PWC普华永道面试案例case整理两个案例

1、PricewaterhouseCoopersCASEDISCUSSIONBUSINESS CASEInterview Case Studv #1Roane & Hickey, Inc.You have been lecentlv lined into the Strategic Change (SC) group, a business unit ofPncwateiliouseCoopeis. SC is the strategy thought leader in PwC The engagement paitnei inConsumer Productslias come to SC t

2、o help developa stiategy foi Roane& Hickey,Inc.(R&H).This engagement lias the potential of positioning PwC to R&H and its parent conglomeiate fbithe next five, possible ten years.Companv BeckgioimdR&H is a wholly-owned subsidiaiy of a multi-national conglomeiate. The conglomeiate ownsten compames op

3、eiating in the U.S. R&H is the largest of the (eii. R&H is a consumei goodscompany distnbutmg well-known branded products tluough gioceiy, dmg. mass meichant andclub channels With $4 billion m revenues m the U.S., R&H is one of the top tluee players inthe consumer goods industiy The company has been

4、 maiguiallv profitable over the past tenveais. Last year the company made a profit due largely to an accounting change.Although R&H only operates in the U.S., it owns several manufactunng and distnbutionfacilities around the world to suppoit its production and distnbution systems. R&H takesadvantage

5、 of lower labor costs in Mexico, Canada and Southeast Asia to lower itsmanufactuimg costs. R&H still maintains tluee plants in the U.S. Because of the ovei-capacitvthat R&H has expeiienced. R&H has negotiated deals with sister companies overseas tomanufactuie and diiect-ship product.R&H lias foui ma

6、rket segments that operate as piofit centers. The market segments are:Personal Hygiene, Consumer Tissue, Soaps and Detergents and Personal Care. Even though thelevenues arerouglilv evenly divided among all four maiket segments, Personal Caiecontributes90% of the companVs profits. Iii Personal Care,

7、R&H owns the two top branded products, mthe other categories the company has the nuniber two brand, and in one segment, numbei tluee.R&H lias committed to buildmg a consumei fianchise tliiough aggressive adveitising andm-stoie meicliandising suppon.Industry Tends2In the U.S., brands are undei attack

8、 fiom private labels, who are now competmg on both priceand quality Brands are looking to justify then piice pienuums. The value of being the nunibeione biand camiot be taken liglitly.The letiun on sales of the top brand is almost twice that of thenumbei two brand. The retuin on sales foi the number

9、 two biand is twice that of the numbertluee brand.The power of the retail industiy in the U.S. has incieased diaiiiaticallv over the past five years The letaileis aie driving additional costs upon nianufactuieis With established products,letaileis aie demandmg a liunuiial level of nuns per yeai . Wi

10、th new products, retailers aredemanding slottmg fees and ever-mcreasnig promotional suppor 匸 Product managers aieforced to aclueve cunent product revenue and market share goals while stimulating demand foinewproducts. Many industiy experts feel thattherewill be consolidation of brands within manyof

11、themaiket segments inwhich R&H competes and,as a result of this brand consolidation, thatR&H will lose critical sales mass and become a major casualty.Ill the last two years the allocation of marketing dollars has changed dramatically; tradepromotion lias risen to 40% of total marketing spendmg, con

12、sume! promotion lias climbedslightly and advertising has declined. Industry analysts have pointed to R&Hs trade piomotionstrategy as bemg the catalyst for the growth in trade promotion m the mdustiy as competitorshave been forced to respond.R&H is widely regarded as a letail-onented company With a s

13、ales force that is twice the sizeof anyone elses in the mdustiy, R&H has forged gieat retail lelationslups over the years. R&Htiaditionally had the best oidei fill rate in the business; however, recently some of the efforts toreduce mventoiy has caused shortages in key piomoted products.R&H Oigamzat

14、ionThere aie six Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs) in R&H responsible foi fxinctional areas. Allthe EVPs repon to the President, who is also CEO. The Executive Vice Presidents representMaiketing, Sales. Finance, Manufacuuing, Engineenng and Human Resources. The EVP ofFmance has responsibility foi fin

