In October 2012, Dmitry Kuznetsov was appointed Country Marketing Director for Google Russia (Google RU). His primary objective was to propel Google RU ahead of the local champion Yandex, to the number one position in the Russian internet search market, leveraging Google's digital intelligence and analytics products to win clients in a B2B setting. Along the way he faced multiple challenges, from crafting a local strategy for Russia, to segmenting the online market, deciding how to position the brand, which products and services to prioritize, and how to communicate effectively with Russian customers. The case presents relevant information on the prevailing trends in Russia's internet search market, the competitive landscape, and the high-powered digital tools available from Google to heighten the impact of his marketing and communications plans in the period to 2016.
Clayton Christensen's Theory of Disruptive Innovation presciently explained that fast-moving disrupters entering the market with cheap, low-quality goods could undermine companies wed to prevailing beliefs about competitive advantage. In the last decade, however, disrupters have changed dramatically. They now enter the market with products and services that are every bit as good as those offered by legacy companies and make it harder than ever for traditional businesses to compete.
In June 2019, the Indian government's think tank, Niti Aayog, mandated that all new motorized two-wheelers with an engine capacity of up to 150 cubic centimetres (cc) would need to be electric-powered by 2025. The chief executive officer and co-founder of Ather Energy wholeheartedly supported this mandate, as his firm's objective was to develop India's first smart electric scooter. Despite his confidence in revolutionizing the concept of two-wheeler driving in India, the task ahead was challenging and complex. How could the company encourage consumers to purchase Ather Energy’s products? What personality types should the company cater to? What roles did Indian consumers' requirements and psychology play in motivating them to purchase Ather Energy’s products?
Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co. - one of the world's largest steel and metal distributors - CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI and XOM sought to digitize the $350 billion materials supply and service chain, and promote greater price transparency and efficiency. However, the materials market traditionally resisted digitalization, making the process longer, harder, and more expensive than expected. As 2020 opened, Rühl and his teams wondered how they could dramatically increase uptake.
The nature of work is changing-and it is changing rapidly. Few days go by without industry giants such as Amazon and AT&T announcing plans to invest billions of dollars towards retraining nearly half of their respective workforces for jobs of the future. What changes lurking around the corner are Amazon and AT&T seeing? What tools do managers have to confront the accelerating change? How should talent management and workplace design evolve for the new landscape? This note summarizes the key drivers of change and offers a framework for managers to apply to their businesses.
In June 2019, the Indian government's think tank, Niti Aayog, mandated that all new motorized two-wheelers with an engine capacity of up to 150 cubic centimetres (cc) would need to be electric-powered by 2025. The chief executive officer and co-founder of Ather Energy wholeheartedly supported this mandate, as his firm's objective was to develop India's first smart electric scooter. Despite his confidence in revolutionizing the concept of two-wheeler driving in India, the task ahead was challenging and complex. How could the company encourage consumers to purchase Ather Energy's products? What personality types should the company cater to? What roles did Indian consumers' requirements and psychology play in motivating them to purchase Ather Energy's products?
Jinnah Engineering Works and Foundries had been a prominent foundry and machining business in Pakistan since its inception in 1950. In early 2018, it was struggling with internal inefficiencies caused by a lack of formal workforce planning. The company hired temporary workers almost daily-with no long-term planning and a high attrition rate-and the company's board was worried about the mounting inefficiencies and financial costs. The company had taken a positive step toward resolving the many human resources problems by partnering with human resources consultants from the business school at the National University of Sciences and Technology. These consultants undertook a thorough analysis of the company and its workforce and presented recommendations that would benefit the business but could be difficult to implement in the context of the company's existing processes. The board had to make a decision: how could it implement changes regarding how the workers were managed without demoralizing the staff or causing delays in production?
Jinnah Engineering Works and Foundries had been a prominent foundry and machining business in Pakistan since its inception in 1950. In early 2018, it was struggling with internal inefficiencies caused by a lack of formal workforce planning. The company hired temporary workers almost daily—with no long-term planning and a high attrition rate—and the company’s board was worried about the mounting inefficiencies and financial costs. The company had taken a positive step toward resolving the many human resources problems by partnering with human resources consultants from the business school at the National University of Sciences and Technology. These consultants undertook a thorough analysis of the company and its workforce and presented recommendations that would benefit the business but could be difficult to implement in the context of the company’s existing processes. The board had to make a decision: how could it implement changes regarding how the workers were managed without demoralizing the staff or causing delays in production?
This case is about a small restaurant in Singapore offering authentic and refined Szechuan (or Sichuan) cuisine that is different from the typical ultra-spicy hotpot meals that consumers normally associate Szechuan food with. As a small player in the F&B scene, Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen faces the challenge of establishing itself as a distinctive brand in a crowded and competitive market space that is dominated by large and powerful restaurant chains like HaiDiLao Hotpot whose names are almost synonymous with the product category. Tian Bao also has the challenge of educating consumers and re-shaping their less-than-sophisticated perceptions of Szechuan food.
