February 2013

		Featured Case in Entrepreneurship, General Management & International
		Ivey Cases Win in Six of 14 Categories at 2012 EFMD Case Writing Competition
		Opportunities in China
		New Director of Ivey Publishing

MTY Food Group: CompetingThrough Multiple Brands

MTY Food Group (MTY), a franchisor of quick service restaurants in Canada, ranks among the top 20 national restaurant chains by sales. In December 2011, its founding chairman and chief executive officer is weighing his strategic options on the way forward in light of new competitors with deep pockets coming from the United States. He is juggling with three priorities. He could stay focused on the goal of growing at a rate higher than the industry average every year so as to secure a critical mass of 2,500 restaurants nationwide. Or he could consolidate the scale already built up so far in terms of 26 different restaurant brands and ensure that group synergies come into play. Or he could examine the possibility of developing MTY as an umbrella brand overarching the individual restaurant brands. There is also a view that rather than choose a particular priority in isolation, the three priorities must be dovetailed and executed in an integrated manner.

Learning Objective:

The case can be used to teach competition strategies. A restaurant usually chooses to compete on the basis of one of three strategies — cost leadership, differentiation or niche. Because MTY sells mostly cultural foods in the quick service restaurants segment, these traditional competition strategies cannot work in isolation. MTY has therefore introduced multiple brands wherein it opens restaurants under different brands, with each brand targeting a niche segment, which is not scalable on its own. The multi-brand strategy at MTY thus represents a unique combination of cost leadership and niche.

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We are pleased to announce that the following Ivey cases were winners in the 2012 EFMD Case Writing Competition. There were more winning cases from Ivey than any other business school in the world. Over 200 cases were submitted by authors from 30 countries to this prestigious case competition. The goal of the competition is to facilitate quality case writing involving European companies and institutions as well as topics concerning other geographical or subject areas which are generally underrepresented among available sources.

• Chabros International Group: A World of Wood, Paul W. Beamish, Bassam Farah (MENA Business Cases)
• Veja: Sneakers With a Conscience, Oana Branzei, Kim Poldner (Latin American Business Cases)
• Bayer CropScience in India (A): Against Child Labor, Charles Dhanaraj, Oana Branzei, Satyajeet Subramanian (Indian Management Issues and Opportunities)
• Launch of Durra: Women in Islamic Banking, Alexandra Roth, David T.A. Wesley (Euro-Mediterranean Managerial Practices and Issues)
• Danfoss - Global Manufacturing Footprint, Torben Pedersen, Jacob Pyndt (Supply Chain Management)
• Novo Nordisk: Managing Sustainability at Home and Abroad, Jette Steen Knudsen, Dana Brown (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Winning cases have been entered into the "Best of the Best" category and the overall winner will be announced in April. Congratulations to all!

The Ivey collection contains over 3,800 cases and 600 articles. Hundreds of these cases focus on issues specific to China and over 540 of which are available in Simplified Chinese. We are in the process of translating over 100 additional Ivey cases and have recently hired dedicated staff in China to respond to the increasing market demand.

To learn more about the opportunities in China, please contact our office.

In late January, Ivey Publishing welcomed Matthew Quin as its new Director. The latest member of the Ivey Publishing team joins the organization with a background in marketing, PR and communications.

“This is a very exciting role in an important part of the Ivey family,” notes Quin. “Ivey Publishing has a great team and publishes a world-class product.”

Quin joins Ivey Publishing from King’s University College where he established the communications and media relations department. He also brings experience from the non-profit and corporate environments.

"Ivey Publishing is a leader in the industry which is something that London and Canada should be proud of,” he continues. ”Ivey Publishing cases are used around the world and connect students and faculty to the latest business thinking and to the case method - I’m excited to be a part of the organization that does such important work.”

Many thanks go to Greg Yantz for his tremendous leadership and dedication during his tenure. We wish him all the best in his new role as Director, Admissions & Recruiting in the Ivey MBA Recruiting & Admissions office.