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International Strategy

Undergraduate or graduate capstone course in strategy or international management course.

Faced with increased competition at home, Sainsbury's decided to expand its international operations by entering Egypt. Sainsbury's initially created a joint venture with an Egyptian food retailer, but quickly increased its commitment by opening over 100 stores in Egypt. Sainsbury's dream of capturing the Egyptian food market faded as quickly as it was started. Due to declining profits, Sainsbury's eliminated its exposure in Egypt by selling its interests to its Egyptian partner. Sainsbury's first developing-country venture could be regarded as an object lesson in how not to operate. The company failed to properly investigate its market and its partners, and showed insensitivity to local conditions. Moreover, entering the Egyptian consumer business sector may have been ill-advised. Egypt, with a low gross domestic product (GDP) per head of about $1,300 and a population of 65 million, while having growth potential, is a daunting market. Why a poor and frequently disorganized country was perceived as having excellent growth potential was not addressed by Sainsbury's in its headlong rush to invest. The case should be interesting for students because it highlights a situation where a firm's international expansion efforts failed after the firm had success expanding internationally previously. Numerous reasons are presented in the case for Sainsbury's failure. The case highlights the multiplicity of issues which a company faces when it “goes global.” While Sainsbury's withdrew from Egypt, the case affords students the opportunity to evaluate whether they would have made the same decision by providing a discussion of the alternatives suggested by Sainsbury's Chairman.

The Sainsbury's case is capable of addressing several important teaching objectives: the case is an appropriate vehicle to demonstrate what can happen to a firm as it expands globally; students will gain more knowledge concerning why companies expand into foreign markets and the impact of cross-country differences in market conditions; the case presents the multifaceted complexities involved in globalization efforts and issues faced by companies concerned with global competition and global strategy; students should apply the concepts and tools of industry and competitive analysis; students should gain a better understand how to manage globally; students should gain an understanding of the challenges of globalization and global competition; students should gain a better understanding of the evolution of strategy as industry conditions change and new opportunities arise. As with any case study, students should learn to translate good analysis into appropriate recommendations for action.

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Sara Lee Corporation's acquisition binge in the 1980s and 1990s left the company with a portfolio of vastly different businesses operating independently of one another. It had experienced rapid top-line growth, but at the same time cash flows had declined. Sara Lee ignored both internal and external warning signs until a major transformation plan became necessary. This case examines the company's multiple turnaround attempts. The learning objective of the case is to analyze “early stage” turnaround efforts by examining how the company found itself in decline, evaluating its attempts to improve its performance, and assessing the turnaround plan.

(1) Learn to identify a specific challenging moment when reading and analyzing a turnaround plan; (2) address the implementation problems of an early stage turnaround and discuss exit options; (3) evaluate when a change of long-held beliefs and decades-long strategy by a company is warranted; (4) evaluate Sara Lee's marketing strategies in light of the disappointed retail and wholesale customers; and (5) show the similarities in traits between turnaround managers and high-growth entrepreneurs.

This case can be used in marketing management as well as consumer behaviour courses.

This case is suitable to use in advanced undergraduate levels, MBA and MSc in marketing courses that cover topics related to market segmentation and marketing mix strategies.

