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Ehmke Manufacturing Company, Inc., a technical fabric products company established in 1929 in Philadelphia, United States, was facing challenges attracting and retaining employees. In the first half of 2022, issues such as critical open positions and an exponential number of resignations were being experienced across numerous industries around the globe. On June 1, 2022, the company's chief executive officer met with his entire management team to discuss his company's dilemma and various options, including the reputation of the company's brand. He had to decide how to manage the increasing workforce challenge, despite unprecedentedly high demand for his company's products and services. His company's growth projections, from a relatively small company to a medium-size international business, did not account for customer disappointments due to product order delays, especially considering that the company manufactured products used for critical search-and-rescue, military, and other governmental applications in the United States and allied countries. The chief executive officer had three options: accept current conditions, increase wages and benefits, or outsource production.

In early May 2022, Collie Turner, founder of award-winning non-profit organization Heroic Gardens, was looking to obtain additional revenue streams in order to expand the organization’s programming. The mission of Heroic Gardens was clear: help veterans experience the healing power of nature. The pivot to a new campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic was successful, and the number of organizations and veterans reaching out for services was increasing.<br><br>Heroic Gardens was looking for funding and new ways to scale in order to grow its programs and hire employees to support that growth. As Turner was preparing for a financial and program review with her board—and knowing that the organization was 99 per cent volunteer run—the challenge was understanding and finding a way to increase funding in order to support Heroic Gardens and the veterans it serves.

Presentation to accompany product #W31043.

In early May 2022, Collie Turner, founder of award-winning non-profit organization Heroic Gardens, was looking to obtain additional revenue streams in order to expand the organization's programming. The mission of Heroic Gardens was clear: help veterans experience the healing power of nature. The pivot to a new campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic was successful, and the number of organizations and veterans reaching out for services was increasing. Heroic Gardens was looking for funding and new ways to scale in order to grow its programs and hire employees to support that growth. As Turner was preparing for a financial and program review with her board-and knowing that the organization was 99 per cent volunteer run-the challenge was understanding and finding a way to increase funding in order to support Heroic Gardens and the veterans it serves.

Since its beginning in 2021, Stitchwheel LLC (Stitchwheel), a needlepoint canvas painting service, had seen immediate success. From the company's inception, the co-founder of Stitchwheel had been assessing the advantages and disadvantages of an expansion strategy and wondered what barriers she might encounter. She was also assessing the viability to expand beyond painted needlepoint canvases to achieve substantial growth. Within a short time frame, the company had enjoyed strong brand recognition and offered a meaningful unique selling proposition, but there were still many questions about the company's next steps, including which growth strategy would be most suitable. Did the company have the necessary resources and skilled management team to adequately monitor and support growth? What marketing and operational issues was the company likely to encounter with expansion?

Founded in 1950, King's Hawaiian, a Los Angeles-based bakery, operated in the competitive bread industry with an expansive list of rolls and bread, as well as a selection of other baked goods, which varied by region. As the business grew over the years, it had added production facilities and increased marketing. For decades, King's Hawaiian had focused on its core bread products, using occasion-based marketing to target consumers. However, in April 2021, with an ever-increasing market, the company had to decide whether to scale up into a mass-market company or continue to service a niche occasion-based segment by offering its unique sweet bread through in-store bakery and deli departments.

Dietz and Watson (D&W), a family run business that had been operating in Philadelphia for over eighty years, was a key player in the deli meat product market. D&W was concerned about losing market share overall; it was dependent on the aging baby boomer segment and possibly not top of mind for a younger, more progressive demographic. In early 2019, the company’s vice-president of brand strategy had to consider various options for investing the brand’s resources and offer a credible plan to the chief financial officer. What tactics could the company employ? What were the risks of various marketing strategies, and how could the company mitigate those risks? Could a digital strategy help D&W make inroads with the targeted demographic? If so, what would such a strategy look like?

