A Professor Faucher's interview on his B to B business cases for ESSEC

This interview was for issue 39 of the ecch magazine ECCHO. For further information please visit www.ecch.com/readECCHO.

Case titles (get more information):
−    Buffer BiAc Acidifiers: Competitive Product Positioning
−    Fruit Prep Supplies – Dair’Ing vs. Delissia: How Corporate Purchasing Behaviour Impacts B to B Negotiation
−    Olymp’IA Flavors, B to B Market Segmentation
−    Toutatis Sunflower Seeds: Farm Input Distribution Strategy
−    Pallas and the Feez Feed Enzyme: Can Technology and Marketing go Hand in Hand?

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• Learn more on the Marketing B to B training
• Download the whole article :Téléchargement ecchESSECFaucherv2.doc

1. How did you identify the need for these cases? eg why did you focus on that particular subject, organisation, issue or problem?
 Hubert Faucher: As explained above, my intent was to build a course in B to B Marketing policy based on cases in the agri-food sector. In B. to B. Marketing Strategy, a number of topics are widely accepted as forming the basic knowledge platform. Among them: Market chain and environment analysis; Understanding customer needs and purchasing behaviour; Segmentation, targeting and positioning; Crafting marketing strategy; Market offering, price and channel policies, and Communication. Since very few cases existed on the matter, those were the issues to focus on in the perspective of building a good case series.

2. As these cases are based on real situations, how were the contacts with the companies in this sector made?
Hubert Faucher:   Academic life offers a wealth of discussion opportunities with operational managers in companies, especially through the tutoring of students during their training periods and also continuing education participants who bring a lot of their preoccupations into the classroom. Most of the cases have emerged from students’ training experiences and subsequent talks with their mentors. In two occurrences was the training written project even pre-formatted, with the consent of both the mentor and the student, to lead to a business case. I contend that, for students who have this frame of mind, such an exercise is even more challenging and rewarding.

3. Did you encounter any difficulties when writing the cases and/or teaching notes, and how were these overcome? How did you deal with the confidentiality issue?
Hubert Faucher:  One of the most difficult things that I experienced was to reconcile situational complexity and training focus: starting from a necessarily complex story –such is business life- you have to make things understandable in a reasonably short format, yet without too much transforming reality, and at the same time you must avoid re-writing the story in the way you have interpreted it, because that would give the answer to the questions you want the students to address. The case writer, according to me, must assemble and complete the puzzle, and then shake it all over again, making sure that most of the puzzle pieces (not necessarily all of them) are in the box, so that the students might do the assembling job themselves. A very interesting, mind-twisting, but also very time-consuming challenge, indeed! The confidentiality issue is central for B to B marketing cases, because the most interesting pieces of information are of a very strategic nature. Therefore, none of the cases could survive with real names and data. I (and co-authors) have openly respected market data whenever possible with authorization, but company names and figures have always had to be disguised so far, while remaining totally plausible. This, by the way, has been the occasion of some creativity as Olymp’IA is the “hero” company competing with twelve Olympian gods and goddesses, and Toutatis the “hero” seed breeder in the realm of Gallic gods and goddesses.

4. Through the experience of writing these cases what advice can you give to other case writers?
Hubert Faucher: It is difficult to give advice to others, because what may be experienced as a challenge varies from writer to writer. Perhaps three points: First, the implications of case publication should be explained very early in the process to the executives involved, especially with respect to confidentiality. Sometimes it is not sufficient: I have found myself in a situation where a case was almost complete, and the CEO of the company didn’t want me to go ahead and publish it, even after disguising the names and figures, although he had expressed consent formerly. Yet, at the same time, the company executives evolve with the writing process: what might have been seen as a threat at the outset may gradually become acceptable or even exciting when the last version of the case develops: the case writer must ensure mutual trust with the company representatives all along the adventure. Second, it is important to test the cases in class, at least twice, to improve them. There are always remaining “bugs”, unnoticed points of confusion or ill-presented parts that need to be corrected before publication.

5. What teaching objectives did you hope to satisfy with these cases and were they met?
Hubert Faucher: The objectives are three fold. First, the cases aim at familiarizing the students with marketing decision making in a complex business-to-business environment. For this, all cases are centered around one or two decision-making (or analysis) tools, generally provided under Excel format. Second, they are designed so as to put the students in situation where they will acquire the sector-specific professional reflexes, like in “Fruit Prep’ Supplies”, where they actually negotiate with each others, either as the supplier’s BU Manager or as the customer’s Category Sourcing Manager. Third, the cases include some descriptive extensions aiming at stretching the students’ knowledge on specific agri-food business issues. In that respect, core listing in “Olymp’IA” or agricultural policy in “Toutatis” are not directly useful to solve the case, but strengthen the students’ knowledge on these specific environments. These objectives were largely met (see first part of the text).

6. What do the Excel data files add to the learning experience of the students?
Hubert Faucher:  For all the cases, the Excel data files are provided to help students graphically summarize the case information under charts or curves, easier to analyze, and nicer to present. They are also useful in different other ways. In “Buffer BiAc”, they help sort data in order to use the CPA matrix tool introduced in the case. In “Fruit Prep’ Supplies”, the Excel document includes a real simulation tool in order to compare different decision scenarios. In “Olymp’IA, part B”, it provides the students with an application tool enabling them to build a key account identification matrix from a number of key performance indicator that they have to select.

7. Based on the experience of teaching these cases were any modifications made to them?
Hubert Faucher:   Yes. In fact, despite careful classroom testing, sometimes changes have been advisable to some cases. The current “Buffer BiAc” version came after correcting a few remaining mistakes in the first published version. Similarly, the current “Olymp’IA” version has been revised last summer, to shorten and restructure the first published version, following colleagues’ advices.

8. How do you envisage that these cases could be used by colleagues in other organisations ?
Hubert Faucher:  These cases are adapted to graduate training and can be used both in first and continuing education. Although clearly tailored for agri-food management courses, they are perfectly suitable for general Masters in Management and MBAs. Like many other cases, they can be used for discussions at different levels. However, they are strongly “tool-oriented” and, as such, may demand a fair amount of work, based on professors’ assignments indicated or hinted in the teaching notes.

• Learn more on the ESSEC MBA
• Learn more on the Marketing B to B training
• Download the whole article :Téléchargement ecchESSECFaucherv2.doc