This case highlights the dilemma of an entrepreneur and a manager of a restaurant who were to take a decision about the sustainability of their restaurant business. Balqis Restaurant was owned by Danny who was a retiree from Telekom Malaysia. He wanted to open a restaurant business after he came back from his long holiday trip. He conducted market research to find a suitable place to open his Arabic restaurant. He assigned Waleed Masood Abdullah as the manager of Balqis Restaurant. Finally, in June 2010, he opened his long awaited restaurant at Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. The restaurant was known as Qasar before the name was changed to Balqis in 2015 because of copyright issues related to Saba’ restaurant at Cyberjaya. The restaurant was well managed under Danny’s supervision for 4 years and successfully won customers’ hearts and loyalty before he decided to give full responsibility to Waleed in March 2014. Danny trusted Waleed because he taught and trained him. However, under Waleed’s management, Balqis started to lose its customers. Waleed also started to branch out the restaurant to different places in different states; one in Ipoh, and the other in Perak. He invested much money on renovation for all three branches, but one of the restaurants closed down in September 2014. This is because of the fact that they could no longer bear the cost of operations for the restaurant. However, he failed to learn from the mistake; they set up another restaurant, which was in Kuantan, in the same month. The sales were not that encouraging but it did show gradual improvement; yet, they once again sold it to another Arab businessman. Waleed realized his failure in managing the restaurant business in August 2015. He again opted to open another new branch which was questioned by Danny. He was in a rush to open it by the end of December 2015 to ensure that the additional profits from the current restaurants could cover the variables costs if the new restaurants were launched. Based on that, the owner had to make a decision about whether a new branch should be opened or whether they should just retain their restaurant in Gombak.

The learning objectives of using this case are as follows. 1. Knowledge enhancement: to help students in understanding the problems faced by a restaurant in expanding its market; to make students aware that a properly blended marketing mix is the key to business success and to broaden students’ views and understanding in targeting the proper market segment in formulating an effective marketing strategy. 2. Skills building: to be able to identify the best marketing strategic decisions to manage the restaurant business for its survival and to develop students’ ability to analyse the existing situation to come up with a viable and effective solution. 3. Attitudinal: to help the students to have intellectual openness in accepting different ways of finding solutions for a particular problem and to assist students in making the right move at the right time.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

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.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the impact of external factors in supply chain operations planning; to understand the role of quantitative and qualitative data in supply chain decision-making especially in the restaurant industry; to assess the pros and cons of centralized and decentralized supply chain operations; and to evaluate different alternatives in supply chain planning, for best service level at minimum cost.

This case visualizes the planning of supply chain drivers and process improvement to enhance supply chain speed and flexibility. Asim Rizvi has recently joined as senior supply chain manager at Food Lord, a renowned chain of restaurants in Pakistan. As instructed by his CEO, Rizvi has to take a decision for centralization, or to continue the decentralization of supply chain operations at two of their highest selling branches. These two branches were located at a distance of 125 km from each other. The objective of supply chain operations’ consolidation was to minimize cost and further improve the service level. Rizvi was confused about the decision because any decision cannot be taken on the basis of cost and benefit analysis only. A 360-degree analysis and future requirements also play a vital role to decide about supply chain operations. The CEO was very excited to take this decision; that is why newly hired manager Rizvi was analyzing all the facts to reach a decision that would be best for their business. Centralized or decentralized supply chain decision was not easy because normally the business dynamics completely change due to unpredictable customer demand, unavailability of professional suppliers and unavailability of a strong information system, etc.

BBA and MBA

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The case study offers interesting learning possibilities and offers the following learning opportunities to the learner. assess and conduct a macro- and micro-environmental analysis, comprehend the nature of the competitive landscape and how it changes when one looks at a digital-only versus an omnichannel marketplace, examine the product mix and policy of the firm and evaluate how it delivers customer value and analyse the pros and cons of growth strategies available to a firm and arrive at a viable and actionable future business and product strategy.

The short case study presents the story of a young start-up called Country Delight. The firm began operations in 2011 and was the brainchild of Chakradhar Gade and Nitin Kaushal. The direct-to-consumer firm addressed urban consumers’ non-articulated, latent need to get “fresh and uncontaminated” milk to their doorstep. Country Delight delivered farmer-to-consumer fresh cow and buffalo milk and milk products based on a well-designed and efficient value chain where the supply chain was either wholly owned or quality monitored by the firm. The firm began operations in India’s National Capital Region and was spread across 15 metro cities. Slowly, over the years, Gade and Kaushal added more product categories.Country Delight had a subscriber base of around 500,000, and the ambitious duo wanted to double their subscriber base and reach one million subscribers by financial year 2025. The firm was looking at various paths to achieve this number. Should Country Delight expand into new geographies? Or look at adding to the existing product portfolio? Diversification into agritourism, like the Pune-based vineyard – Sula, also looked attractive to build consumer engagement. Would taking the consumer to the farmers from whom they sourced the milk and vegetables contribute additional revenue to Country Delight and their farmer-suppliers? As the firm got ready to raise another round of funding, it needed a well-articulated growth strategy that was exciting and profitable for all stakeholders.

