Search results

Marketing strategy; services marketing; tourism.

Upper year undergraduate business/management, MBA, marketing/international business.

Memento Park is a large open air museum on the outskirts of Budapest, that houses statues, and related ephemera related to the communist period in Hungary. The park opened in 1993, four years after Hungary had shaken off its yolk of communism as part of the Iron Curtain, in 1989. This case presents a classic example of a business enterprise that sprang from a concept and access to inexpensive materials directly resulting form a changing external environment. The case presents the issues involved in making Memento Park a sustainable part of the Budapest tourist experience.

This case challenges students to decide how best to determine a sustainable advantage. Arguably the value proposition that is being offered by Memento Park has a number of identifiable benefits to the target consumer. It is not replicable (at least in Hungary), has a truly unique content, and does not have large fixed or variable costs in terms of operations. The question is how to best develop a plan of attack for such a firm?

Teaching notes.

The focus of this research is to present a case study of a small Latvian-based non-profit organization (NPO), O fonds (Oncology Foundation), and how they are an exemplar of the challenges facing NPOs in countries that do not have a strong history of NPO success. The research is supported through primary data collection of multiple interviews and correspondence with the key informant of O fonds, the CEO. These insights were supported with secondary data analysis of the history of NPOs in emerging markets, as well as the history of cancer screening in Latvia.

In order to address the gap in the existing research literature, a single firm case analysis was selected to provide the context of the study. A series of semi-structured questions focused on O fonds branding and rebranding activities were posed to the CEO of the firm. Subsequent personal interviews were conducted to analyze and interpret the original results. This primary data were linked to secondary data about the practices of O fonds, NPOs in Latvia and the roles and challenges of NPOs in emerging markets.

The analysis of the findings from the primary data collection found that O fonds' rebranding effort helped to achieve a more stable and significant place for NPOs in the healthcare sector in Latvia and of equal importance with the Latvian general public. Tangible results included more financial support from donors, with an added benefit of increased joint marketing activities with corporate donors. Furthermore, active involvement with O fonds and medical professionals resulted from the rebrand. Also, there was an increase in referral patients to O fonds so they could attempt to get these people support for cancer screening.

Questions as to issues of validity from the use of a single case study, and greater issues with a single case, single interview method are acknowledged. This potential limitation, with respect to this study, was deemed to be lessened based on the use of multiple interviews and sourcing of secondary company material with the CEO of O fonds. Further support by way of sharing of a secondary data, and organizational insights helped to address any major limitations in the research methodology, as helpful information and materials that might not have been readily available, or unavailable without this level of trust, could be obtained.

Exploring how NPOs can rebrand their firm to better meet the needs of society and be most impactful will contribute to both managerial practice and academic literature. By examining how a non-profit rebranding process occurs, in an emerging economy, and determining how effective rebranding can be utilized as a turnaround strategy, is a contribution of this research. Given the limited non-profit rebranding literature, particularly in emerging markets, this study provides exploratory insights within a new context to help propel the field of knowledge.

NPOs have been shown to play a valuable role in communities across many regions of the world as NPOs enable citizens to come together to collectively work toward a common goal with the purpose of bettering society. With respect to the focus on O fonds their aim of increasing early detection of cancer continues to rise, but more positively, the incidents of treatable cancer are also rising as the result of the former. Regrettably, this positive trend in increased cancer screening does not equate to lower mortality rates across all countries, particularly countries in emerging markets such as Latvia.

This is one of the first known studies of an NPO in the emerging market of Latvia, in general, and in the Latvian healthcare sector specifically. As there is a dearth of research in this field of study, and the fact that NPO growth is a critical component of society growth in emerging markets, there is an important contribution to be made to both practice, and society, from the findings from this research.

Retail shopping behaviour is one of the major tenets of the retail marketing literature. The purpose of this research is to presents the empirical findings of two quantitative studies of Estonian and Canadian university students' interpretation and perceptions of retail shopping behaviour.

