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This case is a two-part case series. Part A of the case study is set in early 2011, and begins with Parag Gadre, the assistant vice president of marketing and strategy at Tata Chemical Limited (TCL), contemplating what to do with Tata Salt's flanker brand. It has been five years since I-Shakti was launched in 2006, and has since become the second biggest salt brand in India. I-Shakti was originally conceived as a flanker brand to satisfy demand that TCL's original flagship product, Tata Salt, could not satisfy. The target markets, pricing and other attributes of the two brands were originally envisaged to be very distinct. However, I-Shakti has far outperformed expectations, and is now at a stage where it could potentially cannibalise Tata Salt's market share. This case will stimulate a discussion on the concepts and rationale of a flanker brand. In addition to the overarching question of whether it is a good idea to introduce a flanker brand, it will also create a forum for discussing strategies that are available to a company when the flanker outperforms expectations and becomes a potential threat to the original premium brand that it was set up to protect. Finally, it also enables students to discuss whether market share is an appropriate concern for an organisation. Part B of the case is set at the start of 2012, about one year after the conclusion of Part A. Readers are given an update of the strategy that TCL adopted - a strategy that not only continues with I-Shakti Salt, but also ventures into the production and distribution of an I-Shakti brand of pulses. The reason for doing so is given in the case, and students are left to analyse whether they agree with the company's decision. This section also links back to the earlier Part A of the case study, as it gives the readers an example of a viable alternative that is available to the company in the event that it decides to play down or altogether phase out the flanker brand.

This case is a two-part case series. Part A of the case study is set in early 2011, and begins with Parag Gadre, the assistant vice president of marketing and strategy at Tata Chemical Limited (TCL), contemplating what to do with Tata Salt's flanker brand. It has been five years since I-Shakti was launched in 2006, and has since become the second biggest salt brand in India. I-Shakti was originally conceived as a flanker brand to satisfy demand that TCL's original flagship product, Tata Salt, could not satisfy. The target markets, pricing and other attributes of the two brands were originally envisaged to be very distinct. However, I-Shakti has far outperformed expectations, and is now at a stage where it could potentially cannibalise Tata Salt's market share. This case will stimulate a discussion on the concepts and rationale of a flanker brand. In addition to the overarching question of whether it is a good idea to introduce a flanker brand, it will also create a forum for discussing strategies that are available to a company when the flanker outperforms expectations and becomes a potential threat to the original premium brand that it was set up to protect. Finally, it also enables students to discuss whether market share is an appropriate concern for an organisation. Part B of the case is set at the start of 2012, about one year after the conclusion of Part A. Readers are given an update of the strategy that TCL adopted - a strategy that not only continues with I-Shakti Salt, but also ventures into the production and distribution of an I-Shakti brand of pulses. The reason for doing so is given in the case, and students are left to analyse whether they agree with the company's decision. This section also links back to the earlier Part A of the case study, as it gives the readers an example of a viable alternative that is available to the company in the event that it decides to play down or altogether phase out the flanker brand.

In 1982, Saab opened his first atelier in Beirut and began designing luxurious evening gowns and exquisite wedding dresses. His talent for design fuelled his career throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, Saab continued to expand his business by moving to a larger atelier in Beirut and organizing exclusive fashion shows in Europe. In 2000, he opened a salon and showroom in Paris to increase his cosmopolitan and international clientele. A flagship store in Paris opened in March 2007. In June 2010, Elie Saab (ES) opened its first flagship store in the Gulf region in Dubai's prestigious Dubai Mall. This new flagship store reinforced the brand's presence in the United Arab Emirates, making its products more accessible to the region's local and international shoppers. The store showcased day and evening wear dresses, shoes, bags and accessories from the latest ready-to-wear (RTW) collections. In July 2008, ES opened its first U.K. boutique at Harrods. The company planned to increase its worldwide retail presence through opening additional stores in major cities around the world, including the United States and Asia. While the company was witnessing impressive growth, management was dealing with the challenge of selecting the right partners, identifying new markets with the greatest growth potential and, most importantly, protecting the brand from dilution. From the start, its goal was to "attract, select and maintain customers who place significance on high-end, one-of-a-kind designs made from the finest fabrics and materials." The case covers the challenges and opportunities of the company as it expands internationally.

