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Cara Pils is the private label beer brand of Colruyt, the biggest supermarket retailer in Belgium. As a true private label brand, Cara Pils has never been advertised. In 2015, Colruyt undertook an initiative to reposition its numerous private label brands under two larger private label brands. Unexpectedly, customers were incensed by this initiative, came out in droves and took the matter to social media hoping to lament the demise of their beloved brand. This case study investigates the roots of this strong brand attachment and the consequences for its brand management.

This case is built on primary (one in-depth interview and two focus group) as well as secondary data sources (previous research and web information).

This case is designed to be used in a marketing management or brand strategy course for students that already followed an introduction to marketing course or for students at a master level.

This case should provide the basis of discussions on the topics of brand management, private-label brands, repositioning strategy, brand portfolio management, brand architecture, brand equity, brand elements, brand nostalgia, and consumers’ relationships with brands.

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 focusses on management and customer service issues at a historic hotel, the Hawthorne, in Salem, Massachusetts. By 1999, when Juli Lederhaus was hired as the new general manager, the Hawthorne had a reputation of being well past its prime and customers were dissatisfied with the quality of service and outdated physical facilities. This case describes the actions she took, up to 2012, to improve service. The case ends with Lederhaus contemplating whether more changes are needed given that she had just heard a rumor that a company was considering building a new hotel just a few blocks away. The case gives students the opportunity to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Hotel in relation to customer service, and propose recommendations for future improvements.

A qualitative, interview based, methodology was used. The researchers held numerous, face-to-face interviews with the owner and employees of various ranks. Information was also gathered from archival data and traveler review sites such as TripAdvisor.com and Yelp.com.

The case is targeted to undergraduate business and hospitality students at a sophomore or junior level. Classes in which this case could be used include: Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, and Hospitality Management.

Suitable for MBA, EMBA, and executive education programs, this case uses the complexities of the oil industry to set the stage to unfold a stakeholder analysis on BP's growth and opportunity in the renewable energy sector. This public sourced case offers a discussion about the firm's overall strategy, post Gulf Oil spill, moving forward. The case describes how within a single decade, BP had emerged as one of the largest energy companies in the world. Within that scope, BP had an odd achievement: It had been building an alternative energy business and had gained a reputation as being an oil company with a regard for the environment. Then a series of preventable accidents, in the United States in particular, started to chip away at the firm's status. In a matter of five years, BP went from celebrating its most profitable period to finding itself selling assets while industry watchers wondered whether the company would survive after being responsible for the largest oil spill in the United States. Shortly following the Gulf oil spill, Robert Dudley, a legacy Amoco executive, was appointed to replace Tony Hayward, the beleaguered BP group chief executive and director. Besides the oil spill and ongoing cleanup, Dudley had slumping revenues (even before the Deepwater tragedy) and a huge rebuilding task ahead of him. Not only did he have a multinational energy company to run, but Robert Dudley had to rehabilitate the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, compensate all who suffered loss as a result of the damage, and repair the firm's shabby reputation. Dudley needed to implement a sound long-term strategy. How would his former division—renewable energy and alternative activities—fit into his plans?

“MDCM, Inc. (A): IT Strategy Synchronization” examines the issues of formulating an IT strategy and a set of IT objectives aligned with corporate strategy. Specifically, the case describes a firm that has grown rapidly through global acquisitions. As a result of these acquisitions, the new conglomerate is not responsive to the competitive environment. The firm has therefore launched a new transformation strategy called Horizon 2000, but it has yet to develop a corresponding IT strategy. Students solve Case A by applying the management by business objective framework and develop an executive-level IT strategy for the firm. This case is the first in a series; the second is the case “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management.”

The objective of the case is to have students analyze a firm's strategy and define the IT objectives for the firm. A key takeaway is that IT objectives should be systematically linked to corporate strategy. Students learn a framework and process for aligning IT objectives with business strategy. The framework consists of mapping corporate strategy to business objectives, to overall IT strategy, and finally mapping to specific IT objectives.

