Craig Menear, chief executive officer of The Home Depot Inc. (Home Depot), recognized the need to be responsive to the changing retail landscape and changes in customer preferences. Customers were increasingly expecting to shop online and in-store interchangeably; thus, a seamless experience was critical. To remain a market leader in the do-it-yourself (DIY) industry, Home Depot focused on becoming a best-in-class interconnected retailer by connecting its associates to its customers to improve the customer experience, and by connecting its stores more closely to the online experience. In 2017, Menear and his senior team were considering how to best leverage the company's key resources in this interconnected retail environment, while also acknowledging the challenges that this environment posed.
In 2015, the Department of Health for the province of Gauteng, South Africa, deinstitutionalized patients in need of long term health care in an effort to reduce costs. The residents were moved from an established health care facility experienced with providing the care these patients needed to non-governmental facilities. Many of these facilities were unlicensed and lacking the skills and resources needed to provide the necessary care. The project was poorly planned with inadequate notice and patients were transferred without identification, medication, or medical records. From March to June 2016, 1,712 patients were transferred; many of them were lost in the system and 144 died-most from malnutrition, abuse, or neglect. The health ombudsman investigated and released a report in February 2017, placing the blame for the tragedy on three senior leaders in the health care system. A new member of the executive council was appointed upon the release of the report. In 2018, her challenge was to determine what happened and plan changes to ensure such a tragedy would never be repeated.
In the mid-1990s, Thyrocare disrupted the Indian medical diagnostic industry and steadily gained market share over the next two decades to become one of the top five competitors in India. Thyrocare built and sustained a competitive advantage and entered closely-related businesses. By 2017, the diagnostic industry had become extremely dynamic and competitors were attempting to replicate the unique operating model of Thyrocare. Stand-alone companies were scaling, online and digital aggregators were growing, substitutes such as self-test kits were emerging, and regulations were being tightened, resulting in severe margin pressures. How could Thyrocare preserve its unique model and competitive advantage in such a dynamic industry setting?
In March 2012, the head of compensation for Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited was reviewing five resumes. He had been asked to determine appropriate pay scales for the five candidates, and he knew that the decision had ramifications far beyond the salary of a few employees. The giant corporation, which was well established in India, had opened other plants in India in the past, but the new toothbrush factory in Sri City had just started operations. The head of compensation would need to define an appropriate pay philosophy and strategy that would enable the organization to attract, motivate, and retain the right talent for the Sri City plant. That strategy would have to be consistent with the existing culture at Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited.
The co-founder and chief product officer of Miutcank, a promising sharing-economy platform dedicated to neighbourhood networking and services, was analyzing the growth of the platform since its creation in 2014. Miutcank had more than 43,000 registered users in December 2018, and it was time to think about the best way to monetize the platform. What kind of paid services should be included in the platform? Which revenue model was the most suitable for the platform's growth? The co-founder and chief product officer wanted to ensure that the company was making the most efficient move toward becoming profitable, without discouraging users from participating on the platform.
In 2019, the director of strategy at US-based First Financial Group (FFG) needed to decide which alternative incentive program the mid-sized bank should use to replace its current short-term incentive plan (STIP) for branch employees. The scorecard-driven STIP was found to have motivated branch sales staff to set up unauthorized accounts in order to obtain bonuses. These actions could potentially bring negative publicity and regulatory penalties to the bank in an industry fraught with such problems. Further, the current STIP had led to conflicts between the branch managers, who were compensated based on dollar sales, and the employees, who were compensated based on units of accounts sold. However, the path forward was not clear. The strategy director could revise the current scorecard or introduce a team-based incentive based on a new scorecard. Regardless of which option was chosen, the bank would have to implement additional management controls to motivate its employees while reducing the risk of fraud.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 1 offers an introduction to digital marketing, an inexpensive way to reach a broad target audience in order to achieve specific business goals. The basics of several ways to digitally market are described. Websites need to offer a great visitor experience; search engine optimization makes a website findable on search engines by more people; social media can target audiences with high levels of accuracy. Digital marketing analytics helps marketers understand the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. Digital marketing strategies include everything that needs to be done to reach business goals with the help of online marketing channels. Entrepreneurs should think of a few goals they want to accomplish through their digital marketing strategy, plan their digital sales funnel with the AIDA model, and identify the channels they will use to target the audience. Monitoring digital marketing efforts will help to improve strategy and execution.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 2 looks at the basics of website planning, design, and marketing. Before creating a website, you should know what you hope to achieve with it. Researching competitors' websites can be beneficial in planning your own. Information architecture and wireframes are described along with their benefits. Good website design builds credibility of a business. Several tips to designing a good website are given, including limiting the number of action buttons, having white space, and following the law of thirds. High-quality images will not only create visual appeal but also drive user engagement. Good websites should be mobile responsive to target mobile users. Web hosting services, domain names, and content management systems are all discussed. Ultimately, websites should be designed in line with the latest design trends.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. This chapter explores content marketing strategy, the importance of it, and how to create it. A content marketing strategy is a strategic approach to creating and distributing content to motivate the target audience to take a desired action. When creating a content marketing strategy, you should consider the underlying theme of all the different channels and mediums, your brand identity, and your goals. Keeping a documented content marketing strategy will help to measure progress with your goals. Steps to creating a content marketing strategy are outlined, including defining key performance indicators and the target audience, auditing existing content, and determining the type of content that will be created. Mapping content according to various stages of the customer journey can also be beneficial. Lastly, the AIDA model is described further.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 4 discusses search engine optimization (SEO), its purpose, and how to implement it. SEO maximizes the number of people that visit a website by putting that website on top search results in various search engines. Four types of SEO are described: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and local SEO. Activities needed for on-page optimization are explored, including keyword research, finding topics, and search-related keywords. Several tips to implementing on-page SEO are given, such as optimizing the URL, doing internal linking, and using LSI keywords. Strategies with off-page SEO are discussed as well as suggestions to incorporate technical SEO, like reviewing the website sitemap, checking pages that are not internally linked, and checking the page speed.