Founded in 2017, Simply Good Jars (SGJ) was launched with the introduction of a unique salad-in-a-jar line of products. The founder, owner, and chief executive officer of SGJ was looking to build a ready-to-eat salad business with a mission of “making better-quality delicious food more attainable.” The SGJ brand promoted healthy, quality ingredients and sustainability. Initially, the product was tested in various locations, including vending machines in airports and businesses, and coolers in grocery stores. After achieving early success, SGJ’s founder quickly found pressure to balance growth opportunities with limited financial resources. In 2022, five years after starting the business, he had to decide whether to scale up and mass market SGJ’s products or continue to serve a niche segment through the company’s salad-in-a-jar business.

Founded in 2017, Simply Good Jars (SGJ) was launched with the introduction of a unique salad-in-a-jar line of products. The founder, owner, and chief executive officer of SGJ was looking to build a ready-to-eat salad business with a mission of "making better-quality delicious food more attainable." The SGJ brand promoted healthy, quality ingredients and sustainability. Initially, the product was tested in various locations, including vending machines in airports and businesses, and coolers in grocery stores. After achieving early success, SGJ's founder quickly found pressure to balance growth opportunities with limited financial resources. In 2022, five years after starting the business, he had to decide whether to scale up and mass market SGJ's products or continue to serve a niche segment through the company's salad-in-a-jar business.

This case features a woman entrepreneur whose early-stage company has achieved some regional success creating craft beer in a highly competitive, male-dominated beverage industry. Jennifer Newman, co-founder and CEO of Young Lion Brewing Company (YLBC), had entered the business not as a craft beer technician, as nearly all brewers do, but as a seasoned entrepreneur and business analyst. Newman recognizes that people may doubt her ability to produce a quality craft beer successfully. The reason? She is a woman, and they assume her beer can't be as good as beer brewed by men, or that women wouldn't be interested in craft beers and, therefore, wouldn't have the expertise or palate to judge a quality brew. Now, after her company has established itself, Newman ponders how to scale. What kind of marketing can improve YLBC's standing? For example, should she focus on being a woman-owned company selling beer targeted to other women? Or, should she emphasize that female-led Young Lion rises to the challenge of a market historically dominated by men? Newman herself was the primary information source for this case, sharing her professional background, experience at YLBC, and personal feelings and passion around being a woman in a predominantly male-dominated industry. This brings authenticity and an emotional connection that can motivate students.

Founded in 1950, King’s Hawaiian, a Los Angeles–based bakery, operated in the competitive bread industry with an expansive list of rolls and bread, as well as a selection of other baked goods, which varied by region. As the business grew over the years, it had added production facilities and increased marketing. For decades, King’s Hawaiian had focused on its core bread products, using occasion-based marketing to target consumers. However, in April 2021, with an ever-increasing market, the company had to decide whether to scale up into a mass-market company or continue to service a niche occasion-based segment by offering its unique sweet bread through in-store bakery and deli departments.

Founded in 2013 by sisters Shelby, Jackie, and Amy Zitelman, Philadelphia-based Soom Foods (Soom) aimed to educate US consumers on tahini and make the product a staple in US pantries. By 2021, the business had grown into a multimillion-dollar revenue company and had achieved national distribution through an omni-channel sales effort. However, Soom’s reliance on the single-source Ethiopian Humera sesame seed to prepare its high-quality tahini had begun to pose challenges. When Ethiopia’s inter-ethnic conflicts emerged in 2020, the Zitelman sisters foresaw possible disruptions and uncertainties in their business, especially when those challenges were combined with the supply-chain logistics issues that emerged as a result of the global pandemic in 2021. Soom was forced to reconsider its long-term business strategy: Given the threat of a potentially insufficient future sesame seed supply, should Soom use diversification in its supply chain? If so, how should diversification be applied across the supply chain while still maintaining a good return on investment? Furthermore, how could all of this be done before the next harvesting cycle?

