How do Case Studies look/sound like?

Examples of Case Studies used in Case Based GDs

The ChemCo Company

Started in 1965, ChemCo is a leading manufacturer of car batteries in the U.K. market.
Since then, it has been under the charge of Mr. Jones, the founder-owner of the firm. In
1999, the company decided to go for a diversification by expanding the product line. The
new product was batteries for fork-lift trucks. At the same time, Mr. Marek was appointed
the Senior Vice President of marketing in the company. However, soon after its successful
diversification into fork-lift batteries, the sales in this segment began dropping steadily.
Mr. Marek wanted to introduce some radical changes in the advertising and branding of
the new business but the proposal was turned down by the old-fashioned Mr. Jones.
At this juncture in 2002, the firm is losing heavily in the fork-lift batteries business and its
market share in car batteries is also on a decline. Mr. Jones has asked Mr. Marek to show
a turnaround in the company within a year. What steps should Mr. Marek take to take the
company out of its troubles?

The Nakamura Lacquer Company (NLC)

The Nakamura Lacquer Company (NLC) of Kyoto, Japan, employed several thousand men
and produced 500,000 pieces of lacquer tableware annually, with its Chrysanthmum brand
becoming Japan's best known and bestselling brand. The annual profit from operations
was $250,000.
The market for lacquerware in Japan seemed to have matured, with the production steady
at 500,000 pieces a year. NLC did practically no business outside Japan.

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 In May 2000, (much to your chagrin!) the ambitious and dynamic, Mr. Nakamura
(Chairman, NLC) received two offers from American companies wishing to sell lacquer
ware in America.
The first offer was from the National China Company. It was the largest manufacturer of
good quality dinnerware in the U.S., with their “Rose and Crown” brand accounting for
almost 30% of total sales. They were willing to give a firm order for three years for annual
purchases of 400,000 sets of lacquer dinnerware, delivered in Japan and at 5% more than
what the Japanese jobbers paid. However, Nakamura would have to forego the
Chrysanthemum trademark to “Rose and Crown” and also undertake not to sell lacquer
ware to anyone else in the U.S.
The second offer was from Sammelback, Sammelback and Whittacker (henceforth SSW),
Chicago, the largest supplier of hotel and restaurant supplies in the U.S. They perceived a
U.S. market of 600,000 sets a year, expecting it to go up to 2 million in around 5 years.
Since the Japanese government did not allow overseas investment, SSW was willing to
budget $1.5 million for the next two years towards introduction and promotion.
Nakamura would sell his “Chrysanthemum” brand but would have to give exclusive
representation to SSW for five years at standard commission rates and also forego his
profit margin toward paying back of the $ 1.5 million.

What should Mr. Nakamura do?

Deloitte Case Study Example : Footloose

Introduction

Duraflexis a German footwear company with annual men’s footwear sales of

approximately 1.0 billion Euro(€).

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They have always relied on the boot market for the majority of their volume and in this
market they compete with three other major competitors.
Together, these four brands represent approximately 72% of the 5.0 billion €German
men’s boot market. The boots category includes four main sub-categories:
Work boots, casual boots, field and hunting boots, and winter boots. Work boots is the
largest sub-category and is geared to blue collar workers1who purchase these boots
primarily for on-the-job purposes. Casual boots is the fastest growing sub-category, and is
geared more towards white collar workers2and students who purchase these boots for
week-end / casual wear and light work purposes.

The four key competitors in the market are Badger, Duraflex, Steeler, and Trekker.

Competitor Profiles

Badger and Steeler are both well established as work boot companies, having a long
history and strong brand recognition and credibility among blue collar workers. At the
other extreme is Trekker, a strong player in the casual boot market but a very weak player
in work boots. Duraflex, however, is a cross between the other competitors, having a
significant share in both work boots and casual boots.

Historically Duraflexhad an even stronger position in the work boot sector. However, since
1996 when the company began selling casual shoes and focusing on the growth
opportunity in casual boots, sales of the Duraflexwork boot line have steadily declined.
Also, around the same time Duraflexshifted its emphasis, Badger became a much more
assertive competitor in the work boot market, increasing its market share to 43% in just
three years.

In the fall of 2013, Badger launched a new line of aggressively priced work boots. The
strong success of this line has caused Duraflex’smanagement to re-evaluate their position
in work boots. With limited additional resources, management must now decide if they
should focus their efforts on competing with Badger in the work boot sector, or focus their
resources on further strengthening their position with casual boots.

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In January of 2014 Duraflexhired a leading consulting firm to conduct research to help
management in its decision making. To make an informed recommendation, the
consultants realized they needed to collect information that would enable them to size the
market and better understand Duraflex’scompetitive position.

To begin with, the consultants developed a 20 minute quantitative telephone survey that
was conducted among 500 randomly dialed consumers across the country’s 6 primary
regions. In addition, the consultants completed some internal cost and pricing analysis for
Duraflex’swork and casual boot lines. The market pricing analysis showed
Duraflexcompeting at the premium end of the market for both its casual and work boot
lines.

Exhibits

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 Case Study Questions

1. How big is the work boot market (expressed in Euros)? Does Duraflex get more of its
revenue from work boots or casual boots?

2. Explain why Badger is out performing Duraflex in the work boot market.

3. What changes would you recommend to Duraflex’s work boot strategy? Why? Would
you recommend they introduce a sub-branded boot line?

Examples of Case Studies used in Case Interviews

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 What would be your approach for introducing a product into a foreign market? What are
the risks and benefits to consider i.e. producing in your own country v/s producing in the
new country?

Company ABC is struggling, should it be restructured? Identify the three main problems it's
facing. What is the most important problem the company is facing? How would you
recommend the company address this problem? How would you turn this company
around? Provide your reasoning for your recommendation(s).

A toy company has been experiencing decline sales for the last two years. Research
suggests that introducing several new product lines is the solution. Develop a marketing
strategy for the company's largest product line, including pricing, product packing, etc.

A large chain of retail clothing stores is struggling with profitability. What possible
problems can you identify? Can this company be turned around? How would you go about
deciding?

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