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E-Commerce (T01)
ABC is a new e-commerce company which sells books and other gift items through its online portal. The sales have been increasing on a year on year basis for the last 4 years. However the profitability of the business is facing stiff pressure due to the need for investments in technology and distribution. There has been huge demand especially from smaller cities and towns of India. The cost of distribution and maintenance of service levels has hit the overall bottom line. There is also news of international online business companies coming to set up business. These companies would bring in technology and bigger investments in infrastructure. ABC wants to understand where all they need to innovate and focus so that profitability is improved and also demands are created from news consumer segments. Issues: Distribution management, Demand generation, Innovation Disciplines: General Management Industries: e-commerce

E-commerce Retail (TO2)

Aata-chawal.com is a new e-commerce venture started by two batch mates from a leading B-school of Western India. Unlike the apparel focus, multiple websites, they are looking at tapping the largest consuming category i.e. food & grocery. Since starting 3 months back, they have been able to create a decent visibility in the target consumer base in Gurgaon, where their delivery is currently restricted. They are looking at expanding the geographical base before they go for an external funding. However they are worried about the following questions 1. Which geographies should they target? Metro/Mini-Metro/Tier I etc 2. What should be the primary target segment? Households with working women/ only SEC A/ Old age households etc. 3. How do they manage the inventory? Shall they go with the central warehouse and minimize the inventory, or go for city base warehousing to minimize delivery time 4. What should be the customer acquisition strategy? Discounts/ Promotions/ Quick and fast delivery etc. 5. Which are the new categories that can be added to the offering? Home care/ personal care/ apparel etc.

Leisure (TO3)
ABC is a big Indian business group with diversified interests ranging from specialized retail brands, restaurants and also in infrastructure development. They operate 25 petrol stations on some of the busiest Indian Highways. They also operate food courts in those stations. However, due to the advent of many international brands and also due to changing travel consumer preferences, the food court business is showing a decline. Along with this the petrol retailing business is facing stiff price pressure from PSU companies. ABC is looking at a solution, to better utilize its 25 properties to leverage the increasing number of travelling consumers and also get better returns on its investment. Issues: Falling food court business, increased pressure due to rising fuel cost Disciplines: General Management Industries: Leisure Retail

Agriculture- Processed Food (TO4)

XYZ is in the business of producing wheat, rice & corn flakes. It obtains its basic raw materials of wheat, corn, rice and sugar from suppliers around the world. These materials help make over 50 different breakfast cereals and snacks to sell to customers through retail. It is a large-scale manufacturer and stores sufficient stocks to meet customer orders. As part of its Research and Development (R&D) programs, it develops recipes to extend its range of cereals and snacks. While large scale procurement is essential for the business, it poses difficulties in maintaining centralized procurement offices, managing regulatory issues with respect to different geographies, time to market the product and with all this manage supply chain and market price efficiently. With all these important factors and growing competition, the company needs to relook at its procurement and distribution strategy. Issues: Large scale procurement, procurement covering different geographies, integration, cost management, time to market Disciplines: General Management Industries: Agriculture Processed food

Food & Beverage (TO5)

A leading Domestic QSR ABC player is operating through 120 outlets all over India, with vegetarian food as key product offerings. Though the brand has been growing at CAGR 10% for the last 5 years, the rate of growth has reduced to almost 5% in the last 2 years. To understand the reason for decline in growth rate, ABC Company undertook a consumer study to assess reasons for slow growth. ABC Company understood that it was partly due to changing consumer tastes and increase in eating out options, especially through the advent of International QSR chains offering quality food offerings both Veg & Non-Veg. As per ABC companys philosophy and belief system thy do not wish to incorporate non-veg products in their menu., The company is now facing challenges of stiff competition and sustained healthy growth in the coming 7-10 years. Issues: Increased competition, increased options for consumers, reducing market share, sustainable growth Disciplines: General Management Industries: Retail Food & Beverage

Entry Strategy of a Global Chain of Schools (TO6)

Raman Mishra is located in Singapore and heads a chain of schools called XYZ. XYZ is present in eight countries across Asia, the Middle-East, Oceania and the Americas. The philosophy that Raman and the core members followed is- every child is different and she needs to be treated differently. The team is greatly influenced by Sir Ken Robinson, an expert in creativity and education. Sir Robison championed the cause of customization of education for children and nurturing creativity in the early years of schooling. Raman, looked at his own country, India and wondered whether Indian middle class was ready to send their children to his school. Though he was born in India, he did not know the Indian customer as he had never done business there. While the need for a high quality school was obvious, he was not too sure how to woo the Indian parents. He wanted to figure out the issues that he was likely to encounter as he entered into India. He called a meeting of the core team members to discuss the entry strategy to Indian market. Issues: Entry Strategy, Strategic Alliance, Marketing Strategy, Regulatory Roadblocks, Operation Discipline: General Management Industries: Education K12

