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Jugnoo started its journey in 2014 as an autorickshaw aggregator providing ride-hailing services in India. Since then, the brand had grown and expanded to include hyperlocal services and business solutions. By May 2018, Jugnoo had five services under its umbrella that were offered primarily through applications and covered both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets. Jugnoo found itself in a very different market space from where it had started. A company co-founder wondered how Jugnoo would continue to sustain its strategy of disrupting traditional markets, given the fast-paced growth it was experiencing. How would it manage to build consumers' trust with such diverse business verticals and so much reliance on technology? With the company's growing numbers and opportunities, the co-founder wondered whether Jugnoo's use of word-of-mouth communication would continue to be possible, especially considering the aggressive communication tactics adopted by other players in the market.

This case addresses the key aspects of strategy analysis and strategic decision making (e.g. Porter's Five Forces, Key Success Factors, Value Discipline Model), putting special emphasis on global marketing, positioning, segmenting and branding (Keller Brand Equity Model, Brand architecture); primary emphasis of the case is on an outside-in view with the exception of the Tracey / Wiersema Value Model. Attention is especially given towards outlining how an existing premium product and service portfolio can be complemented with a value offering, whilst managing the preservation of the legacy premium business and hedging any potential cannibalizing effects. It thereby allows for a controversial discussion and reflection on the introduction of such a dual-segment strategy (Hambrick's Strategy Diamond). Further, the case then broadens the scope and provides the base for an open discussion about potential chances and risks for a product-/service-centric company to become an integrated / cross-segment / total solution provider. Learning objective: 1. How to develop and evaluate strategic options? 2. How to pursue a dual-segment strategy and how to enter the market? 3. What are the implications by entering a dual-segment strategy? 4. Which elements can be used to differentiate the two segments? 5. What are the principal brand differentiators in pursuing a dual segments strategy? 6. Assessing how strategy can evolve as a consequence to shift in the (external) context?

In October 2017, the co-founder of Australian social enterprise Illumination Solar was rethinking his company's Give Power campaign. After five marginally profitable years designing and supplying portable solar lanterns to some of the world's most energy impoverished communities, including refugee camps, the co-founder had decided to market his products to Australian customers for outdoor uses such as camping and hiking. Under the Give Power campaign, Illumination Solar donated one solar lantern to a community in need for every solar product purchased by Australian customers. However, this strategy was not successful. The co-founder's main goal for his company was to sustainably provide good quality solar lanterns to impoverished people in developing countries. To reach that goal, he wondered which strategy to follow; should he return to the original business model, re-structure the Give Power campaign, or come up with something entirely new to generate higher profits?

In 2017, the French automaker Groupe PSA (PSA) agreed to buy loss-making Opel/Vauxhall units from General Motors Company. PSA had just recovered one year earlier from losses it had sustained since the global financial crisis. With the recovery, PSA had launched a new strategic plan with aggressive goals for sustainable profitable growth. However, PSA's sales were continuing to drop in the important Chinese market due to fierce competition, and the newly acquired units were still making losses. The use of electric cars was on the rise, and the European Commission had proposed a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. PSA was planning to re-enter the United States, and in Britain, it was facing ambiguous Brexit negotiations, raising concerns about increased costs with importing and exporting parts and finished vehicles. In light of all of these challenges, how could PSA still reach its aggressive goals for sustainable growth?

Handu Group was an online fast fashion apparel brand established in 2006 with headquarters in Jinan, China. The company had successfully adjusted its business models since 2006, transitioning from an unknown seller on the shopping website Taobao into a leading enterprise that owned over 20 subsidiary brands. However, in 2015, fierce competition in the fast fashion apparel market had intensified, with an increasing number of traditional garment companies establishing online channels. Online brands without physical stores, such as Handu Group, lost their primary competitive advantage. Faced with a bottleneck in development, the founder of Handu Group had to consider another innovation in the corporate business model. Zhao was considering three options: continuing multi-brand expansion, building brick-and-mortar shops to open offline channels, or opening operating platforms to serve other brands.

Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group, headquartered in Beijing, is the country's largest commercial property developer and the world's largest movie theatre operator. One of its core businesses is the Wanda Plazas - large complexes encompassing shopping malls, cinemas, hotels and offices. Wanda's competitive advantages include a strong culture of execution and a proprietary technology backbone that supports and automates decision making processes. With the growth of ecommerce giants such as Alibaba and JD.com, traditional retail was coming under threat. Wanda, with its background in offline retail, saw the online-to-offline space as an opportunity. But, how best to execute? This case study follows Qu Dejun, president of Wanda's newly formed Internet Technology Group, as he and his team explored ways to leverage Wanda's traditional strengths to bring an online-to-offline strategy to fruition.

