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Well-established fashion brand Eileen Fisher has traditionally appealed to older women. However, to drive growth, Eileen Fisher's management team wants to target a younger demographic and has revamped its Fall product line to offer more fashionable styles to appeal to younger women. But, repositioning the brand has proven to be harder than expected. This case explores the challenges of appealing to new target markets, without alienating existing customers. The case follows Eileen Fisher's initial forays into social media as they chase a younger demographic, and demonstrates the opportunities and pitfalls that await big brands when they enter the world of Web 2.0.

The Mekanism case introduces students to a digital media production company specialized in creating viral marketing campaigns for advertising agencies and their clients (e.g., Microsoft, AXE, eBay, Toyota, etc.). Mekanism has grown tremendously from 2007 to 2010 in part due to the rise of viral marketing as a promising promotion tool for advertisers to reach and engage with consumers cheaply and quickly via word-of-mouth. Mekanism's president is contemplating expanding its services to other advertising content and media (e.g., televison, print, online) in effect becoming a full-service ad agency. This case is intended to discuss whether Mekanism should 'evolve' into an ad agency or keep focused on producing and distributing viral marketing content.

In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in Texas and Mexico, was introducing its Healthy at H-E-B program to its customers. The program, which started with the company's employees a few years earlier, was an effort to educate and inform customers on how to lead a healthier lifestyle. What CEO Craig Boyan had in mind was creating a state-wide healthy living movement in Texas, where obesity was high relative to other states in the U.S. But how far to go with its employees and customers was a question that President and COO Craig Boyan and his team struggled with. On one hand Boyan believed that H-E-B, long recognized for its community involvement, had a role to play in Texans' health and well-being. On the other hand, he recognized that H-E-B was first and foremost a retailer that had to compete against the likes of Walmart. He needed to make sure that H-E-B was serving its customers what they wanted while also trying to influence their buying behavior toward healthier foods. Some would say that H-E-B had no role in changing the lifestyle and food choices of its employees or customers. But Boyan and his team thought differently.

Ayojak was an online event management product solution offered by Signure Technologies Limited, a firm established in 2007 in India and the United Kingdom that had product development and business development centres in Pune and Bangalore, India. As of May 2011, Ayojak had two operational products and two more products in the development stage. Ayojak provided an end-to-end solution to any event organizer, including such activities as the creation of an event web page, ticket sales, collation of attendee information, event promotion on social media, and customer support for booking tickets online. <br><br><br><br>To promote its clients’ events, Ayojak made extensive use of such social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. It engaged in few offline marketing activities and hence depended solely on word-of-mouth through its social media presence. However, in April 2011, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Signure realized that Ayojak’s social media content strategy had been focusing on promoting its clients’ events. Now, with two more products soon to be launched, the CEO needed to rethink Ayojak’s content strategy. He wanted to build Ayojak’s brand among its stakeholders by leveraging its social media presence, instead of using this presence merely as a promotion platform for its clients’ events.

In early 2012, Lee Neibart, head of global investments for AREA Property Partners, considered the imminent changes to the real estate investment fund business. Since the early 1990s, the real estate private equity industry had experienced explosive growth-yet for many investors, their allocations to real estate had proven to be riskier than anticipated. Going forward, what fund models should AREA consider and what management challenges might these new investment models pose for the firm? This case asks students to consider various modifications to the firm's business model, taking into consideration the macroeconomics and microeconomic drivers of the real estate market.

Part (A) of this case series presents the situation of a multinational brewer, InBev, having acquired several breweries in Germany, and wishing to proceed with operational integration and the closure of smaller, less efficient plants. This move triggers resistance not only from the local workforce, but the local community. For InBev, this is a case of corporate restructuring and strategy implementation. Yet for a group of local entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to plot a management buy-out (MBO) and to recreate a historical local brewery. The case is designed as a business negotiation setting that brings together Inbev, the local entrepreneurs, the city council, and a local bank (instructions for four teams involved in the negotiations are provided in the teaching note). The case can also be used as a conventional case on entrepreneurship or strategy implementation.

This case is a supplement to Wolters Brewery (A): Negotiating Restructuring. It gives a debriefing of the (A) case. It is also an independent case on small- and medium-sized enterprises facing issues of local brand marketing in an industry increasingly dominated by global players, and of developing exports from scratch.

