This case won the Overall winner category at The Case Centre Awards and Competitions 2023. #CaseAwards2023
Who – the protagonist
Domino’s Pizza as it adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What?
Domino’s Pizza is an American multinational pizza giant, popular for its take-out and delivery service across the world.
Domino’s boasts more than 17,000 stores in over 90 countries. As of December 2019, 98% of its stores were franchise-owned.
Why?
Domino’s found themselves in an advantageous position due to their prowess in delivery and a new ‘contactless’ delivery initiative.
Other initiatives included Indian customers being able to order their groceries and additional essentials via the Domino’s app, and each of the 6,126 company and franchised-owned US stores donating at least 200 pizzas to people in their communities.
However, Domino’s didn’t escape criticism, as many felt employees were being put at risk at a time when most people were being asked to stay indoors. Furthermore, there were several incidents of employees speaking out at their dissatisfaction of the working environment.
Where?
As of March 2020, Domino’s and its franchisees employed around 400,000 people worldwide, reporting same-store sales growth of 1.6% for its US stores and 1.5% in its international stores.
When?
It was 31 March 2020 when Domino’s released the encouraging preliminary sales results for the first quarter ending 22 March 2020.
Key quote
What next?
Domino’s Pizza were well set to push on with their ‘contactless’ delivery approach.
10,000 employees were being hired in US stores while more store workers and delivery drivers had been taken on in the UK and Australia.
With contactless delivery seemingly here to stay post-COVID, is Domino’s in a healthy position going forward?
This is the first time that ICFAI Business School (IBS) have won the Overall Award.
Debapratim sadly passed away from COVID-19 in May 2021. His comments below were originally published when we featured this case in Connect in November 2020.
Winning the award
Prof. J Mahender Reddy, Distinguished Advisor, ICFAI Society, said: “I am very happy to learn that the late Debapratim Purkayastha (Deb) is the 2023 Overall Award winner.
“Deb is the doyen of case research and teaching. His contributions to making ICFAI Business School - Case Research Center (IBS-CRC) known globally as one of the top case study publishers, will remain forever.
“Deb’s legacy will live on. He will continue to inspire case writers at IBS-CRC and the case research and teaching community across the world.”
Writing the case
Debapratim stated: “We soon realised that the Domino’s case would become ‘the case’ that would be discussed in business schools during the pandemic, and long after the pandemic was over. The challenge was how to capture it in all its richness and complexity and bring it to the online classroom almost in real time.
“These were still early days in the pandemic, and changes were happening almost every day with new information arriving on a daily basis. We ultimately decided to set the time of the case at around mid-April, when Domino’s, as well as other organisations, were uniquely challenged due to the onset of the pandemic, and while there was a lot of uncertainty regarding the future.”
Teaching the case
Debapratim added: “The Domino’s case worked very well in the online mode. Most students were stuck at home due to a government-imposed lockdown, and could easily relate to the issues arising in the case. Many were either missing their pizzas or were grateful that they still had supply – something they have always taken for granted. They could see, how like them, businesses too were affected, and how they were coping, adapting or innovating.
“As we discussed Domino’s business continuity plan and how it could build resilience and come out stronger in the post-crisis period, I felt the students themselves also felt a lot more optimistic about the future.”
Final word
Debapratim concluded: “The key takeaway from this case is how Domino’s banked on its core competencies and strategic capabilities to weather the public health crisis with limited disruption to its operations. Not only did it have to adapt its business model, but also balance the need for providing its service to customers as well as keeping its employees and customers safe.
“This case will remain a lesson in how to ensure business continuity amidst a pandemic.”
Discover how this case works in the classroom.
“The Domino’s Pizza case on Business Continuity Strategy During the Covid-19 Pandemic is well-written, effective, and includes a wide swath of geographic markets-ranging from the US to India and Europe.
“I used the case to launch a required Strategy course for MBA students.
“The case provides a natural stage for discussing how Domino’s should manage stakeholder interests (local communities, employee health) and the potential implications of those decisions for the financial performance of the firm over different time horizons. It also enables students to see some of the limitations of defining an industry too broadly.
“Finally, I like the fact that the case is surprisingly ‘high tech’! Domino’s early investments in, and roll-out of, frontier delivery technologies and software/payment systems provided a source of relative advantage during the pandemic. Students reach different opinions on whether that advantage is likely to be temporary or sustainable for the company.”
“I like teaching this case as the broad scope of it makes it easier to go into depth on many different topics. In this way, a wide spectrum of marketing-related themes can be discussed on the basis of the case. This allows a comprehensive course structure.
“Also, for the students, multiple aspects make the case successful. Domino’s is a company the students are familiar with thus making it easy to build references. In addition, the reality of the events allows the knowledge to be more easily communicated, and the challenges can be better discussed.”
