Suitable for both MBA- and undergraduate-level courses such as integrated marketing communications, this case traces a product from idea to established, successful brand. A spirits industry executive perceives a gap between the under-$10 and the $25-and-up "prestige" vodkas. In this case he explores whether he could quantify the financial value of the awards his product has won. Would that be a good basis for the design of future campaigns: Decisions on pricing, target, distribution, branding, and promotion are considered in the A case (UVA-M-0774). The B case (UVA-M-0775) presents the results, which include the important benchmark of one million case sales by 2006. It also presents the founder's assessment of which initial decisions were most critical and explores the new choices he faces, including changes to the distribution channels and additions to the product line.
This note provides information on Six Sigma and business improvement at Dominion Resources, Inc., including many examples of the CEO Tom Farrell's personal commitment and support. It can be used in executive education leadership programs and business courses in operations management in discussions about Six Sigma program elements that help sustain a culture of continuous improvement and deliver extraordinary business results. Ten years after its launch at Dominion Resources, Inc., Six Sigma, is one of the nation's most widely recognized initiatives having been cited for audited hard savings, integration into corporate culture, percentage of employees trained, sustained management support, and employee recognition.
An industry adage held that "there are two types of rental car companies: those that lose money and Enterprise." The company that would become Enterprise Rent-A-Car was started in 1957 in St. Louis, Missouri, by Jack Taylor. Taylor set up Enterprise offices in neighborhoods rather than at airports because he believed that Americans would welcome a local option for renting cars when their own vehicles were being repaired. In 2010 Enterprise had more than 6,000 rental locations in the United States and a fleet of 850,000 cars in service. Its parent, Enterprise Holdings (comprising Enterprise, National, and Alamo brands) accounted for nearly half of the car rental market and was more than twice the size of Hertz, the number two competitor. Enterprise's competitive advantage was the result of the combination of its practices in hiring, training, compensation, organization, customer service, IT, and fleet management, among others.
The manager of the Sony VAIO personal computer in China has been given two segmentation studies. One study is country-specific and product-specific. The other is a global segmentation study, which covers all regions and all of Sony's many consumer electronics. Which segmentation study should the manager rely on-or is there a way to rely on both? After deciding which study is best, which consumer should the manager target, and with what position?
This is part of a case series. This case describes the strategic transformation of DESSO, a Dutch manufacturer of carpet tiles and flooring solutions. The first part of the case describes the difficult situation in which the company found itself in the early 2000s, following a series of changes in ownership. It focuses on the strategic vision developed by Stef Kranendijk, the company's new CEO, as he takes over the company in 2007. An important element of this vision is to make sustainability a key driver of DESSO's innovation strategy. The case highlights the process that led DESSO to consider a Cradle to Cradle(R) approach as well as the potential issues this new orientation raised for important stakeholders, including employees, board members, customers and suppliers. The second part of the case provides some updates as to DESSO's situation in 2010. It describes the short-term results of Kranendijk's strategic vision and how it transformed DESSO's business model. It also gives details on the implementation of the new strategy and the challenges still ahead.
The case describes Nokia's spectacular rise and fall, shedding light on the combination of external factors and internal decisions that resulted in the company's handset business being sold to Microsoft in 2010. During the successful period of growth (roughly 1990 through to 2006), Nokia's focus on design and functionality gained it a worldwide reputation. It was acknowledged as the first smartphone manufacturer. Through the early-mid 2000s it was the undisputed leader in the global mobile phone business. The case traces the first signs of trouble and the company's subsequent decline over the period 2005 to 2010. Pressure in the early 2000s from low-end competitors led to early signs of problems. Then of course the game changed in 2007 with Apple's iPhone and a year later with phones powered by Google's Android operating system from HTC, Samsung and others. Nokia was initially dismissive of these new offerings but its proprietary OS, Symbian, was ageing badly and its App store (Ovi) was no match for Apple's. In September 2010 it was announced that American Stephen Elop, formerly of Microsoft, would become CEO. Not long afterwards a partnership with Microsoft was signed which subsequently led to Nokia's handset business being sold to Microsoft.
