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The owner and founder of The Talking Hands, a socially responsible restaurant, in Nagpur, India, had launched his company to create job opportunities for persons with disabilities. He wanted to find a balance between customer experience and customer service, but he also wanted to open two new outlets in his city and seriously consider his friend's proposal of opening franchisee outlets of The Talking Hands in two Indian cites-Mumbai and Pune. He wanted to consolidate and expand his business without denting the restaurant's brand identity. Also, as demand for the restaurant grew, the increasing delays in order taking and delivery needed to be managed. Could he hire some non-disabled staff members to manage rush orders and deliveries and still keep operating expenses under control? Should he go through with his expansion plans with the franchise model at this time? He needed to make a decision while renovations to his restaurant were underway.

While the practice of eating insects was still in its infancy in North America, Aspire Food Group (Aspire), with its Aketta cricket-protein products, was positioned for success in this emerging market. In 2018, having recently acquired Exo, a maker of cricket-based protein bars, Aspire's co-founders faced an important decision regarding the Aketta brand. While Aspire had experienced some success in marketing cricket powder, whole roasted crickets in popular chip flavours, and granola bites under the Aketta brand, the acquisition of Exo would enable the company to enter the protein bar category and possibly launch other product and brand extensions. As the founders devised a comprehensive marketing plan for the newly acquired brand, they needed to identify which consumer segments would be most receptive to Exo protein bars and most profitable.

While the practice of eating insects was still in its infancy in North America, Aspire Food Group (Aspire), with its Aketta cricket-protein products, was positioned for success in this emerging market. In 2018, having recently acquired Exo, a maker of cricket-based protein bars, Aspire's co-founders faced an important decision regarding the Aketta brand. While Aspire had experienced some success in marketing cricket powder, whole roasted crickets in popular chip flavours, and granola bites under the Aketta brand, the acquisition of Exo would enable the company to enter the protein bar category and possibly launch other product and brand extensions. As the founders devised a comprehensive marketing plan for the newly acquired brand, they needed to identify which consumer segments would be most receptive to Exo protein bars and most profitable.

Growing was critical to ensure the survival of PRAMER, a cable TV producer and distributor of regional content in Latin America (except Brazil). Growth paths were numerous, and so were restrictions on resources. Thus, deciding where and how to grow was essential for the future of the company. A possible alternative was to continue expanding in Latin America, focusing the marketing team on its development. Another option was to venture into the Hispanic market in the United States, a community with a rapid high growth rate that was beginning to gain influence in the American market. Both options would involve leveraging its flagship channel Elgourmet.com (EG.C), not only because it was the company's most successful channel, but also to profit from the current global gastronomic boom.

Shivam Finance is a private lending firm operating in the Bhilwara district in Rajasthan. It offers loans for buying two-wheelers to customers of nearby districts. The firm applied for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence in 2019 as the lending regulations changed, and it became difficult for the firm to operate in the two-wheeler financing space as a private lending firm. With this licence, it plans to scale up its operations two times and adopt a fintech-based model for making its processes more efficient. The case revolves around the future strategy that Shivam Finance would adopt to expand its business and transition into a fintech-based model, given the regulatory and customer adoption challenges. Key questions addressed include the following: What will be the risks and challenges in implementing a fintech-based model? How will it help in onboarding more dealers and customers? What aspects of fintech would be required for creditworthiness appraisal, disbursement and collection processes? Given the current customer behaviour, how could Alok Bhandari, co-founder of Shivam Finance, ensure that the transition into fintech enhances customer acquisition outcomes amongst present and new customers? How will the firm resolve the potential skill gaps related to changes in the business model? What would be the impact of COVID-19 on the transition? How much would fintech benefit a small NBFC like Shivam Finance? The crux is how a private lending firm transitions into a fintech-based NBFC, given the challenges within the firm and changing legalities in the auto financing space in India.

In July 2020, the management team of Harvard Business School Online (HBS Online) had to decide how to allocate its marketing budget for fiscal year 2021 between various digital channels and its portfolio of courses. Since its launch in 2014, HBS Online had grown to almost $60 million in revenue and there were concerns about its potential overlap with other HBS programs such as executive education and Harvard Business Publishing. Growth of HBS Online also raised questions about potential brand dilution of HBS.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 521027.

