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The case focuses on brief elaboration, importance, objectives and components. While there are many ways to elaborate a brief, the overriding goal is to outline the most relevant guidelines for campaign design, and the decisions required to launch an advertising campaign.

This case may be used for the first marketing course in MBA curricula, as well as in executive education programs addressing communications and advertising strategy issues.

On a cold July afternoon in 2005, Matías Ruiz faced a difficult challenge. After months of long presentations and detailed discussions, the budget for a new advertising campaign had been finally approved. Ever since its arrival in Argentina, the company had concentrated all its efforts on positioning its corporate brand. Now with a firm standing in the domestic market, the time had come to advertise Lubrax, Petrobras' lubricant brand. Bearing in mind that the goal was to build a unique and independent brand identity for Lubrax while preserving its links to Petrobras, Ruiz's team, along with Diálogo Publicidad, a local advertising agency, had prepared three TV advertisements. Ruiz had to choose the most suitable campaign with an approved budget of US$ 3 million – 40 percent below the sum he had hoped to raise. At least one of those ads had to be launched in late October 2005, in time for the category's seasonal consumer sales peak. To do that, Ruiz needed to make a decision and to present a complete proposal to Lubrax's Marketing Director. This case study describes the questions confronting Ruiz at that time – Which ad should we pick? What brand image do we want for Lubrax? What is it that we wish to communicate? What is our goal? What segment are we addressing?

The case provides an insight into the use of advertising campaigns as a marketing tool, describing the company's competition, consumers, distribution channels and organizational hurdles. As a result, it may be used to help students: understand communications complexities, delving into each step in the process and taking stock of relevant decisions involved; learn about the research studies and data analyses required to build a communications plan that fits in with a company's strategy; manage a specific marketing budget; gain experience on advertising campaign development and subsequent evaluation; and survey the mix of marketing drivers needed to boost business sustainability. It will enable students to realize both the significance of thorough brief preparation to pursue a company's strategic goals and the importance of ensuring the ad chosen matches that brief.

Teaching notes are available; please contact your librarian for access.

MBA students Tim Joyce and Brandon Cornuke had what they believed was a great product concept: a body powder that could be delivered in an aerosol spray. Current market-leading powders such as Gold Bond and Johnson's Baby Powder involved messy application, as they were only available in “dump-on” form. Worse, because powders deposited on top of the skin didn't adhere to it, they tended not to last long. Joyce and Cornuke believed an aerosol powder spray would solve these problems. They called their product concept Dry Goods. However, taking Dry Goods from idea to reality presented some serious challenges. How would two students without access to a lab be able to research and develop a complex chemical/physical process like aerosol delivery, let alone manufacture it once they had a proven prototype? To address these problems, the two entrepreneurs sought out a contract manufacturing partner. After identifying a number of options, Joyce and Cornuke had to decide which partner offered them the best chances of success, given their goals and financial constraints.

Students will learn about the process of hiring a contract manufacturing partner to produce a new packaged good for a startup.

This case study would help students in understanding the dynamics of logistics and logistics vendor roles and contributions to overall business operations. The case study covers real-time information for applying the theoretical knowledge students gain related to the selection of logistics vendor. It would help students to understand and evaluate the dynamics of a new start-up related to cost, profits and dependency; understand and analyze the importance of third-party logistics (3PL) service providers in the supply chain; become aware of the key performance indicators (KPIs) important in the selection of logistics vendor; and develop and create measures for selecting logistics vendors on the basis of KPIs.

This case study was about an innovative start-up operating in the field of organic edible oils. The company catered to end consumers with its indigenous technology and processes. The innovative and healthy products were appreciated by the consumers, as was reflected in the surging demand figures. With the increasing popularity of organic products, the orders were surging. At the same time, issues such as damaged product delivery, increased cost per delivery of small packages and failure to deliver because of unserved pin codes by their logistics partners were being faced by the company. The case discusses the dilemma faced by the protagonist regarding the selection of the right 3PL partner. The case study is suitable for teaching courses in operations and logistics, supply chain management and entrepreneurship-related courses.

This case study is appropriate for postgraduate courses in entrepreneurship, operations management, logistics and supply chain management and general management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS9: Operations and logistics.

Rockwell Automation's Allen-Bradley division was considering how to deal with the threat posed by national distributors in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) business for its industrial automation products. National distributors were consolidating the MRO distribution channel, offering national account customers an integrated multichannel solution for their MRO needs. Allen-Bradley had traditionally served its customers through high-touch, high-value-added local distributors, but this channel was inadequate for the demands of large MRO customers. An effort by Allen-Bradley and other manufacturers to create an industry-wide electronic sourcing consortium called SourceAlliance.com had failed. Now the company had to choose between redesigning its traditional channel by creating a virtual network of local distributors, striking an alliance with a national distributor, or withdrawing from the MRO market. It had to contend with difficult channel conflict issues in choosing a channel strategy.

