Case 2: Wong’s Pharmacy

Summary:
 Thomas Wong = owner/manager of Wong’s Pharmacy. Small and single-location for
30 years
 Employees consisted of family members, all hard workers.
 Performance in the last few years had not been good
 Sales and profit were declining, which has started at the time when a large drug-
store chain opened a branch two blocks away

Questions:
Q1: What are Thomas Wong’s options?
Q2: Would you characterize the Wong Pharmacy problems as control problems?
Wong’s Pharmacy has been outcompeted by a large corporation drugstore, therefore it
can be considered an uncontrollable factor. Thomas options is listed below:
 Close the store or sell out
 Move to a different location
 Focusing on a specific niche, thus winning customers over superior service, specific
product portfolio
Although, the first two options would not be in Thomas interest, as the store has been
located in the same location for 30 years and has a history, thus we assume he has no
interest in selling either.
This is not a management control problem, but rather a strategic control problem (is
the strategy valid?)