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The internet brought disruptive change to the business landscape through the creation of a whole host of digital marketing tactics. But with these new tactical options has come the need for marketing managers to (1) prioritize what they wish to accomplish and (2) determine which digital marketing tactics to invest in. We consider these issues from the perspective of four business strategies: prospectors, analyzers, low-cost defenders, and differentiated defenders. In this article, we provide marketing managers with insights into how businesses pursuing various strategies approach these digital marketing issues, with the ultimate goal being to assist managers in the efficient and effective implementation of their firm's adopted strategy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, different nations have adopted a variety of response strategies to fight and contain the new coronavirus. Such national response strategies can be classified into three categories based on their underlying philosophy: strict control with unlimited resources, relentless contribution with limited resources, and rough rationality with limited resources. We discuss the philosophies, characteristics, and performances of the three response strategies and when they should be adopted. We also examine what marketing innovation strategies enterprises should adopt to survive and grow their businesses in both the short and long term. This study provides important strategic implications for national policymakers and enterprises on the use of response strategies as well as marketing innovation tactics and strategies to be used both during and after the pandemic.

In 2018, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in a bold move transferred all its assets to a fund pooled with other General Partners and Limited Partners, called Blue Meridian Partners, to focus substantial long range investments in a few carefully chosen nonprofits. The fund was intended to find proven, scalable solutions to problems that trapped America's young people in poverty. In addition to discussing the merits and demerits of this new approach to philanthropy, the case poses questions on two particular investments (Youth Villages and Nurse Family Partners) and whether they should receive the next tranche of investments. The (B) case, situated in 2020, describes the many quick decisions taken by the fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the calls for social justice, and raises the question of whether and how these decisions are aligned with the long range strategy of the fund.

The (B) case situated in 2020 describes the many quick decisions taken by the fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the calls for social justice, and raises the question of whether and how these decisions are aligned with the long range strategy of the fund.

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative direct sales force model. Jesse Moore, the founder, wished to scale the company through organic growth as well as geographical expansion into Nigeria. The strategy called for decisions on product/service offerings and go-to-market options. On the product side the company had increasingly migrated to larger in-home connected electronic and electrical devices. It had to decide how much further to go. On the go-to-market side its innovative Direct Service Representative network was hard to create and manage, and it had to think if there were viable alternatives.

Since the young age of 15, Andre Giraud, the owner-chef of Lux, a 1 Michelin-star French restaurant located in Hong Kong, had devoted his life to cooking. After 17 years of working for top chefs in Europe, he decided that it was time to bring his talent to Asia. Andre and his wife decided to invest their life savings to open Lux, a 35-seater at the heart of Hong Kong's central business district. Having never been involved in the business side of running a restaurant, Andre needed his business partner Brandon to evaluate and manage the restaurant's finance, marketing and operations. In 2017, Lux was awarded 2 Michelin stars. However, the following year, it suffered a demotion, resulting in a massive drop in restaurant reservations that left him with only three months of runway. Andre contemplated closing the doors to his restaurant, as he had no idea about what needed to be improved. However, the local food guides and his social media feeds seemed to indicate he was doing great things in the kitchen. He suffered from depression as a result of the unexplainable loss of the Michelin star, and decided to reach out to Pierre E., a long-time friend and a former Michelin inspector, to find out more about the criteria the guide adopts in reviewing an establishment.

After breaking into China's smartphone market, where it becomes a leading brand, Xiaomi sees sales stagnate and then decline as the disruption strategy that empowered its rise loses momentum. As competitors counter every move, targeting its core consumer segment, the company urgently needs to reignite growth and develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The case describes the changing market landscape, Xiaomi's product portfolio, distribution systems, partnerships, brand management, promotion and pricing. The question is whether to remain focused on smartphones-on which Xiaomi's reputation has been built-or transform into an IoT 'ecosystem' encompassing a wider range of product categories. The challenge is to understand the respective pros and cons and formulate a detailed implementation plan for the chosen strategy.

By the end of 2019, two brands accounted for 84% of hard seltzer sales, a segment that had recently taken the U.S. beer market by storm, growing from $3 million in 2015 to over $2.7 billion by the start of the summer of 2020. White Claw was the dominant market leader with a 58% market share. Analysts were worried about fragmentation and commoditization in the category, which had grown from 10 brands in 2018 to more than 65 by 2020. This made competition in the segment increasingly fierce. How could White Claw best drive the category's transition from niche to mainstream and how could it hold onto and/or expand its market share as the category exponentially grew? White Claw was quickly becoming the "Kleenex" of hard seltzer, so the team need to further differentiate itself from encroaching competitors. Should the team narrow the currently broad target market as competitors launched increasingly microtargeted offerings? Should they lower price as generic hard seltzers hit the market? And, how could the team best manage the White Claw brand to mitigate their chances of riding a boom-to-bust lifecycle of a fad product?

Spreadsheet to accompany product 8A83A25.

