Management Case Studies

SOCIAL NETWORKING OR SOCIAL NOTWORKING

2010-03-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

The rising popularity of social networking and social media leaves me with intriguing questions. There is something apt about a social networking website winning a popularity contest. On March 17th, 2010, Financial Times reported that social networking website Facebook has capped a year of phenomenal growth by overtaking Google’s popularity among US internet users, with industry data showing it has scored more hits than the search engine. Facebook’s membership has crossed 400 million (430.2million, as per comScore) in February 2010 (when it celebrated its sixth birthday). US users spent nearly six-and a-half hours on Facebook compared with fewer than two-and-a-half hours on Google. What does the rising popularity of social networking mean for business? How should companies convert all such users’ time to their advantage? Is it a sign that the web is becoming more sociable than searchable? What does the advent and the (near) ubiquitous presence of blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, LinkedIn, Orkut, Twitter, etc? What do these ‘social’ innovations signify? While some argue that they undermine the social fabric of a society, many epitomize them as harbingers of the end of corporate imperialism. The several ‘social’ media segments – there are various types of online social media from social networks of friends and professionals to microblogging services, to video sharing sites, with informal online network of friends (Facebook, Orkut, QQ), artists (MySpace), visual junkies (YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, Daily Motion for Videos and Flickr, Picasa and Snapfish for photos) and professionals (LinkedIn) – point out to a proliferation and consolidation (either sequentially or simultaneously) in social media segments. Every country has its cliques, whether based on education, social background or spiritual beliefs. In Spain, Italy and Latin America as well as France, business people speak of the influence of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic lay order which supports a number of business schools. America has its Ivy League alumni groups and Rotary Clubs. Chinese business people often rely on guanxi, or personal connections. How then the (online) social networks are different from the old-style networks?
The social media environment in emerging markets too is heating up. A recent blogworks survey indicates that the blog and social media (SM) environment is evolving rapidly and India is no exception to this. The survey reveals that the SM credibility is on the increase: 90% believe that blogs and SM platforms have an impact on business and marketing; 90% believe that buzz and word of mouth are top deliverables from SM activities;65% think SM can deliver insights and over 46% hope to create better products and services through SM activities. How should companies look at social networking sites – complementary or competitive threats? Experts advocate that the companies articulate and adopt a unique social media strategy to tap into the growing popularity of social media. How should companies go about chalking out social media strategy? What are the critical success factors for getting the power and potential of social media platform right? However, many believe that Web 2.0 has resulted in “Enterprise 2.0”, a term coined to describe efforts to bring technologies such as social networks and blogs into the workplace. However, according to Robert Half Technology’s survey, the executives’ biggest concern was that social networking would lead to social notworking, with employees using the sites to chat with friends instead of doing their jobs. Some bosses also fretted that the sites would be used to leak sensitive corporate information. How should companies draw lines between what is acceptable and what is not acceptable ‘corporate social behavior’? The Internet was built on freedom of expression. Society wants someone held accountable when that freedom is abused. And major Internet companies like Google and Facebook are finding themselves caught between those ideals. They face a public that increasingly is more inclined to blame them for cyber-bullying and online transgressions.

Cognitive Dissonance for New Products

2010-03-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

I wonder how a subject like consumer behavior can be taught? How can real justice be done to all such social-sciences related subjects. The very fact that those subjects deal with social animals / human beings, it becomes all the more intriguing and perplexing. Intriguing because are they sciences or are they art-related? If they are sciences, the subject matter must be universally applicable and universally proved. If they are art-related, they are culture-specific which therefore means that the principles can not be universally applicable and universally proved. It is perplexing because what is once correct for an individual or a group of individuals in a particular context in a particular environment may not be correct the next time. What explains this dichotomy? And that seems the very purpose of social-sciences related subjects - to sensitize the knowledge seekers / students to the inherent and incumbant diversity of behaviors.

