Case Catalyst Archives
Vol.1 July 2009
In June 2009, IBSCDC conducted a video interview with Kiran Bedi Bedi, India’s First Woman IPS Officer and a Social Activist. In this interview, beginning with her personal background, Kiran Bedi talks about her achievements and experiences in the Indian Police Services, the challenges during the Tihar Jail reforms and her endurance in dealing with them, and the reasons for taking up voluntary retirement. She also outlines her plans as a bar council member and also shares her views on women as leaders, the challenges they face in holding high positions, particularly in a male dominated society and systems. 
IBSCDC Course Case Mapping for MBA Courses
Continuing with its tradition of quality research in business management, IBSCDC (www.ibscdc.org) has successfully launched Course Case Mapping for five fundamental management subjects. IBSCDC addresses the challenge of offering an entire course through case studies. IBSCDC Course Case Maps are comprehensive and provides a clear teaching plan for the faculty. It includes a detailed syllabus and key concepts for each chapter, relevant case studies along with abstracts and even suggests additional reading for the students to expand their academic horizons. This Course Case Mapping would definitely be a worthy add-on to the case method of learning. It also recommends the best Management Classics, Hollywood Classics, useful websites and a must-read article inventory related to the subject in question. An exclusive free case study provided along with the Course Case Map for each of the subjects provides an overview of the topics discussed. 
Course Case Mapping for Organisational Behavior
What are the underlying dynamics that govern organisational behavior? What are the unifying mechanisms that can connect organisational behavior and individuals’ behavior seamlessly? What does it take to be an effective manager? What do great leaders do? Mapped for the textbook, ‘Organizational Behavior’ by Stephen P. Robins, the course predominantly deals with three themes – (i) Individuals’ behavior in an organisational context (ii) Groups’/Teams’ behavior in an organisational context and (iii) Behavior of organisations as artificial persons. This course case mapping emphasizes the need for ‘Organisational Behavior’ as a course for MBAs and the importance of people management and organisational abilities in extracting employee skills to the best. 
One of the case studies from the Course Case Map on Organisational Behavior, Nucor Corp’s Performance Driven Organisational Culture: Employee Driven Competitive Advantage?, presents the organisational culture at Nucor Corp., the ninth largest steel producer in the world. Highlighting the company’s decentralised organisational structure and morale boosting environment for the employees, the case study debates on Nucor Corp’s growth sustenance with a rigid culture in an ever-competitive steel industry. 
Course Case Mapping for Managerial Economics
What do you think are the factors that dictate consumption patterns of consumers? Why do consumers behave the way they do? What determines the profit levels of companies operating in different market structures? IBSCDC’s course mapping on Managerial Economics provides an answer to these questions. Widely popular as Micro Economics, Economics for Managers, Business Economics and Managerial Economics, this course is one of the important introductory courses in MBA. It provides insights on economic rationale in consumer behaviour, pricing decisions, cost and revenue relationships and market structures helping students build relationship or relevance of economic concepts to business decision-making in a competitive environment and also enables them apply basic economic reasoning to other managerial concepts like marketing and finance. 
The case study, Mexican Telecom Industry: (Un)wanted Monopoly?, helps analyse the factors that helped the Mexican telecom companies, Telmex and Telcel, maintain their market dominance. It can also be used to determine the market concentration and monopoly power of a company, the social costs of a monopoly, how weaknesses in the legal and political systems help in upholding unhealthy business environment and the impact of lack of competition on an economy. 
Course Case Mapping for Marketing Management
One of the evergreen and increasingly demanded MBA subjects, Marketing Management course provides students with an overview of various fundamental marketing concepts. Highlighting the need to understand customer needs and buying behaviour, strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and be agile to the fast changing business environment, this course case map would help potential managers comprehend the strategic role of marketing and provide an in-depth analysis of real-time business situations within a diverse range of firms and industries. 
