個案總覽

Supplement for product 9B17A037. It was 2017 and the KITKAT brand in Japan was at a critical juncture. The KITKAT marketing leaders sat down for a special meeting to review how Nestlé Japan had been able to create meaning and value for their brand. However, as they began to discuss their options for future growth, they faced difficult decisions: Should they look to export the flavor variations that had become such big hits in Japan to overseas markets such as China, the European Union, or the United States? Travelers from these countries regularly bought a wide range of KITKAT flavor varieties during their trips to Japan to bring home. Or should they focus on expanding the e-commerce sales of premium KITKAT flavors?

In 2008, the marketing manager for Nestlé Japan's confectionery business and his team were struggling to redefine the KITKAT brand within the Japanese market. KITKAT as a brand faced a real threat as the retail environment rapidly shifted toward increasingly powerful convenience store chains and consumer preferences shifted toward more novel consumable products. With more than 200 companies competing within Japan's crowded and relatively stable confectionery market, Nestlé Japan was facing the harsh realities of Japan's famed position as the world's toughest consumer market. To address these challenges, Nestlé Japan worked over 15 years to instill deep meaning in the KITKAT brand and then, based upon this foundation, created a comprehensive product portfolio. How can KITKAT capitalize on its past success as it moves forward?

Supplement to case W17424. The KITKAT team had experienced great success over the past few years by building a powerful and resonating brand and enhancing their production capabilities to enable them to adapt to changing demands from their channel partners. However, the harsh realities of a changing market demographic, and increasingly powerful convenience store chains, created a clear sense of urgency for creative solutions to continue their growth. The KITKAT team leaders felt that the ideas that had been generated in the closing months of 2007 held enormous potential to create growth through a previously overlooked retail channel. As they sat down to review the strategies, they wondered: Had they overlooked any important details that could affect their 2008 year?

Supplement to case W17424. In the spring of 2009, the KITKAT team was fresh from a successful marketing campaign targeting students. After reviewing recent figures however, they realized that they had a critical decision to make regarding the fate of the overall KITKAT brand portfolio: was KITKAT too sweet for some of their older customers? How could they address this issue of taste without undermining the overall brand that they had worked so hard to create through their recent postal service campaign?

BRAC was the largest non-governmental organization in the world, reaching out to 138 million people. It made a significant contribution to reducing poverty in Bangladesh by employing more than 117,000 community workers (Shasthya Shebikas) to improve the health and nutrition of the rural poor. The manager of BRAC's Health, Nutrition and Population program was faced with two significant challenges. First, she had to find a way to encourage more people to use BRAC’s services; more than 60 per cent of the population sought the services of unqualified health care service providers, despite the significant contribution made by Shasthya Shebikas. Second, she had to bring down the 10 to 20 per cent turnover rate of the Shasthya Shebikas.

Supplement to case W17424. It was 2017 and the KITKAT brand in Japan was at a critical juncture. The KITKAT marketing leaders sat down for a special meeting to review how Nestlé Japan had been able to create meaning and value for their brand. However, as they began to discuss their options for future growth, they faced difficult decisions: Should they look to export the flavor variations that had become such big hits in Japan to overseas markets such as China, the European Union, or the United States? Travelers from these countries regularly bought a wide range of KITKAT flavor varieties during their trips to Japan to bring home. Or should they focus on expanding the e-commerce sales of premium KITKAT flavors?

In 2016, Pepperfry.com (Pepperfry) was India’s leading online retailer of furniture and home products. As a pioneer in the online furniture and furnishings space, Pepperfry had a first-mover advantage that led to the achievement of significant milestones within a short period. Online marketing, however, involved distinct challenges compared with traditional marketing practices. Improving customer experience at the different stages of a consumer’s purchase could be the foundational strategy to resolve these challenges. How could Pepperfry’s service design further enhance the customer experience and achieve a competitive advantage?

Impex, a division of the South Indian firm KCM Appliances, dealt with kitchen, household, and home entertainment appliances. KCM’s managing director needed to decide on a year-end sales promotion for Impex. One option was direct-response advertising in the Times of India newspaper, which could potentially help Impex expand its reach in India. This option was in contrast to the previous year’s promotion, which involved collaboration with distributors and retailers in the Kerala region of South India. Deciding between the two options required a quantitative analysis to estimate the incremental volume and sales revenue gained from the previous year’s promotion. Those gains could then be compared with the break-even volumes required to cover the costs of the promotion with the Times of India. Impex also needed to consider a qualitative analysis by examining the tensions created by the two options, including channel relations versus brand awareness, an existing market focus versus a future market focus, and product management versus sales management. Should Impex repeat the previous year’s tried-and-tested promotion, or pursue the Times of India offer, whereby it could sidestep its local channel partners and directly sell to consumers?

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. New research finds that stories about consumers'positive experiences with a brand significantly increase users'engagement with brand websites, and stories originating from consumers are especially powerful in shaping brand attitudes in social media. Indeed, companies that aren't offering experiences that leverage consumer input in brand-related narratives are missing out on important opportunities to connect in a meaningful way with potential buyers.