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 5 offers an overview of social media marketing, its benefits, and how to create a social media strategy. Social media marketing needs to create content that suits each platform in order to engage the target audience. With social media platforms, you can precisely target your audience based on their preferences and interests. When creating a social media strategy, your goals, audience, metrics to track, and tracking performance are all important to consider. This chapter then goes on to specifically discuss Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, and Twitter ads. Facebook ads have a high level of customization, more control, and accurate targeting of the audience. Three types of Facebook audiences are described: saved audience, custom audience, and lookalike audience. LinkedIn is better used for business-to-business domains, and several different types of display and text ads are discussed.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 6 explores Google Analytics, a free website analytics tool that gives insights into your website's visitors. It will tell you how people are finding your website, what they are doing on your site, and which page of the site is getting the most visitors. The structure of a Google Analytics account is described. Google Analytics can give you five main reports: realtime reports, audience reports, behavior reports, acquisition, and conversions. Realtime reports give information on the visitors that are active on the site presently. Audience reports show you which countries your website visitors are from, what languages they speak, and how they access the site. Behavior reports cover how many visitors are new versus returning and which browsers and devices they use. Acquisition reports assist you in making data-supported decisions in changing your content and marketing strategy.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. This chapter explores search engine marketing, the process of increasing visibility of products and services in search engine results pages through running paid search ads or pay-per-click campaigns. Google Ads allows you to run paid campaigns on the pay-per-click and cost-per-impressions basis using Google's search engine and network of websites; however, it takes time and patience to get your website on the top Google search results. Elements of a Google Ads account are described, including ad campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. An outline of how to start running Google Ads is also given with steps such as doing keyword research, setting up ad campaigns and ad groups, writing ad copies, and adding landing pages and negative keywords. Four keyword match types are also discussed: broad match, broad match modifier, phrase match, and exact match. These allow you to set when your ad is triggered based on keywords.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important for businesses, especially entrepreneurs. This book will assist entrepreneurs in setting up and executing a digital marketing strategy to reach the goals they have set for their startups. Search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online reputation management are all discussed. Guiding the establishment of a digital presence, the text offers real-life examples, insights gained from executing digital marketing strategies for startups and small businesses, and assignments at the end of every chapter to personally apply what has been taught. Written for startup entrepreneurs, founders, marketers, and small business owners, this book provides practical tips on applying digital marketing to increase brand awareness and sales. It acts as a reference guide for startup entrepreneurs that they can come back to while setting up and executing their digital marketing strategy. Chapter 8 discusses online reputation management (ORM), the process of monitoring and addressing mentions of your brand on the internet. Customers will give opinions - both positive and negative - about your brand on the internet, and ORM allows you to build a positive online image. ORM works to foster a positive public view of your brand or company over the internet and assists in mitigating effects of negative perceptions. If your brand has a bad online reputation, it could have several negative consequences, including lost credibility, drop in sales, drop in share prices, and discord or even breakdowns of investor relationships and partnerships. Some tips on how to avoid a negative brand perception are offered, including having a social media presence, responding to reviews, and having good web content. Several activities needed for ORM are explored, such as monitoring brand reputation, addressing negative reviews, encouraging and highlighting positive reviews, and using social media.
In August 2018, many regions in the state of Kerala, India, were experiencing rising flood waters, and people were being evacuated from flood-prone areas to relief camps. Various relief camp supplies in the state were being distributed through the distribution centre at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi. XSEED, a student community-driven organization of the Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, was being coordinated by faculty member Dr. Mercia Justin. Justin, entrusted with the responsibility of managing the operations at the distribution centre, was carefully considering how to manage the throughput of the relief camp supplies and streamline operations at the distribution centre as the volume of shipments rapidly expanded and the rain and flooding situation worsened.
In 2001, Apple, Inc. (Apple), known mainly as the maker of a niche personal computer and related operating system and software, became a disruptor in the music industry with the launch of the iPod music player; it followed up two years later with the launch of the iTunes Music Store (iTunes). Over the next several years, the company struck deals with major music recording labels to distribute downloadable music legally through iTunes, challenging an industry-wide decline in a climate of widespread digital file-sharing and piracy. In 2007, it brought about increased sales of digital music downloads after launching the iPhone. However, by 2019, consumers were mainly consuming music via streaming services such as Spotify, Google LLC's YouTube, Amazon.com Inc., and Pandora. What would Apple need to do to continue as a leader in the music industry?
In 2019, Walmart Inc. (Walmart) was the largest retailer in the world, with over $500 billion in revenues and thousands of stores in the United States and international markets. It was in the midst of a transformation to compete in the online shopping and home delivery space, an industry that was dominated by relative newcomer Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon). While Walmart had continued to expand its physical stores and discount centres over several decades, its online presence had needed attention; its investment in online sales between 2013 and 2018 had brought about a significant reduction in the operating income margin in its largest and most profitable segment, Walmart US. However, by February 2019, the company had achieved growth in online sales of 43 per cent. Would the strategic changes that had brought about this growth enable the company to maintain its position in the United States?
In late August 2018, the chief operating officer of Success HR Solutions, a Vietnamese software start-up, was contemplating the strategy for relaunching her product, a cloud-based human resources software product that handled various payroll and human resources functions. She needed to decide how to sell and price her product for the target market in the Vietnamese economy. As she evaluated her options, she had to consider the overall Vietnamese business landscape, the future of the industry, her company's current capabilities, and her organization's overall vision.