Nairian in Armenia: Navigating Strategic Growth at a Skincare Crossroads

Anahit Armenakyan

Product #:W50771

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:International Business, Strategy

Setting:Armenia, 2022

Details:Case (PDF) • 14 pages • 2026-08-11

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On a warm spring evening in March 2022, Anahit Markosian—a physicist turned chemist and co-founder of Nairian CJSC (Nairian)—reflected on the uncertain future of her company. Over the past couple of years, Armenia had experienced geopolitical shocks, economic volatility, and shifting consumer behaviour. In response, Markosian had to decide on a strategy for Nairian. She had co-founded the pioneering natural skin care company a decade ago. Once powered by strong domestic demand and diaspora-driven exports, the company now confronted declining local sales, unstable international channels, and internal marketing constraints. As global competition intensified and new market dynamics emerged, Markosian needed to stabilize growth while redefining Nairian’s strategic direction. Above all, she was concerned about what kind of company Nairian was meant to become in this new and rapidly changing environment.

Learning Objectives

This case is best suited for upper-level undergraduate or graduate (masters of business administration (MBA)/executive MBA (EMBDA) level courses and can be used in different areas, ranging from marketing to international business to strategic management. The case is versatile. It can serve as an introductory case on strategic analysis, a comprehensive case to integrate those concepts at the end of a course, or an exam to assess students’ ability to apply strategic frameworks and models to perform in-depth analysis. The topics addressed in this case include strategic frameworks, customer analysis and segmentation, service marketing via discussion of the 7P’s of service (i.e., product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence). After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Examine environmental conditions (i.e., macro-level analysis) for detailed industry analysis and diagnostics to generate and justify effective strategic decisions.
Use appropriate strategic frameworks, such as PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal), to evaluate the attractiveness and competitive intensity of the natural luxury skincare industry and examine the effects of geopolitical volatility and uncertainty on industry structure and competitive positioning.
Synthesize findings in SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis.
Apply internal analysis frameworks, such as Resource-Based Theory and VRIO (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Organized) analysis, to examine resources and competencies to evaluate the company’s farm-to-formulation model, sustainable competitive advantage, and capability gaps.
Determine and evaluate strategic growth options under resource constraints. Specifically, using the Ansoff Matrix, compare four strategic options while taking into consideration external opportunities or threats and internal strengths or constraints.