Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
On1 23 August 2019, the Finance Minister of India declared and cleared the way for the merger2 of 10 public sector banks into four large public sector banks (PSBs). In pursuance thereof, the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) merged into Punjab National Bank (PNB). OBC held a 23% stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (CHOIC), whereas PNB itself held a 30% stake in PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. (PMLI) (Outlook, 2020). Thus, post-merger, PNB had two insurance businesses. Mr Mallikarjuna Rao, Managing Director & CEO, PNB, was in a fix on whether to continue with a 23% stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance or discard them. He wondered whether the two competing businesses would augur well for PNB. Should he not get out of Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance and concentrate on PNB MetLife India Insurance or vice versa? How much cash could he raise through this disposal? Would it be right for him to dispose immediately or wait for a better valuation?3 These questions were circling in his mind. He knew that whatever decision he took, his focus had to be on improving Punjab National Bank’s profitability.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
Vipul Murarka, Executive Director of Tropical Biotechnology Ltd. (TBL), was perplexed after looking at the erratic sales of dehumidifiers over the past 3 years since he started in June 2016. Although the number of goods sold was growing until 2019, which gave a marginal increase in revenue earned, the top line was increasing at a decreasing rate, with 10% in the first year, 8% in the second year and 7% in the third year. He could not understand the reasons for these inconsistent sales despite offering quality solutions and having many satisfied clients in the past.Given the torrential rains throughout the year in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, a dehumidifier was an essential product for factories, yet sales were not picking up as anticipated. Dehumidifiers as an industrial product aided many manufacturing units, as they helped in controlling moisture by extracting water from the air, thus reducing humidity and preventing the growth of mildew. There were myriad manufacturing companies in Yangon because of the availability of cheap labour, yet sales for certain months were flat, with not even one sales call funnelling to final action. These lull periods made Vipul anxious and forced him to think if he had entered the wrong industry. He even thought if the first-mover advantage turned into a disadvantage for him. The initial reason he speculated about this sales barrier was the price, as it was a high-investment product for industrial buyers. However, he also posited to himself that he might not have been able to position the advantages of the product aptly in the minds of the potential buyers.Unable to find a definitive reason for the sales barriers of the dehumidifiers, he approached his friend, Myint Than, an independent consultant and visiting faculty at an MBA institute where he taught sales and marketing strategy courses. Vipul and Myint had to find the reason for the barrier to the dehumidifier sales and eventually make a strategy to overcome these barriers for future growth before deciding the sales target for the year 2020.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The case is about the turnaround story of Palash Logistics, a third-party logistics company providing delivery solutions to one of India’s biggest online retail companies. It discusses the genesis of Palash Logistics, its problems and how it finally emerged to become one of the strongest players in the region in its segment. The case tries to present and discuss the importance of building trust between the employer and the employee, which ultimately leads to an exceptional organizational work culture. Besides this, the case also tries to highlight the significance of the role of an external management consultant who was brought into the system and how he made a successful turnaround by pulling Palash Logistics out of deep troubles and converting it into not only a successful and profitable company but also a formidable player in its segment in various states of North India.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The knowledge centres (KC) established by Development Research Foundation (DRF) were part of an ambitious project to disseminate valuable information to the rural masses. The KCs purpose was to bridge the digital divide, which was supposed to be run by the local community. The Vikaspur KC initiative had a lot of potentials, but due to local politics and conflict among a few stakeholders, it faced many problems. The differences among the volunteers were the core issues that ultimately led to the lockout of the KC. There was a lack of proper managerial structure at the ground level. The local village dynamics also influenced this issue. The political structures and dynamics also influenced the conflict at the Vikaspur KC at the micro-level (village level) and the meso-level (provincial level).