This case study presents the dilemma entrepreneurs face as they look at the next phase of growth. Thus, this case study serves as a learning opportunity for a graduate-level course in management and as a sounding board for those who aspire to enter the start-up space. Though this case study has the potential to illustrate basic concepts such as value chain and macro- and micro-environment analysis, the protagonist’s dilemma and the problem statement make it apt for integrated discussions that are critical in advanced electives in marketing management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Perdue Farms, the highly successful marketer of brand-name chicken, is considering the introduction of a chicken hot dog to the market. The decision is complicated by a variety of factors, including top management's concerns and conditions, potential ramifications of the hot dog for the company's high-quality image, the uncertainty of market response, uncertainties about how to position the new product, potential consumer objections to use of mechanically deboned meat, and the uncertainty of profitability at recommended levels of marketing costs.

In April 1992, this multinational consumer foods and beverages company is the focus of takeover rumors, which have prompted an assessment of the firm's returns. The student must choose among the principal methods of estimating the weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) for GrandMet and its three main business segments, and must then produce WACC estimates in order to evaluate the firm's performance.

In January 2013, Irish authorities were the first to uncover the year's first food sourcing scandal: horsemeat sold as beef on supermarket shelves. It was not long before regulators and retailers realized the problem was truly a continental one. The incident involved French exporters, Luxembourger production facilities, Cypriot and Dutch meat traders, British and Swedish retailers, and Romanian horsemeat. Food service providers and retailers were forced to test beef products to ensure they were horse-free, pulling products that contained traces of equine meat. British supermarkets alone disposed of an estimated 10 million “beef” burgers in the wake of the scandal.

This case is an example of the challenges of managing the complex global supply chains that make up the modern food industry. In this class discussion, students will use concepts from management, economics, and public policy to assess the damage of this event and to analyze strategies for preventing similar incidents in the future.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to enable the learners to understand advantages and disadvantages of franchises in the company; to understand the strength and weakness points of Café2Go, its underlying strategy and what makes the company a unique outlet; to acquire a better understanding on the key challenges or dilemmas that Café2Go faces and to provide recommendations to address such dilemmas; to evaluate innovative marketing plans that would aid in expanding Café2Go internationally; and to understand cause-effect analysis of project management and the reason for the increase in the operationalization cost on Café2Go.

This case study presents the story of Jassim Al-Bastaki who was once rejected as a franchisee and later managed to be a pioneering franchiser in the UAE. The case aims to highlight the new coffee products and distribution methods Al-Bastaki used to compete in the over-saturated coffee market in Dubai. Al-Bastaki distinguished the first Café2Go by offering camel products in a mobile truck. It was the first “café-on-wheels” in the UAE, and it marketed the slogan of “wherever you are”. This case study discusses the challenges the project faced while marketing the unpopular, salty drink camel milk and issuing the necessary licenses for the coffee truck. The case study also elaborates on the innovative strategies Al-Bastaki used to convince customers of the health benefits of camel milk, to serve camel milk in appealing forms such as milkshakes and to replace the banned mobile truck with kiosks, cubicles, mobile trolleys and free phone call services. The case study also aims to highlight the obstacles associated with the franchise model and to reveal how Al-Bastaki overcame such challenges, using the franchise model, to expand Café2Go beyond the UAE. What started as a mobile coffee truck in 2009, in Dubai, has changed into an expanding business in Qatar, Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Spain (Masudi, 2013).

The case study is relevant for undergraduate and post-graduate management degrees, and specifically business administration, entrepreneurship, small business management courses.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship