個案總覽

From 2002 to 2011, coffee-machine manufacturer Keurig Incorporated had grown from a privately held company with just over $20 million in revenues and a plan to enter the single serve coffee arena for home consumers, to a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., a publicly traded company with net revenues of $1.36 billion and a market capitalization of between $8 and $9 billion. In 2003 Keurig had introduced its first At Home brewer. Now, approximately 25 percent of all coffee makers sold in the United States were Keurig-branded machines, and Keurig was recognized as among the leaders in the marketplace. The company had just concluded agreements with both Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks that would make these retailers' coffee available for use with Keurig's specialized brewing system. The company faced far different challenges than when it was a small, unknown marketplace entrant. John Whoriskey, vice president and general manager of Keurig's At Home division, had to consider the impact that impending expiration of key technology patents and the perceived environmental impact of the K-Cup® portion packs would have on the company's growth. Whoriskey also wondered what Keurig's growth potential was, and how the new arrangements with Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts could be leveraged to achieve it.

As commercials migrate from television to the Internet, marketers need to use different techniques to keep viewers watching--and to encourage them to send the ad to others. Harvard Business School's Thales Teixeira utilizes infrared eye tracking and facial-emotion-detection software to understand how people respond to online ads, and he offers five techniques to increase the odds an online ad will go viral.

This case critically analyzes the positioning journey traversed by Saffola, one of India's leading cooking oils. For nearly half a century, Saffola was strongly associated with the health of the human heart, with its visual language, communication strategy, and brand positioning, all revolving around heart-related risks. With changing trends and market sentiments, Saffola became painfully cognizant of its shrinking relevance as a brand, indicated by stagnating sales, thus posing a unique conundrum: how should Saffola expand its user base to include non-heart patients while still being relevant to its current, loyal user base? In order to address this, the marketing team at Saffola undertook two re-positioning exercises, one in 2001 and the other in 2004. This case studies both these efforts in detail, analyzing the dynamics of the brand's image, identity, and positioning in tandem with changing consumer trends and market conditions.

The executive director of a daycare is trying to figure out how to address legal, financial and safety issues stemming from an incident - two months ago, a two-year old boy had broken his leg. Despite having no formal training in public relations or crisis management, the executive director felt she had handled the incident reasonably well: it seemed as though everything at the daycare had returned to normal. Still, the executive director couldn't stop worrying that the daycare might experience further fallout from the incident.

Tim O'Shaughnessy, the 29-year-old CEO of LivingSocial, is growing a revolutionary worldwide business of "daily deals"-in which retailers offer a heavily-discounted product or service available for purchase for brief (often 24-hour) windows. The case explores the complicated sharing of risks and rewards between LivingSocial, participating retailers, and customers, focusing on the return on investment in both the short- and longer-term for LivingSocial's retail partners. In addition, given the rapid growth of the daily deals space and the accompanying proliferation of competitors including Groupon and Amazon.com, the case focuses on the need for constant innovation in product offerings to maintain differentiation from copycats.

The executive director of a daycare is trying to figure out how to address legal, financial, and safety issues stemming from an incident that occurred two months before, when a two-year-old boy broke his leg. Despite having no formal training in public relations or crisis management, the executive director felt she had handled the incident reasonably well: it seemed as though everything at the daycare had returned to normal. Still, the executive director couldn’t stop worrying that the daycare might experience further fallout from the incident.

Pearson Plc is an education company that operates worldwide, with headquarters in London, England. Its six primary business units are North American Education, International Education, Professional, The Financial Times, Interactive Data, and Penguin Publishing. The vice president of product management within the Digital Learning division of the North American Education unit based in Chandler, Arizona, begins to transform the product development processes to better meet the needs of his customers in the education market, specifically in transitioning from using an off-shored Waterfall software development model to an on-shore Agile model.<br><br><br><br>When the vice president first joined Pearson a year earlier, the Digital Learning unit had spent significant resources developing a major upgrade for one of its educational software products. The first version of this new product was challenged by the disconnect between what the software development group was delivering and what the vice president’s customers desired. He is now faced with a decision to continue focusing on the specific methodology the group had implemented (Scrum) or move to a new one (Kanban). Additionally, he has to consider expanding his focus to help drive Agile methodologies both with other groups in his business unit and outside his business unit. These decisions must be made at a potentially critical time for his products as his organization deals with the growing pains associated with the shift to Agile.

This note provides an overview of the impact investing industry, a new and burgeoning field of investments seeking to create social and environmental benefits while also generating a financial return. Recent reports have estimated a global market of at least $500 billion in the next decade. The note discusses the role of the various players such as impact investors, intermediary organizations, and program implementors in the development of the industry, as well as the emergence of new corporate structures for social enterprises and the creation of innovative financial instruments such as the Social Impact Bond.

