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Marketing, Strategy, International Business.

Post-Graduates' classes.

This case focuses on the particularities of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant run by the Americana Group in Mecca, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It allows students in the service industry, and especially those interested in the quick service industry to understand some of the challenges of operating in a market with high volume and other specific local market conditions. Perhaps, it will also allow those organizations wishing to enter into emerging markets to realize that globalization does not mean standardization of all practices but rather values.

On completion of utilizing the case study as an exercise, students should be able to develop: Case-specific skills: critically examine the importance of the international business and marketing strategy in the Middle East and demonstrate this by analyzing real regional/ world examples using complex theoretical frameworks; identify examples of best practice and explain the dynamics toward international business and marketing strategy with reference to a range of theoretical models; and apply these in a meaningful way to the Middle East North Africa region. Discipline-specific skills: synthesize and critically evaluate a corpus of academic literature and government reports on international business and marketing strategy; and link international business and marketing strategy concepts and theories to real regional/world examples. Personal and key skills: reflect on the process of learning and undertake independen/self-directed learning (including time management) to achieve consistent, proficient and sustained attainment. Work as either a participant or a leader of a group and contribute effectively to the achievement of objectives in the field of international business and marketing strategy.

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

The learning outcomes are as follows: analyze the risks and difficulties involved in the internationalization process and the impact of cultural variables (external analysis); understand how the balance between adaptation and standardization can be worked out in building a successful international marketing strategy (adaptation vs standardization dilemma); and analyze how a restructuring of marketing mix variables can shape an assertive and effective repositioning strategy (marketing-mix program).

The case of Vichy presents a specific internationalization process, from a European brand in a growing segment, to Brazil, a country with extreme cultural diversity where the barriers to internationalization are large and complex. The case can be analyzed from the point of view of brand repositioning, as it discusses the strategies adopted by the brand during entry into the Brazilian market, and its subsequent repositioning, bearing in mind a better adaptation to the market in question. The goal is to encourage discussions about how cultural barriers can influence the internationalization process of a brand and how the balance between adaptation and standardization can be worked out in building an assertive and effective international marketing strategy.

Master students.

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.

Rede Alta Velocidade, SA (RAVE), the state-owned company responsible for planning and developing a major high-speed rail project in Portugal, must persuade both public officials and lenders that the project is worth undertaking. It must also make a recommendation on the appropriate organizational form for the enterprise. Specifically, it must determine the role of the Portuguese government in financing and operating the high-speed rail network, with options ranging from full development and management of the project by the public sector to completely private development and management. Lying in between these two polar cases were a variety of hybrid models, often referred to as public-private partnerships (PPPs). Using data in the case, students have the opportunity to perform a benefit-cost analysis of the project. They also must think carefully about the optimal role of the government in a major new infrastructure project.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the nature of a global public good

• Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

• Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

• Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

• Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

Understand the nature of a global public good

Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

“Suitable for MBA, Executive MBA, GEMBA, and executive education programs, this case uses CEMEX, a global cement producer based in Mexico, to set the stage for unfolding an analysis of a growth through acquisition strategy. It offers a discussion about the firm's overall strategy to acquire on a global scale instead of growing organically and provides an opportunity to introduce basic financial, marketing, and operational terms that can be explored in subsequent classes. The material includes a PMI process that further allows discussion on that technique.

The case opens with a conference call and another barrage of questions for CEO Lorenzo Zambrano about his bid to buy the Australia-based Rinker Group in October 2006. Until this point, CEMEX has had a long-standing habit of buying businesses in emerging markets; this acquisition would be a departure from that strategy. If the deal goes through, it would be the single largest acquisition in CEMEX's history, and it would be among its few forays into a developed market other than the neighboring United States. The company has grown exponentially and successfully. Why would this effort be any different? Was the acquisition a good idea or not? And if it was, how would Zambrano and his leadership team convince Wall Street and others of that?”

Strategy.

The case study is intended for organization theory and strategic management courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate (MBA) levels.

The case describes a company located in a fictitious developing country. The main activity of the company is the exploitation and production of tin, which it has developed over its 40-year history (1971-2011). During the first 33 years, it developed three capabilities: namely, technical, productive and the generation of trust among employees. The case illustrates three characteristics of capabilities: problem solving and complexity, practicing and succeeding, and reliability over time. The case also illustrates a paradox related to capabilities and shows three of its causes: path dependency and lock-in to a given course of action, structural inertia, and the absence of a capability dynamization function. In 2009, the company was faced with the need to reshape its capabilities and the arrival of a new President to the company provided the appropriate occasion to analyse this option.

These include: understanding what an organizational capability is and what its main characteristics are; understanding the process by which an organizational capability emerges and develops, and how it may be eroded in a given scenario; understanding a paradox an organization faces when capabilities are developed; and understanding why the concept of dynamic capabilities does not add power to the concept of capabilities.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access. Videos with interviews of employees of the case company are also available.

Businesses of all sizes are susceptible to unforeseen shocks, which could have severe adverse effects on its brand, its reputation and even its survival. This case draws on three main streams of academic business literature and bodies of knowledge that come into play under such circumstances: reputational risk, crisis management and social media.

