Surana & Surana International Attorneys (S&S) is a multispecialty law firm. Since its inception in 1971, it had declined to serve clients who were in the industries of meat, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling (M-TAG). In early March 2023, a large opportunity arose from a world leader in the alcohol business. Sanjay Mehta, Head of Business Development, met Vinod Surana, CEO and Partner at S&S, to convince him about bringing change to its deep-rooted tradition of sticking to no M-TAG. Kartik and Keerti,CEO's two sons would join S&S soon after finishing their legal education. Surana had a dilemma whether to stick to the existing business philosophy of "no M-TAG" clients or be flexible, considering growing competition and the business requirements.

Surana & Surana International Attorneys (S&S) is a multispecialty law firm. Since its inception in 1971, it had declined to serve clients who were in the industries of meat, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling (M-TAG). In early March 2023, a large opportunity arose from a world leader in the alcohol business. Sanjay Mehta, Head of Business Development, met Vinod Surana, CEO and Partner at S&S, to convince him about bringing change to its deep-rooted tradition of sticking to no M-TAG. Kartik and Keerti,CEO's two sons would join S&S soon after finishing their legal education. Surana had a dilemma whether to stick to the existing business philosophy of "no M-TAG" clients or be flexible, considering growing competition and the business requirements.

In 2018, Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, launched Jetblack, a concierge luxury shopping service that allowed consumers to explore and buy items via text message. It is a classic example of the danger of introducing a relatively luxurious brand into the portfolio of a non-luxury brand family. Jetblack's service combined artificial intelligence (AI) and the customized attention of trained experts to identify the most appropriate products for its customers. Following the launch of Jetblack, customer enrollments grew and both the frequency and breadth of member shopping increased. Its initial customers also stated that texting was their favorite aspect of the service. However, Jetblack's inability to scale its business operations proved to be a major challenge, with dire financial implications. By 2019, Jetblack was losing around USD 15,000 per customer annually. On February 21, 2020, Walmart announced that it was shutting down its exclusive concierge shopping startup, Jetblack, due to limited end user customer enrollments and inadequate investments.

In 2018, high-end supermarket chain Margiotta Food & Wine (Margiotta) employed a robot named Fabio at one of its flagship stores to deliver in-store customer service. Founded in 1956, Margiotta retailed three product lines namely food, wine and 'local and organic' at their seven retail stores in Edinburgh, Scotland. However, within one week of its installation, Fabio was fired because of its inability to adequately deliver quality customer service. The customers developed a lot of resistance in accepting assistance from Fabio for their grocery shopping. The Fabio programmers, the Heriot-Watt University Interaction Lab, believe that a newer version of Fabio would be "crueller and more conniving" in delivering customer service. In the future therefore, Margiotta may very well have to take a decision on deploying a robot again. It would have to carve out strategies to proactively reduce customer resistance towards new version of Fabio, which eventually may ameliorate brand experience for Margiotta customers. In addition, Margiotta's employees were seen to have developed a state of positive emotion (love) towards Fabio. Employees were visibly disappointed when customer service through Fabio was discontinued. Hence, when the next version of Fabio is installed, Margiotta promoters would have to carefully manage employee emotions.

Launched in 2009, Australian-based Shoes of Prey allowed potential customers to design every detail of a pair of shoes. The co-creation strategy offered customers a sense of ownership and increased their perceived value of the shoes. The company initially focused on niche customers; however, as a result of increased business investment, it decided to scale its business to the mass market. This mass customization and co-creation strategy brought numerous challenges. The company's inability to succeed in the mass market led to the co-founder suspending business operations in August 2018. Should she reboot the business with substantial changes, or was it time sell out?

Launched in 2009, Australian-based Shoes of Prey allowed potential customers to design every detail of a pair of shoes. The co-creation strategy offered customers a sense of ownership and increased their perceived value of the shoes. The company initially focused on niche customers; however, as a result of increased business investment, it decided to scale its business to the mass market. This mass customization and co-creation strategy brought numerous challenges. The company’s inability to succeed in the mass market led to the co-founder suspending business operations in August 2018. Should she reboot the business with substantial changes, or was it time sell out?

