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In 2019, India's Internet users were expected to deliver double-digit growth, reaching 627 million, driven by rapid Internet expansion in rural areas.1 This sharp rise is the result of increasing acceptance of online payment gateways, the critical mass of Internet users, the rising middle class with disposable income to spend, and most importantly, the widespread adoption of low-cost smartphones and data plans. India's e-commerce revenue is expected to jump to US $120 billion in 2020, growing at an annual rate of 51 percent, the highest in the world.2 As a result, the number of e-commerce businesses has grown rapidly in India. Flipkart and Amazon are the two main players in the Indian e-commerce industry, each with a 30 percent market share in 2018. This case centers on Flipkart, analyzing and exploring its business strategies, ecommerce challenges, value-added differentiation, and, most importantly, its interaction with primary rival, Amazon. Observing the intense competition between Flipkart and Amazon, there remain a few important questions: Will Flipkart be able to keep up with the pace of Indian ecommerce growth? Will Flipkart be able to compete with or beat a giant such as Amazon? Who will be the leader of the Indian e-commerce industry? The case is rich enough for advanced and graduate students and has been developed to be used in a Business Strategy class, a Competitive Business Strategy class, a Globalization class, or an International Business class. The authors wrote the case in a style that overviews the situation, but intentionally avoids guiding students through specific application questions or any particular analytical framework. The case is designed to be taught in one to one and a half class hours and is expected to require one to two hours of outside preparation by students for reading and analysis. Flipkart was the brainchild of Mr. Sachin Bansal and Mr. Binny Bansal (not related), both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The two Bansals worked for Amazon and eventually quit to start their new venture - Flipkart Online Services Pvt Ltd. - in 2007. The company is headquartered in Bangalore and operates exclusively in India. During its initial years, Flipkart focused only on selling books, but soon started offering other products like electronic goods, air conditioners, stationery supplies, lifestyle products, and e-books. Flipkart epitomizes the Indian e-commerce industry and has managed to maintain a top position among online shopping platforms in India. Being one of the most studied and researched companies, it is also known as one of the best startups in India. Although Flipkart has managed to retain a top position in the Indian e-commerce industry, the entry of the global giant Amazon has introduced tough competition to Flipkart. Since Amazon's entry to India in 2013, the global giant has flourished. With its deep pockets and aggressive marketing campaigns, Amazon has almost matched Flipkart, becoming one of the few top e-commerce giants in India. In response, Flipkart has taken many steps to expand its market share and compete with Amazon: Flipkart completed mergers and acquisitions, changed its business model, and launched an innovative and secure payment system. But questions remain. How can Flipkart survive the increasingly tougher and wellcapitalized competition? Can it keep up with Amazon's pace of innovation? Can it ever beat Amazon? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case is primarily intended for use in the international strategy section of a business policy or competitive strategy course. It can be used as an overview of the many decisions and actions that an organization has to undertake to sustain a competitive advantage. This case can also be used to augment discussions of strategic analysis, globalization impacts, transnational strategy, specifically both in domestic and international markets and strategic formulation. This case study aims to present a complex and dynamic international e-commerce corporation, which has experienced rapid growth. Naturally, undergoing drastic corporate expansion comes with its share of challenges. The challenges discussed in the case provide students with the opportunity to analyze a complex system of issues and develop their own unique evaluations. The case is rich enough for advanced and graduate students and has been developed in a manner that will allow students to diagnose the root(s) of the company's issue(s) as detailed in the case, and then form opinions and suggestions for any strategy that the company should pursue. Students should expect to spend two hours preparing for the case discussion and then the case can be discussed in the classroom in one to one and a half hours depending on instructor preferences and discussion style. During a visit to the United States in 1995, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, heard about the internet for the first time. With his hands on the technology, he searched for the word beer on Yahoo. Ma was surprised to find that his Internet search came up with beers from Europe and America, but there was nothing from China. At that moment, he decided to build a business that could facilitate the buying and selling of Chinese products abroad. Even in the face of great scrutiny, he identified the great business potential of e-commerce and founded Alibaba in 1999. Ma's once criticized vision for the Alibaba Group has now evolved into a thriving global operation, making it one of the most successful companies of the past decade. Alibaba's stock price has been one of the top performers among technology companies around the world. Its past year performance aggressively competed with one of its fiercest international competitors, Amazon (see Exhibit 1). However, Alibaba's continuously evolving business model, along with increasingly growing domestic competition from companies like Tencent Holdings, Baidu, and JD.com, has created numerous challenges for the company to move forward and replicate that past performance record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case is primarily intended for use in the corporate strategy section of a business policy or competitive strategy course. It can be used as an overview of the many decisions and actions that an organization has to undertake to sustain a competitive advantage. This case can also be used to augment discussions of strategic analysis, specifically both internal and external environmental analysis and strategic formulation. The case is rich enough for advanced and graduate students, and has been developed in a manner that will allow students to diagnose the root(s) of the company's issue(s) as detailed in the case, and then form opinions and suggestions for any strategy that the company should pursue. In doing this, students should consider the activities, history, and goals of the company as presented. It would be effective at the business strategy level, especially, to discuss the implications of industry life cycles, and at the corporate strategy level to discuss implications of diversification. The case also lends itself to discussions of strategic implementation and the effect of leadership on innovation. CASE SYNOPSIS In late 2016, Blackberry stock has been trading for less than $7.9 a share that is only a fraction of $139, which is a drop of 94% since 2008. 1 The competitive landscape shifted in recent years, and BlackBerry lost its strong position in the industry. The company faced a severe reduction in hardware revenues and mobile subscribers. 2 BlackBerry Limited hired John Chen, a turnaround specialist, as its new CEO to get former dominating smartphone producer back to profitability.3 Soon after joining the company, Mr. Chen formulated a turnaround plan that emphasized focus on corporate and government enterprises. This new plan significantly reduced the company's operating costs. 4 After Mr. Chen started turning the wheel, BlackBerry appeared to be stabilizing, but the sustainability of his strategy was still a big unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]