Gallery of “Make Your Case” Projects
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BLAISE TRANSIT: Exploring Opportunities in Latin America.
Ethan Sanderson, BS in International RelationsSubject area: International Business
Region: Latin America (Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil)
Industry: Software as a Service (Saas), On-Demand Transit
Company: Blaise Transit
Timeframe: 2020
Decision Maker: Justin Hunt, Co-Founder of Blaise Transit
Dilemma: As of summer 2020 Blaise Transit had carried out contracts in two Canadian cities and was in the process of negotiating contracts with a number of other cities in Canada and Europe. At this point, Blaise had invested hefty amounts of money in software development and was ready to take the next step; deployment. Blaise was looking towards announcing its first deployment in Canada and was additionally looking into the possibility of short term deployment in Asia and Europe. Due to favorable market and industry conditions, Blaise co-founder Justin Hunt had the desire to explore the possibility of expanding into emerging markets, and more specifically, Latin America. In order for Blaise to take the next step in expanding into Latin America one question had to be answered: Which markets in Latin America would best suit Blaise’s ambitions and why?
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CITYLIFE: Retail Private Limited Globalization Decision
Nitya Kedia, Joshua Labkoff, Melody LiuTitle: CityLife Retail Private Limited Globalization Decision
Subject Area: International Business
Region: Eastern and Northern India (Bangladesh or Vietnam)
Industry: Retail Industry
Company: Citylife Retail Private Limited
Decision Makers: Ritesh Kedia and Rajesh Baid
Challenge: In this case, we analyzed a retail store chain that is looking to grab the international market. This push has come from an oversaturated and highly competitive retail industry already well established in India. The potential markets analyzed in this case study are Vietnam and Bangladesh. These choices were made because of low labor costs, geographical proximity to the home country, and similar market conditions that facilitate business model transferability. Each market has displayed attractive characteristics. This will be Citylife’s first international expansion, and therefore the success of this would pave the way for further growth opportunities. (more…) -
SPILL CENTER: Search for Client Diversification
Maria Elena Danakou, Emmie Galler, Sareena Halani, Waeez Hossain, Rebecca SchneiderTitle: SPILL CENTER: Search for Client Diversification
Subject Area: Corporate Strategy of Extension
Region: United States
Industry: Environmental Claims Industry
Company: Spill Center
Challenge: Spill Center, a US environmental 24/7 emergency response service provider well represented in the large corporation eGRC space, presented us with a challenge of expanding their reach into unexplored markets. Spill Center is a pioneer in the environmental claims industry. Thirty years ago this niche service was not provided by any company, despite the burgeoning need among billion-dollar industries. Fast forward to 2020, where Spill Center continues to proudly provide support and expertise to the largest companies in insurance, transportation, beverage, and entertainment industries. The client expressed uncertainty on whether it should expand its client base by offering a new product in the cybersecurity industry or by targeting the small to mid-range companies in the eGRC market. The two market entry options would either consist of repositioning a current offering or creating a new offering altogether. (more…) -
HONEYGROW Catering Strategy
Jillian Barnabe, Joseph Coverly, Steven Millad, Logan Taylor, Colin Williams
BS BA in Marketing, Accounting, Supply Chain, Interactive Media, and FinanceTitle: HONEYGROW Catering Strategy Consulting Report
Subject Area: Corporate strategy for extension
Region: United States
Industry: Foodservice
Company: honeygrow
