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In June 2008, the president and owner of Canada Goose Inc. (Canada Goose), a producer of luxury sport jackets, was contemplating the future of his company. Despite recent years' steady growth in both his company and the industry in general, the president believed that a significant opportunity existed for Canada Goose to further cement itself as a market leader for this industry. The president was intrigued by two separate offers from national retailers in Canada. Both were in the form of long-term contracts; in the past Canada Goose had used such contracts to maintain successful relationships with its many distributors. The offers were lucrative; however, the president needed to consider whether the offers aligned with the company's current marketing strategy. Agreeing to stock its product through a national chain would be a departure from its current method of distribution through independently-owned regional retailers. Accepting either of the offers would not only potentially price these retailers out of the market but could also lead to the devaluation of the brand.

When Chris Knox, a top salesperson at Specialty Fleet Services, volunteers to go after the business of Armadillo Gas & Power, he decides to try a new approach. After all, no one else from SFS has succeeded with Dale Landry, Armadillo's CFO. Knox shows up at Landry's ranch, asks to photograph his beloved bull, presents the photo as a gift to Landry's wife, and engineers several other encounters before Landry learns that Knox is anything more than a charming young man. Not long after he reveals his position at SFS, Knox wins the account. Sales VP Jeremy Silva emails the sales team, praising Knox's maneuvers. But the human resources vice president thinks that Knox breached the company's ethics code. Does Knox deserve a reprimand? Kirk O. Hanson, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, believes that Knox went astray not by trying to share a potential client's passion but by treating the Landrys as a means to an end - deceiving them and violating their personal space along the way. There's a big difference between deceiving competitors and deceiving customers, explain consultants Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. SFS needs to clarify this difference in its ethics code, apologize to Landry, and fire Silva, who demonstrated in hitting the "send" button that he does not understand the policies and behaviors that build shareholder value. James Borg, a business psychologist and author, argues that Knox didn't coerce Landry into buying SFS's services but instead simply got the CFO's attention and let his persuasive techniques do the rest. Whereas coercion and manipulation satisfy the needs of only one party, persuasion is about achieving a positive outcome all around - exactly what Knox accomplished. Armadillo got a superior product, and SFS won a new customer.

When Chris Knox, a top salesperson at Specialty Fleet Services, volunteers to go after the business of Armadillo Gas & Power, he decides to try a new approach. After all, no one else from SFS has succeeded with Dale Landry, Armadillo's CFO. Knox shows up at Landry's ranch, asks to photograph his beloved bull, presents the photo as a gift to Landry's wife, and engineers several other encounters before Landry learns that Knox is anything more than a charming young man. Not long after he reveals his position at SFS, Knox wins the account. Sales VP Jeremy Silva emails the sales team, praising Knox's maneuvers. But the human resources vice president thinks that Knox breached the company's ethics code. Does Knox deserve a reprimand? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0905B and R0905Z. Kirk O. Hanson, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, believes that Knox went astray not by trying to share a potential client's passion but by treating the Landrys as a means to an end - deceiving them and violating their personal space along the way. There's a big difference between deceiving competitors and deceiving customers, explain consultants Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. SFS needs to clarify this difference in its ethics code, apologize to Landry, and fire Silva, who demonstrated in hitting the "send" button that he does not understand the policies and behaviors that build shareholder value. James Borg, a business psychologist and author, argues that Knox didn't coerce Landry into buying SFS's services but instead simply got the CFO's attention and let his persuasive techniques do the rest. Whereas coercion and manipulation satisfy the needs of only one party, persuasion is about achieving a positive outcome all around - exactly what Knox accomplished. Armadillo got a superior product, and SFS won a new customer.

When Chris Knox, a top salesperson at Specialty Fleet Services, volunteers to go after the business of Armadillo Gas & Power, he decides to try a new approach. After all, no one else from SFS has succeeded with Dale Landry, Armadillo's CFO. Knox shows up at Landry's ranch, asks to photograph his beloved bull, presents the photo as a gift to Landry's wife, and engineers several other encounters before Landry learns that Knox is anything more than a charming young man. Not long after he reveals his position at SFS, Knox wins the account. Sales VP Jeremy Silva emails the sales team, praising Knox's maneuvers. But the human resources vice president thinks that Knox breached the company's ethics code. Does Knox deserve a reprimand? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0905B and R0905Z. Kirk O. Hanson, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, believes that Knox went astray not by trying to share a potential client's passion but by treating the Landrys as a means to an end - deceiving them and violating their personal space along the way. There's a big difference between deceiving competitors and deceiving customers, explain consultants Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. SFS needs to clarify this difference in its ethics code, apologize to Landry, and fire Silva, who demonstrated in hitting the "send" button that he does not understand the policies and behaviors that build shareholder value. James Borg, a business psychologist and author, argues that Knox didn't coerce Landry into buying SFS's services but instead simply got the CFO's attention and let his persuasive techniques do the rest. Whereas coercion and manipulation satisfy the needs of only one party, persuasion is about achieving a positive outcome all around - exactly what Knox accomplished. Armadillo got a superior product, and SFS won a new customer.

Students identify promotion, price, place, segment, targeting, and positioning for marketing "the world's cheapest car." This case is effective for MBA, undergraduate, and executive learners studying market segmentation, pricing, cannibalization risk, pricing, and break-even sales in the face of different price and cost scenarios. Has Tata chosen the right marketing strategy? Does the Nano represent an evolution or a revolution in automobile marketing?

EveryDay Medical, a provider of home and durable medical equipment and supplies, uses Internet advertising to attract potential customer flow to their website. With many thousands of potential keywords to bid on and a tight budget for online advertising, EDM turned to Jeremy Gerstle to help them develop a quantitative tool to optimally manage their internet advertising campaign.

Spreadsheet supplement for case CU303.

The executive committee of SaskTel had recently approved a proposal to launch its LifeState health monitoring system to the Canadian marketplace. The company's senior director of marketing must develop a marketing plan, including distribution and promotion, for the proposed product launch in six months' time. She will have to make decisions quickly in order to present a proposal to the executive committee within two weeks.

This note addresses the issues that arise and the complexities that must be addressed when designing a channel of distribution. Content includes the definition of a distribution channel, the steps in its design, functional discounting and margin allocation, the role channels play in branding, and recent trends.

The Silk Soymilk brand evolves from a single homemade product to a regional then national brand, facing challenges such as investment influx, acquisition, and competition from new entrants into the market it created. Silk's marketing angles at various growth stages are discussed, and students consider whether the company should expand its presence or develop new categories and how its efforts could best realize growth targets. Which option carries the biggest risks, and which would best enhance its position as a market leader?

This note explores brand evolution in a growing industry. Four high-end U.S. bicycle frame manufacturers (Trek, Seven, Moots, and Cérvolo) compete for brand status in the $2,000-and-up mountain bike market. Challenged by a coming carbon shortage and famed cyclist Lance Armstrong's retirement, the continued domination of Asian imports, and the reduction in the number of local bike shops, this industry faces significant strategy challenges.

With the competitive 2007 holiday season approaching, Gary Hawkins (CEO of Green Hills Market, an independent grocery retailer in Syracuse, NY) was looking for a promotional program that would keep his best customers coming to Green Hills for all of their holiday meal shopping. Hawkins knew that his larger competitors (such as Price Chopper, Wegmans, and Wal-Mart) would use their size and buying power to procure products at the lowest possible cost, enabling them to offer rock bottom prices. Hawkins was looking for a program that would take advantage of Green Hills' proprietary systems for tracking customers' buying patterns and shopping preferences. The promotional program under consideration was a continuity program, in which shoppers earned points that could be redeemed for pieces of Arzberg porcelain. Hawkins and his team needed to establish their objectives for the holiday season and decide whether or not the Arzberg promotion was right for Green Hills Market. The case can be accompanied by a data set ("M318 Green Hills Data Set") that captures weekly expenditures by a sample of 1000 households shopping at Green Hills Market before, during, and after the Arzberg promotional program. The students can use these data (and other information available in the case) to examine how well the Arzberg promotion actually worked. "M318 Green Hills Data Set" can be obtained from [email protected].

Spreadsheet Supplement for M318

Backchannelmedia (BCM), a three year old start-up, intended to completely disrupt the world of advertising by transforming the way Americans watched television. BCM had developed a technology to make television "clickable," enabling viewers to interact with the content on their television screens. By April 2009, BCM had conducted consumer studies and field tests and the results were very promising. However, the industry was dominated by large players who could impede the introductions of new technologies. BCM's founders would have to make critical decisions about how quickly to roll-out their technology, and to whom. Which industry players were allies? How would BCM monetize the value they would create? Would investors see as much potential in BCM as its founders? And how would the company's cash constraints impact the strategy in the current economic environment?

Designed to teach conjoint analysis, this case challenges students to make tactical decisions based on marketing research. It should be paired with the technical note "Conjoint Analysis: A Do it Yourself Guide" (515024). A National Basketball Association franchise is struggling to increase attendance. It contracts a marketing research firm to conduct a conjoint analysis focusing on several aspects of its season ticket offerings with the hope that it can profitably improve their attractiveness.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Are corporate social responsibility programs beneficial to companies when they undertake overseas expansion? To address that question, the authors analyzed both financial and corporate social performance data for more than 800 U.S. public companies. In particular, the researchers set out to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitable international sales. The researchers found that those companies that had low or high levels of corporate social responsibility had significantly greater success internationally than those with moderate levels of corporate social responsibility. The authors suggest that companies with high levels of social performance may benefit internationally from their good reputation for corporate social responsibility, and companies with low levels may attain cost advantages from overseas expansion. However, companies in between may be "stuck in the middle"--and unable to obtain a competitive advantage internationally from their corporate social responsibility programs. Since retrenching from existing corporate social responsibility efforts can be viewed negatively by existing stakeholders, the authors recommend that companies that are "stuck in the middle" rethink their overseas corporate social responsibility programs--either to de-emphasize competitive advantage or to increase the programs' impact.

Because no two recessions are exactly alike, marketers find themselves in poorly charted waters every time one occurs. But guidance is available, say Quelch and Jocz, who have studied marketing successes (by Smucker, Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, and others) as well as failures throughout past recessions and identified patterns in consumer and company behavior that strongly affect performance. Understanding consumers' changing psychology and habits, the authors argue, will enable firms to hone their strategies so they can both survive the current downturn and prosper afterward. Consumers in a recession can be divided into four groups: The slam-on-the-brakes segment, which feels the hardest hit, reduces all types of spending. Pained-but-patient consumers, who constitute the largest segment, also economize in each area, though less aggressively. Comfortably well-off individuals consume at near-prerecession levels but become a little more selective (and less conspicuous) about their purchases. Live-for-today consumers pretty much carry on as usual, responding to the recession mainly by extending their timetables for making major purchases. People may switch segments if their economic situations change for the worse. All groups prioritize consumption by sorting products and services into the following categories: essentials (central to survival or well-being), treats (justifiable), postponables (can be put off), and expendables (unnecessary or unjustifiable). As firms manage their marketing investments, they must simultaneously assess their brands' opportunities, allocate resources for the long term, and balance their budgets. Many make the mistake of cutting costs indiscriminately, which can jeopardize long-term performance. Instead, firms should streamline their product portfolios, improve the affordability of their offerings, and bolster customers' trust.

Marketers in a variety of industries are trying to increase customer loyalty, marketing efficiency, and brand authenticity by building communities around their brands. Few companies, however, understand what brand communities require and how they work. Drawing from their research as well as their experience at Harley-Davidson, the authors dispel some common misconceptions about brand communities and offer design principles, cautionary tales, and new approaches to leveraging those communities. For instance, many managers think of a brand community in terms of marketing strategy. In fact, for a community to have the greatest impact, it must be framed as a corporate strategy. Realizing this, Harley-Davidson, for example, retooled every aspect of its organization to support building and maintaining its brand community and treated all community-related activities not just as marketing expenses but as a companywide investment. Another common misconception is that a brand community exists to serve the business. An effective brand community exists to serve its members, who participate in order to fulfill many kinds of needs, such as building relationships, cultivating new interests, and contributing to society. Strong communities work to understand people's needs and to engage participants by offering a variety of roles. Finally, managers often think that a brand community must be tightly controlled. In reality, a robust community defies managerial control. Effective brand stewards can, however, create an environment in which a community can thrive - by, for example, designing multiple experiences that appeal to different audiences. The authors offer an online "Community Readiness Audit" that can help you find out if your organization is up to the task of building a brand community.

The senior management team at Leclerc, one of the largest retailers in France, is considering how best to maintain growth in the highly regulated French retail industry. Strict limits on pricing and store construction will significantly limit Leclerc's flexibility; many of the traditional growth levers cannot be used. These regulations also have a major impact on competition. The executives at Leclerc must identify the optimal growth plan and then consider whether it will deliver the desired growth.

On 18 August 2008, Liu Xiang, China's biggest celebrity sports icon, withdrew from the 110-meter hurdles event at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games due to an Achilles injury. Liu was China's first-ever Olympic gold medalist in men's track and field; his victory at the 2004 Athens Olympics had made him an instant national hero. Since then, he had become the most marketed individual in China. Liu's withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics not only caused disappointment among Chinese people who had high expectations for him defending his title on their home soil, but was also a blow to his sponsors, including Nike, who had invested millions of dollars in his celebrity. As soon as the news broke, Nike tweaked its advertising campaign and launched a new tagline: "Love competition. Love risking your pride. Love winning it back. Love giving it everything you've got. Love the glory. Love the pain. Love sport even when it breaks your heart." Would Nike be able to turn Liu's withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics into an opportunity to further boost its brand image? Against the backdrop of increasing nationalist sentiment in China, what were the implications of Liu's withdrawal? How could Nike avoid or minimize the losses that might result from Chinese consumers' disappointment?