On January 15, 2012, Zappos, an Amazon subsidiary, was the victim of a purposeful hacking attack. CEO Tony Hsieh sent out a tweet, alerting customers that the systems had been penetrated and directing them to a letter with incident details and recommended customer actions. Given that security breaches have become an increasing concern due to the amount of data stored online, the public immediately criticized Zappos, and a class action lawsuit was filed. Tony Hsieh, and parent company CEO, Jeff Bezos, must decide if any additional payment is due to customers and how to retain brand equity and customer security going forward. Case # 12-01 (2012)

American Apparel, a multinational fashion retailer headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles,
looked to target the plus-size clothing customer segment in an effort to grow its stagnant sales. It
launched “The Next Big Thing,” a marketing campaign requiring contestants to submit modeling
shots for American Apparel’s online audience to vote on. Little did they know that their ad copy,
which utilized several puns as adjectives to describe larger women, would invoke a negative
response by media outlets as well as the incite members of the plus-size community. Nancy
Upton, a size-12-wearing student and actress based in Dallas, Texas, decided to join the contest
with a satirical entry, and created a blog. What happened next was a series of corporate
communication problems that revealed a deeper issue of cultural insensitivity rather than just a
poor choice of wording. 17 pp. #13-08 (2013)

In an effort to gain market share and technological resources, AT&T and T-Mobile USA agreed to a merger that would create the largest mobile carrier in the country. Concerned about preserving competition in the wireless telecommunications industry, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block the transaction. AT&T’s management must now decide how to convince stakeholders that the benefits of a deal far outweigh the risks. Without this merger, AT&T would need to find an alternative way to remain competitive.

The United States’s second-largest wireless telecommunications provider attempts to create competitive advantage in the marketplace through a $39 billion merger with a top competitor. In pursuit of a merger with T-Mobile, AT&T ends up fighting allegations of uncompetitive practices and antitrust litigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. AT&T now looks for a strategy to promote the efficiencies of the deal and gain regulatory approval. Case # 12-02 (2012)