Dr.

Easwar Krishna Iyer

Great Lakes Institute of Management
 Classroom
Text Pedagogy
Books
Group
Work

Assignments
 Why
A Case Study approach? 1
The intention of a case study approach is
to look at problem solving through all
possible perspectives and not to actually
solve a particular problem.
Actual solution could be very situation-specific
Hence your approach matters; not the results
The intention of a House Surgeon during ward visits is to understand
diagnostics and therapy in a generic way and not to cure the illness of the
patients who populate the wards during his House Surgeon year!!
CAPITAL VS LABOR LONG TERM VS SHORT TERM

COST VS QUALITY EQUITY VS DEBT

PROFIT VS ETHICS CONTENT VS CONTEXT

 Why
Case Study approach? 2
A case unlocks possibilities of thinking and
analogizing outside situation of the case.
The skill that one develops while
understanding cases is ‘Substitutability’

Country Industry Product

Company Time
 Why
Case Study approach? 3
Don’t try to find answers. Try to find questions.
At the end of a case, know what questions
should have been asked to avoid the problem.
Engineering education is answer / solution centric.
What is the voltage, pressure, current, bit rate etc.
Management education is question / analysis centric.

 At a ‘few’ lakhs CTC today, you know all the answers

 With a ’several’ lakh CTC expectation, graduate to know the right questions !
 When you go back, the ‘few’ lakh kids would be there to give you answers!!!
 Why
Case Study approach? 4
Learn the subtle art of practicality over precision.
Pi = 3.14159265358979323846 so what !!!

Qn Ram rides a cycle at 90 km / hour. How many

meters does Ram cover in a second?
ENGG ANSWER 25 M
MANAGEMENT ANSWER THERE IS NO SUCH CYCLE !!

Qn A well in Saudi produces ‘x’ barrels of oil / day.

How much oil will it produce in the next 3 years ?
Global Geopolitics, Emerging economies consumption, Forex
Depends on movements, technology of exploration, price of substitutes like
shale gas, regulations for consumption, Trump or no Trump!!
 Coming to

Know what you are assimilating

 Spinach & Potato assimilates to give
Alu Palak

 Spinach and Cottage Cheese

assimilates to give Palak Paneer

 Besan (1 portion), Sugar (2 portions)

and appropriate quantum of clarified
butter assimilates to give Mysore Pak

 Kishore da and Rajesh Khanna

assimilated to give a series of super
hit songs starting with Aradhana
 What gets assimilated in the
TATA ACE Case
An HBR Case
TATA ACE

Environmental
Blue Ocean Analysis New Product
Strategy Development

Promotions Portfolio
Strategy Planning
Marketing
Supply Chain Costing
Management Strategy
Market Functional Pricing
Research Market Strategy
Segmentation
 Examples of equivalent scenarios where cues from
environment lead to NPD
An HBR Case
TATA ACE

 Two Rupee
Shampoo

 RTE Food
 What were the signals from the
Environment?
1. Two Rupee Shampoo Sachet
 With TV awareness & exposure, Shampoo is slowly getting
repositioned from a Glamour Product to a Hygiene Product

 People at the lowest end buy only Utilitarian products

 Rural Markets are opening up with possibilities of usage –

maybe less frequent - of hair and body care products

 I cannot afford a large bottle of shampoo. As and when I

want, I will buy a ‘unit use’ one [Usage driven buy and not
Storage driven buy by girls in rural India]

 Hotel industry might provide minimal hair care products

[along with body care (soap) and dental care (tooth paste)]
if a small ‘use and throw’ size variant is available.
 Armed with all this
Information …

How did we
 Maintained exactly the same quality while reducing
quantity to a single bath sachet. Kept brand elements intact

 Nook and corner distribution using a variety of channels –

including roadside hawkers who sell paan, gutka etc

 Worked out rock bottom packaging costs

 Started bundling sachets free along with bottles to

increase initial awareness

 Free initial distribution in rural fairs, melas etc for

product adoption

 Margin maintenance by continuous cost innovation [Since

the price point is sort of fixed at 2/-, 3/- etc]
 What were the signals from the
Environment?
2. Ready to Eat (RTE) Food
 Working ladies (in senior responsible positions) rising in Tier 1
India. Match work hours with men.

 Higher disposable incomes. Spend on food is a small fraction

of total earnings. Hence would not compare cost of home food
Vs. procured RTE food (‘cost’ of food affects only lower and
middle income families)

 Nuclear families – do not live with in-laws. Hence the bahu

does not have to cook to prove her worth

 Today, we have several UN-Indian ‘buy and eat’ options. Why not
Indian ethnic RTE full meal ?

 Cooking exotic dishes in small quantities not viable. But today

we have small families [3-4 members]
 Armed with all this
Information …

How did we
 High focus on attractive packaging

 Minimalistic last minute cooking

elements still left (she still needs to
cook and serve !!)

 Close to home taste

 Pricing above the fair value line to

give an assurance of high quality,
hygiene etc

 Focus only on upscale outlets

 SKU near the billing counter –

triggers impulse buy
We now come to the ….

In a class room case study session, the discussion of the case nuances
KEY starts as soon as the session is on. Today, I warmed you up through a
FOOTNOTE slower process since this is a Case Study Orientation Session !!
 Coming to Truck Market, what all signals did Tata
Motors pick up before launching the Tata Ace?
An HBR Case
TATA ACE

 Demographic
 Economic
 Socio-cultural
 Technological &
 Political

Categorize them into these FIVE buckets

 DEMOGRAPHICS

1.Youngsters becoming Entrepreneurs

[thanks to boom in distribution and logistics]

2.Owner himself becoming driver

[comfort considerations during vehicle design]

3.Distance to local dealership

[The concept of the single S shop]
 ECONOMICS

1. Awakening of Tier 2 & Tier 3 India

[a fall out of economic liberalization]

2. An NPD driven by a turndown

[threat converted to opportunity]

3. 2 way transport requirement for Rural India

[Agro produce out, FMCG essentials in]

4. Pricing pressures
[which results in costing pressures]

5. New Competitive Pressures

[3 wheelers Vs. 4 wheelers; Shah Rukh Khan & IPL]
 SOCIO-CULTURAL

1. Prestige of owning

Satisfaction
Enhancer
a 4 wheeler
2. Enhanced Marriage
Prospects
3. Spouse worried about
Dissatisfaction

3 wheeler’s safety
Nullifier

4. Same day round trip

(say Mumbai–Pune)
 TECHNOLOGY

1. Safety Consideration
[moving from 3 to 4 wheeler]

2. Speed Consideration
[faster inter-city turnaround]

3. Indian considerations for ‘overloading’

[design implications]

4. Turning radius
[for narrow road maneuverability]
 POLITICO-LEGAL

1. Vajpayee’s Quadrilateral
2. Development of an all-weather rural road network
3. Implementation of stringent emission norms
4. Size of the vehicle [Suits highways and by lanes]
5. Euro II norms compliance
 In the context of Pricing, what do you
think would be the difference between
An HBR Case
TATA ACE

 Line Up Stretch
 Line Down Stretch
 Line Fill
Which of these was the
Tata Ace Strategy?
 Few slides back, we were talking
about Management being a
An HBR Case

Case of Choice
TATA ACE

In Explain
That This
Context Duality
 What is the DIFFERENCE
Between these two sets of images
In terms of Ace’s Positioning strategy?
What you have seen
today is just …

Case studies go into far Greater Depths ….

For that you need to be a bit more into subjects …
This is just an Orientation Session ….