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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

  MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha

  William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

  The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still work.
  The case describes the origins of the ready-to-use capsule solution for shisha smokers and the evolution of MISHA from idea to product design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. Consequent mishaps slow down the performance of MISHA, and after five years of the product being in the market and four financing rounds, numbers are far behind what they were in the business plan. The case explores the pivots the company goes through. The central dilemma is this: should the cofounders pull the plug on the company or invest more time and money to try to turn it around? When and according to which criteria should Portz make such a decision?

  Keywords: Innovation and Management; marketing strategy; Distribution Channels; emerging markets; entrepreneurship; private sector; for-profit firms; business model; Business Strategy; competitive advantage; growth and development strategy; value creation; decision; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Qatar; United States;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R., and Gamze Yucaoglu. "MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha." Harvard Business School Case 819-019, August 2018.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | March 2018

  Mavi: Fashioning a Path to Brand Growth

  Jill Avery and Gamze Yucaoglu

  Mavi, a leading Turkish apparel retailer, had sales of $419 million in 2015, up 20%. Growth rates like these were becoming routine at Mavi. But, its path to growth was getting more challenging, and Turkven, Mavi’s private equity partner, was planning its exit options after seven years of investment. There were three growth levers Mavi could pull, but each involved selecting one growth path while neglecting another. Should the company invest in growth domestically or internationally? Should they change the price positioning of its brand to move up-market and/or down-market? Which type of brand value proposition offered the most future promise for brand extension: functional differentiation, lifestyle differentiation, or celebrity endorsement? Managers realized that these choices would not only determine the company’s short term growth trajectory but also shape the longer term value of the Mavi brand as it was extended into new areas. Teaching Note for HBS No. 517-075.

  Keywords: marketing; marketing strategy; retailing; fashion; brand; brands and branding; brand management; brand extension; Brand equity; private equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Turkey; Europe;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Mavi: Fashioning a Path to Brand Growth." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 518-094, March 2018.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2017 (Revised March 2018)

  BIM: Finding New Ways to Grow

  Michael Chu and Gamze Yucaoglu

  BIM, Turkey’s giant retailer with a hard-discount model for the popular segments, must decide whether to launch a brand-new format challenging the modern supermarkets. Since its founding in 1995, BIM has adhered to a business model based on a relentless focus on costs and operational efficiency, built on private labels and an unswerving limit on SKUs. Unprecedented in Turkey, the success of this retail concept propelled BIM to an IPO in the Istanbul Stock Exchange and to being the country’s largest retail company by market capitalization. Seeing an opportunity to pioneer the format internationally, the company was now also in Morocco and Egypt. While the hard-discount format was still growing, in 2014 Haluk Dortluoglu, the company’s CFO, began to develop an entirely new retail model for Turkey—FILE, a discount supermarket. FILE would carry many more SKUs in larger stores and compete head-to-head with national and local supermarkets. Throughout the year, in their various executive committee meetings, the senior executives of the company have debated the many issues posed by a totally different retail format and the advisability of launching it. Finally, in its first meeting of 2015, the company’s board of directors are set on reaching a decision on FILE.

  Keywords: Turkey; emerging markets; private sector; for-profit firms; business model; Business Strategy; competitive advantage; growth and development strategy; value creation; change management; decision; growth management; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Change Management; Decisions; Growth Management; Retail Industry; Turkey;

  Citation:

  Chu, Michael, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "BIM: Finding New Ways to Grow." Harvard Business School Case 317-097, February 2017. (Revised March 2018.)  View Details

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