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
Burger King India (BKI), a master franchisee of the leading global quick service restaurant (QSR) chain Burger King US, filed its red herring prospectus (RHP) on 5 November 2019, with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) expressing its interest in going public. BKI was a major franchise of a multinational QSR, and its going public in India showed the confidence that large global QSRs had in the Indian markets. Despite the volatility caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, BKI launched its IPO on 2 December 2020. The case study captures the complexity and challenges faced by the growing Indian QSR market and its diverse players and provides information for industry analysis. The case also provides strategic and financial information along with initial public offer (IPO) information to assess BKI’s performance and debate whether the price set is appropriate given that BKI was a loss-making firm and the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic continued.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The case examines the valuation conundrum faced by the largest airline in terms of market share in the civil aviation industry in India. Indigo, a brand owned by Interglobe Aviation Limited, owned 47.2% of the total market share in India in 2019. The airline had done exceedingly well in terms of revenue growth. The share price also saw a meteoric rise from ₹1,000 to ₹1,800 in a short span of 4 years. Determining the intrinsic value of the airline’s share became imperative against the backdrop of the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic loomed large and seemed likely to disrupt the economy with a possible nationwide lockdown beginning in the last quarter of 2019–2020. All business activities were expected to come to a standstill. The airline industry was likely to be hit the worst, with economies across the globe restricting air travel (domestic and international). Valuation approaches such as discounted cash flow (DCF) technique and relative valuation multiples were employed to estimate the share’s intrinsic value. The intrinsic value was compared with the current market price to assess whether the airline stock was undervalued or overvalued. Questions on whether the airline could sustain this valuation in the future also came up. Tim Rogers, a recruit with an investment banking firm, was entrusted with the responsibility of analysing and valuing Indigo Airlines and preparing a recommendation report.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The Sahu family has been running the hotel business for 20 years in Odisha, India. The Indian hotel and tourism industry has drastically changed in the last few years with the introduction of the internet, online aggregators and digitally savvy young consumers. Technology has changed consumer behaviour regarding how they search for information before making a purchase decision. Sahu brothers were facing a decline in revenues and rising competition. Mr Satish, a recent MBA graduate from a premier business school, was fully aware of the changing marketing dynamics and the importance of online presence. He shared his learnings about digital marketing with the family and convinced the family to start the digital transformation of their business.The Sahu family first decided to reunite all the different hotels under one umbrella brand of Maa Hotels (the word Maa in Hindi means mother, and the family decided to use the name in reference to the famous Goddess Maa Tarini in Odisha). The family used many components of the digital marketing strategy, including search engine marketing, website creation, social media marketing and content strategy. Satish had to analyse and evaluate the first phase of digital marketing and decide on the next course of action to continue with the transformation journey. Moreover, he had to convince the family to continue investing in digital marketing, and for that, he had to prove that his continuous efforts were needed to increase revenues in the short and long term.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The case is based on the current performance management system (PMS) followed by THDC India Ltd. (THDCIL). It intends to provide inputs about the importance of sound and objective performance management as a key HR subsystem that helps in planning, measuring and integrating performance, contributing towards organizational and business objectives, and developing a collaborative organizational culture. The case portrays an incident of performance review grievance between a superior (Mr Ajay Kumar) and a subordinate (Mr Prashant Kumar) and shows an organization’s struggle to handle an inefficient performance planning claim by a subordinate. Despite creating a clear mandate and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) PMS goals, the HR team and employees are continuously showing resistance to discuss and develop SMART KRAs and KPIs collaboratively. It further talks about the issues in the performance planning process regarding goal setting, providing regular feedback and managing performance effectively while actively engaging employees. It also states how an incident about the unsatisfactory appraisal rating of Mr Prashant Kumar led to organizational chaos and employee dissatisfaction. It further provides insights into managing an aggrieved manager using performance review discussion and coaching. It also intends to give students an insight into the different steps in designing and modifying performance management to suit business requirements.The case may help students appreciate the different roles played by HR, such as employee champion, administrative expert, strategic partner and change agent for aligning and achieving individual, team and organizational goals and objectives. They would also gain knowledge and skills to understand the role of HR in designing, executing and managing the PMS by analysing a real-life situation.

Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
In 2019, Nykaa was recognized as India’s undisputed beauty product sales queen. Since its inception in 2012 as a niche e-commerce website, Nykaa has evolved rapidly. By 2019, Nykaa opened its 50th retail store, with plans for another 150; it had expanded into new customer segments (salon owners and men) and forged new partnerships (e.g. with Bollywood celebrities). In a manner reminiscent of a judo player, Nykaa had outmanoeuvred much larger sellers, such as Amazon, and was close to a one-billion-dollar valuation by the end of 2019. Nykaa now faced an even more exciting set of opportunities and challenges. Nykaa’s recent decision to ramp up a new business-fashion faced scepticism. Sceptics questioned whether Nykaa’s omnichannel model could work in India’s fiercely contested fashion market in 2019. Nykaa also faced a growing challenge in its core market from purplle.com—an online marketplace for beauty products. While tracing the causes for Nykaa’s success in the beauty market, the case highlights the need for senior management to re-evaluate and evolve the company’s strategy.