Companies in every industry are attempting to reduce their use of chemicals, particularly synthetic organic compounds, where there is a perception of harm to human health or the environment. The industrial and commercial floor-cleaning equipment industry is no different, with many equipment manufacturers seeking to reduce their use of harsh cleaning chemicals such as petroleum solvents. But with every competitor pursuing similar greening efforts in a mature market, companies find it difficult to differentiate their offerings to customers. <br><br>Tennant Company chose to differentiate itself through a technology-driven business strategy based on chemical-free cleaning. Instead of reducing the use of harsh cleaning chemicals, or reducing the harshness of those chemicals, Tennant offered its customers a cleaning solution that used ionized tap water to clean and disinfect surfaces, thereby eliminating harsh chemicals altogether. The benefits to customers were numerous, including lower total cost of ownership and improved health and safety, while maintaining cleaning performance relative to conventional chemical-based products. This case helps to illustrate the challenge of profitably going beyond incremental “greening” efforts (aimed at doing less harm) — could a significant innovation in environmental performance be the central argument for the company’s value proposition?

This case illustrates the process and challenges of designing a new product and then making it a reality. It examines a myriad of product development, manufacturing and launch challenges confronting entrepreneurs with resource constraints. It does this from two perspectives: that of a product designer and that of an entrepreneur and business owner. Thus, the issues are both creative and practical.

Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation (COMPFED) had been marketing its milk and milk related products under the brand name of Sudha in the Bihar and Jharkhand regions of India for three decades. They operated through six unions and two dairies to process the milk collected from nearly 4,000 village level cooperatives. On the surface, COMPFED appeared to have a competitive advantage for its supply of milk since it maintained the largest network for milk procurement, which spanned a wide geography over these two regions and was unmatched by its competitors. However, due to various environmental forces, the ability to procure an adequate supply had diminished in the last two years, which negatively affected the overall profitability of the organization.The marketing manager of COMPFED had been facing a difficult challenge in serving the growing demand and maintaining profitability. Since he operated in an industry with high fixed costs, the declining supply of milk procurement meant lower sales. As a result, there was no opportunity to significantly lower operating costs to match the limited supply.The marketing manager thought of two reasons present in the external environment that contributed to this situation. First, a series of incessant floods had caused damages to grazing land and livestock operations in many of the villages that were the source for milk. Additionally, private players were disrupting the supply chain by offering short term higher payments to some suppliers/farmers on a case by case basis. These players did not face the same regulatory and hygienic guidelines that COMPFED did and operated outside the normal infrastructure. His options included two very different alternatives; trying to work with these agents or securing a process to minimize or eradicate their activities.

Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation (COMPFED) had been marketing its milk and milk-related products under the Sudha brand name in the Bihar and Jharkhand regions of India for three decades. It operated through six unions and two dairies to process the milk collected from nearly 4,000 village-level cooperatives. COMPFED appeared to have a competitive advantage for its supply of milk, since it maintained the largest network for milk procurement, which spanned a large area and was unmatched by its competitors. However, due to various environmental forces, the ability to procure an adequate supply had declined in the last two years, which negatively affected the profitability of the organization.<br><br><br><br>The marketing manager of COMPFED had been facing difficulty in serving the growing demand and maintaining profitability. Since he operated in an industry with high fixed costs, the declining supply of milk procurement meant lower sales. As a result, there was no opportunity to significantly lower operating costs to match the limited supply.<br><br><br><br>The marketing manager thought of two reasons in the external environment that contributed to this situation. First, a series of floods had caused damage to grazing land and livestock operations. Additionally, private players were disrupting the supply chain by offering short-term higher payments to some suppliers/farmers. These players did not face the same regulatory and hygiene guidelines that COMPFED did. The marketing manager’s options included two very different alternatives: trying to work with these agents or securing a process to minimize or eradicate their activities.

Social media applications-including collaborative projects, micro-blogs/blogs, content communities, social networking sites, and virtual worlds-have become part of the standard communication repertoire for many companies. Today, with the creation of increasingly powerful mobile devices, numerous social media applications have gone mobile and new entrants are constantly appearing. The purpose of this article is to take account of this evolution, and provide an introduction to the general topic of mobile marketing and mobile social media. Herein, we define what mobile social media is, what it is not, and how it differs from other types of mobile marketing applications. Further, we discuss how firms can make use of mobile social media for marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, and relationship development/loyalty programs. We present four pieces of advice for mobile social media usage, which we refer to as the 'Four I's' of mobile social media. Finally, we conclude by providing some thoughts on the future evolution of this new and exciting type of application.

