Students identify promotion, price, place, segment, targeting, and positioning for marketing "the world's cheapest car." This case is effective for MBA, undergraduate, and executive learners studying market segmentation, pricing, cannibalization risk, pricing, and break-even sales in the face of different price and cost scenarios. Has Tata chosen the right marketing strategy? Does the Nano represent an evolution or a revolution in automobile marketing?
Can the return of its founding CEO turn a lagging Starbucks around? Howard Shultz must map a strategy that addresses the company's decreasing sales and perhaps too rapid growth. Had the previous CEO's efforts to streamline operations compromised the Starbucks experience or was a changing economy to blame? Schultz considers whether to close existing stores, slow U.S. growth while expanding overseas, and improve the customer experience, which he believed had eroded the company's value proposition.
Despite years of social and political turmoil, Israel's high-tech industry had managed to flourish. Although the economic growth rate was satisfactory by 2004, the nation's unemployment rate was still high, the national debt remained a troublesome risk, and the economy seemed far to reliant on public spending. Could a country such as Israel really become one of the richest countries in the world? This case explores the context for Israel's successes and challenges.