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The context of the case presents an account of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiated by Lawrence & Mayo (L&M), a company dealing in optical frames for 140 years, helped to build brand equity, image and identity, creating a strategic advantage against competition. The case had a deep-rooted theoretical association with a theory such as the triple bottom line theory (three Ps: profit, people and planet) on CSR. The case helps to understand and clarify the role of CSR in brand equity. It also gives an insight into the value and culture of L&M, and its impact on various stakeholders, namely, employees and customers.

This case is related to the CSR orientation of L&M and its impact on brand equity. As a brand, L&M is over 140 years old and has a dynamic and trending optics market in India. There is a dilemma in the company around the impact of CSR on brand equity, customer engagement and company goodwill. This case focuses on maintaining and improving brand equity, identity and image through CSR initiatives.

Undergraduate and postgraduate students, essential for students focusing on Marketing and CSR disciplines.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Brand management, marketing management and retail.

This case is applicable to postgraduate business management students.

Mr Rajesh Jain promoted Miraaya chain of stores in the year 2010. Currently, Miraaya is a fast-evolving retail chain selling women's wear, and this case describes Miraaya's journey since its inception and its attempt to build a brand with limited resources and to carve a place for itself amidst growing competition and fast-growing customer awareness. Though Rajesh almost singlehandedly led the brand, the organization has professionals in each function and there has been process orientation – both for front-end functions as well as back-end functions, right from the beginning. In the second year of operation, the revenue grew very rapidly, but in the third year, when faced with the challenge of stagnant revenue, the organization could still increase the profitability. With a focus on product innovation, he and his team have been able to retain the customers' interest, which is at a premium with widespread competition from both organized and unorganized women's apparel retailers. With innovations like salwars in knitted fabric and cropped trousers with elastic waistband, Miraaya remained ahead of the pack. To keep the costs low, Rajesh and his team worked constantly on expanding via franchising and shop-in-shop formats as well as on online sales, thus also increasing the brand awareness. Students might come to the class with an understanding that brand building is done mainly through active communication in the media, while this case would create an opportunity for the students to appreciate that word-of-mouth, online media and building customer relationships via product innovation can be very exciting, affordable and successful media.

With the help of this case, students would learn about customer-based brand equity model and its factors. The case would also help to understand the challenges of brand building in retail in a country like India. It also defines the latest buying behaviour of Indian women and their aspirations.

The case illustrates the challenges and opportunities for a retail entrepreneur in an Indian environment. The case is a nice piece of work to showcase how a new retailer should build the brand in a highly competitive market. This case can be a source of inspiration among budding entrepreneurs.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

An interview was conducted with the general manager and semi-structured interviews with Likert scale to the main clients, collaborators and suppliers to establish the key competencies of the firm. Secondary information was collected through the organization’s historical and strategic documents.

At the end of the case study, students will be able to learn international marketing, innovation, strategic management, international business strategy; analyze the brand equity construct through the associative neural network model for decision-making; determine the internationalization strategy using the dual pressures model and sources of competitive advantage for international marketing management; and propose the innovation of a product by applying creativity techniques or innovation models to enter international markets.

Café Galavis is a family business leader in the production and commercialization of roasted and ground coffee for 103 years in Colombia. The new chief executive officer recovered the financial stability during his management during the period from 2015 to 2019, implementing internationalization processes. However, the sanitary crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Colombia, generated an economic recession, which led to a decrease in coffee consumption. How to innovate in the development of a product or service in times of pandemic? What internationalization strategy implement? These are the challenges that the new management and its collaborators will confront.

The teaching case is aimed at students of postgraduate academic programs in areas Management or MBA. In the modules of Marketing the case allows the orientation of the concepts of brand equity or branding. Likewise, in the modules of International Management, the definition of the internationalization strategy through the analysis of dual pressures and sources of competitive advantage. Finally, in the modules of Innovation different methodologies or techniques for innovation can be applied such as: SCAMPER, Design thinking or the Stage Gate Model.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International Business

Upon completion of the case study, the students will be able to analyze the brand equity construct through the associative neural network model for decision-making; identify prospective scenarios through the Delphi method for the construction of strategic plans in organizations; and propose the innovation of a product by applying creativity techniques to enter international markets.

