Ch. 2 Case Study

The day is not very far when the Indian travellers can criss-cross the globe with just a few clicks. Takinge-commerce and information technology services a step further, the Indian travel industry is composingitself to usher in the era of e-ticketing.

On-line booking involves pursuing of available information on travel websites one then making areservation. However, if you are not the kind who prefers a particular airline, then you can check out travelsites, which collate flights details of all airlines, and are the apt place to book or bid for air tickets. Travelportals, such as, travelguru.com, arzoo.com, yatra.com, indiatimes.com, rediff.com, makemytrip.com, andc1eartrip.com, would provide you all details of flights along with their fares in an ascending order, l.e.. thelowest priced, ticket is featured first, on its web page.

The number of consumers who book travel tickets online is growing. But a switch from offline environmentto online environment creates certain doubts in the minds of consumers. Such doubts have been termed asperceived risksin literature.

Also, the Internet revolution has brought about significant changes in market transparency, defined asthe availability and accessibility of information to market participants. For example, air travellers can useonline travel agencies to browse through hundreds of travel offers to their destination, compared to typicallyfew offers from a traditional travel agent or airline prior to the Internet era.

Generally, market transparency seems to benefit consumers because they are able to better discern theproduct that best fits their needs at a better price. However, there still is a large percentage of populationwho get their tickets booked through the traditional queuing system.

The advent of e-ticket booking over the past couple of years has led to the mushrooming of online travelagencies. These online service providers have in fact come up with a wide variety of services for faster andmore convenient mode of ticket booking. They offer a host of services starting from booking something asmundane as a train or flight ticket to something as exotic as a holiday. They offer various packages whichhave the entire itinerary for the proposed holiday. They even offer a convenient pick-up and drop service.With such a range of services being offered at your fingertips, expectations are that more and more numberof travellers would start using such easy, fast and convenient services as compared to the conventionalbooking process across a reservation counter. Yet, we still observe long queues at the various reservationcounters. And, we also know that there are a number of people who use the online services available tobook their travel than through traditional travel booking counters.

Srininandan Rao, CEO of Ghoom.com, a travel portal that has been in existence for the past three yearswondered whether he can look at a bigger customer base for his travel booking business or look at analternative e-business.Questions:

1. What is the kind of research study that you can undertake for Mr Rao?2. Formulate the research problem and the objectives of your study. Can you suggest an alternative

research approach that you can take?3. Develop a working hypothesis for your study.

Case 2.2

Shameem had been with the organization for a fortnight now and was due to meet Raghu. He opened thedoor and walked in.

Raghu asked him to be seated ~:mdsaid, 'So doctor, what is the diagnosis?'

Shameem Naqib had been recently hired as the company counsellor at Danish International, as RaghuNarang,the CEO, felt that he was fed up with his team of non-performers. He had hand-picked the BandIIdecisionmakers from the most prestigious and growing enterprises. Each one came with a proven trackrecordof strategic turnarounds they had managed in their respective roles. So why this inertia at DI? Thesalariesand perks were competitive, reasonable autonomy was permitted in decision-making and yetnothingwas moving.

Therehad been two major mergers and the responsibilities had increased somewhat. When Shameemwentto meet Sid Malhotra, the bright star who had joined six months back, he was reported absent andseemedto be suffering from hypertension and angina pain. His colleague in the next cabin was not awarethatSidhad not come for the past four days. As he was talking to Raghu's secretary, he could hear KaminiBansal,the HRhead, yelling at the top of her voice at a new recruit, who after six weeks of joining had cometoaskher about her job role.

TheBand III executives had been with the company for a tenure of 5-15 years and yet had not beenableto make it to the Band II position (except two lady employees). They were laid back, extremely criticalandyet surprisingly were not moving.

Raghu also seemed a peculiar guy, he had hired him as the counsellor and was also making somestructuralchanges as suggested by a Vastu expert, to nullify the effect' of 'evil spirits'. He had a history ofhiringthe best brains, and then trying to fit them into some role in the organization. And in case someone didnotfit in, firing him without any remorse. He had changed his nature of business thrice and on the personalfront,he was on the verge of his second divorce.

Thecompany had a great infrastructure, attractive compensation packages and yet the place reekedof apathy. It was like a stagnant pool of the best talent. Was it possible to undertake-operation clean up?

1. What is the management decision problem that Shameem is likely to narrate to Raghu Narang?2. Convert and formulate it into a research problem and state the objectives of your study. Can you

suggest a theoretical framework about what you propose to study?3. Develop the working hypothesis for your study.

Case 2.3

Mr Anil Mehra, a senior executive with a leading newspaper published from Delhi, was frustrated with hisjob. Hisidea of launching an exclusive sports daily was not warmly received by the top management. AnilMehra had written a few notes explaining the need for launching such a daily. However, he was not ableto convince his superior, Mr Ashok Kapoor. Mr Kapoor had specifically asked him the estimates of demandfor such a paper in the first year of the launch and for which Mehra had no answers based on any scientificresearch. Kapoor had told him clearly that unless he convinced him about the need for such a paper withthe help of an empirical study, he would not be able to help him out.

Anil Mehra was a graduate in English (Hons) from Delhi University and had obtained a diploma in journalismin 1982. For the last 12-13 years he had worked with many newspapers and business magazines and it washis knowledge which was inducing him to go for this type of a venture. He was regretting not having abusinessbackground, which would have helped him to carry out an MR study for which his boss had assuredhim sponsorship from the newspaper. However, the amount for the research study was too small for him tocontact any MR agency for help. The total budget for the study was ~ 50,000. Just as Anil thought of puttingin hispapers and starting a sports daily on his own, he received a phone call from his friend Prof. Ravi Sharma,who was working with one of the leading management institutions of India. Prof. Sharma was on o visit toDelhi for a consulting assignment and thought of calling Anil. Anil was thrilled to receive the phone call andfixed up a meeting with him for the next evening. Prof. Sharma was accompanied by one of his colleagues,Prof. Singh. The conversation which went between Anil, Prof. Sharma, and Prof. Singh is as follows:Prof. Sharma: Anil, Why do you look so upset? What is wrong with you? Any problem with the job?