One of the very interesting and highly useful concepts in consumer behavior course is the concept of cognitive dissonance? What is cognitive dissonance, after all? Definitions aside, it is co-existence of two diametrically opposite desires. The best example is cigarattes. Every smoker after all knows that smoking is dangerous and at times can be fatal, yet, wishfully expects to live longer with no resultant health issues.You might argue is it not a case of split personality? Yes, it is, but in the mildest form.

How does cognitive dissonance exist for new products? What are the cognitive dissonance levels? How can this be related to consumers' buying decision journey? All such issues are explored in our case study, "Tata Nano: Consumers' Post Purchase Behavior". Explore the case study in detail and surely you would be unravel some of the fundamental buying-behavior myths

MOVIE BASED CASE STUDIES

2010-02-27T02:54:00.000-08:00

As a teacher, I have always been fascinated with one intriguing question: how do I engage the students? What motivates the students to give in their best? Is it the fear of grading, attendance, etc? Is it the way of teaching? Is it the topic? How to increase the participation levels so much so that they take on the faculty? Over the last two years I have observed (I have heard similar observations from innumerable management faculty fraternity) the following: (a) that the students do not come prepared for the case studies and it's quite frustrating for the faculty. (b) even if they have prepared, the mulling over the case facts, analysis touch points and discussion items has always been less than mediocre.They just don't give their best shot (after all they are expected to take decisions identifying themselves with the protoganist / protoganists of the case study). (c) Interestingly however, whenever they are not given any case reading homework, instead a video was shown and were asked to respond, the reflexes are quite fast.

And that set me thinking: how do I speak their language and yet get them to learn the required insights. Of course, I strongly believe that no one learns from others indeed. I have tried with a variety of video formats - video interviews, executive briefs (essentially video case studies), etc. When the fourth semester was drawing to an end, I was to take up an interesting topic in strategy - going global and the students were "genuinely" buisy with their placements. How do I circumvent the usual case avoidance 'suspects' and get them to hit the ground. I have asked them to see the hollywood movie, "The Other End of the Line" as a precursor to going global case studies. When they were asked to analyze the movie from the point of going global, the resultant discussion, analysis and insights were quite revealing. I at once felt we hit the ground without any glitches. Every bit of going global (strategy topic) and globalization (an economics topics) were dissected from the movie and the students enjoyed the whole exercise.

To take this exercise forward and give the benefit of this pedagogical approach to other business schools' teachers, we set out to develop a distinct movie-based product. The first one, "Coach Carter:The Change Agent" has been prepared after having been tested in the demanding classrooms and the feedback from several blind reviewers has been excellent. We hope to take the flavor of hollywood glamor to the management classrooms. After all, seeing is believing. We at IBSCDC, wish to be the Classroom Innovators.

COURSE CASE MAPS @ IBSCDC

2009-06-21T03:18:00.001-07:00

IBSCDC, continuing its tradition of advocating case methodology and case pedagogy at MBA programs, has put together all the relevant case studies meant for a specific course in the form of a Course Case Map (CCM). Now you can teach an entire MBA course using IBSCDC's case studies. Like it is said in ibscdc.org's home page, if MBA is all about case studies, you can define the focus and the rigor through IBSCDC's case studies. Each Course Case Pack (CCP) comes with a pack of resources that can be ideally and effectively used for delivering a course. Each CCP consists of:
(a) Case Studies
(b) Structured Assignments
(c) Teaching Notes
(d) Executive Briefs (Video Case Studies)
(e) Video Interviews
(f) Effective Executive Interviews

Identifying the Scope for Social Cause Marketing: Brand Image Vs Social Consciousness

2009-06-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

As the general elections for 15^th Lok Sabha (2009) were drawing close, the battle for votes stirred up in India. While, political parties were busy launching election campaigns, few brands took up the responsibility of sensitizing the citizens about their responsibility of exercising their voting rights. Tata Tea’s Jaago Re! campaign was one such campaign that went down very well with the citizens and redefined the nature of brand association and social cause marketing in India. With message, “Election ke din, agar aap vote nahin kar rahe ho, to aap so rahe ho” (If you are not casting the vote on election day, you are sleeping), Tata Tea pulled 618,157 people towards www.jaagore.com site for voter registrations. People instantly connected with the tag line.