15、ancialrepoiting and analyses aswell as managing Procuiement,Deployment, Scheduling and Logistics. All the maiket segment manageis report duectly to theExecutive Vice President of Maiketmg.Much of the blame foi the peiformance of the company over the last ten veais fell on theshoulders of the fomiei

16、president. It was whispered that he was lioni the old school” and couldnot change his ways. The new president of R&H, an Aineiican, jomed the company six monthsago. He was the ExecutiveVice President of an nnponant European division of asistei company.The conglomeiate has always pnded itself on bein

17、g able to leverage its multi-national lesourcesCiinein SituationVeim Teldren, the Executive Vice President of Finance, is considered to be a bnlliant man bymany in the industiy Born and raised m Europe, Mi . Teldien rose quickly tlu ough theorganization Howevei; because of Ins outspoken nature, lie

18、angeied enough senior level3executives (showed upnas Mi. Teldien would say) that he has never received a position ofpresident, even though his name is mentioned eveiy tune an opening appeals Recently the vice chaupeison of the conglomeiate responsible foi the group in which R&H is amembei; sat down

19、with the R&H President and EVPs. The vice cliaiipeison stated that thecompany needed to nnpiove peifbimaiice within one yeai He offered a couple of scenanos ofwhat the conglomeiate was considering m the event that the management failed to improveprofitability.Scenario 1: Drop unprofitable brands and

20、 reduce the size of the companyScemuio 2: Meige the company with a sister company that has similar distnbutionrequuements and have proven profitabilityRecent ImtiahvesR&H lias lecentlv taken part in an industiy-wide study called Efficient Customer Response 01ECR The study found that an industry-wide

21、 effort to develop more efficient trade practicesand deliveiy systems could save an aggregated S30 billion dollars a yeai PwC assisted R&Hm this study. All the EVPs agiee that there are huge dollar savmgs that can be aclueved withefficiency uiipiovenients.Veim believes that the supply chain (i.e., P

22、iocurement, Manufacturing, Deployment,Scheduling, Logistics, and Warehousing) can become a strategic advantage for the company ifit can outpeifbrm its competitois PwC studies have shown that uiipiovenients caimot be madewithout the input 01 the suppoit of all the fxinctional areas of the company, es

23、peciallyMarketing and Sales The EVPs fiom Maiketmg and Sales do not always see the Supply Chamas key players; in fact, the EVPs of Maiketmg and Sales see the Supply Chain as only a vendorto themVeim knows that the results of the ECR mitiative may not be enough to rally support among theEVPs. Venn kn

24、ows that whatever stiategy is accepted needs to define the roles of each of theEVPs and to provide an outlet for each EVP to demonstiate his and her skills. He is also awarethat the other EVPs are veiy conscious of the growth of Venns power Each EVP will lmtiatea project with the assumption that the

25、 aiclutect of the solution to R&Hs cuiient situation will bein position for the next presidency.The EVP of Human Resource lias championed the need to implement a whole new way ofenvisioning the company working together. She has envisioned a flatter organization and liasspent years developing studies

26、 with anothei leading consultancy to support her vision. She has astiong suppoi tei in the EVP of Sales The piesent EVP of Sales was oiigmallv fiom HumanResources Hei vision has always entailed an extensive ie-stnicnmng and le-tiaiiiuig effdn.The EVP of Engmeeiing feels that the company needs to mve

27、st in its new product capabilityThe strategy is toacquire smallei; regional companies that are pioducmg differentiated products.MWe can absorb them mto us and stunulate oui new product pipeline/1he stated.nWith these4new, legionally proven products, we can fill capacity and leverage oui distribution

28、 and salesstiength I can also energize my area with flesh ideas IFs wm-wm. no doubt about it.MThe EVP of Manufactiuing is sick and tued of heaimg that manufactuimg is the problem. Hepouits to the fact that they ie pioducmg and shippmg thiee tunes the product they were fiveyears ago with the same nun

29、ibei of people they had eight years ago. If things dont change inother areas, then tlimgs woiVt change in Manufactunng. other than the mability to support theordeis coming in.The EVP of Marketing believes that a combmation of le-stmctunng and acquisition is needed.He wants to reduce the salesperson

