Conjoint Analysis has become one of the most commonly used quantitative market research methods. It has been successfully employed across a wide variety of industries to quantify consumer preferences for products and services. This technical note is intended to provide practical guidelines for designing, conducting and analyzing a conjoint analysis survey. The note discusses the six steps needed to effectively run a conjoint analysis study, and includes advice on best practices to follow and what pitfalls to avoid. Several user-friendly Microsoft Excel spreadsheets accompany this note and can be used as aids when implementing and analyzing a conjoint study.
Emirates Airline (EA) needs to fund the purchase of 30 new A380 aircraft. On March 11, 2013, EA announced plans to issue US$1 billion of Islamic bonds (sukuk) and $750 million of regular bonds. These bonds arguably share similar risks and seniority even though the sukuk bonds sold with a lower implied yield. This difference in pricing for securities with similar default risks seems at odds with conventional finance thinking. Against this backdrop, the EA treasury department must decide on the appropriate funding for this next batch of A380 airplanes.
An infrastructure conglomerate is facing serious challenges following its construction of a world-class airport. The group's leader possesses unique managerial skills, coherent leadership and clear vision, but the airport must contend with an unstable political and economic environment, both nationally and internationally, as well as a number of delays and bureaucratic hurdles. As a result of these external factors, revenues have been much lower than expected, in spite of the overall success of the group's groundbreaking airport project. The company's leader knows that it will take stringent steps and corrective action to confront these issues effectively.
'Greenpac' - a Singapore-based company, offering green, innovative, packaging solutions to clients. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Susan Chong, Greenpac has positioned itself as a company that offers unique, customised solutions to its clients. It focuses mainly on design and innovation to come up with a 'green' solution at a reduced cost. Its clients are mostly companies dealing with high-end, sensitive equipment, such as surgical microscopes; and a majority of its clients are manufacturers of medical and defence equipment. In this case study, set in 2011, Greenpac has just made a pitch for an innovative packaging proposal to industry representatives of the ornamental fish industry in Singapore. Susan Chong (the CEO) has taken a conscious strategic decision for the company to step out of its comfort zone to enter an unfamiliar market. Greenpac has invested significant time, effort and money into the project. The packaging it has proposed is clearly superior to the existing packaging: it is green as well as innovative in terms of design and ease of handling. However, it is also significantly costlier. Will the industry representatives agree to go with this solution? Will they have the long-term vision to adopt an innovative solution even though it will increase cost? Or will they be conservative and stay focused on their bottom line?
How does one learn to become an effective advocate on public health issues? "To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate: The Story of Hamilton, Columbia" introduces the reader to the fictional US state of Columbia and its legislature's dilemma over whether to mandate the HPV vaccine for the state's young people or simply to educate them and their parents on the importance and availability of the vaccine. On the surface this appears to be a straightforward public health question: Will a vaccine mandate or a voluntary educational effort be more effective in preventing HPV infection and ultimately HPV-related cancers? But as the narrative unfolds, we come to understand that the legislative context is much more complicated and the tensions myriad, complete with financial and political deal making, power contests in anticipation of an upcoming election, and much more. Furthermore, given that the scientific evidence is still incomplete in some aspects and does not necessarily point to a single best option for the state, the ethical concerns at stake become all the more important. What should Columbia do? As the story draws to a close, the state legislature's Health, Education, and Labor Committee is about to open a public hearing on the dilemma, inviting an array of experts, community leaders, pharmaceutical reps, and government staffers and elected officials to speak on two bills under consideration: one for a mandate and the other for education only. This is where the students will step in to bring the hearing to life, arguing for the course of action they think is most prudent and learning techniques in effective legislative advocacy on important public health issues in the process.
This case leads to a vibrant discussion and comparative analysis of Amazon's strategies across three major emerging markets. Amazon is known to virtually every student, making an illustration of internationalization strategies easy. This case begins with Amazon's entry into, India; Diego Piacentini, head of international operations, and country manager, Amit Agarwal are launching Amazon.in in June 2013. The case documents the challenges and opportunities Amazon found in India, and then looks back on Amazon's experiences in China and Brazil. It then wraps up with some speculation about Amazon's move into other areas including Mexico, Russia, and the Middle East.
Leading up to the completion of a successful partnership between Hewlett-Packard Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, the two individuals who championed the program contemplate their separate and joint next steps: should their organizations renew or exit the partnership? Together, they had designed and delivered a world-first program, Living Planet @ Work, which had enrolled more than 500 companies, large and small, whose employees had already raised more than $1 million in charitable donations through workplace giving. The program was helping corporate Canada harness the collective desire and power of their employees for the good of business and the future of the planet. The two champions had a short window to go global and scale up the positive impact of the program.
What should a supply chain do well? After an introduction to key terms and concepts, the core reading moves on to the strategic and operational decisions behind a supply chain that matches the need for responsiveness and efficiency. Within this framwork, it presents the strategic and operational decisions behind improving efficiency, and introduces concepts such as sales and operations planning, the bullwhip effect (and steps for avoiding this phenomenon), and updating demand forecasts. Practical strategies for improving responsiveness focus on delayed differentiation and in-depth discussion of read-react capability. The reading concludes by shifting to the design stage of a supply chain, . A supplemental reading also explores sources of supply chain risk, building resilience, and future requirements for compliance, transparency, and traceability.
Dodla Dairy, a family owned dairy business based in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, has successfully made its mark on the Indian liquid milk industry, but now needs to move to the next level. The company is considering a backward integration initiative into the dairy farming business, but is faced with internal limitations of capital constraint and limited risk propensity. D. Sunil Reddy, the managing director of Dodla Dairy, is looking at the option of getting an external partner on board via private equity. This would not only help him to bring in the needed resources, but also provide him with the expertise to rapidly enter into the dairy farming sector, which is a relatively new area for him. However, he must decide carefully, would the benefits of bringing in an external private equity partner be worth the dilution of control that would come along with this option?
