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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019 (Revised January 2020)

  Nehemiah Mfg. Co.: Providing a Second Chance

  Michael Chu, Brian Trelstad and John Masko

  In 2009, Dan Meyer and Richard Palmer, two veterans of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, founded Nehemiah Manufacturing to build FMCG brands while providing jobs to Cincinnati, Ohio’s beleaguered urban core. Two years later, the pair made their first “second-chance” hire of a convicted felon, a successful experiment that would grow to define the company. By 2019, Nehemiah’s factory floor, as well as several supervisory and management positions, would be staffed by ex-offenders. With a robust net of social support services and a non-profit foundation for training peer companies in how to hire second-chance employees, Meyer and Palmer advocated using second-chance hiring to decrease turnover and create staff loyalty. This case deals with the challenges and opportunities associated with growing a manufacturing company while prioritizing a social mission and enables students to evaluate the potential of second-chance hiring programs.

  Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Human Capital; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Prejudice and Bias; City; Urban Scope; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio; United States;

  Citation:

  Chu, Michael, Brian Trelstad, and John Masko. "Nehemiah Mfg. Co.: Providing a Second Chance." Harvard Business School Case 320-008, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 1992 (Revised September 2019)

  The House of Tata

  James E. Austin and Ashish Nanda

  The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its 1991 leadership transition from longtime chairman J.R.D. Tata to his successor, Ratan Tata. The case first describes how Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata and his sons entered into the steel, hotel, hydroelectric, cement, air travel, and insurance industries (among others). It then explores how the evolving role of government in business in post-Independence India impacted the Tata group. The case also outlines the acceleration in the Tata group’s growth during the 1980s, following government liberalization. In addition to discussing how the group’s leadership navigated through the external pressures of policy and economics, the case also examines how they managed internal pressures – reduced synergy between the diverse and legally-independent companies under Tata’s umbrella, and, at times, reluctant adjustments in company culture that corresponded to Tata’s generational leadership transitions. The case invites comparison between J.R.D. Tata’s compassionate management style and his successor Ratan Tata’s no-nonsense, analytical approach. The case closes by outlining some of the challenges facing the Tata group amidst the changing political and regulatory environment of the 1990s.

  Keywords: Indian economy; international business; government and business; Government Regulation; Synergy; conglomerates; Business Conglomerates; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Steel Industry; Electronics Industry; Chemical Industry; Insurance Industry; Air Transportation Industry; India;

  Citation:

  Austin, James E., and Ashish Nanda. "The House of Tata." Harvard Business School Case 792-065, February 1992. (Revised September 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2019 (Revised May 2019)

  GENTERA: Facing the Digital Age

  Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira

  After long dominating Mexican microfinance, Compartamos Banco faces the emergence of fintech, just as for the first time its loan portfolio and clients have declined. Enrique Majós, CEO of GENTERA, the bank´s parent company, is keenly aware of the profound changes since the Compartamos IPO in April 2007, when it was valued at $1.5 billion and became the first bank wholly dedicated to microfinance to be quoted in a major stock exchange. Since then, the market has become intensely competitive, with both large established institutions and new entrants vying for the same customers. Simultaneously, the digital era has spawned fintech, threatening to disrupt Compartamos’ highly successful model but also providing opportunities for the bank to reshape it. While challenged to manage key innovation within a leading incumbent, Majós must consider whether to commit his team to a major cost reduction in the next few years to his board of directors at their next meeting at the end of the month.

  Keywords: Micro Finance; base of the pyramid; fintech; Microfinance; Disruption; Innovation and Management; Competitive Strategy; North America; Mexico;

  Citation:

  Chu, Michael, and Carla Larangeira. "GENTERA: Facing the Digital Age." Harvard Business School Case 319-092, March 2019. (Revised May 2019.)  View Details

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