Challenge: In January 2020, honeygrow, fast-casual eatery, began exploring the opportunity of breaking into the breakfast catering market. With successful store front locations in major east coast cities, and Boston’s expanding breakfast catering market, honeygrow was considering Boston as the location to trial a test launch. Utilizing our connections with the company, our Boston-based STRT4501 consulting group engaged with honeygrow to address a few core challenges on behalf of the health-focused eatery: 1. Validate breakfast catering as a viable value-add for honeygrow 2. Determine the best way to expand current catering operations to allow entry into the breakfast sector 3. Determine the best approach to this market entry, including where their breakfast offerings fit and positioning strategy (more…) -
NIRU: Remaining Competitive in a Mature Industry
Anshi Barmecha, Eseli Emasealu, James Ferrera, Conor Harris, Chawakorn Pongpairoj, and Aqib Rahman
BS BA in Supply Chain Management, Finance, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and EntrepreneurshipTitle: NIRU Diamonds: Remaining Competitive in a Mature Industry
Subject Area: Corporate strategy of extension, positioning strategy in a new market
Region: Switzerland
Industry: Custom diamond solutions
Company: NIRU
Challenge: The client, a supplier of custom diamond solutions for watches and jewelry, presented a challenge of how to best remain competitive in a mature diamond industry. The competition in the diamond and jewelry industry grew in intensity, with bigger players undercutting prices and outproducing others in supply. Ranjeet Barmecha, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, stated the future revenue projections were not up to the industry’s standards. The company strategically planned to expand the company’s revenue stream through the Swiss luxury watch industry in Geneva, however, it needed a way to differentiate to remain competitive moving forward. (more…) -
NARS Company CaseDana Dworkin, Edlyn Gulama, Marina Hess, Alex Ivanoff, Neil Rajan, Nicholas Yan BS BA in Finance, Marketing, Consulting, and AccountingTitle: NARS Company Case
Subject Area: Global strategy, competitive strategy
Region: United States, China
Industry: Cosmetics
Company: NARS Cosmetics
Challenge: While working on formulating its global strategy, NARS Cosmetics faced a quintessential business ethics dilemma. While competitors were rapidly entering the Chinese cosmetics market, NARS was debating whether it wants to enter China. Once a company starts selling cosmetics in China, it cannot be qualified as ‘cruelty-free’, as laws and regulations require testing on animals for all cosmetic products sold in the country. NARS has a choice to make; stay true to its original values and mission, or adapt their values to exclude remaining cruelty-free and advance into China to attain market share. (more…) -
SHANGYAO New Materials Co.
Schon Bediako, Weihua Cheng, Shaobin Du, Tianyi Li, Yun Pan, Jieying SuTitle: Shangyao New Materials Co.
Subject Area: Corporate strategy for stustainability
Region: Zhejiang, China
Industry: Construction
Company: Shangyao
Challenge: In June 2003, Shangyao was originally founded by Xichun Su in Zhejiang, China as a medium-sized enterprise to produce and sinter shale porous bricks. Now, in 2020, Shangyao has to make a change to improve its net income and avoid the risk of bankrupt due to its lack of competitive advantage and higher rivalry in the industry. Its leadership asked our consulting team of the capstone strategy course (Northeastern U.) two evaluate two options: a) open up a new branch for sludge treatment or b) continue expanding the existing brick-making and enhance its competitiveness in the market. The client expected us to illustrate which option provides stronger matches of market opportunities and company's strength, and outline the course of action. (more…) -
INTUIT INC. Luke Mistretta, Tim Lexa, Chris Masko, Tiefei Lu, Ziming Li, Jicheng Zhu
BS BA in Finance, Data Science, Marketing, Management Information Systems, AccountingTitle: QuickBooks of Intuit: Exploring a Path to Asia
Subject Area: Corporate strategy for an extension. Global strategy
Region: United States, China, Japan
Industry: Fin Tech
Company: Intuit Inc.
