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Entrepreneurship & Innovation Educational Initiatives (Ei) in the age of Artificial Intelligence (Case B)Educational Initiatives (Ei) is an India-based education enterprise set up in 2001 with the vision of creating a world where children everywhere are learning with understanding. It was cofounded by a team of talented management professionals who shared the goal of making a positive difference in the education space by using business and technology as instruments. It pioneered state-of-the-art pedagogical, information, and communication technologies in education much before the term EdTech became popular.Case B of Educational Initiatives starts with the investor choice made in 2018 and describes how Ei was contending with the latest technological developments, such as AI, in 2023.In 2023, Ei faced the prospect of another potential change in ownership in the next 2–3 years, and the related question of the type of investor to go with for the next round. Ei achieved substantial growth during the 2019–23 period, making it possible for it to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in a couple of years. However, profitability margins had stagnated in recent years, raising the question of whether Ei should focus solely on the private school segment, where the price realizations are higher, and also move more aggressively into international markets.Learning Objectives- Should Ei spin off the government school business as a separate entity and focus solely on private schools, where the price realizations are higher, and move more aggressively into international markets?
- Is the advent of AI technologies a positive or negative factor for Ei’s future prospects? Assess Ei’s readiness for the AI revolution.
- Will the new cohort of investors mean a change of strategy for Ei, and if so, how can the Ei leadership shape the investor choice for the next round?
- How will the new investor search and parameters differ from those of Round 1? Will a consortium of investors be better or a single investor? Should Ei go for an IPO, and if yes, is it ready for it?
Learn MorePublished: Dec 27, 2024₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Educational Initiatives (Case A): Balancing Purpose and ProfitsEducational Initiatives (Ei) is an India-based education enterprise set up in 2001 with the vision of creating a world where children everywhere are learning with understanding. It was cofounded by a team of talented management professionals who shared the goal of making a positive difference inthe education space by using business and technology as instruments. It pioneered state-of-the-art pedagogical, information, and communication technologies in education much before the term EdTech became popular.Case A on Educational Initiatives is set in 2018. By then, Ei had a well-established and profitable business model and was one of the best-performing EdTech companies in India. In 2018, some of Ei’s founders and initial investors were looking for an exit, and Ei commenced a search for a new investorto buy out the existing investors.The case serves to understand unique for-profit social entrepreneurship business models to tap the underserved bottom-of-the-pyramid segments in the education sector in developing economies. It can be used to explore how such enterprises can be valued and how they can scale up beyond first-generation entrepreneurs without compromising on the social purpose and mission.Learn More
Learning Objectives:
- Develop a unique for-profit social entrepreneurship business model to tap the underserved bottom-of-the-pyramid segments in the education sector in developing economies.
- Understand and address the dilemmas faced by first-generation social entrepreneurs in generating growth capital for scaling up the business.
- Understand the valuation of a for-profit social enterprise.
- Leverage the latest technologies, such as AI, in the education sector.
Published: Dec 27, 2024₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ujala Cygnus Hospital: The Challenges of being a Good Samaritan in Healthcare
This case explores the journey of Dr. Shuchin Bajaj and Ujala Cygnus Hospitals (UCH) in delivering affordable tertiary care in India's underserved Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where challenges such as limited clinical personnel, low technology adoption, and socioeconomic barriers prevail. Motivated by personal tragedy, Bajaj founded UCH to provide tertiary care to these regions, adopting innovative business models like cross-subsidization, outsourcing, and an asset-light strategy to offer low-cost services. However, UCH's primary revenue source-government healthcare schemes-caused cash flow issues due to delayed reimbursements, while patients faced high out-of-pocket expenses. With over INR 1 billion owed to the hospital at any time, Bajaj faced a critical decision whether to expand into more locations where healthcare was desperately needed or focus on resolving existing operational and financial challenges. This case provides insight into the complexities of scaling healthcare services in resource-constrained environments, fostering discussions on business model innovation, managing growth with sustainability in emerging markets.