Since its founding in 1990, Shenzhou International Group Holdings Limited evolved from a small clothing manufacturer to a world-leading apparel supplier, serving well-known sports and leisure brands such as Uniqlo, Nike, Adidas, and Puma. Over the previous 10 years, the group experienced explosive growth. Yet, in an age of increasing consumer expectations, could it rely on existing models to achieve greater success? Comments made by the US president about reviving his country's manufacturing industry encouraged many firms to invest in building factories in the United States. Despite being a traditional labour-intensive manufacturer, the company wondered if it should consider setting up a factory in the United States as part of its future strategic plans. If so, would the challenges outweigh the opportunities?

As retail shopping has changed with the rise of e-commerce, Target Corporate, one of the largest retail stores in the United States, made the strategic decision to invest in developing a core data science and technology team to remain competitive in its physical and online shopping experiences. The company hired a team of technologists who initially worked at enhancing the company's digital and mobile solutions, but soon began influencing the company's physical retail locations. The case explores the opportunities and challenges of competing against retail behemoths such as Amazon and Walmart, while integrating digital and physical cultures.

The case presents a decision point in the development of the California-based Chopra Center from the considerations of the center's Chief Operating Officer. The center was founded in 1996 by the physician and author Dr. Deepak Chopra in partnership with Dr. David Simon with the goal of bringing the insights of a 5,000-year-old Indian healing tradition to modern medicine. Two decades on from its founding, the center is confronting important structural questions about its portfolio of customer offerings, the role that digitization of programs and marketing will play and how these questions will be informed by the center's commitment to its founding values.

Our 2018 Strategic Measurement research shows that companies using machine learning to optimize business processes and decision-making have distinct advantages over those that aren't investing in ML. By using ML technology to make KPIs more predictive and prescriptive, these data-driven companies are redefining how to create and measure value.

This case illustrates the challenges of Peter Wong, CEO of Dow Chemical Greater China, in locally implementing Dow's global sustainability strategy around 2016 when the mainland government has only recently begun to tackle its problems of pollution and corporate responsibility. Dow's 20-year journey to embedding sustainability in global corporate strategy is reviewed in some detail, illustrating the step-by-step process of aligning resources, transforming culture, and building external partnerships to enhance the possibility that sustainability strategies yield financial gains. The case challenges students to make sense of this corporate transformation, and subsequently assess the wisdom of continuing support for commercializing a total dust containment solution when an abrupt drop in the price of coal reduced the solution's financial attractiveness to future purchasers. To make recommendations about further support, students must consider the best ways to measure and interpret a sustainability strategy's impact.

Background note for product CB0028.

This case study describes how restaurant operator Wowprime, known for its brand creativity, implemented a diversification strategy in China's mainland. Having been present in the market for 14 years, Wowprime set out plans in August 2016 to expand from 149 restaurants to 1,000 by 2022. In a market where demand for customized offerings is gaining traction, should Wowprime maintain its fixed-menu-based diversification strategy for growth, or should it focus on core brands and priority markets? The case invites class participants to step into the shoes of Wowprime decision-makers and consider strategic options to achieve the 2022 goal while taking into account resource constraints as well as local market trends.

This case describes how Opple Lighting, a leading company in China's lighting industry, developed its e-commerce business as online selling brought wholesale changes to the traditional market. Numerous questions emerged as the company embarked on its e-commerce journey. The gulf between online and traditional offline distribution channels in lighting meant that many management figures opposed the move, seeing it as a threat to long-established business lines. Opple's e-commerce team needed to find a way to gain recognition and business support from other departments. While flexible pricing is common in offline stores, price transparency is a defining feature of e-commerce. The next hurdle was ensuring that the e-commerce business avoided direct competition with offline channels. Traditional lighting fixtures are the result of long-term R&D and are subsequently produced in large quantities, whereas e-commerce products undergo rapid iteration and come in small batches. The final challenge for this department was to determine how to iterate new products and which distribution channels to use. The case chronicles the development of Opple's e-commerce business unit between 2012 and 2019. During this period, the team continuously optimized different links, including product development, production, manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, marketing and after-sales service. It also adjusted organizational structure, pursued an innovative talent management approach and improved its performance incentive system. The BU's efforts paid off as online sales rose to make up 30% of total revenue in 2019, up from 6.5% in 2003. E-commerce became a new growth driver for Opple. The BU also spearheaded changes in the company's working culture, structure and incentive system. In 2020, however, Opple witnessed a decline in both online profit and growth rates as competition intensified. What lessons can Opple draw from its journey into e-commerce to be better prepared for the future?

