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The PlayStation 3 (PS3) was the successor of the acclaimed PlayStation 2 (PS2), recognized as the world's best-selling video game console with more than 100 million units sold. The unprecedented display of enthusiasm for the PS3 suggested that Sony had another winner on its hands. The company projected sales of six million PS3 consoles worldwide between November 2006 and March 2007, a level that the PS2 took almost a year to reach. Sony's initial euphoria was short-lived. By February 2007, more than a third of PS3 consoles remained unsold, while some retailers reported a higher number of returns than sales. Consumers said they felt let down by Sony. The PS3 looked no better than Microsoft's Xbox 360, they complained, even though the Xbox 360 had already been on the market for more than a year, and sold for $200 less than the PS3. Customers also lamented the PS3's lack of interesting games, spotty support for PlayStation 2 games, and uninspiring online capabilities. Meanwhile, Nintendo's inexpensive and quirky Wii console had become all the rage, despite its underpowered processor and comparatively basic graphics. The case examines the characteristics of a successful new product launch, particularly product features, brand loyalty, content availability, third-party support, and adherence to industry standards. The case also considers how radical innovations can be used to win market share from technically superior products focused on incremental innovations. Finally, we use a 4P marketing analysis to compare video game systems offered by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

The director of La Liberte, a French not-for-profit weekly newspaper, needed to revitalize the newspaper as sales had been declining consistently for the past 15 years. The newspaper's mission was to serve the French community in Manitoba, Canada. Survival of a French newspaper was essential for the French culture in the community. To reverse the negative sales trend, the director conducted a survey. Based on the findings of the survey, the director had to balance his desire to serve the French community with the need to be financially viable.

Palliser is Canada's second largest furniture company. The company has production facilities in Canada, Mexico and Indonesia, and experimented with cutting and sewing leather in China. The company is looking at further expanding the relationship with China. Ever since Palliser set up a plant in Mexico, the company had faced increasing competitive pressure from Asia, especially from China. The president of Palliser must decide what form this relationship should follow, should it be an investment, either wholly or partly owned, or should it be through subcontracting?

Sun Life Financial is a large insurance conglomerate with $14.7 billion in annual revenues. The vice-president for China must formulate an approach for his company's entrance into China. Sun Life has achieved two important milestones: the right to apply for license and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Venture with China Everbright, a local securities company. The financial vice-president must consider strategic options for entry and choose a city in which to focus his efforts in getting a license. In doing so, he needs to consider Sun Life's overall priorities, strategic direction and how he will sell the concept to senior management in Canada. Intended for use in an introduction to international business course, the case includes assessing internal capabilities against an environmental scan, formulating strategy and making operational decisions relating to city selection. It also introduces the idea of joint venture management and government relations.

This case documents more than 15 years of U.S.-based Cummins, a global leader in diesel and allied technology, and its investment activities in China. While the macro level indicators seem to suggest the possibility to hit $1 billion in revenues in China by 2005, there were several pressing problems that put into question Cummins' ability to realize this target. Students are presented with four specific situations and must develop an appropriate action plan. They are related to the respective streamlining and consolidation of several existing joint ventures, distribution and service, and staffing. The case presents the complexity of managing country level operations and the role of executive leadership of a country manager.

The manager of business development for Carvel Asia Limited is trying to determine how best to increase ice cream cake sales in Beijing. In doing so, he needs to develop a complete marketing program which includes decisions about product offerings, pricing, placement (distribution) and promotion - the 4 Ps. Carvel Asia was a 50-50 joint venture between Carvel (USA) and China's Ministry of Agriculture.

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.

Selkirk Group is a family-owned brick manufacturer which has built an export business to Japan and other Asian markets from zero to 10% of its volume in seven years. The managing director of the company raises the question of whether it is time to change their regional export strategy and organizational structure in light of the Asian economic crisis and the reasons for their competitive success in both Australia and Asia.

The case describes Naseeb Networks (Naseeb), a social networking site that seeks to offer Muslims an online forum that conforms to Islamic cultural traditions. Using a product platform strategy, the company has been able to expand to other online services to Muslims, including greeting cards and job search. As a company, Naseeb has a number of advantages that distinguish it from other Islamic Internet companies. The case looks at the conditions under which a company can seek to enter a mature market by offering highly specialized niche services and raises questions about how to monetize a niche service with limited expansion options. From an information systems perspective, it provides an example of how a technology platform can be used to expand into other service areas with minimal development costs. Lastly, the case considers how companies that host online communities attempt to balance user-generated content and company-sponsored content and activities.

The founding entrepreneur of Honey Care Africa revitalized Kenya’s national honey industry by focusing on small-holder farmers across the country. Central to success was an innovative business model: a synergistic partnership between the development sector, the private sector, and rural communities that drew on the core competencies of each party as well as their complementary roles. This tripartite model was combined with local manufacturing of beehives, effective beekeeping training, a guaranteed market for small-holder farmers through forward contracts, and prompt payments. Four years later, Honey Care had achieved a 68 per cent market share in Kenya and distributed several brands of organic, fair-trade honey internationally, and was a lead distributor of beeswax. The business model had been successfully replicated in neighbouring Tanzania, and there were plans to expand to Uganda and Sudan.

