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The spin-off of Iridium, a global telecommunications system, represented a significant business risk for Motorola, as many talented Motorola executives joined the venture in the late 1990s. This bold technology gamble suffered from numerous marketing missteps, which led to Iridium's bankruptcy in August 1999.

International wine marketing, focusing on the emerging importance of Hong Kong as a wine business hub in the Asia Pacific region.

MBA or year 3/4 undergraduate business course. Some prior knowledge of organisational structure, management decision–making, marketing principles and consumer behaviour will be helpful.

Sinolink is a small family business that successfully made the transition to become one of the largest local wine dealers in Hong Kong, trading internationally and growing phenomenally through a combination of management and marketing savvy. Its story is worth telling at a time when Hong Kong is emerging as an important wine business hub in the Asia Pacific region. It faces new opportunities and challenges in such a dynamic environment.

Some learning points are: how vision and leadership affects business strategy; international supplier relationship and product knowledge as critical foundations for the wine business; customer relationship management and marketing as competitive strategies; and flexibility in response to operational considerations and challenges is vital to success

Teaching notes.

The learning outcomes of this paper is as follows: to analyse the drivers, mediators and threats of commoditisation. To critically evaluate the merits of different marketing options that may be employed to avoid commoditisation. To critically assess the branding-focussed or customer-focussed strategies that could be used. To develop appropriate strategies for Biotronik SA to counter commoditisation in the future.

The case begins with the protagonist and managing director of Biotronik SA, Robbie Nel, brewing over a new industry development. One of the leading private hospital groups has sent an open invitation to medical device suppliers to tender, where the lowest-priced products will win shelf space in their cathlabs. Robbie has to decide whether to sacrifice Biotronik SA’s profit margins to win the tender or risk not being stocked in their cathlabs. Or, he must find an alternative non-price-based strategy to pursue. The medical device industry is facing increasing price pressures from various stakeholders in the device-purchasing process. The decision to purchase is no longer the responsibility of specialist physicians alone. International and local market trends indicate that the medical device industry is threatened by commoditisation. Robbie has to make a decision on changing the Biotronik SA business model and strategy in response to these macro trends.

This teaching case is aimed at postgraduate students, particularly those pursuing MBA, EMBA and Postgraduate Diploma programmes, as well as specialist masters and executive education. The students should have some work experience to comprehend and assess the case from a practical perspective.

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 8: Marketing.

The case focuses on the diamond retailing industry toward the end of 2008, with the United States in an economic downturn. All diamond retailers are hit by the downturn and are facing a critical look at their strategies. Given the basic performance information on Blue Nile, Zales, and Tiffany, students are asked to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each business model with the goal of understanding business models that are better suited to handling a downturn.

The learning objectives of the case are to (1) understand the link between supply chain structure and financial performance, (2) identify key drivers of supply chain performance and how they affect a firm's ability to respond during periods of strong or weak demand, and (3) develop the alignment between supply chain structure and strategic position for a firm.

The airline passenger industry in India was a mess in 2013, but the low-cost carrier IndiGo was making money. This relatively new company had managed to work against the odds and grab market share from longer-established flyers. Still, the weak rupee, depreciated by 15%, was sending a chill wind through the aviation sector, and growth plans would have to include opening new destinations. This meant hiring more employees, opening more ticketing stations, and increasing costs. Could the airline continue its climb, or would it be prudent to prepare for a hard landing?

Strategic Management/General Management.

MBA/Executive MBA.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was incorporated in 1937 to operate in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The first period of crisis was witnessed in 1997/1998 due to the Asian Financial Crisis, MAS reported RM 260 million in losses. The airline recovered from the loss and reported profit of RM 461 million in 2004. However, it experienced another loss of RM 1.25 billion in 2005. This lead to implementation of the Business Turnaround Plan 1 in 2006. The Business Transformation Plan 2 was announced in 2008, but the period of losses hit the airline again in 2011. Overall, MAS has witnessed continuous cycle of losses and profits. Despite the turnaround efforts, the airline does not seem to be recovering; is there a safe landing for the troubled airlines?

The case can be used to illustrate economics and complexities of aviation industry, different business models existing in airline industry, quantitative and qualitative aspects of a turnaround strategy, failure to sustain turnaround efforts, and predicting the future scope for a player in airline industry.

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

CFX Inc, an e-commerce start-up based out of India, has built a large e-marketplace that allows sellers and buyers to transact online. The firm currently has 30,000 sellers and aims to have around 50,000 sellers by FY 2015–16. In order to provide best shopping experience to their growing customer base, the firm needs to collect, store and analyze different kinds of data and improve their customer shopping experience. It is in the process of identifying and designing suitable data management systems to sustain and manage their business growth. The management needs a concrete set of recommendations in terms of the nature of solution, choice of the database, a data model that suits CFX's requirements, cost-benefit trade-offs involved and implementation considerations.

Segmentation, business impacts of decision making, hotel management.

Undergraduate Business or Finance.

The sales manager at a Caribbean hotel wonders whether to accept a large block booking at a discount rate from a group participating in an international sporting event. Do the promised publicity benefits justify the risk of turning away guests from higher paying segments?

The case should: highlight the potential for conflicts when customers from different segments with different needs and expectations find themselves in close contact with each other; identify the trade offs that may have to be made when acceptance of a large block booking might displace regular customers; and calculate the incremental financial impact of revenues from new business less revenues forgone when capacity limitations mean that some traditional business will have to be turned away to accommodate the block booking.

Teaching notes.

By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to conduct a marketing environmental analysis to aid strategic decisions; analyse the first-mover advantages of a retail firm and how these can be sustained; comprehend online retail business models and the challenges therein; understand the trade-offs of online/offline retail experiences specific to an emerging market’s beauty and personal care sector; conceptualize and formulate actionable growth strategies that balance the individual and collective requirements of brick and mortar and retail e-commerce environments.

The case is set in 2022, right after Nykaa – the pioneer of beauty and wellness e-commerce platforms in India makes a blockbuster stock market debut in 2021. Starting in 2012 with a disruptive online model for selling beauty and wellness products online in India, Nykaa had come a long way with expansions in physical retail and other segments such as fashion. The firm, which initially aimed to be a virtual store, is now thinking of aggressively expanding in the brick-and-mortar retail space as it opens its 85th retail outlet.

Falguni S. Nayar, founder and CEO of Nykaa, wanted to roll out 300 physical stores targeting 100 cities in India in the next couple of years. She aspired to establish Nykaa as a category leader as the “Indian Sephora” in the beauty and personal care market. Nykaa’s first-mover advantage in the online beauty and personal care marketplace worked well to establish it as a brand with positive endorsements by digital shoppers that enhanced the investment potential with potential financiers. However, the pandemic had brought every physical retailer to the online platform. Most e-commerce platforms dealing in grocery to lifestyle had added personal care products to their existing merchandise.

Additionally, several start-ups had ventured into the online marketplace. Online was a cluttered marketplace with little to no differentiation. In this bloodbath, would the first-mover advantage for Nykaa in the online space still count as a competitive advantage? Nayar was all set to expand Nykaa’s physical presence aggressively. The concern was that the beauty and personal care segment had also moved online as a function of long stay-at-home periods. In the post-pandemic times, would the customer indeed revert to brick and mortar once again? Nykaa was also into product formulations, but so was every big and small player in the space. What was the differentiated winning formula for the consumer’s heart and mind?

The case can be effectively used in foundation courses in marketing and a wide range of specialized courses on marketing management (core/foundation course), retail marketing and e-commerce/digital marketing and e-commerce for B-school learners. The complex decision points faced by an innovative e-commerce start-up firm on its road to market expansion make the case suitable for niche courses such as Marketing for Start-ups. Moreover, learners in executive MBA programs with considerable experience can benefit from the case analysis that balances a growing retail company’s long- and short-run objectives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

• The students will be able to compare various perspectives and concepts of strategic alliance as a tool of corporate expansion.

• The students will be able to identify the trade-offs between financial and non-financial gains and losses for corporate expansion.

• The students will be able to identify strategic partnership as a better alternative in comparison to acquisition and vice versa according to the different situations being faced by the companies.

• The students will be able to identify different approaches for brand building.

Shah and Valani, owners of Zed Lifestyle Pvt Ltd which owned Beardo, had to decide whether they should accept the offer of a strategic partnership with Marico Industries, a fast-moving consumer goods company (FMCG) in the global beauty and wellness space. Marico nurtured leading brands across categories of hair care, skin care, edible oils, healthy foods, hygiene, male grooming and fabric care. The decision was not easy as Marico was a leader in the FMCG segment in India and had a strong brand presence in both online and offline distribution channels. Beardo, on the other hand, had its presence marked mostly on the online channel with a hundred offline salon outlets. Partnering with Marico would ensure access to the massive distribution channel owned by Marico but, on the other hand, would lead to possible loss of independence and an early exit from their business. They were not prepared to let go of their ownership as there was no clarity on what would happen if the projected growth figures were not met. There were many other questions too that crossed their minds which had to be answered before they decided on a yes or a no.

The case highlighted the decision dilemma faced by the brand owners, the market scenario, competitive landscape and the situational facts so as to help the students critically analyse the decision situation and develop decision-making competencies by evaluating the possible course of actions and their possible outcomes.

Corporate-level strategies.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.