Gary Parr, deputy chairman of Lazard Freres & Co. and Kellogg class of 1980, could not believe his ears. “You can't mean that,” he said, reacting to the lowered bid given by Doug Braunstein, JP Morgan head of investment banking, for Parr's client, legendary investment bank Bear Stearns. Less than eighteen months after trading at an all-time high of $172.61 a share, Bear now had little choice but to accept Morgan's humiliating $2-per-share, Federal Reserve-sanctioned bailout offer. “I'll have to get back to you.” Hanging up the phone, Parr leaned back and gave an exhausted sigh. Rumors had swirled around Bear ever since two of its hedge funds imploded as a result of the subprime housing crisis, but time and again, the scrappy Bear appeared to have weathered the storm. Parr's efforts to find a capital infusion for the bank had resulted in lengthy discussions and marathon due diligence sessions, but one after another, potential investors had backed away, scared off in part by Bear's sizable mortgage holdings at a time when every bank on Wall Street was reducing its positions and taking massive write-downs in the asset class. In the past week, those rumors had reached a fever pitch, with financial analysts openly questioning Bear's ability to continue operations and its clients running for the exits. Now Sunday afternoon, it had already been a long weekend, and it would almost certainly be a long night, as the Fed-backed bailout of Bear would require onerous negotiations before Monday's market open. By morning, the eighty-five-year-old investment bank, which had survived the Great Depression, the savings and loan crisis, and the dot-com implosion, would cease to exist as an independent firm. Pausing briefly before calling CEO Alan Schwartz and the rest of Bear's board, Parr allowed himself a moment of reflection. How had it all happened?

An analysis of the fall of Bear Stearns facilitates an understanding of the difficulties affecting the entire investment banking industry: high leverage, overreliance on short-term financing, excessive risk taking on proprietary trading and asset management desks, and myopic senior management all contributed to the massive losses and loss of confidence. The impact on the global economy was of epic proportions.

In late 2019, Dr. Hiroaki Kitano, the president and director of research at Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), had decided he would be stepping down from his position soon. Sony CSL, a small blue-sky fundamental research facility funded by Sony, had always operated on the strength of the trust between Sony's CEO and the lab's director. Sony had been hands-off in its management, leaving Kitano to hire, fire, fund, and evaluate the lab's researchers and project portfolio at his own discretion. Now that he was stepping down, however, he worried that Sony CSL could not withstand his departure. Kitano wanted to make a transparent plan for the organization's future before he handed off Sony CSL to his successor. That plan involved three key decisions. First, what should be the optimal structure and governance of Sony CSL? Should it maintain its independence and autonomy, or should it align more closely with Sony's business priorities? Second, how could Sony CSL scale its impact on Sony and society at large, given its small size? Finally, should Sony CSL establish some standard methods of measuring project success and strength of the portfolio? In making these decisions, Kitano wanted to ensure that he preserved the unique culture that had allowed Sony CSL to pursue path-breaking research and innovation.

On May 27, 2020, a blowout occurred in Well No. 5 at Baghjan (Assam); the well, owned by Oil India Ltd., caught fire on June 9, 2020. For almost five and a half months, the company tried to douse the 200-foot high flame but failed to do so. Finally, on Day 173, Oil India Ltd succeeded in capping the well. Biswajit Roy, Director (Human Resources and Business Development), was tasked with investigating the nature and cause of the crisis. Roy pondered on the nature of the crisis: Had it been purely technical or stakeholder-induced? What had led to the chaotic condition? Could things have been done differently?

The case and supporting teaching note were developed through the use of secondary sources such as company documents and archives, news articles and academic publications.

Jane Fraser, Citigroup CEO and the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank, found herself at a crossroads. Weeks prior to the company’s 2022 annual shareholder meeting, Citigroup announced it would provide reproductive health-care benefits to employees traveling out of state for an abortion. Prompted by legal developments that hinted at the potential for a widespread ban on abortions, the announcement resulted in threats from Republican lawmakers to change course or suffer financial consequences. Through the case, students explore the role of business and corporate leadership in response to controversial political issues, including the potential opportunities and threats.

The case is best-suited for management or other business students at the undergraduate or graduate/MBA level. The learning objectives of the case would fit well within any of the following courses: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)/Business and Society; Business Ethics and Decision-Making; and Strategic Management. Instructors should position the case after students have been introduced to the topic of corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making and/or CEO activism.