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Whiskey and Cheddar: A Case Study Analysis

Theo Johnson August 8 th , 2020 Marketing 3052 Case Analysis: Whiskey and Cheddar               Caesan Cheese Cooperative is relatively small, family owned, Wisconsin based Cheese producer generating $50 million in revenues almost entirely through retail channels where their award winning Irish influenced American cheeses are available.  Their results in taste tests and competitions leave no doubt about the quality of their product but the company faces a serious business problem.  Succinctly put, Caesan faces low return on share holder equity because of low gross margins.  Caesan’s cheese is well received by “Foodies” and “Socially Conscious” Consumers but brand awareness is low.  With pressure from their retail channel partners to further lower prices and frequent retail discounting, this small player in a fragmented industry with low margins and little bargaining power has to find a way to create more value for their customers that they can capture with a higher price point and larg
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Case Analysis: Underarmour

Theo Johnson 8/8/2020 Marketing 3052 Case Analysis: Underarmour               Under Armour recently surpassed Adidas as the number 2 athletic apparel company.  It was able to surpass Under Armour on the strength of its massively successful “I Wil What I Want” campaign that grew their sales revenue from woman by $140 million on a $16 million dollar marketing spend.  The founder, Robert Plank, would not be complacent with his success with the goal of surpassing Nike to control the number one position in the athletic apparel market.  In a time when viral online marketing has proven successful, most viral online videos do not feature celebrities and major brands have been damaged when their celebrity endorsers face public relations crisis, Robert Plank has to decide on his next marketing campaign.               In planning its next marketing campaign, Under Armour has several decisions to make. It needs to decide whether it should it should continue focusing on targeting woman, target men
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Personal Best Leadership Experience

Personal Best Leadership Experience     In Spring of 2012, while working for a Real Estate firm focused on providing supported educational materials on how to renegotiate loans due to hardship, I enrolled in an open University Masters Seminar on Warfare and Homeland Security at San Diego State University.  The course would provide an outstanding background on the evolution of American Warfare and Homeland Security through a detailed critical review of the strategies, operations and tactics that either worked or lead to trouble. While there were a few other colleagues with background in Political Science, many of my colleagues were seasoned veterans having already served several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It could have been very easy to be intimidated, withdrawal from classes and wait for a Political Science class with space. Thankfully, I had recently read  The Leader Who Had No Title  by Robin Sharma, and knew that just because I did not have military rank did not m
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Al-Qaeda's Demise

Al-Qaeda’s Demise In “How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns,” Audrey Cronin challenges us by suggesting that, “once we concentrate on how terrorism ends, forging a successful strategy for its defeat can begin. “    Cronin looks at a range of different case studies of different terrorist groups across history, around the globe and throughout the ideological spectrum to explore the ways in which States have responded to terrorism and how terrorist groups have traditionally come to an end.    Cronin identifies examples of how Decapitation, Negotiations, Success, Failure, Repression and Reorientation have all brought about the end of various terrorist groups ranging from the IRA in Ireland to the Shinning Path in Peru.    She then shifts to an exploration of Al-Qaeda and how it differs and she believes it will be defeated.     Cronin argues that, “Al-Qaeda will end when the West removes itself from the heart of this fight, shores up internati
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Know Your Enemy: How to Defeat Al-Qaeda

“Know your Enemy as You Know Yourself and You Can Fight A Thousand Battles Without Disaster.” – Sun Tzu      To understand how to defeat Al-Qaeda, we must see our enemy as more than just some Arab fanatics, but grasp its ideology, its methodology, its grand strategy and its tactics.     It is clear that Al-Qaeda’s end game is an Islamic Caliphate uniting the entire Islamic world under strict Sharia law and traditional Muslim codes.    Its methodology is to sow chaos across the middle east, prompting ethnic conflicts and civil wars that weaken regional regimes and at times, use America and its vast military capabilities to take down mutual foes with the intent to take power as American resolve weakens.     It seems our enemies grand strategy is to terrify the populace and drain the resources of Western Civilization into collapse.    The sad reality is that with all of our military successes, with all of our progress in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and everywhere, they still have fight
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