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How does a small business set its online media budget? The HBS Executive Education Division can be viewed as a small-to-medium sized business unit with annual revenues of $107 million. As we watch it change its culture, practices, and organization from offline to online marketing, we have an opportunity not simply to see the metrics used in online marketing budget allocation, but also the stresses involved in the birth of a new go-to-market culture.

How will U.S. consumers respond to the proliferation of alternative-fuel vehicles, such as cars powered partially or completely by electricity, in the coming decade? After a century in which fossil-fuel-powered vehicles dominated the market, it appeared consumers would have an unprecedented level of choice as to the type of car they purchased and drove. Automakers were introducing various models that used electricity for power, and other power sources, such as fuel cells, were also seeing increased attention. Some observers believed the time was ripe for widespread adoption of these new vehicles: consumers and policymakers were increasingly concerned about the fallout of U.S. dependence on fossil-fuel-powered cars-namely, adverse environmental impacts and reliance on foreign sources of oil, plus the fluctuating price of gasoline-and innovative infrastructure technology was being developed to support electric-powered cars. Despite these promising developments, it remained unclear whether consumers were ready to switch to alternative-fuel vehicles on a large scale. Would they be willing to make the lifestyle trade-offs required for grid-dependent vehicles? How should policymakers intervene, if at all, to encourage adoption, and what marketing activities and incentives might firms employ to stimulate demand?

This note develops a comprehensive new set of concepts to understand buying processes of parents choosing among complex educational services using the example of Montessori private schools.

This note develops a comprehensive new set of concepts to understand buyer behaviour for complex high technology consumer products using the example of notebook computers.

In the wake of the meltdown among US auto manufacturers in 2009, Jay Rogers - CEO of Local Motors - has a new approach for the automotive industry: Decide which models are produced through online design competitions, and then allow customers to "build their own cars" from the winning designs. The case focuses on two key issues: Can Local Motors build a thriving online design community at a reasonable cost? And can customers be convinced to add their own sweat and labor to the manufacturing process? The case is written from the perspective of a start-up company seeking funding while trying to implement a novel business concept.

To grow Phirbol, a telecom retail franchise chain in Delhi, India's underdeveloped markets, its founders were exploring ways to offer more value to the franchisees. In mid-2009, the Phirbol franchise was comprised of some 150 franchisees that had converted their small "mom-and-pop" shops into Phirbol-branded stores. Entrepreneurs Meghna Modi and Glenn Wong had launched the franchise in 2007, two years after they founded Go Mobile, a company-owned mobile retail chain. While Go Mobile stores were located in higher-income neighborhoods and focused primarily on selling phone handsets, Phirbol stores could be found in less-developed areas-most were not accessible by car-and focused on selling service connections (SIM cards) and recharges. Phirbol added value to the franchisees by streamlining some of their business processes, offering them a consistent product supply, sales support and incentives, and providing them with education on the constantly changing dynamics of India's mobile market. But as the founders looked towards expanding, they knew they would have to enhance their offering to franchisees in order to recruit some of the more established "mom-and-pop" stores they planned to target as franchisees. In addition, they would need to adjust their business model such that more responsibility was delegated to franchisees and staff. Looking forward, what should Modi and Wong do to ensure Phirbol's success?

This Excel worksheet contains sample problems, prebuilt Excel models to run breakeven analyses, and charts and graphs which help visualize the results. It is designed to accompany "Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Breakeven Analysis."

This Excel worksheet contains sample problems, prebuilt Excel models to run market sizing and market share analyses, and charts and graphs which help visualize the results. It is designed to accompany Marketing Analysis Tookit: Market Size and Market Share Analysis. The toolkit enables students to size a market and generate a sales forecast using a market build-up methodology. Students measure market demand and company demand and calculate market and product penetration rates and merket share.

Before managers can begin to formulate marketing strategies for their businesses, they must have a strong understanding of the internal and external marketing environments in which they are operating. In this note, we present three methods for collecting and analyzing information about the internal and external marketing environments firms face: 5 C's Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Industry Analysis, and SWOT Analysis. These analyses help students understand the analytical processes by which managers understand themselves, their consumers, and the marketplaces in which they compete. The note gives students a foundation for analyzing marketing cases, as well as providing an analytical structure and process for completing the situation analysis section of a marketing plan.

Marketing managers are often called upon to make recommendations for or against programs that cost money to implement. Before expenditures are made, managers want to be sure that they will be getting a return on their investment. One way of assessing this is by calculating the breakeven point. In this note, we introduce the concept of breakeven analysis and show how it is used to guide marketing decision making. This analysis helps students assess the feasibility of proposed fixed and variable marketing expenditures, the feasibility of permanent pricing changes, and the feasibility of a new product introduction. The note gives students a foundation for analyzing marketing cases, as well as providing an analytical structure and process for completing a marketing plan. The note is accompanied by a free Excel worksheet which contains sample problems, pre-built Excel models to calculate breakeven, and charts and graphs which help visualize the results.

Marketers frequently need to estimate the size of their markets -- both for existing products so that sales forecasts can be developed, and for new products so that market opportunities can be assessed. This toolkit enables students to size a market and generate a sales forecast using a market build-up methodology. Students learn to measure market demand and company demand and calculate market and product penetration rates and market share. The note gives students a foundation for analyzing marketing cases, as well as providing an analytical structure and process for completing a marketing plan. The note is accompanied by a free Excel worksheet (available only to authorized faculty) which contains sample problems, pre-built Excel models to calculate market size, market penetration, and market share, and charts and graphs which help visualize the results.

In January 2010, YouTube, the world's largest online video aggregator, was still seeking to become profitable. Was the time right for Google, YouTube's parent company, to charge users seeking to upload content, as some analysts had suggested - and if so, who should be charged how much and for what? Could YouTube charge users for downloading content, a model it was now beginning to test? Or would it be better for the online video giant to continue to pursue an advertising model, but perhaps broaden its services to advertisers? Describes the online video market as of 2010 as well as YouTube's offerings to users, content owners, and advertisers. Provides information on the site's revenues and costs. Also contains detailed data on online video users and usage behavior.

Remanufactured products do not always cannibalize new product sales. To minimize cannibalization and create additional profits, managers need to understand how consumers value remanufactured products. This is not a static decision and should be re-evaluated over the entire product life cycle. While managers have a responsibility to maximize profits for the firm, this is not necessarily equivalent to maximizing new product sales. A portfolio that includes remanufactured products can enable firms to reach additional market segments and help block competition from new low-end products or third-party remanufacturers.

"This case focuses on New Balance - a privately held company and the fourth largest athletic footwear manufacturer in the world. Founded over 100 years ago, New Balance has a strong social responsibility culture and mission established by its owners. Its commitment to employees, for example, was expressed through maintaining domestic manufacturing in the United States (the only large footwear manufacturer to do so presently) and avoiding layoffs in the deep recession of 2007-2009. In the late 1990s, the company established the Responsible Leadership Steering Committee to address human rights issues in overseas factories. Throughout the years, private ownership had allowed New Balance to take risks and make choices that publicly held companies might not have been able to do; at the same time, private ownership also meant lower pressures to disclose social and environmental performance. The owners were also very "humble" and hesitant to talk aloud about social responsibility. As a global player, the present challenge for the company has become to move corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the next level - from "doing what's right" to fully integrating CSR into the business strategy. The overall goal of the case is to use the provided information from a comprehensive company assessment to identify a few key areas where New Balance can focus on and demonstrate industry leadership while also supporting the bottom line. A set of key questions is included at the end of the paper to guide students' discussion around critical issues for building an integrated CSR strategy for New Balance, considering its culture, structure and present level of corporate citizenship management."

This case focuses on New Balance, a privately held company and the fourth largest athletic footwear manufacturer in the world. Founded over 100 years ago, New Balance has a strong social responsibility culture and mission established by its owners. Its commitment to employees, for example, was expressed through maintaining domestic manufacturing in the United States (the only large footwear manufacturer to do so presently) and avoiding layoffs in the deep recession of 2007-2009. In the late 1990s, the company established the Responsible Leadership Steering Committee to address human rights issues in overseas factories. Throughout the years, private ownership had allowed New Balance to take risks and make choices that publicly held companies might not have been able to do; at the same time, private ownership also meant lower pressures to disclose social and environmental performance. The owners were also very humble and hesitant to talk aloud about social responsibility. As a global player, the present challenge for the company has become to move corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the next level from doing what's right to fully integrating CSR into the business strategy. The overall goal of the case is to use the provided information from a comprehensive company assessment to identify a few key areas where New Balance can focus on and demonstrate industry leadership while also supporting the bottom line. A set of key questions is included at the end of the paper to guide student's discussion around critical issues for building an integrated CSR strategy for New Balance, considering its culture, structure and present level of corporate citizenship management.

Suitable for both MBA- and undergraduate-level courses such as integrated marketing communications, this case traces a product from idea to established, successful brand. A spirits industry executive perceives a gap between the under-$10 and the $25-and-up "prestige" vodkas. Could a midpriced vodka capture some volume from each of those markets? Decisions on pricing, target, distribution, branding, and promotion are considered in the A case. The B case (UV4285) presents the results, which include the important benchmark of one million case sales by 2006. It also presents the founder's assessment of which initial decisions were most critical and explores the new choices he faces, including changes to the distribution channels and additions to the product line.

In this, the second of a two-part case series, the SVEDKA founder assesses which initial decisions were most critical in the launch of his now-successful product. He also explores the new choices he faces, including changes to the distribution channels and additions to the product line. Suitable for both MBA- and undergraduate-level courses such as integrated marketing communications, the case presents opportunities to discuss pricing, target, distribution, branding, and promotion. See also "SVEDKA Vodka (A)," (UV4284).

GPS-to-GO is a successful company that has a wealth of brilliant researchers and scientists who have created advanced global positioning systems (GPSs) for complex air-traffic control and logistics systems. Now, the vision of one of the up and coming managers is to use GPS-to-GO's knowledge to dominate the consumer market with premium-priced and feature-rich GPS units. Even though GPS-to-GO is far ahead in terms of GPS technology, the consumer market demands low-cost units and yearly follow-on products, which requires drastically different skills than GPS-to-GO's typical five- to 10-year cost-plus government projects. One of the managers is tasked with how to meet the cost target and market window for the new product, while working with the same engineering group that caused the unit manufacturing problem and launch delays in the first place. The key issues concern 1) engineering-centric companies and their culture, business strategies and processes for managing new product development 2) the implications these strategies and processes have on addressing the needs of customers, shareholders and employees in a totally new market segment 3) the role managers can play in making critical decisions with a keen eye on roadblocks to success, such as culture, inadequate skills and overly optimistic and myopic visionaries. The case includes an Excel spreadsheet with break-even scenarios that professors can use to complement the teaching note. The case is intended for courses in managing new product commercialization, managing technology and innovation, strategic thinking, operations management and leadership.

Against all odds, the founder of Mk II Corporation (Mk II) has started an American watch company. The founder, a former investment banker and a Wharton MBA graduate, began his venture in 2002 with no prior experience in the watchmaking trade. He started his company to produce watches in the United States during an era when U.S. manufacturing was in decline and the country had no indigenous watchmaking firms to speak of. In addition, the economy was recovering from the dotcom bust and there was intense competition from large, vertically integrated players. Despite all this, the founder has managed to deliver a few thousand watches and watch parts, and has a growing customer list. His challenge in March 2009 turns from trying to survive to figuring out how to manage Mk II's explosive growth.

Spreadsheet for teaching note 8B09A27.