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Wawa, a $4 billion privately held firm, is arguably the most successful convenience store operator in the United States. Explores how senior management decided to build an entirely new gasoline retailing business within the 100+-year-old firm's core business of high-quality prepared foods and beverages. Charges students with defining the business and organization strategy necessary to “mainstream” the newly proven gasoline retailing concept throughout the company.

To understand how corporate entrepreneurship occurs within established firms; redefine the core business—understanding organic growth beyond the core; and examine the critical role of leadership in any large-scale change process.

The hot breakfast cereal division of Quaker Oats was in serious decline, and the increasing American preference for speed and convenience at breakfast did not bode well for the category. The senior VP overseeing the hot breakfast division has been given an ultimatum by the CEO to turn the company's namesake product line around. She develops a marketing plan, but will it work?

To analyze a mature product category within the context of its competition and consumer trends, and apply several aspects of brand management and marketing strategy to maintain market share in the face of changing consumer preferences and intense competition.

This case study has been developed based on the primary data obtained through a series of interviews held with the senior management of Cargills, and the secondary data obtained from the company’s corporate website www.cargillsceylon.com/,annual reports and publicly available sources of information such as newspaper articles.

This case study focuses on the strategic responses employed by Cargills (Ceylon) PLC – a leading business conglomerate in Sri Lanka – in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The duration of this case study is from January 2020 to September 2021. The case study particularly examines the key business sectors of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC – retail, food manufacturing and quick service restaurants – which elaborate on the change management practices and strategies deployed by the company in each of these sectors during this challenging period. This study is based on the primary data gathered from the interviews held with the Cargills (Ceylon) PLC team, and the secondary data obtained from the corporate website of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC. This case study is most suitable to be taught in academic courses related to strategic change management.

The case is most suited to be discussed with undergraduates (3rd year and 4th year) following business and management studies related disciplines. While the pivotal area around which the case has been developed is strategic change management, covering environmental analysis, strategic analysis and process of change management, the case could also be used in strategic management classes, to discuss environmental analysis, strategic planning approaches and business and corporate level strategies.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This case should be paired with textbook chapters that cover the important roles of leadership, staffing and corporate culture in the strategy implementation effort. The case can also be used to review textbook chapters covering competitive and industry analysis, differentiation strategies, goal setting and financial analysis. In advanced courses, readings on leadership and corporate social responsibility should be assigned to inform debates regarding Vasu’s style and his commitment to creating shared value. Alternatively, instructors in retail management courses could assign readings that investigate the linkages of human resource management, service quality and other behaviors to optimal supermarket performance.

The authors revised this case and Teaching Noes from an MBA student case writing project in Fall 2017. The student conducted focus groups with Pacific Market’s consumers, worked with Vasu and his consultant, Tom Scott, a former CEO of a local grocery chain, supplemented with secondary industry research and demographic information about the cities of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Meetings to develop the company mission statement and long-term goals took place over Fall 2017. Tom provided the operating information and trade area analysis used in the case, and Vasu provided financial statements and background information.

After a career as a turnaround specialist for Silicon Valley high-tech startups, Vasudev Narayanan (Vasu) acquired Pacific Market, a two-store chain in Sonoma County, California, in 2013. By Fall 2017, rival local chains had expanded, online vendors threatened in-store shopping, the Amazon-Whole Foods combination threatened disruption, and consumers increasingly insisted on “buying local.” Vasu aimed to grow revenues 50 percent by 2020, and fund Good Karma Foundation, a charity in his native India. Strategies to achieve these objectives included infrastructure investments, employee profit sharing, changing the mix of products and amenities or finding a buyer for the operation.

The Pacific Market case is intended for undergraduate or MBA-level strategic management courses. The case pairs well with coverage of how leaders approach the strategy implementation effort, a topic typically introduced toward the end of the course. The case gives students practice in applying strategy formulation concepts and frameworks, e.g. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s industry forces, key industry drivers, strategic group mapping, SWOT analysis, corporate social responsibility and financial ratio analysis. Instructors might also use this case to cover similar material in retail management courses. The case is highly suitable as a written assignment for an examination and/or for team presentations.

This case illustrates the implications of the business challenges faced by an on‐campus student‐run convenience store when an internationally known coffee company opened a competing store. The case exercises focus on the application of managerial accounting concepts relevant for future strategic decision making. Students have the task of extracting relevant data from descriptive information. Using the story of an actual student‐run coffee shop that confronted an emerging competitor and thus necessitating these analyses can provide an attractive alternative to teaching managerial accounting concepts that are often considered by students as “dry.”

Case information was obtained from actual student organization and university data slightly modified to facilitate calculation and application of managerial accounting topics. Identities of the institution, the student run store and the international competitor have been disguised at their request. Certain events and dates have been altered to protect identities.

Relevant courses include but are not limited to: Introductory Managerial Accounting and Cost Accounting at the undergraduate business or accounting and the graduate MBA level.

Teaching opportunities include the application of managerial accounting concepts relevant for future strategic decision making. Topics include cost‐volume‐profit, sales‐mix, and break‐even analyses, conversion of traditional income statements to contribution margin income statements, and internal control issues.

