Short Cases for Discussion

8/2/2019 Short Cases for Discussion

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Short Cases forDiscussion

Imran Wazir



Case Study #1:Restaurant Chain

►Restaurant chain put a

new restaurant in a smalltown but had little money

to do the usualadvertising blitz.



Case #2:Carpet Cleaning Company

►Carpet cleaning company

has tons of clients but theclients only have theircarpet cleaned on theaverage every threeyears.



Case #3:Newsletter Publisher

►Newsletter publisher

wanted to increase profitsby selling very high

markup non-prescriptionhealth products.



Case #4:Lumber Mill

►Lumber mill had a scientific lumber “kilm drying” process that reduced

energy consumption and increased thepercent of higher quality lumberoutput. So their profits were at least20% higher than other lumber mills.

However, due to high shipping costs itwas not profitable to ship lumberoutside a 700-mile radius.



Case #5:Landscape Maintenance

Landscape company in a 100,000person small city had been doubling

sales each year until they got to the$6 million range. In order to growmore they decided to sell theirbusiness operating system andcustom storage system on trucks tothe other landscape companies whowere in other areas of the country.



Case #6:Pharmacy

►Pharmacy in a small

town is losing moneyon filling prescriptions

paid for by insurancecompanies.



Case #8:Tax Preparation Company

► Tax Preparation

Company wanted to makemore profit without

having to do more work during tax season.



Case #9:Realtor

►One of the top-selling

realtors in the world wastotally booked so far as thenumber of hours he wanted

to work, but he wants tomake more money.



Case #10:Psychiatrist

►Psychiatrist was not

effective ingenerating newpatients.



Case #11:Ceiling Fan Store

►Ceiling fan store had

terrible sales becausethat summer was

much cooler thannormal.



Case #12:Car Wash Company

►Car wash company had asales process that allowsthem sell 10% more hotwaxes and other high profitservices. But they couldonly attract clients fromtheir local area.



Case #13:Software Company

►Software company

was not growing.Sales were sporadicand unforecastable.



Case #14:Fed Ex

►Overnight delivery companywanted to increase saleseven though they werecharging up to 30 times

more than the cost of postage.



Case #15:Icey Hot

► Company had an analgesic balmproduct (Icey Hot) which had greatrepeat use and thus a great backend.

►The net lifetime value of a client wasabout $15.00 and the product whichsold for $3.00 (and only cost about 25

cents to make, bottle and ship). Butthe company had no money formarketing.



Case #16:Tree Surgeon

►Tree Surgeon was

operating reactively to one-shot business wheneverpeople called.



Case #17:Consultant

►Computer consultant

had challengesgrowing her clientele.



Case #18:Software Company

►Software company

wanted to grow theirbusiness.



Case #19: Accounting Firm

► Accounting and Tax

Company wanted to growtheir business.



Case #20:Networking Company

►Networking Company

wanted to grow but couldn’tget larger firms to takethem as a serious vendor.



Case #22:Pizza Delivery

► A local pizza parlor

wanted to become moreprofitable and expand.



Case #23:Business Center

►Business Center providing short-term offices with full

administrative support serviceshad discovered a marketingsystem which allowed them toincrease their occupancy from the

normal 65% to 80% occupancy.(This more than doubled theirprofits). They wanted to expand.



Case #24:Investment Management Firm

►Investment management

firm was increasinglyunable to differentiate

itself in the market.



Company A

►Used to have a monopoly in its market,supplying office equipment. Yourcompany’s share has fallen to 17

percent in the face of powerfulcompetition, and is still falling. Yourindirect/direct cost ratio is double thatof your toughest competitor; you use

nine times as many suppliers; yourrejects are ten time higher; productlead-times are twice as long; you haveseven times as many defects per 100

products. What do you do?



Company B

►has No. 1 positions in nearly allmarkets, mainly for industrialproducts, but your are determined

to stay on top – and you suspectthat performance could beradically improved in the factory

(where overheads are nearly threetimes direct labor costs) and insales and services. What do youdo?



Company C

►is an engineering maintenanceoperation. After a history of

strikes, constant friction andfights over every pay deal,management has firmly assertedthe right to manage: the shop

floor is now under firm discipline.But the parent’s profits are fallingfast, and you are under pressureto cut costs. What do you do?



Company D

►a very large service business, haslost its monopoly. You face new

regulations and regulators, newshareholders and new technology(a massive change). Also, by your

own admission, you’re providingsome of the worst service in theindustry. What do you do?



Company E

►runs a service business in theconsumer field that has been

growing rapidly, thanks to anexcellent concept, backed upby heavy advertising on TV.

But the feedback fromcustomers is unsatisfactory,which is a threat to futureexpansion. What do you do?



Company F

►is in high technology, but it has adifficult history of mergers,changing ownership, losses,

product overlaps and poorcompetitive performance in abusiness dominated by a singlerival. Customers have low opinion

of your performance, and themarket is changing radically fromthe tied-customer relationship youhave always enjoyed. What do youdo?



Company G

►is a service business which hasturned itself around effectively

from losses by cutting costs,raising prices and curbing some of its services. But the customers areall unhappy. You think that you

are providing 85 % on one keydimension of performance. Yourbiggest customers say it is only 70%. What do you do?



Company H

►will drop out of its high-tech businessunless it can meet increasinglyexacting demands from customers andpartners. The company has onlyrecently been created by merger. Oneof the pre-merger cultures is very usedto meeting rigorous standards, the

other less so. You have to achieve thesame levels throughout – and raisethem. What do you do?



Company I

►has been given less than 18 months toset up a major new entrant in a big,sales-driven financial services market.

In that time, you must hire and train600 people, create an entire productline, install all the necessary systemsand convert sales agents form their

traditional methods to your ownphilosophy and practices. What do youdo?



Company J

►is NO. 12 in a science-basedcomponents market where the topcompetition is vastly more

powerful. The business is a recentcross-frontier merger, which hassuccessfully improved its technicalperformance. But the businesscycle turns down and catches youunprepared: you lose money andhave to face major job cuts. What

d d ?

Short Cases for Discussion

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