Undergraduate students took part in the analysis of a "live" case with a representative of a knitting factory

For the 2nd year students of the Business Management program, a new educational case developed by the Financial Management Department of the Higher School of Business of the Higher School of Economics was tested. The author of the case, associate professor Yulia Leevik, together with the co—author of methodological guidelines for teachers on working with this case, senior lecturer Alina Vakhrushina, discussed the challenges faced by a knitting factory with 18 years of production experience on the way to entering the modern universe of electronic commerce.

Katri LLC, a knitting factory in the city of Reutov, Moscow region, producing a wide range of knitted products. An integrated approach to solving the problem of the rapid reduction of the order portfolio has set new challenges for the factory — how, using digital solutions and opportunities to work with marketplaces, to start developing in the B2C segment, taking into account the current logistical and personnel support.

Heated discussions with the participation of representatives of Katri LLC unfolded over four pairs on December 19, 2023. During the discussion of the case, the students consistently proposed and justified their own decisions regarding the factory's work with marketplaces, taking into account industry specifics, proposed their own action program for Katri LLC, assessed the risks associated with it and developed mitigation measures.

Acute issues, the fitting of the brought product samples with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the models, were complemented by specific financial calculations and SWOT analysis.

Yulia Leevik

"The special intrigue of the discussion is given by the fact that Katri LLC guarantees the further personal participation of willing students in carrying out activities to transform business processes. A company that worked in the B2B segment is discovering B2C. Theory becomes practice: the fate of a real business and twenty-five of its employees working in two workshops in the Moscow suburb of Reutov depends on the decisions of students."

Of course, there was little time to discuss the decision, so many students expressed a desire not only to send their proposals through the teachers after the discussion, but also, perhaps, to come to the enterprise itself. The answer was yes. At the Katri factory, they hope for HSE students!

The creation of the training case was made possible thanks to close cooperation with the knitting factory: the teachers of the HSE Financial Management Department express their gratitude to the representatives of Katri for valuable comments and the opportunity to hold a discussion in the format of a "live" case.

This training case will be included in the collection of training cases of the Higher School of Business of the Higher School of Economics and will soon be available on the page of the National Resource Center for Training Cases. 

 

A collection of educational cases