Cafe Galavis was one of the leading family businesses in industrial development and had the highest business recognition, with a century of experience in producing and commercializing roasted and ground coffee in Cucuta, Colombia. In 2015, the diplomatic crisis between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela led to the indefinite closure of the Colombian–Venezuelan border, which caused an increase in income from smuggled coffee. In addition, the presence of different competitors and traditional brands negatively impacted the level of sales, which considerably affected financial stability. Likewise, internal difficulties of family nature and administrative management led to the change of senior management. By 2016, Juan Yáñez was appointed chief executive officer (CEO) and was in charge of avoiding the company’s closure. In January 2023, he received feedback from his consulting team, and upon evaluation of the new market challenges with his collaborators, he realized a great challenge that merited the search for a priority alternative solution. How to design a new product considering the loss of brand identity in the face of the generational change of its consumers? These were some of the challenges posed by the CEO that consequently required starting a strategic management process of innovation.

The teaching case is aimed at students of postgraduate academic programs in the areas of knowledge of innovation, product design, industrial design, marketing or MBA. In the modules of marketing, strategic management, brand management and strategic foresight, the case allowed for the orientation of the concepts of brand value or branding as well as the analysis of the value chain for the implementation of strategies that promote competitive advantages of companies. Similarly, in the modules of product or service design, creativity and innovation and complex thinking, the case allows one to approach a complex problem and apply creativity techniques for its solution.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing.

The case offers a unique opportunity to understand the market dynamics of a young luxury brand that aspires to empower women and pursue the broader goal of marketing sustainability in an emerging market. The discussion would enable learners to conduct environmental analysis and assess implications of crisis (current pandemic) on business, understand the marketing mix implications for a firm with societal orientation, learn to design effective brand positioning strategies and plan social and market driven brand strategies to ensure sustainable growth.

Gauri Malik, an investment banker-turned-social entrepreneur, forayed into the luxury home décor and furniture market with Sirohi, in 2019. In a market driven by exclusivity and design appeal, the brand had sustainability at its core. Malik worked with 200 women, from a conservative rural base in India to create traditional products that were hand-made with recycled natural fibres and upcycled plastic wastes. Driven by the goal of securing the livelihood for a larger group of women artisans, Malik wanted to scale up from 350 to 5000 products in the next five years. Hence, for materializing her ambitious plans she sought answers to- Could her home-trained women artisans deliver the promise of quality and finesse to support Sirohi scale up as a luxury brand? While it was extremely critical for Sirohi to have an articulated image-she wondered if the parallel focus on the up-market luxury brand image and sustainability-create competitive advantage or lead to diffused positioning?

Classified as MODERATE in terms of difficulty level, the case can be effectively used in post-graduate programmes for foundation courses on Marketing Management, elective courses on Brand Management or Sustainability Marketing.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the linkage between brand development and advertising/marketing communications plan; and to understand the critical role of branding for organizations and its clients against competition in a business-to-business environment.

The case presents a very dilemma faced by firms such as Bharat Oil Company in developing economies such as India. The public sector entities in India have always enjoyed state-vested power, authority and control. Employees in the organizations lack the appreciation for concepts such as branding and marketing communications. It is a similar situation with the case protagonist Deepak Dixit. The company has completed its first phase of marketing communications/advertising exercise for Prosell, the petrochemical brand. Deepak’s boss Aakash wants Deepak to prepare the marketing communications plan for the second phase of Prosell. Deepak’s meeting with the customers and line managers left him perturbed about the success of the first phase of brand Prosell. The case ends at a point where Deepak has to come up with a branding and marketing communications plan rather than an advertising plan. Research methods: this case is based on data gathered from primary interviews with the case protagonist (name disguised), five line managers and eleven actual business customers of the Bharat Oil Company. Secondary data has been collected from published reports and company website. The name of the company has been disguised.

Postgraduate, Executive, Undergraduate.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the complexities and challenges involved in retailing luxury motorcycle brands in India.

This study has been developed by carrying out in-depth interviews of company officials of Triumph Motorcycles. The researchers also reached out to various distributors of luxury motorcycles in Tiers I and II cities, and through the interview process, tried to understand the problems/issues faced while selling luxury motorcycles.

There has been a marked increase in the branding and marketing of luxury products in the recent years. Although the two wheelers account for 80 per cent of the domestic demand, the luxury motorbike market in India is still in its introductory stages. This study discusses the challenges faced at Triumph Motorcycles and raises questions on what should be done to increase the market share of Triumph Motorcycles in India. Readers would get insights into the activities carried out to build customer connect and would be able to suggest marketing strategies and customer relationship programmes for luxury motorcycle brands.

