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Beenz.com, an incentive-based Web currency and customer management tool, is reassessing its business in August 2000, one year after launch. The original vision was to make the currency globally available and recognized. However, the company's rapid internationalization and growth have presented a number of pressures that challenge that vision.

Pokemon, the colloquial name given to a collection of 150 fantastic, animal-inspired creatures with organic powers and the capacity to evolve, are the stars of video games, trading card games, and TV cartoons. Conceived in Japan in 1996, Pokemon quickly became that nation's favorite toy phenomenon, and attracted the attention of Nintendo of America, which, in February 1998, purchased all intellectual rights to everything bearing the Pokemon name outside Asia. Launched in September 1998, Pokemon quickly took the United States by storm, single-handedly resuscitating Nintendo's lagging video game sales and earning stature as one of the top three licensing success stories by year-end 1999 (on worldwide sales of $7 billion and U.S. sales of $1.2 billion). How did management at Nintendo and licensing partner 4Kids Entertainment accomplish this and, perhaps more importantly, can they sustain (and perhaps grow) Pokemon's success over time? Is Pokemon just a passing fad to be "milked," or can it be managed as a sustainable brand franchise? Was Pokemon's success simply a fluke, an unpredictable function of mere good fortune, or is sound brand strategy and planning the cause? Includes color exhibits.

A multinational entering a new market in a developing country knows that on its own, it cannot master local business practices, meet regulatory requirements, hire and manage local personnel, and gain access to potential customers. So it partners with a local distributor. At first, sales take off, revenues grow, and the entry seems like a smart move. But when sales plateau, the corporation begins blaming the distributor for not investing sufficiently in business growth or expanding markets, and the distributor claims that it hasn't received enough support and that the corporation's expectations are too high. The key to solving such problems lies in recognizing that the phases are predictable and can be planned for. As a new business grows in an emerging market, its marketing strategy needs to evolve, and each sequential phase requires different skills, financial investments, and management resources.

Word-of-mouth promotion has become an increasingly potent force, capable of catapulting products from obscurity into runaway commercial successes. Harry Potter, collapsible scooters, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, and The Blair Witch Project are all recent examples of the considerable power of buzz. Yet many top executives and marketing managers are misinformed about the phenomenon and remain enslaved to some common myths. In her article, author Renee Dye explores the truth behind these myths. As globalization and brand proliferation continue, writes Dye, buzz may come to dominate the shaping of markets. Indeed, companies that are unable to control buzz may soon find the phenomenon controlling them.

The painful truth is that the Internet has been a letdown for most companies--largely because the dominant model for Internet commerce, the destination Web site, doesn't suit the needs of those companies or their customers. Most consumer product companies don't provide enough value or dynamic information to induce customers to make the repeat visits--and disclose the detailed information--that make such sites profitable. Instead of trying to create destinations that people will come to, companies need to use the power and reach of the Internet to deliver tailored messages and information to customers. Companies have to become what the authors call "contextual marketers." Delivering the most relevant information possible to consumers in the most timely manner possible will become feasible, the authors say, as access moves beyond the PC to shopping malls, retail stores, airports, bus stations, and even cars. The authors describe how the ubiquitous Internet will hasten the demise of the destination Web site--and open up scads of opportunities to reach customers through marketing "mobilemediaries," such as smart cards, e-wallets, and bar code scanners.

Customers today are being bombarded with an overwhelming array of choices. To alleviate customer frustration, say Steven Cristol and Peter Sealey in Simplicity Marketing, companies should stop creating new brands and product extensions. Better to consolidate product and service functions by following a four R approach: replace, repackage, reposition, and replenish. That's an outmoded, dictatorial view of markets, says Christopher Locke. Far from being stymied by choices, customers are rapidly becoming smarter than the companies that pretend to serve them. In this networked economy, people are talking among themselves, and that changes everything. Locke predicts we'll see a growing number of well-defined micromarkets--groups of customers converging in real time around entertaining and knowledgeable voices--such as NPR's car guys and the Motley Fool investment site. "Micromedia" Web sites will replace traditional advertising because they'll provide credible user-supplied news about products and services. Locke contends that an open exchange of information solves the "problem" of choice much better than manipulative strategies like simplicity or even permission marketing.

In a global economy, marketing managers need to consider factors that don't apply in domestic markets. When an Israeli refuses to buy a German car, for instance, the issue isn't product quality. It's history.

