The marketing manager for Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is concerned about a growing demand for blood — two per cent per year — driven by a number of factors, including the decrease of wait times in local hospitals, new operating procedures, and increased use or requirements of an aging population. Peak demand seasons coincide with low supply seasons, such as summer and winter holidays. Two issues require attention: the first involves increasing the absolute number of donors, currently in the 400,000 range. Indications are that the percentage of Canadians who donate blood (four per cent) is lower than other countries such as Sweden (five per cent). The second need is to retain more donors and increase the number of donations per donor each year. The CBS still faces issues stemming from the tainted blood scandal of the 1980s and the subsequent Krever inquiry. It is working to rebuild the trust of the public. The crux of the issue is understanding consumer behaviour toward blood donation. The manager needs to understand the consumer decision process, examine segments, determine a target segment, and develop communications to increase both the absolute number of donors and the repeat donations of identified donors.
This case describes the execution of an urban public transportation project through a public private partnership (PPP). Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was a corporate body created by the Indian government and the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for implementing a mass rapid transit system (MRTS) in Delhi. DMRC successfully completed phase I of the MRTS in 2006 and the government mandated that DMRC implement phase II of the MRTS project. The Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) provided soft loans for both phases of the project. Meanwhile, the city of Delhi got the mandate to host the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010. As part of the preparations for these games, linking New Delhi Railway Station with Indira Gandhi International Airport through a metro system — Airport Express Metro Link (AEML) — became necessary for easing traffic congestion in the city. The timeline available for the AEML project was less than three years. At the same time, JBIC financial assistance was not available for this project. <br><br><br><br>Dr. Sreedharan, managing director of DMRC, was thus facing the challenges of project financing and its timely delivery. In the past in India, the PPP model of infrastructure development had emerged as dominant. The case discusses various options available to DMRC for project financing and timely completion of the AEML project under the PPP mode.
The greatest business successes in history have stemmed from the ability of companies to capture new markets. Yet traditional business strategy in established fields does not provide appropriate guidance for capturing new markets, and a distinctive approach is essential. In crafting strategy for new markets, firms should pay attention to five critical ways in which their approaches should differ from strategy for established markets: 1) generate demand before vanquishing competitors; 2) time market entry rather than move immediately to exploit opportunities; 3) sell to customers directly before leveraging powerful sales channels; 4) win in targeted footholds prior to targeting big markets; and 5) retain flexibility instead of trying to leverage fixed costs. While discussing these guidelines, this article examines the conditions for early-mover advantage and explains when to use “superhighway” or “country road” sales channels. Large firms often spend a great deal of time charting customer segments, studying price sensitivity, and estimating demand for new markets, yet data on new markets are either backward-looking or fictional. The success or failure of a new venture often comes down to identifying a handful of risks up front, and managers should target foothold markets once risks are identified.
In 2010, an entrepreneur is trying to enter the fuel additives market in Canada by marketing a product called Force For Earth (FFE) Fuel and Engine Conditioner. FFE is made in the United States and the entrepreneur has the Canadian license for the product. Unlike the products of many competitors in North America, FFE has been proven to deliver the stated benefits, but the entrepreneur’s dilemma is that every other product in the market claims to offer “proven” results as well, even though most of these claims are unsubstantiated, false, or exaggerated. The entrepreneur’s challenge is to understand, from a marketing perspective, the key selling features of the FFE product that would resonate with his target groups.
The owner of a goat herd in Tennessee must decide whether to rent out his herd for a land-clearing project at a nearby resort. Goats are better suited to clearing the land than humans and machines, but the owner has never rented out his goats for such a purpose. The owner must identify costs associated with the project, then determine a price to charge for the service. Since the owner has no prior experience renting out livestock, he must come up with estimates of the incremental costs associated with the rental operation and prepare a bid with little knowledge of rates charged by competitors for goat rentals. This case provides a realistic example of the thought processes that business owners go through when evaluating whether to expand into complementary lines of business, as well as the considerations of entrepreneurs contemplating starting new businesses. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (B) 9B11B025 and Goats: The Green Alternative (C) 9B15D001.
In recent years, incidents of piracy have increased dramatically off the coast of the failed state of Somalia. In this case, a group of 14 pirates have hijacked a cargo ship full of machinery, but have yet to make any demands. They hold hostage a multinational crew of 20 (whose captain and two officers are American), the ship, and the cargo. The chief operating officer of an international shipping company must choose among alternative strategies to get the crew, cargo, and ship back safely with as little cost as possible.
In this note, several measures to evaluate the performance of a mutual fund are discussed, including Sharpe Ratio, Treynor Ratio, Jensen’s Measure, and Modigliani’s Measure. It is well known that investors can increase expected returns by assuming higher risk, and hence performance measures must incorporate the concept of risk.
The setting of this case is off the coast of the failed state of Somalia, where incidents of piracy have increased dramatically over the past few years. In this case a group of 14 pirates have hijacked a cargo ship full of machinery, but have yet to make any demands. They hold the multinational crew of 20 (whose captain and two officers are American), the ship, and the cargo hostage. The Chief Operating Officer of an international shipping company must choose among alternative strategies to get the crew, cargo and ship, back safely with as little cost as possible.
Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), dubbed "the greatest literary show on earth" was an annual event held in late January at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur. JLF provided a platform for international authors and Indian language authors from the subcontinent to engage in a literary dialogue. By 2011, JLF attracted the largest festival audience in the Asian Pacific region with approximately 60,000 visitors from 24 countries. It featured 224 speakers in 140 sessions, and 100 musicians in 20 concerts. Success had already changed the character of the festival from the earlier more intimate days and had created a momentum that, if not managed correctly, could compromise goals such as the democratic ethos of the festival. While JLF had achieved explosive growth and critical success, its expenses still exceeded its revenue. Could JLF find an organizational and financial "template" which could sutain the festival into the future?
The state-run Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Banco Ciudad) was losing money in 2007. Early in 2008, Federico Sturzenegger, a renowned academic in Argentina, was appointed executive chairman by the city government and charged with turning the bank around. But just four months later, Sturzenegger was already facing the 45th day of a labor conflict sparked by union representatives on account of having fired six employees. The showdown raised several questions. First and foremost: Who owned Banco Ciudad? The city government? The citizens? Its employees? How could this bank use its strengths and overcome its weaknesses to best serve its constituents and the public? This case follows Sturzenegger's eventful first few years in office to examine how a state-owned enterprise maneuvered in a challenging environment to hit its targets of greater efficiency and profitability.
Returning to Banco Ciudad two years after executive chairman Federico Sturzenegger´s decision to "think outside of the box" to turn the institution around, this case tracks profitability and other metrics of success for the state-owned bank. The case ends with Sturzenegger asking: where can he take the bank next?
This note presents a framework and tool for leading fundamental systemic change in organizations and beyond. It identifies the 10 key elements of systemic change and arrays them along the spokes of a wheel, which suggests momentum and an interconnected rather than linear process for changing systems. All spokes must be engaged and then re-engaged to keep change moving. The practical model shows how spokes are related and reinforce one another and also presents a logical order for connecting them.
Molly Miller, an Intel employee and shareholder, must decide whether to vote FOR or AGAINST Intel's proposed 2009 option exchange program. Given recent declines in Intel's stock price, more than 99% of Intel's outstanding employee stock options are "underwater," and employee motivation and retention are serious concerns. If the program is approved by shareholders, Molly must decide whether to participate in the program and tender her underwater employee stock options. As a shareholder and an employee, Molly must assess the pros and cons of Intel's proposed exchange program from both perspectives. In addition, she must consider Intel's proposal in light of the alternative approaches pursued by other corporations that have recently confronted the problem of underwater employee stock options.
Termination of WorldSpace India’s satellite radio operations in 2009 was part of the restructuring efforts of the Maryland, U.S.-based parent company that had filed for bankruptcy in October 2008. As of June 30, 2008, WorldSpace Inc. (later 1 WorldSpace) had listed debt of US$2.1 billion and assets of US$307.4 million and had sought bankruptcy protection to help repay its debts. The parent’s two regional satellites, AfriStar and AsiaStar, and related ground assets had been acquired by U.S.-based Liberty Media, which also owned 40 per cent of satellite radio service provider Sirius XM Radio. The termination of WorldSpace raised a series of questions regarding early-mover disadvantages, business ideas, and pricing strategy. Analysts further extended the arguments to draw parallels with the satellite telephone service provider Iridium to question strategic decisions relating to the service-hardware mix, service provision and pricing, power of complementary products, power of substitutes, and consumers’ willingness to pay for incremental choice.
This note describes location choice decisions for start-up companies within a city: for instance, what to look for in a facility and the economics of clusters.
Mary Tolan, CEO Accretive Health, examines whether to expand the company's operations in hospital revenue cycle management into the field of Total Cost of Care management.
The new vice-president and general manager of Best Optical Ltd. is trying to formulate a strategy in response to his competitors actions. Best Optical is a distributor of vision hardware and competitors are buying up retail outlets, threatening to shut Best Optical out of the market. The vice-president has to decide how to respond to the threat and what implications his response will have on Best Optical's business.
In 2004, Kaneo Itoh, president of the consumer electronics firm Pioneer Corporation, was considering acquiring the plasma display operations of another Japanese firm, NEC. Pioneer had decided some years ago that plasma display panel (PDP) technology was a good strategic area in which to invest. Recently, Pioneer had been selling increasing numbers of plasma television sets using PDPs. While the company was building a new PDP production facility that would soon become operational if demand continued to increase, additional capacity would become necessary. Buying NEC’s plasma operations would give Pioneer this capacity, the potential for realizing scale economies, and some valuable intellectual property NEC had developed. Itoh had to make a decision: Should Pioneer buy NEC’s plasma business?