CASE 1

Martin Incorporation was involved in the cosmetics and perfume business. The company was
following the product concept of marketing and catered only to their existing customers,
while paying no attention to the changing needs and demands of the consumers.

A marketing graduate, named Ash, joined the company and advised the company about
necessary changes that must be made in the product on the basis of changing taste and
preferences of consumers to successfully sell the company`s products.

Mr Ash modernised the products and spent about 30 lakhs on packaging etc. on the basis of
relevant income and social factors that affect the consumers.

The product manager and assistant manager were not happy with the efforts made by Mr Ash
as even after 6 months of implementation of suggested changes the company was not able to
achieve effective growth in sales.

The product manager and Assistant manager were of the opinion that although some progress
was made by Mr Ash, yet many important factors affecting consumer behaviour were also
neglected by him.

1. Do you agree with the assistant and product manager, and why?

2. What other factors, if any, could have been considered? Elaborate in detail.

CASE 2

A company in the food industry wants to formulate an effective marketing strategy to attract
health conscious consumers. For this purpose a survey was conducted as more and more
consumers are becoming health conscious and prefer to consume foods that are healthy and
nutritious. The goal of the survey was to collect information about food habits and attitude of
the consumers towards different food items.

On the basis of the survey the consumers were divided into three categories:-

Old Consumers (elderly people)

Young Consumers (teenagers, unmarried, working singles)
Middle Aged Consumers (Big Families, Married Couples)
And the following information was found:

Old Consumers: They were health conscious, Brand loyal and highly involved in buying food
items. This is due to their medical considerations, restricted choice of food and fixed eating
schedules. They do not prefer to eat outside and are very cautious while buying new products.

Young Consumers: They are less health conscious and less brand loyal than older people and
have less involvement in buying food items. They prefer food on-the-go and like
convenience/fast food more than cooking for themselves. They are more influenced by
product appeals than the brand name or price of the product.
Families and Households: They are moderately health conscious, moderate brand loyal and
are very particular about their purchases of food items. They prefer to cook their own food
and their purchases are restricted by a fixed budget. They focus more on the brand, quality,
quantity and price of a product rather than product appeals. This segment usually consists of
big families and married couples with kids who look for value of money products.

1. What inferences can be drawn by marketers from the above study? How does it help them
to formulate strategies for advertisement, positioning, etc?
2 Do you require any other information and why?

CASE 3

The changing attitudes of consumers towards healthier lifestyles and the subsequent decline
in the CSD consumption during the 1990s led the soft drinks manufacturers to push non-
carbonated beverages too. Not to be left behind, over a century old beverage maker Coca-
Cola Inc., having the world’s most ubiquitous brand - ‘Coca-Cola’ - began to concentrate on
the non-carbonated beverages segment since the end of 1990s. It began offering a diversified
range of products like coffee, tea, health drinks, sport drinks, juices, bottled water etc., under
various brand names. Even though Coca-Cola has a strong brand name, it has not extended
the ‘Coca-Cola’ brand to its non-carbonated beverages and is promoting these beverages
under different brand names.

1. Discuss Coke’s product diversification strategy.

2. What is the rationale behind Coke’s multi-branding strategy and analyse its probable
pros and cons?
3. Is the right move for Coca-Cola to adopt a multi branding strategy while holding one
of the world’s strongest brands?

CASE 4

Henry Ford, with 'low pricing' as the key marketing strategy ruled the automobile industry for
about two decades in early 20th century. Ford Motors, which enjoyed a huge 50% US market
share during mid-1920s lost to Sloanism and never regained the status it enjoyed. With
Sloanism outsmarting Fordism, marketing strategies shifted to offering differentiated
products with style, speed and 'muscle' vehicles. For most of the 20th century, mass
marketers enjoyed a huge market share in US, as the automobile industry was consolidated
into the 'Big Three'. During the second half of the 20th century, Ford along with GM and
Chrysler suffered quality, reliability and safety problems, which led to the loss of consumer
faith in US auto brands. This opportunity was rightly utilised by foreign automakers, in
particular the Japanese, with their quality and fuel-efficient automobiles. With gasoline prices
soaring high, consumers preferred buying smaller and fuel-efficient vehicles in the 21st
century, in which the Japanese mastered in manufacturing. Ford, with a 105-year automobile
history, witnessed historic bumps in market share and struggled to improve sales and brand
perception with innovative marketing strategies. Unable to convert all mass-production units
into compact-car manufacturing units, Ford intends to promote 'Americanness' of US brands
(Flex SUV) with new marketing strategies.

