Case Studies

Kate Spade New York:
Will Expansion Deepen or Dilute the Brand?
Keith Wilcox and Eva Ascarza
In 2012 Kate Spade New York’s executive management believed that KSNY’s brand equity could be further leveraged to benefit from explosive growth in the global luxury accessories market. Tasked to provide input on how to achieve this goal, the marketing team considered both how to expand the demographics of their customer base and how to brand any new products designed to target these new customers. Based in part on the company’s own market research and interviews with President and Chief Marketing Officer Mary Beech, this case asks students to consider the course of action that would allow KSNY to preserve its established brand identity while continuing to grow sales among its loyal customer base. Order the case.

Woori Financial Group:
Becoming a World-Class Organization through OneDo
Hun-Joon Park, Dong-il Jung and Bernd Schmitt
The case describes the plans of Mr. Pal-Seung Lee, Chairman and CEO of Woori Finance Holdings, South Korea's largest financial group, to turn his organization into one of Asia's top 10 financial institutions. In response to the global financial crisis, Woori Finance Holdings had launched its OneDo program to transform the group into a low-cost, highly-efficient and innovative organization. What role could OneDo play now in Mr. Lee's goal of becoming a leader in financial services industry in Asia? Download the case.

Cheyef Halak: Driving Social Change in Lebanon
Asim Ansari, Kamel Jedidi, Ziad Naamani (MBA '12), Scott Shriver, and
Olivier Toubia
In 2011, Lebanese television station LBCI partnered with Impact BBDO to develop Cheyef Halak, a marketing and social media program that aimed to create meaningful social change in Lebanon. The first campaign, which targeted the chaos of road traffic in Lebanon, captured the imagination of Lebanese population. But how should the impact of the campaign be measured? And what were the linkages between the traditional advertising venues and the social media that were employed. Order the case at Columbia CaseWorks.

Samsung's Next Frontier
Bernd Schmitt
Point-and-shoot cameras are wonderfully convenient, but they've always had a nagging issue: there is no way to tell whether you've framed yourself well when holding the camera for a self portrait.
In Samsung's Next Frontier, Bernd Schmitt examines the inspiration for and launch of the first camera in the world to tackle this problem: Samsung's 2View which has display screens on both the front and back of the camera. Written in a format "akin to a New Yorker article," Schmitt takes the reader through both the customer insight process that led to this innovative new camera, and Samsung's broader interest in transforming itself from a purely engineering-driven company to a consumer-driven company as well. Download the case.
To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

SAP: Building a Leading Technology Brand
Bernd Schmitt and David Rogers
In 2000, SAP hired Martin Homlish to transform marketing worldwide and spearhead a strategic branding initiative. Homlish's challenges were to align the organization and communicate the brand consistently, as well as to build a brand strong and flexible enough to continually support changing business objectives. Homlish established SAP Global Marketing, based in New York City, and launched a comprehensive effort to build a powerful global brand.
This effort has produced impressive results for SAP. According to BusinessWeek's annual brand rankings, the value of the brand rose $2.86 billion, or 46 percent, between 2000 and 2005, making SAP the only software company to gain brand value for five years in a row.
The complete case study is available for download here: Part A | Part B.
 

The Rise of Switzerland's Oldest Bank
Bernd Schmitt
Founded in 1741, Wegelin & Co. is Switzerland's oldest bank and renowned today as a key player in the Swiss private banking market. In April 2009 Managing Partner Dr. Konrad Hummler reflected on Wegelin & Co.'s growth over the last 18 years and considered the opportunities and threats facing the bank in the midst of the financial crisis. To request copies for academic use contact: [email protected]

Yuhan-Kimberly: "Keep Korea Green"
Dae Ryun Chang and Bernd Schmitt
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which at one time helped companies to differentiate themselves, are now expected practices, and distinguishing a company through "green initiatives" is a particularly high hurdle. A new case study, co-authored by our own Bernd Schmitt, examines how these challenges are impacting the Yuhan-Kimberly Corporation, and what strategies the company is considering in response.
Yuhan-Kimberly built a reputation for trailblazing CSR by instituting its "Keep Korea Green" tree planting initiative back in 1984. In today's world, however, this lone CSR effort feels tired, competitors have launched similar "green" programs and, as a paper products company, its very credibility as "green" has been called into question. To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Bernd Schmitt
After many years of changing leadership, internal conflict, dismal reviews and organizational instability, by early 2008 the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) had transitioned into an independent foundation with new artistic and business leadership. The recently appointed CEO Pal-Seung Lee reflected on SPO's transition and pondered what the best next steps for the organization should be. Its artistic promise was no longer the question. Yet what could CEO Lee do to push the orchestra to reach its full potential so that SPO could shine for Korea, and for the world-wide artistic community? To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

BRITE Case Series

The Launch of the Indian Premier League
Rajeev Kohli, Professor, Marketing
This case concerns a series of innovations in 20/20 cricket, culminating in the formation of the Indian Cricket League last year. The objective of the case is to present facts leading up to the proposal of the Indian Cricket League in response to an unheralded Indian team winning the 20/20 world cup in 2007. To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

How Much are adidas's Three Stripes Worth?: adidas vs. Payless
and its $300 Million Verdict
Michel Tuan Pham, Kravis Professor of Business, Marketing
For years, Payless ShoeSource had sold millions of athletic shoes bearing two or four stripes that appeared to resemble the three stripes on adidas shoes. In 2006 adidas filed a lawsuit against Payless for trademark infringement and dilution. At the heart of the case was whether the Payless shoes were likely to be confused with adidas shoes. A long jury trial resulted in a $300 million verdict against Payless, the largest award in trademark litigation history. Did the jury make the right decision? To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

How to Better Value Branded Businesses
Natalie Mizik, Gantcher Associate Professor of Business, Marketing
This research brief describes existing business valuation methodologies, explains why traditional valuation approaches perform poorly for highly branded businesses and in high technology and innovation focused industries, and presents a new method and a quantitative case study with step-by-step explanation of how to implement a better valuation for a branded business.

Scrabulous on Facebook
Rajeev Kohli, Professor, Marketing
In 2005, the Agarwalla brothers created the first major Facebook application, taking their online version of Scrabble to a social network. But when Facebook fans began to flock to Scrabulous, Hasbro, the board game's manufacturer, took notice and wondered if they should let Scrabulous alone, buy it, file a lawsuit for copyright infringement, or launch their own official version of Scrabble on Facebook. Meanwhile, across the oceans in Calcutta, the Agarwalla brothers pondered their next move. This case requires students to (1) examine the differences in business models for online versus standard board games (and Web 2.0 applications in general); (2) assess the outcome and consequences of the legal actions by Mattel and Hasbro; and (3) propose the appropriate branding and product development strategies for the Agarwallas, Mattel and Hasbro. To order this case study please visit the CaseWorks website.

Examining the need to reposition an advertising agency
Bernd Schmitt
This case will feature an examination of the changing world of the advertising business as exemplified by Japan's third largest ad agency, ADK, which is part of the WPP network. ADK's top management must consider how to positition the agency for the future given the rise of new media and social networks.