On March 28, 2011, The New York Times website became a restricted site where most of the content was protected behind a "paywall." Users who exceeded the limit of 20 free articles per month were required to pay for either a digital or print subscription. The newspaper industry had been suffering from revenue declines over the past decade, and the transition to digital media was difficult to navigate. Revenues from online advertising were not sufficient to replace the loss of print revenue, and many publishers had explored charging readers for content, with mixed success, where specialized sources like The Wall Street Journal were successfully using the model, but several other general news sites had failed. Newspapers and content creators in general were very interested in understanding whether transitioning to the paywall at the most popular news website would succeed, and whether it could become a blueprint for future success as a sustainable business model. There were several difficult issues to examine in determining the digital strategy for The Times. Would consumers remain as engaged with a site protected by a paywall? Would advertisers react positively to such a move that walled off readers? Would readers value both the print and digital versions of the content, or would it become necessary to create new content? The Times had several choices in designing the paywall, including determining the digital content, pricing, as well as how to interface with readers of secondary news websites like blogs that posted links to news articles. Should they design a "leaky" paywall where determined users could easily slip through, or a "bulletproof" paywall like the Financial Times had done, where users had to pay before they could access any content? What choices would provide the foundation for a successful business model?

In May 2010, the “chief pain officer” of SalesBrain, a neuroscience-based marketing research and coaching company located in California, has been approached for advice by the marketing head of Digital Technology International (DTI), a Utah-based provider of technology solutions for the global publishing industry. DTI has been struggling with communicating the core value proposition of its offerings to customers, including leading newspaper publishers. Its frontline people are delivering messages that are technical, jargon-filled, and complex. Publisher-customers are unable to understand quickly how the technology solutions being offered by DTI can help them become competitive. The sales messages are also not consistent.<br><br>SalesBrain is suggesting a three-step process wherein it will identify the “pain points” being experienced by the publisher-customers of DTI; create a compelling set of claims that DTI could offer about its technology products; and guide its frontline salespersons towards developing appropriate sales scripts that they could use with prospective clients. SalesBrain is deploying the cutting-edge tools of neuroscience marketing in each of the three processes. The chief pain officer must choose between Layered Voice Analysis and Facial Action Coding System as a medium to serve the needs of DTI.

CFLs were a signature piece in Walmart's sustainability effort, and although by October 2007, Walmart's goal of selling 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) had been achieved, the achievement actually highlighted how little CFLs had penetrated. With over 100 million households in the United States, this impressive-sounding result actually meant less than one CFL per residence on average. Walmart had much more work ahead in positioning and pricing CFLs to make them a viable presence in the lighting category. A public failure here could cause Walmart to lose momentum in the greening of its brand. Was the issue a matter of product, price, promotion, or positioning?

In September 2011, the CEO of First Energy Private Ltd, a startup enterprise in the alternative energy industry in India, is facing a flashpoint. The company has commercialized the technology of biomass cooking stoves and has been providing, since 2007, clean and affordable cooking solutions to customers in rural India. A marginal hike in price of biomass fuel in early 2011 has, however, led to a steep fall in demand making the continuance in the rural household market unsustainable. The company does not have a level playing field in the household segment because the competitor product, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), enjoys price subsidy provided by the federal government. First Energy has been quick to find its bearings by targeting a niche market in the urban commercial market consisting of restaurants, eateries and hostels. While the margins are high in this segment, the volumes are low. The company must therefore build scale to be able to service the investments in plant capacity, which is being under-utilized. The case enables students to come up with strategies for market expansion for the CEO. They will also take a call on whether to exit from or hold on to the household segment where the margins are low but the volumes, in the light of the imminent de-subsidization of LPG, would be high.

In May 2010, the chief pain officer of SalesBrain, a neuroscience-based marketing research and coaching company located in California, United States, has been approached by the marketing head of Digital Technology International (DTI), a provider of technology solutions to the global publishing industry, based in Utah, United States, for advice. DTI has been struggling with communicating the core value proposition of its offerings to customers consisting of leading newspaper publishers. Its frontline people are delivering messages that are technical, jargon-filled and complex. Publisher-customers are unable to understand quickly how the technology solutions being offered by DTI can help them become competitive. The sales messages are also not consistent. Not all sales persons of DTI seem to be speaking the same language.SalesBrain is suggesting a three-step process wherein it will identify the pain points being experienced by the publisher-customers of DTI; create a compelling set of claims that DTI could offer about its technology products; and guide its frontline salespersons towards developing appropriate sales scripts that they could use with prospective clients. SalesBrain is deploying the cutting-edge tools of neuroscience marketing in each of the three processes.

