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Suntory: Rebranding the Japanese Whisky Highball
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B20A017-EMarketing, StrategyFounded in 1899 by Shinjiro Torii in Osaka, Japan, Suntory Holdings (Suntory) boasted a rich history in Japan’s alcoholic beverage industry. It purchased US-based Beam in 2014 for $16 billion, renamed itself as Beam Suntory, and transformed into one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage makers, reaching total global revenues of more than 2.5 trillion yen ($23 billion) by the end of fiscal year 2018. Now, in 2020, could the Suntory team pull o...Starting at €8.20
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Nestlé KITKAT in Japan (D): A Trajectory For Future Growth
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B17A040-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategySupplement for product 9B17A037. It was 2017 and the KITKAT brand in Japan was at a critical juncture. The KITKAT marketing leaders sat down for a special meeting to review how Nestlé Japan had been able to create meaning and value for their brand. However, as they began to discuss their options for future growth, they faced difficult decisions: Should they look to export the flavor variations that had become such big hits in Japan to overseas ma...Starting at €5.74
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Innovating Tradition at Hosoo
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B18A058-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategyHosoo was a kimono and textile company, established in 1688 as a traditional Nishijin weaving company. The 11th generation president of the company, Masao Hosoo, had transformed the business from a producer of premium kimono fabrics and kimonos for the luxury market in Japan to a globally respected textile producer for some of the world’s top brands. A great deal of the company’s success in the global market could be attributed to the master craf...Starting at €8.20
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Renesas Electronics and the Automotive Microcontroller Supply Chain (A)
Shih, Willy; Pierson, MargaretCase HBS-612071-EService and Operations ManagementTo maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March, 2011 caused extensive damage to Renesas Electronics wafer fabrication facility, a critical link in the global automotive supply chain. Many OEMs sole-sourced customized microprocessors from the fab so its shutdown forced the "Big Three" of Detroit and Japan to shutdown production as well. Data from two automotive custo...Starting at €8.20
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RCA: Color Television and the Department of Justice (A)
Shih, Willy; Dieterich, GregoryCase HBS-614072-EStrategyThis case examines the early history of the color television receiver market, and the global consequences of an historic 1958 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that opened RCA's patents to licensing by domestic competitors royalty-free. This externality had a dramatic impact on the long-term health of the U.S. consumer electronics industry. The associated (B) case is 614-073.Starting at €8.20
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Epistar and the Global LED Market
Shih, Willy; Chien, Chen-Fu; Wang, Hung-KaiCase HBS-615053-EStrategyIt took BJ Lee many years to learn how to navigate the patent minefield that was the global LED industry. When his company was first spun off from the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan, he thought the essence of a good IP strategy was to develop a technology portfolio that was different from everybody else. But in the ensuing two decades of competition and litigation, he came to appreciate some of the nuances that enabled his com...Starting at €8.20
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Supply Chain Management
Shih, WillyCase HBS-619023-EService and Operations ManagementThis note on supply chain management provides background for the seven class supply chain module in the Technology & Operations Management required curriculum course taught at the Harvard Business School. This module includes four broad topics: sourcing and supply chain structure, supply chain coordination, coping with uncertain demand, and supply chain visibility.Starting at €8.20
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How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things (Spanish version)
Christensen, Clayton M.; Kaufman, Stephen P.; Shih, WillyArticle HBS-R0801FStrategyMost companies aren't half as innovative as their senior executives want them to be (or as their marketing claims suggest they are). What's stifling innovation? There are plenty of usual suspects, but the authors finger three financial tools as key accomplices. Discounted cash flow and net present value, as commonly used, underestimate the real returns and benefits of proceeding with an investment. Most executives compare the cash flows from inno...Starting at €8.20
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KITKAT in Japan (A): Sparking a Cultural Revolution
Philip Sugai; Adrian SossnaCase IVEY-9B17A037-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategyIn 2008, the marketing manager for Nestlé Japan’s confectionery business and his team were struggling to redefine the KITKAT brand within the Japanese market. KITKAT as a brand faced a real threat as the retail environment rapidly shifted toward increasingly powerful convenience store chains and consumer preferences shifted toward more novel consumable products. With more than 200 companies competing within Japan’s crowded and relatively stable c...Starting at €8.20
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Nestlé KITKAT in Japan (B): The Roots of Premiumization
Philip SugaiCase IVEY-9B17A038-EEntrepreneurship, Marketing, StrategySupplement for product 9B17A037. The KITKAT team had experienced great success over the past few years by building a powerful and resonating brand and enhancing their production capabilities to enable them to adapt to changing demands from their channel partners. However, the harsh realities of a changing market demographic, and increasingly powerful convenience store chains, created a clear sense of urgency for creative solutions to continue the...Starting at €5.74