South African Breweries (SAB) was the only profitable international brewer in the crowded and hyper-competitive beer market in China. SAB's keen understanding of emerging market environments allowed it to develop a unique strategy for the Chinese market. This resulted in large market shares in each of the provinces in which it was present. However, SAB and its joint venture partner, China Resources Enterprise, only served five per cent of China's immense population. The managing director was faced with decisions: how to expand to other markets where SAB's approach would be replicated, how SAB could expand its successful business model to new markets, and what would happen when it ran head-to-head with a global giant or a well-positioned local competitor.

Two young university graduates evaluate the possibility of introducing a new room reservation system for tourists in Greece, replacing some of the unreliable existing methods. Recent improvements in the telecommunications grid and the emergence of several Internet service providers across Greece, coupled with existing hardware and software technology, paved the way to a window of opportunity for their Ikaros Project, a collection of transactional interactive networked kiosks. The kiosks would allow customers to obtain real-time information on hotel room availability and make their reservations. Convinced that the system would be accepted by the tourists, there were still many considerations to be researched and resolved: acceptance of the system by the hoteliers, connection costs, system capacity, pricing and the system architecture.

Interbrew had developed into the world's fourth largest brewer by acquiring and managing a large portfolio of national and regional beer brands in markets around the world. Recently, senior management had decided to develop one of their premium beers, Stella Artois, as a global brand. The early stages of Interbrew's global branding strategy and tactics are examined, enabling students to consider these concepts in the context of a fragmented but consolidating industry. It is suitable for use in courses in consumer marketing, international marketing and international business.

Interbrew had developed into the world's 4th largest brewer by acquiring and managing a large portfolio of national and regional beer brands in markets around the world. Recently, senior management had decided to develop one of their premium beers, Stella Artois, as a global brand. The early stages of Interbrew's global branding strategy and tactics are examined.

Hilton Hotels regards the frequent guest program as the industry's most important marketing tool, directing marketing efforts at the heavy user. What is Hilton to do then, when a competitor ups the ante? This case illustrates the economics of frequency marketing in industries with a very distinct "heavy half" to their customer base, and lets students debate what to do when Sheraton and Westin seemingly overdo a good thing.

Describes a process for managing customers for profit.

Describes the challenges a firm faces in building and sustaining a value proposition over time. Describes major ways in which the marketing environment changes over time and the methods a firm can use to protect its market position.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 501-010.

Provides an introduction to key product policy issues.

BizRate is a market research firm that collects point-of-purchase customer feedback data from retailing merchants. It then makes its findings available to consumers in the form of "BizRate star ratings," which are displayed on its website. To date, its primary revenue source has come directly from this market research (the company sells detailed customer feedback analysis reports to vendors). In October 1999 (Red October), BizRate introduced a number of e-commerce initiatives, which were so successful that the company's e-commerce revenues are now on the verge of eclipsing revenues from BizRate's research division. This has led to a debate over whether or not BizRate should dump the research side of its business altogether (i.e., continue to collect point-of-sale and follow-up data, but stop producing research reports for vendors) in order to focus on becoming an e-commerce referral site. Includes color exhibits.

Creating value involves understanding consumers/customers and bringing this knowledge into the organization. Market-driven and market-driving strategies are contrasted in the context of new product development.

Tom Clay, president of Z Corp., and founder/CEO Marina Hatsopolous must decide between using a direct sales force or using a value-added reseller to begin selling the company's new 3-D printing prototype manufacturing system.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Companies such as LEGO, British Petroleum, Baxter, Virgin, and Unilever are reversing the law of diminishing returns by redefining what business they are in and then practicing a powerful kind of customer focus. The author defines customer focus as obtaining value for customers (even if you sometimes help them buy from your competitors) and from customers (who voluntarily continue to patronize your company because of that value). To achieve a high level of customer focus, LEGO, for example, must see itself as being in the "edutainment" business, not the construction toy business. Focusing on what customers want in the edutainment market space, LEGO can find numerous growth opportunities. Traditionally, businesses have concentrated on getting more market share and moving more products and services at the maximum margins. But that approach is too easy for competitors to emulate, and cost advantages eventually diminish. The author delves into the six vital components for a successful strategy based on customer focus: giving power to the customer, getting customers to choose a particular business over its competitors, articulating new market spaces, delivering an integrated experience, taking advantage of abundant and reusable resources such knowledge and information, and creating reinforcing interactions.