個案總覽

When a Greenpeace campaign to boycott PVC products seemed to spell disaster for Hydro Polymers, it embraced the challenge and embarked on a drive for sustainability using The Natural Step framework. The strategy was maintained after Hydro was acquired by INEOS, and ultimately led to significant changes throughout Europe's PVC industry. The case shows how positioning sustainability as a business opportunity rather than a threat can yield substantial commercial success while addressing environmental impacts. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/ineos to access supplementary material.

Supplement to case IN1253. When a Greenpeace campaign to boycott PVC products seemed to spell disaster for Hydro Polymers, it embraced the challenge and embarked on a drive for sustainability using The Natural Step framework. The strategy was maintained after Hydro was acquired by INEOS, and ultimately led to significant changes throughout Europe's PVC industry. The case shows how positioning sustainability as a business opportunity rather than a threat can yield substantial commercial success while addressing environmental impacts. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/ineos to access supplementary material.

After solidifying its brand as a national leader in the ready-made, ethnic wear market in India, Biba Apparels Pvt. Ltd. (Biba) was at a crossroads when it came to determining future growth strategies. By 2014, Biba had 150 exclusive brand outlets and 225 multi-brand outlets all over India as well as an online presence. Faced with fierce competition from trendy western retailers and local competitors creating chic Indo-Western fusion clothing, Biba recognized that its customers' preferences were changing. In order to retain its leadership status, Biba had to decide how to grow its brand. What was the best way to compete against western retailers attracting the country's teen and young women's market? What marketing strategies could Biba adopt? Was Biba doing enough to remain relevant in the fast-changing women's clothing market?

In December 2012, the stock of Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC) had just breached the ₹750 mark, signifying an appreciation of close to 80 per cent for the calendar year of 2012. Texas Pacific Group (TPG), the global private equity firm, had invested in STFC at a time when the share price was hovering around ₹100. As was the case with most private equity firms, a successful exit from an investment was of paramount importance for TPG in order to reap handsome returns. In the course of charting the exit path from an investment, private equity firms had to consider several critical issues including exit structure, timeline for exit, and regulatory hurdles. There were three usual choices of exit routes: initial public offering, trade sale, or secondary sale. Each of the exit routes had its own advantages and disadvantages. Was this the right time for TPG to exit STFC? If yes, which option should TPG pursue?

Although most people are consumers of social media, few understand how to leverage it to build a brand-whether it is their own brand or a firm's brand. Just as Wal-Mart customers are not experts at marketing the retailer, consumers of social media are not yet skilled at utilizing it from a business-building perspective. This note is designed to help you think about social media from a brand manager's perspective; specifically, you will: (1) learn how to begin building your own social and professional brand; (2) understand the critical link between insight, strategy, and implementation; and (3) gain an appreciation for the difficulty associated with consistently behaving in concert with your desired brand.

This case, "vineyard vines and The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants," introduces students to a unique partnership in the social media advertising world. Preppy clothing powerhouse vineyard vines had a history of interacting with its customers by featuring user-generated content in its catalogs and on its website and decided to continue this tradition on social media by partnering with a group of fans called The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants. This successful and authentic social media marketing campaign resulted in increased sales for vineyard vines and influencer status for the members of The Brotherhood. At the end of the campaign, the vineyard vines marketing team is left debating how to grow its social media presence through partnerships. The case has been used as part of a social media marketing course and would be effective in any undergraduate- or graduate-level marketing course.

GreenDust, a company established in 2009, sold branded, unused, seconds, surplus, and refurbished products at low prices. This traditionally had been an unorganized sector. With increased pressures on the bottom line, rapid changes in technology (and fast obsolescence), strategies of channel cleaning by the competition, and imminent e-waste regulations enforced by the Indian government, GreenDust tried to mitigate these factors by revolutionizing the returns management of consumer goods by streamlining it. While it succeeded in reducing the high costs associated with product returns, the company had to determine whether its business model was sustainable in 2014. Could GreenDust succeed in other emerging markets? How could the firm leverage its strength as an environmentally sustainable business?

Supplement to case W16510.

Supplement to case W16521.

Supplement to case W16526.

Vendedy was the world's first mobile network connecting global travellers to local street markets. Inspired by the emergence of the sharing economy, Vendedy's founder and chief executive officer had always been passionate about uniting social and economic empowerment with entrepreneurial development. A complex platform linking street vendors in some of the world's poorest countries to travellers seeking authentic tourism experiences and souvenirs, Vendedy's founder faced numerous challenges. Where should the venture's focus be? How quickly should she try to roll out the platform, and across how many countries? How was she going to recruit a full-time team for Vendedy? Could the company succeed in transforming how global travellers accessed the products and stories of street vendors around the world?

