South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases

The case compiles the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities at Fauji Fertlizer Company Limited (FFC), as a part of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). It highlights CSR activities as followed in five groups and covers both macro-level and micro-level initiatives within the principles of the UNGC. At the macro level, the company is addressing stakeholders’ concerns for underdevelopment in the country by sponsoring community development projects in its operational areas. At the micro level, FFC is carrying out interventions by spreading education, providing health care, protecting environment, alleviating poverty and responding to the challenges of disasters. The case is sponsored by the UNGC Pakistan Local Network.¹

Origin of Indian passenger car industry dates back to the year 1928. First 55 years saw negligible to slow growth in this industry till Maruti Udyog Ltd, later named as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), was incorporated in 1983. The MSIL, through its wide range of cars across different segments spread over 15 brands and over 150 variants, became the leader of the Indian car market during the next two-and-a-half decades. Suddenly, the MSIL showed a significant fall from over half of its share (53.13 per cent) of Indian car market to a market share of 44.9 per cent in the fiscal year 2010–2011, despite robust growth of 21.6 per cent of MSIL in the fiscal year 2010–2011 and a faster industry growth at 34.3 per cent during this fiscal. This declining market share of the leader of Indian car market has been investigated by the authors using industry analysis and reports, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ reports and publications, media coverage and other secondary sources available in print and web media, and MSIL’s own source for the last five years from 2006–2007 to 2010–2011. The article thus tries to bring out the strategic perspectives of MSIL that helped it reach the top of Indian car market segment and does the environmental scanning to identify factors that dipped it to low. It is found that in the last three years has come about what has been popularized as the ‘disruptive innovation strategy’ in the passenger car industry of India occupying the centre of the wheel. With increasing loss in its market prominence and market share, how does MSILpropose to meet the challenges of survival and sustainability on product price, customization and customer service is the issue of this case.

Today’s business environment is dynamic and current business competition is characterized by some authors as hyper-competition. For a new player, sustainable competitive advantage is a crucial indicator of success. SimplySiti is a new brand in the beauty industry in Malaysia having being established in 2008 and launched in 2010. Amidst the presence of more established global competitors like L’Oreal, Avon and Estee Lauder in the Malaysian market, SimplySiti has done fairly well. Much of its success is attributed to fast acceptance by the market as the main target market for this brand are fans of Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza, the most popular Malaysian singer with vast following not only in Malaysia but across countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Middle East. The brand itself is associated with Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza as she is the founder and the driver of this brand and she is involved in marketing and promoting this brand directly. This case study highlights how a newly established local business competes with the more established global players. Specifically, the article analyzes how SimplySiti thrives in the midst of very strong and much-established competitors and the direction it takes to steer the company in the next phase of its establishment.

The 1970s saw the establishment of University Teaching Hospital Ibadan (UTHI) as a hospital of eminence with lofty vision: ‘To be the flagship tertiary health care institution in the West African sub-region: offering world-class training, research and services and the first choice hospital’. It indeed kept its promise to emerge as the main teaching hospital of the country. The 1990s witnessed the decline. The Government of Nigeria appointed Vesta Healthcare Partners to advise on transformation and sustainability. A number of suggestions of far-reaching consequences came up. These involved restructuring and the reporting system; motivational initiatives; offer of opportunities to those who showed performance; recognition to performance; installation of performance measurement metrics; remuneration system; and more. The case study describes at length the challenges before Professor Temi, who has recently joined as the Chief Medical Director of UTHI and who has to handle the implementation of the recommendations. Simultaneously, he has to arrive at decisions in areas of conflicts.

The economy is on the path of growth trajectory as a result of vibrancy in all-round economic activities. At present, the financial depth in Indian economic scenario is not that encouraging as in other Asian countries, although it has demonstrated gains in momentum. There is a strong interrelationship between economic growth and financial growth through financial inclusion. Financial inclusion involves the concerns related to the operating costs that are inherent in wider expansion. Similarly, the charges levied are an important aspect, along with the inability to reach rural and unbanked areas. Here, information technology (IT) can play an important role not only in reducing the operating cost but also in covering most of the regions which are unbanked. IT provides various solutions for financial services to the people devoid of banking facilities in the form of mobile banking and micro ATM. This case highlights the various IT measures and schemes launched by Union Bank of India towards financial inclusion as per the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This case study deals with the organization, business model, challenges and successes of the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Bangladesh. BRACnet is the largest ISP in the country using WiMAX and fibre optics to utilize its licensed spectrum at 3.5 GHz. Based on WiMAX and fibre optics technology, BRACnet serves a diverse client base, including corporations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and educational institutions across Bangladesh. To satisfy the connectivity needs of both corporate and individual customers, BRACnet offers a wide variety of service packages to accommodate the needs of its diverse client base. This case study explores the significant corporate and stakeholder aspects of BRACnet and how it is working towards its primary objective that is ‘IT sustainability in Bangladesh’. Finally, the study highlights challenges ahead seeking discussion and solutions.

