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The manager of the Sony VAIO personal computer in China has been given two segmentation studies. One study is country-specific and product-specific. The other is a global segmentation study, which covers all regions and all of Sony's many consumer electronics. Which segmentation study should the manager rely on---or is there a way to rely on both? After deciding which study is best, which consumer should the manager target, and with what position?

To provide a basis for students (with the help of their lecturer or professor) to answer the following questions: What are the general purposes of a market segmentation study, and what are some of the associated challenges? Is it better for a segmentation study to provide information about the likelihood of category purchase or the likelihood of brand purchase? What are the plusses and minuses of a global versus local segmentation study, and what are the marketing implications of each?

Economics, business management

The case study is relevant for MBA, Master's and under graduate (economics, international and business economics) students.

Biocon is one of the top 20 companies from India in the Forbes list of “Best under a Billion” companies. It has emerged from being an enzyme-producing firm to a biotech powerhouse under the guidance of Ms Kiran M. Shaw. It is an innovative company with a varied scientific skill base and progressive manufacturing facilities for developing and commercializing biopharmaceuticals. This study attempts to explore the international foray of Biocon using the eclectic OLI framework. Entrepreneurship, need for integrated business model, innovation, quality control, etc. constituted the ownership (O) factors, important for Biocon to earn the more than compensating advantage in the overseas market. The locational factors were less important in case of Biocon as the global expansion was driven by a motive of either market seeking or cashing in on the cost advantage of its operations. The dominant mode of entry has been the joint ventures. The overseas patterns exhibited by Biocon can be captured fully by the O-L-I framework.

To understand the economic theory of OLI and the ownership, locational and internalisation advantages, link the OLI framework with the international foray of Biocon, Biocon's internationalization journey, major overseas deals signed and the economic rationale behind the deals.

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The Global Health Initiative (GHI) is a tripartite collaboration among Northwestern University, non-profit donors, and commercial diagnostics companies. GHI attempts to bridge the gap between the market for sophisticated medical diagnostics equipment in wealthy nations and the need for point-of-care diagnostics in resource limited settings. In 2006 GHI narrowed its focus to HIV diagnostics for underserved nations. The case examines the accuracy-access tradeoff related to the roll-out of infant HIV diagnostics in Tanzania. Tanzania has a prevalent HIV/AIDS problem, particularly in children. As of 2007, Tanzania had an estimated 140,000 children infected with HIV. Existing lab-based diagnostic equipment was either inaccurate for use in infants or required highly skilled health workers. Tanzania's limited infrastructure also forced healthcare providers to choose between providing advanced care to a minority of the population and offering minimal care to the majority with poor access. A Kellogg MBA student research team performed more than thirty in-country interviews to collect data on stakeholder perceptions of three infant test concepts: the strip test, the squeeze test, and the filter paper test. Across the three tests, access decreased as accuracy increased---rural labs could not find or afford health workers skilled enough to conduct the test. In general, interviewees closely affiliated with the government preferred accuracy over access. In contrast, private health facilities had to follow fewer regulations and preferred access over accuracy. The case focuses on the decisions facing Kara Palamountain, the executive director of GHI, in her roll-out recommendations for infant HIV tests in Tanzania. It examines key factors of working in a developing country, including the need to operate in the absence of sufficient market research, balance the competing agendas of different stakeholders, and mitigate external risks such as major international funding dry

This case was written to be used as a teaching case for students unfamiliar with how to approach and analyze a typical business school case. Unlike many cases used in specific classroom settings, this case is intended to be broad enough that any single student will not have a significant advantage because of his or her background. Moreover, the case is designed to guide students' thinking in a certain direction, using open-ended and more focused discussion questions provided at the case's end.

Studies the impact of tariffs, subsidies, and quotas on the U.S. steel market. Focuses on “winners” and “losers” from different policies. Applications to the events in the U.S. steel market in 2001 illustrate the impact of these policies.

This case presents the dilemma of a multinational oil and gas company, ExxonMobil, as it factors in the ethical issues related to the environment and cultural differences in deciding whether to proceed with building a pipeline in Chad and Cameroon, two of the poorest and most corrupt developing countries in West Africa. The many players in this project included the World Bank--which cofinanced the project and put restrictions into place that would hopefully prevent pipeline-related government corruption in both Chad and Cameroon--and many environmental and human rights groups that warned of potential disaster. The case also covers the environmental and social analysis of the areas that would be affected by the pipeline.

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The case is suitable for graduate (MSc, MBA) and advanced undergraduate (BSc, BAs) students and applicable for course material focusing on social entrepreneurship, social ventures, strategic management, sustainable development and emerging markets.

This case explores Nuru International, a non-profit enterprise established in 2008 with the mission to “end extreme poverty throughout the world”. Jake Harriman, the founder and CEO of NURU, together with his team are on the onset of diversifying crop offerings among Kenyan farmers in an attempt to alleviate challenges stemming from severe climatic changes and low-crop quality. As 2014 is the first year for Kenyan farmers to grow alternative crops, the Nuru team faces the challenging task of convincing farmers to embrace diversification. Additionally, as part of its proof of concept philosophy, Nuru is establishing operations in Ethiopia. There, Nuru has to identify best marketable crops and promote these among Ethiopian farmers while empowering and engaging local leaders in the process. Finally, the team is looking for financing opportunities for Nuru's entrepreneurial mission. Their funding opportunities come from the private markets, the philanthropic market and the impact investing space. They are carefully analyzing these options and looking for alternatives in capital markets. Pondering on Nuru's rewarding experience with KIVA, a Web-based lending platform, the team wonders if crowdfunding may be a viable option to finance Nuru's operations in Ethiopia. They are interested in equity crowdfunding but are not sure what might be the associated opportunities and risks. They, therefore, need to assess the merits of the practice and decide on how compelling it is for Nuru's expansion plans to Ethiopia.

The case aims to help students comprehend the role of hybrid organizational designs in meeting broad societal issues such as extreme poverty; evaluate collective impact initiatives in addressing strategic and behavioral changes for organizations operating in contexts of extreme poverty where partnerships are the key for success; assess diverse capital steams for social entrepreneurs and understand how these relate to the stages of evolution of a social venture; and elaborate on crowdfunding as a nascent source of capital for social enterprises.

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

Marketing.

This case can be used in an international marketing course or module, at executive or MBA level, and is particularly suitable as a case on global branding.

MTN was launched in 1994 as a leading provider of communication services, offering cellular network access and business solutions. After building up a successful operation in South Africa, achieving a market share of some 38 per cent (second only to Vodacom, the dominant mobile telecommunications provider), the group began its expansion into the rest of Africa in 1998. It was the first South African cell phone network operator to do so. The objective of this expansion was, despite the uncertain political and regulatory environment, to take advantage of the market opportunities in Africa, given its underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure and the transferability of MTN's skills into other African countries. At the time of the case (June 2005), MTN had established itself in eight different African countries, with a subscriber base of 14.3 million in South Africa and 2.9 million in the rest of Africa, with plans for further growth in the territory and elsewhere. As a result of this international expansion, a major challenge was to ensure consistent branding in the different countries.

The expected learning outcomes are: to explore the challenges of international expansion into new markets; to understand global brand building strategies, how to create a consistent identity and how to build a services brand; to understand the challenges of implementing a marketing change strategy across different countries with different cultures and with employees with different agendas and to highlight the importance of people in providing a service and in delivering the brand promise.

Teaching note.

The learning outcomes are as follows: students will identify the reasons for a firm to internationalize and its specific internationalization entry mode; students will distinguish how to follow the client and how physic distance strategies work; students will analyze a host country’s external environment using the PESTEL framework, and they will analyze the international strategies followed by a multinational enterprise using the integration-responsiveness framework as well.

The authors explore the case of DICOMA Corporation, a Costa Rican multinational enterprise with presence in five countries. Adrian Sanchez, who is Dicoma’s president, needs to craft an international strategy to increase the international sales in the foreign markets where the firm operates. The company may follow two paths. On the one hand, Dicoma can adopt the strategy of following its major clients to expand overseas, which will lead to the opening of operations in more countries, but making the foreign sales highly dependent on these types of partnerships. This has been so far the path pursued by Dicoma in its international expansion. On the other hand, Dicoma can opt to focus on increasing commitments in the existing international markets where it already has operations by capturing new clients in those locations but scarifying the potential business opportunities to enter into other countries in partnership with its major clients.

Post-graduate early stage business students enrolled in programs such as Master of Business Administration, Master of Management, Master of International Business, executive education programs, among others.

Teaching notes are available upon request for educators only. These teaching notes should be shared solely with the instructor and students should not have access to. Please contact your library to gain login or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 5: International Business.

In January 2011, during the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jason Sterling, a hedge fund manager, was conducting online research to see if he could trade on any newsworthy information emerging from the summit. Sterling's fund traded primarily in sovereign debt, and he needed to figure out if European leaders would be able to come up with a viable solution to the crisis or whether the debt crisis would lead to the default of several European nations. He knew that if a solution was not found in the coming weeks, the sovereign debt markets could be thrown into turmoil.

Management control system, corporate performance management, budgeting, planning, multinational organization.

Graduate and executive education level management programs.

General Motors India (GMI) operations established in 1994 and grew steadily, unlike her startling global performance. In 2007, GMI unveiled its new vision and mission for aggressive growth, expansion and establishing presence across all segments. With increased globalization of General Motors Corporation (GMC), the strategic importance of GMI for sourcing was envisaged. The case describes the organization structure and management control systems at GMI and the changes onto new strategy and vision. The case narrates the unique futures of its control systems such as dual reporting and matrix organization, business plan deployment (BPD), budgeting, performance measurement and compensation system.

The financial planning and control system in a large decentralized multinational subsidiary. Typical organizational responsibility structure and administrative and functional, dual-control mechanism. Appreciate strategic planning and budgeting process and how the strategy is cascaded through multiple key result areas and the BPD board. The business environment and strategy dynamics and its relationship with the prevalent control system. Opportunity for students to speculate the changes in control system in wake of radical changes in the business and company environment. Opportunity to introduce Simmons (1995) levers of controls and management control system package.

Teaching notes.