Authors
Padmanabhan N S

Abstract
Mother India throughout the years has been a homeland of successful family owned businesses. Companies from Tata, Birla to Reliance all have the label of a family owned business. We are always audacious about the successes but we seldom care about the vast majority which fail doing business. The use of rule – of – thumb management has affected their business in the long – run. Some remain in limelight for some time and suddenly vanish from the scene. They fail miserably in forecasting the business environment as well as decision making. This case discuss on one such company which is reeling under pressure of soaring cost and plummeting profits due to some poor decisions taken by the promoters. Sachin Iyer gazed at his watch. It showed 10.30 pm. He knew that he would be late today also. He was alone in the five-storied new corporate office of Aalaya Logistics at Thrissur a small city in Kerala. He was rather perplexed to see the heap of files on his table. For the past few days, he and his team had a tiresome work. He was annoyed by the way his uncles were managing business in a thoroughly unprofessional way. He is supposed to present a revival plan next week for the company whose profit is bleeding since 2010. He was aware that the ecosystem is more complex due the surge in competition from Multi National Corporation (MNC). The whole task is a challenge as well as opportunity to prove himself. Sachin joined Aalaya Logistics as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) two months before. After graduating from a Tier – I Business School in India, he was heading the retail channel operations of a leading MNC logistics provider at Chennai. He was summoned by the Iyer brothers to help them resurrect their business. He belonged to the second generation of the Iyer family, which was running the business for the past 15 years.

Authors
Dr. Asha Nadig

Abstract
Consolidation of business entities is a world-wide phenomenon. One of the tools for consolidation is mergers and acquisitions. The quest for growth and the ever-changing dynamic business environment makes Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) a frequent phenomenon in corporate circles. The M&A in financial sector of India are driven with the objective of leveraging the synergies expected to arise out of the consolidation.

Authors
Jaidev Poomath

Abstract
Worldwide, major corporations are in the process of revamping performance appraisal processes. Deloitte, Accenture and GE are some of the companies which are driving the change. Performance review or appraisal processes have caused heartburn to many an employee. The annual exercise is detested and even feared. Often doubts were raised with respect to their effectiveness. Most companies follow a bell-curve rating process to evaluate performance of their workers. The rating process often leaves a bad taste and causes employee disengagement. It is wondered if an annual exercise will suffice in modern, dynamic business world, where needs and demands of the customers change by the hour. Employees need and seek real time feedback from their superiors. Matters are made further complex by the fact that there are no real mechanisms to measure effectiveness of feedback given. Performance review systems are designed so as to eliminate bias and subjective analysis. When superiors conduct reviews mechanically, just to comply with processes, objectives are often sacrificed. Companies with flawed performance appraisal processes find it tough to take critical business decisions and justify them later. Transparency in operations is the need of the hour. If employees perceive lay-offs as insensitive and illogical, then a faulty performance appraisal system may be to blame. Employees become insecure if they feel that they are not valued at work. In a country like India, where emotions at work are not rare, pressure and stress caused maybe significant enough to dent the reputation of an organisation. Even though latest developments in this field bring hope, it is feared that these will remain nothing but lip service or just hype.

Authors
Dr. Madhvi Sethi, Prof. Pooja Gupta

Abstract
The case revolves around an entrepreneur’s dilemma regarding funding of his expansion plans. The CEO, Ashish Awasthy, has grand expansion plans for his consumer durable company. He is looking at different options to raise finance to fund this expansion. At the presentation for the investment bankers regarding the company’s expansion plans, Ashish overhears a couple of investment bankers discussing the virtues of debt financing against those of equity financing. Sherlock an acclaimed investment banker after listening to Ashish’s future expansion plans, believes that the best way forward for the company was to raise funds through equity. Moriarty, a competitor of Sherlock, argues that Sherlock’s viewpoint is incorrect and debt will be a much better alternative to equity. In this tussle, Ashish is perplexed and speaks to his friend Mycroft, adviser to RBI governor as to what is the best way to go. Mycroft challenges Sherlock and Moriarty to back their claims of equity versus debt with data provided by him. In order to make the challenge lucrative, Mycroft promises to give the responsibility of raising funds to the investment banker who would be able to back up their claims with the live data. The case revolves around the analysis involved in understanding the capital structure puzzle for Indian companies.

Authors
Prof. Grishma Padhye, Dr. Sonam Mansukhani

Abstract
India’s modern retail market stood at US Dollar (USD) 27 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow to USD 220 billion by 2020, with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.9% (FICCI, 2012). Though food and grocery comprises 60% of the total retail sales, it contributes to only about 11% of the modern retail sales (IBEF, 2013). Supermarkets comprise 70% of the total modern grocery retailing formats in India (Bose, 2012). Despite this, not all supermarkets perform well. For instance in Hyderabad, while few regional supermarket chains such as Ratnadeep, Ghanshyam have added more outlets, few national supermarket chains such as Spencer’s, Food World have closed down or relocated few of their stores (Mukherjee, 2012). In 2012, Mr. Narang established a supermarket known as ‘Neighbourhood store’ in Pune, India. Post three years of full operation, this store was enmeshed in problems due to a poor customer base, low basket sizes and moderate revenue figures. To worsen matters, high rent expenditure and high cost stuck in inventory took a toll on the business. Against this backdrop, competitors such as S-Mart (hypermarket) and Patel stores (a small mom and pop ‘kirana’ store) flourished. The case includes data that can trigger off rich classroom discussions about a) Comparative analysis of Neighbourhood Store with its direct competitors – S-Mart and Patel stores – in terms of performance, merchandise mix, and service offerings, b) Analysis of the Neighbourhood Store’s key customer profiles and finding the reason for their not shopping the entire grocery basket from the Store c) Recommending changes in the merchandise mix and the service offerings at the Neighbourhood Store in order to increase the basket sizes of each of the Store’s customer segments.

Authors
Dr. Tanushri Banerjee, Dr. Ritu Sharma

Abstract
This case study discusses the structure and significance of Gender Cell (often referred as Women’s Cell) when formalized in an organization. Further to measure the impact of the formalized Women’s Cell in nurturing gender inclusive growth and development. This Case Study narrates the structure and functionalities of the Women’s Cell in an educational institution. Additionally, it measures its role in fostering gender inclusivity in organizations. The research study has been conducted at an educational institution where there exists a formalized Women’s Cell. In order to understand the significance and functioning of the Women’s Cell, data has been collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with the male and female employees, faculty members and students of the institution. Respondents’ answers have been further analyzed to measure the impact of the Women’s Cell in fostering the culture of gender equality and inclusivity within the institution. The findings of this Case study reinforce the notion that Women’s Cell can act as a medium to create a gender inclusive workforce in an educational institution. Additionally, they provide insights into the processes and systems that facilitate establishing and running the Women’s Cell.