In 2019, the founder and chief executive officer of StoreKing, a distribution company that sold consumer products to rural India through designated retailers, faced the challenge of attaining 100,000 retailers by 2020. The chief executive officer (CEO) had previously identified an opportunity to use an assisted e-commerce model to reach rural consumers and offer them a better variety and choice of products than offered by traditional distribution channels. The challenge now was to grow the business rapidly to be viable and to achieve a leadership position to compete with not only similar players but also the large e-commerce company, Amazon.com, Inc. The CEO needed to decide on a growth strategy, how to promote the concept to retailers, and how to develop an edge over the competition.

In 2019, the founder and chief executive officer of StoreKing, a distribution company that sold consumer products to rural India through designated retailers, faced the challenge of attaining 100,000 retailers by 2020. The chief executive officer (CEO) had previously identified an opportunity to use an assisted e-commerce model to reach rural consumers and offer them a better variety and choice of products than offered by traditional distribution channels. The challenge now was to grow the business rapidly to be viable and to achieve a leadership position to compete with not only similar players but also the large e-commerce company, Amazon.com, Inc. The CEO needed to decide on a growth strategy, how to promote the concept to retailers, and how to develop an edge over the competition.

Kamal Kapoor, a cotton shirting fabric wholesaler based in Delhi, India, was unable to decide whether or not to continue his business. Retailers had been procrastinating regarding their outstanding payments and international suppliers offering exclusive goods were asking for advance payments. Domestic suppliers had disintermediated the channel by directly approaching retailers or launching their own retail brands. In addition to these challenges, e-tailors were eroding Kapoor's business, as modern consumers preferred ready-made shirts at reasonable prices that were available at their convenience. In light of this changing landscape, Kapoor was unsure whether his business model was sustainable. He considered various alternatives, such as whether he should move forward in the value chain by starting his own private retail brand or move backward by acting as an agent. He even contemplated focusing on a niche segment of the market that offered higher margins but not high volumes. Time was running out. Kapoor had to investigate the three options and make a choice, keeping the working capital cost of each in mind. Or was it simply time for Kapoor to liquidate his assets and exit the business on which he focused so much time and energy?

Kamal Kapoor, a cotton shirting fabric wholesaler based in Delhi, India, was unable to decide whether or not to continue his business. Retailers had been procrastinating regarding their outstanding payments and international suppliers offering exclusive goods were asking for advance payments. Domestic suppliers had disintermediated the channel by directly approaching retailers or launching their own retail brands. In addition to these challenges, e-tailors were eroding Kapoor’s business, as modern consumers preferred ready-made shirts at reasonable prices that were available at their convenience.<br><br>In light of this changing landscape, Kapoor was unsure whether his business model was sustainable. He considered various alternatives, such as whether he should move forward in the value chain by starting his own private retail brand or move backward by acting as an agent. He even contemplated focusing on a niche segment of the market that offered higher margins but not high volumes. Time was running out. Kapoor had to investigate the three options and make a choice, keeping the working capital cost of each in mind. Or was it simply time for Kapoor to liquidate his assets and exit the business on which he focused so much time and energy?

This case focuses on the challenges and key decisions facing Winner Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Winner Technology or Winner) when shifting from selling brick-and-mortar retailers traffic analytics systems to providing them with big data services. Founded in 2004, Winner Technology had become the leader in the Chinese traffic analytics system market. However, with shifting consumer behaviors and the recent advancement of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, Zhang Hongjun, Chairman and CEO of the company, was keenly aware that simple traffic data analytics could not keep up with retailers' growing needs, while the application of big data in the retail industry brought about tremendous opportunities. Therefore, in 2015, Winner Technology established winneryun.com, a platform to marshal traffic data in the Chinese retail industry, and launched enhanced big data services based on these data resources at the end of 2018. However, the new big data services have received mixed responses from the market. Zhang and his executive team have identified two fundamental issues that the company needs to address: What kind of revenue model should be adopted for big data services? And how can Winner cultivate the market?