<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - MENA Business Cases, EFMD Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>In 1982, Saab opened his first atelier in Beirut and began designing luxurious evening gowns and wedding dresses, his talent for design fuelling his career throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, Saab continued to expand his business by moving to a larger atelier in Beirut and organizing exclusive fashion shows in Europe. In 2000, he opened a salon and showroom in Paris to increase his cosmopolitan and international clientele; a flagship store in Paris opened in March 2007. In June 2010, Elie Saab (ES) opened its first flagship store in the Gulf region in Dubai’s prestigious Dubai Mall. This reinforced the brand’s presence in the United Arab Emirates, making its products more accessible to the region’s local and international shoppers. The store showcased day- and evening-wear dresses, shoes, bags, and accessories from the latest ready-to-wear collections. In July 2008, ES opened its first U.K. boutique at Harrods. The company planned to increase its worldwide retail presence through opening new stores in major cities around the world, including in the United States and Asia. <br><br>While the company was witnessing impressive growth, management was dealing with the challenge of selecting the right partners, identifying new markets with the greatest growth potential and, most importantly, protecting the brand from dilution. From the start, its goal was to “attract, select and maintain customers who place significance on high-end, one-of-a-kind designs made from the finest fabrics and materials.” The case covers the challenges and opportunities of the company as it expands internationally.

AeroMechanical Services, Ltd. has a superior aircraft-monitoring product, FLYHT, which is significantly more advanced than the typical flight data recorder used by airlines. It can be easily installed and provides a wide range of real-time information that could be critical for airlines looking to reduce costs and improve safety. Yet it continues to struggle to get its solution adopted by major airlines. The vice president of business development for AeroMechanical is looking for a way to cross the chasm to expand sales from the early-adopter market to the major carriers.

AeroMechanical Services, Ltd. has a superior aircraft-monitoring product, FLYHT, which is significantly more advanced than the typical flight data recorder used by airlines. It can be easily installed and provides a wide range of real-time information that could be critical for airlines looking to reduce costs and improve safety. Yet it continues to struggle to get its solution adopted by major airlines. The vice president of business development for AeroMechanical is looking for a way to "cross the chasm" to expand sales from the early-adopter market to the major carriers.

In 2010, David Droga and Andrew Essex, co-founders of advertising agency Droga5, hope to convince both John Meneilly, manager of hip-hop star Shawn Carter (better known as Jay-Z) and a partner in Carter's company Roc Nation and Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft's Online Services division, to enter into an unprecedented, high-stakes partnership to benefit the launch of Carter's new lyrical memoir, Decoded. Droga5 wrestles with two disparate challenges: developing a campaign for the book's launch and finding a way to drive trial for Bing, Microsoft's new search engine. Droga5's innovative solution is to kill two birds with one stone: a massive, interactive scavenger hunt involving outdoor, bespoke, and digital media. Because Spiegel & Grau, a Random House imprint that holds the rights to the book, lacks the funds to market Carter's memoir at a scale deserving of a superstar, Droga5 is asking Microsoft to shoulder most of the campaign's costs. How can Droga5 broker a deal between Roc Nation, Random House, and Microsoft, and ensure success for each of the parties? And is pursuing this campaign idea a smart investment for the young agency? The case describes a set of decisions that paved the way for a groundbreaking advertising campaign that would win major advertising-industry awards, including the Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and a 2012 Gold Effie.

This case is a supplement to Damn Heels (A).

This case describes a typical situation faced by any firm engaged in marketing a commodity. Laxmi Proteins processed and sold pigeon pea, called toor or tur in Hindi. The processed grain was known as toor dal and was an important source of protein in the predominantly vegetarian diet of Indians. With the ongoing economic boom and subsequent increase in household income, it was expected that expenditures on more wholesome diets would increase and with it the intake of pulses such as toor dal. Laxmi Proteins was on the verge of inaugurating a new processing plant that would double its capacity. The managing director was concerned about the effectiveness of the current marketing strategy to sell additional produce and asked the marketing directors to review the company’s marketing efforts and come up with alternatives.

The new CEO and the new president of the J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP), invigorate the company with a new pricing strategy based on "Everyday Fair Prices." Is the initial market reaction an indication of likely success? This first part of a two-part case contextualizes the initiative and provides a means of exploring differentiation in an evolving market.

In this second part of a two-part case, the results of an innovative new pricing strategy for a venerated department store are reviewed and its positioning going forward is explored.