In September 2011, the CEO of First Energy Private Ltd, a start-up enterprise in the alternative energy industry in India, is at a critical juncture. The company has commercialized the technology of biomass cook stoves and has been providing, since 2007, clean and affordable cooking solutions to customers in rural India. A marginal rise in the price of biomass fuel in early 2011 has, however, led to a steep fall in demand, making the continuance in the rural household market unsustainable. The company is at a disadvantage in the household segment because the competing product, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), enjoys a price subsidy provided by the federal government. First Energy has been quick to target a niche in the urban commercial market consisting of restaurants, eateries, and hostels. While the margins are high in this segment, the volumes are low. The company must therefore build scale to be able to service the investments in plant capacity, which is under-utilized. The case enables students to come up with strategies for the CEO for market expansion. They will also decide whether to exit from or hold on to the household segment, where the margins are low but the volumes, considering the imminent de-subsidization of LPG, will be high.

In 2008 and 2009, a period of severe economic turmoil, Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren led a large-scale transformation of the iconic department store. Having previously converted the many department stores owned by Macy's to the Macy's names (except Bloomingdale's), Lundgren and his team set out to create a more efficient, dynamic organization. Their "One Macy's" initiative consolidated and centralized all key functions, while their "My Macy's" initiative focused on customizing the offerings of individual stores to local markets. By 2011, Macy's had many advantages, including an energized, highly experienced executive team; a nationwide presence and strong brand in the U.S.; a competitive offering of private label and exclusive brands; and, following the execution of One Macy's and My Macy's, a fresh, unique foundation for future growth. However, the company still faces significant challenges, including low sales productivity (in part due to the large size of its stores), the decline of mall-based shopping, poor floor-level sales capabilities, lack of appeal to younger consumers, intensifying competition, and an overall dearth of future growth opportunities. This case allows students to assess Lundgren's leadership to date and options for the future, as well as the overall viability of the department store business model.

Between 2004 and 2011, the Universal Robina Corporation (URC) launched its first ready-to-drink bottled tea product, C2, in three Southeast Asian markets: the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. URC’s founder hoped to replicate the success that ready-to-drink tea had achieved in China and Japan. Because of the differences in competitive tactics and consumer preferences in each market, URC needed to modify its strategic plan for each to improve the likelihood of achieving success with C2. These cases encourage students to discern which characteristics are most important for success and thereby determine the profitability of each new international venture.<br><br>In addition, the cases explore several issues pertaining to the internationalization of an emerging market firm — particularly one lacking the advantage of being based out of a larger developing country like India, China, or Brazil. Based in the Philippines, URC did not have a sufficiently large domestic market to subsidize its international operations or an internationally known brand or national characteristic to achieve leverage in new markets.<br><br>The cases provide a comparative illustration of expansion into three different markets. Case (A) illustrates a local market expansion, while cases (B) and (C) describe international expansions. In each case, students are encouraged to understand the type of localization strategy required to ensure the success of the product launch. Students will also realize that despite being neighbours, the three Southeast Asian countries in these cases have such diverse tastes and consumer preferences that knowledge and experience gained from one market will not necessarily translate to success in the others.

This case is a supplement to Selling Ready-to-Drink Tea in Southeast Asia: C2 Green Tea in the Philippines (A).

This case is a supplement to Selling Ready-to-Drink Tea in Southeast Asia: C2 Green Tea in the Philippines (A).

The collective buying industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, and Groupon stands out as a major player that has revolutionized this market. The case describes the beginnings of Groupon, as well as the firm’s rise to power, the rise of its numerous competitors, its decisions and expansion strategies, and the collective buying industry as a whole. Key demographic data about Groupon’s customers (consumers and small businesses) are also described, along with recent developments at Groupon and within the industry. While Groupon has undoubtedly discovered a unique model that takes advantage of a “white space” in sales and marketing to local businesses, it is unclear what the future holds for the company. Will it be able to sustain its incredible growth rate, or is its business going to peak quickly and then fade?

This B2B case describes a common situation that arises when channel partners gain success and the perceived balance of power shifts from the supplier to the channel. The manager for Bolster Electronics, one of the largest suppliers in Canada of state-of-the-art industrial video equipment for harsh environments, must consider a request from Vickers Industrial Supplies, a regional dealer, to be upgraded from a dealership to a distributor. Vickers was generating a growing business volume for Bolster in an important market segment, the Canadian oil sands in northern Alberta. Approving Vickers’ request will generate slimmer margins for the manufacturer, which may be made up with higher projected volume, if the projections are reasonable. The potential reaction of the company's national distributors is causing concern. Although Bolster sells to regional dealerships in the United States, its policy is to distribute its products in Canada through two national distributors, and it fears that increasing Vickers’ role will alienate these distributors. Each alternative has benefits and risks.