Auto Finance Ltd. was a part of one of India's large conglomerates. The conglomerate was a major player in the two-wheeler business in India. Many of the people buying two-wheelers belonged to the lower middle class of India and did not have access to enough capital to buy the two-wheelers outright - typically costing between twenty-five to hundred thousand Indian Rupees (at the time of the setting of this case, i.e., January 2007, 1 USD ~ 50 INR). For this reason, Auto Finance used to extend loans, typically on a fixed interest rate for 3 5 years, to enable cash-strapped customers to buy the vehicles. The loan facility enabled the two-wheeler division to reach out to a section of consumers that had hitherto not been able to purchase two-wheelers. However, the increased penetration was being achieved at a cost as there were a significant number of people defaulting on their loans. Auto Finance Ltd. was interested in developing and implementing a credit scoring approach to screen out risky consumers from the pool of applicants and improve profitability.
Over the past decade "freemium"--a combination of free and premium offerings--has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups and smartphone app developers, but many companies fail to recognize the challenges of this approach. The author explores six questions that any company considering a freemium model should ask.
A large-scale field experiment shows how to customize mobile discount offers for maximum effect. A promotion for a nearby event should be offered very close in time to when the event will occur. When mobile users are farther away, a one-day delay gets better results.
New research shows that algorithmic systems are better than human judgment at picking the best candidate for a job--so companies would profit from using algorithms to narrow the field and then averaging the independent judgments of a few hiring professionals.
The president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund writes about partnering with forward-looking businesses to take advantage of "white space" opportunities presented by climate change.
Core Curriculum Readings in Marketing cover fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks in marketing. This Reading addresses the principles of brand positioning and demonstrates how companies can strategically craft powerful, resonant, and unique brand positions to help products stand out amidst the cacophony of the marketplace. Strategic brand positioning provides consumers with the answer to the all-important question, "Why should I buy?" The Reading discusses how to craft a brand's value proposition for competitive advantage, through analysis and synthesis of consumer, company, and competitive factors. It highlights the types of brand positions that companies can stake out in the minds of consumers, providing insight into the many creative ways brands can be differentiated from one another. It provides guidance for defending a market position through illumination of the competitive dynamics of brand positioning. Finally, it presents the challenges associated with repositioning brands and the tension that exists between maintaining consistency in a brand's meaning and adjusting to changing consumer preferences.
By the mid-2000s, Washington State's Department of Health (DOH) had earned a national reputation as an innovative and effective agency. But beginning in 2005, when newly elected Governor Christine Gregoire introduced a state-level performance management system - Government Management Accountability and Performance (GMAP) - DOH and other state entities found themselves having to regularly explain and justify their work through the newly established forum. Based on two similar, but smaller-scale programs - CompStat (created by the New York Police Department in 1994) and CitiStat (used by the City of Baltimore) - GMAP challenged public officials to analyze data in new ways and to rethink the kinds of results that they were accountable for delivering. This case provides background on GMAP's origins and on the general ways in which the initiative was managed, but it focuses primarily on DOH's efforts to comply with the new performance measurement requirements and to meet the expectations of the governor, her staff, and GMAP leadership. In exploring the benefits and challenges of the department's experience with GMAP, the case also raises questions about the applicability and usefulness of such a system for public health, which tends to address complex issues with objectives that are often difficult to quantify. Case number 1994.0
This case has two parts, a text-based case and a supplemental PowerPoint presentation. The case traces the evolution of an evidence-based research study on the education sector in Pakistan. In 2003, Atish (fictionalized character), a Pakistan-born, Harvard educated economist returns to his native Pakistan to help reform a lagging education system. But Atish unearths conflicting information on the state of education in his country. Despite large investments, government-run schools are failing to provide quality education. And international media coverage asserts that the educational void in Pakistan is rapidly being filled by madrassas, or religious schools, that are designed to train children in extremism. Upon closer scrutiny, Atish finds holes in the madrassa enrollment numbers. Similarly, Atish learns that affordable private schools have sprung up across the country, yet no nationwide analysis on the quality of education they provide exists. In rural Pakistan, he also learns to suspect conventional wisdom regarding parental involvement and interest in educating their children. Before he can develop policy recommendations, Atish will have to separate fact from anecdotal information to understand the education landscape in Pakistan. Case number 2003.0