Learning Objectives
Learn MoreThis case aims to help students understand the challenges of delivering affordable and high-quality healthcare services in underserved Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. By analyzing the business model innovations of Ujala Cygnus Hospitals (UCH), learners will explore strategies such as cross-subsidization, asset-light approaches, and flexible payment models to sustain operations despite financial constraints. It also examines the impact of socio-economic factors, government healthcare schemes, and the complexities of managing cash flows in a resource-constrained environment. Finally, the case prompts discussion with operational sustainability in the healthcare sector.
Published: Oct 3, 2024₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Pink Lemonade: Establishing A Growth Mindset (B)
Tina Garg, founder and CEO of a creative agency, Pink Lemonade, reflects upon her entrepreneurial journey of establishing a brand, growing the business from a small to a midsized firm, and partnering and scaling up to become a global firm. While planning for growth and expansion, she was at the critical juncture of rethinking her strategy. Garg faced the dilemma of positioning her firm differently while scaling up consistently across pricing, people, processes, and operations. Case B discusses how Pink Lemonade grew its business model and transformed its organizational structure. Strategy became a part of each vertical and each engagement with clients. Pink Lemonade adhered to the new normal of working with a hybrid workforce. The case discusses the changes introduced by Garg in pivoting the organization and taking business overseas, leaving the reader wondering if this would be a sustainable business model for Garg in the future.
Learning Objectives
Learn MoreThe scaling-up journey for any business comes with its own set of challenges. The cases emphasize the following: How entrepreneurs act as change agents in taking up new challenges and business opportunities. Understanding strategic business decisions such as firm positioning. The need to create a learning curve for employees by investing in mentoring and training. The need for effective people management and leadership skills. Growing a business and being open to collaboration. How organizations pivot their working models as the business environment changes.
Published: Jul 28, 2023₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Pink Lemonade: Time to Refresh the Firm's Positioning (A)
Tina Garg, founder and CEO of a creative agency, Pink Lemonade, reflects upon her entrepreneurial journey of establishing a brand, growing the business from a small to a midsized firm, and partnering and scaling up to become a global firm. While planning for growth and expansion, she was at the critical juncture of rethinking her strategy. Garg faced the dilemma of positioning her firm differently while scaling up consistently across pricing, people, processes, and operations. Case A discusses how Pink Lemonade transitioned from a boutique communication agency to a strategic brand partner. It delves into the decision-making dilemmas that Garg faced while growing the firm and the actions needed to reposition the organization during the pandemic. Having worked on prestigious projects, she aimed to grow the ticket size of business engagements with existing clients. Garg confronted several challenges in scaling the business, as well as the risk of diluting the distinct organizational culture she had created over the years.
Learning Objectives
Learn MoreThe scaling-up journey for any business comes with its own set of challenges. The cases emphasize the following: How entrepreneurs act as change agents in taking up new challenges and business opportunities. Understanding strategic business decisions such as firm positioning. The need to create a learning curve for employees by investing in mentoring and training. The need for effective people management and leadership skills. Growing a business and being open to collaboration. How organizations pivot their working models as the business environment changes.
Published: Jul 28, 2023₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation The Wedding Clinic: How Wide or Deep to Integrate Interrelated Businesses?
