Marketing Cases
India's Pet Care Brand Heads Up for Tails (HUFT): Growth Story (2024)
The Case Centre (Reference no. 524-0103-1)
Launched in 2008, Heads Up for Tails (HUFT) grew into India's largest pet care company by 2023, offering 5,000 products through an omnichannel model. Targeting millennials and young couples, it focused on premium products and tier II city expansion while addressing challenges in shifting pet ownership perceptions and managing high pet care costs.
Oyo Hotel’s Expansion Spree– Too Much, Too Fast? (2024)
Asian Journal of Management Cases (ABDC-C)
Oyo, the Indian online hotel chain startup, valued at USD5 billion, was growing at a frenetic pace in multiple segments in both domestic and international markets. In 2018, the company secured USD1 billion venture capital fund from investors. The startup, which had started as an online aggregator of hotel space, shifted to own-inventory based model and also entered China and many other foreign countries. However, it seemed that the company's rapid growth was taking a toll on its service standardization and quality. Was it doing the right thing by focusing on growth at the cost of service quality?
Debt Fund Crisis at Franklin Templeton - Can it Bounce Back? (2023)
IBS Case Development Centre
Franklin Templeton India (FTI), the Indian arm of the leading asset management company, took a drastic decision on 23 April 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic that affected millions of Indian investors. On that day, it announced the closure of its six debt mutual funds citing abnormally high redemption pressure and a highly illiquid bond market scenario. The sudden, unprecedented and unilateral decision was a nightmare for the investors and the distributors of these schemes in the short-term and had legal and ethical ramifications in the long-term for both the company and the mutual fund industry participants. Was the sudden closure of the funds dictated by unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, or did the company deliberately expose its investors to unnecessary risks by investing in high-risk assets to chase short-term gains? Did the company’s management discharge its fiduciary duty to its investors or did it put self-interest ahead of investor interest? Though, owing to the Supreme Court ruling, the company, had started to return investor money many are still skeptical and suspicious of the company’s intent.
Credit Suisse - Greensill Saga: A Case of Risk Management Failure (2022)
Global Business Review (ABDC-C)
This case has focused on Greensill, the financial technology start-up, till its untimely closure in March 2021. Greensill’s original business model was built on providing traditional supply chain finance to business, but additionally, it packaged and sold these loans as ‘safe’ investments to various institutional investors through Credit Suisse, the 165-year-old Switzerland-based private bank. In order to grow at an exponential rate to support its high valuation, Greensill adopted various high-risk, questionable business practices. But its principal partner during this journey, the veteran bank officials of Credit Suisse, was either blissfully unaware of the wrongdoings or chose to ignore it. As Greensill collapsed, the bank paid a high price for this oversight in terms of monetary and reputational damage. The case has chronicled how the bank’s top officials in order to pursue the bank’s ‘integrated bank platform strategy’ chased short-term profit and turned a blind eye to all rules of due diligence and risk management. Though the bank made superficial changes in its process and appeared retrospective after the debacle, it remains to be seen whether its measures would translate into something concrete to make the supply chain finance domain safer and sustainable.
Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale – Creating Sweet Memories through Continuous Innovation (2021)
Published in The Case Centre (UK)
In 1950, Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale, a small family-owned sweet and savory snacks shop, was founded in Pune, India. In 2020, the fourth-generation members of the owner's family ran the business but the small local shop had become a prominent brand in India and abroad. In the highly competitive Indian sweets market, where many powerful Indian and international players were present, the brand was successful due to its focus on product quality and product innovation, efficient supply chain management, and process automation. The company had chalked out an ambitious growth plan for the future too. This case study chronicles the growth of the company, pinpoints its success factors, and analyzes its present growth strategy with respect to its business environment.
‘Google Classroom’: The India Challenge (2021)
Published in IBS Case Development Centre
Google Classroom is an education product that amalgamates all of Google’s core offerings like Meet, Forms, Doc, and Sheets into a single platform for teachers and students. The focus of the product is to reduce administrative and operational tasks for teachers and offer them a platform so that they can spend most of their time on teaching. The company had observed a massive surge in the use of Classroom in the first six months since the lockdown. However, there were notable challenges observed in the market which had to be addressed. The progress made by the company and the challenges it faced hold valuable learnings which can be discussed as a case to learn critical management concepts.
MyGate at the Gate: Digitizing Apartment Security in India (2020)
Published in IBS Case Development Centre
The mobile app-enabled residential security business has been growing at a rapid pace in India. MyGate, a startup in this space, has also been growing due to its early mover advantage and its ability to attract private equity investment. However, in the recent past, the competition has picked up. Existing players have consolidated their positions with fresh rounds of funding and a very big player with financial muscle has recently entered the arena. Is it a matter of time before market consolidation happens where big players gobble up small ones or is it going to be the biblical ‘David vs. Goliath’ story where MyGate will emerge as the surprise winner fighting against all odds?
Byju’s Learning App: An Indian Edutech Startup’s Growth and Future Challenges (2021)
Published in The Case Centre (UK)
Byju Raveendran founded the eponymous 'Byju's Learning App' in the Indian education technology sector in 2015. The app primarily targeted K-12 (kindergarten to standard 12) school going children in Indian metro cities and later the smaller cities and rural areas. It positioned itself as a viable alternative to classroom-based teaching. Within a short span of time, the startup became a great success story. As a result, it attracted private equity investments from top-notch foreign firms and went on to become a 'quadricorn' (more than USD10 billion valuation) in 2020. The present case study chronicles the background of the promoter, the early days of the startup, the growth strategies it adopted to become the market leader, and the challenges it faced.
Rupa's Dilemma: What Communication Strategy to Adopt for Premium Men's Innerwear Brands? (2020)
Published in The Case Centre (UK)
The men's innerwear category in India had traditionally adopted the celebrity endorsement route for brand communication. In this context, the present case study tracks the product category, its business environment, key players, and the communication mix. However, with the advent of the digital marketspace and change in consumer preferences, the case describes the dilemma the players in this category face, as exemplified by Rupa, an Indian male innerwear brand: should the brands adopt the traditional celebrity investment route or not, especially for its premium-end products?
LinkedIn - the Leader at a Crossroads (2017)
Published in The Case Centre (UK)
LinkedIn, the undisputable market leader in professional networking domain, both globally as well as in India, was faced with decision dilemmas in multiple fronts. Firstly, the company had been taken over by Microsoft in December 2016 and it remains to be seen how things unfold for LinkedIn and how it fits with larger scheme of the IT giant. Secondly, in India, LinkedIn's second largest market after US, the company was under pressure because of the competition from the Social Media giant, Facebook, in the form of 'Facebook at Work' targeted at big enterprises - a segment which was the most lucrative segment in terms of revenue for LinkedIn over the years. Though, the company was trying its best to react with a slew of product launches, many industry experts felt that LinkedIn was gradually slipping from its leadership position. This case study tracks the evolution of the company since its inception to its present form, its competitive position and present challenges in a dynamic and ever-changing business environment.
Patanjali - A 'Trust' Based Brand (2017)
IBS Gurgaon case study competition
Patanjali's meteoric rise has surprised and caught attention of both the competitors in the market and the marketing experts, as Patanjali apparently defies all traditional marketing rules such as gradual product extension or phased expansion. In this context, the case study describes the marketing mix decisions of the company and brings up dilemma for decision making with respect to the growing product portfolio and market penetration strategies in multiple product categories for future sustainability.