30、lole with the retailei and focus on consumei spendingbehmd a high quality11message giounded in tangible product benefits across all productsegments. He wants to broaden the product mix with new pioducts fiom acquisition.The EngagemeniVeim lias mentioned to Gai v Foistman, the PwC engagement paitnei;

31、 that he is willing todevote the necessaiy resources in his fxinctional areas to prove out the light strategy to the otherEVPs. Venn has also indicated that the company is willing to devote significant lesouices andcapabilities to the light effort.HA11 the EVPs know, he said.ntliat there will be who

32、le-scalechanges if the company doesiVt turn itself about.MMi. Foistman lias called Giadv Means, ISS SBU leader and paitnei, and saidThis isPiicewaterhouseCoopersfirst major engagement with R&H after several years of smallerengagements where we were able to demonstiate oui ability to unplement soluti

33、ons. Now wehave an oppomuiity to really shine The company is le-evaluatmg its strategic position and liasasked seveial consulting films to talk to them.nGiady discussed the situation with ISS paitnei;Michael Hanley, and they agieed that you would be a gieat person to work on this project Youreceive

34、a call fiom Grady. Hello. How are you doing? After exchanging pleasantnes, Giadvexplains the situation to you.nWe need some dvnanuc thinking on this one. I know VeimTeldren fiom years ago. Veim is going to be all over us if we dont get tlus light. Wliafsmipoitant is that we show Veim that we have a

35、vision of where the company needs to go, howthe pai ts fit together and how they are gomg to get there Wliat is mipoitant is that our analysisis fact-based. We need to be ready to say to Venn, This is the situation, tlus is the problem, thisis the solution and this is step one, step two, step tluee

36、on what you need to do tomonow.MThisis a big oppoitiinitv for us and Pm counting ou you. See what you can come up with by this tunenext week. Feel free to call Michael or myself with any questions. Okay, talk to you soon.Queshons1.What is voui assessment of the present situation?2.What aie the key a

37、reas for change? Why do you believe so?3.What do you envision youi product to be m a week?4.What type of additional liifbimation would you want?55.What type of analysis do you believe needs to be peiionned?6.Do you have an idea conceninig the analytical stnictuie?7.What type of liamework might you e

38、nvision for this stiategv?8.What are the key elements you would include m desigiinig a strategy?9.What are the key elements you would include m implementing a stiategv?10.What is voui assessment conceining R&Hs ability to implement a stiategv?11.What are some key peifoimance mdicatois that you would

39、 suggest?12.What are the key issues between the Supply Chain and otliei areas of the company (suchas Marketing and Sales) that must be addressed?13.What are some ways that miprovements in the Supply Cliam will unpact the other aieasof the company, especially Marketing and Sales?14.How does Supply Ch

40、ain effect the value of the companys brands?15. Wliat are the risks that the PwC team faces in this engagement?6Pricwaterhou seC oopersCASE DISCUSSIONBUSINESS/STRATEGYInterview Case Study #2Telekenesis Inc.PricewaterhouseCoopers lias recently proposed on. and appears to have won. a major engagement

41、to create aninfbrniation teclmology strategy for Telekenesis. PricwaterhouseCoopers has worked for Telekenesis in the past,but has not done any significant work for over a year and a half. This is PricwaterhouseCoopers* fiist substantialengagement witli the company.Company BackgroundTelekenesis was

42、formed m 1992 by executives from four foniiei Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)and two principals in Silicon Valley technology start-ups. One of the principals is from a start-up company thatpioneered a new kind of wireless propagation technology.Telekenesis was founded on the principle tlia

43、t the current telecommunications industry is populated withcompanies who are almost congemtally incapable of optmuzing their fomi of organization and culture to meet thecompetitive challenges of the 1990s. The founders believe that local loop technology, wliich relies oilcominumcation devices which

44、are peers in a large teclmology community, where every device has a pemianentand unchangeable identification, is the silver bullet of the teleconuiiunications industry, and that the RBOCs arenot ready or willing to exploit it. Local loop technology (LLT) is considered by RBOC management to be radica

