Marketing
Burberry
Compare Burberry's market position relative that of its competitors, including Polo, Coach, Armani, and Gucci. Is Burberry's competitive position sustainable in the long-term? Why or why not?
Describe Burberry's customer base. Who is Burberry's target customer? How could Burberry's popularity among non-target customers affect the brand? How should Burberry respond to this popularity?
What is Burberry's brand equity? Discuss how Burberry does on different brand equity dimensions.
Because demand tends to be unpredictable in the world of fashion, the fashion business is inherently risky. In this context, consider the various changes Bravo made upon her arrival at Burberry. To what extent have these changes exacerbated or mitigated Burberry's risk profile?
Bravo's team is currently juggling a lot of things, including multiple brands (e.g., London, Blue and Black), multiple collections (e.g., womenswear, menswear), multiple channels (e.g., wholesale, retail). What is the role of these elements in Burberry's overall business model? For example, what is the role of each of the sub-brands? What is the role of company-owned stores? What is the role of licensing?
Bravo's team has managed to elevate the overall status of the Burberry brand. How has it managed to accomplish this?
Should Burberry launching Brit, the new perfume line? What other product categories should Burberry be entering?
There will be four written assignments in this course. Questions are based on the following four cases that we will cover in the class: Barco, US Coffee (A), Ontela and Biopure. Questions for these assignments can be found in the Appendix. These assignments can be done individually or in pairs.
These written assignments should not exceed four pages. Up to three pages of supporting material (tables, figures, graphs) may be attached. This material should be referenced in the text of the write-up. Professional quality writing and presentation are expected. Write-ups must be double-spaced, in 12-point font with 1" margins.
Your answers and recommendations should be based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of case data. Your analysis should anticipate potential objections to your recommendations and illustrate its superiority over other alternatives. It should be analytic and deliberative in tone. The most persuasive documents are the ones that debate more than advocate. After all, if you do not look at all alternatives, how do you know that you have chosen the best one? In answering the case questions, do not describe the case, but focus on the following three factors: 1) careful analysis of the situation, 2) description of your decisions or recommendations; 3) supporting logic and analyses. Assignments will be described in more detail as we get closer to the due date. Note that these assignments require data analysis as well as creativity/judgment.