|
COVER
STORY
Wal-Mart:
Upgrading its low-price image?
- - Krishna Chaitanya, Bhavika S
Earlier,
Wal-Marts excessive displays of discounted products had put
off the high-end consumers. But now, Wal-Mart wants to create
a new image and upgrade quality and style of its products
to target the higher-income group customers. To enhance its
image, Wal-Mart introduced a new-look to its apparel line,
gave importance to advertising, and conducted a fashion show
partnering with the teen magazine Ellegirl. It also made in-house
changes wherein new rack rules were enforced and the distribution
system was revamped. The cover story discusses Wal-Marts
strategic initiatives to attract the higher-income group customers
and also to retain its traditional customers.
© 2005 IBS Case Development Center.
All Rights Reserved.
COVER
STORY
Wal-Mart
in India: Opportunities vs. threats
- - Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri, and Roopa
In
early 2005, Wal-Martthe worlds largest retailer proposed
to make its foray into India, the fourth largest retail market
in the world. While Indias $180 bn retail market is a potential
opportunity for Wal-Marts global expansion, there are challenges
also. These challenges include strict FDI regulations in the
Indian retail sector, competition from the unorganized retail
sector, which constitutes 98% of Indias retail sector, and
the growing organized retail sector. The cover story while
explaining the evolution and growth of Indias organized retail
sector, discusses opportunities and challenges for Wal-Mart.
© 2005 IBS Case Development Center.
All Rights Reserved.
RETAILING
Kmart:
The fall of a retailing giant
- - Debasish Mohanty
The
article narrates the demise of one of the most widely recognized
and well-established retail giants of the US, Kmart. It further
delves into the real reasons behind its fall such as bad management
and big dreams of its misguided leaders. It provides a lesson
or two for todays managers and CEOs to learn and not to repeat
it.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE
STRATEGY
CEOs
role as conductor in symphony: Essential or superfluous?
- - Rajnandan Patnaik
A
conductor in an orchestra does not seem to do much, but gets
all the credit and glory for a well performed symphony. Similarly,
a CEO seems to walk away with all accolades for any noticeable
achievement of the company. Is the role of a CEO as essential
as a conductor in an orchestra? Or is it superfluous and can
be done away with? This article tries to find the answer in
the analogy of a conductor-symphony with CEO-organization.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
WINNING
STRATEGIES
Winning
CEOs: Success secrets
- - N Janardhan Rao
Organizations
must adapt to the changing environment - in a way that is
honest and accountable to customers, employees, and shareholders.
Similarly, the face of leadership has got to adapt itself
to the changing business environment.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
SUCCESSION
PLANNING
CEO
succession planning: An uphill task for companies
- - K Sandeep Reddy
When
it is time to decide who should succeed an outgoing CEO, the
companys board faces a tough choice. The CEO is the driving
force behind any company and has the ability to turnaround
the fortunes of a company. It is highly essential that companies
plan and execute the succession process in a smooth manner,
so that it results in positive outcomes for all those concerned.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
STRATEGY
Managing
in troubled times
- - Muthu Kumar
Todays
business environment requires a robust and enterprise-wide
plan to deal with unexpected crises. Crisis management, a
relatively new field, is the overall coordination of an organizations
quick response to a crisis, with the goal of avoiding damage
to the organizations profitability, reputation and ability
to operate. From an organizations point of view, crisis management
is also referred to as `Managing in troubled times. An effective
crisis management program should always be consistent with
the organizations mission. Crises require fast and sound
decision-making. At the helm, leaders play a strategic role
in organizational sustainability to support crisis management.
To manage troubled times, companies spanning across industries
adopt common strategies that fall under three broad disciplines
Operational, Product, and Intimacy. Successful crises management
or managing troubled times makes a big difference to any organization.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
COMPETITIVE
INTELLIGENCE
CEOs
competitive intelligence: A decision-making tool
- - Deepak Kumar
The
decision-making process by a CEO is facilitated by the information
made available from seminars, conferences, networkings, newspapers,
online sources, consultancy reports, and colleagues. But what
really matters to a CEO is the veracity of the information.
The article looks into the factors like prior experience,
credible sources, etc., which shape a CEOs competitive intelligence
while making key decisions.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
INDUSTRY
IN FOCUS
SMEs
in India: Future perfect
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya
Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have played an important role
in the growth of domestic economy for long. However, amidst
increased deregulation and globalization of the Indian economy,
and rapid technological disruptions, the question that arises
iscan Indian SMEs hold on and survive against such challengeseven
as they prepare to play a much bigger role?
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
CSR
and strategy
- - Subhasish Ray
As
the company grows in scale and scope, it starts drawing attention,
but on the other hand, risk to its reputation also increases.
This makes regulatory bodies sit up and watch for alarm bells.
It is risky to use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as
a window dressing at this stage. SSR is not just an oxymoronit
is also the strategic use of CSR, ensuring mutual gains for
the company as well as the society. Companies which actively
look at the emerging concerns in the market, environment,
community, and workplace, and try to address them through
new products, processes, policies or services, have a greater
chance of emerging as winners in the long run.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
TECHNOLOGY
CEO
blogging
- - K Rajesh Prabhakar
Companies
are encouraging their employees to blog. Most of the top companies
employees, at various levels, have started blog spots, but
the CEOs have not followed suitnot even the Fortune 500 company
CEOs. While blogs are increasingly making headlines, only
7% of CEOs are actually blogging. Those CEOs who are blogging
are those who are tech-savvy and whose business model is based
on the Internet. The article looks at the reasons why CEOs
are not blogging and suggests ways to blog effectively.
© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CASE
STUDY
The
power of spin-offs: The case of Motorolas freescale
- - Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri, Nusrat Jahan Maldar
There are varied reasons as to why companies opt for spinning
off their business divisions or subsidiaries. Sometimes spin-offs
unlock hidden shareholder value or they are merely a means
to separate a troubled unit from the parent company. In a
competitive landscape, for a spun-off company to succeed as
an independent entity, the timing of the spin-off and the
status of the spin-offs relationship with its former parent
company are important factors. Corporate history is replete
with examples of spin-offs that have miserably failed to achieve
their touted potentials. At the same time, there are those
that have performed far beyond market expectations.This case
study, while showcasing Motorolas spinning off its semiconductor
subsidiary, Freescale, provides scope to discuss the underlying
formula that enables a spin-off company to thrive as an independent
entity.
© 2005 IBS Case Development Center.
All Rights Reserved. |