This non-technical note for marketing professionals (and those in training) explores the value of setting performance goals when developing marketing plans. Practical metrics to evaluate the overall success of marketing initiatives are discussed, followed by supporting metrics that can be used to evaluate each area of the marketing mix. A critical view is taken of many metrics; some metrics have shortcomings in certain situations that managers should be aware of. Many industry examples are used, making for an engaging student experience and providing benchmarks for students to set goals when writing case studies. Formulas are included for all metrics discussed.
Business happens in a network consisting of different firms who have correlations with each other. For example, an automobile manufacturer has many dealers in different locations. There are correlations between the manufacturer and the dealers and correlations among the dealers. Each firm’s decision on matters such as price influences the other firms’ profits. By using the concept of game theory, such a decision can be based on a reasonable rationale. Yet, to apply game theory to real-world problems, we must first understand the “game rules” in business through analyzing horizontal and vertical correlations between firms and how such features as information asymmetry affects the equilibrium solution.
A managing editor is attempting to navigate a communications and leadership disaster after receiving an email from one of her colleagues at Tehelka Magazine (Tehelka), alleging that the founder/proprietor/editor-in-chief of the magazine had sexually assaulted her. Although the managing editor felt that she handled the situation appropriately via her communications with the victim, the perpetrator and other Tehelka staff, the crisis worsened when those communications were leaked to the media and the general public. In addition, the victim resigned, asserting that the managing editor, a renowned crusader of women’s rights, had been dismissive and overly tolerant regarding the complaint. When both the victim’s resignation email and the editor’s acceptance of that email were also leaked to the media, it generated a fresh round of controversy and debate on the manner in which Tehelka had handled the entire issue and forced the managing editor to announce her decision to step down from her position with Tehelka as well. As she prepared to face the press regarding her resignation, the managing editor could not help but wonder what she could have done differently in handling this difficult situation.
Knauf Gips is a global leader in gypsum and related products. In 2009, the country manager for Iran was arrested for participating in anti-government protests during the “Green Revolution.” At the time, news media were reporting an increasing number of cases of imprisonment, torture and death of anti-government activists at the hands of Iranian security forces. Shortly afterward, Knauf’s regional director received a communique from Iranian officials demanding that Knauf direct all its employees to refrain from anti-government activities. In exchange, the country manager would be released. Also available is case supplement 9B14M092.
As multinational enterprises expand operations in emerging economies, identifying and responding to unique marketing challenges may require strategy that focuses on local adaptation and global integration on a country by country basis. In March 2014, Tesco PLC (Tesco), the largest retailer in the United Kingdom and the third largest supermarket group in the world, has signed an agreement with Trent Hypermarkets, the retail division of the Tata Group, a leading Indian business conglomerate, for setting up a 50:50 joint venture (JV) in Indian retail. Tesco is committed to investing £85 million (US$110 million) as its share of capital. As it gets down to the basics of operating the JV, the management of Tesco, head quartered in London, United Kingdom, is facing three major dilemmas: How should Tesco sustain the advantage of being the first global multi-brand retailer to be allowed to invest in India? How should it fine-tune its tried and tested global business model to suit Indian retail? How could the company avoid the kind of failure it had experienced in the U.S. market, which it exited in April 2013?
A managing editor is attempting to navigate a communications and leadership disaster after receiving an email from one of her colleagues at Tehelka Magazine (Tehelka), alleging that the founder/proprietor/editor-in-chief of the magazine had sexually assaulted her. Although the managing editor felt that she handled the situation appropriately via her communications with the victim, the perpetrator and other Tehelka staff, the crisis worsened when those communications were leaked to the media and the general public. In addition, the victim resigned, asserting that the managing editor, a renowned crusader of women's rights, had been dismissive and overly tolerant regarding the complaint. When both the victim's resignation email and the editor's acceptance of that email were also leaked to the media, it generated a fresh round of controversy and debate on the manner in which Tehelka had handled the entire issue and forced the managing editor to announce her decision to step down from her position with Tehelka as well. As she prepared to face the press regarding her resignation, the managing editor could not help but wonder what she could have done differently in handling this difficult situation.
As multinational enterprises expand operations in emerging economies, identifying and responding to unique marketing challenges may require strategy that focuses on local adaptation and global integration on a country by country basis. In March 2014, Tesco PLC (Tesco), the largest retailer in the United Kingdom and the third largest supermarket group in the world, has signed an agreement with Trent Hypermarkets, the retail division of the Tata Group, a leading Indian business conglomerate, for setting up a 50:50 joint venture (JV) in Indian retail. Tesco is committed to investing £85 million (US$110 million) as its share of capital. As it gets down to the basics of operating the JV, the management of Tesco, head quartered in London, United Kingdom, is facing three major dilemmas: How should Tesco sustain the advantage of being the first global multi-brand retailer to be allowed to invest in India? How should it fine-tune its tried and tested global business model to suit Indian retail? How could the company avoid the kind of failure it had experienced in the U.S. market, which it exited in April 2013?
Business happens in a network consisting of different firms who have correlations with each other. For example, an automobile manufacturer has many dealers in different locations. There are correlations between the manufacturer and the dealers and correlations among the dealers. Each firm's decision on matters such as price influences the other firms' profits. By using the concept of game theory, such a decision can be based on a reasonable rationale. Yet, to apply game theory to real-world problems, we must first understand the "game rules" in business through analyzing horizontal and vertical correlations between firms and how such features as information asymmetry affects the equilibrium solution.