1. The vision of top managers gets obscured in identifying the core business activities of
companies over a period of time. Analyse.

2. What are the new marketing initiatives of Ford to bring back their car to market?

CASE 5

With the advent of the Internet era, the blogging phenomenon – a success across the globe –
percolated into the Indian scenario with 14% of the Indian Internet users actively indulging in
blogging. Despite being in its nascent stage, blogging culture has emerged as a rage amidst
the Indian youth, who regard it as a platform for self-expression. The vociferous nature of
blogs combined with the growing Indian blogging community has made it imperative for
corporate to take notice of this communication medium. With the aim of interacting with its
customers and creatively promoting products to attract new buyers, many corporate have
launched successful blogs. For instance, Hindustan Unilever Limited's 'Sunsilk Gang of Girls'
and eBay's blogs are a huge hit with the crowd. However, except for a few startups and cash-
rich companies, blogs are yet to find wide-spread acceptance by corporate in India.
Regardless of its benefits, using blogs as a CRM tool has raised many apprehensions .

1. Should corporate ignore the power of blogs?

2. Can blogging act as a long-term and an effective CRM tool?

CASE 6

Wal-Mart while venturing out globally followed the cookie-cutter approach, adopting its
highly successful home-grown business model into its new markets. It characterised features
such as Every Day Low Price (EDLP), streamlined logistics and distribution system and
customer focussed business policies. Although this had given the retailer considerable
success in some of its international markets, Wal-Mart either failed or struggled to make an
impact in other countries. In 2006, Wal-Mart withdrew from two of its key international
markets- South Korea and Germany, while the retailer was still struggling to survive in Japan.
With the global retail market severely competitive, success in these markets becomes highly
critical. Retailers are forced to evolve a model that is 'glocalised' i.e. one that is tailored to
meet the unique requirements of a particular region or culture.

1. What are the reasons behind WalMart's success/failure in its overseas venture?
2. What is the impact of WalMart's home-grown business model in international
business?
 CASE 7

Since foraying into the Indian textiles scenario in 1988, Madura Garments, a division of
Madura Coats till 1999, has been catering to the varied apparel needs of men, with brands
like Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England. Even after the reins of
Madura Garments were passed on to Indian Rayon (a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group)
the company continued to offer a wide array of formal and informal men's apparel. However,
in spite of being a stable and dominant player in the men's apparel segment, in 2001, Madura
Garments ventured into women's wear by extending its brands – Allen Solly and later Van
Heusen. After 7 years in 2008, Madura Garments implemented a similar strategy to enter the
kidswear segment. Madura Garments is aiming to emerge as a specialty retail outlet, catering
to the apparel needs of the entire family under one large roof. Its entry into the lucrative
kidswear territory has been marked by a restrained advertising approach.

1. What was Madura Garments' rationale and how did it affect the company?
2. Analyse the nature of the kidswear market in India and understand the critical success
factors in this industry.
3. Can Madura Garments garner critical mass in a market that is dominated by
unorganised players and homegrown brands?

CASE 8 Work life Balance (JOB SHARING)

