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Musictoday is a unique company that provides on-line retailing services for such clients as the Dave Matthews Band and the Rolling Stones. But the lack of a formal inventory-management process has Musictoday concerned about stock-outs and lost sales in the future. This case introduces students to the Periodic Review System, and provides an opportunity to link the optimal review period with the EOQ concept.

Spreadsheet supplement for case UV3539.

In 1993, the Swatch is the best-selling watch in history. Traces the history of the watch industry up to the early 1980s, when the Swatch was introduced. Describes the various elements that made the Swatch different from any watch the industry had ever seen. Also includes a discussion of SMH, which controls Swatch, exploring how the company has managed the Swatch brand in the context of its brand portfolio (nine global watch brands in total.)

In late 1999, India's second largest tea company, Tata Tea, is faced with a highly competitive home market that is about to become more so as impending deregulation takes effect. The company is thus contemplating internationalisation. Tata Tea is grappling with the decision of how to internationalise. It can choose to build its own international brand or, take the opportunity of buying Tetley Tea, the world¿s second largest tea brand, which has recently been put up for sale. Should Tata Tea build its own brand or buy Tetley. If the decision is to buy, how much should they offer?

Spreadsheet supplement for INS582.

The vice-president of IBM Corporate Community Relations is developing the launch program for IBM On Demand Community, a suite of 140 technology tools designed to enable IBM employees to assist nonprofit community organizations and schools worldwide.

A recent MBA graduate has joined a small division of a medical equipment manufacturer as a regional sales manager. Sales are not going well, customer complaints are common, and he is unhappy with the amount of time he must spend away from home. The regional sales manager must analyse his options to determine the best way to balance the rigours of a sales career and personal life. He must consider the challenges of an undefined, boundary-spanning role; management's possible role in mitigating these challenges; and the expectations about the rigours of a sales career.

The director of Lubricants business for Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada is faced with a significant challenge - overcoming the apathy that many consumers had about changing their motor oil. Increasing the frequency of oil changes and improving retention of its customers was critical for the financial success of the company. In response to this challenge, the director had to make a recommendation on adoption and implementation of a major new promotional program. The program, called One-to-One, was designed to create closer relationships among consumers, retailers and Pennzoil-Quaker State. Making the program work required active cooperation from the retail installers who actually performed the oil changes. The supplement Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada: The One-To-One Decision (B), product 9B04A011, focuses on the 240-day field trial of the program.

This supplement to Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada: The One-To-One Decision (A), product 9B04A010 looks at the 240-day field trail of a program designed to build loyalty among consumers, and to increase frequency of oil changes.

After three months of close collaboration, the Leo Burnett USA/Worldwide agency and partner Cartel and Images advertising/creative team were poised to unveil to senior Army officials at the Pentagon their replacement to the "Be All You Can Be" campaign to help increase lagging recruitment.

Advance selling can be profitable when consumers are uncertain about their future consumption state. At the time of consumption, that uncertainty is resolved, but buyer states still remain unobservable to sellers. Consequently, buyer and seller information is symmetric in advance but asymmetric at consumption (i.e., sellers have an informational disadvantage in the consumption period relative to the advance period). Therefore, sellers can profit from transacting in the advance period when they are at less of a disadvantage. New technologies (e.g., biometrics, electronic tickets, smart cards, online prepayments, and new e-commerce technologies) also enhance the profitability of advance selling by lowering advance-selling costs and restraining arbitrage.

Companies struggling to rejuvenate tired brands may want to look east. SoBe beverages, Nissan, and others are exploiting Westerners' fascination with products that are--or merely seem--Asian.

The director of marketing for Levi Strauss Canada needs to decide the fate of the GWG brand, a fallen giant in the Canadian jeans market. For the last three years, GWG has been licensed to a small manufacturer, who has failed to meet the requirements in the license agreement. Although the director wants to use some of the latent brand equity in GWG, Levi's and Dockers brands come first and she cannot divert marketing dollars toward the brand's revival. Also, 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.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 504-063.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 504-094.

In June 2004, Florentino Perez, a well-known Spanish businessman, was elected president of Real Madrid, one of the world's top soccer clubs. In his campaign, Perez had promised to turn around the club's finances, bring in world-class talent, and expand the club's brand around the world through multiple channels. As re-election looms four years later, his management team reflects on initiatives to date and challenges ahead as described in the case. Also describes the soccer industry and the trends transforming it.

In 2002, the IKEA Group is the world's top furniture retailer, with 154 stores worldwide. In the United States, IKEA operates 14 stores, all of which have been enormously popular despite their self-service requirements. The company's goal is to have 50 stores in operation in the United States by 2013. Explores various options for managing this growth strategy.

The director of the lubricants business for Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada is facing a significant challenge--overcoming customer apathy about changing motor oil. Increasing the frequency of oil changes and improving retention of its customers were critical for the financial success of the company. In response to this challenge, the director had to decide on the adoption and implementation of a major new promotional program: One-to-One. The program was designed to create closer relationships among consumers, retailers, and Pennzoil-Quaker State. Making the program work required active cooperation on the part of retail installers who performed the oil changes.

Supplements the (A) case.

OfficeTiger was founded in late 1999 with an innovative approach to global outsourcing. The company's employees, located primarily in India, provided services for corporations, investment banks, and professional services firms throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Although it was hard to sell the idea to customers initially, by 2004 the company had grown considerably and was preparing for future growth, mainly by making acquisitions.