To analyze the competitive strategy of a company serving the MRO market.

This case study focuses on the problems that a company have in segmenting a local market of a gas distribution company and some strategies that they can use for developing a viable market segmentation to target the right segment that will provide a good economics, revenue base customers who also have the mindset to change to a new product. At the end of this exercise, students should have a clear understanding of the following: the essentials concepts of market segmentation, targeting and positioning and how they can be leveraged so that businesses increase their returns; the main elements/steps that drive market segmentation and business positioning; the appropriate methods for market segmentation when targeting local markets for a city gas project; and the challenges companies might face when changing a product.

In 2018, commercial customers began asking Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Distribution to provide a sustainable solution to ensure a continuous supply of safe gas and avoid the interruptions and hazards associated with the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to their premises. The request was discussed with the ADNOC marketing, supply and trading (MST) Division to investigate the possibility of growing the natural gas business in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, thus contributing to the Emirate’s security, economy, environment and community, and ultimately to ADNOC Strategy 2030. Khaled Salmeen, Director of the ADNOC MST Division, believed that industrial customers accounted for higher business volume and profitability. Nevertheless, he advised Shuhab Al Shehhi, the City Gas Project Manager, to study the potential benefits in targeting both residential and commercial customers as part of ADNOC’s responsibility towards community engagement and investments. Al Shehhi had to address several questions: How could the City Gas Project be strategized and positioned so as to target all market segments? What were the potential outcomes? Would targeting all market segments strengthen ADNOC’s brand position?

This case study was written for Marketing and Strategic Management courses in Bachelor of Business Administration programs.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing

Students are expected to integrate decision-making tools and frameworks to create decisions under uncertainty. Students are expected to understand the general business process of fuel retail industry.

PT. Pertamina Retail (PTPR) is a subsidiary of PT. Pertamina, an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas company. In the first quarter of 2020, PTPR’s sales volume decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s large-scale social restrictions. Iin Febrian was just appointed as President Director in March 2020; he must formulate a survival strategy facing COVID-19 pandemic uncertainties. The case elaborates on PTPR’s decision to expand immediately or hold. Scenarios and expected values have been given to simplifying the calculation of a decision tree. The case also challenges students to think critically on providing a strategy to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond using decision tree analysis and BCG Matrix or Ansoff Matrix.

BA level and MBA program in Decision Analysis Course or Strategic Management Course.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The case study “Maruti Suzuki – toward cleaner mobility” has been written keeping in view the requirements in the field of strategic management. The key learning objectives are as follows:• Analysis of business environment.• Product development strategy – creating market segment to gain competitive advantage by leveraging available organizational capabilities.• Strategic decision-making – understanding strategic decision-making process in a complex and highly competitive business scenario.

Maruti Suzuki, a leader in Indian automotive market with around 50% market share in passenger cars, was likely to face intense competition because of disruption by electric vehicles. As electric vehicles adoption was increasing globally in developed countries, automotive companies shaped their strategy accordingly to stay relevant. Maruti Suzuki was yet to be ready with electric vehicles and approached this space differently than other competitors. However, with Indian Government pushing toward cleaner mobility, it was yet to be seen how the company would manage to comply with legislations and compete effectively in marketplace. Indian Auto major, Maruti Suzuki, was on the edge to decide future strategy on electric vehicles to sustain its leadership position. The Indian automotive sector was going through the transformation where auto original equipment manufacturers were bringing electric vehicles and supporting policies from government likely to accelerate its adoption. Maruti Suzuki was striving to counter the competition with available resources to create competitive advantage in changing environment and continue to remain profitable with leadership position in Indian automotive market. The company had successfully maintained its leading position over three decades and transformed the automotive space with its strategies ahead of the curve. Now the company was standing at crossroads with regard to future technology on cleaner mobility. Mr Bhargava had to decide whether to throw the hat in EV ring or wait for other alternate technology disruption.

