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The case is set in the Fall of 2008 as Susan Schor, Chief Culture Officer, at EILEEN FISHER Inc. is meeting with the other two members of the Facilitating Leader Team, Jim Gundell, Vice President of Retail and e-Commerce and Jonci Coukier, Vice President of Design and Merchandising Processes, as well as founder, Eileen Fisher. Faced with significant projected financial loss in 2009, Susan reflected on the evolution of the company as influenced by her perspective with her organizational behavior expertise and collaborative leadership that embraced a values-based culture. Stories, voices and structures are examined in this retrospective view as Dr Schor sets the stage for how this example of best practice leadership will tackle the challenge at hand.

The research for this case was conducted over an 18-month period with over 40 interviews, extensive observation of the various teams at EILEEN FISHER Inc., and review of corporate communications, publications and other secondary sources. This case focuses on stories and voices that explain the unique leadership of EILEEN FISHER. The use of extensive quotes allows for an authentic “hearing” of the experiences and values as well as allowing the students to better understand the nature of qualitative data. Some of the discussion questions are posed as experiential exercises as this method allows the students to better relate to understand and apply values concepts.

Graduate and undergraduate organizational behavior, leadership, retail management and ethics.

Marketing management, brand management, brand loyalty, brand consumer behavior.

MBA program or the Executive Education program.

Anubhav Jain, Marketing Head of Digamber Industries, is concerned about the national launch of Surya Gold tea. The brand had been doing well in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh, India) with almost 20 per cent market share. However, market reports suggested that retailers primarily pushed the brand and consumers had little loyalty for Surya Gold. Owing to lower repeat purchases, Jain had to spend large amount of money on consumer acquisition. For the national launch, a large base of loyal consumers was critical for business growth. He understood brand loyalty but found it a difficult proposition to relate from consumers' perspective. Market consultants were hired to conduct a qualitative research based on Susan Fournier's work on consumer-brand relationships. The case gives an account of conversations with professed lovers of tea to understand consumer behavior toward tea, including why people drink tea, how they choose their brands and what makes them re-buy or change brands. The case makes certain propositions around brand loyalty, which Jain had to decode to understand tea consumers in India, how brand loyalty develops and changes over time, and hence, how should he plan his marketing strategy. The case attempts to help students critique traditional definitions of brand loyalty, understand and evaluate the concept from consumers' perspective and highlight its importance in marketing strategy planning by explaining evolution, various types and intensity of brand loyalty.

The broad objective of the case is to strengthen participants' understanding of brand loyalty concept and also appreciate the importance and role of brands in consumer's life. The case can be used for MBA or executive education in brand management or consumer behavior courses. The specific objectives of this case are to help students appreciate the variations in brand loyalty across consumers and critically assess the traditional definition of loyalty, highlight the connection between the consumer personality and the brand attributes, help them understand how the concept of brand loyalty and brand relationship affects consumers' attitude and behavior, help students understand as to why brand loyalty develops and how it can be maintained and expose students to qualitative unstructured data and give them an experience of using it for managerial use.

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

International marketing, national competitiveness, strategic decision-making, wine.

Undergraduate and MBA.

The nationally important Georgian wine industry by 2008 was in a deep recession due largely to the continuing 2006 Russian wine embargo, prior to which Russia had been the largest export market for Georgian wines. Second World War-era Georgian wineries such as Shavteli (disguised), in the historic Racha-Lechkumi wine-producing region, were disadvantaged due to aging facilities, lack of tourist infrastructure, and inadequate capital to make needed changes to compete in the global markets for emerging economy wines. All nearby wineries faced continuing operating deficits, high inventory levels, and could lose much of their aging wine inventory to oxidation if they could not quickly sell more wine or convert the wine to brandy. To avert becoming another defunct producer, Shavteli needed a strategy. Industry observers were divided about whether Shavteli and its sister Georgian wineries should continue operating independently, seek government support, or form a marketing association to create new export demand. Students need to prepare a strategic plan for Shavteli and the Georgian wine industry.

Students should develop well-supported recommendations for competitive strategies in an emerging economy. Students should use strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and country competitiveness analyses to ascertain vision and mission, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and alliance strategies for international markets.

Teaching notes.