This article helps close two voids in the literature dealing with dual language (bilingual) marketing. First, it adds to the discussion about whether dual language (specifically English/Spanish) marketing that targets Hispanic consumers living in the U.S. is socially responsible. Second, it discusses how U.S. Hispanics feel about learning English and why some react negatively to bilingual marketing efforts. To determine whether dual language marketing is socially responsible, the corporate governance theories of Milton Friedman and R. Edward Freeman are used. The first conclusion is that, from Friedman's shareholder perspective, bilingual marketing may be much less profitable than expected, if at all. From Freeman's stakeholder perspective, dual language marketing is socially responsible if the focus is on perceived short-term needs of Hispanic consumers; however, from a broader, long-term societal approach, it is not. The second conclusion is that non-Hispanic Americans do not favor bilingual marketing. Recommendations for socially responsible ways of targeting this group are discussed.

Supplement to case 514086.

Audio Advice was a brick-and-mortar audio specialty retailer with two stores in North Carolina. Traditionally, audiophile components were only sold through specialty stores. However, this practice was shifting, with a growing portion of sales occurring online. Audio Advice wanted to capture a portion of this growing channel, so started online as an Amazon Marketplace seller. Though this channel resulted in quick revenue growth without a great deal of initial investment, it was not suitable long term. Audio Advice’s management had a bigger vision. In planning their transition to their own e-commerce site, Audio Advice needed to consider branding: should they extend their existing brand, use a sub-brand, or develop a new one? How would each option affect in-store sales, Audio Advice’s reputation, and the willingness of audiophile brands to allow online sales of their products?

Audio Advice was a brick-and-mortar audio specialty retailer with two stores in North Carolina. Traditionally, audiophile components were only sold through specialty stores. However, this practice was shifting, with a growing portion of sales occurring online. Audio Advice wanted to capture a portion of this growing channel, so started online as an Amazon Marketplace seller. Though this channel resulted in quick revenue growth without a great deal of initial investment, it was not suitable long term. Audio Advice's management had a bigger vision. In planning their transition to their own e-commerce site, Audio Advice needed to consider branding: should they extend their existing brand, use a sub-brand, or develop a new one? How would each option affect in-store sales, Audio Advice's reputation, and the willingness of audiophile brands to allow online sales of their products?

Supplement to case 517127.

In January of 2017, CJ Entertainment & Media (E&M) proudly announced that it will be holding its first ever KCON in Mexico City just two months later. CJ Group Chairman Jay Lee and Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee are pleased at the progress that KCON, a Korean-oriented music and cultural convention, has made since its debut in LA in 2012. In the years since 2012, the event has been held every year in LA, and has recently also taken place in New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Abu Dhabi, with varying levels of financial success. In addition to growing in number, KCON has grown in size. By 2016, KCON LA had become a three-day, two-concert affair, that attracted 70,000 attendees with a wide range of experiences for fans to enjoy, including Korean foods, dance classes, beauty products, and eSports offerings. Chairman Lee and VC Lee believe that KCON is a good vehicle for accelerating the Hallyu wave of Korean culture that was still sweeping the globe, and riding this wave in promoting CJ Group offerings. Indeed, the Group's food brand Bibigo, which ran nine restaurants in the LA area and sold frozen dumplings and other Korean foods in Costco across the U.S., and KCON.tv, a digital media channel, were experiencing commercial success in the U.S. market. But at the same time, there was some uncertainty about the best way to ensure continued growth of the KCON concept. Should they expand the current KCONs to include more days, shows, and events; launch KCONs in new geographies such as Southeast Asia or Australia; or some combination of these growth strategies? How concerned should they be with KCON's uneven financial performance and difficulty in generating sponsorship revenue? KCON LA and KCON Tokyo have made a profit for multiple years in a row, and KCON NY was in the black for the first time in 2016, but other KCONs lost money. What can they do to further grow the Bibigo brand in the US?

In mid-January 2017, at the Vancouver head office of Clearly, Canada's leading online optical products company, the chief executive officer was reviewing plans for the company's participation in an upcoming international eyewear exhibition. The event provided more than 1,000 optical companies with an opportunity to showcase their latest offerings. The worldwide market for eyewear was growing, and customers were increasingly turning to online retailers for many products. However, the rate of annual growth in online sales of optical products was slow. Clearly's chief executive officer wondered how to approach this challenge: How could his company increase online sales beyond the current 4 per cent of industry sales? What role would Clearly's existing brick-and-mortar stores around the world play with respect to online sales?

The marketing director of Harmonie Mineral Water-the second-best selling bottled water in the world-is using findings from two project studies to assess how to establish a global brand identity for Harmonie via television advertising. He must decide what product attributes are sufficiently important across countries that they can be used for global brand communications. He also must determine the extent of local customization he should allow and the roles of headquarters and country managers in these communications. The case can be used in both introductory marketing classes and elective courses in Brand Management, Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications, in a module on marketing communications in an Advertising class, or the global module of a Marketing Management class.