Paper and pencil questionnaires administered in Estonia and Canada. The data was analysed from two perspectives. The first was to determine if the retail service quality construct differed between the two samples, and secondly to use using confirmatory factor analysis, and regression analysis to test a model of shopping behaviour and to make comparisons between the shopping behaviour of university students in the two countries.

The results indicate a level of commonality in retail shopping perceptions, as well as non‐trivial differences in how shopping practice in terms of the construct structure, and individual service drivers, should be theorized. The Canadian sample indicated a greater focus on retail service quality perception at the sub‐dimension level while the Estonian sample indicated a greater focus on retail service quality at an overall or integrated level.

The findings are limited as to the consumer type (university students) selected. This limitation is lessened as the university age sector represents one of the most dynamic and growing segments of the Estonian retail market.

Retail sales per capita within Estonia, and the other Baltic states, represents the fastest growing region in the European Union. Thus, there is a need for empirical and academic research that attempts to highlight the transferable (i.e. western) and the solely domestic consumer knowledge that will allow this growth to continue. Caution needs to be taken when simply implementing best retail practices from the West as erroneous conclusions may be drawn. It may not be the practices from the West that are fuelling the retail success, and thus research such as this helps to draw attention to the need to understand the more sustainable localized nature of retail shopping behaviour.

This paper represents an initial focus on an unknown area of retailing research.

This case study presents the challenges and opportunities faced by a Russian-based firm in terms of expansion to neighboring emerging markets. The case reviews the efforts of a large Russian-based business-to-business firm, which is the leader in the field of fire production gear and equipment, both in manufacturing and sales, and has recently expanded their operations into the neighboring country of Belarus.

The case examines the initial decision to expand to Belarus and what types of risks were assessed prior to entry. Included in the case is a review of the background of the company under consideration, including their history in Russia and how the company addressed the managerial problem of: Why should the company decide to penetrate a foreign market?

The study documents and highlights those variables and critical decisions that needed to be made prior to entry, and which items proved to be the most straightforward; those that resulted in the greatest challenge; and those that were highly unexpected.

The case demonstrates that the form of penetration strategy selected by a firm operating in this region must balance the breadth of stakeholder interests. The two theoretical frameworks; international expansion strategy; stakeholder balance strategy illustrate how a firm can benefit from the proper integration of these theories within the existing resources of the firm. Additionally, the case provides a potential prescription in terms of how to best select a future country for expansion.

By analyzing a firm that has successfully operated in Russia, and has expanded internationally to another emerging market, Belarus, contributes to the limited existing literature that has applied international strategic theories to actual international practice.

In the area of international retail expansion the most challenging issues that firms struggle with are: which countries to expand to; which order to do it; and what are the retail drivers that can be readily exported to the new market versus which have to be market specific? The purpose of this paper is to look at one specific retailer and review how they have addressed these questions.

The approach used is based around a case study of the expansion of the Stockmann department store into Estonia and Latvia. Using the findings of empirical research, qualitative and quantitative, the research shows how Stockmann has both built upon and exported its original home strengths while also focusing on which drivers had to be tailored to the local marketplace.

The case study found that there are some differences between the performances of Stockmann across the two Baltic countries, but the level of performance is quite high in most areas of retail operations. This supports the position that a multinational can successfully expand in diverse markets. In other words, although there are minor issues, on balance the regional versus country specific issues have been substantially resolved. Even national issues like skilled labour shortages and developing good practices for handling returns have been resolved at a medium level. Areas for improvement were in pricing and handling merchandise returns.

The findings are limited to one case study, of one retailer, and the fact that the study was over a defined period. This is a general limitation of case studies, but the use of multiple research methods, and methodologies helped to strengthen the research findings and interpretations.

This study has presented the retail value chain as a model consisting of three main drivers: service; retail operations and country of origin aspects. The three constructs were found to be valid representations, enabling an assessment of a retailer's performance in multiple countries. The lessons drawn indicate that a business model used in the home country can be a powerful integrating and controlling tool for managing the multinational expansion, but that there is also a need to include consumer perceptions and evaluations of retailer performance. These operational measures continue to represent one of the best sources of data in understanding a retailer's performance, in both developed and converging countries such as Estonia and Latvia.