The CFO of a diversified baking company must decide whether to issue convertible debt rather than straight debt or equity. In evaluating the proposed terms of the convertibles offering, the student must value the securities by valuing the call option (using option pricing theory) and the bond component. This case introduces the topic of convertible securities. Student and instructor worksheet files are available for use with the case and teaching note.

The case tells the story of a first generation entrepreneur, Dhirendra Singh, and his struggle for 15 years to establish a mango pulp based beverage marketing company without any external support and funding. The case highlights the travails that Dhirendra goes through in marketing an undifferentiated product, a mango drink. He survives, largely due to his grit and some lucky breaks, until an external funding agency notices him 15 years after he started his journey.

With growth and stability (in 2017, it was the fourth largest packaged beverage in India) come new issues for the enterprise to grapple with. The case leaves the reader to reflect upon these challenges that the company encounters. Can the company overcome these hurdles and thrive? How, is the question that remains unanswered.

This corporate strategy case shows how PepsiCo stopped worrying about competing with Coca-Cola, figured out what its real business was, and decided how to build its future. Redefining itself as a beverage and snack business, PepsiCo sheds its restaurant business and acquires Quaker and Tropicana. By rethinking the synergistic relationship between the complementary, combined strengths of the merged companies, it strategizes to develop innovative products that will compete in a changing demographic, cultural, and geographical world. Will this strategy work in an increasingly competitive environment?

The subject areas are entrepreneurship, start-up ventures and business strategy.

The case is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate MBA.

Shikhar Veer Singh (Singh), a post graduate in Medical Biotechnology, quit a cushy corporate job to start his own food venture WoknStove Foodworks Pvt. Ltd. (WSFL) in October 2015. WSFL sold the ubiquitous popular Indian snack food “Samosas” under the brand name of “Samosa Singh”. “Samosa” – a deep fried triangular in shape with conical edges crispy wrap with variety fillings of potatoes/vegetables – was part of unorganized sector and sold by small shops and road-side hawkers. Singh spotted an opportunity to “brand” the “Samosas” that as well was gaining momentum in the international convenience food markets. The company set up a central kitchen near Electronic city, Bangalore, and started experimenting with different fillings. In February 2016, WSFL opened its first quick service restaurant (QSR) in Electronic city, Bangalore. It was an instant hit with consumers of all age groups. Gradually, the company started supplying bulk orders to various other customer segments such as corporate customers, schools and movie theatres/event stalls, that resulted in revenue growth. By January 2017, his monthly annual revenues amounted to INR […] Singh had ambitious plans to expand his business from a single QSR to 15 QSRs across the city by 2018. However, to cater to the increasing demands and support his expansion plans, he was yet to find out the most suitable back-end processes. He had adopted few standard operating procedures (SOPs) for quality operations and implemented 30 per cent of automation for backend processes at his central kitchen. Singh was aware of the automated machinery available in international markets that had conveyor belt arrangements where one could place the flour dough and filling consecutively to get the end product in a shape, unlike the shape of the Indian “Samosas”. The triangular shape with conical edges of the Indian “Samosas” was of utmost importance for the Indian consumers, as the shape associated them with the favourite snack, the “Samosas”. Singh preferred the method of manual filling to maintain the shape and decided to focus on increasing the shelf life of the “Samosas” instead. He felt that an increased shelf life would better equip him to cater the increased market and seasonal demands. However, the question was that whether this was a feasible option to support his ambitious expansion plans (with only 30 per cent automation)? Was Singh’s thinking right with respect to the business operation? More importantly, whether WSFL venture would be able to make an attractive business proposition for investments from any future institutional/angel investor? Singh’s mood turned reflective as he pondered on the above questions.

The case is structured to discuss the structure of Indian QSR market and factors contributing to its growth, evaluate WSFL’s ability to leverage the Indian QSR market potential, its strengths and shortcomings, to highlight the steps of consumer decision making process in terms of selection of a QSR and discuss WSFL’s business model and its future sustainability.

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

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

After completion of the case study, students will be able to critically appraise the strategic growth opportunities of an “eating out” industry brand; evaluate the role of customer relationship and retention management in sustaining a brand; and analyse the importance of developing core competencies for long-term business viability.

Since its inception in 2017, Urban Chowk was one of the pioneer places that successfully managed to create a hospitality format called “food and lifestyle park” which combined multiple food brands with good ambience and entertainment, all under the same roof. Although Urban Chowk was one of the popular brands in the given format, its USP was not difficult to challenge or copy. The owner, Mr Kartikey Rajput, anticipated a deluge of similar establishments in the near future. Urban Chowk led the pack in terms of footfalls compared to similar establishments, with Rajput looking to expand his brand beyond Ahmedabad. The case took 2022 as the timeline and brought forth the challenge that Urban Chowk faced. The primary challenge was retaining the existing customer base along with adding newer ones. Second, with the industry being extremely dynamic, it was important to determine how marketing analytics could be used to collect customer data and convert them into repeat customers, thus building a loyal customer base.

This case is applicable for teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels for understanding the concepts of brand development and strategic growth as well as creating and maintaining customer relationships, also helping the students in assimilating these concepts as a part of brand building.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.