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India as an emerging market offers tremendous opportunities to marketers. The marketing scenario is an upbeat one both for mundane products as well as luxury offerings. Marketing art was an unexplored area. www.dhonuk.com was an entrepreneurial company that was making an attempt to market art. This case study is about the attempt by the company to study the behaviour of the consumers interested in art. The case study delves into the nuances of segmentation and psychographics with information on the involvement levels of consumers. The challenge for www.dhonuk.com was to use consumer insights to formulate marketing strategies that would enable the company to target various segments and decide how these segments could be differentiated. Some of the interesting questions that the case reflects are (1) Would capturing the perception of consumers about art forms work? (2) What about their level of involvement in art forms? (3) Were art forms something that consumers used to reflect their personality? (4) Were consumers associated with art different from other consumers in terms of their lifestyle? The case has a blend of several aspects of consumer behaviour that will be useful to formulate a strategy for this unusual category in the Indian marketing context. The case can be used to illustrate how the various aspects of consumer behaviour can contribute to marketing strategy of a firm, especially with regard to a category that has not diffused widely among the consumers. The case also illustrates how consumer behaviour concepts can be combined to obtain consumer insights in a given scenario. The outcome of the case is reflected in how marketing mix elements can be formulated using behavioural concepts. This angle is different from formulating marketing mix using competitive data without the information on behavioural dimensions.

The case details the history of AIG, its organizational structure, and involvement in the market for credit default swaps and the financial crisis. Edward Liddy has been appointed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as CEO and chairman of AIG during the government's bailout of the insurance giant. He is preparing to address the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises to provide testimony related to AIG's payment of $165 million in bonuses to several of its managers at the same time the government had been injecting billions of dollars into the company to help keep it afloat. Students are asked to reflect on the bonus payments, what factors in the organization might have contributed to the issues AIG faced in the financial crisis, and how to ensure the company did not face similar issues again in the future.

Given widening bid-ask spread for a target stock, a small Australian portfolio manager considers front running the market makers by posting its own quotes inside the spread. Organized in a series of rounds, the case asks students to post bid and ask limit orders for shares. Each round allows orders to come in that execute against the limit order book, cash flow and end-of-round inventory to be calculated, and the market to revise the bid and ask quotes for the next round. This structure starkly illustrates the tension for market makers between bid-ask spread profits and inventory trading uncertainty.

Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion. Lacking frameworks for deciding upon countries to enter and services to deliver in each country, Exline used gut instinct. Lacking control systems and information, he failed to identify problems early and had trouble understanding the root cause of failures. The global financial crisis intensified the problems. The case ends by describing how Exline was able to turn around the troubled company and develop necessary governance systems. The question of whether to once more attempt to grow beyond Hong Kong and, if so, the approach to take in selecting countries, is a central issue Exline faced at the time of the case.

The case describes the creation of Turkey's largest business group by Vehbi Koc. The foundation of this group in the interwar years, and its subsequent diversification into many industries, including automobiles, household goods, and services, are analysed. The case serves as a vehicle to explain why diversified business groups are so important in emerging markets such as Turkey. It explores the role of market imperfections, government policies, and entrepreneurial ambition in their creation, as well as the organizational challenges posed by managing such diversified firms owned by a family. Much of the firm's growth came from licensing and joint venture agreements with multinational firms that were unable, or unwilling, to invest directly in Turkey because of political risk and government restrictions. The case ends in 1988, when the founder has received a report from the management consultancy Bain calling for the firm to reduce the range of activities it undertakes because of the competitive challenges resulting from the liberalization of the Turkish economy.

No abstract.

Kellogg Company, one of the largest cereal companies in the world, is struggling with inefficient production flows. The popular Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes cereals are produced on the same production line. The process is often starved of cereal, which is costing Kellogg thousands of dollars every day in lost revenue. John A. Bryant, Kellogg's chief executive officer, must come up with a viable solution before next week's board meeting. This simple production process shows how complications can arise when a resource requires setup time.

