個案總覽

An entrepreneurial company, Zero-Knowledge Systems, provided privacy solutions for Internet-based applications. Their product permitted users to create multiple digital pseudonyms. The entrepreneur and his two sons were looking to U.S. venture capitalists to fund the company's growth and to acquire some expertise. They must put together a list of criteria to use to choose among potential funders and must assign a value to their company, so they will have an idea what percentage of the company they are willing to give up.

The plant manager of Hammond Manufacturing's Guelph, Ontario transformer plant was concerned about problems with the delivery of enclosures from a sister plant ten kilometres away. These problems reduced the company's ability to compete for business by delaying production and shipments to customers. Both plant managers wanted to reduce not only the frequency of late deliveries, stockouts, and backorders, but also the level of frustration between their two plants. Students have to identify the source of these problems and propose a reasonable course of action to deal with them.

Scott's, well-known for Kentucky Fried Chicken, is considering entering the pizza business. The corporate strategist has identified the two most attractive alternatives which he sees as strategically inconsistent: an acquisition would allow the company to penetrate the pizza market quickly with a minimum of innovative development; locating pizza outlets on company-owned land already occupied by Kentucky Fried Chicken stores would make a great use of existing corporate assets. In his recommendations to the Board of Directors, he needs to consider the results of a consumer survey as well as the company's strengths and weaknesses. Two follow-up cases are available Scott's Restaurants (B) and Scott's Restaurants (C).

This case is a sequel to Scott's Restaurants (A). The market research carried out in case (A) indicates that Scott's could establish a pre-emptive position in the take-out pizza market by concentrating on a limited number of basic requirements: cleanliness, product quality, and quality of service. Therefore, the pizza plan is implemented according to the marketing plan. However, early test results are not very promising. A new market survey is conducted for Scott's by a consulting firm.