Search results

After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand the putty industry, consumer behaviour for putty, comparative advantage of putty to different industries and within industry and market entry strategy for newly introduced product.

Putty market in India grew at a compound annual growth rate of 15% over the period FY07–FY20. Many organized and unorganized players entered the putty market since its introduction. Putty was invented by cement companies to increase offtake of cement which otherwise declined owing to reduced use of marble. Painters are purchasing putty to be used before the paint to improve the texture of the walls and to fill cracks. Therefore, to take advantage of distribution channels and dealers’ network, paint companies introduced putty. Consumers, who use putty to improve aesthetics of their home, have very less knowledge about putty. They depend on painter or contractor for it. XYZ colourant company wanted to enter the white putty market to use the market opportunity along with coloured putty for economic project where cost is the constraint. This case study culminates with the probing question about the peculiarity of industry where two different industries are involved for the same product. This case study is designed to understand the target consumers’ behaviour and the entry decisions of the company to the growing market.

This case study is designed for use in second-year management programmes, especially for the students of strategic management and marketing strategy courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This paper aims to explain the theory of stakeholder, value chain analysis and triple bottom line sustainability approach.

The present case was developed from both primary and secondary data sources. The primary sources included visits to Global Enterprises and collected data through a structured interview. The secondary sources included enterprise annual reports and websites.

This case presents the innovative approach adopted by a for-profit social enterprise, utilizing locally available resources, changed products and an improved business model to deliver the desired social impact. It highlights the challenges social entrepreneurs face and how the people at the grass-root level are uplifted through the success of a social entrepreneurial venture. The case study is based on an interview conducted with the founder and managing director of Global Enterprises and other stakeholders (farmers, women artisans and employees). An interview schedule was used for conducting the interviews. The researchers tried to understand the business model deployed, stakeholders involved, challenges faced, competencies needed and strategic decisions made by the social entrepreneur that helped the enterprise become sustainable. The social problems identified by the entrepreneur include unavailability of quality raw material at a reasonable price on time; financial scarcity and massive dependence on non-institutional financial sources; lack of product development, market research and production; and the high price of handmade products compared to factory-made products. The case explains how the entrepreneur addressed the problems of cotton farmers, women artisans and local youths through his enterprise. The case also explains how he could make a social venture sustainable in the long run.

This case targets graduate-level students and is designed to be taught in Entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship, Rural entrepreneurship, Business administration and Entrepreneurship development. It can also be used for other programmes, where problem identification, opportunity recognition, stakeholder analysis and porter's value chain analysis are taught.

Sustainable fashion.

Bachelor Degree/Master Degree, Master of Business Administration (MBA), PhD.

The case focuses on Osklen, one of the world’s first eco-fashion brands, founded in 1989 by Oskar Metsavaht. For the past 26 years, Osklen had become Brazil’s foremost sustainable luxury venture, and since 2012, under first minority and then majority corporate ownership, pursued an aggressive global expansion strategy. The dilemma of the case juxtaposes Osklen’s creative aesthetics, which leverage unique Brazilian beauty in nature and heritage, with the financial pressures of global expansion. The tension is exacerbated by the 2015 corruption scandal, which decelerated the Brazilian economy and reduced consumer spending on sustainable luxuries in Osklen’s home market; it also risked compromising the appeal of Brazilian brands elsewhere. The case explores the complex interconnections between local and global aspects of sustainability and brings forward the environmental, social and cultural aspects of brands and business to the foreground. The case also illustrates how economic crises impact brands from the initial creative inspiration to the prospects of global expansion.

Students will master tools for strategic analysis (VRIN framework and scenario planning) to a company evolving in an emerging economy. They will learn about the ways to consider and communicate sustainability. Students will be exposed to the importance of aesthetics and multi-sensoriality in business activities.

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 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).

Entrepreneurship.

This case is suitable for graduate-level programmes in business management, as well as for executive education programmes.

