A customer-research technique that requires respondents to make a sequence of explicit trade-offs when choosing their preferred product attributes can help companies get a far more accurate read on what customers desire.
Tapping the input of many people early in the innovation process helps companies find the blockbusters and weed out the bad ideas before they reach a decision maker's desk.
In January 2008, Samsung Electronics won 32 innovation and design engineering awards at the Consumer Electronics Show, the largest show of its kind in the world. Samsung Electronics' management believed that the awards were an endorsement (or "vindication") of the company's investment in product design and innovation. However, the company found its competitive advantage diminishing quickly due to commoditization of research and development ("R&D"), product design and innovation processes. This is a management strategy case that explores product design, innovation strategies and strategic planning in a changing competitive landscape. While investment in R&D and product design has rewarded Samsung Electronics with its dominant market position and premium brand perception, such dominance may not be sustainable in the long run, especially now that competitors are achieving higher profitability with lower investments in R&D per product. The case also discusses such issues as product design philosophies, innovation strategies, localization of products, product design outsourcing for consumer electronics products.
This case describes the complexity of PepsiCo's competitive position in the Mexican soft drink market in late 1996. Following PepsiCo's anchor bottler in Mexico, Gemex, the case details the strategies employed by PepsiCo's senior management, beginning in 1993, to expand its market share versus its traditional "red nemesis," Coca-Cola. The various dimensions of PepsiCo's strategy-marketing, management, financial, strategic-are all seen to have deteriorated in the aftermath of the unexpected fall in the Mexican peso in December 1994. Focusing on the financial implications of the peso devaluation, the case then describes PepsiCo's response, which only seemed to increase the financial burdens imposed on the faltering Pepsi market share.
It was nearly 10 years since Multi Media Mapping Ltd had gone live with the launch of the Multimap.com website and Sean Phelan, founder and majority shareholder, was facing the classic entrepreneur's dilemma. The company had a successful platform and business model that had made it the market leader in the UK and a highly profitable 'dot-com' survivor of the Web 1.0 generation, but the market was evolving quickly and Sean was convinced that the company's current technology platform didn't have a future. The choice was whether to raise the stakes and bet on the company again in the evolving online mapping industry and emerging Web 2.0 environment, or commit to a process that may lead to the sale of the business.
It was early October 2007 as Sean Phelan, founder of Multi Media Mapping Ltd, reviewed the previous 12 months. It had been a year of highs and lows that now set the scene for the most important decision in the company's 12-year history. At least he now had some options to consider - unlike this time last year, when the company had been facing technological oblivion and market-share meltdown. The Multimap technology team under Sean's direction had rebuilt the whole Multimap.com site from the ground up, while delivering over two billion map impressions worldwide and maintaining service to their eight million unique users in the UK and probably half as many again worldwide. Eric Brown, Multimap's new CTO, who had been brought on board to manage the project after masterminding the launch of the UK National Lottery online, described it as "... changing all four engines and the wings on a plane while it was crossing the Atlantic - at night!" At the same time, Sean's advisors had been in discussion with a number of financial and corporate partners. Three firm proposals had been made for either partial or full acquisition of the business. Now Sean had to decide which, if any, of these offers to pursue and effectively exit the business he had founded 12 years before, or whether to be a leading player in the consolidation of the on-line mapping industry.
The vice-president of corporate and institutional banking at Victory Bank Limited (VBL) finds himself in a political imbroglio. He needs to respond to the request by VBL's head of retail and private banking to join his team, even though the vice-president shares an excellent relationship with his current boss and is a star performer within the organization. The vice-president needs to decide his next steps: whether to accept that new role or to decline it. Students will come to understand how they can get caught in political battles and how best to manage the politics within the organization. Students will also learn to think their way through the various options faced when tackling similar situations.
This is a supplement to Victory Bank Limited (A), product 9B08M096. The vice-president of corporate and institutional banking at Victory Bank Limited (VBL) finds himself in a political imbroglio. The vice-president needs to decide his next steps. Students will come to understand how they can get caught in political battles and how best to manage the politics within the organization.
Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc. (BEC) is a rapidly growing consulting company whose number of employees has increased from six to 16 in just one year. BEC has adopted a new project management system, using project managers to coordinate several employees from various departments. Due to the heavy workload, most employees must work on multiple projects. Collaboration between projects and department managers is not very smooth. The chief executive officer must decide how he can improve the collaboration efforts across the company's different departments.
T.J., an undergraduate at a business school, was upset to find a group mate's contribution to his group project containing plagiarized and poorly paraphrased content (also without any citation as to source in some instances). T.J. and four others had to work with K.C., the errant group member, on three group projects that together made up 30 per cent of the final mark for the course. In particular, T.J. was upset by the shoddy corrections provided by K.C. when his error was highlighted. T.J. was also appalled at K.C.'s nonchalant attitude towards plagiarism and the group projects, especially after discovering that K.C. had done the same on their first group project. T.J. felt strongly that the matter should be brought up to the course professor but two of his group mates disagreed, fearing that the group harmony would be adversely affected, thus jeopardizing their last group project, which carried significantly higher weight at 20 per cent. The remaining two group mates did not seem to consider the matter a serious one. T.J. wondered what the right thing to do would be. This case was written for use in the introductory class to a business ethics course. However, it has potential for use in lessons on negotiation, conflict resolution and team dynamics. The case is based on an actual occurrence but names have been changed to provide anonymity. The subject of plagiarism and a poorly contributing group member to group assignments is one that resonates deeply with students pursuing any course that emphasizes group work as a necessary component of the course assessment. The case has practical relevance to the working world inasmuch as the incident can occur in that context. Apart from being a useful opener to any course on ethics, the case also serves as a good reminder to students about plagiarism. It provides opportunities for clarification and discussion on what exactly constitutes plagiarism and the professors'/universities' stand on the matter.
