INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES

CASE DESCRIPTIONS

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Chapter 6
Centra Software Publication Date: July 11, 2001 Revision Date: Oct 16, 2002 Author(s): John Deighton; Laetitia Pouliquen Product Number: 9-502-009 Length: 17p Description: Centra is a pioneer in software eLearning. It is debating how to modify its go-to-market strategy, adding telesales to improve sales force productivity. At the same time, its market is evolving, and management thinks it may be about to "cross the chasm" in Geoffrey Moore's terminology. Should it "fish where the fish are biting" or should it concentrate on the enterprise customer and exclude small and mid-size corporations? If a shakeout is coming, how can Centra ensure that it either survives or is acquired by one of the survivors? Teaching Purpose: Design of go-to-market strategy, how to manage conflict between field sales and telephone sales, how to manage rapid growth markets, and competition between best-of-breed collaborators and single-source vendors. MarketSoft Publication Date: Sept 9, 1999 Revision Date: Dec 11, 2000 Author(s): Joseph B. Lassiter III; Dina Gardner Product Number: 9-800-069 Length: 27p Description: Greg Erman and Nancy Benovich-Gilby have assembled a team and selected a market for the launch of a high-potential venture based on using an Internet-based service to manage the flow of sales leads between principals and their distribution channel partners. Their development process is key. Teaching Purpose: To describe the process for selecting target market customers, interviewing them, and determining their functional requirements. Rogers Communications, Inc.: The Wave Publication Date: Nov 22, 1996 Revision Date: Dec 20, 1996 Author(s): John Deighton; Karsten Voermann; Reginald Gilyard Product Number: 9-597-050 Length: 17p Description: Rogers Communications, Inc., Canada's largest cable television provider, is deciding how it should respond to developments that appear to portend the convergence of its industry with the computing and telecommunications industries. In particular, it is investigating how it should test the market for high-speed Internet access via cable modem. This case describes decisions that need to be made to bring this service to market in a suburb of Toronto. Teaching Purpose: Explores consumer response to a radically new product, the Internet. There is a strong diffusion of innovations theme, in particular whether diffusion of Internet will be rapid or slow and whether pricing should be to the lead user (skimming) or to accelerate adoption (penetration). TiVo in 2002: Consumer Behavior Publication Date: Mar 8, 2002 Revision Date: July 26, 2002 Author(s): Luc Wathieu; Michael Zoglio Product Number: 9-520-062 Length: 14p Description: Brodie Keast is anxious to understand the sharp contrast between the inertia of prospects and the deep emotional response shown by converted users of TiVo. After an overview of the company's situation and problems, the case focuses on different kinds of data (sales results, satisfaction and usage data, purchase influence, demographics, attitude data, behavioral data) and explains how that data emerged over time as the company was more and more pressured to explore the essence of its value proposition. Teaching Purpose: Role of consumer control in consumption, understanding products that "change your life," choosing research methods that match the type of insights you are looking for, and relationship between consumer knowledge and managerial action. May be used with: (9-501-038) TiVo. Return to Instructor Resources