Mabel Simpson, the sole proprietor of the award-winning mSimps fashion accessories house in Ghana, must choose from among three options for scaling up her business: an offer from a private investor for GHS 100,000 in exchange for 51 per cent stake in mSimps; or 30 per cent stake for half the amount; an offer from a fashion industry expert for GHS 10,000 in exchange for 30 per cent ownership; or a restructuring of her business model and value chain to enable her release cash to grow her business organically.

Students should be able to: understand the interplay of choice and trade-offs in business management and apply theory-driven frameworks in making optimal choices and analytically assess instances of tension between the art (e.g. passion, emotional stakes, psychological and other influences on business management philosophies) and science (e.g. the need for business skills, use of effective models and the quest for production efficiency) of business management.

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 3: Entrepreneurship

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to assess the extent to which a new business concept or entrepreneurial idea represents a commercial success or practical failure, to estimate the complexities associated with the management of a partnership-based venture in the context of emerging markets, to demonstrate understanding of entrepreneurial action and strategic adaptation under the condition of uncontrollable external shocks (e.g. COVID-19) and to evaluate the pros and cons of different strategic options and provide viable recommendations for the future.

Startup entrepreneurship constitutes the backbone of the socioeconomic activity of any nation and a driver of innovation, industrial diversification and wealth generation, particularly in emerging market settings. Drawing upon narrative storytelling techniques, this case study immerses the reader into the intricacies of entrepreneurial venture creation within the dynamic startup ecosystem in the Middle East. It follows the story of a young serial entrepreneur, Omar, who decided to launch a business in the creative industry of arts in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with his friend, Ahmed. Their common venture, Mont8, showcased and promoted the artwork of budding and well-known Arab talents and was on track to become a recognizable brand in the Middle Eastern business of arts until the COVID-19 crisis shook the world taking everyone by surprise. In an attempt to build a successful post-pandemic future, Omar was convinced that Mont8 needed to fast-track its digital transformation. He envisioned an e-commerce marketplace that would empower Arab artists, designers and photographers to create customized virtual galleries on their own web-stores through the Mont8’s digital platform. Yet, Omar’s vision diverged drastically from the very conservative mindset of Ahmed, who did not want to disrupt tradition and argued in favor of a back-to-business-as-usual approach. It remains unclear whose option would be selected and whether the two partners would stay in this makeover together or rather part ways.

Upper-level undergraduate courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Service innovation, ICT-enabled services, museum, cultural and creative industries.

Graduate-level courses of “Innovation Management,” “Service Innovation,” or “Cultural and Creative Industries”.

In 2006, the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taipei, Taiwan, announced its new vision “Reviving the Charm of an Ancient Collection and Creating New values for Generations to Come”. In recent years, the NPM has been shifting its operational focus from being object-oriented to being public-centered, and the museum has held not only the physical forms of artifacts and documents but also their digital images and metadata. These changes would inject new life into historical artifacts. In addition, archives as its collections would be given a refreshingly new image to the public and become connected with people's daily lives. Among these endeavors for displaying historical artifacts online and prevailing Chinese culture in the modern age, the key issues are related to digital technology applications and service innovations. The service innovations would be further divided into information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled ones and non-ICT-enabled ones. These shifts clearly claim that adopting digital technologies and innovative services can bring positive impacts to the museum. The NPM administrative team wants to keep infusing life into ancient artifacts and texts, sustaining curiosities of the public for Chinese culture and history, and invoking their interests to visit the NPM in person. However, to develop for the future while reviewing the past, the NPM administrative team has to meditate on the next steps in terms of implementation of service innovations.

Students will learn motivations of digital establishment and service innovations from the organization perspective and the necessities of technological implementation. Students will understand the difference in innovations between ICT-enabled services and non-ICT-enabled services. Students would be able to understand the process of developing a new service. Students will be aware of challenges the organization would face in developing a new service.

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

Primary and secondary data.

This case is set in the year 1987 when many parts in India were milk deficient. Seasonal and cyclical shortages were more of a norm. There were however early signals that the cooperative dairying model across the country was gaining momentum and the milk production in the country was poised for a sharp upswing.

Masuum baby food is a winning brand in Shalanda Milk Foods portfolio with a top-line revenue of Rs 300m per annum, contributing to 60% of the firm’s revenue and registering a healthy 14% annual growth.

