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Renova, a Portuguese toilet paper manufacturer, is battling to survive in a stagnant, commoditised market dominated by international giants and private labels. To grow and remain independent, CEO Paulo Pereira da Silva is considering three options: 1) price competition, 2) private label manufacturing, or 3) new functional innovations. There may be another way, but that is far from clear. What should he do? And how should the chosen strategy be implemented?

HootSuite is one of the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) social media dashboards on the market. The company’s vice-president of business development needs to determine the best strategy for segmenting and monetizing HootSuite users. He needs to introduce a tiered pricing plan that generates revenues without alienating users.

HootSuite is one of the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) social media dashboards on the market. The company's vice-president of business development needs to determine the best strategy for segmenting and monetizing HootSuite users. He needs to introduce a tiered pricing plan that generates revenues without alienating users.

The case examines Harley-Davidson's decision to enter the Indian market. Due to India's rapidly growing economy and its swelling base of high-net-worth consumers, numerous luxury product companies lined up to enter India. The case enumerates the factors that such firms should take into account when selecting new markets to enter. Also discussed are the various post-marketing issues Harley-Davidson faced in India after its entry and the resolutions the company could implement to resolve those issues.The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the dynamics involved in selecting new markets for the firm to maximize its gain while expanding its business.

The case explores the similarities and differences between social media campaigns launched by Nissan and by Tata Motors to stimulate sales for models of their cars in India. The Nissan campaign allowed consumers to compete to star with Ranbir Kapoor, a Bollywood star and spokesman for the Nissan Micra, in a short film featuring the Micra as the hero. The Tata campaign launched India's first social streaming show, in which select teams of consumers participated in an Amazing Race-style road trip competition in different regions of the country. Both campaigns made extensive use of Facebook. Students are tasked with evaluating the two campaigns in terms of their fit with the communication objectives of each company and their effectiveness on a variety of metrics. The case includes links to advertisements and other video material. Although the case is written to be used independently, it also would work well in combination with the "Positioning the Tata Nano (A) and (B)" cases.

The case examines Harley-Davidson’s decision to enter the Indian market. Due to India’s rapidly growing economy and its swelling base of high-net-worth consumers, numerous luxury product companies lined up to enter India. The case enumerates the factors that such firms should take into account when selecting new markets to enter. Also discussed are the various post-marketing issues Harley-Davidson faced in India after its entry and the resolutions the company could implement to resolve those issues.<br><br>The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the dynamics involved in selecting new markets for the firm to maximize its gain while expanding its business.

April 17, 2012, was a special day for SANY Group and for its founder Liang Wen'gen. Headquartered in Changsha, SANY Group had transformed itself in two decades from a small welding material factory in 1989 to a leading global construction equipment manufacturer with 5 industrial parks in China; 5 R&D and manufacturing bases in America, Germany, India, Brazil, and Indonesia; and 21 sales companies worldwide. SANY Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (SANY), SANY Group's major subsidiary, engaged in the construction equipment business and was number six on International Construction's 2012 Yellow Table, a ranking of the world's largest construction equipment manufacturers.

Supplement for case TB0295

The Hidesign case examines issues facing a niche fashion company in pursuit of its next growth phase. After three decades of offering a leather products portfolio, the founder and president of Hidesign has decided to extend Hidesign’s portfolio to include non-leather product categories such as sunglasses and pens. The company’s advertising tagline — “Real leather. Crafted the forgotten way.” — has helped position Hidesign as a quality leather accessories brand. How should Hidesign position its new product range? Should different taglines be used for its leather and non-leather products? Should Hidesign do away with taglines altogether? Could the decision to extend the brand to non-leather product categories dilute its carefully cultivated core identity? Or could this decision help transform Hidesign into a fashion lifestyle brand?

Advantage Food & Beverage Vending is a decision-based case that highlights four options for the owner and president of the Advantage Food & Beverage (AF&B) snack vending operation. He had been running his business for 16 years and possessed a great deal of knowledge about his company and the vending industry. His dilemma was whether or not to invest in his existing operation and, if so, how to determine the best use of his resources. The vending industry was stagnant and considered to be declining, which complicated his decision. However, newer technologies had become available that could improve AF&B’s competitive advantage in the marketplace.<br><br><br><br>Technology options included a system that (a) accepted electronic payments and (b) tracked inventory and transactions. The electronic payment method came in the form of the swiping of a credit card, or in the newer form of Touch-and-Go card readers. These features could be retrofitted to existing machines or built into new machines. The decision involved which option(s) would likely provide the president with the best return on his investment.

