ITC Limited, Bangalore (B)

Abstract

This case describes how corporate strategy and competitive strategy, enmesh. It describes an inflexion point at which the company was faced with a prisoners’ dilemma situation with regard to a critical set of operational decisions of tactical significance affecting manufacturing operations. The unintended consequences, regardless of which path were taken, could have lasting reverberations for sustaining creditability and communication in organization development and management processes. The unfolding situation describes a situation typical of the challenges arising in low margin high volume traditional businesses close to growth saturation and maturity. In ITC Limited, the extent to which the deep restructuring in its traditional businesses was feasible and sustainable also set the pace of diversification. The case also brings out tacit dimensions of power conflict that strategy formulation and implementation manifest in industrial relations conflicts.