This is part of a case series. 'Everyone says entrepreneurship is about risk-taking. But it's not: it's about minimising risks and taking careful risks.' Terry Rhodes' own words resonated with him as he reflected on the most critical decision of his career at Celtel International. Since its inception in March 1998, Celtel, a wireless service provider, set out to change the way business was done in Africa and to prove the transformative effects business could have on the continent and its people. Rhodes, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Celtel, had successfully mitigated the risks and overcome the challenges that deterred other businesses from investing in and contributing to the region. 'We were lucky that our business - mobile telecommunications - was seen as raising money in the West to bring to Africa and build infrastructure,' he explained. As Celtel expanded and moved into more and more markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, its corporate values were continually tested. Up until now, Rhodes had managed to avert corrupt situations using simple but creative tactics. However, the market entry into Guinea in late 1999 had posed a different story. Despite his multiple efforts, negotiations with the Guinean government were now at a standstill and it had become clear to Rhodes that the government expected substantial bribery payments for the deal to move forward. It was now late September 2001 and to add to the dire situation, Celtel's CFO had informed him that losing the Guinea deal might lead the company towards bankruptcy. Rhodes now sat outside the door of the boardroom, waiting to be called in and present his recommendation to the Board concerning the Guinea deal. As he reflected on his available options, Rhodes knew he would have to defend his decision to the Board and would need their full support.

Case (A) describes the situation at the Northlands Ledger, a newspaper on its way out of business due in large part to its publisher's and editors' focus on what they do and want to keep doing rather than on what their customers (readers and advertisers) want. The value proposition to the reader is that 'we deliver the paper reliably and give you the latest national and international news'. The value proposition to the advertisers is that 'we print your ads accurately and runs them on time'. Both value propositions are outdated, and, even if they were what the customers wanted-which they were not, neither was being executed well. The paper's key performance indicators-circulation, classified ads, and commercial advertising are all in decline despite the fact that the community it serves is growing. The senior management of the Paulus chain that owns this paper has forced the publisher, Allison, to retire and brought another publisher, Potter, in from one of its other papers, The Sun Belt City Star, where Potter was highly successful. However, he cannot simply transfer his success formula from the Star to the Ledger. Case (B) details his efforts and may be used as a classic example of good change management and leadership practices. Potter established a clear-cut set of objectives and formulated a new strategy of responsiveness to readers and advertisers that responded to why they "hired" the paper in the first place. To implement his new strategy he terminated senior managers and others who he did not feel could contribute to the new paper, and made significant changes in key dimensions of implementation: culture, structure, information and decision support systems, incentives, and human resources. Throughout he used a mix of both authoritative and participative change management-a mix that may provoke an interesting class discussion.

Alegre, a leading hotel group in Central and South America, is suffering under the troubled economy, and its newest property, the flagship Palma Cay in Cozumel, is hurting most. Beatriz Soto, Palma Cay's manager, has a plan to boost bookings, but she doesn't have the money to carry it out. Should corporate headquarters grant her additional funds, despite the company's traditionally decentralized operations? Or should Alegre think about launching its very first portfolio-wide campaign? With commentary by Raul Gonzalez, the CEO of Barcelo Hotels & Resorts for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Kevin Lane Keller, the E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.

Alegre, a leading hotel group in Central and South America, is suffering under the troubled economy, and its newest property, the flagship Palma Cay in Cozumel, is hurting most. Beatriz Soto, Palma Cay's manager, has a plan to boost bookings, but she doesn't have the money to carry it out. Should corporate headquarters grant her additional funds, despite the company's traditionally decentralized operations? Or should Alegre think about launching its very first portfolio-wide campaign? With commentary by Raul Gonzalez, the CEO of Barcelo Hotels & Resorts for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Kevin Lane Keller, the E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.

Alegre, a leading hotel group in Central and South America, is suffering under the troubled economy, and its newest property, the flagship Palma Cay in Cozumel, is hurting most. Beatriz Soto, Palma Cay's manager, has a plan to boost bookings, but she doesn't have the money to carry it out. Should corporate headquarters grant her additional funds, despite the company's traditionally decentralized operations? Or should Alegre think about launching its very first portfolio-wide campaign? With commentary by Raul Gonzalez, the CEO of Barcelo Hotels & Resorts for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Kevin Lane Keller, the E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.

This case has two aspects. First, it provides a tutorial on the basic concepts associated with straightforward time-value-of-money scenarios. The topics of future value (FV) and present value (PV) are discussed and exemplified for both lump sum and recurring cash flow situations. In this vein, the derivation and use of four useful time-value-of-money reference tables are presented to highlight the underlying logic, connections, and mechanics of determining FVs and PVs. Second, this case provides students with several simple vignettes in which they can apply the foregoing time-value-of-money insights and techniques. The case can be effectively used in degree and nondegree programs, and it requires no additional reading materials. It is well suited for one 90-minute class period, and all or selected subsets of the vignettes contained in it may be assigned. A Teaching Note is available to registered faculty.