Set in October 2019, this case presents the remarkable growth journey of Nium, a Singapore-headquartered fintech start-up in digital remittance. The founders are on a mission to disrupt the traditional remittance industry ridden with inefficiency and an opaque pricing structure, and are confident that offering low transaction fees, high transparency and quick transfers would give the incumbent players a run for their money. Since starting out in 2015, Nium had successfully secured US$59.5 million in three rounds of equity funding. By 2019, it was the leading digital remittance operator in Southeast Asia. With a presence in eight markets across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions, the value proposition of the fintech start-up was sufficiently compelling to win over investors and customers who had been at the mercy of large financial establishments charging exorbitant fees at unfavourable foreign exchange rates. Looking poised to continue its high growth trajectory, Nium had embarked on a new chapter of market and service expansion. It made inroads into Japan and Indonesia while launching new service platforms that included card-issuing as well as payment collection services for SMEs all over the world. As Nium marks its fifth anniversary of founding, the founders contemplate how the start-up might evolve. Should they pursue an IPO as planned in 2022-23, raise the next round of equity funding, or step into the digital banking arena?
In May 2019, the head of Organizational Development and Talent for Comair Limited (Comair), was contemplating the dilemma of stimulating higher buy-in for team coaching-a program in formal leadership development emphasizing collaboration and shared responsibility. The long-standing chief executive officer (CEO) had just resigned. He had focused over the last few years on enabling a leadership style of collaboration where departmental silos would be removed and management structures would evolve to reflect a new way of working along functional rather than departmental lines. The head wondered how she could promote team coaching to a new CEO, and specifically, how she could help stimulate more interest and buy-in for team coaching. What could be done to help the teams that had undergone team coaching to sustain the newly learned behaviours, especially when the pressure was high?
Arconic Inc. was a lightweight-material engineering firm that supplied the aerospace, automotive, and commercial transportation industries. Elliott Management Corporation was an activist investment firm that held a minority investment in Arconic Inc.. The two companies were locked in a public disagreement on how to generate acceptable financial returns for investors. At a shareholders' meeting on May 25, 2017, all shareholders would be able to vote on the four nominees that would become members of Arconic's new board. In the weeks leading up to the annual shareholders' meeting, the tension between the Arconic board and Elliott Management continued to build.
In early January 2016, the chief strategy officer and his team at Ippudo, an expanding ramen restaurant operation, were tasked to formulate both marketing and customer service management strategies for the company's first ramen shop in France, which was due to open in Paris in late 2016. Ippudo, a famous ramen brand in Japan, started its global expansion in 2008, when it successfully established its presence in New York City. When it entered the US market, Ippudo changed its marketing mix and customer service approach to follow a strategy that incorporated Ippudo's corporate values with both Japanese and New York culture and norms. Moving forward, how should Ippudo's chief strategy officer position the new ramen restaurant in Paris? What marketing mix should Ippudo pursue? Should Ippudo change its product offerings to appeal to Parisians? And should Ippudo France's website follow the same concept used in New York, where the website served only to convey information?
An investment manager at Glitz Investments, a firm based in the United States with a focus on the entertainment industry, wanted to identify potential blockbuster movies in the Indian film industry for the firm's potential investment purposes. The investment manager received a report compiled by analysts at the firm indicating that Bollywood would be an attractive industry for investment. The firm's analysts had collected data but could the manager determine a quantitative relationship between box office performance and the factors the team had identified? Could Glitz Investments choose movies based on this analysis alone? The investment manager's boss was looking for more specific data on which to base the firm's investment decisions.
In May 2017, the recently appointed chief executive officer of Sobeys, the second-largest grocer in Canada, was considering the company's financial difficulties. He was tasked with saving Sobeys from near insolvency and planning strategically for the company's core grocery business. Sobeys had posted a loss of CA$2.1 billion for the fiscal year ending May 2016, compared to a profit of $419 million just a year earlier, partially due to a high-profile acquisition that had gone sour. In addition, a ratings agency had downgraded Sobeys's debt to junk level, citing underperformance and lost market share as the reasons. The new chief executive officer devised an interim three-year growth plan called Project Sunrise, which had two main objectives: quickly relieve Sobeys of its troubled financial situation, and prepare for the long-term industry disruption that was becoming prevalent, both locally and globally.
Innovation and transaction platforms have enabled nearly every type of exchange and activity imaginable in today’s world, earning some of the companies that own them valuations in excess of $1 trillion. But while successful platforms yield a powerful competitive advantage with financial results to match, the nature of platforms is changing, as are the ecosystems and technologies that drive them and the challenges and rules associated with managing them.