Organizational Design: Creating Competitive

Advantage
Professor Sourav Mukherji
Case Study- Joy of Running
The Joy of Running1
“Sir, my wife and I are very keen to join Joy of Running. We are middle
aged, diabetic and overweight. We have been suggested regular physical
exercise by our doctors, but despite our best intentions, we have not been
able to remain regular. I have seen my friend Ashok who trains with Joy
of Running. We have seen how his health has improved after he started
to train. More importantly, he says he is now addicted to his fitness
regime and he enjoys every bit of being part of Joy of Running.
Unfortunately, every time we have tried, we have received the message
that there are no more seats available. Sir, we sincerely hope that this
time you will not disappoint us.”

Emails such as these were increasingly becoming common for Srinivas these
days. While Joy of Running, the organization that Srini, as he was popularly
called, founded in Bangalore three years ago could only accommodate 200
runners, its demand exceeded more than thousand. Even though such high
demand was a testimony to the fact that Srini was doing something good and
impacting the lives of people in a positive manner, he felt a tinge of sadness
every time he had to refuse someone. It was impossible to grow, given the
current structure of Joy of Running, because it was becoming difficult even to
coordinate a group of 200 runners and find suitable running locations for them.
Should he then split the organization, as suggested by some coaches, into five
zones and thus create a franchisee model? Or should he appoint full time
coaches so that multiple batches can be run during the day as well as during the
week?

Three years ago, Srini founded Joy of Running with the intension of coaching
people for long distance running. Srini was a passionate runner since his
childhood and had a strong urge to promote awareness about health and
fitness. He was worried that people all around him were increasingly adopting

1
This case has been written by Sourav Mukherji, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore,
India, for the purpose of teaching. The character and events in this case are all imaginary. Any usage or
reproduction of this case should be not done without explicit permission from the author.

© All Rights Reserved. 1 This case has been written by Sourav Mukherji, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India,
for the purpose of teaching. The character and events in this case are all imaginary. Any usage or reproduction of this case should be not
done without explicit permission from the author.
 Organizational Design: Creating Competitive
Advantage
Professor Sourav Mukherji
Case Study- Joy of Running
unhealthy lifestyles and felt that with some coaching most of them could be
encouraged to run, become fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. In a cosmopolitan
city like Bangalore, there was a growing awareness about fitness and lots of long
distance running events were being organized all over India. Bangalore also had
a lot of young people with significant disposable income. They often enrolled in
gymnasiums with the intension of becoming fit, but found it difficult to sustain
their efforts. Moreover, gymnasiums were commercially oriented, with focus on
increasing revenue rather than making their members fit and healthy.

Srini realized that in order to make people sustain their efforts in remaining fit
despite the daily challenges that they faced in personal and professional lives, it
was necessary to build a community of runners and thus create an opportunity
for socialization and mutual support. To avoid dropouts, he needed to ensure
that runners improved their speed and distances only gradually and thus avoid
getting injured. Finally, he needed to provide them with small wins and a sense
of achievement. This, he decided, will be achieved by participating in some
organized runs, getting finishers’ medals and commemorative t-shirts, all of
which would be adequately publicized through social media. Overall, Joy of
Running will create a fun filled environment around running and fitness that
people will look forward to making a part of their lives and identities and every
effort of running would be appreciated, if not celebrated.

Srini started by coaching a few close friends, who were occasional runners, for
an upcoming half marathon event. After six months of training, all of them could
finish the half marathon, which was more than double the distance that they
had run six months ago. All of them felt that the fees that they paid to Srini was
worth the benefit. Moreover, they enjoyed the experience, felt good about their
health and got hooked on to running. As the group practiced their drills and runs
in parks under Srini’s watchful eyes, they got noticed by others. Soon Joy of
Running started to attract more people and the group grew to about 50.

Srini realized that he needed more coaches to help him, since it was difficult for
him to provide attention to 50 runners. He was not in favour of appointing full
time coaches since they would not have work for the entire day. Joy of Running
only coached recreational runners who had day jobs. Hence he decided to find
© All Rights Reserved. 1 This case has been written by Sourav Mukherji, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India,
for the purpose of teaching. The character and events in this case are all imaginary. Any usage or reproduction of this case should be not
done without explicit permission from the author.
 Organizational Design: Creating Competitive
Advantage
Professor Sourav Mukherji
Case Study- Joy of Running
coaches from runners who have been with him during the past one year. They
were familiar with his philosophy of training. He decided to pay them some
compensation so that they act as professionals. During the next three years, Joy
of Running grew to about 200 in size. Srini appointed about 10 coaches from the
runners. He also tied up with a few doctors and physiotherapists who advised
the runners when needed. Even among the coaches specialization started to
emerge. Some of them became more knowledgeable in nutrition, some in
strength training while others helped Srini with logistics such as route marking,
arrangement for food and water during the runs and ensuring safety of runners.
A few of them focused on automating several processes such as group
formation, marking attendance and monitoring runner’s logs. There were others
who ensured that the group was environmentally friendly by carpooling as well
as using articles that were not damaging the environment such as usage of steel
cups for drinking water rather than paper or plastic cups.

Demand to get enrolled with Joy of Running grew rapidly. To find running routes
for a group size of 200 was itself a challenge in a city like Bangalore that was
bursting at the seams. Thus scaling this mode of operation seemed impossible.
Due to traffic congestions, travelling was increasingly becoming difficult and
hence there was demand that the group be split geographically. It would enable
runners from far off places to join the group. The option was to allocate
dedicated coaches to each of these groups. However, Srini felt that it will disrupt
the community feeling that existed within the group. There was demand that
such groups be created in other Indian cities where running was becoming
popular and Srini could act as their mentor, creating similar communities there.
There was also the suggestion that Srini, who till then was the only full time
employee of Joy of Running, should recruit other full time coaches and office
bearers. This would enable Joy of Running to scale, run multiple shifts of
coaching as well as professionalize some of its activities. Resources could be
generated by organizing distance running events in Bangalore, which seemed a
natural extension of their activities. While several running events were being
organized in Bangalore, they left a lot to be desired because they were very
commercially oriented and did not care much about runners’ welfare.
Moreover, since Joy of Running was unable to meet the demand, several others
© All Rights Reserved. 1 This case has been written by Sourav Mukherji, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India,
for the purpose of teaching. The character and events in this case are all imaginary. Any usage or reproduction of this case should be not
done without explicit permission from the author.
 Organizational Design: Creating Competitive
Advantage
Professor Sourav Mukherji
Case Study- Joy of Running
coaching groups sprouted. But not many of them had capable coaches and
seemed to be created only to tap into the commercial opportunity, rather than
promoting fitness as primary goal. These groups did not follow a “high touch”
model like Joy of Running and therefore could offer their services at half the
prices that Srini charged his runners.

As Srini put on his running gear to get ready for a long run with his protégés, the
pros and cons of scaling clouded his mind. He looked forward to the run, hoping
that it would clear his head a bit and provide him with some answer.

© All Rights Reserved. 1 This case has been written by Sourav Mukherji, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India,
for the purpose of teaching. The character and events in this case are all imaginary. Any usage or reproduction of this case should be not
done without explicit permission from the author.