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Business leaders are trained to focus on big, attractive markets, yet some of the most compelling sources of growth come from markets that begin as tiny “footholds.” Eight of the ten most valuable U.S. companies started in small segments of the economy, such as IBM, whose origins were in punched cards to tabulate the 1890 U.S. Census, or ExxonMobil, which refined petroleum for kerosene lamps. Penetrating foothold markets requires an entirely different approach than that used for big, established markets, and there are three imperatives of successful foothold strategies: to reduce uncertainty, stimulate demand, and enable leadership. While the narrowness of foothold markets makes them powerful, it also creates difficulty in choosing them. Leaders can identify a strong foothold because it has a clear target customer, provides a pathway to a broader market, is easily satisfied, and has few dependencies on separate decision makers and business partners. After comparing the foothold markets of Blackberry and Gatorade, this article states that a company searching for footholds should consider what it wants to accomplish, assess potential markets, create an exhaustive list of footholds, and evaluate them according to its objectives.

In March 2011, Nicolas Hayek, the CEO of the leading Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch Group, reflected on the positioning of Omega, its revived flagship brand. Which marketing strategy would best allow it to confront its main competitor Rolex? And how would potential adjustments to Omega's product, pricing, distribution, and promotion strategies impact the sales of the Swatch Group's other 18 watch brands?

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev (9B11M124), Groupo Modelo, Tsingtao Brewery (9B11M126), San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

The beer industry comprises elements of sub-national, national and global competition. To expand, the industry players use various strategic approaches as illustrated by five major beer companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev (9B11M124), Groupo Modelo (9B11M125), Tsingtao Brewery, San Miguel (9B09M074) and Thai Bev (9B13M065). Observations about the beer industry — a fairly easy product and industry to understand — can be extrapolated to other industries. Lessons can be drawn regarding the influence of industry pressures on the four key components of an international expansion strategy: product choice for expansion, market choice for geographic expansion, timing of entry and mode of entry.

This note guides students or Executive Education participants through an exercise to help identify growth opportunities for their business units. The 3-Circle framework consists of 10 steps that lead to a vetted growth strategy. Readers work through the first five steps to identify three potential growth ideas. They then follow the remaining five steps to develop one specific Big Idea for growth. This exercise is a condensed guide to the process described in Grow by Focusing on What Matters: Strategy in Three Circles, by Urbany and Davis.

The process of branding a product involves building awareness of and preference for the specific name of the product that is being branded. Central to the branding process is the brand positioning statement, often simply called the positioning statement. The positioning statement is a short written document that lays out how the marketer believes others should think, feel, and relate to the brand. This note discusses the process of brand positioning and how to construct positioning statements.

In mid-2008, Shai Agassi, CEO of Better Place, is in the midst of planning a paradigm shift in clean transportation. In an attempt to wean the world from using gasoline-powered vehicles, his company is playing the role of innovator and integrator for new vehicles, charging spots, and battery switch stations. The effort also requires aligning various parties, from governments to auto manufacturers to consumers. The fledgling company has made good progress in both Israel and Denmark as the first two launch locations but faces a series of decisions on the best course of action going forward. Agassi must decide how best to market in these two countries given the likely adoption challenges once the infrastructure and cars are ready, as well as decide how quickly to begin pursuing other countries (and if so, which ones). A big part of the Better Place solution relies on a novel business model that needs to be evaluated for its attractiveness and feasibility.

Britney Spears is one of the most successful female recording artists in contemporary music, world-wide. Herein, we analyze how Britney Spears and her team of employees rely on social media applications to communicate around this pop icon, and create and maintain her celebrity brand image. Specifically, we look at the use of social media during the launch of her single 'Hold It Against Me' and the associated album Femme Fatale in early 2011. The interplay of postings on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook-combined with comments on her webpage, BritneySpears.com-can be seen as a prime example of social media usage to support new product introductions.

In order to provide the highest quality services at lower costs, global firms have shifted their customer service functions offshore. Despite the apparent advantages of offshoring services, customers tend to object to the practice based on concerns about private/personal information being sent overseas. Additionally, executing service exchanges with overseas providers can be challenging because of perceived communication difficulties and cultural differences. The purpose of this article is to offer managers of firms that offshore services a clearer understanding of consumer concerns and provide guidance for alleviating these concerns. Specifically, suggestions are proffered regarding how to (1) minimize communication and cultural misunderstandings between customers and service providers, (2) assure customers that personal/private information is secure, and (3) restructure service activities to alleviate customer dissatisfaction. Unless such customer concerns are successfully identified and addressed, companies may not benefit from pursuing a services offshoring strategy.

In October 2011, Zhang Yuping, founder and chairman of Hengdeli, the largest Swiss watch retailer in the world, wondered how to work more closely with its key suppliers-Swatch Group, Richemont Group, LVMH Group, and Rolex Group-to maintain strong growth in the Greater China region. Specifically, how could Hengdeli manage the relationship with these suppliers to ensure getting more supply in a market where demand outgrew supply? How could Hengdeli balance the needs of these competing suppliers without being overreliant on one or two suppliers? How could it continue to expand its retail network to enhance its value and position? How could Hengdeli rationalize the portfolio management to maximize the return in the long-term?

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Many companies are trying to leverage the power of Twitter to connect with customers and promote their brands and products. The authors studied the marketing communication between 47 companies and their followers for about three months. Their research identifies factors that increase the likelihood of "retweeting"so that a company's tweets will be shared with recipients'networks and identifies which activities should not be pursued.<BR> <BR>Retweeting is desirable both because the original tweet reaches more people and because a retweet is essentially an endorsement from recipients to their followers. That said, since tweeting by companies is basically a marketing function, there are several practices that don't work well. The most important to avoid is blatant hard-sell messages. In addition, neither using hashtags nor embedding links increased retweeting. Finally, announcing contests or other promotional techniques also did not increase retweeting.<BR> <BR>The authors did find nine practices that increase retweetability, including keeping messages short so there is room for retweeters to add their own messages. Opening with an attention-grabbing headline is important, as is simply asking the recipient to pass the message on. Humanizing the brand has the highest likelihood of causing retweeting, increasing the odds by as much as 70%. The authors also suggest providing information that people can use and act on; offering a deal that can save people money; and making the message relevant and topical. And the best practice of all is when organizations combine several of these practices to get the most out of their marketing messages.<BR>

Red Bull spends an estimated 40% of sales on marketing, largely on sponsored events related to extreme sports. This brief case serves to frame an evaluation of Red Bull's marketing strategy in the increasingly populated energy drink market.

Cardagin provides a mobile loyalty point program and coupons service to local businesses. The new startup in the increasingly competitive space of consumer/merchant apps for smart phones has received positive reviews and is reaching an inflection point: decisions made at this stage can be the difference between a national presence and an also-ran. The CEO needs to demonstrate the value of this service in compelling ways to retailers and consumers. As an intermediary, Cardagin needs to ensure consistent usage by consumers and for retailers to provide attractive offers to their consumers. Building a nationwide network of consumers and retailers itself can be critical. The case provides students an opportunity to analyze a new digital venture, explore expansion options, and evaluate the challenges in working with many small businesses, each with its own idiosyncrasies.

Airwide International was one of the top suppliers of commercial and residential air conditioning systems in Europe, with a growing presence in the attractive markets of Asia. Increasing competition from Chinese and international manufacturers coupled with a sales organization built primarily by hiring (from other industries) and retraining have produced a pattern of uneven sales. At a recent national sales meeting, the performance of the Shanghai region surfaced as an area of concern for senior management. The transition from product selling to key account selling has met with obstacles; primary among them is the insufficient commitment of some area sales leaders. A review meeting with a Shanghai's sales leader reveals some of the problems and provides the Sales VP an opportunity to go over the essence of Key Account Management

Yoga, an ancient discipline, has become popular worldwide. The marketing of yoga and dispute over its origins have led to debate as to whether yoga should be branded at all. Some yoga instructors have gone so far as to copyright their varieties of yoga; others in the yoga community say it is a religious and/or spiritual practice and as such should not be claimed as intellectual property.

Details Nike Football's marketing efforts in the lead up to and during the World Cup in South Africa (2010). Allows students to reflect on the implementation of the strategy and to think about the implications for Nike as it begins preparing for the World Cup in 2014.

Unilever's Lipton Tea had been successful with the first phase of its certification partnership with Rainforest Alliance. Now the company faced challenges in how to push forward with the transformation of more difficult parts of the supply chain and how to market sustainable tea in developing markets like India.

Toto Ltd. was a global manufacturer of kitchen and bathroom equipment, fixtures, and other related products. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with a global presence, the company was a leader in product innovation in the kitchen, bathroom and plumbing categories. One such example was a product called "Washlet," an electronic toilet seat with multiple functions: heating, showering, drying, and deodorizing. The case asks the students to conduct research on their own to estimate a potential market size of the Washlet product line in both Egypt and the United States. The students are also required to present the findings to the class.

Novartis's investment in the start-up Proteus Biomedical gave the pharmaceuticals giant access to a technology allowing for the implantation of ingestible sensors in medicinal pills and, with the help of the sensors, the collection and wireless transmission of drug-compliance data to healthcare providers for the review of pre-determined health vitals. One application of the technology was the improvement of drug compliance: if, for some reason, such "smart pills" were not taken as prescribed, patients could be reminded to comply with the recommended medication regime. The case, which is brief and based on public information, summarizes the nature and magnitude of the drug noncompliance problem, describes some of the competing solutions to address the problem, outlines Proteus's technology in this context, profiles the Proteus and Novartis enterprises, and concludes by characterizing the challenge in front of Novartis as it decides which pill(s) to make smart and how best to market the smart pill(s). The proposed thrust