Abstract
The case describes how Allbirds, a U.S. eco-startup that entered the booming footwear market in China, met with challenges in putting their global perspective into local practice. This teaching note is designed for a 90-minute teaching plan, where students could impersonate the protagonist in this case, Brandy Yu, managing director of Allbirds China, and follow her footprints with the new venture’s market expansion in China since she joined in 2021. Allbirds was a San Francisco-based startup founded in 2015, which innovated the ways how shoes were made and sold. The company opened its first store in April 2019 at Shanghai, China, also the first in Asia. Brandy Yu in this case could inspire students through the decision-making processes in various challenging scenarios, such as where to find “China Charlie” and how to engage them, how to channel constrained resources into building product leadership and customer intimacy, whether they could “copy-paste” Allbirds’ Go-to-Market strategy in China, and most essentially, how to maintain a sustainable balance between localization and internationalization in both marketing strategy and organizational management.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 13 |
Publication status | Published - 26 Apr 2024 |
Case number
ENT-24-002Case normative number
ENT-24-002-CECase type
Field CaseUpdate date
25/04/2024Supplement
For more details, please visit www.chinacases.orgPublished by
China Europe International Business SchoolKeywords
- Entrepreneurship
- Environmental Sustainability
- Globalization
- International Trade
- Allbirds Inc. (China)
Case studies discipline
- Ethics & Social Responsibility
- International Business
- Marketing
Case studies industry
- Manufacturing