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Spencer's is major retail firm in India that operates in hypermarket and supermarket space. True to the formats, food and grocery business is the strength of Spencer's. This case focuses on two strategic issues typical of retail business in most emerging markets: should the company follow aggressive growth model (that is used by many competing retailers who have more market share than Spencer's) or should it consolidate its current position and focus on profitability instead. The case provides adequate customer information, competitors' strategy vis-à-vis Spencer's strategy to carry out an in depth analysis of retail business environment and generate appropriate strategy. This can be used for discussing retailing as well as marketing strategy.

Background note for case IMB665.

This case discusses the evolution and dynamics of the Indian sugar industry. It provides a detailed analysis of various factors that impact the structure and attractiveness of the industry in India. It further explains how the global industry scenario is developing and has an influence on the advancement of the industry in India. It throws light on various aspects, such as government regulations, geographical differences, technological trends, availability of substitutes, barriers for exit, lack of sufficient focus on by-products, demand and supply forces, change in global practices and guidelines from international agencies such as WHO, that influence the elevation and future of this industry. In a scenario where sugar producers persistently face high inventory situation, high cost of production, exit restrictions and stiff government regulations, along with other global factors such as excess supply and stagnant consumption growth, innovative players are also struggling to maintain profitability, can Indian sugar manufacturers find ways to sustain their business? Would complete deregulation, backward or forward integration, further diversification into by-products, moving into multiple geographies, changing the source of sugar or strategic partnerships with other global companies be good enough options to turnaround the situation?

The European leader in offshore wind, the Danish Orsted is building a global position and entering markets where offshore wind is nascent.

This note discusses how to analyze a bank from the point of view of an equity analyst or investor. The note begins by reviewing the evolution of North American banks from narrow to diversified financial institutions and then describes the financial ratios used to evaluate a bank's operating and financial performance. The final section provides examples of these ratios applied to a North American bank, and a set of Canadian and U.S. banks.

Panoramic Power

Portugal was not ready to join the European Monetary Union in 1999. With strong unions, weak competitiveness and a legacy of socialism, it could not compete with north-European countries. After borrowing extensively to fund deficits, Portugal went into debt crisis in 2011 and had to borrow from the Troika. As banks failed, structural adjustment followed. Today several structural issues and the threat of external risks continue to cast a shadows on its otherwise remarkable recovery.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman faces several challenges, both domestic and foreign. Domestically, he need to build the country's economy to accommodate a "youth bulge" while balancing between liberals and conservatives. And he needs to diversify the economy away from its reliance on oil. Internationally, he must cope with the Arab Spring, with war in Syria and Yemen as well as the threats from Iran and ISIS and continuing friction between Palestinians and Israelis. The key to these issues is Vision 2030 - the plan his son, the Crown Prince, has introduced and begun implementing.

One of the hallmarks of the digital revolution is the rise of the socially-connected consumer. Concomitantly, the ability of companies to affect and measure the social interactions among customers has grown tremendously. Consequently, in assessing the full value of each customer to the firm it is no longer sufficient to only consider a customer's worth in terms of the discounted cash flows he or she provides through direct payments, it is also critical to incorporate the indirect value generated through the customer's social influence. In this note we develop a framework for measuring and quantifying the social value that a customer generates. We derive a simple expression for Customer Social Value (CSV) and show how to combine it with the commonly used expression for Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). The combined entity is termed Customer Lifetime Social Value (CLSV). The note uses concrete examples to illustrate the main ideas and explores a host of issues related to how customers create value for the firm through their social interactions, such as the duration of social influence, reduction in acquisition costs, segmentation implications, relevance for influencer marketing programs, and connection to firm-level valuation.

In December 2017, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE, a Dutch coffee company) made an offer to acquire OldTown Berhad (OTB), a Malaysian coffee company. Three large shareholders, representing more than half of the outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their shares and analysts who follow OTB are recommending that investors accept the offer. The remaining shareholders must decide if the acquisition offer is reasonable and whether to tender their shares or not.

In the Newstar Magazine exercise, participants are assigned one of three roles-managing editor, publisher, or board chair-and provided with information about personnel difficulties that have emerged at the independent Canadian magazine. The organization is small, financially strapped, and conflict has appeared within the magazine's leadership. The objective of the exercise is to understand the source of this conflict and ultimately to resolve it. Use with 9B17C051 and 9B17C052.

In the Newstar Magazine exercise, participants are assigned one of three roles-managing editor, publisher, or board chair-and provided with information about personnel difficulties that have emerged at the independent Canadian magazine. The organization is small, financially strapped, and conflict has appeared within the magazine's leadership. The objective of the exercise is to understand the source of this conflict and ultimately to resolve it. Use with 9B17C050 and 9B17C052.

In the Newstar Magazine exercise, participants are assigned one of three roles-managing editor, publisher, or board chair-and provided with information about personnel difficulties that have emerged at the independent Canadian magazine. The organization is small, financially strapped, and conflict has appeared within the magazine's leadership. The objective of the exercise is to understand the source of this conflict and ultimately to resolve it. Use with 9B17C050 and 9B17C051.

Student spreadsheet for case W18005.