Product details

The case focuses American Financial System's (AFS) efforts to enter the international market. After unsuccessful attempts to sell their product in Japan and Britain, and an aborted joint venture, AFS finds a client in Argentina. The case illustrates the difficulty encountered by a small company as it tries to grow by entering the overseas market. The company is in a very specialised market niche: Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs) based on Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI). It has basically two sources of revenue: (1) sales and maintenance of software for designing COLI-funded SERPs; and (2) casework in which it customises COLI-funded SERPs for clients. The company, founded in 1984, sells its products almost entirely in the domestic US market. This case can be used toward the end of a new ventures class or in a managing growing business class. The teaching note includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, solutions to the assignment questions in the case, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into a course. A video '003-V96A-P' is available to accompany this case.