Jaago Re! ad campaign, was started by Tata Tea as a Cause Related Marketing (CRM) initiative in September 2007. In June 2007, Tata Tea Ltd. (Tata Tea), one of the world’s leading companies in branded tea sector, became the largest tea vendor (in terms of volume share) in the world. Soon after attaining this position, Tata Tea elevated its communication efforts to the self-actualization level through Jaago Re! campaign. As part of Jaago Re! Tata Tea is spearheading many social issues and in the process was able to build a social aura around the brand which should augur well for the brand in the long run.

Tata Tea’s Jaago Re! campaign so far received good response from critics and also brought success for the brand (both tangible and intangible success). Nevertheless, the question rises, when does a CRM initiative become successful or when is the scope for CRM programme high. Companies, usually take up CRM initiatives after they had built strong brand heritage and value. Similarly, Tata Tea also initiated Jaago Re! campaign after it had built a strong brand image and market leadership. Could it have been as successful as it is now if the same campaign was launched, let’s say, several years ago when the brand had not yet become a global brand? Therefore, is there any relationship between brand life cycle and the timing of a social cause marketing initiative? There is also another important element that has an equal impact on the success of CRM intiatives – company’s target customers. If a company’s customers are highly ethical and socially sensitive, CRM initiatives will receive huge response.

The scope for CRM programmes, at various levels of consumer’s social awareness/ social consciousness, can be assessed with the help of the following matrix.

When social awareness (SA) among customers is low, and brand image of a company is also low, there will be no scope for CRM initiatives. For instance, if a not-so-well known company propagates social awareness to less social-conscious consumers, the response from consumers is negligible and hence the success of CRM initiatives would definitely be null. This is because, primarily, consumers would not pay heed to company’s good messages since they are highly individualistic. Secondly, the company is not carrying any brand image.

When SA is low and the brand image is high, CRM can still work for companies. For instance, when a renowned brand promotes a cause using its image, the response from consumers would be minimum. This is because, the number of consumers who have the ability to appreciate the company’s efforts of promoting social causes are low.
When SA is high, brand reputation is low, success of CRM is moderate. This is because; the number of socially sensitive consumers is high. As such, once the company wins the trust of the customer, its CRM initiatives clicks very well.

When SA is high and brand image is high, the success of CRM is very high. This is the ideal state for initiating CRM initiatives. Company is sure to witness the success of its CRM initiatives.

Thus, the success of CRM depends on, at which stage of the brand life cycle a company is taking up CRM program and who are the target consumers.

IBSCDC on YOUTUBE

2009-05-10T02:37:00.000-07:00

IBSCDC, Asia Pacific's largest repository of management case studies, has conducted interviews with a few enterprising entrepreneurs, leading politicians, sports celebrities, senior executives and NGOs specialists and all the samples are available both on IBSCDC and YouTube

All these video interviews have been conducted with a specific management learning mind. These video interviews can either be used independently or along with case studies. All these video interviews bring rich learning insights and they can effectively aid students' managerial skill training.

Executive Brief

2009-05-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

Executive Brief

Case studies have become a powerful instructive lifeline for business schools. Management education has changed because of them, which even helped globalize it. Many more changes are also sweeping in (culled from experiences):

Internet has a gold mine of information that, if channeled properly, can grow into rich knowledge. This trend has even altered the role of a teacher - from a knowledge provider to a learning facilitator
Students are seeking more than classroom learning. Just analysing case facts and figures is no longer making classes come alive
Not every faculty can work out a case study as it must be. It requires strenuous hard-work and disciplined training.
Business schools can shape the best talent but can't get them to teach. Teaching doesn't seem to fit in as a lucrative job

Closely observing these pertinent changes have got us, at Icfai Business School Case Development Centre (IBS CDC), thinking as always. Solutions were hard to come by, but we got around this dilemma too. Months of shrewd thinking and careful testing created a novel product, Executive Brief.