The case
Who – the protagonist
Domino’s Pizza as it adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What?
Domino’s Pizza is an American multinational pizza giant, popular for its take-out and delivery service across the world.
Domino’s boasts more than 17,000 stores in over 90 countries. As of December 2019, 98% of its stores were franchise-owned.
Why?
Domino’s found themselves in an advantageous position due to their prowess in delivery and a new ‘contactless’ delivery initiative.
Other initiatives included Indian customers being able to order their groceries and additional essentials via the Domino’s app, and each of the 6,126 company and franchised-owned US stores donating at least 200 pizzas to people in their communities.
However, Domino’s didn’t escape criticism, as many felt employees were being put at risk at a time when most people were being asked to stay indoors. Furthermore, there were several incidents of employees speaking out at their dissatisfaction of the working environment.
Where?
As of March 2020, Domino’s and its franchisees employed around 400,000 people worldwide, reporting same-store sales growth of 1.6% for its US stores and 1.5% in its international stores.
When?
It was 31 March 2020 when Domino’s released the encouraging preliminary sales results for the first quarter ending 22 March 2020.
Key quote
What next?
Domino’s Pizza were well set to push on with their ‘contactless’ delivery approach.
10,000 employees were being hired in US stores while more store workers and delivery drivers had been taken on in the UK and Australia.
With contactless delivery seemingly here to stay post-COVID, is Domino’s in a healthy position going forward?
Author perspective
This is the first time that ICFAI Business School (IBS) have won the Overall Award.
Debapratim sadly passed away from COVID-19 in May 2021. His comments below were originally published when we featured this case in Connect in November 2020.
Winning the award
Prof. J Mahender Reddy, Distinguished Advisor, ICFAI Society, said: “I am very happy to learn that the late Debapratim Purkayastha (Deb) is the 2023 Overall Award winner.
“Deb is the doyen of case research and teaching. His contributions to making ICFAI Business School - Case Research Center (IBS-CRC) known globally as one of the top case study publishers, will remain forever.
“Deb’s legacy will live on. He will continue to inspire case writers at IBS-CRC and the case research and teaching community across the world.”
Writing the case
Debapratim stated: “We soon realised that the Domino’s case would become ‘the case’ that would be discussed in business schools during the pandemic, and long after the pandemic was over. The challenge was how to capture it in all its richness and complexity and bring it to the online classroom almost in real time.
“These were still early days in the pandemic, and changes were happening almost every day with new information arriving on a daily basis. We ultimately decided to set the time of the case at around mid-April, when Domino’s, as well as other organisations, were uniquely challenged due to the onset of the pandemic, and while there was a lot of uncertainty regarding the future.”
Teaching the case
Debapratim added: “The Domino’s case worked very well in the online mode. Most students were stuck at home due to a government-imposed lockdown, and could easily relate to the issues arising in the case. Many were either missing their pizzas or were grateful that they still had supply – something they have always taken for granted. They could see, how like them, businesses too were affected, and how they were coping, adapting or innovating.
“As we discussed Domino’s business continuity plan and how it could build resilience and come out stronger in the post-crisis period, I felt the students themselves also felt a lot more optimistic about the future.”
Final word
Debapratim concluded: “The key takeaway from this case is how Domino’s banked on its core competencies and strategic capabilities to weather the public health crisis with limited disruption to its operations. Not only did it have to adapt its business model, but also balance the need for providing its service to customers as well as keeping its employees and customers safe.
“This case will remain a lesson in how to ensure business continuity amidst a pandemic.”
Instructor viewpoint
Discover how this case works in the classroom.
“The Domino’s Pizza case on Business Continuity Strategy During the Covid-19 Pandemic is well-written, effective, and includes a wide swath of geographic markets-ranging from the US to India and Europe.
“I used the case to launch a required Strategy course for MBA students.
“The case provides a natural stage for discussing how Domino’s should manage stakeholder interests (local communities, employee health) and the potential implications of those decisions for the financial performance of the firm over different time horizons. It also enables students to see some of the limitations of defining an industry too broadly.
“Finally, I like the fact that the case is surprisingly ‘high tech’! Domino’s early investments in, and roll-out of, frontier delivery technologies and software/payment systems provided a source of relative advantage during the pandemic. Students reach different opinions on whether that advantage is likely to be temporary or sustainable for the company.”
“I like teaching this case as the broad scope of it makes it easier to go into depth on many different topics. In this way, a wide spectrum of marketing-related themes can be discussed on the basis of the case. This allows a comprehensive course structure.
“Also, for the students, multiple aspects make the case successful. Domino’s is a company the students are familiar with thus making it easy to build references. In addition, the reality of the events allows the knowledge to be more easily communicated, and the challenges can be better discussed.”
