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New Twitter CEO Elon Musk had been aggressively cutting costs since he acquired the company in October 2022, claiming that the company could collapse if he had not done so. Much of this had been accomplished by retrenching huge numbers of staff. Meanwhile, Musk's controversial moves to restore banned accounts had eliminated a host of key advertisers, causing its main source of revenue - advertising earnings - to plummet as they suspended their advertising activities on the platform. To pivot away from the firm's over-reliance on advertising revenue, Twitter had begun backing all things related to cryptocurrencies. First, it allowed cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets to run advertisements. It subsequently facilitated discussions about cryptocurrencies on its platform and allowed users to tip content creators with Ether. The company further allowed users of its Twitter Blue service to connect their Twitter accounts to their cryptocurrency wallets where their non-fungible token (NFT) holdings were held. Twitter then went on to facilitate the buying and selling of NFTs through tweets. Musk knew that the only way out for Twitter was to open up new steady revenue streams. Were cryptocurrencies and NFTs the answer? Only time would tell.

This case traces the evolution of analytics as an organisation-wide capability at Titan Company. It delves into the initiation of the process, development of various projects to seek buy-in from key internal stakeholders, hurdles in organisation-wide adoption and ways to overcome these hurdles. The case covers topics such as factors that drive acceptance and measurement of impact, hand-holding with regard to capability development and ways to build champions in the organisation who support the venture. This case is one of the few recorded instances of organisation-wide adoption of analytics for decision-making in business in the Indian context.

After COVID-19 lockdowns delayed its first public theatre performance in April 2020, the Bombay Theatre Company (BTC) turned to virtual performances on various online platforms, establishing an international presence and casting international artists. In May 2022, the company’s founder reflected on the human resources and business challenges he had faced in his short entrepreneurial journey. These included limited resources for talent acquisition, an overreliance on social media as a hiring source, and difficulties in retaining gig workers, as well as tepid corporate responses to BTC’s theatre-based interventions and a lack of financial resources and clear revenue model. BTC’s founder needed to determine the best business model to generate a steady flow of revenue and to envisage a clear growth path, and he knew he would have to choose between virtual and in-person shows as well as between theatre and film. Overall, BTC had built itself a strong foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it now sought to leverage that base to build a compelling employee value proposition and attract the talent it needed to become profitable.</p>

Early in 2020, la Fundación Delirio (Delirio), a salsa dance, music, and circus arts show from Cali, Colombia, faced the abrupt and indefinite suspension of its presentations because of lockdowns associated with COVID-19. The general director and the staff who remained had to find new ways to connect with their audiences, relying on the strength of the brand, which help them stay afloat despite restrictions on live performances. However, when considering some of the alternatives to live performances, the general director also wondered about brand management: What impact might these short-term survival strategies have on the brand? What was going to happen to the artists?

Hillel International was founded in the United States in 1929 as a non-profit organization, with a mission to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. By 2021, it had grown into the world’s largest Jewish college campus organization with over US$50 million in revenue and had achieved international recognition by connecting students at colleges and universities around the world. In August 2021, the newly appointed brand director was challenged with developing a new digital marketing strategy in the throes of rising antisemitism. Her campaign had to be educational and engaging, and should empower Jewish students on campus to act: involving other Jewish students and fostering a feeling of inclusivity for all. The brand director had much to prepare and needed to outline how Hillel International should embark on a marketing campaign during the fourth quarter of 2021.

Nykaa E-Retail Private Limited (Nykaa), an Indian e-commerce start-up catering to the beauty and personal care segment, was preparing for its IPO amid the uncertainty presented by the nationwide lockdown in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since only retailers selling essential goods were allowed to remain open during the strictest lockdown phase, Nykaa was not able to operate during the first three months of 2020. Nykaa had adopted an omnichannel retailing strategy and made good use of digital marketing activities to ensure customer satisfaction, but its existing business model appeared to be insufficient to overcome the pandemic-related hardships. Nykaa needed to decide on potential strategy changes and the timing of its stock market debut, knowing that by postponing the highly anticipated IPO, the company could be risking its reputation.

Hillel International was founded in the United States in 1929 as a non-profit organization, with a mission to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. By 2021, it had grown into the world's largest Jewish college campus organization with over US$50 million in revenue and had achieved international recognition by connecting students at colleges and universities around the world. In August 2021, the newly appointed brand director was challenged with developing a new digital marketing strategy in the throes of rising antisemitism. Her campaign had to be educational and engaging, and should empower Jewish students on campus to act: involving other Jewish students and fostering a feeling of inclusivity for all. The brand director had much to prepare and needed to outline how Hillel International should embark on a marketing campaign during the fourth quarter of 2021.

Nykaa E-Retail Private Limited (Nykaa), an Indian e-commerce start-up catering to the beauty and personal care segment, was preparing for its IPO amid the uncertainty presented by the nationwide lockdown in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since only retailers selling essential goods were allowed to remain open during the strictest lockdown phase, Nykaa was not able to operate during the first three months of 2020. Nykaa had adopted an omnichannel retailing strategy and made good use of digital marketing activities to ensure customer satisfaction, but its existing business model appeared to be insufficient to overcome the pandemic-related hardships. Nykaa needed to decide on potential strategy changes and the timing of its stock market debut, knowing that by postponing the highly anticipated IPO, the company could be risking its reputation.

Kamal Patel and Tushar Thumar, co-founders of Khedut Feeds & Foods Private Limited (KFFPL), were contemplating whether to accept the proposal from Royal Exporters Private Limited (REPL) to become one of its contract manufacturers. REPL was a leading peanut exporter in India that shipped premium peanuts to the European Union (EU) and other markets. Patel and Thumar had invested INR 134.8 million to establish a cutting-edge peanut-processing facility for exporting peanuts to the EU. However, despite producing high-quality peanuts, they could not find buyers in the EU willing to pay a reasonable price. This happened for two reasons. First, they started at a time when the EU was considering a ban on Indian peanuts because of the presence of aflatoxin in them. Second, many EU importers were unwilling to take a chance on a new exporter from India. By accepting REPL's offer, KFFPL could benefit from gaining access to its production capacity and obtaining a guaranteed return on investment. However, the downside would be losing autonomy in decision-making, brand-building potential and international recognition.

The cannabis industry in Canada has experienced unprecedented growth since the Cannabis Act came into effect in 2018. It is widely expected that cannabidiol (CBD) will be classified as a food and natural health ingredient in Canada, the European Union, and other jurisdictions in the near future, which will open up a significant market. In 2023, Dr. Jacqueline Shan, the CEO of PBG BioPharma, made a long-term strategic decision to enter the cannabis consumer health market by launching a series of CBD consumer health products once the cannabis regulations in Canada are relaxed. In preparing to launch its own consumer product line, PBG BioPharma is developing its marketing strategy and analyzing potential challenges in managing its supply chain.

In 2022, the India-based patient-centred integrative oncology start-up ZenOnco was struggling with brand equity and impact. The company had introduced two innovative apps—Ziopar and CANNECT—to help empower, educate, and enable patients and caregivers to access scientifically-based information and support on cancer treatment. However, the company had yet to become the most sought-after platform for cancer guidance. More than a dozen oncology start-ups were springing up across India’s fragmented, disorganized, and complex cancer-care industry, known for service-delivery issues and high drug costs. ZenOnco’s biggest challenge was brand building and navigating the customer service journey to become the preferred destination for free and low-cost, fact-based cancer-care guidance, counselling, and support.

In August 2022, Falguni Nayar, the founder and chief executive officer of Nykaa—a Mumbai, India–based omnichannel beauty, personal care, and fashion retailer—confronted declining profitability and a stock price that had fallen 36 per cent since the company’s initial public offering in late 2021. As a woman entrepreneur who had launched her venture at the age of 49, Nayar’s attempt to emulate the French multinational retailer Sephora in the Indian market had had a strong start amid heady media coverage. However, the company had been expanding out of its core beauty and personal care market, where it was an early entrant, to the crowded and highly competitive fashion market, which impacted profitability. Nayar and her management team had to address two major issues: determining how to increase profitability and deciding whether or not to make a strong push to India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where the competitive intensity was likely to be lower, but the demographics were unlike those in the country’s large metropolitan areas, where Nykaa was successful.

This technical note follows F. D. Wilder, who is being tasked with driving the Procter and Gamble's digital transformation effort. The cornerstone of the transformation would be "assessing and improving the digital capability of the firm." He decides to develop an assessment tool that would enable P&G's brand leaders to assess "digital ability" and then work with their bosses to create learning plans to address ability gaps.

La Biennale of Venice, which organized festivals in different disciplines, pondered how to remain relevant in front of fading boundaries across arts.

The case explores the journey of Tata Steel Limited (TSL), India's largest and one of the world's top steel manufacturers, to find ways of getting closer to consumers to combat commoditization. This century-old organization has weathered many disruptions from significant regulatory changes, globalization, and technology changes. The company is renowned for its high quality, operational excellence, and delivery reliability. TSL was one of the earliest steel manufacturers (as early as 2003) to recognize the need to build strong relationships with both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) customers. This case describes the efforts of the organization to continuously introduce innovative ideas into the business, including branding various company products, such as Tata Shaktee for steel roofing sheets and Tata Tiscon for thermo-mechanically treated rebars, which are mainstay products in consumer markets. Despite its efforts to reinvent itself continually, the firm faces repeated challenges of price cyclicality and commoditization, which are characteristic of the steel industry. The company faces stiff competition from both local and global players and growing pressure on profitability. To overcome these challenges, the firm is consistently seeking ways to get closer to its customers (in B2B markets) and consumers (in B2C markets). The case highlights the nuances of TSL's market-sensing efforts, spotting the idea of making steel doors that closely resemble wooden ones, taking the product to market, and the thought process of various internal divisions. The case concludes with the leadership team of TSL facing major challenges in deciding how to continue innovating in the marketplace after the early success of the Pravesh initiative.

As executives at the Steinway prepared the piano company to go public in 2022, the firm Damen Investments eyed the intriguing brand as having great potential. A new equity analyst at Damen, Vicki Xu, was tasked with determining if the Steinway brand and the company's growth prospects hit all the right notes. If it had significant growth potential, the investment likely would make sense. If not, then the investment would not work well. Damen invested only in firms with strong growth potential over a long horizon--a decade or more. The storied brand, founded in 1853 in New York City, had long since developed a reputation for crafting the ultimate in quality and gained a loyal following among top pianists and musicians. With sales in 88 countries, Steinway was a global brand and business. Asia was a vital region for growth, especially China, where sales reached $117 million in 2021. That same year, overall revenue for Steinway was $538.4 million, up by a compound annual growth rate of 6.9 percent from 2016, when sales reached $386 million. In the company's IPO filings, Steinway executives presented an optimistic outlook. According to the Steinway team, the company was a promising player in the global luxury industry. Steinway expected to benefit from market trends, and the number of high-net-worth individuals was growing worldwide--particularly in China. Additionally, the company was expanding sales of its Spirio line, focusing on wealthy buyers who could not play the piano.

Alex Tripp was the newly hired interim Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Synapse, a not-for-profit organization serving the Florida entrepreneurial community. Tripp learned at her first meeting with her new bosses that she had less than 80 days to execute an urgent marketing need: sell 5,000 tickets for upcoming annual event in January 2019. The goal of the yearly event was to connect the members of the innovation economy who included three targeted attendees: students, entrepreneurs, and corporations. Alex knew to launch a successful social media promotion campaign to sell tickets in a short time frame with her limited budget, she needed to determine the following: Which social media platforms should she use to reach each of her targets? How much paid social media should she incorporate? What kind of organic social media content would drive ticket purchases? How much of her $10,000 budget she should allocate for each of her target audiences?

MyGate started its journey in 2016 as a gate management system for gated societies but soon evolved into a multi-sided platform offering solutions to the residents' day-to-day needs via the company's mobile application. Residents could approve entry and exit of visitors, search for local service providers like maids, carpenters, plumbers, etc., purchase groceries and a variety of FMCG and consumer durables, engage in group buying, list their properties for sale or rent and engage in peer-to-peer trade. The case highlights the challenges faced by co-founders in balancing the different expectations of stakeholders. As a gate management software, MyGate needed to balance between the security of the residents and the convenience of residents, visitors and service providers. As a communication medium for brands to reach consumers, MyGate needed to balance the frequency and placement of advertisements so that residents would not be irritated while the platform earned revenue for enabling the brands to reach target segments in specific locations. As a gatekeeper, MyGate needed to balance the privacy requirements of residents and the wish of brands to craft more meaningful messages for their target segments. In January 2022, MyGate was yet to turn profitable and needed to balance the objectives of monetisation and expansion of product offerings' geographic footprint. At the core of these dilemmas was the need to balance the current and future profits of a startup which relied on investor funds for survival.

Sharmaji’s Canteen was the only cafeteria on the campus of a prominent management institute in Gurgaon, India. The business had been operating since 1990 and its success depended on a captive residential population of primarily students and staff. The lockdowns imposed by the Government of India in March 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus led to the closure of the academic programs. During the pandemic, students had become accustomed to more choices offered by online food delivery that they felt Sharmaji’s Canteen did not match. The business was losing sales and profitability was eroding. The owner needed to decide between three different revival strategies based on the data collected.

AstraEye Pharma Pvt Ltd.: An Unsettling Dilemma (APP) was an ophthalmology pharmaceutical company that drew 80 per cent of its revenue from the artificial-tears segment. Elena Sanders was responsible for drafting a turnaround strategy for increasing market share by building prescription momentum, improving operational efficiency, and devising a renovated digital strategy. Based on the available options, Sanders had to decide between improving operational efficiencies for an existing brand—Rejuvenate at a 0.5 per cent carboxymethyl cellulose concentration—or launching a new product—Fresh Plus at a 0.3 per cent hyaluronic acid concentration—to cater to a greater number of patients. She was also tasked with sharing an important element of digital strategy: launching APP’s health-care-providers-and-practitioners engagement website or launching a microsite on a third-party online community platform for doctors (i.e., the Health Support Network for Professionals). The decision was urgent, as Sanders had to present her position during the annual strategy meeting scheduled for March 2022.