This is a supplement to Honey Care Africa (A): A Different Business Model.

This is a supplement to Honey Care Africa (A): A Different Business Model.

As opposed to other emerging countries, the tire market in India was almost exclusively dominated by local players: 90 per cent of all tires on the Indian market were made and sold by local Indian companies. It is important to note that the big names of the world tire industry - Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental - were hardly visible in India. Michelin was absent from the Indian tire market and it is very surprising that the world leader of the tire industry had neither a production facility nor a distribution network in India. Why such an absence? Why did Michelin have so little presence in Asian emerging countries and especially in India? This case presents the main features of the tire industry in India. The case allows students to carry out a comprehensive strategic evaluation of the industry's attractiveness as well as an in-depth analysis of the structure of competition. Students will also conduct performance analysis for each company.

This is a supplement to Michelin in the Land of the Maharajahs (A): A Note on the Tire Industry in India, product 9B07M030. This case presents the performance and the geographic positioning of Michelin as well as its international expansion strategy. The information provided allows students to analyse Michelin's strategy and performance.

This case looks at the issue of whether an investment bank should invest in Tritortric, a privately held Turkish company specializing in white goods. Tritortric is planning an expansion in Europe either as OEM or through the acquisition of an existing European brand. Students will evaluate the attractiveness of Tritortric as a company and to provide guidance related to the mode of international expansion. This case also allows a broader discussion of how a company from an emerging country can compete against companies/brands from a developed one.

The CEO of Coca-Cola is faced with increasing criticism over the company's handling of alleged human rights abuses in Colombia. A grass roots protest movement known as The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke has built international support for a boycott of Coca-Cola products on college campuses. The campaign centers specifically on the intimidation and murder of union leaders at a specific Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. Coca-Cola asserted that it was not responsible for such abuses. Rather, the violence at the Coca-Cola plant was the product of a political situation that was beyond the company's control. The company further argued that it was in compliance with local labor laws, and had been dismissed as the defendant in lawsuits filed in Colombia and U.S. courts. At the time of the case, Coca-Cola is faced with anti-Coke campaigns at more than 100 college campuses worldwide and official boycotts of its products at a number of large well-known campuses in the United States. In response, the company has undertaken an audit of its bottling plants in Colombia. It also launched a public relations campaign aimed at refuting accusations of human rights violations. The case can be used to discuss corporate ethics, extraterritoriality, marketing and public relations.

Kirsti Paakkanen has achieved a celebrity status in Finland for her enigmatic leadership of the Finnish design company Marimekko. Purchasing the company in a state of near bankruptcy in 1991, Paakkanen took several actions to restore profitability and realize growth. As of 2006, the company has sales of $64 million (of which 80 per cent are from Finland) and net profits of $8.4 million. Over the last few years, Paakkanen and her team have focused on growing international sales. Recently, the company has opened concept shops in Japan, United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Sweden and the United States owned by foreign partners. In light of the international expansion, Paakkanen is wondering if any changes to Marimekko's personnel policies and/or organization structure are necessary.

The chairman of Gome Ltd, a well known appliance retail chain, congratulated his management team for their excellent performance over the past year. For three consecutive years, Gome had been ranked the largest electrical appliance retail chain in China, and the second largest overall retail chain. Claiming to be the only true national player, Gome achieved total sales of RMB23.9 billion in 2004 and in 2005 doubled its number of stores to 426. The company's four-year plan is to capture 10 to 15 per cent of the market share nationally. Gome would need to double the number of stores in the coming three years, and more importantly, it needed to work out a strategy to fend off its local and global competitors.

In 2003, 3M initiated contact with Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd. to discuss potential cooperation opportunities in the area of transdermal pharmaceutical products. Yunnan Baiyao (YB), was a household brand in China for its unique traditional herbal medicines. In recent years, the company had been engaged in a series of corporate reforms and product/market diversification strategies to respond to the change in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and competition at a global level. By 2003, YB was already a vertically integrated, product-diversified group company with an ambition to become an international player. The proposed cooperation with 3M was attractive to YB, not only as an opportunity for domestic product diversification, but also for international diversification. YB had been attempting to internationalize its products and an overseas department had been established in 2002 specifically for this purpose. On the other hand, YB had also been considering another option namely, whether to extend its brand to toothpaste and other healthcare products. YB had to make decisions about which of the two options to pursue and whether it was feasible to pursue both.

Anduro Marketing is a Canadian company that sells technical services to companies wanting to improve their search engine website rankings. Though small, Anduro has attracted several major clients in both Canada and the United States, and expects steady profitability and growth. Anduro believes it can generate substantial additional profit by developing and selling a suite of software products that automate its technical service offerings. Anduro's managers must decide whether Anduro is better off staying with its current safe and profitable strategy or if Anduro should instead pursue a riskier but potentially more profitable software sales model. Several tough questions must be answered to determine whether the risk is worth the reward. The Anduro case provides an interesting description of an Internet technical/marketing services business and contrasts this with software sales.