This case is set five years after the Stanford Graduate School of Business case "Infosys Consulting in 2006: Leading the Next Generation of Business and Information Technology Consulting." Since then Infosys Consulting (IC) had become quite successful in the IT consulting world through its model of offsite technology development and its new Value Realization Method, which had driven IC's profits and reputation while becoming the company's key differentiator. The method involved quantitatively linking IC programs back to the creation of shareholder value on one side and to customer value on the other. While IC brought in zero dollars of revenue in 2004, in fiscal year 2011 direct revenue hit $200 million. In addition, IC drove another $600 million in revenue for its India-based parent company, Infosys Technology Limited (ITL). IC also had an operating margin of 25 percent. The company had grown very rapidly - by 2011 it counted 700 consultants worldwide and 42 partners. This quick growth provided both opportunities and challenges for the new company. IC's parent company ITL was also growing extremely rapidly, and the case discusses IC relationship with its parent company, which was across the world and had a much more formalized method of operation. By contrast, IC described itself as a maverick culture, which it saw as a great asset and helped the company attract and retain top-notch consultants.

Since its 1999 merger Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a global consumer goods company, led by its CEO Bart Becht, RB developed a reputation for rapid product innovation and industry leading profit margins. RB's stated strategy was to focus on its Powerbrands and high growth categories and to nurture the Powerbrands with innovation and roll them out globally. The Powerbrands had steady double digit growth year over year, attracted a devoted customer base and typically grabbed high margins. This case examines the Powerbrands strategy, RB's devotion to fast and focused innovation and its execution of that strategy.

Warren Adams founded Patagonia Sur in 2007 as one of the world's first for-profit land conservation businesses. His goal was to purchase over 100,000 acres of land in southern Chile and to run a variety of sustainable businesses to generate annual returns for investors. Patagonia Sur planned to derive various streams of revenue from the land-including eco-tourism, sustainable land development, carbon credits, water rights and eco-brokerage-thereby giving a financial return to investors on top of achieving a positive environmental impact. By 2011, Warren had raised over $20 million from high net worth individuals and Patagonia Sur had over 60,000 acres in Patagonia under management. However, institutional investors seriously questioned whether Patagonia Sur could ever do more than break even on an annual basis. Further, they worried that in fact the risk of the investment went up significantly as the company spent both its capital and management time on so many different revenue streams. In addition, some investors felt that for-profit conservation was morally wrong. Warren needed to convince both individual and institutional investors that his vision would succeed in both generating returns and preserving the natural beauty of Patagonia.

Nike's Football division needs to devise a strategy to excel at the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa. Nike has gone from a niche player in the market for football apparel and footwear in 1994 to a formidable competitor to Adidas in 2008 (with revenues of over $1 billion for the sport). The case traces how Nike has gone about making this transformation and its activities at each of the World Cups since 1994. For the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, Nike has decided to change its target market focus and to use digital and social media platforms to connect more extensively with consumers. In addition, Nike plans to launch innovative new boots and engage in corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives. The company has to do so in light of competition from archrival Adidas and the pressure of succeeding on the biggest stage in football, with billions of people around the world watching. The case allows students to analyze how a company can best integrate several value propositions into a cohesive plan and how it can best communicate with its chosen target market. It also allows for a rich discussion of the brand image the company needs to portray to leverage success beyond the World Cup event.

Can a company base a major proposal on its good reputation, history with the client, and a perspective that differs from the client's own? Emphasizing both its engineering capability and 80 years' experience, Parsons Brinckerhoff spends one year and $1 million preparing a proposal to build a $17 billion subway line. Competition from four equally qualified firms is stiff, but PB is sure its history and top-level MTA connections make it a shoe-in. Despite MTA's concerns about the finished line's functionality, PB believes the construction of the tunnel itself is the key to winning the bid. In the A case, the firm awaits the good news. The B and C cases reveal the results and the direction the company then chooses to take. (A teaching note is available to registered faculty members.)

The general manager of Horseshoe Resort is finalizing the proposal for a new adventure park with his management team. Horseshoe is an all-season resort recently purchased and new ownership wants to increase Horseshoe's attractions to entice visitors to the resort in the summer months. The general manager wants to determine how best to use the land and investment dollars to cater to Horseshoe's target market and add to its portfolio of activities.

Wall Street hedge fund manager Kim Meyer is considering investing in an SFA (slate financing arrangement) in Hollywood. Dave Griffith, a Hollywood producer, is pitching for the investment and has conducted a broad analysis of recent movie data to determine the important drivers of a movie's success. In order to convince Meyer to invest in an SFA, Griffith must anticipate possible questions to maximize his persuasiveness.