LEGO® Friends: Leveraging Competitive Advantage

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Michael Mazzeo ◽  
Greg Merkley
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Brand Extensions ◽  
Free Form ◽  
List Type ◽  
Sales Growth ◽  
Global Marketing ◽  
Strategic Initiatives ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Resources And Capabilities ◽  
Building Sets

In December 2011 the Lego Group (TLG) announced the launch of Lego Friends, the company’s sixth attempt to market a product to girls. Lego Friends, which was supported by a $40 million global marketing campaign, was designed to introduce the fun of building with Lego bricks to girls, who represented less than 10 percent of Lego’s audience.The company’s poorly executed brand extensions and move from free-form building sets to story-driven kits had nearly cost it its independence in 2004, so the launch of Lego Friends was strategically important. However, within hours of the product’s appearance it was heavily criticized for reinforcing gender stereotypes and damaging the valuable Lego brand.Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO since 2004, had saved TLG and ushered in an era of sales growth with a series of successful strategic initiatives. Would Lego Friends be another addition to TLG’s graveyard of failed products for girls, or would it prove popular and finally enable the company to double its sales and profits by reaching this segment?After analyzing the case, students should be able to: Understand the connection between a firm’s assets and its activities Identify new resources and capabilities required for a change in strategic focus Recognize the consequences of poorly matched assets and market opportunities

Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Benjamin Jones ◽  
Daniel Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Business Success ◽  
List Type ◽  
Mobile Telecommunications ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Market Opportunities

Winner of the 2014 EFMD competition for best African Business case.In the 1990s, two entrepreneurs made daring, early entries into mobile telecommunications in Sub-Saharan Africa, both seeing great market opportunities there. One firm, Adesemi, would ultimately go bankrupt. The other firm, Celtel, would ultimately succeed and make its founder, Mo Ibrahim, a star of the global business community. Why the difference in outcome? Emerging markets often present weak rule of law, bringing many challenges to business success—from the demand for bribes to regulatory obstacles, hold-up problems, and even civil war. This case explores strategies that can limit these critical non-market risks in foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship. Students will step into the shoes of both companies by exploring their entry strategies, wrestling with the challenges they faced, and diagnosing the reasons why a shared insight about a new business opportunity turned out to be prescient—and led to extremely different endpoints. Identify key challenges to successful entrepreneurship in emerging markets Evaluate government officials or competitors that might trigger regulatory obstacles or hold-up problems Evaluate potential allies that can help avoid these problems Assess strategies to avoid paying bribes Understand the importance of incentive alignment in directing investment success, even in the face of difficult challenges Identify and appraise the strategic value of partnerships with development agencie

scholarly journals Country-of-Origin Effects on Consumer Buying Behaviours. A Case of Mobile Phones

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Sevanandee ◽  
Adjnu Damar-Ladkoo
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Global Marketing ◽  
Country Of Origin Effects ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Origin Effects ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn the period of market globalisation, global trade has changed immensely. Country-of – origin play a significant role in global marketing as it has created huge market opportunities for both firm and countries around the globe. Many companies are venturing in overseas market as they would benefit from a larger market share and lower cost of the goods and hence, these companies have to mention about the country-of-origin on the label of their products so that consumers can know where the goods originate from. This research will enable entrepreneurs and businesses who are in the commercial industry to have a better insight on the perception of consumers about the country-of-origin effects in the context of brands of mobile phones. The study further highlighted about the impact of a country’s image on the consumers’ purchase intentions. For this study, both qualitative and quantitative approach were used and both primary and secondary data were captured with the usage of convenience sampling technique. With evolutions in technology and mobile phones sectors, it was imperative to investigate on the above topic so as to reveal insightful details about country-of-origin effect on consumer buying behaviours as well as on country-of-manufacture and country-of-assembly.

Construction and Validation of Indian Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale: The Ice-Scale

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Riddhish N. Joshi ◽  
Dr. Yogesh C. Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Global Marketing ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Validity Testing ◽  
Consumer Ethnocentrism ◽  
Foreign Brand ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Indian Consumer

Globalization has unlocked and exposed domestic and overseas marketers to superior market opportunities. Additionally, it presents consumers worldwide with a vast number of local and foreign brand choices. Indian consumers, also now, have a broader choice of merchandise at their disposal as economic liberalization and privatization along with globalization have reduced the barriers to trade. In such a setting, the concept of consumer ethnocentrism can deliver deep insights about the preference of consumers toward domestic merchandise. The study aims to develop the Indian Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale (ICE-Scale) and validate the same. Data are collected using a structured questionnaire from urban and rural regions. The study constructed the Indian Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale (ICE-Scale), explored its dimensionality on a sample of 450 respondents, and validated the scale with another sample of 450 using exploratory factor analysis. It was established that the ICE-Scale encompasses two dimensions, namely, protective ethnocentrism and patriotic ethnocentrism. Additionally, the validity testing for the proposed scale and both the constructs were conducted through confirmatory factor analysis. The study advances the existing pool of information in the field of international economics, consumer psychology and global marketing. It also assists domestic producers to get an improved understanding of consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies which in turn would assist them in choosing superior marketing strategies and boosting their sales. The study will not only deliver certain social and policymaking insights to the domestic firms and government but also to the foreign firms functioning or planning to operate in India.

