Supply chain is the most critical lifeline of all business/non-business operations and processes in today’s world. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has a serious impact on organizations and society at large. Due to this pandemic spread, food supply chains are facing two unique unraveling emerging supply chain challenges: (a) supply shocks and (b) demand shocks. Stocking of consumer staples under such uncertain situations gives rise to uncertain peak demands of staple food, and hence striking bullwhip effect. The present study focuses on the staple food distribution among tier-A cities of India, namely Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad. Using the software anyLogistix PLE edition, greenfield analysis was conducted to find the number of distribution centers required by these cities for food distribution and to reduce the transportation cost between the cities. Two key insights emerge from the analysis: (a) we need six potential areas to locate distribution centers (DCs)/ regional sites instead of a single DC; (b) transportation cost is reduced from US$21,327 to US$2,375. The major observation from the Green Field Analysis (GFA) reveals there is a need to reinforce and repair the operational efficiencies of DCs so as to reach the needy end consumers.

With a great response from Indian urban consumers, home services start- up, Urban Clap looked forward to venture into the global markets. The think tanks thought of rebranding the company from Urban Clap to Urban Company. The company was successful in luring investors and raising capital. It rigorously focused on employee training and improving customer experience which resulted in great success for a 6-year-old start – up. Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Bhal said at the announcement that the intention behind the rebranding was to have a globally acceptable company name (Sheth, 2020). For increasing the scale of operations, the company tied up with NSDC to source, train and employ at least a million individuals from tier 2 and 3 cities. It is a historical fact that many times rebranding may fail. When we compare the entry of foreign brands into India, we see that the majority have used their original name and value proposition which is carried by the parent brand. Only time can tell that the decision will go right or wrong for “Urban Company”.

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