This case describes why and how Advantech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Advantech) has transformed in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT). Aware of the ecosystem attributes of the IoT industry and committed to the company's principle of altruism, Advantech strategically positioned itself as an "IoT platform provider" and an "enabler" of IoT applications. Since carrying out reforms in terms of its internal management, external cooperation, and development model, Advantech has evolved from an industrial computer maker into an IoT solution provider. Since the launch of the "co-creation model" at the end of 2016, Advantech has drawn attention from many excellent companies in traditional industries. With the Internet of Everything close at hand, Chairman KC Liu is well aware that there are many challenges to overcome as Advantech strives to build an industrial IoT ecosystem, the evolution continues. Case discussion will be carried out based on a three-step analysis of ecosystem strategy (seeing the ecosystem-choosing your position-winning the game) proposed by Ron Adner. Students will take a close look at the critical decisions made by Advantech as it made inroads into the IoT ecosystem as well as its organizational transformation and exploration as the company implemented strategic decisions. Through this case, students will not only learn about the latest developments of the emerging IoT industry, but will also gain a systematic understanding of "ecosystem strategy" and get to know a new corporate growth model called "co-creation."

In January 2018, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), was preparing for a meeting of the policy board of the BoJ. While the broad macroeconomic indicators hinted at a Japanese recovery, Japan still continued to have an inflation rate well below its target of 2 per cent. The accommodative, unconventional monetary policy of quantitative and qualitative easing engineered by the governor in 2013 had resulted in a bloated balance sheet for the BoJ, with little success in overcoming deflation. Was it time to wind up Japan's monetary stimulus? What would be the results of continued monetary stimulus, especially for businesses? Would the Japanese economy be able to recover from deflation without such monetary stimulus?

The Cattier family had been active in the Champagne region of France for over 250 years. Starting out as growers of grapes, they moved into champagne production, initially for local consumption. By 2017, the Cattier company, which had reached 35 full-time employees, engaged in related diversification activities on multiple fronts and internationalized its market. Cattier was selling its champagne to markets such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The company also created new product formats, developing signature branding and packaging. Cattier also partnered with fashion houses, bistros, and an international distributor owned by the American rap artist Jay-Z. However, Cattier faced a multitude of challenges in 2017. There was fierce competition in the home market, while sparkling wine consumption was down in all key European markets. Rising protectionism and the possibility of raising trade barriers in key export markets also created new risks. These challenges were compounded by the fact that harvest conditions for producing vintage wines were unpredictable. Cattier was considering using further diversification to manage these threats. However, how would diversification address Cattier's problems?

In 2016, Fair and Handsome, a skin-whitening cream produced by Emami Limited, led the men's fairness skin cream category in India, with a market share of 60 per cent. In late 2017, however, the company faced both a public backlash and an adverse court decision about its marketing of the product. A growing movement called Dark is Beautiful was galvanizing support against companies that portrayed fairer skin colour as a means for both personal and professional fulfillment. The company had also appealed a lower court's decision to ban the company's use of skin whitening in its advertisements. Since the product was earmarked for significant growth in the next five years, the company needed to develop an immediate response. What should it do?

Kiva is an online platform that sources crowdfunding for low-income borrowers. By 2018 it has facilitated $1.1 billion in loans to 2.5 million borrowers worldwide. However, as questions are raised about the adverse effects of microcredit worldwide, Kiva must adapt its strategy to demonstrate maximum impact on improving the lives of the poor, while continuing to grow the user base and ensure financial sustainability.

This case describes how Lufax, a corporate spin-off from its parent company---Ping An Group China, started its peer-to-peer lending business model in China and grew into a comprehensive asset management platform and hence a rather independent corporation on its own. The case documents the story behind the founding of Lufax and its milestone events. In particular, this case focuses on the internal tension between two competing business logics: "Internet logic" that values fast user growth and formalizes procedures later vs. "Finance logic" which emphasizes risk control and manageable growth. Such tension is exemplar among many Fintech companies in China, a developing country that experiences explosive growth in novel financial services and poor regulatory environment simultaneously. The instructor can use this case to illustrate key topics in strategy and corporate entrepreneurship such as how incumbent firms encourage innovation from within via spin-offs. The instructor can also adopt this case to examine the unique competition landscape in China Fintech and compare it to other Fintech cases such as P2P lending in US (e.g. Lending Club) or in UK (e.g. Zoppa).