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This study aims to compare the local climate characteristics of Angkor Wat, Borobudur and Prambanan parks and determine effective strategies for mitigating thermal conditions that could suit Borobudur and Angkor Wat.

The study employed local climate zone (LCZ) indicators and ten-year historical climate data to identify similarities and differences in local climate characteristics. Satellite imagery processing was used to create maps of LCZ indicators. Meanwhile, microclimate models were used to analyze sky view factors and wind permeability.

The study found that the three tropical large-scale archaeological parks have low albedo, a medium vegetation index and high impervious surface index. However, various morphological characteristics, aerodynamic properties and differences in temple stone area and altitude enlarge the air temperature range.

Based on the similarities and differences in local climate, the study formulated mitigation strategies to preserve the sustainability of ancient temples and reduce visitors' heat stress.

The local climate characterization of tropical archaeological parks adds to the number of LCZs. Knowledge of the local climate characteristics of tropical archaeological parks can be the basis for improving thermal conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce learners to a successful Agri-start-up where they can explore the existing challenges and critical strategic decisions for the firm’s growth.

Shashank, the CEO and co-founder of an agriculture-based Indian start-up Green Agrevolution Pvt Ltd (GAPL), is planning to reach out to more than one million farmers by 2021-2022, which is more than 20 times of the present volume. His team is presently serving around 42,000 farmers with a home-grown technological platform DeHaat which provides end–to-end services right from seed to the market. Micro-entrepreneurs are selected and groomed to act as local touchpoints for farmers in the respective catchment areas ranging from 3 to 5 km. Shashank has been a recipient of multiple accolades and recognition and is now firmly seated to drive his start-up to the next level of growth and pan-India market penetration. The venture also requires an understanding of segment-specific needs, cropping pattern, using local resources and channelizing the advisory services to occupy a central role in the value chain. There are other impending issues such as low smartphone adoption, low internet access and lack of entrepreneurial mindset among the rural youth. Similar issues were relatively backward states of India with little or no provision of app-based services. Will he be successful to expand on such a high pace in other States with the existing resources and capabilities?

Senior undergraduate and Master's level business students

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CSS 11: Strategy

To understand social entrepreneurship and a social entrepreneur; to identify a social problem and develop a business idea; to understand the theory of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition; and to understand microfinance and its impact in the lives of the poor.

The case traces the journey of its founder Chandra Shekhar Ghosh from being a small time entrepreneur in microfinance to being the owner of a universal bank named Bandhan. Bandhan bank started its operations on August 23, 2015 with 501 branches, 2022 service center and 50 ATMs across 24 states. It had 14.3 million accounts, around 105 billion loan book and 19,500 employees. The founder of Bandhan bank, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, an Ashoka fellow had won numerous awards such as Entrepreneur with Social Impact Award by Forbes (2014), Entrepreneur of the Year by Economic Times (2014), Skoch Financial Inclusion Award (2011), Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2014) by AIMA to name a few. In 2014, Bandhan was also recognized as Global Growth Company by World Economic Forum.

The case is suitable for analysis in a MBA level course on social entrepreneurship.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This study aims to analyze the herding behavior in Southeast Asian stock markets. A cross-sectional absolute deviation of the returns approach is used to identify the presence of herding. Individual stocks and market returns were employed on each stock market on a daily basis during the period of January 2008 to December 2014 from five countries selected to obtain the necessary data. The samples observed consisted of stocks having higher liquidity and larger market capitalization for each stock market. The results suggest that there is significant evidence of herding behavior found in Kuala Lumpur and Philippines Stock Exchanges. In addition, there is no evidence of herding behavior in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand Stock Exchanges.

This study aims to organise and present the development of asset pricing models in the international environment. The stock market integration and cross-listing lead us to another objective of bibliometric analysis for “International Asset Pricing” to provide a complete overview and give scope and directions for future research.

Web of Science database is used to search with “International Asset Pricing.” Of 3,438 articles, 2,487 articles are selected for the final bibliometric analysis. Various research such as citation analysis, keyword analysis, author’s and corresponding author's analysis have been conducted.