This paper presents a useful case study of a retailer that has expanded from its home base into a number of countries, all of which fall into the category of transition economies, and adds to the literature covering expansion into transition economies, which is a little known field in terms of the expansion of one's value chain or value proposition

The classification of strategic issue terms, as used by managers and management teams in decision making, has previously been shown to have an impact on organizational performance. The question of the extension of such research to include managers in transition economies is less known. In order to address this research gap, a replication of an empirical study was conducted. It was found that managers in a transition economy (the Baltic country, and former Soviet republic, of Estonia) differed in the number of strategic issue terms that were classified as being indicative of a strategic “threat” or “opportunity” when compared to their western counterparts. These findings contribute to the continued need for questioning the applicability and validity of management classification strategies and frameworks, based on western managers’ and firms’ actions, for use in transition economies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of a mass customization (MC) system based on the findings of a medium size manufacturing company in Estonia. The MC system is developed in order to satisfy its customers' individual needs with customized products on a mass basis. Specific challenges for a former mass producer to achieve the flexibility demanded by today's market are also addressed.

The theoretical background draws from the literature of MC strategies, operational modes, and key capabilities – which is brought together through an in‐depth case study that allows for the extension to three complementing theories. Primary and secondary data about the company practices are extensively used to ensure the validity of results.

In contrast to the extant literature, it is found that the company's success comes from the use of several MC strategies at the same time, rather than just one. This leads to the proposition that the decision for determining the optimal operational mode for each customer depends upon a trade‐off of the customer's value to the company and the extra cost of deeper scope customization. It is found that an important peculiarity is the lower cost of adjacent orders that share similar characteristics. This analysis also highlightes the importance of inter‐functional cooperation and the central role of key account managers in order to overcome the inflexibility of company operational processes.

As in one‐company case studies, future research is needed to understand the degree findings hold true in other manufacturing companies, and to what degree the findings are idiomatic of the particular company or similar firms in the Baltic emerging business environment.

The present study contributes to research knowledge by examining the real‐life MC system in an integrated way, which is a novel attempt to connect different streams of MC literature. Moreover, it provides a starting point for further study of overcoming inflexibility challenges in MC.

This is the first known study that has examined the concept of MC in a non‐Western setting such as Estonia. The value of such research results from extending the knowledge of the concept to rapidly advancing markets.

To present the empirical findings of two qualitative studies of Estonian consumers and how they interpret and perceive retail service quality.

The two qualitative techniques were critical incident technique (CIT) and focus groups. For the CIT study, an e‐mail survey was administered. Respondents of both good and bad examples of retail service were collected. For the focus group studies, six sessions were held, three in Tallinn and three in Tartu. All findings were compiled and analysed within the framework of retail service drivers.

Retail service quality is a relevant construct for examination in Estonia. There is an expectation by consumers to exert their own sense of shopping capabilities. There is an expectation that selling staff need to be authoritative, and to show consideration to the consumer through acts of politeness and courtesy. Also there is an expectation that policies exist to make things right when a problem occurs.

The findings are limited within the potentially confounding effects of other consumer‐specific shopping variables. These effects were minimised through the use of multiple qualitative methods.

Within Estonia, there is a need for a greater understanding of retail consumer behaviour theory and practice, rather than mere consumer data gathering. Estonian consumers may be willing to accept a degree of responsibility in making product choices and should not expect the retailer to play a role in ensuring that occurs, but there is also an expectation that the retailer should take responsibility for correcting problems that are within their control, and that those responsibilities should be formalised and communicated.

As the retail sector continues to develop in terms of both retail brand and retail format choice in countries such as Estonia, there is a need for a greater understanding of retail consumer behaviour theory and practice rather than mere consumer data gathering. This study has presented one such example.