Education (TO7)
Harinder Singh, class of 2000 from XYZ institute, rose along the corporate ladder at a very fast pace. He joined one of the biggest FMCG global giants from the campus and was immediately sent to serve in the overseas market for the company. He spent 8 years serving in diverse markets like Japan, Singapore, Philippines and India in the finance domain of the company. At a relatively young age of 30, Harinder occupied key leadership positions in India and abroad. Even though his career moved at a fast pace, he hit the proverbial mid-life crisis and often wondered what would he do with his career after spending three quarters of a decade in the FMCG industry. He realized like many of his generation that he too wanted to 'start something of his own' and thus ABC was born. At the inception, ABC was a finishing school offering soft skills training to youth and it scaled up using a franchisee model. ABC also reached out to tier three B schools where employability was a prominent pain area. It offered a 140 hrs soft skill-employability module to business school students. However Harinder was quick to realize that a 140 hrs module was not enough to transform B school students from rural background. It became obvious to him that to transform the young students and render them employable he needed more time and control over the process. He probably needed to attack the employability problem from many sides- communication and soft skills were just not enough? The engagement with the students needed to be holistic covering all aspects of employability, e.g.domain knowledge, attitude, communication, big picture thinking, sales and customer orientation etc. What it meant was taking over the entire delivery operations of the institution and delivering high quality academic and employability training experience to the students and also taking complete ownership of the final placement. It called for a change in the business model of ABC- transforming itself from a soft-skill training company to a B school management company. After several iterations in the process of fine-tuning the business model, ABC went to its business school clients and offered them end to end solutions in the academic and employability delivery process of the institution: becoming Indias first management of a B-school firm. This was a very new concept in India and ABC hoped to create a new segment within education management by positioning itself as an organization offering 'outsourcing of higher education' in India. India had 3000 b-schools, and quality dipped significantly beyond the Top 50. Decision Point: The new model of providing 'full service' to institutions demanded mustering high quality resources at the HO as well at the client institutions. One of the taglines of ABC was that 50% of the faculty would be from the IIMs (mostly alumni and sometime faculty). However that meant higher cost of delivery. Quality of delivery was ensured by using a large number of part time faculty (who were not on the pay rolls) and few permanent faculty (on the pay-rolls). One big challenge was collection of revenue. Most of the clients promoters were not professional businessmen and therefore a lot of delays in collection became a norm. Ensuring a constant and timely supply of high quality part time trainers, development of content and collection of receivables were the three main challenges faced by ABC. These caused a great deal of strain in the system. Harinder and few core team members felt that the strain in the company would raise a question mark on the stability of the company. A set of bigger education companies expressed interest in acquiring majority stake in ABC. So did a few Venture Capitalists.

Infusion of capital and improvement in the quality of the management team would enable ABC not only to scale up but also ensure quality of delivery. However, there was also a realization that that an early dilution of equity would lead to a great loss of value for the founding team. Issues: Valuation, Fund Raising, Entrepreneurship, Growth Strategy Discipline: General Management Industries: Education- Higher Education

Textiles (TO8)
ABC is in the business of manufacturing, retailing and exporting apparels for men, women and kids in formals, casuals and casual active-wear categories. As retailers, they have expanded to more than 1000 stores in India, with a CAGR of 20% from 2003 to 2009. Expansions in front end also led to capacity addition in manufacturing and extended network for outsourcing of apparels. The company was managing its expanded operations through funds generated from IPO (Equity) as well as debt. The debt to equity ratio was close to 2:1. However, over last two years the company has been facing severe operating problems. The company continued its expansions and did not address its inventory pile-up during the sales slump of 2009. The leverage on finances kept on soaring. Now, the company is not in a position either to operate all its stores, or to look at export orders, due to paucity of operating funds. As of now, more than 500 retail stores have been shut down, export operations have been discontinued and manufacturing capacities are lying idle. The company is facing issues on working capital, debt (interest) servicing and also inability to raise funds through private placements or additional borrowings. Due to successive defaults and accrued liabilities, the companys current debt to equity ratio has soared to more than 6:1. With its current revenues, the company cannot meet its operating and statutory liabilities, and is not in a position to service its debt. It is still continuing its operations, but at a much reduced scale. Issues: Higher debt funding, excess leverage on debt and equity funds, sales slump, expansion and inventory pile-up, inability to meet operational expenses, inability to service debt, downsizing but in vain. Disciplines: Operational Management and Financial Controls Industry: Apparel Manufacturing and Retail. Large scale diversified mid-market retailing, exports and integrated manufacturing.

E- Commerce in Fashion (TO9)