The bibliometric analysis finds that the USA comes out to be the country where the maximum research was conducted on the topic. The keyword analysis was also analysed to evaluate the significant areas of the research. Risk, return and international asset pricing are the most frequently used keywords. The year 2020 has the maximum number of published research articles and citations due to the change in the market structure worldwide and the effect of Covid-19 across the world.

The present paper provides the collection, classification and comprehensive analysis of “International Asset pricing,” which may help the academicians, researchers and practitioners for future research for the relevant subject area.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization through foreign direct investments in the context of family-owned business groups in India.

The comparative case study method is used to understand the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization using four family-owned business groups in India.

The ownership concentration negatively influences the internationalization, while transparency has a positive association. Professionalization of management helps in internationalization. Overall, good corporate governance practices have a positive influence on group internationalization.

This paper provides detailed discussions based on the case study research which would help the future research work on the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization.

The existing literature studies in this field in the context of emerging markets are inconclusive. Hence, this paper uses the case study method to understand the relationship better.

The case explores information technology (IT) company Mindtree’s journey of 20 years from the time it was founded in 1999 to be different from others, and how it became a target for acquisition by an Indian diversified conglomerate in 2019. It offers insights into developing organizational culture and values in an organization, threats faced by a company when promoters dilute their shareholding, and the strategies followed by the acquirer and the target firm. It also deals with the challenges in the acquisition of a knowledge service digital firm. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to: identify the circumstances under which a company can become a target for hostile takeover; describe motivations of the acquirer firm in an acquisition; distinguish between acquisition and hostile takeover, and discuss salient features of Securities and Exchange Board of India (substantial acquisition of shares and takeover) regulations, 2011; list the defenses a target firm can adopt to ward off hostile acquirer; explore strategies followed by acquirer and target firms; analyze important ingredients of organization culture, and importance of cultural congruence in an acquisition; and discuss challenges faced by an acquirer in India, namely, legal, retention of clients and key people in the target firm particularly in hostile environment.

The case explores how ten IT professionals founded mid-tier IT services company Mindtree in 1999 in Bengaluru, India (home to Infosys and Wipro) to be different from others – by inserting themselves at a higher level in the value chain, being philanthropic as a part of broader business strategy to attract a certain kind of employee and customer. It developed a culture of equality, consideration and respect. Its attrition rate of 12 to 13 per cent was significantly lower than the Industries. Mindtree crossed annual revenue of US$1bn for FY 2019 and was growing at twice the industry’s growth rate. The most attractive part was that its proportion of revenue from digital services was about 50 per cent as compared to 25-35 per cent of other services vendors. With time, the share of promoters/founders declined and increased one investor’s shareholding of V. G. Siddhartha and his related entities. In early March 2019, the promoters’ stake was 13.32 per cent while Siddhartha had 20.32 per cent. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) one of India’s conglomerate entered into a share purchase agreement on March 18, 2019 with Siddhartha to acquire his 20.32 per cent stake. Immediately, L&T asked its broker to purchase up to 15 per cent of share capital of Mindtree at a price not exceeding INR 980 per share (each share of face value INR 10). This would trigger an open offer by L&T to purchase additional 31 per cent shares of Mindtree. The action of hostile takeover bid by L&T evoked emotional criticism from Mindtree founders. Mindtree efforts to defend itself could not materialize. L&T’s stake crossed 26 per cent on May 16, 2019. After Indian regulator SEBI’s approval, L&T’s open offer to buy shares from Mindtree shareholders commenced on June 17, 2019. The case examines motivation of the acquirer firm particularly when it is a conglomerate, and how a well-performing company became a target for hostile takeover. It looks at vulnerabilities of a target firm, and defensive steps a firm can take to fence itself against such takeover. The case also explores how organizational culture is built in a people-oriented business, namely, digital services, and what role it plays in a merger of two firms.

The case is suited for postgraduate students of management, as well as those undergoing executive courses in management.

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CSS 11: Strategy.