Marketing Management PGP Sec D Discussion questions for cases

Louis Vuitton in Japan

1. What has made Louis Vuittons business model successful in the Japanese luxury market?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan?
3. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market?
4. How dis Louis Vuitton enter the Japanese market originally? What were the entry strategies it
adopted later to strengthen its presence?
5. Will Louis Vuitton face any new challenges due to the global financial crisis?
Black & Decker
1. What is the cause of B & Ds 9% share vs. Makitas 50 %?
2. How does the buying behaviour of the tradesman impact the situation?
3. What is Makitas competitive strategy and what role does Milwaukee play?
4. Which action alternative should B & D pursue?
Boise Automation
1. Why is the sales process of Northern structured the way it is? Why cant the purchase
manager make the buying decision by himself is all suppliers are pre-qualified and bidding to a
well-defined specification?
2. Why does Boise have such a structured sales process?
3. What is your assessment of Allisons performance?
4. How can Boise improve the effectiveness of its sales force?
The Fashion Channel
1. How would you interpret the consumer and market data if you were Dana Wheeler?
2. Assess the targeting scenarios from an advertising revenue and financial perspective?
3. Develop a factual analysis of the segmentation options and assess pros and cons of each.
4. If you were Dana Wheeler, what would you recommend and why?
5. Danas role in the organization is that of a change agent. How should she manage the
discussion and meeting to be effective in leading the group to make a decision?
Barco Projection Systems
1. Describe the product line strategy of the Barco Projection System Division?
2. In page 12 of the case, Dejonghe comments that All of our projections, however, were based
upon the assumption that Sony would respect our vision of the marketplace. What does this
mean? When does one competitor accept anothers vision of the market?

3. Why did Sony decide reject BPSs vision of the market in August 1989?
4. How serious a threat is the Sony 1270? What are Sonys objectives?
5. Did Barco make a mistake somewhere along the way or do things like this just happen when
competing in high technology businesses on a global scale?
6. What should Barco do now with respect to price?
7. What should Barco do now with respect to its product development plans?
Branding Yoga
1. What value has the branding of yoga created?
2. How has value been created? By whom? For whom?
3. What is your evaluation of the branding business models created by Bikram Choudhary?
Tara Stiles?
4. Which model is more sustainable?
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
1. Define the contested boundaries among Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.
2. For each contested boundary that you have identified, how is the contest likely to play out? A
winner take all market or always a share market?
3. Identify a firm that you know about, for example a media player or a retailer or a
manufacturing firm with some involvement in the online economy. Which, if any, of the big four
firms does it currently rely on? Might that reliance change? How might the firm hedge the risks it
will face if there is a transition to one of the others?
4. What skills will be under-supplied in the future of the digital economy that you envisage?
Metabical
1. How does Metabical compare to current weight-loss options?
2. What are the pros and cons of the forecasting methods presented by Printup? If you had to
estimate demand for the product, how would you go about it? What would your forecast look like
for the first five years?
3. What considerations should be taken into account when making decisions about the package
count? What package size would you recommend?
4. What pricing strategies would you suggest Printup explore? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each? What price would you recommend?
5. What impact does your pricing decision on profitability? What is the ROI over the first five
years for each of the pricing strategies identified?
Aqualisa
1. What is the Quartz value proposition to plumbers? To consumers?
2. Why is the Quartz shower not selling?

3. Aqualisa spent three years and 5.8 million developing the Quartz. Was the product worth
the investment? Is Quartz a mainstream product or a niche product?
4. Aqualisa currently has three brands: Quartz, Gainsborough, and ShowerMax. What is the
rationale behind this multiple brand strategy? Does it make sense?
5. What should Rawlings do to generate sales momentum for the Quartz product? Should he
change his marketing strategy to target consumers directly, target the DIY market, or target
developers? Should he lower the price of the Quartz? Or, should he something different
altogether?
Saffola
1. Provide a detailed analysis of the Saffola brand using Kapferers brand identity prism or any
brand framework.
2. Evaluate the three campaigns from the perspectives of segmentation, targeting, and
positioning.
3. What was the role of the IMC in the 'Sehat Se Jeena Hai' and Kal Se campaigns?
4. Analyze each of the commercials from a semiotic perspective.