Motorola was founded in 1928 in the U.S., and currently employs more than 100,000 people
worldwide. Today, it is harnessing the power of wireless, broadband and the Internet to
deliver embedded chip system–level and end-to-end network communications solutions for
the individual, work team, vehicle and home. Motorola employs 1,530 staff in its East
Kilbride, Scotland operation, of which about 700 are operators. Motorola operates in a highly
competitive global environment; to maintain its competitive advantage, it operates its plants
24 hours a day, seven days a week. A variety of work-life balance arrangements are offered,
many of which are longestablished throughout the company. They include part-time work;
dependency leave; an employee assistance program (EAP); job sharing; health care (adding
some private health care benefits to the state-funded U.K. system); special shift arrangements
(non-standard shifts); study leave (time off work to complete sections for formal
qualifications); and emergency holidays (when annual leave needs to be taken for non-
holiday time). Moyra Withycombe, the human resource operations manager at the East
Kilbride location, explains that they are offered as part of being a premier employer and to
attract high-caliber people, then recognize and reward them. This fits with Motorola’s
philosophy of balancing life and work, which has contributed to the company’s high rating in
America’s 100 Best Corporate Citizen award lists for environment, community and
employment practices In 2000, there was a major change in work hours at the East Kilbride
plant. The change was intended to standardize shifts throughout the whole organization.
Today, full-time Motorola operators work seven 12-hour shifts over a two-week period, on
the basis of four days one week, and three days the next. When the work hours were changed,
employees were offered job sharing, either on the day or night shifts. Job sharing means that
two people share a full-time job between them, splitting equally the number of hours worked.
Though not commonplace, it has been an occasional practice in the U.K. for some years,
mainly in the public-service sector. Mary McDonald, a single parent with two children,
applied for a job-share on the day shift. She felt the full-time shift pattern was too onerous
given her family situation. In making her written application to the Human Resource
department, she gave her personal and operational reasons. Her application was successful
and, matched with her job partner, Heather Chalmers, she works in the wafer fabrication
production area. McDonald says this system “has worked very well” for her. “I’m full of
energy for the days I work—Motorola gets 100 percent from me.” She is extremely positive
about job sharing, “especially for people with families...it is very good for family life.”
Alistair Reid, a manufacturing section manager, concurs. He also highlights that Motorola
East Kilbride hosts 120 job sharers and explains that they are all included in feedback
sessions and the annual reviews conducted to assess the effectiveness of partnerships. He
stresses that “the transition to new shift patterns, including job share, allowed us to retain key
skills and avoid external recruitment.”

1. How does Motorola’s job sharing system fit with their business needs?

2. What particular needs do female employees face in work-life balance arrangements such as
job sharing?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of job sharing to job sharers and their
managers?

4. What factors come into play in introducing job sharing into other organizations in a U.S.
context?
 CASE 9

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Shirley has worked for the company for 3 years and you have personally managed her for the
last 6 months. When you first took over the team you looked at her previous appraisals to find
that for the entire 3 years she had been rated as below expectations at both Mid-Year and
Year End. There appeared to be several Improvement Plans for behaviours and general work
performance, all of which had been met. You have been keeping metrics on efficiency and
quality and Shirley is an inconsistent performer which is coupled with inappropriate outbursts
of emotion in the office from stand up arguments with colleagues to her bursting into tears at
the slightest little thing. You have coached her regarding appropriate behaviour, spent a long
time in discussing the impact her actions have on her colleagues and have gone through the
Improvement Plan process, of which she appears to be terrified. Through 1-2-1's and general
day to day interaction you are convinced that there is an underlying issue whether it be a
learning disability or a medical condition - you have asked both questions outright and
Shirley has denied anything. It is Mid Year review day and yourself and Shirley have met to
discuss the feedback in her review and also the performance rating achieved through
consistency checks. As the outcome is below expectations again you have spoken to HR
regarding your concerns and an Improvement Plan and part of the meeting is to be used to go
through this and agree a way forward. At this meeting Shirley breaks down and confesses that
she has Dyspraxia.

What would your course of action be and how could you help Shirley?

CASE 10

STRESS MANAGEMENT

On October 3, 2003, Anant Dalvi and Akhtar Khan, who worked as contract workers in Tata
Electric Company until they were laid off in 1996, doused themselves with kerosene and set
themselves ablaze even as their co-workers protested before the company’s offices. While
Dalvi died on the spot, Khan died a few days later.
The Tata Electric Company said they were no longer on their payroll and were not permanent
workers. Employees union had taken up their case and filled petition in the Labour Court
before their contracts were terminated. The court directed the company not to terminate their
services without following the due process of law. Despite this their services were terminated
on June 30, 1996.

The company union promised the workers that they would renegotiate. Yet on the night
before they killed themselves when Khan and Dalvi spoke to the union leader Shinde, they
were told that nothing more could be done for them. It is this that led them to take their lives.
Dalvi has been in service as a peon for17 years and Khan had been employed for 19 years.
But their services were not regularized. Such workers draw salary much less than the
permanent employees.

Explain the case in your own words and find the solution for it?