Supplement for case 910A10

UrbanBaby is a newly developed smartphone application (app) that allows users to address the difficult task of finding activities, restaurants and other forms of entertainment for newborns to young teens. A number of issues must be addressed if it is going to be profitable. First, the app's creators, Alex and Pavel, are unsure how to characterize the large potential target market, parents, or if there are other target markets that might be interested. This is critical, as the success of the app depends on the cultivation of a strong online community that will contribute content. Second, they have to find a reliable source of data to populate the app. Third, they must decide whether to focus on Apple's operating system, which is popular in North America, or put more of their energy into competing operating systems that are much more popular in the rest of the world. Finally, they have a number of strategic marketing choices to make and to prioritize, including whether to keep the UrbanBaby brand name and risk the ire of similarly named competitors, how to price the app, how to position and promote the app and how to time the rollout. How these initial choices will affect subsequent strategic and tactical decisions is also a matter of concern.

In 2010, half of the world's cosmetics sales came from the so-called emerging markets for the first time; L'Oréal opened three new subsidiaries, in Egypt, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan; and the Paris, France-based cosmetics and personal care powerhouse declared its intention to double its consumer base to two billion and increase its share of sales from emerging markets. CEO Jean-Paul Agon made it his number one goal to "prepare the company to keep its global leadership in this new era."

With several brands in the premium shirt market, the Arrow brand faced the challenge of balancing its premium associations that had been nurtured in the past to make the brand contemporary. The concept of "premiumness" with regard to the category had undergone a shift, with equally strong brands (comparable to the Arrow brand) strengthening their positioning on premiumness. Arrow faced several challenging decisions that involved its original positioning. The fundamental decision on revitalizing and reinforcing the brand would depend on the analysis of the changing environment, competitive offerings from competing brands and the perception of consumers on Arrow and its competitors. The premium shirt market had brands that offered comparable functional attributes; and the differentiation of brands was built by both functional attribute positioning and symbolic positioning. Balancing the two aspects and alternating between these two aspects in a dynamic category and environment required an approach that would bring several aspects of consumer behavior towards a brand's strategy. As the competition intensified, there was need for any brand to delve into the finer aspects of consumer behavior rather than depend on the basic positioning strategies. There was a need to analyze how consumer behavior strategies could contribute to the brand's positioning strategies. Should Arrow retain its category expertise? Should the brand retain its "country of origin" associations? Should the brand focus on the self-concept associated with the consumer segment? A medley of concepts that can trigger Arrow's next level of brand strategy is the context posed by this case in an emerging market such as India.

The case traces the evolution of the carbonated soft drink industry. It describes the emergence of two global majors - Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo. It describes the proliferation of brands of each of the two majors. While Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Fanta belong to Coca Cola Company; Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7 Up, and Mirinda belong to PepsiCo. The case also describes the local Indian brands - Thums Up and Limca. Many of the soft drink brands have a high brand value and the case describes the role of advertising in building brand equity. The case traces the evolution of advertising over the years globally as well as in India. It engages with the tension between localization and standardization of advertising. It invites students to discuss the role of advertising in building the brand in an emerging market such as India.

This exercise is one in a series intended to help students learn how to perform financial calculations in marketing contexts. Helmut Schmidt, product manager for Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG, the world's foremost manufacturer of harmonicas, accordions, melodicas, and ukuleles, was sitting at his desk reviewing his first assignment from the company's senior executive team. Schmidt had been asked to calculate the break-even point for the company's flagship product, the Marine Band harmonica, under a number of different scenarios.

This exercise is one in a series intended to help students learn how to perform financial calculations in marketing contexts. Maru Keitou, a decorated former collegiate softball player with a PhD from Oxford University, ran Maru Batting Center in the Roppongi district of Tokyo's Minato ward. She had a deep knowledge of the game and of her customers, but she lacked a marketing background. She had recently signed up for a hosted customer relationship management service that would allow her to track the cost of acquiring and serving each of her four main customer segments. Using this data, she could determine which segments to target in the upcoming year. The exercise describes the use of calculations of customer acquisition cost, retention rates, and customer lifetime value in picking between market segments and various options for activities to acquire customers.

Spreadsheet for case KEL688

This exercise is one in a series intended to help students learn how to perform financial calculations in marketing contexts. Carolina Araujo had recently taken control of her family's business, Pepita Disco PPM, Uruguay's second-largest producer of beef-based dog food, treats, and toys. While she respected the company's nearly eighty-year history, Carolina felt that Pepita Disco had grown complacent with its market share and was basically preserving the status quo. Her plan was to re-energize the employee base and grow Pepita Disco's business faster than the overall market. This exercise poses a fictional problem about a company's efforts to predict the impacts of price, product cost, and spending moves on profitability.

This technical note provides an update on the use of customer data in marketing organizations and discusses how calculations of customer acquisition costs are made. It introduces the concept of customer lifetime value and provides examples of how it is calculated and how it is used. If desired, this reading is good preparation for students completing the Kellogg exercise "Maru Batting Center: Customer Lifetime Value," Case #3-112-003.