BIGSHIP: STRATEGIC ISSUE MANAGEMENT DURING COVID-19
CRISIS CASE STUDY SOLUTION
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pl
SYNOPSIS
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Sa
Bigship Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Bigship), an Indian courier aggregator start-up, made its mark in the industry
as a late entrant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bigship was a bootstrapped company launched in 2021 by
four shareholders: Swati Mittal, Amit Jain, Ankit Jain, and Nikhil Agarwal. The company had successfully
covered 29,000 Indian postal index number (PIN) codes and 150 countries in less than three years and was
n
featured in over 50 newspapers during COVID-19. Despite double-digit sales in the most recent quarter,
tio
Mittal, the chief executive officer, was struggling with emerging issues during internal crises.
The company’s employee attrition rate had reached 100 per cent, and rising competition was pressuring its profit
lu
margins. Customer loyalty was also in question as customers were not returning to the company. In addition,
rising fraud pressured profitability. Despite the rise in demand for courier services, maintaining high growth was
challenging. Mittal was worried about how to deal with employee attrition and weight-related fraud and improve
So
growth. Adding to the company’s problems, another co-founder had recently sacked all marketing staff due to
disciplinary issues and dishonesty. Despite receiving numerous advice and ideas from clients, co-workers, and
other founders, Mittal was having trouble growing the business. Would she be able to turn the company around
in these challenging times? Was the crisis a help or a hindrance to Bigship? In October 2023, Mittal found herself
at a crossroads in her strategic decision-making process. With a plethora of problems, Mittal and her team now
had to determine how to address challenges and decide whether to focus on tackling those issues or aggressively
follow growth volumes. In which direction should they steer the company’s strategy?
OBJECTIVES
• Explain the influence of leaders in dealing with issues and crises.
• Understand how rising fraud harms the balance sheet of a company and how companies control it.
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
,• Identify incorrect assumptions in business decision-making and explain how to shift from a highly
competitive market to an uncontested marketplace.
• Explain how companies shift from red-ocean strategies to blue-ocean strategies and how they learn
from their mistakes.
• Recommend a continued path for strategic growth for founders who face several strategic issues at one time.
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tio
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So
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. What is the current strategy of Bigship? Is this a red-ocean or blue-ocean strategy?
2. Why did Swati Mittal fail in her previous venture? What lessons did Mittal learn in her previous
venture? Identify companies that recently became successful by focusing on lessons learned.
3. What is the difference between strategic issue management and crisis management? What were the key
strategic issues faced by Bigship?
4. What issues is Mittal facing? How should she prioritize strategic issues in times of crisis?
5. Summarize Bigship’s proposed strategic approaches to controlling fraud.
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, e
pl
ANALYSIS
m
Sa
1. What is the current strategy of Bigship? Is this a red-ocean or blue-ocean strategy?
n
tio
After learning from her past failures, Mittal started her new venture, Bigship, with two other co-founders.
lu
Mittal focused primarily on providing digital platforms like Policybazaar, where business customers could
get quotes from different companies. At that time, other courier aggregators such as BigFoot Retail
Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (ShipRocket), AVN Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (ShipYaari), and Pickrr Technologies
So
Pvt. Ltd. (Pickrr) were targeting the same market and customers. Bigship was a rather late entrant.
At the time of its launch, Bigship employed a red-ocean strategy as the company was a late entrant
competing with existing players in the courier aggregation market. However, very soon, amid rising
competition, Bigship focused on four key factors—buyer utility, price, cost, and adoption—to shift from
this red-ocean strategy to a blue-ocean strategy.
Buyer utility was a challenge. Using a red-ocean strategy, Bigship could not provide the additional services
required by buyers. Instead, like other courier aggregators, it was making the mistake of offering customers
lower prices. From customers’ feedback, Mittal understood the need to provide services such as those
required by customers dealing in courier parcels containing liquid items and those related to courier returns.
From a price perspective, Bigship followed a model similar to those of its competitors. Later, another
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, e
pl
m
5. Summarize Bigship’s proposed strategic approaches to controlling fraud.
Sa
• policies related to weight-related fraud
• blacklisting and whitelisting of customers
n
• invoice auditing and image analysis
tio
The main aim of internal control is to establish processes to maintain the integrity of financial information
and prevent fraud. In general, there are few strategies that companies use to establish internal controls in
describe a few types of internal controls6 and ask students in which of
lu
the system.
the following categories they would place Bigship’s internal control systems to control fraud.
So
Preventive controls: The goals of preventive controls are to lessen the possibility of mistakes, fraud, and
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, EXHIBIT -1: STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING
Buyer utility Rethink
Is there exceptional buyer utility in your
business idea?
No
Yes
Price Rethink
Is your price easily accessible to the mass
of target buyers?
No
Yes
Rethink
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pl
No
Yes
m
Sa
Rethink
No
n
Yes
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, EXHIBIT -4: STRATEGIC APPROACHES TO CONTROLLING FRAUD
Strategic Description Deficiency in the Proposed control
approaches to existing system
controlling fraud
at Bigship
Policies related To reduce the price Courier vendors By calculating average size
to weight-related quoted by the courier, picked packages up and weight, the company
fraud customers mentioned from customer can charge clients
reduced weights (e.g., locations, but there reasonably. A package
declared the weight of was no mechanism larger than 15 inches would
a courier package as to verify the weight not weigh less than 1 kg.
4.5 kg instead of 5 kg). mentioned by the
client.
