Case Collection

Strategy Azim Premji Foundation - Bringing Professional Excellence to Philanthropy

Set in April 2014, this case explores some of the important questions confronting Dileep Ranjekar and Anurag Behar, CEOs of the Azim Premji Foundation, which had entered the second decade of its existence with fresh plans and renewed vigor. Ranjekar and Behar had evolved an organizational strategy, after carefully reflecting on the Foundation's past work, that was characterized by the idea of working in an "institutional" mode and not merely in a "programmatic" mode. This meant establishing a long-term presence in the places where the Foundation worked (i.e., disadvantaged districts in the country), and engaging on a continuous and long-term basis with the public education system to facilitate change. Given the trajectory that the management team had set for the Foundation, it was constantly faced with issues related to finding the right people with the required skill sets and mindset, finding field staff to overcome the challenges of working in difficult, far-flung places, and scaling up at the right speed to achieve the desired reach and outcomes. Documenting the evolution and growth of the Foundation, the case brings to light some of the key challenges it faced in scaling up. The case highlights some of the challenges of building a large, professionally managed not-for-profit and the strategic decisions that have to be made to grow it into a sustainable organization.

Learning Objective

The case would fit well in courses at the MBA level and in other Master's and executive level programs on business strategy, nonprofit management, education management and service management. The case introduces the reader to the structural, monetary, capacity and human resource related concerns and, to some extent, the legal concerns of nonprofits and the restrictions they face when they plan the scaling up of their organizations.

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Raveendra Chittoor,

Geetika Shah

Published: Mar 31, 2016

₹399.00

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Strategy Creating a Corporate Advantage: The Case of the Tata Group

"The Tata group is among the largest diversified business groups in India. The group generated about US$100 billion in revenues in 2011-12 from 90 companies operating in diverse businesses in seven broad industry categories. The case describes in detail the various mechanisms by which the Tata group attempts to create a corporate or parenting advantage. The case first highlights the important difference in the way a business group like Tata is structured when compared to a typical conglomerate in the West. The case then describes in detail the various services offered to group companies by the corporate centre, such as access to the Tata brand, quality management services, common procurement, centralized HR, legal, finance, public affairs (lobbying), training and consulting services. The case also discusses the perspective of some of the group companies. Companies often found the group affiliation and services to be of value as it provided them with lower transactional costs, less friction and better contract enforcement within the group, superior access to the political power structure and significant financial backing. With the Tata group preparing to welcome its new chairman in December 2012, the case ends with questions on the sustainability of the prevalent structure, practices, group philosophy and culture. "

Learning Objective

There appear to be some important differences between the way corporate (parenting) advantage is created by a business group (BG) and the way it is created by a typical multi-business corporation in the West. This case aims to bring out this learning through a detailed description of the ways by which the parent organization at the Tata group attempts to add value. The case can be used effectively in a course on corporate strategy in a module on managing diversification at MBA or EMBA levels.

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Raveendra Chittoor,

Arohini Narain,

Richa Vyas,

Chetan Tolia

Published: Feb 15, 2013

₹399.00

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Entrepreneurship & Innovation Attaining the Next Orbit: Dilemmas of a Family Managed Business - Natural Ice Cream

The case is about the concerns of second generation entrepreneurs in a family managed business who aspire to attain the next orbit, the next level of success in the business. Natural Ice Cream was started by the father in 1980s. The passionate ice cream maker made two small innovations; one, a product innovation in the form of using only natural ingredients. He was so creative that he could come up with 125 combinations of fresh and dried fruits in ice cream. Two, a marketing innovation in the form of selling ice cream only in exclusive ice cream parlours. Both were novel ideas of the time and became the 'Unique Selling Propositions' (USPs). The business expanded over the three decades and with the help of his sons changed the scale and adapted best practices of management. The expansion path was carefully drawn up by preserving the USPs of the business. The franchise route for expansion was used. Manufacturing remained at a central location to keep strict quality control. Having taken their business from a small dream to INR 1 billion niche brand in the artisan ice cream segment, the owners at Naturals were dreaming big. They were restless and anxious to enter the next orbit and aspired to become a pan-India and global brand.

Learning Objective

To understand the significance of passion and 'follow your dream' attitude in entrepreneurs.
To understand the importance of 'small innovations' in product or marketing that turn into USP and critical success factor in small businesses.
To understand the role of professional management to take the family managed business to the next orbit
To appreciate the importance of conflict resolution between the generations in family business.

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Pallavi Mody,

Raveendra Chittoor

Published: Dec 31, 2016

₹399.00

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