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Encyclopædia Britannica was the leading provider of encyclopedias in the English language, but after sales declined rapidly in the early 1990s the company was forced to file for bankruptcy. Many different organizational and market factors contributed to this crisis, such as the diffusion of the PC, the invention of Encarta, the technical challenges of moving text to electronic formats, and the difficulties of inventing a new format while also operating the leading seller of books. Looking back, what could the company have done differently?

To illustrate important themes on a leading firm's response to technical opportunities and threats; teach students about technological waves, technological disruption, and different concepts of obsolescence; and examine strategic concepts such as attacker's advantages and skunk works.

Marketing strategy, strategic innovation.

Strategic brand management or marketing strategy courses at MBA level.

It seemed likely that a company with the highest number of product variants would consider product innovation to be its key source of sustenance in a crowded marketplace. Especially so, when the local and global competition was hotting up to a new launch every week. In the case of Micromax, a mobile handset maker from India tried to drive home the point that sustainability in emerging markets did not lie in inventing a new technology like Apple or Nokia or Sony did, albeit accompanied with a premium price tag. For the emerging markets, it was important to optimize the offering for the consumers. Strategic optimization could result from bridging the gaps in performance, infrastructure and organization design, which came naturally to this marketing-savvy mobile maker. Any company could make a cost-effective phone, but few could position, brand and sell it the way Micromax did. Shubhodip Pal, Head of Marketing at Micromax Informatics Pvt Ltd, India, pondered the marketing strategy which could pave the way into maintaining the company's national leadership position while creating a roadmap for its global foray. For Micromax, marketing strategy innovation, and not product innovation, would fulfil the goal of long-term growth in India and overseas markets.

The students studying this case are expected to learn: marketing strategy in emerging markets such as India, marketing strategy as the critical success factor for upcoming Indian companies rather than product innovation and doing business in emerging markets.

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The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to define the scope of digital customer experience, why it is important and how it can be used to create a competitive advantage, to evaluate the various challenges for traditional retail businesses that undertake a digital transformation strategy, to critically assess a chosen digital transformation strategy, to identify the key features of a successful digital transformation strategy and to develop a crisis communication strategy.

The Cape Union Mart Group is a typical apparel retail company faced with the challenge of improving the digital customer experience and accelerating digital transformation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the demand for e-commerce increased dramatically. However, strict lockdown regulations forbade the delivery of clothing. When the lockdown was lifted, there was an order backlog of four weeks. To add to this challenge, the Group was in the midst of a technology update. They moved their entire information technology (IT) backbone to three clouds and, just a week before the lockdown, launched five new websites for its five different retail chains. The ultimate goal with the technology update was to give the company a competitive advantage by improving the customer experience. However, having to do this at an accelerated pace due to the pandemic posed a number of challenges. The case provides a vivid description of how the crisis unfolded and how Grant De Waal-Dubla, the executive of e-commerce and IT at the Group and his team responded to the challenges, together with the marketing team. Based on the success of e-commerce during the lockdown, the owners of the business then tasked Grant with new, aggressive growth targets. Whilst dealing with the aftermath of the lockdown, Grant’s main challenge is to develop a strategy to reach those targets.

The primary target audience for this case are postgraduate students enrolled on programmes such as Master of Business Administration or specialist masters in a business field such as marketing or strategy and also for Executive Education courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The case authentically illustrates a common problem encountered within the business scope of an agent who is representing a European food ingredients manufacturer in an emerging market. The case describes the kind of legal set-up and contracts that are necessary to safeguard the long-term prospective of the business for both parties, the agent and overseas supplier. It explains what each party has to observe in case of a termination of the agency agreement.

This is a longitudinal case study of a market entry by a European food ingredients manufacturer through a foreign-owned third agent. The authors studied how sales developed over the first few years and then concentrated the investigation on the fact that after the sales volume was reached, the overseas manufacturer wants to cancel the agency agreement and do the business directly without getting the agent involved.

This case describes and explains a common problem encountered frequently by overseas manufacturers who want to enter an emerging market through a third-party agent representation. The overseas supplier uses the agent’s service and solid reputation to enter an emerging market with limited exposure to costs and risk. The agent works towards guarding the relationship with the overseas supplier for as long as possible. The development of the relationship illustrates what kind of conditions have to be stipulated in advance to provide an acceptable solution to both parties concerned once they part ways.

This research is based on a European food ingredients manufacturer, who was expanding its business in different Asian emerging markets, namely, Vietnam and Cambodia. The agent was a long-time established trading house who acted frequently as agent for overseas companies that wanted to get a foothold in these promising Asian emerging markets.

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CSS 5: International Business

This case describes what happened when three Boston area hotels, the Hyatt Regency Boston, the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and the Hyatt Harborside, decided, during the 2009 recession, to layoff all their housekeepers and replace them with employees from an outsourcing company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The action created a public relations nightmare for the company. In 2009 many other organizations had implemented layoffs with little reaction from the public. Students are asked to think about why the Hyatt Hotels had been singled out. Was the main problem their decision, or the communication and implementation of their decision, and what could they have done differently?

Participants will learn to analyze the basis of consumer segmentation in management education. It will specifically highlight the importance of positioning in influencing the marketing strategy of a firm and discuss the importance of a differentiated-low cost strategy to gain competitive advantage. The case will familiarize students with the business environment of rural India, and the applicability of the 4A’s and the 5D’s framework. Finally, the case will help participants understand the difference between a rural market and a Bottom-of-Pyramid (BoP) market.

A rural MBA institute for BoP students is grappling with the problem of low admissions, leading to an existential crisis. Two divergent options are presented to the protagonist. The first is to close down the B-school and use the infrastructure and facilities for a well-funded government skill development program which is vocational and intended for creating blue-collar workers. The second is to find ways to bolster the B-school to ensure that it gets adequate student enrollment, thereby leading to profitability.