Management studies and executive development programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

In 1992 Joe Jackson, former manager of DuPont Motorsports for twelve years, was angling to get the paint business at Rick Hendrick's sixty-five automotive dealerships across the United States. In order to win the Hendrick car dealership paint contract, Jackson and Hendrick met to discuss the possibility of sponsoring Hendrick's new team and rookie NASCAR driver—Jeff Gordon. As a result of that meeting, DuPont signed on to be the primary sponsor. By 2006 Gordon was a NASCAR superstar, and the DuPont logo—viewed by millions—was a household brand. While this level of exposure was exciting for the company, executives at DuPont could not help but wonder if they were fully leveraging this tremendous marketing opportunity. Gordon was on fire—but was DuPont maximizing the heat? The DuPont-NASCAR case tasks students and executives with designing a creative marketing campaign to activate the NASCAR sponsorship opportunity and maximize value beyond conventional sponsorship marketing. This open-ended challenge encourages students and executives to think outside of the traditional marketing tactics typically employed by business-to-consumer (B2C) NASCAR sponsors. Additionally, the nature of DuPont creates the need to develop a multi-dimensional plan that caters to a breadth of brands. Beyond designing a new marketing campaign, a key objective of the case is to focus students and executives on designing metrics for measurement of the return on investment (ROI) into a campaign plan. As a first step, it is important to clearly articulate the campaign, business strategy, and key business objectives mapped to the strategy.

Students and executives learn how to design a marketing campaign for measurement. Specifically, they are tasked with designing a new marketing campaign for DuPont to activate the DuPont/NASCAR relationship. Students and executives must define metrics for measurement and learn to use a balanced score card approach. Since the DuPont sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports is a brand campaign built to reach the DuPont business-to-business (B2B) customer, both non-financial and financial metrics are used. The key to success is to have a clearly defined sponsorship marketing strategy and business objectives. The case teaches students and executives how to define key metrics and articulate a methodology for campaign measurement pre and post to quantify the return on investment (ROI).

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: 1) identifying challenges confronting small businesses in emerging markets using the SWOT framework; 2) the application of the Porter’s five forces model in analysing industry dynamics for small businesses; and 3) evaluating business expansion decisions using the force field analysis framework.

Freshood Express Store was a convenience store owned and managed by Mr Cuthbert Tsikira. Freshood Express Store operated grocery convenience stores in partnership with a government-owned fuel retailer in Zimbabwe. It operated two grocery convenience stores in Harare and Bindura. Its business environment was a complex and highly competitive industry with large retailers such as OK supermarkets and TM-Pick n Pay. These large retailers enjoyed massive discounts from powerful suppliers, which enabled them to charge low prices in the market. However, Freshood Express Store, as a small business, sourced their stock from the same suppliers on a cash basis. The playing field was thus uneven. In early 2021, Freshood Express Store was offered two sites to open new establishments. These two sites were more than 200 km out of Harare, the major supplier hub for Freshood Express. In addition, large retailers had existing operations in the two proposed sites, thus adding serious competition. The dilemma confronting Mr Tsikira was as follows: Could he direct limited resources to existing establishments or new markets? He wanted a sound business analysis of the attractiveness of the proposed two markets before making a management decision to invest resources. The case focuses on the need to perform industry analysis before making strategic decisions. The use of the Porter’s five forces model and the force field analysis model to validate decisions after an industry analysis is the high point of the case.

This case study can be used to teach the environmental analysis topic in emerging markets in the small business management course.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The (A) case describes the evolution between 1999 and 2005 of an unusual innovation team within the office of the chief information officer at oil and gas giant BP. This team helped business units conceive, develop, and implement novel, value-added applications for emerging information technologies. The team leader, vice president and chief technology officer Phiroz Darukhanavala (“Daru”), eschewed a large group and venture budget in favor of a small, lean team intimately engaged with BP's business units. The case describes several mechanisms created by the CTO office during its early evolution: “Blue Chalk” events that expanded executives' appreciation of emerging technology capabilities, a network of relationships through which emerging technologies were scouted and vetted, a structured technology transfer process, and annual “game-changer” projects.

The (B) case describes how the CTO office team members in 2011 again solicited advice from their ecosystem of thought leaders and held workshops to significantly enhance their impact. As a result, they began developing solutions for broader, more fundamental business problems that came to be known as Grand Challenges: extremely difficult business problems whose solutions could potentially create hundreds of millions—or billions—of dollars in business value.

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

• Understand the management challenges associated with realizing the business value of new technologies

• Explore how innovation management evolves as an innovation team learns from its successes and failures and, more importantly, builds a reputation within and outside the company

• Examine a prototypical “advocate” model of corporate entrepreneurial practice

• Explore a leading example of a successful internal innovation program

Understand the management challenges associated with realizing the business value of new technologies

Explore how innovation management evolves as an innovation team learns from its successes and failures and, more importantly, builds a reputation within and outside the company

Examine a prototypical “advocate” model of corporate entrepreneurial practice

Explore a leading example of a successful internal innovation program