For decades, Titleist was the dominant player in the golf ball industry partly due to its strong technical performance and popularity among professional golfers. As a result of its technical superiority and the mystical image it had cultivated, Titleist's brand was revered by consumers. Its domination began to fade in the 2010s, however, as its competitors introduced balls that offered similar quality, but at a more affordable price. Moreover, Titleist lost several major patent infringement lawsuits. Finally, in February 2020, the golf industry's regulatory authorities, who were in charge of establishing the specifications to be met by ball manufacturers, announced that they would be investigating the possibility of adjusting existing specifications, a move that could harm manufacturers, such as Titleist, that were trying to differentiate their products through R&D.
In 2019, Michael Whan, commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), a non-profit organization that ran the world's most prestigious women's golf circuit, was preparing for the tour's 70th anniversary. Throughout its history, the LPGA had broken many social barriers, from the inclusion of African American players in the 1960s to the acceptance of transgender players in 2010. It had also reached important economic and athletic milestones. For example, the LPGA had the largest purses of any women's sports association, a wide range of international sponsors, tournaments broadcast in over 170 countries, and the highest concentration of international professional women golf stars. These achievements were due largely to the internationalization process launched in the late 1990s that had helped transform the LPGA from a U.S.-based to an international tour. But the internationalization of the LPGA had come with challenges.
Tim Hortons built a successful business in Canada by creating a vertically integrated company working with small-scale franchisees and incorporating its "Canadian identity" in its marketing strategy. The company's internationalization efforts were much less fruitful, however, with 80% of outlets located in Canada, and just 18% in the United States. In 2014, 3G Capital - a Brazilian-American private-equity firm - acquired Tim Hortons with plans to speed up the company's internationalization process. The new owner's attempts to implement cost-cutting measures were quickly met with strong resistance from both franchisees and Canadian consumers and, in 2019, it faced two major challenges: at home, it had to restore the confidence of franchisees and consumers and, abroad, it faced stiff competition from chains that enjoyed a significant head start in new international markets. On top of everything else, it appeared that Tim Hortons's business model might not lend itself to internationalization.
Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis caused in part by the recent hiring of a U.S. agent. Some of the conditions the U.S. agent had unilaterally agreed upon with prospective clients could have had disastrous consequences for the agency, but reneging on those agreements could have damaged the agency's reputation and put its U.S. venture at risk. Pro-G's partners, who did not yet fully understand the U.S. market, had conflicting views on how to resolve this problem. To complicate matters, Pro-G then began to lose some of its best European Tour clients, who felt the agency had begun to focus too heavily on the U.S. market at the expense of its European interests. How should Pro-G manage this tricky situation to the satisfaction of both its U.S. and its European clients?
Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis caused in part by the recent hiring of a U.S. agent. Some of the conditions the U.S. agent had unilaterally agreed upon with prospective clients could have had disastrous consequences for the agency, but reneging on those agreements could have damaged the agency's reputation and put its U.S. venture at risk. Pro-G's partners, who did not yet fully understand the U.S. market, had conflicting views on how to resolve this problem. To complicate matters, Pro-G then began to lose some of its best European Tour clients, who felt the agency had begun to focus too heavily on the U.S. market at the expense of its European interests. How should Pro-G manage this tricky situation to the satisfaction of both its U.S. and its European clients?
This case describes the internationalization of the PGA Tour, the U.S.'s professional golf circuit. Propelled in part by the popularity of golf in its domestic market, the PGA Tour built a successful business model attracting the best international players and global corporate sponsors. While the popularity of golf is showing no signs of waning in the U.S., it has been growing fast in other parts of the world. Now attempting to capitalize on opportunities abroad, the PGA Tour faces two challenges: some components of its business model do not lend themselves to internationalization, and its strongest rival, the European Tour, got a head start on the international scene in the early 1990s by gaining a foothold in many important markets. This is a decision-making case. It describes recent events (1996-2017) surrounding the internationalization of the PGA Tour and the competitive rivalry between the PGA Tour and its main challenger, the European Tour. Students are asked to put themselves in the position of Jay Monahan, the newly appointed PGA Tour commissioner, and assess whether the international strategy of the PGA Tour will give it a competitive advantage, particularly since the European Tour is challenging the PGA Tour's dominant position.
This case describes Johnny Fernandes' new venture, a digital-based, lifestyle and entertainment magazine for the iPad, called iMag. Johnny had always been interested in becoming a player in the international arts scene and now he seems to have the chance thanks to the tablet platform. He has spent the last five months conceptualizing iMag and creating a team of technical specialists to help him develop iMag. While encountering different challenges, (i.e., no secure revenues, uncertainty about the evolution of rich media advertising, limited financial resources) the rapid expansion of the tablet market and its corresponding applications indicate that Johnny has a true business opportunity in front of him. First of all, students have to put themselves in Johnny's shoes and design a detailed action plan that ensures iMag's future in this up-and-coming industry. Secondly, students have to identify the threats and opportunities for iMag in competing globally at an early stage.
Plant Care develops biological pesticides and fertilizers for plant protection. It is a business unit of Lallemand (headquarters in Canada) and is constituted by two companies: Ithec, located in France, and Verdera, located in Finland. The case describes how the managers of Plant Care are currently in the process of deciding whether they should expand abroad, to how many countries, and at what speed. Despite the fact that the biological pesticide and fertilizer industries present many growth opportunities, and despite Plant Care's success in France and Finland, the decision to expand abroad is complex, due to factors that include a lack of foreign experience, lack of abundant financial resources, constraints imposed by headquarters, etc. First of all, students have to decide whether Plant Care should expand abroad or not. If yes, they have to decide how quickly it should expand and the timing of the foreign market entry. Finally, students are required to put themselves in the shoes of the divisional managers at headquarters. How much managerial and financial autonomy should headquarters give to Plant Care?