In the 1990s, San José, Costa Rica, was beginning to emerge as a Latin American hot spot for the information technology sector. SPS Software, a small startup in San José, played an important part in the history of this sector and the development of the software industry in this region. By the end of 1995, SPS co-founders Claudio Pinto and Jorge Sequeira were considering developing a marketing strategy and expansion plan to leverage a probable infusion of venture capital, the first for a technology company in Central America. This case explores the rapid growth of the software industry in Costa Rica including the competitive landscape and unique infrastructure and financing challenges for Central American startups. Students will follow SPS Software as it navigates these challenges and then develop a marketing and expansion plan for the company to present to a venture capital fund.

In January 2020, Jai Prakash Chaubey, the managing director of Sarva Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (Sarva), needed to decide whether or not to accept a proposal from Gursim Pharmaceutical Limited (Gursim) to market some of Sarva’s products in Cambodia. Sarva had been performing well; however, the company’s profitability in Cambodia was minimal. Should Chaubey accept Gursim’s offer? Or should he hire a new country head who could drive the sales in the country and motivate the sales team for better results? Other options included restructuring Sarva’s product portfolio or shutting down the company’s marketing arm to focus solely on distribution. What strategies should he adopt to turn around his company's performance, strengthen its presence in Cambodia, and remain on course to achieve the company’s target for 2020?

In July 2019, the uncertainty that had been surrounding Brexit since the public referendum in June 2016 had led to a crisis for Owen Barry Inc. (Owen Barry), a luxury goods manufacturing enterprise in the United Kingdom. The company’s finance and production manager had voted in favour of Brexit but was hardly prepared for the deadlock that followed. He was now weighing different options for navigating a way out of the company’s predicament. His three main concerns were: How should he deal with the exchange rate fluctuations that had been affecting the company’s revenues and margins? How should he deal with issues around sourcing and importing essential raw materials? How should he deal with problems around the recruitment and retention of the skilled workforce at the company’s manufacturing plant near London?

Presentation to accompany product 8B20A060.

Ola Auto India (Ola) was the pioneer in cab aggregation services in India. In 2019, Ola needed to ensure that it remained the customer's first choice for autorickshaw (auto) booking. Ola had so far faced moderate competition from small players, but competition was increasing from Uber Technologies Inc. With a service that was traditionally chosen for its low cost and easy availability, customer loyalty remained a challenge for all players in the market. How could Ola ensure customer loyalty and maintain its leadership position when Uber was garnering a higher net promoter score than Ola?

In January 2020, the proprietor of Basmati House Supermart (BHS), a large grocery retail outlet in India, terminated a partner retailer contract with Springers, an online retail platform. The proprietor had an ancestral property, located in a high-footfall area of the wholesale market, that could be developed into a retail outlet. In the new outlet, the broad options were to replicate the current retail business, focus selectively on staples and do more wholesale, or only focus on rice and develop it as a brand for larger distribution. Alternatively, the proprietor could rent the new property, wind down the grocery business, and invest the money in a fitness centre. Each option required its own particular investments, competence, and marketing strategy, and all options entailed considerable uncertainty and risk. BHS was steadily losing money; therefore, the decision had to be made quickly.

This note describes how the behaviors of competitive buyers and sellers interact to determine market outcomes-the price at which a product is sold, and the quantity of a product that is exchanged. It begins by defining supply, demand, and market equilibrium. It then derives firms' supply curves from its marginal cost curve, and demonstrates how the firm's optimal production decision depends on the market equilibrium price. Finally, it shows how different factors that affect the market also affect a firm's production decision.

In March 2017, the American fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (McDonald's) launched an ambitious strategic plan, named the Velocity Growth Plan, with the intention of maintaining its dominance over competitors. As part of this strategy, McDonald’s wanted to retain its current customers, regain lost customers, and convert casual customers into more committed customers. To help accomplish these objectives, McDonald’s introduced delivery and mobile ordering services. The company also announced that it would remodel its stores, as part the Velocity Growth Plan. Two years later, in March 2019, McDonald’s acquired Dynamic Yield, a digital personalization platform that could be integrated into McDonald’s drive-through service, in-store kiosks, and mobile application. By early 2019, McDonald’s was the largest fast food company in the world, with approximately 37,855 restaurants across 120 countries, largely seen as the premiere fast food company in the industry. However, Dynamic Yield’s software provided McDonald’s with the ability to offer customers immediate recommendations, one-to-one messaging, and customer data management. How could McDonald’s best use Dynamic Yield to meet its ambitious growth objectives?