This study can be used for the core course on marketing management or for elective courses on customer relationship management, brand management or consumer behaviour course in MBA programme.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to gain knowledge on public–private partnerships (PPPs) in emerging markets; understand how to apply the sensing element of the dynamic capabilities framework in analysing context, especially in emerging market context; and understand how to apply the dynamic capabilities framework to the process of developing brand equity.

On 20 March 2020, in Johannesburg South Africa, Dr Barbara Jensen Vorster, the head of corporate communications and marketing at the Gautrain Management Agency, was considering her dilemma of how to manage stakeholders at a time when the patronage guarantee was under question. The nature of the Gautrain PPP transport contract entailed a revenue guarantee that was called a patronage guarantee. How did they build their Gautrain brand equity during the Gautrain PPP patronage guarantee controversy? This case study highlights the perspectives of multiple stakeholders which places the Gautrain brand equity under strain. The Gautrain brand identity was created to project an integrated, overarching brand position for the construction project and later the operating company. The logo illustrated Africanisation, and the slogan “For People on the Move” represented a modern collaborative approach. Upholding the status of the brand is an important quest for the corporate communications and marketing team, and therefore the issue around the patronage guarantee must be addressed. This case study illustrates contrasting views about the Gautrain being elitist versus the rapid rail train enabling economic prosperity. The pro-prosperity versus pro-economic development values were at the heart of the different opinions around the patronage guarantee. Students are therefore confronted with their own values while the case study aims to drive an awareness or consciousness around these issues in an emerging market.

This case study is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and Master of Business Administration courses focused on marketing, communications and/or stakeholder management, such as in business and society courses. At both levels, the case study will be valuable in generating discussion on communications models and how to manage stakeholders ranging from government to community representatives. In courses where dynamic capabilities theory is taught, this case study will offer a specific application of this model in the context of brand communications and building brand equity in times of controversy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case presents an ideal platform for discussing the branding strategy, brand elements and the factors that contributed to success of an entrepreneurial venture in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment. Further, it enables students to discuss changes that are necessitated as the firm looks for new growth avenues. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to analyze the entrepreneurial journey of a startup in red ocean markets by assessing the factors that contributed to its success; comprehend the importance of branding strategy for small business – choosing/designing of brand elements and selecting the positioning strategy; and assess changes needed in the branding strategy over time and devise strategies for the continued success of the firm.

Kolkata-based QSR chain Wow! Momo was bootstrapped with a meager INR 30,000 in 2008 by two school friends Sagar Daryani and Binod Kumar. It went on to become India’s Wow! Momo very first QSR specializing in momos. By the year 2019, Wow! Momo was dishing out India’s favourite street food, “momos” from 300 outlets across 15 cities. It also claimed to have captured 90% market share in the organized momo business. The startup grew at a CAGR of over 50% between 2015 and 2019 and reported INR 1.19bn revenue in financial year 2019 with an EBITDA of 9.3%. Wow Momo Foods Pvt. Ltd (WMF), the parent company of Wow! Momo, had tasted stupendous success within a short period and set an ambitious goal of achieving revenue of INR 10bn by 2023–2024. Wow! Momo had achieved top of mind recall among the target customers and was also vying for the same share of wallet as formidable international giants such as McDonald’s, Domino’s, Burger King and KFC. However, compared to these large players, Wow! Momo offered a limited menu and a smaller average ticket size. At the same time, Wow! Momo’s market share was also threatened by a host of branded momo players that offered a similar menu and pricing. Both these factors did not argue well for WMF’s mammoth growth objective. Achieving revenue of INR 1.19bn in a matter of just 10 years was no small feat, but reaching targeted INR 10bn in half that time needed a different game plan altogether. The founders clearly needed to rethink their strategies for the next phase of growth. What would be the next growth driver for the company? Should it look for greener pastures outside India? Was it time to diversify the menu and think beyond momos? If so, then should new items be added to existing menu or a new brand be launched altogether? The case maps the journey of two entrepreneurs as they went on to set up a successful QSR chain. It examines their trials and tribulations as well as successful implementation of marketing strategy. It also looks at the dilemmas faced by a startup as it searches for new avenues for growth.

Graduate and postgraduate courses in Management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This case describes the challenges faced by Amul in organising dairy farmers into a co-operative and creating continuous opportunities for value addition. Participants in the case discussion are required to review the developments in the organisation and recommend a strategy for the future.