This case is based on a four-month-long ethnography conducted during January-May 2020 in the research lab of an established IT-BPM (Information Technology - Business Process Management) services organization (ITSO) situated in Bengaluru, India. It focuses on the dilemmas facing this research lab garnering AI expertise as it operates under a larger service-based organizational environment. The case deals with the important themes in current times: .....more

In 2016, MakeMyTrip, a prominent player in the online booking of travel space in India, moved to acquire arch-rival Goibibo (GI) to consolidate market share, build complementary synergies, and enable profitable growth. MMT was a leader in the online travel and premium hotel booking segment. GI penetrated the economy hotel segment and acquired redBus (RB) to diversify into the online bus booking space. Due to the merger, the processes of policies of .....more

The case describes the problems in agricultural practices in the north-western states of India and the efforts of a non-governmental organization, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) and CII Foundation (CIIF), to address those problems. Through the journey of the CIIF team in learning about the problem and piloting the solutions, the case describes the nature and scale of the problem of crop residue burning (CRB) after .....more

Supplement to case IMB893.

Most companies aim for exceptional customer service, but too few are attentive to the subtle discrimination by frontline employees that can alienate customers, lead to lawsuits, or even cause lasting brand damage by going viral. This article presents research about the way bias occurs in the provision of core products and services ("exchanges"), the furnishing of help that exceeds the minimum required ("extras"), and the manner .....more

Corporations are facing growing pressure--from investors, advocacy groups, politicians, and even business leaders themselves--to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations and their supply and distribution chains. About 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 now issue some form of environmental, social, and governance report, almost always including an estimate of the company''s GHG emissions. The authors describe these as .....more

Just as people can develop skills and abilities over time, they can learn to be more or less ethical. Yet many organizations limit ethics training to the onboarding process. If they do address it thereafter, it may be only by establishing codes of conduct or whistleblower hotlines. Such steps may curb specific infractions, but they don''t necessarily help employees develop as ethical people. Drawing on evidence from hundreds of research studies, .....more

Handout for Case SMU837

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson, was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company''s poor internal controls and weak board oversight over financial reporting, and the committee had important decisions to make going forward. In early 2018, Mattel''s Tax team had discovered a significant reporting .....more