The December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami caused tremendous damage and suffering on several continents, with Indonesia's Aceh Province (located on the far northern tip of Sumatra Island) experiencing the very worst. In the tsunami's wake - and with offers of billions of dollars of aid coming from all corners of the globe- the Indonesian government faced the daunting task of implementing a massive recovery effort that could meet the expectations of donors and survivors alike. With this in mind, Indonesia's president established in April 2005 a national-level, ad hoc agency -- known by its acronym, BRR -- to coordinate reconstruction activities across the province. This case examines some of the core challenges BRR's leaders encountered as they moved to set up the agency and then proceeded to coordinate and execute a recovery process involving hundreds of domestic and international partner organizations and thousands of independent reconstruction projects. Case Number 2010.0
In June, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the federal Defense of Marriage Act violated the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection of equal liberty, effectively overturning the law. Pennsylvania, however, banned same-sex marriage. Despite the state law, D. Bruce Hanes, a register of wills in Pennsylvania, agreed to honor a request from two women seeking a same-sex marriage license-an act of official disobedience that immediately threw Hanes under a national spotlight. Citing his oath to uphold both the Pennsylvania and U.S. constitutions and noting that the two were "diametrically opposed" on the issue, Hanes said: "I decided to come down on the right side of history and the law." Officials in Texas were also struggling with the ruling. Soon after the ruling, the Department of Defense (DOD) instructed federal military facilities to begin enrolling same-sex spouses of military service members in military benefits programs. In Texas, however, where state law prohibited same-sex marriage, Texas Military Forces (TMF) indicated it would not comply with the DOD directive. Because TMF was a state agency, the commanding general said the agency would be unable to process benefits for same-sex couples. TMF members took an oath to defend both the U.S. and Texas constitutions, setting the stage for the conflict. Using the context of contemporary same-sex marriage laws, the case explores two sides of the same coin: in states where same-sex marriage is illegal, one official decides to defy the law while another chooses to refuse to comply with a federal directive to do so. The case asks students to consider if and when official disobedience-the refusal by a public official, acting in an official capacity, to follow the law-is justified. Case Number 2014.0
In January 2012, the Jane Addams Hull House Association--one of Chicago's largest and oldest social service agencies and arguably its most iconic--announced that it might have to close in the spring due to financial difficulties. Just days later, the 122-year-old organization stunned the philanthropic world when it laid off its employees without notice, declared its intention to liquidate in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and shut its doors forever. In the weeks that followed, more and more people began to ask: What had happened to the board? Had bankruptcy really been inevitable? This case chronicles the organization's final decade and enables students to step into the shoes of the chairman of the board, Steve Saunders, as he led the board through its last two years. Students will examine the roles and responsibilities of effective boards and determine how internal and external factors contributed to Hull House's demise.
The founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Schuhren Consumer Packaging (Schuhren), a manufacturer of plastic food packaging based in Windsor, Ontario, is getting ready to meet a group of buyers from one of the top six fruit packaging firms in the world. An hour before their arrival, the CEO uncovers a whole series of issues concerning quality assurance, waste production and machine operations that could have an impact on the company’s operations, financial position and business development efforts.
This short case serves as an epilogue to the A and B cases. Specializing in local organic meat and produce, Retail Relay has developed a new business model for online grocery shopping and delivery. Relay could tell from its customer-level purchase data that many of its existing customers were purchasing some of their grocery products from other vendors. Relay therefore developed a heuristic to categorize customers as active or churned. They then explore how to use customer-level purchase information to determine factors that distinguish between active and churned customers.
This note supports cases used in Darden's "Marketing Analytics" course elective. Marketing analytics powered by "big data" holds the promise to shift marketing strategy from an intuitive discipline to a fact-based, decision-making process. Based on interactions with more than 100 executives in conferences, executive education seminars, case study development, and consulting projects, this technical note serves as a road map for improving implementation of marketing analytics.