On June, 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the federal Defense of Marriage Act violated the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection of equal liberty, effectively overturning the law. Pennsylvania, however, banned same-sex marriage. Despite the state law, D. Bruce Hanes, a register of wills in Pennsylvania, agreed to honor a request from two women seeking a same-sex marriage license-an act of official disobedience that immediately threw Hanes under a national spotlight. Citing his oath to uphold both the Pennsylvania and U.S. constitutions and noting that the two were "diametrically opposed" on the issue, Hanes said: "I decided to come down on the right side of history and the law." On June 26, 2015-precisely two years later-the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution guaranteed a right to same-sex marriage. The day the ruling was released, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that he had instructed state agencies and county clerks to comply immediately with the court's ruling. Nevertheless, on Monday morning, June 29, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples-same-sex or heterosexual. Davis said that she decided to deny marriage licenses to all couples because of her religious convictions and said that "Marriage is ordained by God to be a man and a woman." Using the context of contemporary same-sex marriage laws, the case explores two sides of the same coin: at a time and in a state where same-sex marriage is illegal, one official decides to defy the law; at a time and in a state where it is legal, another chooses to refuse to obey. The case asks students to consider if and when official disobedience-the refusal by a public official, acting in an official capacity, to follow the law-is justified.

Modeling is a glamorous and lucrative profession only for the very few. Most fashion models make little money, and often they are subject to indifferent or even abusive working conditions, putting them at elevated risk of sexual harassment and eating disorders. Legislators in the fictitious U.S. state of Columbia are the latest to join in the global movement to rectify some of the most egregious wrongs done to models in the fashion industry, after the death of a teenage model with an eating disorder prompts a new law and attention to the problem. Safiya Goplani, a physician and researcher in Hamilton, Columbia's capital, is eager to investigate the new legislation and hopes to apply the methods of community-based participatory research to develop a close partnership with professional models. But as Goplani and her team quickly learn, establishing priorities and shared goals requires a lot more attention to the partners' unique perspectives than a typical research study. Will Goplani and her team be able to successfully forge a partnership with the model community and carry out the new research study?

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This module explains why managers rely on profit plans and performance measurement systems to implement their strategy and explores the five organizational tensions that managers must resolve to ensure success: (1) balancing profit, growth, and control, (2) balancing short-term results with long-term sustainability, (3) balancing the expectations of different constituents, (4) balancing opportunities and attention, and (5) balancing the motives of human behavior. While this module is designed to be used alone, it is part of the Strategy Execution series. Taken together, the series forms a complete course that teaches the latest techniques for using performance measurement and control systems to implement strategy. Modules 1 - 4 set out the foundations for strategy implementation. Modules 5 - 10 teach quantitative tools for performance measurement and control. Modules 11 - 15 illustrate the use of these techniques by managers to achieve profit goals and strategies. View the full Strategy Execution series at: hbsp.harvard.edu/strategy-execution.

While companies choose to brand their products and services in many different ways, there are some central tenets that help define an optimal brand portfolio and associated brand architecture. Brand portfolio strategy involves the design, deployment, and management of multiple brands as a coordinated portfolio of meaning-based assets that address the needs of diverse customers in a marketplace and maximize return while minimizing risk. It specifies the optimal portfolio of brands a company should maintain for comprehensive market coverage with minimal overlap, determines the role and scope of each brand in the portfolio, and designs a strategic, logical, and efficient brand architecture that knits the brands together into an interdependent system. Done well, it informs the allocation of investment across brands, identifies underperforming brands as candidates for pruning or revitalization, and pinpoints gaps in the portfolio that indicate growth opportunities for new brands.

Supplement to case W16491.

In March 2015, consulting firm MacPhie & Company was at a crossroads. Founded in 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, the company offered consulting services related to strategy development, marketing and communications, reputation management, and branding. MacPhie & Company maintained an entrepreneurial culture that fostered innovation and continual learning, while ensuring that all client projects followed the "MacPhie Way." Although MacPhie & Company had been financially successful over the years, it had struggled with growth, so the company's founder set a goal of growing MacPhie & Company to at least 20 consultants by 2020. He knew that in order to do that, he would need to consider all facets of the business: revenue generation to support a larger model; ensuring consistent profit margins; appropriate client mix; the services that were offered; teachable methodologies and consulting processes; effective organizational structure and human resources; geographic locations; and the employment of awareness-building efforts. After more than a decade, it was time to be bold and push MacPhie & Company to the next level. With the goal set, the challenge was how to get to the desired level of growth and then to sustain that level of growth once it had been reached.

In February 2013, the senior marketing manager of Aquasi India (Private) Limited (Aquasi) met with the company's chief executive officer to consider the challenges faced by Aquasi that had arisen due to globalization after March 1997. India's competitive environment had completely changed; new technology had swept into the country and workers did not possess the essential skill sets to use the new machinery. Given sharp declines in quality and production output, Aquasi's sales suffered significantly. The number of competitors increased and began to eat into the company's market share. In the midst of these problems, Aquasi planned to develop and grow a web-based portal to manage the business in hopes that it would enable the company to move forward and survive in the difficult times ahead. However, the question remained as to how to implement this new online strategy; Aquasi's marketing and information technology teams were novices with respect to digital media, and would face several challenges.

This case discusses how Singapore's Ministry of Education set out to make the education system even more student-centric and sharpen the focus on holistic education - centred on values and character development.

Most leaders recognize that innovation entails optimizing their existing business while at the same time, innovating to create new value for the future. Professor and author Vijay Govindarajan argues that an important third step must be added: proactively letting go of yesterday's beliefs. In this wide-ranging interview, he describes his Three Box Solution, which addresses all three required steps. The problem, he says, is that most of today's leaders focus on Box 1 and ignore the other two boxes. He also explains the difference between linear and non-linear innovation, the role of 'weak signals' in the environment, and the concept of 'reverse innovation'.