Millennials have heavily influenced social media's evolution into an important source of product information. They are increasingly basing their product evaluations on information gathered from online reviews. Thus, companies targeting Millennials may wish to pay heed to online reviews. Which products are affected by Millennials' online reviews? Do the reviews tend to be positive or negative? Where do Millennial customers look for information amongst the plethora of online venues? As presented herein, a survey of 227 Millennials reveals that this generation is undeniably posting reviews online and being influenced by these reviews. Respondents show a definite preference for two online venues, Facebook and company websites, when voicing their opinions. Reviews are broken down by positive and negative comments, and how product categories fare for each type. Contrary to popular thinking, the respondents were more prone to post positive reviews than negative reviews. Males voice their opinions online significantly more often than females, and specific gender differences are observed by product category. Recommendations are provided for selling to Millennials by leveraging online reviews.

Nawaal Motlekar is the managing director of Kwenta Media and founding editor of Mamas & Papas, a recently launched parenting magazine in Southern Africa. From her early entrepreneurial experiences, Motlekar developed a personal and professional interest in parenting magazines. As a Black South African women, married to an Indian man, in an increasingly multi-racial and multi-cultural society, Motlekar recognized a gap for a parenting magazine that would appeal to a wider and more racially and culturally inclusive target market. After extensive research and development, she launched the Mamas & Papas magazine in early 2009. The case charts Motlekar's journey as an entrepreneur, as well as her efforts between 2006 and 2009 to bring the magazine to life. The case explores the quantitative and qualitative research approaches employed by Motlekar, as well as her marketing and branding initiatives towards building a Mamas & Papas brand beyond just the physical magazine. With the magazine having been on the shelves for 12 months, Motlekar and her board faced a number of decisions. These included options to increase advertising revenues and circulation, as well as choosing how to extend the Mamas & Papas brand into related categories.

This case explores social media marketing as both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) strategies. In spite of a challenging real estate environment, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE) was launched in 2008 by Realogy Corporation, the largest franchisor of real estate brands in the world, to maintain and grow market share with a new type of real estate company centered around lifestyle. BHGRE has grown rapidly and has experienced tremendous success with its B2B social media efforts. Now, several years after the formation of the company, the president and chief executive officer must decide how to leverage what she has learned from the B2B effort to create a B2C social media program. Additional factors include a concurrent Canadian market entry.

Within months of its launch in December 2009, Angry Birds, a mobile game created by a small Finnish company, Rovio Entertainment Ltd., became an international hit. By late 2011, Rovio was not only making Angry Birds games for the iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms, but it had also expanded into plush toys, cookbooks, animation videos and licensing arrangement with major brands. With the goal of making Rovio the next Disney, Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, was planning to create an Angry Birds movie. Was Angry Birds a fad that would fade away or was Rovio on a path to build a media empire?

HIGHLY COMMENDED CASE - African Business Cases Runner-up, 2012 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition. This case chronicles the origins and growth of Sorbet, a chain of beauty salons targeting upper income women in South African metropolitan areas. Owner Ian Fuhr identified an opportunity to redefine the beauty salon experience in South Africa by offering customers a service unlike anything in the industry. He carefully managed human resources to motivate employees and grow the client base. To complement this, the company started an external beauty therapy school to improve staff and train potential employees. In addition, Fuhr stressed the importance of growing brand awareness and carefully adjusted the company’s sales mix to maximize all potential profit margins, all while developing a customer-centric culture. By 2011, two new businesses had been launched under the Sorbet brand (wellness services; event management). Such expansion plus regional diversification options all had to be considered while keeping service quality levels high.

The owner and director of a residential summer camp for children recognizes the need to make some changes for the upcoming off-season. His primary objective is to increase the number of campers. Specifically, marketing initiatives are needed to bolster the August sessions, a month when the camp experiences declining enrolment. He has some key decisions to make, including which group to target, how to promote the camp sessions and what to charge for any new product offerings.

A senior account manager at Boise Automation Canada Ltd. was disappointed with the news that he had just lost the $1.2 million opportunity with Northern Paper Inc. (Northern), a paper mill in Rocky Falls, Ontario.The opportunity was to design, supply and install an automated control system for Northern's wood-chip handling system. With over 20 years experience selling automation systems in heavy industry, had he won the order, it would have easily put him over his target quota for 2011 and significantly boosted his incentive payout. Now, with less than 3 months before the end of the year, he was unlikely to meet his target for the year. The senior account manager wanted to understand what had gone wrong, and to learn from the experience, to avoid repeating it. What should he have done differently?