Talbots: A Classic

This case shows why the billion-dollar womenswear retailer decided to attract younger customers, what went wrong, and what steps were being taken to recover. By the end of 1999, the company had repositioned itself, faced several growth opportunities, and had to decide what the best course of action was.

Uvanart: Ready For A Blue Ocean Shift?

The case summarizes the development of a contemporary online furniture brand in China and the development path to ride the wave of digital retail. From an art store in Beijing’s 798 Art District to an online furniture brand in Tmall, Uvanart has established itself as an “affordable and artsy” furniture brand and has gained a …

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Braun AG: The KF 40 Coffee Machine

Examines the entire product development process at a leading German company with a focus on the role of design as a key figure in interdisciplinary teams. Braun is making a strategic shift from exclusively high-end products to products that are suitable for the upper mass market. At an early stage in this process, the company …

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PepsiCo’s Bid for Quaker Oats (C)

Third in a series of PepsiCo offers for Quaker Oats. Describes the Quaker Oats auction, including the terms of the bids. After winning the auction, Coke’s stock price dropped dramatically. Coke’s board of directors later refused to approve the deal and withdrew. Quaker then approached Pepsi, the losing bidder, and asked them to make another …

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Eastman Kodak Co.: Funtime Film

Eastman Kodak has experienced a significant decline in film market share due to cheaper branded and private label products. The case represents Kodak’s proposal to launch a new brand of budget films to fight these rivals.

Monster.com

Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of Monster.com, considers how his online site, the leading racing site on the web, can continue to dominate and grow the Internet (60% share in 1999). Monster.com had just launched a nationwide branding campaign on television and signed a four-year contract with AOL. A rewritten version of a previous case.

La Martina (B): Selling the Passion?

March 2008. Lando Simonetti, founder and CEO of La Martina, paced from one side to the other of his office in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Not long ago, the offer that had just arrived in his inbox would be banned from the trash in seconds. He had always been passionate about keeping his company …

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Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (A): True to Brand?

Investigate one of the most important business decisions in Porsche history, made in early 1998: to build a sports utility vehicle (SUV), the Cayenne. After Porsche depended on one or two sports car models for decades and almost went bankrupt in 1993 and lost its independence, Porsche had to diversify its product lines. It also …

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Corona Beer

In early June 1997, the CEO and Vice President of Grupo Modelo reviewed the performance of Corona beer in the US market. Despite a significantly higher growth rate in sales volume, Corona was still behind Heineken, the No. 1 imported beer brand in the US market. Could Corona outperform Heineken, and if so, what changes …

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Lufa Farms

In 2013, Mohamed Hage, founder of the Lufa Farms umbrella farm, thought that his company had reached a level of maturity where scaling the business model was the next logical step. Having already owned two greenhouses in Canada, he looked to other locations in the US Although Lufa Farms highlighted the company’s advanced growth technologies …

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