Founded in 2013 by sisters Shelby, Jackie, and Amy Zitelman, Philadelphia-based Soom Foods (Soom) aimed to educate US consumers on tahini and make the product a staple in US pantries. By 2021, the business had grown into a multimillion-dollar revenue company and had achieved national distribution through an omni-channel sales effort. However, Soom's reliance on the single-source Ethiopian Humera sesame seed to prepare its high-quality tahini had begun to pose challenges. When Ethiopia's inter-ethnic conflicts emerged in 2020, the Zitelman sisters foresaw possible disruptions and uncertainties in their business, especially when those challenges were combined with the supply-chain logistics issues that emerged as a result of the global pandemic in 2021. Soom was forced to reconsider its long-term business strategy: Given the threat of a potentially insufficient future sesame seed supply, should Soom use diversification in its supply chain? If so, how should diversification be applied across the supply chain while still maintaining a good return on investment? Furthermore, how could all of this be done before the next harvesting cycle?

In February 2016, the principal dealer of several European luxury automotive dealerships learned from Audi of America LLC (Audi) that he would have to relocate one of his dealerships to a new location. The relocation would be to a new market area and the dealer would most likely lose his current customer base. Instead, the dealer used the opportunity to create a new business model for auto retailing that could enable him to maintain his market share without having to comply with Audi’s relocation requirement. His new concept, named “Carcierge” and opened in 2016, was showing initial success, but the dealer wondered whether the boutique sales model he developed would be viable in the long run.

King’s Hawaiian Bakery, West Inc. (King’s Hawaiian), a beloved and highly regarded company, produced a line of bread products dating back to the 1950s and was inspired by a Portuguese sweet bread. The business had grown over time, adding more production facilities and expanding from Hawaii to the mainland United States in 1977. King’s Hawaiian had done minimal consumer research related to its development of new products before it hired Troy Figgins as its new head of consumer insights. In October 2018, Figgins was tasked with creating a new consumer insights department; what this department looked like and how it functioned were entirely up to him. He was eager to design a best-in-class insights team to work with new strategies, tools, and partners. King’s Hawaiian knew it had to conduct market research to uncover insights to keep pace with evolving customer needs—but how? Figgins considered his problem and possible solutions to deliver great insights.

King's Hawaiian Bakery, West Inc. (King's Hawaiian), a beloved and highly regarded company, produced a line of bread products dating back to the 1950s and was inspired by a Portuguese sweet bread. The business had grown over time, adding more production facilities and expanding from Hawaii to the mainland United States in 1977. King's Hawaiian had done minimal consumer research related to its development of new products before it hired Troy Figgins as its new head of consumer insights. In October 2018, Figgins was tasked with creating a new consumer insights department; what this department looked like and how it functioned were entirely up to him. He was eager to design a best-in-class insights team to work with new strategies, tools, and partners. King's Hawaiian knew it had to conduct market research to uncover insights to keep pace with evolving customer needs-but how? Figgins considered his problem and possible solutions to deliver great insights.

Dietz and Watson (D&W), a family run business that had been operating in Philadelphia for over eighty years, was a key player in the deli meat product market. D&W was concerned about losing market share overall; it was dependent on the aging baby boomer segment and possibly not top of mind for a younger, more progressive demographic. In early 2019, the company's vice-president of brand strategy had to consider various options for investing the brand's resources and offer a credible plan to the chief financial officer. What tactics could the company employ? What were the risks of various marketing strategies, and how could the company mitigate those risks? Could a digital strategy help D&W make inroads with the targeted demographic? If so, what would such a strategy look like?

AcademyOne, Inc. (AcademyOne) was a small privately owned software provider whose focus was on providing students with college transfer solutions. It operated as an educational technology company that provided software as a service (SaaS) products to simplify and streamline the college transfer and advising process. After surviving an economic recession and an industry lawsuit, the firm had regained its financial footing, and in 2021, now that it was financially secure, some of its long-term investors had asked to cash out their investments. AcademyOne's president and chief operating officer was tasked with looking for ways to grow the business and with valuing AcademyOne, with the end game of selling the business.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W27129.

In July 2019, J.Crew Group Inc., a multi-brand, multichannel specialty US clothing retailer, was investigating a launch within a new apparel category. The company’s marketing research manager had been tasked with interpreting trends and market potential within the industry as well as primary customer research, to recommend a new product line that would increase revenues. She saw three main potentially viable options in the rental, resale, and athleisure markets. Using a mixed methods approach, the research manager would need to provide the chief marketing officer with her recommendation regarding a new product line for J. Crew Group Inc..