The brand was used as an additive for tea and coffee, a purpose for which it was not intended, apart from it being used as a baby food, which of course was the intended purpose.

The World Health Organisation had proposed a code which among other things proscribed brand advertisement and promotion of baby food with a view to promote mother’s milk for infants.

Though the brand sales seemed to continue to grow, thanks to demand operating above supply, there was a realization that the brand could head into an identity crisis and the fact that it cannot speak for itself could be damning.

The protagonist in the case came up with a strategy to launch a new brand with the same composition as Masuum and in a controlled manner transfer volume from Masuum to new brand. Even while appreciating the protagonist’s recommendation, the Managing Director exhorts him to come up with a stronger rationale for launching a new product and review whether it constitutes a comprehensive solution.

This case can be used at the Master’s in business administration level in the Marketing Management course. This case should be scheduled after covering topics on segmentation, targeting, positioning and brand.

This case can also be used to introduce case methodology as it follows the framework of sharply defining a problem, explaining the relationships amongst variables, identifying and evaluating solution choices, and recommending the most effective.

After reading and analyzing the case study, the students would be able to identify the main stakeholders and decision-makers and their importance and influence on the environment for a product, evaluate the value chain of the product and critical decision-makers, evaluate the various ways to avoid falling into the trap of greenwashing and examine the marketing strategy to market an environmentally friendly product.

LIKO-S is a Czech manufacturing and construction company. The company has been designing and creating intelligent solutions, such as green facades or vertical greenery systems, to save energy in building heating and cooling systems. The company launched green facades in the Czech market. However, the main obstacle was the need for supporting data to showcase the positive environmental impact of green facades. Under these circumstances, Libor Musil’s main objective was to overcome prevalent misconceptions about green facades and find a suitable market segment. The situation worried the company, as LIKO-S had heavily invested in developing and marketing the green walls. The management had to tackle this challenge as soon as possible to recover the substantial research and development and marketing investments. Furthermore, owing to lack of information, even genuinely sustainable products were seen as greenwashing. In addition, bad or wrong customer perceptions of these walls might spill over to other products, tarnishing the company’s image and threatening its survival in the domestic market. Under these circumstances, competitors might enter the Czech market, jeopardizing the company’s overall profits. Consequently, Libor was in a great dilemma about managing the financial and reputational risk of the company. Should Libor close the green walls unit, explore different markets/uses or help increase awareness among the general population about green walls by finding a suitable marketing strategy?

The case study was designed for graduate-level students in the strategic management (CSR and innovation module) courses. However, the case could also be an excellent addition to marketing courses dealing with customers’ perceptions of innovative products and strategies to improve the adoption of the product.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Upon completion of the case study, the students will be able to conceptualize the importance of brand differentiation; suggest the implications of brand differentiation in the context of the traditional Chikan art form; examine the aspect of a brand’s product portfolio management; and critically analyse the competitive advantages of the brand using the VRIO framework.

The Chikankari art form gained worldwide recognition. In fact, it also received a geographical indication (GI) tag which is important for international branding. The case is centred around an entrepreneur, Mr. Vinod Punjabi, who redefined the essence of the existing Chikan art form by value addition in terms of intricate designs, patterns and exclusivity. He founded the brand Ada in 2015 aimed at preserving the traditional art form while curating elegance and exclusivity in its product portfolio. The case outlined Punjabi’s journey. The protagonist carefully analysed the open and unorganized Chikankari market and adopted the strategy of brand differentiation to stand apart from the competitors. Punjabi’s daughter, the chief operations officer of Ada, described the aspects. The journey was arduous, but over the years, Ada emerged as a successful name in the Chikankari market. The brand’s intent of becoming synonymous with Chikankari was successful owing to its authentic and exclusive hand-crafted products in the competitive environment of machine-made replicas. Furthermore, the brand also consistently worked on the aesthetic appearance of its store to attract a wide range of customers. Punjabi ensured that the brand was an amalgamation of all the essential elements for its survival in the long run.

The case is aimed for students pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration/diploma in management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it will assist the management trainees in gaining valuable insights.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.