45、l,unproven and unreliable.Telekenesis Inc. is modestly profitable, with $131,000,000 m sales and approximately 200,000 customers spreadout over four adjacent, mostly rural geograplues. Approxnnately 90% of its sales come from four small localtelephone companies. The companys strategyris to use the o

46、perating experience and customer positioiiuig of thefbur local telephone companies to develop and implement local loop wireless service or LLWS (often pronouncedMlawsM). The concept behind this service is based on the fact that the current phone companies control wiring toand from a central office f

47、acility. This facility is in effect a big switching box. The central office acts like a big hubwith many spokes radiatmg from it. LLWS elininiates die central office and substitutes smiple, unobtrusive,premises wireless relay equipment. There is at least one local loop sen-er facility that is somewh

48、at analogous to acentral office but not needed to maintain service. The server facility is used to monitor quality and provide a trapfor billing.Local loop wireless services are fully integrated. They include telephonic conmiuiucation as well as cellular, pager,on-demand video, and highway” services

49、. Highway services permit companies witluii the local loop tocoiBiiiuiucate with each otlier as if they were on a large universal local area network. Computers located m bothhome and office are immediately mtercomiected by the local loop. Importantly, there are literally no wiresinvolved m any of th

50、ese services (except of course for pluggnig into the wall to get electricity). Physical customerhook-ups are non-existent. Customers are granted access, and services and lnfbnmtion are secured tliroughsoftware interfaces m LLWS devices, such as television sets, laptop computers, pagers, etc. Teleken

51、esis lias anumber of arrangements with software and hardware vendors to create LLWS devices.Understandably, tlie mdustry discounts LLWS as another ”high tech California fantasy.nBell Coreengineers, while acknowledging the future potential of local loop teclmology, dispute Telekenesis*s clamis thatth

52、e bandwidth and quality is actually present m production, coiBinercially available products to be installed in thereal world.Telekenesis* doctrine is to completely convert all 200.000 current subscribers of the four local phone companiesat once, witli no phase in. Each of the four local companies wi

53、ll be converted separately.7Telekenesis bouglit the four local phone companies in order to have large scale pilot sites for local loop wirelessservices. Telekenesis* fundamental business proposition is that the changing regulatory landscape will allow it tocompete with local Bell telephone companies

54、, providing a higher performance, lower cost alternative to theexisting local phone companies for local and long-distance telephone service, paging, cable t.v.5and cellularphones.Industiy TrendsThe early 1980s were a time of turmoil for the teleconunumcations industry. For the fiist time in lustory,

55、 AT&Twas deregulated and lost its monopoly status. This meant competition for AT&T where none liad existed before.Long-distance was the aiena of competition.MTelecommunications,* mcludes much more than simply making a phone-call. It encompasses cable televisionservice and network connectivity which

56、brings interactive television, shopping fomms, education and informationservices into the home. The phone lines that the teleconunumcations companies control enable computers tocommunicate from remote locations, and can gather mformation from databases and news services around theworld within second

57、s.The possibilitiesfor profitsin this arena are practically limitless,and thesphere ofcompetition isexpanding. Up to1994, only long-distance carriers were m competition, but local callmg areas are going to be opened up forcompetition in the late 1990s.Telekenesis OrganizationThere are currently thie

58、e business units: 1) residential, which is divided into the1plain wnilla customers thathave only one phone line into the house and no add-ons such as cellular phones, pagers, additional lines, etc. and 2)residential customers who have add-on seivices and are good candidates for taking advantage of t

59、he newtechnology; and 3) small business. Each of Telekeiiesis*s business units has a President who reports to the CEO.In addition, R&D and Teclmology Assurance, essentially a quality management program, also report directly todie CEO. Telekenesis is tightly controlled by tlie principals who founded

60、the company and all the senior positionsjust described are held by the founders.There are really no Coiporate functional areas such as Finance, Purchasing. Distribution, and Human Resources.These fiinctions exist in the original phone companies as they did before the companies were acquired. Ailouts