Challenge: Intuit Inc., based in Mountain View, California, is known for providing functional and easy-to-use financial applications, most notably TurboTax and QuickBooks. For our project, we focused on QuickBooks: an all-encompassing accounting software designed for small business owners to completely integrate their banking, invoicing, bookkeeping and other financial matters. Due to its attractive price and functionality, QuickBooks has grown to be Intuit’s main revenue driver and an industry-leader amongst U.S. accounting software providers. Internationally, however, QuickBooks has failed to gain any traction, as foreign revenue has never surpassed 5% of operations in the company’s history. Therefore, to reinvigorate their foreign presence, our team undertook a comprehensive strategic analysis of two potential destinations for expansion, China and Japan, to help meet a target date of Intuit’s October 2020 Investor Day. (more…) -
SOI: Eat Thai, Love Thai
Zenia Banaji, Brennan Dourdoufis, Young Jang, Jessica Kim, Miguel Palanca, Aakarsh SatyanarayanTitle: Soi: Eat Thai, Love Thai
Subject Area: Competetive strategy
Region: Manila, Philippines
Industry: Food Service Industry
Company: Soi Thai Restaurant
Challenge: Soi, a Thai restaurant chain located in the Philippines, is a family-owned business. Since the opening of the business’s newest location in the Alabang Town Center (ATC), this particular venue has been experiencing declining sales compared to its other locations. The opening of this new restaurant (Soi ATC) served a strategic purpose to the owners by expanding the restaurant chain further south. The new restaurant opened with promising sales but recently has seen decreasing revenues. The Alabang district is a high traffic central location within the city of Muntinlupa, with nearly 60% of the population falling between the ages 19-55. The area also boasts an educated and informed population due to the presence of academic and cultural centers in close proximity. The ATC is home to many other restaurants that vary highly in cuisine, cost, and service. (more…) -
AIRE FRESCO:
Jason McLarney, Remm Brofman, Colin Duff, Yu-Hsuan Kuo, Allegra SudartoTitle: Aire Fresco: B2B or B2C?
Subject Area: Competetive strategy
Region: Spane, other Spanish-speaking countries
Industry: Midfullness applications
Company: Aire Fresco
Challenge: Aire Fresco, a Barcelona-based mindfulness and meditation app, was conceived to bring quality and tailored Hispanic-focused mindfulness and meditation programs to the more than 400 million underserved Spanish-speakers around the globe. Though it gained decent traction since its launch in early 2019, Aire Fresco has struggled to convert its user base to paying subscribers. Additionally, Aire Fresco has faced increasing competition in the broader meditation app market due to a rise in the number of new competitors and a strengthening of the large incumbents. As a result of dwindling resources and time to capitalize on first-mover advantages in the Spanish market, Aire Fresco consulted our team to analyze the company’s current situation and advise on the imminent decision of whether to stay on course by serving the broader but more saturated B2C app market or focus on a B2B model serving corporations. (more…) -
JMO CONSULTING
Quinn Olson, Joel Poku, Moustafa Abdelaziz, Shruti Patel, Zi Ying Lee, Jiaxin ShenTitle: JMO Consulting Growth Strategy Report
Subject Area: Corporate strategy for an extension.
Region: United States
Industry: Management Consulting
Company: JMO Consulting LLC
Challenge: On January 15, 2020, JMO Consulting LLC approached Northeastern STRT4501 consulting group 3 about a strategic growth assessment. Given that JMO Consulting was such a small company and could only service a few clients at any given time, the company was primarily concerned with customer targeting and acquisition. Ultimately, two questions had to be answered for our client: 1. What type of customers should be targeted? 2. What strategy should be used to target those customers? To answer these questions for our client, we developed a comprehensive report which included: a) the company case, shaped around the dilemma under consideration b) case analysis and c) strategy formulation and implementation recommendations -- up to the action plan and feasibility study. (more…) -
CEDRAL TASSONI: International Expansion
Ivan Todorov, Gillian Wong, Matthew Caso, Matthew Dunn, Alexander GarciaTitle: Cedral Tassoni: International Expansion
Subject Area: Global corporate strategy
Region: Italy, the United Kingdom, and France
Industry: Soft Drinks
Company: Cedral Tassoni
Challenge: Tassoni is an Italian beverage company that has been in operation since 1956. Headquartered in Salo, Italy, