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The general manager of Ontario Machinery Ring - a cooperative developed to match farmers with someone to do custom work - must develop a marketing research proposal and design a questionnaire to determine the demand of machinery ring concept. This is a supplement to Ontario Machinery Ring (A) - Problem Definition, product 9B04A021.

The general manager of Ontario Machinery Ring is looking at expansion opportunities but limited funding requires him to obtain financial assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The ministry requires an assessment of the demand for this marketing concept before they will provide any funding. He had developed a questionnaire and now must analyze the data that has been collected to prepare the marketing research proposal. This is a supplement to Ontario Machinery Ring (A) - Problem Definition, product 9B04A021. Data file is available, product 7B04A023.

The Walt Disney Internet Group Japan has recently launched an entirely new set of interactive mobile character/agents for the NTT DoCoMo iMode platform, called Dimo. Having built Japan's most successful mobile entertainment business using traditional Disney-branded characters and related content, these Dimo characters have been designed to go well beyond entertainment and become valuable guides, assistants and friends for users of the continuously evolving Mobile Internet and the increasingly complex tasks enabled by this platform. Although the Walt Disney Internet Group Japan team feels strongly that these types of character/agents will be the future of human-device interactions, subscription figures six months after Dimo's launch suggest that Japan's mobile consumers may not share this belief.

The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) Japan has recently launched an entirely new set of interactive mobile character/agents for the NTT DoCoMo iMode platform, called Dimo. Having built Japan's most successful mobile entertainment business using traditional Disney-branded characters and related content, these Dimo characters have been designed to go well beyond entertainment and become valuable guides, assistants, and friends for users of the continuously evolving mobile Internet and the increasingly complex tasks enabled by this platform. Although the WDIG Japan team feels strongly that these types of character/agents will be the future of human-device interactions, subscription figures six months after Dimo's launch suggest that Japan's mobile consumers may not share this belief.

China's rapid transition to a market economy has remolded society culturally, especially when it comes to young people between the ages of 5 and 24. Numbering over 400 million and wielding increasing power and influence over personal and household purchases, these youths will determine the future preferences and trends of the country's consumer market. Thus, they represent enormous market opportunities for foreign companies. How important is this dynamic market? Do the challenges outweigh the attractions? And how best can marketers appeal to these bolder, more individualistic, more "Westernized" young Chinese consumers?

What is data mining, and how does it differ from traditional statistical modeling? Along with finding the answers here, managers can take a look at important recent developments in data mining, examine some of its marketing-related applications, and learn how to establish and maintain a data mining system. Armed with this information, they can then determine their firm's level of commitment to the process. Companies that do not want to commit the financial and personnel resources to data mining can still secure many of its benefits through outsourcing.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 505-001.

The management team of Marvel Enterprises, known for its universe of superhero characters that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and X-Men, must reevaluate its marketing strategy. In June 2004, only six years after the company emerged from bankruptcy, Marvel has amassed a market value of more than $2 billion. Originally known as a comic book publisher, the company now also has highly profitable toy, motion picture, and consumer products licensing operations. However, doubts about Marvel's business model and its growth potential continue to exist. Had Marvel's winning streak been just a fluke? Was Marvel's success dependent on a limited set of blockbuster characters, most notably Spider-Man, and should Marvel continue to capitalize on those characters? Or was it time to seek growth in a larger set of lesser known characters? In exploring growth opportunities, was it wise for Marvel to venture outside its current business model and move into more capital-intensive activities? What marketing strategy would allow Marvel to sustain its success in the coming years? Includes color exhibits.

On September 17, 2004, Ford Motor Company announced the details of a "revitalization plan" for its ailing Jaguar Cars subsidiary. The plan was aimed at cost savings and reducing excess capacity and overhead expenses (e.g., withdrawing from Formula One racing). In the same period, Jaguar launched a Web-based advertising campaign for its entry-level X-Type and a provocative ad series for its XJ flagship model based on themes from the Seven Deadly Sins. The case provides opportunities to discuss Jaguar's innovative ad campaign and to explore economic models that explain expenditures on non-informative advertising as a signal of product quality (handicap principle).

Misguided marketing strategies have destroyed more shareholder value than shoddy accounting or shady fiscal practices. Yet, marketing functions typically reside deep in the organization, far from the executive suite and boardroom, and they are often poorly aligned with corporate strategy. Boards of directors, it would seem, have compelling reasons to monitor their companies' marketing activities. The authors argue that boards lack a clear understanding of how their companies are meeting customer needs and how their marketing strategies drive (or often fail to drive) top-line growth. To help remedy that problem, they've devised a "marketing dashboard," a series of management reports that could give the board this critical knowledge. The dashboard has three parts, each of which the board should review regularly. The first part tracks the company's main business drivers--those business conditions that, when manipulated or otherwise changed, will directly and predictably affect the company's performance. The second part describes the specific innovations in a pipeline of growth ideas that will allow the company to reach its short- and long-term revenue goals. And the third part provides an overview of the company's marketing skill set so the board can determine not only if the company has enough marketing talent, but also if it has the right marketing talent. Unlike isolated measures of marketing performance that are often insufficient, irrelevant, or misleading, the dashboard allows the board to assess quickly and routinely the effectiveness of its company's marketing strategies. Armed with a clear understanding of marketing's role and performance, the board can expose inadequate marketing campaigns, direct management to address the problem, and monitor progress.

Disappointed by the high costs and elusive benefits, early adopters of customer relationship management systems came, in the post dot-com era, to view the technology as just another overhyped IT investment whose initial promise would never be fulfilled. But this year, something unexpected is happening. System sales are rising, and executives are reporting satisfaction with their CRM investments. What's changed? A wide range of companies are successfully taking a pragmatic, disciplined approach to CRM. Rather than use it to transform entire businesses, they've directed their investments toward solving clearly defined problems within their customer relationship cycle. The authors have distilled the experiences of these CRM leaders into four questions that all companies should ask themselves as they launch their own CRM initiatives: Is the problem strategic? Is the system focused on the pain point? Do we need perfect data? What's the right way to expand an initial implementation? The questions reflect a new realism about when and how to deploy CRM to its best advantage. Understanding that highly accurate and timely data are not required everywhere in their businesses, CRM leaders have tailored their real-time initiatives to those customer relationships that can be significantly enhanced by "perfect" information. After they've succeeded with their first targeted CRM project, they can use it as a springboard for solving additional problems. CRM, in other words, is coming to resemble any other valuable management tool, and the keys to successful implementation are also becoming familiar: strong executive and business unit leadership, careful strategic planning, clear performance measures, and a coordinated program that combines organizational and process changes with the application of new technology.

By allowing consumers to control data about their purchases and preferences, says business and technology professor Richard T. Watson, companies can get a better sense of what their customers want to buy.

When you name your brand, trust your gut.

Although companies are devoting significant resources to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, insights into the optimal formulation, implementation, and effectiveness estimation of CSR strategies are currently scarce. Takes an in-depth look at when, why, and how CSR works from a consumer's perspective. In contrast to the simple, monotonic relationships between CSR and consumer purchase behavior evident in marketplace polls, this article proposes a more complex, contingent model of consumer responses to CSR. Articulates both the internal outcomes (e.g., awareness, attitudes, attachment) and external outcomes (e.g., word of mouth, purchase, loyalty) of CSR initiatives for not just the company, but also the consumer and the CSR issue/cause. Delineates the key factors that are likely to moderate the extent to which the inputs lead to the internal outcomes and the internal outcomes lead to the external ones. This framework can help guide companies in formulating and implementing their CSR initiatives as well as measuring the effectiveness of these initiatives.

Cause marketing involves a "cause-linked" promotion of a commercial product, with some part of that product's revenues being donated to the nonprofit engaged in that cause. Traditionally, the needs of the for-profit firm have for the most part initiated and driven cause marketing, with less attention directed to the needs of the nonprofit organization or its role in creating value for the partnership. Offers a framework that considers the benefits and costs from both partners' perspectives, including monetary (first-order) as well as nonmonetary (second-order) considerations. Using this framework, the article proposes a decision process aimed at enhancing the value for both partners in the relationship.

Bright Dairy has been growing rapidly since becoming a public company. The Chinese market for milk products is still wide open. What should it be doing to make sure it captures a significant share of the potential market?

Two brothers have developed Williams Coffee Pub into a 44-unit, quick service restaurant franchise in Southwestern Ontario. Williams Coffee Pub has a very broad positioning with different segments frequenting it in different parts of the day. The brothers have hired a new chief executive officer and they are about to hand significant operational and strategic control to this new executive and the new board of directors. The broad positioning is an issue and the future communications campaign is also an issue.

The director of marketing for Levi Strauss Canada needs to decide the future fate of the GWG brand, a fallen giant in the Canadian jeans market. For the last three years, GWG had been licensed to a small manufacturer, who has failed to meet the requirements in the license agreement. While the director is keen to use some of the latent brand equity in GWG, she know that Levi's and Dockers brands come first and that she can not divert marketing dollars towards the brand's revival. As well, she must be careful to manage her small but powerful portfolio of brands in the five main channels without cannibalizing the already declining volumes of the Levi's brand.

Two partners have converted an abandoned bingo hall into a 40,000 square foot self-storage unit. It appears to be filling up quickly. The father wants to build four or five similar self-storage units each year in the surrounding cities and towns, by converting former factories and supermarkets into self-storage units. The partners want to build one unit each year in order to retain a larger ownership stake and a smaller debt component. In either situation, there are pricing and feasibility issues that must be considered.

The new chief executive office of a struggling dotcom is faced with high costs and slow revenue generation - sufficient to have burned $Cdn20 million, and profitability was not yet in sight. Fortunately, his venture cap company was still willing to advance funds and he believed that he could nail down some elephant deals to save the enterprise. He had the option of chasing smaller deals for immediate cash. In what priority should he attack his strategic issues, and in particular, what size and type of selling opportunities should he pursue.