Northwest Newsprint, Inc. is a major producer of newsprint and pulpmills in the Pacific Northwest and Canada from which they supplied various North American markets. In Northwest Newsprint, Inc. (A), product #9A98E035, the assistant controller's supply chain optimization approach leads to the conclusion that Northwest Newsprint, Inc. has far too much manufacturing capacity. This supplemental case addresses the ability of price changes to mitigate supply chain issues and improve supply chain profitability.
Ribe Maskinfabrik A/S (RM) had, during the last 15 years, developed from a simple machine works operating out of Southern Jutland (Denmark) to the modern and globalized RM Group consisting of three distinct business units. This change had developed gradually as its outsourcing activities became increasingly important during the last years. In the beginning, outsourcing activities developed in an ad-hoc and reactive manner. However, RM gained important knowledge on how to optimize the outsourcing processes, and it developed a very extensive network of suppliers, many of which it had relationships with for many years. This network was offered to RM's customers and represented a high value to them. RM had already established these contacts and was able to assure the quality of its partners, which saved its customers valuable time and effort. In that sense, RM exploited its own experience and network of suppliers and became an outsourcing consultant.
The senior management team at Leclerc, one of the largest retailers in France, is considering how best to maintain growth in the highly regulated French retail industry. Strict limits on pricing and store construction will significantly limit Leclerc's flexibility; many of the traditional growth levers cannot be used. These regulations also have a major impact on competition. The executives at Leclerc must identify the optimal growth plan and then consider whether it will deliver the desired growth.
Agility is a global logistics provider, based in Kuwait. In 2006, it reorganized and joined the ranks of the top ten global logistics providers worldwide. Following this reorganization, CEO Tarek Sultan took the initiative to give greater definition to his company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) profile. Shortly after his first company-wide statement, humanitarian crisis emerges in Lebanon. Urged on by its employees from the region, including the 120 employees and company office located in Lebanon, the company reaches out to assist the international humanitarian relief effort. The case chronicles the unique position of this global company as a humanitarian partner. Agility's assets build on its position as an emerging market multinational, and the unique assets of its employees from the regions. Leveraging those assets, Agility offers its services in partnership with the international humanitarian relief effort in Lebanon.
The case describes the battle between Google, the world's leading search engine, and Baidu, a local entrepreneurial firm in China. In 2009, Baidu's internet traffic share in the country was over three times that of Google and Yahoo!China. Would Google utilise its global resources to impose its dominance in China? Could Baidu defend its leading position?
Located in the province of Cordoba, Argentina, El Castillo is a castle built in the early twentieth century, and run now as a hotel by the Fabrega family; They are in the business of international and ecological tourism.Among its strengths, El Castillo emphasizes that it is the only ecotourist facility in Argentina. It also notes its unique product offering and its strong customer satisfaction ratings, which place it among the top hotels in the country. Rapid growth has characterised its first few years - in the second year alone, El Castillo's sales grew at a rate of 280%, and more than 80% of the families who visited during the Easter holiday were repeat customers.
The Fleet Safety project was developed in response to the needs of the members of the Fleet Forum, an informal collaborating body and independent knowledge centre for fleet management in the humanitarian sector. With the backing of Danish government aid agency Danida, the Fleet Safety project drew on the resources of government, the humanitarian sector and private companies to develop, test and disseminate a road safety toolkit for humanitarian organizations operating in the developing world. The toolkit was tested within the Kenya offices of six major humanitarian organizations before the definitive version was to be disseminated and promoted globally.
Toshihiko Fukui, Government of the Bank of Japan, faced a complex situation in the fall of 2007. An economic recovery had allowed the central bank to abandon its zero interest rate policy, which had been in place for years, and raise rates to 0.5%. The Bank of Japan was eager to increase them to more 'normal' levels to exert effective monetary policy. Yet the appropriate timing and approach was a controversial issue, especially as the government did not want a rate hike that could potentially hinder economic growth and increase its already large fiscal debt burden.
Describes the conception, development and implementation of the Corporate Services Corps (CSC), an international community service assignment for high-potential IBM employees. The year 2008 was the pilot year of the CSC program, and 100 of IBM's best global employees were deployed to work for local partners, frequently non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in locations such as Ghana, Tanzania, Romania, Philippines and Vietnam. The case provides data for students to assess the first year of operation and recommend what changes IBM should make to the program moving forward. Also considered is how the CSC fits into IBM's broader corporate citizenship portfolio and IBM's globalization strategy.