Mobius Motors manufactures and sells low-cost cars in the Kenyan market. The company strives to make the cars such that they are affordable, yet still perform well on Africa's generally poor road networks. The company has attracted a lot of attention from development and venture financiers, and has ambitious plans to expand throughout the African continent. However, Mobius's fleet of vehicle is still currently very small, and the company faces many strategic challenges on both the demand and the supply side of the business.

Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) is a well-known Canadian retailer of outdoor clothing and equipment. While it stocks a range of branded products in its stores, a key source of profits is its private-label line. The challenge MEC faces is how to continue to develop and launch innovative private-labeled products while recognizing that they may be direct competitors of MEC’s assortment of global brands. MEC needs to develop its line-up without being seen as infringing on intellectual property or being too much of a “follower.” In assessing how MEC can develop its line-up, students can review MEC’s philosophy as a co-operative (in which it positions itself as being different from corporations) and its design philosophy.

A four-year-old cosmetics company is experiencing the typical difficulties of a company evolving from a mom-and-pop operation to a scalable, systems-driven organization. The CEO and founder recognized a problem and opportunity with foundation makeup. She developed a self-adjusting, hard-powder makeup for use on any skin tone. Following an appearance on a reality TV show for entrepreneurs and numerous other promotional measures, the company’s sale grew to nearly $800,000. The recent acquisition of chain store clients requires the company to raise capital to finance the required inventory. Additionally, the company has consolidated its operations into a 4,000 square foot facility to improve logistics, quality control and management efficiency. Ambitious sales projections include a doubling of sales for the next two years. To support this projected growth, the CEO must ensure the appropriate systems are in place. She also needs to finance a marketing program to drive growth.

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?

In 2011 Nespresso, the premium single-serve coffee brand of the multinational Swiss company Nestle, found itself at a crossroads. Between 2006 and 2010 Nespresso had managed to nearly triple sales - from CHF 1.16 billion to well over CHF 3 billion. But despite its meteoric growth in recent years, competitors were moving to try to challenge Nespresso's dominance of the premium single-serve coffee market by launching their own single-serve concepts. Some of these competitors had developed capsules compatible with the Nespresso system, and had aggressively pushed into the supermarket channel where Nespresso itself remained completely absent. Nespresso had to understand the degree to which it could sustain its competitive advantage in the premium single-serve coffee market in the face of growing competition, and develop strategies to address the growing threat of competitors who were offering Nespresso compatible capsules. The case helps students to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts of innovation, branding, business system fit, sustainable competitive advantage and responding to low-cost competitors. It is intended for MBA courses in Strategic Management, Innovation and Marketing. It can also be used in executive education programs, for example as part of a competitive strategy program to discuss issues related to strategy, competitive advantage and responding to low-cost rivals.

Superior Savings Bank was a small community bank that had been operating in Superior, Wisconsin, since 1924. Its corporate office was located downtown and two nearby branches were opened-one in a prominent grocery store, SuperOne Foods, and one in a big-box supercenter, Walmart. The Board of Directors and top management were content with the bank's size and performance. However, in 2012, another growth opportunity presented itself, and a decision had to be made whether to maintain the status quo or add a third branch. The bank had the option of offering services in a soon-to-be-constructed SuperOne Foods in the east part of town (3 miles from the corporate office). The bank's President and CEO, David H. Stack, needed to determine whether to expand or keep the bank's operations at its current level.

A snapshot of monthly activity on popular social sites, along with a depiction of key demographics.

The key account manager of an engineering company has to convince a department to give up important contracts. The German engineering company Siemens had set up a global key account management program since 2010. The key account manager of an emerging account had been asked from his customer to cut the costs of two long-term contracts worth about €300 million that his customer had signed with Siemens. Although legally Siemens could refuse the revision, such an act could jeopardize Siemens' relationship with the customer. At the same time, a change in the contracts would bring about losses for Siemens. How should the key account manager handle this problem? He knew that he would have to be resourceful, given that he had no direct authority in the situation, but this was the nature of his job.

PV Technologies, Inc. is an industry-leading manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters used to convert the direct current output of solar panels into alternating current for the commercial power grid. In conjunction with a request for proposal, the company's largest customer performs a routine evaluation and ranks PV Technologies third behind two key competitors. The director of sales and marketing must weigh the possible consequences of the report on the company's reputation while considering an appropriate response. Students must complete a quantitative analysis of four possible courses of action and make a recommendation.