Executive Brief is by nature a video presentation. It recounts dilemmas faced by an executive, who can be an entrepreneur, manager, VP, CEO, etc. These dilemmas can either be retrospective or futuristic. Of course, business schools have to instill valued corporate virtues in their students.

Their multimedia edge can take learning to the next level, seizing student's fleeting attention for quite some time. That's not to say that they can replace case studies. But Executive Briefs can become nice add-ons to student's learning, as case studies are. This, we strongly feel, after we tested them out and got a glowing response from students as well as the faculty. And if the executive is around when the Executive Brief is played out, nothing like that. Running through some of these Briefs, one can feel the joy in using - and learning from - this powerful pedagogical tool. This product tries to speak to the students in their language - the language of videos (YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter!!!).

Social Cause Marketing In India

2009-05-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

When I recently saw print and video advertisements about Tata Tea's Jaago Re! campaign, I was pleasantly surprised. It was pleasant because of two very important reasons. It's probably one of those rarest of rares - where a company is not advertising (at least directly) about its product. It is an equivalent of PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in marketing, probably! The advertisement is sensitizing the Indian people about their voting rights and almost convincingly arguing that it's a responsibility (once in five years hopefully). I am sure you would have come across " Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat. Jaago Re!" campaign. Wasn't it pleasant, for a change? Secondly, it is talking about the most powerful and vibrant part of any functional and operational democracy - people voice.

Of course, apart of Tata Tea, other Indian companies - HUL, for instance - have taken up social causes too. It's a welcome change from all these FMCGs? Why only FMCGs, by the way? I hope we would see more of these social cause marketing campaigns.

Of course, the cynics would have their plate full of arguments. Why not? After all, if there's no free lunch, why this? Just the way Adam Smith said, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages".

The arguments aside, I am intrigued about :

(a) Why social cause marketing? What is the intended objective? Why should companies commit their shareholders' money for social issues? Or is it to do with the company's values?

(b) What is the difference between a Social Cause Marketing initiative and a Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, after all?

(c) Just the way brands are endorsed by celebrities (famous sports persons, actors, etc) , should a social cause be endorsed by a powerful brand, in that the powerful brand becomes the celebrity endorser for the social cause taken up? What happens if an important social cause is addressed by a not-so-well-known brand? Would it have the same reach as a powerful brand would have?

(d) At what stage of brand life cycle, would it be meaningful for any brand to get out of its comfort zone and start embracing social causes?

(e) Are the social cause marketing initiatives truly sustainable?

Tech Mahindra Logs in to Satyam Computers

2009-04-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

Tech Mahindra Logs in to Satyam Computers

Finally, the search is over. Tech Mahindra takes over the beleaguered and bruised Satyam Computers, by acquiring 51% stake (31% through preferential allotment and 20 % through open market). On April 20th 2009, Mr. Anand Mahindra was in Satyam Learning World where he addressed the press and the Satyam's Leaders. And the message was clear; 'we are here to stay and we want you to stay with us (including the interim CEO, Mr. A. S. Murthy)'. He planted a beautiful sapling in the forelawns of Satyam Learning World's campus in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. The employees reactions were mixed. I had the pleasure of talking to many of the employees and majority of them were elated that it was taken over by Tech Mahindra. For all of them, it didn't matter who is going to acquire Satyam. For, seldom their opinions would have mattered. When I specifically asked about Tech Mahindra, most of them are happy that it's being taken over by a company headed by Mr. Anand Mahindra, a HBS-educated manager. He is one of the very invited guests on HBS's forum to reflect on the 100 years of Harvard MBA sharing the forum along with Jeffrey Immelt and others. He is shrewd, business-savvy, forward-looking, pragmatic and he can make the difference. After all, it's he who made the difference with his "Scorpio" that came and stung Indian SUV lovers. Hopefully, he would do the same thing at Satyam Computers too. All the Satyam loyalites are however in a quandary: Will Satyam's name be retained?

What do you think Mr. Anand Mahindra and his team must be doing in handling this phase of the transition? Would Tech Mahindra be better off with or without Satyam's tag?