ABC, started its operations five years back and is in the business of manufacturing, sourcing and retailing high-end luxury menswear (apparels and accessories). It has presence across India through six dedicated stores and also through a chain of high-street retailers in major cities. The company also offers Bespoke (Made to Measure) services in menswear apparels, both through its stores and partner retailers. Recently, the company decided to enter e-tailing and worked on an elaborate online portal to cater to bespoke needs of its customers. ABC offers shirts and trousers in finest Indian, Italian, Swiss and Sea Island cotton fabrics. The range comprises more than 500 varieties. ABC has built strong customer confidence through its quality, services and fit understanding. The consumer base comprises well travelled, discerning, refined upper market segment. ABC launched a detailed online sales portal that showcases a significant number of varieties and screens for customization for bespoke requirements. Marketing efforts were launched through mailers, bespoke consultants and tags carrying online portal details. Initial response to the initiative was overwhelming. Along with end-users, many retailers also switched to online order modules (online shop in shop) within the portal. Online orders reached to a level of around 70% of total sales. Encouraged by this, the company reduced its tangible display of options and started encouraging more retailers to use online module for customer servicing. It also shelved the plans of adding physical stores at more locations. However, over a period of time the proportion of online orders started falling. Orders from end-users dropped sharply, and those from partner retailers reduced by more than half within two years of launch. Feedback from partner retailers suggested that bespoke consumers were not finding the feel and fit of garments to be as expected. ABC needs to improve its servicing capabilities to cater to the needs and taste of well travelled discerning customers. Issues: E-Commerce resulting in reduction of overall sales despite initial success for a year. E-Sales not able to relate with customers expectation of feel and fit Disciplines: E-Commerce Industry: High Apparel Manufacturing and Luxury Retail.

Healthcare (TO10)
Hospital Profile- 150-bedded multi-specialty corporate hospital located in Bandra (E), close to Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai. The hospital was started in 1993, with regular expansion in coming years. Currently there are 300 operational beds including ICUs. Other than multispecialty OPD and IPD services, it also offers emergency care. External Environment: The hospital has reasonably good infrastructure and a good location / approach road. The operators have future plans for facility expansion by means of developing a new building in the existing compound. Currently, the Hospital predominantly caters to the middle and lower middle class population. It has been no empanelment with Government undertakings. The fundamental demand supply and location factors are favorable and that the Hospital has a high potential to be able to achieve industry standard performance levels in terms of quality as well as financial outcomes. Key Challenges: The hospital is undergoing a difficult financial situation with rigid labor demarcation. o The hospital currently is underutilized and the occupancy levels are around 50% with annual revenues of around INR 20 crores including pharmacy. o The hospital levies a 15% surcharge on the final bill excluding pharmacy and consumables. The average operating margin of the hospital is 6% prior to the surcharge and 13% after considering the surcharge as compared to over 20% in comparable hospitals. o Inappropriate medical programs and jumbled case mix is impacting the overall volumes of the hospital, which are significantly lower than those seen in comparable hospitals. E.g. OPD volumes ~1,450 vs. ~5,000, Lab volumes ~6500 vs. ~25,000 monthly o The efforts of the hospital to improve volumes are further impacted by issues related to quality of services and lack of defined operations & marketing strategy. o The hospitals is facing high attrition rate as it fails to retain the medical and non-medical workforce. Issues that need to be addressed: 1: Briefly describe the methodology for problem identification and steps to priorities the complications. 2: Concise the overall strategy in terms of modification of service mix offering, medical programs, thrust areas, pricing and market positioning. 3: Describe an appropriate Physician Engagement Model and Workforce retention strategy. 4: What measures should be taken to incorporate quality programs focusing on standardization of Hospital Systems? 5: How to increase revenue contribution from Diagnostics & Pharmacy? 6: Propose a marketing strategy for new service offerings.

Healthcare TO11
Background: The Business house is well diversified into businesses ranging from Beverages, Fast Food Restaurants, Ice Creams, Dairy Products, Education, Hospitality, Breweries and Healthcare. It has business presence in countries across Asia and Africa. The Business house intends to form a chain of premium boutique maternity centers in Africa and India to start with. External Environment They have planned to start a flagship hospital in Jaipur. Rajasthan has 33 administrative districts, Jaipur being the state capital. Jaipur has well-developed social, physical and industrial infrastructure as well as good virtual connectivity. Moreover, the total population of Jaipur is about 40+ Lakhs and the availability of Beds in Government Hospital is very less, making it conducive for private players to set up and operate businesses. The proposed birthing centre was tuned to the prevailing demand supply statistics, favorable demographics and location dynamics, projecting it to be a financially viable undertaking. Challenges: Market is highly competitive with most of the hospitals providing multispecialty services People are associated with local General Practitioners , which acts as a major link in referral chain Developing medical equipment plan in accordance with client requirements for the proposed service offering Identifying appropriate medical equipment requirements in tune with the latest available technology, client specifications and financials Identifying and Sourcing vendors, who would technically and financially qualify for supplying the medical equipment, devices and instruments Identify and establish requirements for Installation and commissioning of medical equipments Provisioning of leaner human resource structures for each department Developing most efficient, robust and streamlined quality operating system in terms of process flows, policies, protocols, functional guidelines, forms and formats etc Identify and establish HIS compatible operating system

Issues that need to be addressed 1. Describe the appropriateness of having women & child setup in Jaipur and methods which can be used for measuring the demand 2: Elaborate on overall strategy in terms of service mix offering, medical programs, thrust areas, pricing and market positioning. 3: Describe ways and means to achieve leaner and appropriate Human Resource structure across the organization 4: Elaborate on the organizational wide deployment of Quality operating system. Briefly outline the challenges faced during implementation and strategies to overcome such challenges. 5: Elaborate on factors which are to be considered while developing the Medical Technology plan and how it can be used as a differentiator