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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised October 2019)

  KITEA (A): Democratizing Furniture in Morocco

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

  The case opens in 2013 as Amine Benkirane, founder and CEO of the leading Moroccan furniture company KITEA, contemplates the loss his company has incurred for the first time in its 20-year history. The case then describes KITEA’s origins and provides a detailed overview of the business plan that enabled Benkirane to bring affordable modern furniture in flatpacks to the Moroccan market, which had previously been dominated by unorganized artisans. At the beginning of 2010, KITEA was a market leader with a robust market share of 24%. However, Benkirane read about rumors that IKEA was planning to enter the Moroccan market. The case explores in detail KITEA’s efforts to prepare for the increased competition. In 2013, KITEA found itself in a difficult situation, facing a downturn in the economy, a slowdown in sales, a delayed store opening, and souring creditor sentiment following the news about IKEA’s entry. Would KITEA be able to bounce back and remain competitive when IKEA entered the market?

  Keywords: retail; KITEA; furniture; furniture industry; entry strategy; responding to entry; Localization; competitive interaction; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Africa; Morocco;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "KITEA (A): Democratizing Furniture in Morocco." Harvard Business School Case 719-420, January 2019. (Revised October 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised September 2019)

  Vispera: Visual Intelligence for Retail

  Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Gamze Yucaoglu

  The case opens in 2019 as Aytul Ercil, co-founder and CEO of Vispera, computer vision technology provider for retail, is contemplating the company’s agenda trying to decide how to prioritize the impeding options. The case chronicles the founding of Vispera, the iterations of its technology and its business model, and lays the ground for the competitive outlook. The case provides a detailed overview of how Vispera’s technology and its automated visual analysis help retail and fast-moving consumer goods companies around the world to minimize stock-outs, increase sales, reduce personnel costs, and improve operational efficiency. In 2016, the debut of Amazon Go urges the retail players to up their game vis-à-vis technology. Demand for automation and computer vision in the retail surges. In a land-grab market, Vispera strives to grow globally, differentiate itself, keep its technology cutting edge, and raise capital. In 2019, taking a step back from all of the daily to-dos, Ercil needs to consider the big picture for making Vispera a leading global player. She needs to consider the following: Should the team focus on developing shelf availability and out-of-stock prediction capabilities or focus on dynamic pricing, customization, and real-time campaign management? Should Vispera pivot to provide insights beyond the shelf as was already being done by players entering the space? How should the team think about data ownership: could Vispera leverage the data to drive cross industry insights or market level perspective?

  Keywords: Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Turkey;

  Citation:

  Grushka-Cockayne, Yael, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Vispera: Visual Intelligence for Retail." Harvard Business School Case 620-022, September 2019. (Revised September 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2019 (Revised July 2019)

  Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac

  Doug J. Chung and Gamze Yucaoglu

  The case opens in 2017 as Hakan Sahin, CEO of Nobel, the Turkish pharmaceuticals company, reviews Nobel’s year-to-date performance. The case describes the pharmaceutical market and sales channels in Turkey and provides a background on Nobel. The case also provides details regarding a transformation strategy; particularly, a customer segmentation plan, whereby the sales force began to use a scientific matrix when determining their call plans. As a result, between 2014 and 2017, Nobel increased its sales significantly, and its previously negative EBITDA reached double-digit positive numbers. In 2017, two key issues still remained: growth was not as high as desired, and the voluntary turnover rate for the sales force was very high. Given that the sales force was the only go-to-market channel for Nobel, Sahin needed to do something to reduce the sales force turnover without affecting the positive trend in sales and profits. He contemplated the options with his executive team where many proposed a change in sales force compensation. Should he increase the fixed base salary, increase the performance-based variable pay, or change the fundamental structure of compensation? Or should Sahin keep compensation the same and adjust other factors such as the recruitment criteria, mentoring, and (or) training?

  Keywords: Sales strategy; compensation; Employee Retention; recruiting; Pharmaceuticals; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Retention; Recruitment; Training; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Turkey;

  Citation:

  Chung, Doug J., and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac." Harvard Business School Case 519-067, February 2019. (Revised July 2019.)  View Details

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