EXPLORING THE DILEMMAS OF SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH - THE CASE OF RURAL FOOD-PROCESSING MICRO FIRMS

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 87-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIRPI KAIKKONEN
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Resources And Capabilities ◽  
Small Business Growth ◽  
Firm Owners

The study discusses the development and growth of rural food-processing micro firms, and whether such firms are growth-oriented and under which conditions they are growth-oriented. The study shows that there are micro firms that are growth-oriented in rural areas. However, rural micro firm owners want to achieve their firm's growth by using their own and the family's resources and capabilities, and by avoiding risks. Furthermore, the study shows that when a small-scale firm wants to grow and seeks new market opportunities, bottlenecks in production begin to hold back the development of the firm. It seems that micro firm owners try to find machinery that is more automated than what they have, but of a size that is suitable for their production and their short-term expansion plans. The position of micro firms in the food sector makes production planning a challenge for them; small firms need to be flexible in production, and at the same time they must pay attention to cost elements. Therefore, production should become more automated and still stay flexible.

scholarly journals Automated discovery of relationships, models and principles in ecology

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Cardoso ◽  
Paulo A. V. Borges ◽  
José C. Carvalho ◽  
François Rigal ◽  
Rosalina Gabriel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Free Form ◽  
List Type ◽  
Complex Data ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Patterns And Processes

ABSTRACTEcological systems are the quintessential complex systems, involving numerous high-order interactions and non-linear relationships. The most commonly used statistical modelling techniques can hardly reflect the complexity of ecological patterns and processes. Finding hidden relationships in complex data is now possible through the use of massive computational power, particularly by means of Artificial Intelligence methods, such as evolutionary computation.Here we use symbolic regression (SR), which searches for both the formal structure of equations and the fitting parameters simultaneously, hence providing the required flexibility to characterize complex ecological systems.First, we demonstrate how SR can deal with complex datasets for: 1) modelling species richness; and 2) modelling species spatial distributions. Second, we illustrate how SR can be used to find general models in ecology, by using it to: 3) develop species richness estimators; and 4) develop the species-area relationship and the general dynamic model of oceanic island biogeography.All the examples suggest that evolving free-form equations purely from data, often without prior human inference or hypotheses, may represent a very powerful tool for ecologists and biogeographers to become aware of hidden relationships and suggest general theoretical models and principles.

Book Reviews

Tempo ◽  
1995 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Keyword(s):  
List Type

Volume I of Messiaen's ‘Traite’, ‘Music and Color’, and organ recordings Christopher DingleRobert Craft's Stravinsky memoirs and recordings Rodney Lister

Open discussion

1982 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 605-613
Author(s):  
P. S. Conti
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
List Type ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Ring Nebulae

Conti: One of the main conclusions of the Wolf-Rayet symposium in Buenos Aires was that Wolf-Rayet stars are evolutionary products of massive objects. Some questions:–Do hot helium-rich stars, that are not Wolf-Rayet stars, exist?–What about the stability of helium rich stars of large mass? We know a helium rich star of ∼40 MO. Has the stability something to do with the wind?–Ring nebulae and bubbles : this seems to be a much more common phenomenon than we thought of some years age.–What is the origin of the subtypes? This is important to find a possible matching of scenarios to subtypes.

Solar Corona Investigation by the Coronal Line Photometer at Lomnický Peak

1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 431-434
Author(s):  
M. Minarovjech ◽  
M. Rybanský
Keyword(s):  
Solar Corona ◽  
Time Resolution ◽  
Active Regions ◽  
High Time ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Coronal Line ◽  
Global Cycle

AbstractThis paper deals with a possibility to use the ground-based method of observation in order to solve basic problems connected with the solar corona research. Namely:1.heating of the solar corona2.course of the global cycle in the corona3.rotation of the solar corona and development of active regions.There is stressed a possibility of high-time resolution of the coronal line photometer at Lomnický Peak coronal station, and use of the latter to obtain crucial observations.

The LDE-Type Flare Occurrence (1969-1993)

1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 279-282
Author(s):  
A. Antalová
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Fourier Analysis ◽  
Sunspot Cycle ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Solar Cycles ◽  
Type Iv ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Cycle Maximum ◽  
Flare Index

AbstractThe occurrence of LDE-type flares in the last three cycles has been investigated. The Fourier analysis spectrum was calculated for the time series of the LDE-type flare occurrence during the 20-th, the 21-st and the rising part of the 22-nd cycle. LDE-type flares (Long Duration Events in SXR) are associated with the interplanetary protons (SEP and STIP as well), energized coronal archs and radio type IV emission. Generally, in all the cycles considered, LDE-type flares mainly originated during a 6-year interval of the respective cycle (2 years before and 4 years after the sunspot cycle maximum). The following significant periodicities were found:• in the 20-th cycle: 1.4, 2.1, 2.9, 4.0, 10.7 and 54.2 of month,• in the 21-st cycle: 1.2, 1.6, 2.8, 4.9, 7.8 and 44.5 of month,• in the 22-nd cycle, till March 1992: 1.4, 1.8, 2.4, 7.2, 8.7, 11.8 and 29.1 of month,• in all interval (1969-1992):a)the longer periodicities: 232.1, 121.1 (the dominant at 10.1 of year), 80.7, 61.9 and 25.6 of month,b)the shorter periodicities: 4.7, 5.0, 6.8, 7.9, 9.1, 15.8 and 20.4 of month.Fourier analysis of the LDE-type flare index (FI) yields significant peaks at 2.3 - 2.9 months and 4.2 - 4.9 months. These short periodicities correspond remarkably in the all three last solar cycles. The larger periodicities are different in respective cycles.

Discussion following the presentation by F. Deubner

1977 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 69-74
Keyword(s):  
List Type ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Harmonic Motion ◽  
Locally Excited ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Coherent Wave ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Global Modes

The discussion was separated into 3 different topics according to the separation made by the reviewer between the different periods of waves observed in the sun :1) global modes (long period oscillations) with predominantly radial harmonic motion.2) modes with large coherent - wave systems but not necessarily global excitation (300 s oscillation).3) locally excited - short period waves.

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