This case examines medication administration processes and technologies on a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Taking the point of view of a hospital's VP of Administration, the case also gives students an opportunity to consider the perspectives of the CIO and Medical Director. It describes tragedies in which infants died after being inadvertently overdosed with blood thinners (poor information quality and poor process quality were implicated in these tragedies), and briefly introduces students to several U.S. national initiatives that aim to improve clinical processes and outcomes.
The transition of a company from father to son can often lead to new strategic directions for a company. New leaders have to face issues carried over from the past and confront new challenges facing the business. One of the most fundamental issues 2nd generation leaders have to deal with is the evaluation of new opportunities. Which ones are feasible, which ones are not, and how do these opportunities impact the business, both financially and in terms of its overall strategic position? This case focuses on a rather unique business - an urban ferry and tour boat operator - as its new CEO evaluates several options for reversing a downward trend in profitability. Besides quantitative analysis, what qualitative factors have to be considered in choosing the best path forward? Students are given the opportunity to develop an analytic model based on guidelines available in the Instructor's Manual. The case also allows students to consider stakeholder impacts for several possible strategies.
A few years back, a seminal report came out, warning that India and China were educating thousands more innovators per year than the Western world and urging the U.S. to focus more on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. While this movement has since gained in strength, the authors show that there is little evidence to support it. They argue that great innovators like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg embrace both the Sciences (how things work) and the Arts (how people work), and in addition, they learn to think in ways that enable them to build new models that connect the two spheres. Teaching the model-building skill of Integrative Thinking, they argue, entails going beyond both hysteria about STEM and nostalgia about the Liberal Arts. The central goal of modern education must be the building of an 'integrative capacity', and the country that builds it first and best will enjoy the prosperity benefits.
In this interview, the director of Lincoln Centre's educational initiatives argues that what we think is what we see: most of us interpret new information in ways that bend toward our preconceptions and confirm them, and this tendancy shapes how we move through the world as individuals. Unfortunately, this tendency is magnified exponentially when we join together in groups. He provides several tools for avoiding such 'path dependence'-- including thinking inside the box and 'making room for awe' -- and explains why imagination is our greatest renewable resource.
Businesses would look quite different if managers thought like designers, the authors argue. For one, they would always begin with empathy - a deep understanding of their customer. Secondly, they would view themselves as creators of new-to-the-world products and services. And third, they would be in the habit of iterating their way to a solution - 'learning as they go' and incorporating the new learning into the next iteration. While many managers appreciate the power of design, a formal process has been elusive; until now. The authors describe a four-step process for bringing design thinking to life that begins with asking, 'What if?' and ends with asking 'What Works?' - the launch and learn stage. In the end, they show that an unavoidable but healthy tension will always exist between creating the new and preserving the best of the present, and as a manager, your key challenge is to learn how to manage that tension.
The 2.6 billion global citizens living on less than $2 a day face considerable barriers to effective healthcare, including limited health insurance, low health literacy, and residence in slums or remote areas that are frequently underserved. The authors describe how some highly innovative private healthcare companies have considered these barriers in the design of their products or services. They show that organizations such as India's Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital achieve their innovations by addressing three functional areas concurrently: marketing, finance and operations. They describe the four shared characteristics of these business models and show how these 'innovative exemplars' can inspire innovation across industries.
The ancient Eastern concept of Zen represents an entirely different way of looking at the world. When most of us approach problems, we focus on what is there, and what to do, rather than on what isn't there, and what to stop doing. The author argues that by shifting to the Zen perspective, we realize that when it comes to a product, service, strategy or experience--what isn't there can often be as or more powerful than what is. He provides an introduction to the seven key Zen sensibilities and sketches their evolution from and incorporation into art, architecture and commercial and corporate design.