This case is suitable for an undergraduate or MBA course in marketing management, rural marketing in India, South-Asian marketing or strategic marketing.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. There is an accompanying spreadsheet with the case for studying the market. It contains relevant market data that would support analysis of the case. Comments are added for easy understanding. Instructors can access the separate spreadsheet that works out the break-even calculations for the fee structure of the institute. Instructions on calculations as well as comments are added for easy understanding.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Learning outcomes are as follows: understand venture philanthropy in India; discuss in what ways venture philanthropy is different from charity; identify the aims of venture philanthropy and the strategy adopted to achieve those objectives; analyze the role of the unique structuring of a venture philanthropy working in tandem with the government to achieve its objectives; identify the nature and source of dilemmas of disengagement from a project by the venture philanthropist; and understand the role of antecedents and outcomes on how a firm views its social impact initiative (in the Indian context).

The Faizal and Shabana Foundation (F&SF) made one of the largest philanthropic investments in Kerala, India for the redevelopment of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu. The foundation applied a strategic approach to their philanthropic investment making it a unique case of venture philanthropy. The uniqueness of this case lies in the fact that, this is one among those rare cases where venture philanthropy has been successfully implemented within a government educational context. This case highlights how a private philanthropic organization went about executing a project and faced several challenges of scaling up the redevelopment model to other government schools. The other salient aspect is that this case delves into the dilemma faced by a philanthropist of either using the existing model for scaling up or adopting a totally different model.

Undergraduate and postgraduate business management courses.

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CSS: 11: Strategy.

The Neenan Company is a construction firm based in Fort Collins, Colorado, known for their efforts in pioneering the advancement of the design/build approach to construction. With a history of industry leadership, innovative contracting methods, and ethical business practices, the company now faces management, customer relations, and financial challenges. Serious structural problems were discovered in a number of public schools and other buildings built by the company. Thrown into a whirlwind of shock, Randy Myers, President of the company, must consider how to respond to the crisis, and how to prevent these issues in the future. Written from his perspective, this case provides a platform for considering the challenges that can result from industry innovation, ethical decision-making, and crisis management.

For the development of this case, the authors interviewed the top management at the Neenan Company: Founder David Neenan, President Randy Myers, and Donna Smith, Vice President of Business Development. The authors also interviewed current employees, previous employees of Neenan, representatives of school buildings built by Neenan, stakeholders, other experts in the construction field and existing customers of the company. The company made internal documents available to the authors, including financial statements and quality control and assessment tools, which were provided by Ryan Dellos, Chief Financial Officer. The authors surveyed financial documents and business documents to analyze pertinent information and data relevant to the case. All the interviews were recorded, coded, and analyzed to include multiple perspectives. Extensive online research was conducted on the construction industry and The Neenan Company which included several news articles and interviews on David and Randy. Additionally, the authors carefully studied the news reports by The Denver Post and other related press materials. Experts from the construction field and financial field provided assistance with data analysis and interpretation. The authors used a variety of academic resources to draw connections between the issues faced by Neenan and concepts discussed in business courses.

This case has applications in entrepreneurship, small business management, business ethics, leadership, organizational structure/design, and new venture management courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. It also contains critical areas of decision-making relevant to an advanced strategic management course. The case can be introduced at any stage of the term, and is specifically relevant to discussions focussing on innovation and growth, corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making, stakeholder theory, entrepreneurial crisis management, and long-term venture success.

This case is intended for use in undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education courses in Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Eric Kyere founded Brouges in 2015, an African brand, with the objective of designing, manufacturing and selling great shoes. His original plan was to produce Brouges’ shoes in Africa, but had several problems with suppliers (e.g. poor quality, poor raw materials, etc.). Therefore, Brouges had to partner with a European manufacturer to produce its first batch of shoes. Shortly thereafter, Eric partnered with Michael Asare Bediako, a young Ghanaian investor and entrepreneur, who had advanced plans to build a shoemaking factory in Ghana. The factory was likely to open in early 2021, following major delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This would be a major milestone for Brouges and a key step in Eric’s entrepreneurial journey. However, how can Eric and Brouges manage the challenge of growing and building a manufacturing and retail organization? How could they succeed where others had failed?

This case has five pedagogical objectives: strategic choices: evaluate the strategic choices that companies need to make (based on their predefined goals and aspirations) and show that they are effectively an integrated cascade of choices that need to be consistent and coherent; strategic planning: apply and analyze the key steps and key decision to be made as part of a high-level strategic plan; value proposition: apply and analyze the concept and key components of a company’s value proposition, leveraging Tovstiga’s framework; doing business in Africa: evaluate the specific generic challenges of doing business in Africa, particularly in the manufacturing sector; generalizability of frameworks: this case shows that the same frameworks that are used to analyze large firms and mature markets can be applied to smaller firms in less developed markets.

This case is intended for use in undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education courses in Strategy, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship and Investing in Emerging Markets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

Marketing.

This case is oriented to undergraduate (BA) students taking courses in marketing strategy, branding, new product development and market research.

This case deals with the events surrounding branding and positioning of a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) by a multinational company settled in Mexico. After working in a private–public partnership (PPP) that deployed millions of CFLs in the Mexican market, the company is now striving to understand customer repurchase behaviour. The company executives are struggling with product, technology, and distribution issues. Their primary task is to develop an appealing marketing strategy and a tactical plan in the context of reduced budget and sceptic customers.

This study's task is to enhance student's ability to perform functional marketing analysis; to frame issues according to a given business model to solve the problems that organizations face in developing innovative products; and to propose alternate courses of action and formulate competitive marketing strategies.

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