The author used primary and secondary sources in the research and development of this case. An interview with one of the cofounders of The Bakery Shop (TBS) provided a primary first-hand account of the events leading to this crisis and the subsequent remedial actions taken. The author supplemented this research with information from TBS’s website, social media accounts and TBS-provided material.

In 2015, TBS, a growing Egyptian business specializing in premium baked goods, launched a new fusion dessert “The Croissant Om Ali.” Triggered by social media, the new product was an instant hit, resulting in orders that exceeded TBS’s initial projection. However, the business suffered a sudden turn of events when some consumers showed symptoms of food poisoning. Once again, social media came into play with an aggressive customer backlash toward TBS. Its cofounders devised an appropriate action plan to address the crisis and salvage TBS’s tarnished reputation.

This case is written primarily for an introductory business course for first-year students of business and other closely related disciplines. This case mainly addresses crisis management as a means of restoring corporate reputation. It also highlights the important role of social media in a crisis.

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

International business or International marketing.

The case is recommended for undergraduate and graduate courses in the fields of international business and international marketing. The aim is to show students the problems that a family business in the animation industry faces while growing and internationalizing. Specifically, the case discusses the entry mode selection and market selection challenges faced by an emerging market company in the comic book and animation industry to operate overseas and compete with entertainment giants such as Disney and DC Comics. The case enables the instructor to discuss international market selection theories and evaluate entry modes. For graduate students, the international market selection can be further developed by using more robust concepts such as psychic and cultural distance.

This case examines the trajectory of a pioneering company in the comic book and animation industries, and in the licensing of trademarks in Brazil. Mauricio de Sousa Productions was founded in 1959 and is considered to be one of the most successful cultural producers in the country. According to a leading Brazilian public opinion research agency, 97 per cent of Brazilian children and 96 per cent of their parents are familiar with the Monica and Friends characters. As one of the main players in the publishing market, with 86 per cent of market share, Mauricio de Sousa Productions has a product portfolio that goes beyond Monica and Friends comic strips: the company’s show on the Cartoon Network ranks third in audience viewing in the country and the company has produced animated movies, books, shows and games. However, despite its experience in publishing comic books in several countries, Mauricio de Sousa Productions (MSP)’s worldwide operations have not been as profitable and sustainable as expected. Aiming at expanding its global presence, MSP’s top management decided in 2014 to review the company’s internationalization strategy and operations to enhance the firm’s performance.

The case highlights the key factors facing firms when expanding from an emerging markets. Students are expected to discuss and evaluate options, thus developing their knowledge and decision processes related to family-owned business challenges and opportunities, international market selection theories and international market entry mode. Developing strategies to face challenges as those presented by competitors such as Disney should bring opportunities to students to think outside models and weigh risks. Finally, the case gives students opportunity to base their decision processes and evaluations on logistics problems as well as psychic and cultural distances. It also compels the students to appreciate the various challenges involved in exploiting international market with animation content and intellectual properties as a service.

Company presentation to use in the discussion introduction can be found in: www.monicaandfriends.com/content/video.php

CSS 5: International business.

International Human Resource Management.

Master in Management, MBA.

This case is based upon a real Latin-American multinational company operating in France. The character called Anne, Human Resources Director of the French subsidiary, has to implement an organizational project, while at the same time managing local constraints. She also deals with the internal employee survey on working conditions. Through this case study, students will analyze international human resources issues in a company that has offices in different locations and therefore has to deal with different cultural and legal constraints. It tackles questions of employee satisfaction, working conditions and internal communication. It deals with the specific role of the Human Resources (HR) Director of a multinational company’s foreign subsidiary, who has to comply with headquarters’ instructions concerning the implementation of organizational projects and also abide by local laws and regulations.

“The Paradox of Development” case has four main learning objectives: It illustrates some well-known cultural values frameworks, such as Hall and Hall’s (1990), Hofstede’s (1991), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s (1998) and the GLOBE study’s (House et al., 2004) in a concrete way. It teaches students how to deal with the particular issues and constraints of multinationals when operating abroad, especially when the company’s headquarters are located in a developing country while the subsidiaries are in a developed country. And it helps them better understand the role of an HR Director in such a context. It illustrates the shift from standardization–localization debate [global integration – local adaptation dilemma, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989); Prahalad and Doz (1987)] towards the choice of HR practices among three options, not two: standardization towards headquarters’ practices, standardization towards global best practices and localization (Pudelko and Harzing, 2007, 2008). It tackles the issues of employee satisfaction and working conditions in an international context where employees have different cultural values.

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 6: Human Resource Management

Russ Clark is a successful NAPA Auto Parts franchisee in Yuma County, Arizona. He sees opportunity in the neighboring Mexican city of San Luis Rıo Colorado. But crossing the border with an after-market auto parts store will require building relationships with others, lots of learning to overcome the significant barriers, and some savvy decision-making in addition to the usual evaluation of business opportunities. Clark must consider a location decision, product mix, human resource issues, and how to promote the new business in an uncertain and unfamiliar context. Clearly, his current American business model will require a great degree of adaptation to make the venture a success. This case was developed from extensive field interviews and shadowing Mr. Clark for a day. In addition, Mr. Clark and his store manager, Rigoberto made classroom presentations describing their experiences surrounding the case situation.