Linc Pen and Plastics Limited (LPPL) was a 40 year old Indian writing instruments company with a presence in over 50 countries through its sole brand Linc, a value brand that had a brand image of providing good quality products at a low price. Over the past year and half , LPPL had faced margin pressure due to a steep increase in the price of raw materials. In late 2019, Deepak Jalan, the managing director , decided not to disturb the brand equity of Linc but instead to move upmarket by developing a new ballpoint pen, Pentonic, for the premium segment. LPPL priced Pentonic ball pens at ₹10 —higher than Linc’s original ball pens, which mostly sold at ₹5. The Pentonic ball pen was highly successful right from its launch, and within a year, Pentonic had become the company’s second largest product in terms of volume and its largest product in terms of value. Pentonic had an independent identity in the market. In the last board meeting, Jalan had proposed building Pentonic as a separate brand for the premium market. The board had asked him to develop a detailed plan for developing the new product to target the premium market and balancing the marketing mix and positioning strategy for the specific target customers of the two brands, Linc and Pentonic.

Linc Pen and Plastics Limited (LPPL) was a 40 year old Indian writing instruments company with a presence in over 50 countries through its sole brand Linc, a value brand that had a brand image of providing good quality products at a low price. Over the past year and half , LPPL had faced margin pressure due to a steep increase in the price of raw materials. In late 2019, Deepak Jalan, the managing director , decided not to disturb the brand equity of Linc but instead to move upmarket by developing a new ballpoint pen, Pentonic, for the premium segment. LPPL priced Pentonic ball pens at ₹10 -higher than Linc's original ball pens, which mostly sold at ₹5. The Pentonic ball pen was highly successful right from its launch, and within a year, Pentonic had become the company's second largest product in terms of volume and its largest product in terms of value. Pentonic had an independent identity in the market. In the last board meeting, Jalan had proposed building Pentonic as a separate brand for the premium market. The board had asked him to develop a detailed plan for developing the new product to target the premium market and balancing the marketing mix and positioning strategy for the specific target customers of the two brands, Linc and Pentonic.

Elon R. Musk, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), was on a mission to provide people in rural and remote areas with affordable, reliable Internet access. Starlink-a constellation of 12,000 satellites to be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO)-was to provide a seamless web of high-speed, low-latency Internet access to anyone with a coordinating ground station. If revenue from the project materialized as forecast, the income stream could help fund Musk's bigger mission: getting people to Mars. The project was not without its challenges, however. LEO satellites had failed in the past, and the market emphasis was the launch of the fifth-generation mobile network (5G) and extending that service to rural areas. Further, competition was increasing, as other companies were entering the segment. Another problem was the clutter and light pollution that the satellites created in orbit. How could Musk increase demand for Starlink's services, and how should he prioritize and tackle the challenges his project faced?

Sirona Hygiene Private Limited (Sirona Hygiene) started operations in 2015 with its launch of PeeBuddy-a portable urination device for women. For Sirona Hygiene, the first four years had been extremely satisfying, as the company was able to launch five unique products and 15 differentiated products across its three brands-PeeBuddy, Sirona, and BodyGuard. Each brand had its own unique value proposition and operated in a different product space. The company's founder was looking for additional funding as he moved toward achieving his mission of tripling the company's growth by 2022. When it came to investor mindsets, most investors were traditional in their thinking and sought to invest in single brands. As such, the company's founder was considering consolidating all of the brands under the corporate brand-Sirona Hygiene. Brand articulation, strategy formulation, and fundraising were all interlinked, and to steer the firm to its next journey, a sequential path was imperative. The question was clear, but there were no straight answers.

AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its complexity and high costs. The co-founders were looking at different options to scale: working to convert sellers into buyers and vice versa, finding superusers that would fuel the supply for their platform, expand to new markets, rebrand with a sustainability focus. What is the best way for them to scale?

Innovative US apparel retailer Everlane Inc. (Everlane) employed "radical transparency," disclosing detailed information about the costs it incurred and the factories that manufactured its clothes. The company also claimed to prioritize ethics and sustainability. For example, Everlane committed both to supporting its suppliers by addressing their needs and to eliminating virgin plastics from its entire supply chain by 2021. The company's approach had been successful: since its founding in 2010, Everlane had seen growth in its customer base and revenues. However, in 2020, the company faced a public relations crisis, encountering backlash after laying off a number of employees. While these layoffs were purportedly due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they coincided with employees' unionization efforts. In addition, many former employees reported that the company was not, in fact, ethical but was anti-Black and anti-union and had a toxic internal culture. As the company had built its business on its image and its promise of ethics, transparency, and sustainability, the crisis called into question the foundation of the organization. How could Everlane move forward according to its stated values and continue to both meet the needs of its customers and to earn a profit?

Spreadsheet supplement for 518077.

This notes provides information about the eGrocery industry and how traditional CPG companies handle this channel and potential data. It is recommended to use together with a series of exercises entitled: "E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A), (B), and (C)."

In late 2019, the Colombian company Agrícola Himalaya SA was undertaking a strategy to double its sales by 2030. The company's popular Hindú brand of teas, developed over six decades, had expanded to include not only black and green teas but also herbal teas, fruit teas, ready-to-drink products, and an iced tea line. Over the past 10 years, the company had enjoyed steady growth, distributed its products throughout the Americas, and developed a communications strategy focused on health and wellness. Now the company's chief executive officer (CEO) had to decide whether or not it was time to expand into other product categories, and if so, how. The CEO and marketing team needed to develop a brand strategy to present to the board of directors and create a new product portfolio that would support the company's growth strategy. Which channels should the company target for growth? Should it continue to grow in the same category, extend the brand to other categories, or expand the demographic mix of its customer base?