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Ann Taylor was founded in 1954, and its classic black dress and woman's power suit were staples for years. In 1995 Ann Taylor LOFT was launched to appeal to a more casual, costconscious consumer. Under Kay Krill's leadership, the division began to outperform the original flagship. When Krill was promoted to President/CEO of Ann Taylor Stores Corporation in 2005, she was challenged with rebuilding the Ann Taylor brand - (i.e., meeting the “wardrobing needs of the updated classic consumer”) while maintaining the image and market share of LOFT. By mid-2008, an additional problem appeared: the macroeconomic climate was posing considerable uncertainty, especially for retail businesses. Krill was firmly committed to long-term growth. However, given the 2008 situation, what could she do to unleash what she believed was the firm's “significant untapped potential”?

International strategy; finance; corporate innovation and technology management.

MBA/MA.

This case's subject is global/international strategy and how investment decisions are made to enter new markets by global companies such as Vodafone Group Plc. The case follows the executive team that is assigned the task of recommending a course of action to invest in various mobile telephony businesses globally and how to set the criteria and strategy for investing.

The case targets graduate students in MBA and technology management programs and can be used in courses in Global Business, Strategy and Policy, Finance, Corporate Innovation and Technology Management. The learning outcomes are expected to be a clearer understanding of the broad political, technical, economic and socio-legal issues to be addressed as well as the firm level strategies employed by transnationals to expand into developing countries.

The case includes teaching materials as well as financial statements, explanations of technologies and demographic data for use in analysis.