It was the autumn of 2022, and Payal Tekchandani, cofounder and partner of The Wedding Clinic (TWC), sat down with her operations team in Pune, Maharashtra, to discuss the plan of action for the upcoming quarter. She had established TWC in 2017. It was a unique offering in medical aesthetics that enabled brides, bridegrooms, and their families to enjoy the best of skin and hair treatments. Payal's entrepreneurial journey included managing operations for diverse and unrelated businesses. She had stepped in to take charge of her family business nine years ago. Three distinct business entities-TWC, Tender Skin Products Pvt Ltd. (TSPPL), and Tender Skin International Cosmetology Academy (TSICA)-operated under the umbrella of Tender Skin International (TSI), a multispecialty skin clinic founded by her mother, Dr. Sonia Tekchandani, in 2003 in Mumbai. TSI also trained beauticians in skincare and manufactured skin care products. Using company-owned clinics, they had bootstrapped the business without external funding. Each clinic required high capital expenditure for operating and purchasing, and installing the machinery. Since Payal took over, business service revenues had quadrupled. However, given the dynamics of the changing business environment, the pandemic, and changing consumer behavior, it was time for Payal to rethink the business interlinkages. She wished to scale the clinics' operations and was facing a dilemma: should she open another center in Mumbai or focus on other cities? The latter option would mean seeking funding and adopting the franchise store model across the country.
Learning Objectives
- The interrelatedness between distinct businesses and the organizational factors that support the connections.
- Competitive advantages of organizations that create an inimitable business model.
- Risks associated with running multiple business units.
- Strategic decisions involved in scaling up businesses.
- Red ocean and blue ocean strategies.
- Entrepreneurial growth in a family business scenario.
Published: Jul 28, 2023₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Wat-a-Burger: Aiming for Growth in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) Environment
Wat-a-Burger, a quick service restaurant chain, was incorporated by Rajat Jaiswal and Farman Beig on February 14, 2016. Their burgers, customized to suit the Indian palate, were their unique selling proposition. As envisioned by the founders, from 2016 to 2019 the brand quickly expanded and grew to over 60 outlets in 21 cities and 11 states. In mid-2019, they formulated a plan to expand to 150 outlets and aimed to serve more than 25,000 orders per day by mid-July 2021. The company was in general growing according to the founders' plan until the COVID-19 pandemic hit India and the lockdown was imposed in March 2020. The COVID-19 crisis caused a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Due to multiple waves of the pandemic, lockdowns, and the associated government regulations, the revenue of the company in the financial year 2020-21 declined by almost 56% relative to that in FY 2019-20. The following questions troubled the founders: Adopt an aggressive expansion strategy as initially envisaged or go slow and survive the VUCA environment for now? See the VUCA environment as an opportunity? How can a win-win value proposition be created at this point so that potential partners continue to get added to the network?
Learning Objectives- Understand the dimensions of VUCA, as applicable to an entrepreneurial venture in the quick service restaurant (QSR) space.
- Understand how the business model of a fast-growing start-up in the QSR industry can change in a VUCA environment.
- Understand and discuss the franchise model and appreciate the differences between a franchise and a company-owned outlet model.
- Examine how to prepare a pitch deck and present it to potential investors.
Published: Jul 10, 2023₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Be.artsy: A Social Entrepreneur's Dilemma in Scaling Women Empowerment
Women's empowerment means empowering women on multiple dimensions: economically, psychologically, socially, and politically. Historically, women have suffered from disproportionately reduced access to resources and opportunities. Financial literacy and inclusion are especially important to overcome the dependence of women on their husbands. This aspect is more important in situations where the husband-wife relationship was strained for a variety of reasons. Shikha Mittal founded Be.artsy to empower women to speak up and manage their finances, with financial literacy and consequent empowerment acting as the impetus for overall women's empowerment. Experiences of sexual harassment at the workplace and domestic violence prompted Mittal to design and offer programs to corporates. These programs aimed to address the above problems through customized training programs for employees of these companies, which comprised Be.artsy's business to business (B2B) markets. Although these programs were supplemented with street plays and interventions in colleges, the B2B channel was the primary channel Be.artsy used to reach out to women; it generated revenue and created an impact. Be.artsy chose financial literacy as the key pillar for women's empowerment and drove its programs through tie-ups with institutions. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mittal launched an online program, Be Your Own Lakshmi (BYOL), that imparted financial literacy education. With free initial sessions that demonstrated the importance of financial planning and promotions through social media, BYOL had garnered some traction, with many people wanting to sign up for the paid BYOL offering. However, Mittal's desire to use BYOL as a vehicle to speed up the achievement of her vision of empowering millions of women remained unfulfilled. She needed to choose the right approach to scale BYOL, but the dilemma remained: Should she scale BYOL using the B2B or business to consumer (B2C) route?
Learning Objectives
Learn More-
Understand how personal experiences influence starting up a venture and the subsequent entrepreneurial journey
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Compare B2B and B2C as approaches for start-ups, in the context of Be.artsy
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Analyze Be.artsy's various scaling-up options.
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Consider the challenges in scaling up Be.artsy in particular and start-ups in general.
Published: Jul 17, 2023₹399.00 -
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Entrepreneurship & Innovation Malaka Spice: Revolutionizing Restaurant Ecosystems for a Sustainable Planet
The case is set in 2021 and explores the journey of Chiranjeev Restaurant and Foods Pvt. Ltd., located at Koregaon Park, Pune. It has evolved sustainable business practices, delivering innovative organic food products from farm to table to its customers at the restaurant over the last 25 years. The case underlines Malaka Spice's efforts to mainstream sustainability in the restaurant ecosystem by challenging the current food system followed by fine-dining restaurants in India. Malaka Spice, led by the founder Praful Chandawarkar and his experienced management team, has implemented a circular food system by incorporating natural farming practices, enrolling local suppliers, having an integrated supply chain, training staff to efficiently use the produce, composting waste and feeding the compost back into the soil, and closing the system's feedback loop. The case explores critical events in Praful's personal life and the entrepreneurial journey that persuaded him to pursue a mission to bring prosperity to all, including the restaurant's employees and the planet's ecosystem. Malaka Spice's culture is rooted in the Indian management thought process inspired by the sutras from Kautilya's Arthashastra (ancient Indian treatise on economics, statecraft, warfare, etc.). The principles derived from the sutras led to unconventional practices within the organization. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the management team empowered the employees to start their own enterprises while continuing to be employees of the restaurant chain. They were trained to source materials and supply them to the restaurant. Malaka Spice influenced the competition to adopt its best practices and created an environment of trust to promote the cross-learning of ideas within the hospitality industry. Finally, the case delves into green solutions that the Malaka Spice team designed and prototyped to tackle the climate crisis proactively.
Learning Objectives
- Implementation of a circular urban food system that mitigates food wastage, improves food safety, and reduces carbon emissions in the hospitality industry.
- How to build a sustainable restaurant ecosystem that is good for the planet and profitable at the same time.
- How an intrapreneurial culture within the organization can create sustainability for all.
- How the Indian management thought process creates a culture where sustainability is an intrinsic value of the organization.
Published: Mar 27, 2023₹399.00 -
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Scaling Digital Transformation: Growing LVPEI's eyeSmart Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System
The case explores the journey of developing and implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) solution across the vast LVPEI network. The leadership team at LVPEI decided to take the unconventional approach of developing the EMR solution in-house and chose Anthony Vipin Das, an ophthalmologist with a flair for information technology (IT), to head this development project. The case is set in 2017 and illustrates the challenges that Das, Consultant Ophthalmologist at LVPEI, faced and overcame in developing and implementing the eyeSmart EMR software. Although LVPEI had expertise in developing and implementing eye care solutions both inside and outside India, it needed a fresh strategy for developing and scaling up eyeSmart EMR. With the efforts of Das and his team, eyeSmart EMR was successfully implemented within the LVPEI network. The case ends with Das considering different options for the evolution of eyeSmart EMR.
Learning Objectives
- To compare the digital landscape of hospitals in India with that of developed nations
- To understand the nuances of implementing a digital transformation project in a healthcare setting
- To understand the mindset of actors driving successful digital transformation projects
- To understand the strategic options available for scaling digital transformation
- To understand the entrepreneurial drivers in an organization
Published: Mar 1, 2023₹399.00
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