An entrepreneur and her father have purchased exclusive Canadian distribution rights to Nutrifusion, a new health supplement that provides servings of fruits and vegetables when added to a variety of foods. They are contemplating launching Healthy Life Group, a company to market and distribute Nutrifusion in Canada. They want to evaluate the product’s financial feasibility for the company’s first year of operations, ending December 31, 2011. If the financials look favourable and the business plan seems feasible, the father and daughter will proceed with the new venture.
Yangarra Resources Limited, a Calgary-based junior oil and gas company, had several properties throughout Alberta comprising both solely controlled and joint ventures. The president and chief executive officer (CEO) was involved in the construction of a well on the Ferrier property — a joint venture between three companies, each holding roughly one-third of the stake. As part of the joint venture, Yangarra had signed an agreement that committed Yangarra to cover all expenses proportional to its working stake of 31.875 per cent. The well had been drilled at a higher cost than expected, with many charges not yet recorded or incurred. As a result of the cost overruns, Yangarra had been asked to provide more funding to the project. In deciding whether to commit additional resources to the Ferrier well, the CEO had to consider several factors including an existing gross overriding royalty revenue (GORR) agreement, uncertainty in estimating the recoverable quantity of oil, crown royalties, and a current legal dispute.
In December 2007, the management of Mercedes-Benz India (MBI), a fully owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, the 12th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world, has decided to relocate to a new facility near Pune in western India. In overseeing the installation of information technology (IT) infrastructure at the new premises, the company’s chief information officer (CIO) must deal with some managerial choices pertaining to IT architecture, IT tools, and IT skill sets of the company. Each choice involves several trade-offs. The CIO’s decision on each will have a major effect on the revenues, margins, and competitive positioning of MBI in the Indian automotive industry.
In the midst of massive growth in the oil sands, Suncor’s chief executive officer (CEO) is growing concerned about the local government’s inability to cope with unprecedented growth of oils sands development in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Crime, prostitution, drug use, social inequality, and ecological deterioration have begun to cripple Fort McMurray and the surrounding area largely because the local government has been unable to support the massive growth with appropriate public services and environmental protection. As part of a major oil and gas company in the region, the CEO is aware of the harsh lessons learned by Shell in Nigeria in 1995, where the company’s reluctance to get involved in political activities led to a massive boycott and tarnished reputation. The CEO is concerned that inaction may make Suncor complicit in the social and ecological issues in the region.
The case explores the use and importance of corporate sponsorships — in this case, how these relationships are formed with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The associate director of National Corporate Programs at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation needs to determine the Foundation’s direction regarding its corporate sponsorship program. Due to the slowdown in the economic environment, a major sponsor of the Foundation, who has contributed more than $1 million to the charity over the past five years, has decided to pull two products from the shelf. The associate director needs to find a way to replace that support. Fortunately, the Foundation has been approached by three corporations who are interested in becoming corporate sponsors. The associate director and her team now need to evaluate the three corporate sponsorship proposals to determine whether they fit with the Foundation’s values and goals.
A new line of chilled ready meals has been developed after significant technological breakthroughs in food processing by Maple Leaf Consumer Foods. The chilled ready meals category in Canada is expected to exceed $200 million by 2011, and plans call for Maple Leaf to own more than half the category by that time. In the (A) case in this four-part series, the vice president of innovation and brand development is convening a group meeting to finalize ambitious launch plans for Maple Leaf Simply Fresh.
In this supplement to Maple Leaf Simply Fresh (A), the launch team is preparing for questions that senior management is expected to ask (before giving the final go-ahead) about how the team plans to mitigate risks during the launch.
In this supplement to Maple Leaf Simply Fresh (A), the results of the first year after the launch and the next challenges the team faces are discussed.
The assistant site supervisor at Finemaster Projects Ltd. struggled with how to approach his boss for a raise. When hired, he had been told that regular annual reviews were held with employees and that good performance would be rewarded with corresponding pay increases. After one year with the company, the assistant site supervisor found that the owners rarely acted on this policy, leaving it up to staff to approach management about raises, promotions, and other performance-related issues. In his second year with the company, the assistant site supervisor experienced further disappointment with how his boss dealt with his compensation request, and his faith in the company’s pledge to reward employees for good performance was quickly fading. The (A) case covers the assistant site supervisor’s first meeting with his employer when offered a position with the company, as well as his conversation with a less experienced employee earning a higher wage. The supplements, Finemaster Projects Ltd. (B) and (C), describe his meetings with his boss after 12 months and two years, respectively.
Seeking to go beyond global best practices in reducing environmental impacts, FIJI Water, a premium artesian bottled water company in the United States, launched a Carbon-Negative campaign that would offset more greenhouse gas emissions than were released by the company's operations and products. The case examines the controversies surrounding this program as well as the program's impacts on the environment and FIJI Water's brand image. The company also faced decisions regarding how to best manage its relationship with the Fijian government, which recently dramatically raised imposed export taxes and could limit FIJI Water's access to water, its primary raw material. The case enables students to better understand the challenges of implementing an environmental strategy and of negotiating with parties that control raw materials, and invites discussion of the effectiveness of various approaches and the general lessons for the management of companies seeking to operate in an environmentally responsible manner.
Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue growth. She is concerned about increased competition from dollar stores and limited-assortment stores offering very low, appealing price points. Reed's market research shows that as a result of the economic downturn, customer loyalty is dwindling and consumers are willing to go to multiple stores to get the best deals. Collins must decide whether to change the current marketing and positioning plan in an effort to increase market share to meet challenging corporate targets. Her options include retreating from price competition and focusing on quality or embracing more private-label brands and competing more aggressively on price. She can also maintain the current positioning and appeal to customers looking for a quality shopping experience. The case contains an implicit quantitative assignment that instructors can emphasize to the degree they choose.
Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office is easy for Microsoft, but the company has struggled when it comes to more radical innovation. Intense competition from Google, Apple, and others threatens a business model that has delivered tremendous success over 25 years. This case highlights the strategic challenges facing Microsoft and provides insights into the organizational, leadership, and operational issues that must be addressed in order to define a successful innovation strategy at one of the world's most well-known companies.
In this note, we look at what happens when there are only few producers. For simplicity, we start with a market with only one supplier, a monopolist. We analyze the price the monopolist charges and the amount of output he or she produces, how those decisions affect overall welfare, and in what circumstances government intervention can increase overall welfare.
Unlike traditional marketers who must wait days if not weeks to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, online marketers are confronted with an ocean of data which can be tracked and measured in near real-time. Despite the volume of data and powerful tools available to online marketers (at free to low cost, making analytics as affordable for startups to fortune 500) online metrics are widely misunderstood, misapplied and often misused to say much more that they should. Understanding how online metrics work, what they measure and which of them are most relevant based on specific marketing functions and campaign goals is a valuable skill for every marketer. This note frames online metrics in the context of campaign goals (from search marketing to back-end analytics) while discussing the various marketing functions (from display advertising to brand management) that benefit as a result of access to specific metrics. Throughout the note, each metric is placed along an ROI Continuum designed to add insight as to the role of each metric over time as it relates to a firm's bottom line.