Can a revolutionary product obliterate the need for marketing? The case study, Nano, Tata’s ‘People’s Car’: Who is Marketing?, helps understand how a revolutionary, new product can create buzz marketing when the product is planned with a proper marketing mix and meets the needs of consumers. It also debates whether any other similar product without such corporate brand credentials, can create the same buzz as created by Nano, whether Nano effect is going to make Product and Pricing as the key elements in marketing management rather than Place and Promotion. 
Course Case Mapping for Financial Management
As the roles and responsibilities of a CFO increase manifold in a dynamic business environment, to what extent do they add value to an organisation? What would be the influence and impact of an investment decision on the organisation’s strategic position over the years? A mandatory subject in every MBA course, Financial Management is also referred to as Finance for Managers, Managerial Finance, Business Finance, Corporate Finance, etc. It can either be taught as one single course or can be split into two different subjects – Financial Management I and Financial Management II.To provide an in-depth understanding of various financial aspects of management, IBSCDC mapped the course in two parts. This first part introduces future managers to three important organisation-wide perspectives: (i) Investment Decisions, (ii) Financing and Capital Structure Decisions and (iii) Dividend Decisions. 
The case study, Jaypee Group’s Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs): Redemption Pressures, helps understand the redemption pressures faced by the Indian companies as they raised large amounts through Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs). Set in the backdrop of how Indian companies resorted to low-cost borrowing through FCCBs, this case study analyses how Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. and other Indian companies manage the redemption pressures and what possible actions would help the companies manage their liquidity and profitability position. 
Course Case Mapping for Quantitative Methods
Titled differently as, Statistics for Business, Business Statistics, Business Mathematics, Quantitative Methods for Managers and Decision Science for Decision Makers, this course endeavours to introduce MBA graduates to basic quantitative Testing of hypotheses and drawing inferences, the concepts of Sample Size and level of significance etc., are well-presented in the case study, Smoking: A Costly Affair Now? 
In his interview, Martin provides valuable insights about his new release, Buyology and the world’s largest neuromarketing research project behind writing the book. He also outlines his earlier work BRAND sense and the connotative connection between the two.
In this interview, Rawlinson shares his views on consumer buying behaviour particularly during times of recession, key lessons that companies can infer, and strategies to manage and build brand value. He also elaborates on intriguing issues – marketing as a cost vs investment, consumer psychology on purchase decisions during economic downturn, managing balance between marketing and margins (the simple manifestation of age-old tradeoff between today and tomorrow) and the need to empathise with the consumers through special offers, better communication, etc. 
Does it make sense for an otherwise metoo low-key player to acquire a bruised and beleaguered bigger player in the industry? Sixth in the series of case studies on corporate governance fiasco at Satyam Computers (Satyam), this case study primarily deals with the bidding process to sell 51% stake of Satyam, the potential synergies between Satyam and Tech Mahindra and the challenges that Tech Mahindra would face in realising the expected benefits of the acquisition. Set in the backdrop of government-appointed interim board’s efforts to end the ongoing turmoil at Satyam, this case study progresses towards the six-stage bidding process and how Tech Mahindra won the deal with an offer of INR 58 per share, compared to INR 45.90 and INR 20 of L&T and Wilbur Ross respectively. Having acquired Satyam, has Tech Mahindra obtained an asset or a liability? 
Do layoffs in the Indian IT industry indicate that the glorious era of the IT profession is over? The 2008 US Financial Crisis engulfed the global economy with sudden downfall leading to unprecedented layoffs in business entities across the world. While Indian corporate sector was no exception to this, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Satyam), was the worst hit than any other Indian IT company. Mired in an internal financial scam, the future of Satyam was hung in a dilemma and Tech Mahindra’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the ailing organisation brought a new twist in the Satyam fiasco. One of the initial moves of Tech Mahindra in reviving Satyam’s fortunes was dealing with surplus workforce at Satyam. Amid speculations of massive job losses, the company announced the launch of Virtual Pool Program (VPP), an innovative scheme to address the issue of surplus workforce while simultaneously retaining talent. However, when VPP has also been called as an indirect way of laying-off people, can it be an effective talent management strategy, particularly in a downturn? |