Studies have repeatedly illustrated how institutions struggle to implement sustainable development models, even when their formal claims indicate strict adoption of principles of sustainable development (Sean Markey, 2010). Relevance of innovative and feasible projects for sustainable development is escalating rapidly among the business community (Brower, 2011). The efforts of many organizations to recognize sustainable development principles as an important community vision is encouraging, but only very few of them have proved themselves in successfully translating their goals into actionable strategies (Sean Markey, 2010). Extra Weave Pvt. Ltd, a small and medium enterprise (SME) in Allapuzha district of the state of Kerala, India, stands out from the crowd in its remarkable achievements in sustainability, overcoming initial challenges and issues in implementation of a sound sustainability development model. This article is a case study of the implementation issues of sustainable development practices at Extra Weave Pvt. Ltd. The study focuses on how communication plays a role in the implementation of sustainable development practices in Extra Weave. The study also discusses how soft system methodology (SSM) was used to identify the issues in implementation and facilitate for appropriate solutions.

The Village Farm Resort and Winery is an integrated winemaking vineyard with wine tasting house, restaurant, spa and guest house located in the north-east of Thailand. It has achieved success both through the quality of its Chateau des Brumes brand of wines and for the conviviality available at the country retreat. These market sectors have become feasible in Thailand because of large-scale social and economic changes which have completely disrupted the marketing environment in the country. The sector is rapidly developing based on an expanding market and the passion and enthusiasm of investor-entrepreneurs. However, there are certain to be new challenges to be faced as the market matures.

The company (name disguised) started out as a coppersmith workshop over 100 years ago and is today a leader in the technology of plant engineering and construction for the beverage industries. However, competition has increased heavily in this area over the last decade, while advances in knowledge have correspondingly declined, particularly in producing technology systems, and there is now a discernible knowledge gap. In addressing this situation, the company has recognized that the business must find other markets and its technology core competencies, as well as the existing manufacturing facilities, should be a part of the evolving business. The diversification should be based on new products as well as focused on emergent markets. The case points out the need to identify current core competencies and assess relevant fields of potential diversification from an outside-in perspective as a realization of the first steps in establishing a completely new business portfolio in the long run.

Employee retention was a big challenge at YES Bank, an emerging Indian bank. The main objective of the study is to identify innovative steps taken by the management in their human resource (HR) practices to enhance employee retention and to create a conducive environment for human capital creation in the YES Bank. The case explores and provides useful insights as to how YES Bank has successfully transformed its working environment for human capital creation through innovative HR practices. The case concludes with questions to provoke discussion to understand the importance of various HR management initiatives. This case is recommended for study and analytical discussion for practicing managers, researchers and management students in HR management, organizational behaviour and industrial relations.

The primary subject matter of this case study is board composition and the governance roles of the board of directors in publicly traded companies. It is designed to supplement a text chapter or other material on the monitoring and advisory roles of directors and how board structure and composition impact these roles. The case is also designed to allow students to identify and assess governance issues related to firm ownership structures, family-owned or controlled companies, ethical conduct of the board of directors and conflicts between majority and minority shareholders. The case is sufficiently detailed to allow discussing the multidimensional aspects of board composition (or board diversity), including gender, ethnicity, expertise, experience and prestige. It is structured as a chronological description of the controversy generated by a proposed related party transaction (a buyout transaction) designed to dismantle a dual-share capital structure that allowed the Stronach family to control the company (Magna International Inc.) with just a fraction of its equity. The case can serve as the basis for both short case assignments and class discussions. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses in strategic management, leadership, corporate governance and financial accounting. The topic is relevant and current, as it can be related to the ongoing reforms of Canadian corporate governance practices for controlling shareholders and related party transactions.

High-technology companies that have brought innovation to the market also use their innovation to claim their intellectual property rights around the world. In 2011, Apple Inc. started to claim its design patent over Samsung Electronics Company in the Unites States (US) court and the disputes then expanded to more than 50 lawsuits in numerous courts around the world, and became a design patent war. The amount of damages in a US verdict was the largest design patent infringement jury award of all time—US$ 1.05 billion, the amount by which most companies would become bankrupt by a single infringement. A design patent war like Apple versus Samsung lawsuits showed that design patent has seized centre stage of modern battle. In addition, it signified that any company must seriously incorporate design patent issue into its intellectual property portfolio. The dispute also revealed an interesting unclear boundary of design infringement that could impact the level of legal risk for every related industry.