Case Analysis: Careem: Raising A Unicorn: Submitted To

Case Analysis:
Careem: Raising a Unicorn
Submitted to:
Dr. Satish Khajjer
Submitted by:
Group 6, Division F
Tanya Dalvi F013

Gaurav Deka F014
Jagriti Dhawan F017
Vaibhav Verma F062
Manbir Wahan F064
1. What are the root causes of the organizational challenges at Careen? How serious
are the problems?
“Careem” is a ride-hailing company launched in 2012 in Middle east and North Africa
(MENA) region. It was co-founded by Magnus Olsson and Mudassir Sheikha (referred to
as M&M). They were Management consultants, previously working in McKinsey and had
quite a lot of experience in the consulting business. They wanted to become entrepreneurs
and start a business which would have huge potential, contributed positively to society, and
wanted it to be exciting and fun.
Hiring Right People – Careem found it very difficult to find the employees who shared the
same level of commitment and expertise with the co-founders
At the start of business, it was very difficult for M&M to employee people as the people in
Middle East did not usually prefer to work for start-ups. They would mainly look for MNCs
or big corporations/ government jobs, which were considered to more stable and better
paying. Due to this, there wasn’t a large pool of resources to hire from. The resources
available were mostly inexperienced high potential employees who needed a lot of training
and coaching to work well.
Growth: As the organization began to grow, the involvement of the cofounders in the hiring
of employees decreased and hence there was reduction in the enthusiasm that was there in
employees who were personally hired, or who interacted with the founders/long-time
working employees.
Start in hierarchy leading to lack of involvement & cross functional collaboration :
As the size of organization increased, there was lack of communication in the organization,
and this caused lots of misunderstanding and distrust among employees. The promotion of
new employees to higher positions, left the old ones feeling unappreciated. Operational
efficiency was affected due to this.
All these factors led to dilution of the culture that the founders had started with, and wanted
to imbibe in the organization.
These problems are pretty serious, as an organization which does not have employees
driven to work hard and get results would not be able to sustain for long. Such a work
environment is not conducive to organization or individual growth and might result in exits
if not handled properly.
2. As Deepika Thakur submit a plan to the founder for addressing the issue facing
Careem?
The employee pool that was present in MENA region was not very open to working in
start-ups, and hence they could only get employees who were inexperienced and required
a lot of training and coaching to work efficiently.
 Training: There is need of transferring the vision and mission of the organization
to the new hired employees during training and hiring.
 KPIs/KRA: Setting individual goals for employees to keep them motivated. This
would act as a measure of performance, which can be used to incentivize
employees.
 Mentoring of new employees by old employees: Would help to transfer some
enthusiasm that the old employees have to the new ones
 Brown Bag meetings: Having informal meetings to keep the employees interacting
and make them feel involved
 Team activities: Keep the morale in the team high
Strategies to keep the employees content would be important, as it is one the core values put
down by M&M during the launch of Careem.
3. Which conceptual element of the pre-reading can be identified in the case and how
was it helpful/ relevant in analysing the case?
Competitive effectiveness and Operational efficiency have been described in this case to a
particular extent. How can operational efficiency be improved by hiring the right people,
keeping morale high.
4. What were the missing elements in the case which could have aided better/ further
analysis?
Information about the hiring process, qualities looked for in employees, etc. would help
know the kind of employees they hire. Details about training should have been shared to
know how the grooming is done, and where it might be lacking.
Competitive analysis cannot be done, as there is no information about the competitors’

performance. Due to this, we are in the shadows about how aggressively should Careem
hire and expand. Details about financials are very limited, details about compensation
structure would be helpful to understand and increase employee morale.

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Case Analysis: Careem: Raising A Unicorn: Submitted To

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Case Analysis:

Careem: Raising a Unicorn

Dr. Satish Khajjer

Tanya Dalvi F013

Start in hierarchy leading to lack of involvement & cross functional collaboration :

Competitive analysis cannot be done, as there is no information about the competitors’

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