Blacklisting and
whitelisting of
e
customers
pl
m
Sa
Invoice auditing
and image
n
analysis
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
CRISIS CASE STUDY SOLUTION
e
pl
SYNOPSIS
m
Sa
Bigship Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Bigship), an Indian courier aggregator start-up, made its mark in the industry
as a late entrant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bigship was a bootstrapped company launched in 2021 by
four shareholders: Swati Mittal, Amit Jain, Ankit Jain, and Nikhil Agarwal. The company had successfully
covered 29,000 Indian postal index number (PIN) codes and 150 countries in less than three years and was
n
featured in over 50 newspapers during COVID-19. Despite double-digit sales in the most recent quarter,
tio
Mittal, the chief executive officer, was struggling with emerging issues during internal crises.
The company’s employee attrition rate had reached 100 per cent, and rising competition was pressuring its profit
lu
margins. Customer loyalty was also in question as customers were not returning to the company. In addition,
rising fraud pressured profitability. Despite the rise in demand for courier services, maintaining high growth was
challenging. Mittal was worried about how to deal with employee attrition and weight-related fraud and improve
So
growth. Adding to the company’s problems, another co-founder had recently sacked all marketing staff due to
disciplinary issues and dishonesty. Despite receiving numerous advice and ideas from clients, co-workers, and
other founders, Mittal was having trouble growing the business. Would she be able to turn the company around
in these challenging times? Was the crisis a help or a hindrance to Bigship? In October 2023, Mittal found herself
at a crossroads in her strategic decision-making process. With a plethora of problems, Mittal and her team now
had to determine how to address challenges and decide whether to focus on tackling those issues or aggressively
follow growth volumes. In which direction should they steer the company’s strategy?
OBJECTIVES
• Explain the influence of leaders in dealing with issues and crises.
• Understand how rising fraud harms the balance sheet of a company and how companies control it.
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
,• Identify incorrect assumptions in business decision-making and explain how to shift from a highly
competitive market to an uncontested marketplace.
• Explain how companies shift from red-ocean strategies to blue-ocean strategies and how they learn
from their mistakes.
• Recommend a continued path for strategic growth for founders who face several strategic issues at one time.
e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. What is the current strategy of Bigship? Is this a red-ocean or blue-ocean strategy?
2. Why did Swati Mittal fail in her previous venture? What lessons did Mittal learn in her previous
venture? Identify companies that recently became successful by focusing on lessons learned.
3. What is the difference between strategic issue management and crisis management? What were the key
strategic issues faced by Bigship?
4. What issues is Mittal facing? How should she prioritize strategic issues in times of crisis?
5. Summarize Bigship’s proposed strategic approaches to controlling fraud.
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, e
pl
ANALYSIS
m
Sa
1. What is the current strategy of Bigship? Is this a red-ocean or blue-ocean strategy?
n
tio
After learning from her past failures, Mittal started her new venture, Bigship, with two other co-founders.
lu
Mittal focused primarily on providing digital platforms like Policybazaar, where business customers could
get quotes from different companies. At that time, other courier aggregators such as BigFoot Retail
Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (ShipRocket), AVN Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (ShipYaari), and Pickrr Technologies
So
Pvt. Ltd. (Pickrr) were targeting the same market and customers. Bigship was a rather late entrant.
At the time of its launch, Bigship employed a red-ocean strategy as the company was a late entrant
competing with existing players in the courier aggregation market. However, very soon, amid rising
competition, Bigship focused on four key factors—buyer utility, price, cost, and adoption—to shift from
this red-ocean strategy to a blue-ocean strategy.
Buyer utility was a challenge. Using a red-ocean strategy, Bigship could not provide the additional services
required by buyers. Instead, like other courier aggregators, it was making the mistake of offering customers
lower prices. From customers’ feedback, Mittal understood the need to provide services such as those
required by customers dealing in courier parcels containing liquid items and those related to courier returns.
From a price perspective, Bigship followed a model similar to those of its competitors. Later, another
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, e
pl
m
5. Summarize Bigship’s proposed strategic approaches to controlling fraud.
Sa
• policies related to weight-related fraud
• blacklisting and whitelisting of customers
n
• invoice auditing and image analysis
tio
The main aim of internal control is to establish processes to maintain the integrity of financial information
and prevent fraud. In general, there are few strategies that companies use to establish internal controls in
describe a few types of internal controls6 and ask students in which of
lu
the system.
the following categories they would place Bigship’s internal control systems to control fraud.
So
Preventive controls: The goals of preventive controls are to lessen the possibility of mistakes, fraud, and
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, EXHIBIT -1: STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING
Buyer utility Rethink
Is there exceptional buyer utility in your
business idea?
No
Yes
Price Rethink
Is your price easily accessible to the mass
of target buyers?
No
Yes
Rethink
e
pl
No
Yes
m
Sa
Rethink
No
n
Yes
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
, EXHIBIT -4: STRATEGIC APPROACHES TO CONTROLLING FRAUD
Strategic Description Deficiency in the Proposed control
approaches to existing system
controlling fraud
at Bigship
Policies related To reduce the price Courier vendors By calculating average size
to weight-related quoted by the courier, picked packages up and weight, the company
fraud customers mentioned from customer can charge clients
reduced weights (e.g., locations, but there reasonably. A package
declared the weight of was no mechanism larger than 15 inches would
a courier package as to verify the weight not weigh less than 1 kg.
4.5 kg instead of 5 kg). mentioned by the
client.
Blacklisting and
whitelisting of
e
customers
pl
m
Sa
Invoice auditing
and image
n
analysis
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 7