In 2015, Cerana Beverages Pvt. Ltd. launched Bira 91 (Bira), India's first handcrafted beer. It was introduced to fill a gap in the market between Indian brands and expensive imported beers. The handcrafted beer was priced lower than several premium beers but was more expensive than the market leaders. This allowed Bira to develop price leadership in the premium beer segment. By setting a new price range, Bira executed "high quality, low price" appeal and became capable of influencing customer product evaluations. With its intention to replicate this pricing strategy in its global expansion, now Bira would have to successfully design a proactive strategy to meet the associated challenges.

In 2015, Cerana Beverages Pvt. Ltd. launched Bira 91 (Bira), India’s first handcrafted beer. It was introduced to fill a gap in the market between Indian brands and expensive imported beers. The handcrafted beer was priced lower than several premium beers but was more expensive than the market leaders. This allowed Bira to develop price leadership in the premium beer segment. By setting a new price range, Bira executed “high quality, low price” appeal and became capable of influencing customer product evaluations. With its intention to replicate this pricing strategy in its global expansion, now Bira would have to successfully design a proactive strategy to meet the associated challenges.

In 2017, United Airlines suffered a blow to its corporate reputation throughout the United States and international markets, including China, mainly due to an incident on United flight 3411, in which an airport enforcement officer forcibly dragged a passenger out of a plane. The inadequate public relations reaction following the incident and ineffective crisis management left the company reeling. The company became subject to scathing social media attacks, customer dissatisfaction, passenger anger, and a drop in its stock value. The airline, which had already been grappling with very low rankings in customer satisfaction indexes, realized the need to rebuild its brand and greatly improve its customer satisfaction ratings. To prevent such instances from occurring in the future, United needed to take steps to rebuild its tarnished brand image and consider some important questions: What service expectations did customers have of airlines such as United? How would these expectations develop over time? How important were customer satisfaction, client relationships, and passenger experience to United? How could an airline company conduct a root cause analysis for service failure? How could it analyze the different gaps in delivering good quality service?

In 2017, United Airlines suffered a blow to its corporate reputation throughout the United States and international markets, including China, mainly due to an incident on United flight 3411, in which an airport enforcement officer forcibly dragged a passenger out of a plane. The inadequate public relations reaction following the incident and ineffective crisis management left the company reeling. The company became subject to scathing social media attacks, customer dissatisfaction, passenger anger, and a drop in its stock value. The airline, which had already been grappling with very low rankings in customer satisfaction indexes, realized the need to rebuild its brand and greatly improve its customer satisfaction ratings. To prevent such instances from occurring in the future, United needed to take steps to rebuild its tarnished brand image and consider some important questions: What service expectations did customers have of airlines such as United? How would these expectations develop over time? How important were customer satisfaction, client relationships, and passenger experience to United? How could an airline company conduct a root cause analysis for service failure? How could it analyze the different gaps in delivering good quality service?

Having affirmed its place in the computer, phone, and music markets, Apple Inc. (Apple) decided to embark on a brand extension strategy, shifting its focus to wearable technologies. With this shift in mind, Apple launched the Apple Watch in April 2015 as an attempt to enter different industries. Apple Watch integrated fitness and health features with Apple’s mobile operating system (iOS) and other Apple products and services. Because Apple owned the necessary hardware, software, and services that were augmented through its ecosystem, the watch was virtually inimitable. The innovation thus appeared poised to be a true game changer.<br><br>However, in mid-2016, Apple’s chief executive officer, acknowledged that Apple Watch had not created quite the market impact Apple had expected. Apple management had limited options. Should Apple reconfigure the marketing mix to realign Apple’s marketing strategy to reduce resistance to Apple Watch?

Having affirmed its place in the computer, phone, and music markets, Apple Inc. (Apple) decided to embark on a brand extension strategy, shifting its focus to wearable technologies. With this shift in mind, Apple launched the Apple Watch in April 2015 as an attempt to enter different industries. Apple Watch integrated fitness and health features with Apple's mobile operating system (iOS) and other Apple products and services. Because Apple owned the necessary hardware, software, and services that were augmented through its ecosystem, the watch was virtually inimitable. The innovation thus appeared poised to be a true game changer. However, in mid-2016, Apple's chief executive officer, acknowledged that Apple Watch had not created quite the market impact Apple had expected. Apple management had limited options. Should Apple reconfigure the marketing mix to realign Apple's marketing strategy to reduce resistance to Apple Watch?

