Here they are | (Photo: Edexlive)
Many start-ups are taking up the waste management cause yet there is a visionary company that started working on plastic recycling in 1969, long before we even thought plastic was a problem. Called The Shakti Plastic Industries in Mumbai, it is this iconic company that Ahaana Mahanti, research associate and Sanjana Prabala, independent consultant, who are part of the ISB-CBM (Indian School of Business-Center for Business Markets) have based their case study and won the Fox 2021 International Case Competition. Their case was titled Shakti Plastics Industries: Enabling a circular plastics value chain and explained this age-old company and its methods for adopting a circular plastics value chain .
As the ISB is part of Ernst & Young’s Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS, a group of institutions that study macroeconomics in various markets), the duo received a grant from the MNC for their research. When they jumped into the rabbit hole to examine corporate responsibility and climate change, it was Sanjana Prabala who suggested they focus on Shakti Plastics. Although they don’t market themselves like new-age start-ups do, this Mumbai-based company’s collection network is spread across the country and they are installing technology to recycle towels as well. hygienic and diapers and that was enough to convince the duo that this would be a great deal. After undertaking three virtual workshops on how to write and teach a case, they started working at full speed.
A case is used as a teaching aid in several B schools and other institutions that present a business decision problem, for which the students have to propose an analysis. “How to teach this case, especially in the era of the pandemic and in the context of India aiming to phase out single-use plastic by 2022, has also been considered,” she said. Explain. All meetings with Tony Thomas, who heads their sustainability and CSR, and Managing Director Rahul V Podaar, were held online, where all primary data comes from. Secondary data came from reports. “But it’s not just about assimilating information, you have to be creative and create a dilemma for the case. Designing such cases is an important part of educating students,” she adds.
By winning the Fox 2021 International Case Competition, they receive a cash prize of $ 1,000 and the promise that their case will be published by Ivey Publishing, which co-sponsored the competition with Temple University, USA.
