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Acumen Fund is a global venture capital firm with a dual purpose: it looks for a return on its investments, and it also seeks entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. This case examines Acumen's new projects in Kenya. The organization's investment committee and its chief investment officer, Bria... More

As Acumen Fund, a global venture philanthropy firm, moves forward with an investment portfolio exceeding $22 million, it runs into two critical measurement problems. First, how should it track the performance of each investment when its interest is not just the bottom line, but also social impact? W... More

Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by introducing a similar product concept fo... More

Topics include distribution channels, pricing, and new product marketing. Jen Moritz, the marketing manager for Soren Chemical Co. is struggling with the poor sales performance of Coracle, a new clarifier for residential swimming pools. The performance is puzzling because Coracle is chemically simil... More

In 2006, the country manager for Alpen Bank in Romania, Gregory Carle, considers whether to recommend the launch of a credit card business. The firm rejected the idea several years earlier because of poor economic conditions in Romania. However, Romania is experiencing a period of economic growth af... More

This case traces why the $1 billion women's clothing retailer, decided to, attract younger customers, what went wrong, and the actions taken to recover. By the end of 1999, the company has reestablished itself and faces several growth opportunities and must decide on the best course of action.... More

Merrill Lynch, a full-service brokerage firm with $1.5 trillion in client assets, is under attack from both discount and electronic brokerage firms. It responds with Integrated Choice, a suite of products designed to capture clients from the do-it-yourself investor who doesn't want to use a broker t... More

Supplements the (A) case.... More

Founded in 1984, Dell Corp. has achieved phenomenal growth, and by 2000 had topped $25 billion in sales and over $2 billion in net income. In the 4th quarter of 2000, however, the PC industry's average 30-year growth rate crashed to a negative 10%. Dell must make difficult decisions on how to sustai... More

Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed over 4,000 surgeries a year (appro... More

New York City is a pioneer in the emerging field of municipal marketing. The city's first chief marketing officer must develop a marketing organization with a self-funded business model that creates value for the city by leveraging the city's assets, including physical property and media opportuniti... More

In April 2007, Bill Gates announced Microsoft Unlimited Potential. Its mission was to enable social and economic opportunity for the next five billion people. To deliver against this mission, Microsoft sought to focus its citizenship efforts and its product development efforts in developing markets.... More

The case describes the effort of Merck, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, in making available its medicines to the poor. The challenge for the company (or for that matter, any pharmaceutical company) is how to integrate its business strategy with its corporate social responsibility, especially whe... More

Ten years after having launched a chain of non-profit health clinics, its founder is now debating the merits of scaling the operation by converting to a for-profit enterprise.... More

Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, introduced a new innovation strategy named "healthymagination" in Spring 2009. With cost, quality, and access as its three pillars, healthymagination ensures a strong focus for new product introduction efforts all around GE. But will this focus enable GE to achieve and ma... More

Joan Macey, Rohm and Haas' market manager for Metalworking Fluid Biocides, found that sales of a new biocide, Kathon MWX, was utterly disappointing. This was all the more puzzling since sales of her other product--Kathon 886 MW, a liquid biocide used only in large-capacity tanks--was well on target ... More

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their own storyboards but are not sur... More

Describes the results of the advertising pre-test described in the (A) case. The group must now decide how to implement its findings for maximum impact.... More

Describes the progress of a new product launch (HCS-100, a hospital communication system). Ring Medical has sold only five systems in six months against an annual target of 30. There is a lack of agreement internally on how the new product effort should be organized. In addition, there are differenc... More

All markets follow a cycle of growth and maturity, then commoditization and decline. This note argues that while commoditization of an industry may seem inevitable, the better managed firms find a way to make money in the commodity cycle. These firms know how and when to differentiate their products... More

Identifies six key linkages that distinguish business-to-business marketing; three with respect to the external environment (i.e., derived demand, complex buying process, and concentrated customer base) and three with respect to the internal organization (emphasis on technology, high level of custom... More

Addresses the common mistakes made in new product development and launch. Many times customers' and suppliers' perceptions of the degree of product/market innovation do not match. One of them may view the innovations as a "breakthrough," but the other may view it only as an incremental improvement o... More

Nestle Co.'s Refrigerated Foods Division has very successfully launched its Contadina brand pasta and sauces. The new product has achieved nearly $100 million in sales in three years. The division now considers an extension into the pizza line. This case provides a detailed look at the use of simula... More

Traces the evolution of the personal computer industry over the last 20 years and uses this as a backdrop to look at how Dell Computer Corp. grew from a small start-up to a multi-billion-dollar company in a decade. Dell is now faced with a set of decisions on the product markets it needs to serve in... More

One third of the 24 National Hockey League (NHL) teams are unprofitable. Another third are barely profitable. This case provides the background and market research data to help the senior managers of the NHL make decisions pertaining to how they would like to grow the fan base. The two choices under... More