In 2016, Pepperfry.com (Pepperfry) was India’s leading online retailer of furniture and home products. As a pioneer in the online furniture and furnishings space, Pepperfry had a first-mover advantage that led to the achievement of significant milestones within a short period. Online marketing, however, involved distinct challenges compared with traditional marketing practices. Improving customer experience at the different stages of a consumer’s purchase could be the foundational strategy to resolve these challenges. How could Pepperfry’s service design further enhance the customer experience and achieve a competitive advantage?

In 2016, Pepperfry.com (Pepperfry) was India's leading online retailer of furniture and home products. As a pioneer in the online furniture and furnishings space, Pepperfry had a first-mover advantage that led to the achievement of significant milestones within a short period. Online marketing, however, involved distinct challenges compared with traditional marketing practices. Improving customer experience at the different stages of a consumer's purchase could be the foundational strategy to resolve these challenges. How could Pepperfry's service design further enhance the customer experience and achieve a competitive advantage?

In September 2015, the Volkswagen Group (VW) was in a state of flux. Its reputation was taking a severe beating in the auto industry and among consumers. The United States Environmental Protection Agency had accused the company of tampering with its EA 189 diesel engines to clear emissions tests. The engines, fitted with a "defeat device," met the stringent emission levels and higher fuel efficiency standards set in the United States. The defeat device controlled emissions during laboratory testing and driving so that they remained within permissible limits; however, during actual on-the-road driving, the nitrogen oxide emissions were up to 40 times higher. VW's admission of the intentional manipulation severely dented its value chain, affecting market share, brand image, internal/external stakeholders trust, and supply chain operations. In the wake of the scandal, the company faced the challenge of organizing a product recall and reconceptualizing the VW brand identity.

In September 2015, the Volkswagen Group (VW) was in a state of flux. Its reputation was taking a severe beating in the auto industry and among consumers. The United States Environmental Protection Agency had accused the company of tampering with its EA 189 diesel engines to clear emissions tests. The engines, fitted with a “defeat device,” met the stringent emission levels and higher fuel efficiency standards set in the United States. The defeat device controlled emissions during laboratory testing and driving so that they remained within permissible limits; however, during actual on-the-road driving, the nitrogen oxide emissions were up to 40 times higher. VW’s admission of the intentional manipulation severely dented its value chain, affecting market share, brand image, internal/external stakeholders trust, and supply chain operations. In the wake of the scandal, the company faced the challenge of organizing a product recall and reconceptualizing the VW brand identity.

A 2016 consumer survey in the United Kingdom revealed that five out of 10 people did not know that Coca-Cola Zero (Coke Zero) contained no sugar. Many respondents also expected Coke Zero to taste more like Coca-Cola Classic, but found the taste not similar enough. Therefore, Coca-Cola relaunched the product with an ambitious multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that followed a three-dimension value management cycle encompassing value creation, value communication, and value capture. To successfully relaunch Coke Zero and achieve the company’s objectives, Coca-Cola would need to both anticipate the challenges in each of these three phases and manage them effectively.

A 2016 consumer survey in the United Kingdom revealed that five out of 10 people did not know that Coca-Cola Zero (Coke Zero) contained no sugar. Many respondents also expected Coke Zero to taste more like Coca-Cola Classic, but found the taste not similar enough. Therefore, Coca-Cola relaunched the product with an ambitious multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that followed a three-dimension value management cycle encompassing value creation, value communication, and value capture. To successfully relaunch Coke Zero and achieve the company's objectives, Coca-Cola would need to both anticipate the challenges in each of these three phases and manage them effectively.

<p>The Nestle Maggi Case Study explores what happened on June 2015, when the Indian food regulatory body, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, declared Nestlé’s brand of noodles, Maggi, unsafe for human consumption. Tested samples showed excess levels of lead and added monosodium glutamate. To retain the trust of consumers, Nestlé recalled Maggi from all store shelves in the country. Management was then grappling with an improved re-positioning strategy to help Nestlé retain its considerable market share in India. The other issue that Nestlé needed to resolve was what role pricing would play in influencing consumer purchase decisions during the proposed product relaunch.</p>

In June 2015, the Indian food regulatory body, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, declared Nestlé's brand of noodles, Maggi, unsafe for human consumption. Tested samples showed excess levels of lead and added monosodium glutamate. To retain the trust of consumers, Nestlé recalled Maggi from all store shelves in the country. Management was then grappling with an improved re-positioning strategy to help Nestlé retain its considerable market share in India. The other issue that Nestlé needed to resolve was what role pricing would play in influencing consumer purchase decisions during the proposed product relaunch.