Case studies

This case looks at a new start-up company, d.light Design, as it was seeking to go to market in India with its solar-powered LED lamps in 2009. Sam Goldman, founder and chief customer officer of d.light, was in New Delhi, India; his business-school friend and co-founder Ned Tozun was in China, the site of the company's manufacturing plant.

One of the key decisions Goldman and Tozun needed to make was whether d.light should focus on just one distribution channel in India, or multiple channels. The startup had limited capital, so it needed to get the distribution question right to generate revenue quickly.

The case thus combines an entrepreneurial problem with an emerging-market, or bottom-of-the-pyramid, channel design challenge. This case does not focus on product design or manufacturing challenges but rather on questions of:

• The constraints d.light faced in creating an aligned distribution channel. These constraints can have legal, environmental, and/or managerial foundations

• Demand-side misalignments in the channel structure that will occur if d.light chooses one or another of the considered channels in the case, namely, (a) the RE (rural entrepreneur) channel, (b) the village retailer channel, or (c) the centralized shops channel

• • What mix of channels—or what single channel—d.light should focus on in the Indian market

• • The financial return possible based on d.light's current cost structure and overhead expenditures in India

The constraints d.light faced in creating an aligned distribution channel. These constraints can have legal, environmental, and/or managerial foundations

Demand-side misalignments in the channel structure that will occur if d.light chooses one or another of the considered channels in the case, namely, (a) the RE (rural entrepreneur) channel, (b) the village retailer channel, or (c) the centralized shops channel

• What mix of channels—or what single channel—d.light should focus on in the Indian market

• The financial return possible based on d.light's current cost structure and overhead expenditures in India

• Assess channel benefit demand intensities for chosen target market segments

• Assess channel alignment constraints that can limit the channel designer's ability to optimize the channel to meet identified end-user demands for channel benefits

• Use these ideas to defend a choice of one or more possible channel structures as appropriate parts of a company's overall channel system

• Analyze financial opportunity in this situation, given cost parameters and possible market penetration estimates

Assess channel benefit demand intensities for chosen target market segments

Assess channel alignment constraints that can limit the channel designer's ability to optimize the channel to meet identified end-user demands for channel benefits

Use these ideas to defend a choice of one or more possible channel structures as appropriate parts of a company's overall channel system

Analyze financial opportunity in this situation, given cost parameters and possible market penetration estimates

Prudential Equity Group had downgraded Danaher to underweight status, citing concerns over its inadequate organic growth. By March 2009, its CEO wondered how to keep growing a company that faced changing worldwide economic circumstances, pressure from low-cost competitors, new competitors, flat or declining demand for company products, price increases for certain raw materials, and criticism from market analysts.

This case can be used in management of international business courses to illustrate the analysis of market attractiveness, the importance of fit between firm capabilities and market requirements, and the effects of multimarket competition. It describes the international expansion challenges facing EAC Nutrition, the infant formula division of a Danish conglomerate, in early 2002. Growth in EAC's core markets of Thailand and Malaysia has stagnated and EAC is contemplating three expansion options: entry into India, geographic expansion within China, and product line expansion in existing markets.

Todd Wilson, manager of partner development at Educational Technology Corp., needed to determine the targeting, positioning, and selling strategy for its innovative Interactive Mathematics software for the college market. This required determining what types of colleges to target and which stakeholders to focus on within institutions. His task was complicated by the unclear objectives of nonprofit institutions and the differing motivations of teachers, students, and college administrators in adopting software-based learning technology. Highlights the difficulties in innovation adoption within large nonprofit institutions and the challenges in marketing to institutions with complex decision-making processes, multiple influencers, and conflicting motivations.

Examines the launch of Xigris, a breakthrough new pharmaceutical product for the treatment of sepsis. The newly appointed head of marketing for Xigris is reviewing the launch plan.

Supplements the (A) case.

This case examines the formation of an alliance between Fiat and Chrysler during the height of the financial crisis as a mechanism to save Chrysler from liquidation. The case traces the events leading up to the alliance, discusses the early stage issues with which the partners have to deal, addresses some of the governance issues, and examines the past merger between Chrysler and Daimler that ended in a failure. The case presents a normative approach to alliance management and conjectures about the success of the Fiat-Chrysler alliance. We address whether Chrysler is a suitable partner and whether there is a strong enough rationale for the alliance and whether the two partners are compatible. Finally, the case explores the lessons learned and the cautions that might derail the alliance.

This case presents an application of conjoint analysis in a financial services setting. It is best used in a course on marketing research. The decision in the case centers on a fund manager's need to generate additional profit from a mutual fund. To do this, he needs to determine a new pricing structure for the fund. The case presents students with the results from a real-world conjoint analysis and requires them to work through the pricing and profit implications of that analysis.

Fingerhut, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is a direct-marketing company that sells a smorgasbord of consumer goods through an array of specially targeted catalogs. In November 1996, an article in the Star Tribune, a major Minneapolis newspaper, drew attention to a class-action lawsuit pending against Fingerhut that suggests the firm made its profits by exploiting the poor. Several civil rights groups rallied around the suit and submitted amicus curiae in favor of the litigation. The case illustrates issues in ethics and management communication. Discussions focus on the constituencies. Is Fingerhut exploiting its customers or providing them with an affordable method of obtaining valued consumer goods on credit? Do retailers have a duty to offer products at reasonable prices? Are the high interest rates reasonable given the risk? What are the options: pawn shops, rent-to-own? What is the profile of the typical Fingerhut customer? Discussions also focus on the issues communicating to the constituencies. How much damage will the lawsuit do to Fingerhut's image as an ethical, socially conscious company? What communication strategies can the firm employ? Should it react to the lawsuit? What should it tell its employees?

This case looks at an important business task: forecasting a new product. The case can be used to teach finance, marketing (new product introduction), and healthcare strategy. The product is one of Amgen's most important new products: denosumab. On the surface, the case is fairly easy; students simply have to do some simple mathematical calculations. However, the challenges of forecasting quickly become apparent; every forecast depends on some critical assumptions, and the answer can vary dramatically.

Highlight the importance of forecasting as a business task. Give students the opportunity to create a forecast, using logical assumptions to generate an answer. Illustrate how dramatically forecasts can vary. Demonstrate why sensitivity analysis and customer understanding are both critical when trying to forecast a new product launch.