustainability with the preservation of CHD’s mission-driven commitment to equitable access and social justice, particularly in rural and climate-vulnerable regions. The case provides an opportunity to examine how a mission-first organization in an emerging-market context navigates tensions between social and commercial logics, organizational identity and stakeholder expectations. The donor’s condition creates the immediate decision point, but the case does not assume that accepting the proposed hybrid model is necessarily the most appropriate response. Complexity academic level This case is best suited for graduate-level or advanced undergraduate students enrolled in courses on social entrepreneurship, strategic management in impact-driven organizations, nonprofit management or public health ventures. It can also be used in executive programs focusing on social innovation or hybrid organizational design. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: Case overview/synopsis This teaching package comprises two linked cases. Case A was set in the retail pharmacy industry in Ghana from 2011 to 2020. Kofi, a Ghanaian entrepreneur with retail experience in the USA, returned to Accra to build Medica Pharmacy. He secured a superintendent pharmacist, opened the first outlet in Dansoman after a fourteen-month licensing process, and later expanded to a second outlet in Tema using costly bank financing. Over nine years, Medica faced a series of systemic barriers: illegal advance rent demands, overlapping regulatory bodies, slow reimbursements from the National Health Insurance, high interest rates and internal control failures. By August 2020, COVID-related demand shocks and debt servicing pushed the business toward insolvency. Kofi had until Monday morning to decide whether to sell the Tema branch for GHS 85,000 to stabilize cash flow or refuse the offer and take out a family loan to keep both outlets alive. Case B advances to December 2024. After selling Tema and stabilizing the Dansoman location, Kofi faced a second decision: whether to accept a 49% equity partnership offer from HealthBridge Ghana Limited, a larger pharmacy chain, or to remain independent and pursue digitalization through the Ghana Enterprises Agency’s SME Growth and Opportunity Program. By 2024, Medica had returned to modest profitability and reduced its bank debt from GHS 120,000 to GHS 28,000, although liquidity remained tight. The two cases illustrate the transformation arc from crisis survival to strategic renewal within an ecosystem defined by weak institutions. Complexity academic level Target audience: senior undergraduates, MBA students and Executive Education participants in entrepreneurship, strategy and emerging markets courses. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Learning outcomes Teaching Objective 1: Students should be able to evaluate strategic trade-offs between scale, differentiation and sustainability in a capital-constrained emerging market small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), using Porter’s Five Forces and the resource-based view to compare mutually constrained options and construct a sequenced strategic roadmap. Teaching Objective 2: Students should understand how process innovation and ecological infrastructure – such as closed-loop heat recovery, waste reprocessing and on-site renewable energy – can generate competitive advantage in SMEs and be able to distinguish sustainability as a strategic resource from sustainability as a compliance exercise. Teaching Objective 3: Students should be able to assess intergenerational succession as a strategic inflection point in a founder-led family business, recognising how the founder’s formative experiences shape risk preferences that the successor must understand before she can transcend them. Teaching Objective 4: Students should be able to examine how institutional constraints and emerging circular economy regulation – specifically the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) – shape the returns on sustainability investment for firms operating outside the EU Single Market. Teaching Objective 5: Students should be able to apply scenario analysis to a strategic choice made under geopolitical uncertainty: selecting the small number of external variables that genuinely drive outcomes for a small firm, constructing internally consistent scenarios from them and testing which strategic option is most robust across those futures rather than optimal in any single one. Case overview/synopsis On 27 January 2026, Ivana Filipović Malada, the operational leader of Styrocoop – a family-owned expanded polystyrene (EPS) manufacturer in Beloševac, near Valjevo, in Western Serbia – must choose among three strategic directions for a company that has just posted its strongest financial year on record while, for only the second time in its nearly three-decade history, carrying long-term bank debt. Founded in 1997 by Ivana’s father Milomir, the company operates with 19 employees and €1.44m in annual revenue. Its ecological architecture – a founder-conceptualised closed-loop heat-recovery system, in-house EPS waste reprocessing and rooftop solar – predates any regulatory compulsion. Ivana’s recent strategic moves (solar investment, a senior hire from the main competitor and state-subvention-financed equipment) have restored net margins to 15% and earned an AA+ creditworthiness rating. But January 2026 brings converging pressures: rising oil prices, active debt service obligations, customer concentration in the Hisense–Gorenje white-goods complex, and the EU PPWR becoming generally applicable in seven months. Ivana must choose among: (A) diversifying the packaging customer base; (B) activating Serbia’s underdeveloped insulation market; or (C) scaling the firm’s circular-economy infrastructure into a vertical-integration play aligned with PPWR requirements. Because that choice must be made in an unusually unsettled external environment – an oil market re-pricing on Middle Eastern and Latin American risk, a managed-float currency, a Chinese-owned anchor customer manufacturing in a non-EU country for the EU market and an accession path that is neither closed nor advancing quickly – the case also supports an explicit exercise in scenario analysis. Complexity academic level This case is designed for MBA, executive MBA, executive education and advanced undergraduate students in courses on Strategic Management, Sustainability Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Family Business and Emerging Market Business. It may serve as a capstone-style integrative exercise in strategy modules, a flagship case for circular-economy electives or a succession case in family business courses. Subject code CSS 11 Strategy.
Learning outcomes By the end of this case study, learners should be able to: 1. Identify the key managerial, financial and market challenges faced by Utkalamrita brand; 2. Classify cost, prepare cost sheet, conduct common-size analysis, calculate contribution margin and analyse profitability position; 3. Formulate short-term and long-term strategic initiatives to protect contribution margin and move towards profitability target; and 4. Evaluate the financial impact of external policy shocks on exports and profitability. Case overview/synopsis This case examines the costing and profitability challenges faced by handloom entrepreneurs Ms Amrita Sabat and Dr Anita Sabat, co-founders of Utkalamrita, a brand producing Geographical Indication tagged Utkala-Gouraba sarees originating from Odisha, India. While the brand derived cultural value from authentic craftsmanship, fair artisan wages and heritage preservation, these very commitments contributed to a high-cost base and limited pricing flexibility. Operating with low margins, the firm now targeted 12% profitability. A sudden US$100 export duty announcement on all US-bound parcels, effective immediately, eliminated the duty-free threshold that powered international sales for Utkalamrita. A saree order, ready for dispatch to a US client, suddenly became financially unviable. Barely a week before shipment deadline, Amrita had to decide whether to absorb the duty, pass it on to the client or negotiate middle path. Beyond this single order loomed a deeper question, could Utkalamrita survive, achieve 12% profitability and compete amongst dynamic global trade regulations and policies. This case enables students to prepare a cost sheet, conduct common-size analysis and compute contribution margins. Furthermore, students evaluate the financial implications of absorbing the US$100 duty and passing it on to the client through cost–volume–profit analysis. They also explore short-term and long-term strategic initiatives in the face of external shocks. Ultimately, this case integrates cost and managerial accounting with strategic decision-making, encouraging learners to assess how craft-based enterprises navigate external shocks while preserving financial viability and cultural authenticity. The case is grounded in primary data obtained through founders’ interviews. Complexity academic level The case is suitable for undergraduate (Bachelor of Business Administration) and postgraduate (Master of Business Administration) students: primarily aimed at students learning cost and management accounting course. Subject code CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.
Learning outcomes The key learning objectives are as follows: 1.To evaluate the impact of leadership styles on fostering a culture of continuous learning within organizations. 2.To analyze the impact of learning and development (L&D) initiatives on organizational growth and employee engagement. 3.To apply relevant frameworks in real-life management scenarios. Case overview/synopsis Dosaka, a casual dining restaurant serving South Indian cuisine, experienced amazing growth since its establishment in 2019, expanding to more than ten outlets in the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Even during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dosaka managed to survive and picked up faster growth as times became normal. Yugansh Sharma, the founder of Dosaka, believed in his team and led them to establish Dosaka as a well-known brand. Yugansh had a focus on continuous learning, both for himself and his team members, and this played a significant role in the success of Dosaka. By nurturing a culture of learning within the organization, they were able to adapt to market fluctuations and overcome obstacles. However, Yugansh was able to strike the right balance with his ever-changing team, ensuring that the values and principles of Dosaka were upheld. As Dosaka looked to expand in and around Jaipur and further into the northern part of India, new challenges lay ahead. This expansion necessitates a re-evaluation of their previous strategies and approaches. Yugansh and his team understand the need to adapt and find innovative solutions to meet the demands of the new market. This case was developed using a qualitative, exploratory case study methodology. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the founder, Yugansh Sharma, over three phases between 2022 and 2024. To triangulate perspectives, follow-up interviews were conducted with frontline employees and managers of an outlet focusing on the implementation of training systems and operational challenges. Secondary data included industry reports published by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), market analysis from Dineout and publicly available news articles on the Indian casual dining sector. Complexity academic level Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.
