Thermax (A)

Abstract

The case highlights how issues of corporate strategy and competitive strategy enmesh during the growth and diversification phases of a professionally managed family business after its first IPO. The underlying dimensions of management problems onion-peeled during strategic transformation show up as conflicts between sustainable growth and shareholder value at different inflexion points of crises. From the firm’s modest beginnings as a joint venture family business partnership involving a European partners the firm’s trajectory of internationalization involves balancing self-reliance with cross-border collaborations for capacity building and technology diffusion. The case presents material for puzzling through the choices over systems, organization structures, and management processes. The institutional context and the industry-specific barriers and gateways also play a part in understanding the formulation and implementation of internationalization strategy processes and preferences of entry modes as a response to changing constraints in the business environment.