CASE #$2$: MODMASK

Overview: Bzzz$.$ Bzzzzz$.$ Maryam Garg, a master$$s student in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Southern California, looked down at her cell phone to see who was calling her in the middle of shooting a commercial. The called ID indicated it was the manufacturer responsible for stitching together the high$-$end fabric masks for her brand$-$new start$-$up company, MODMASK. Since launching MODMASK two months earlier $$ in February $2020,$ just before the COVID$-19$ pandemic hit the United States $$ the back and forth she$$d had with her primary supplier had not always been easy. Yet lately she$$d been feeling they were finally starting to see eye to eye. As the phone buzzed on her lap, her heart began to pound. She had put countless hours and her own savings into building the young business, but she knew it could all unravel if her supplier did not reliably deliver on the carefully designed masks. Garg answered, only to hear the words she dreaded most: $$Maryam$,$ the state is shutting us down. We have to stop the current batch of your masks.$$

Discussion Questions

$1.$ What stages of decision making are mainly discussed in this case? To what extent and in what ways did the change in the earlier stages affect later stages of decision making about the selection of the right partnership for MODMASK?

$2.$ Based on the events described in this scenario, how has specific activities supported creativity?

$3.$ To help Garg think about the next set of decisions to be made about the business, discuss the role of emotions and intuition in the decision$-$making process.

$4.$ Think of another organization to which you belong, e$.$g$.,$ work, school, religious group. What are its dominant cultural values, how do you see them in action, and how do they affect the effectiveness of that organization?

$5.$ Identify two $(2)$ strategies that Garg might consider to reinforce the set of corporate values that are important going forward. Explain the likely consequences of these strategies after implementation.