Few people will be surprised to hear that the number-one reason for customer complaints these days is poor service: long wait times, impersonal delivery, inconvenient hours and locations - the list goes on. Perhaps this is because everything from marketing slogans ("have it your way," "affordable luxury") to new technologies ("always-on," "on demand") has led us to believe that the customer is always right, no matter what. But the same trends that have led us to expect instant gratification are also enabling businesses to develop innovative models for accommodating customers' intensified demands. The authors introduce the concept of Collaborative Service and show how it provides an opportunity to discover what is truly meaningful to your customers and design category-changing service gestures that not only better serve people, but also make a strong statement about your brand.
In the past decade, Procter & Gamble has transformed Oil of Olay from "oil of old lady" into Olay Total Effects -- one of its strongest brands. Is one of your brands a diamond in the rough? The authors outline five key questions that can help you assess whether or not to invest in brand reinvention. If a brand can answer all of them in the affirmative, chances are good that it has the potential to be transformed from a laggard into a star. The authors present the five components of their Brand Reinvention Framework: proposition, target, offerings, production, and channel, describing in detail how to approach each element.
Orthodoxies -- unstated assumptions that go unquestioned -- are present within every organization. They can range from seemingly-innocuous biases or conventions to, at their most extreme, something that approaches religious-like devotion to a specific set of ideals. In most cases, they are not explicitly recognized, instead lurking below the surface, invisible icebergs on which a seemingly flourishing company might founder. The end result: people fall into autopilot mode and fail to imagine better ways to tackle challenges and everyday activities. The authors present a five-step plan for 'flipping' orthodoxies in your organization that can enable people to imagine a different future that encompasses more than just business as usual.
Much has changed since advertising's 1950s heyday - the Mad Men era, when you could count the number of TV channels on one hand and advertising was all about informing and persuading consumers. Today, that model has been turned on its head: the most significant conversations happen not between advertisers and consumers, but between consumers and other consumers. However, the author - who has worked in advertising since 1974 -- argues that despite the rampant changes, many of the key lessons he learned early on continue to endure. He provides ten guidelines that would have worked in the 1950s and can still be used to create strong advertising in today's McLuhan-esque world. He describes these guidelines - which include 'cut through the clutter' and 'leave a lasting impression' -- in detail and shows how brands from Charles Schwab to Dove to Doritos have used them to successfully engage consumers.
In an excerpt from the 2011 Skoll World Forum, leaders from Danone, Cisco and Novartis describe how they are working to develop scalable solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues by engaging local communities in the solution. They describe their initiatives - which include tackling malnutrition in Bangladesh, health care treatment in rural India, and educating youth for the technologically-driven 21st century - in detail and discuss lessons learned to date, providing inspiration and proof that public companies can drive large-scale change in the world.
When eBay's IPO in September 1998 made Omidyar wealthier than he'd ever imagined, he and his fiancee, Pam (now his wife), decided to create a nonprofit family foundation. For a few years they made grants randomly, according to whatever needs resonated with them. But that was just charity, by Omidyar's definition: an important but never-ending effort to alleviate suffering. He wanted to be involved in philanthropy: improving the state of humanity and the world by addressing the root causes of suffering. He began looking for ways to harness the incredible power of business to make the world better. After running up against the complexities of the tax code regarding nonprofits, he ended up creating a limited liability corporation called Omidyar Network, whose staff would be able to handle both nonprofit grants and for-profit investments. This hybrid philanthropic model faced cultural challenges, in part because a program officer's due diligence for a foundation is vastly different from an investment analyst's due diligence for a venture capital firm, and in part because it was difficult to incentivize the for-profit employees without disincentivizing the nonprofit ones. Eventually the organization was restructured to be more like a venture capital firm, though more than half of its $442 million in commitments has gone to nonprofits, with a focus on microfinance. Omidyar believes that a true philanthropist will use every tool he can to create impact, and business is a key part of the equation.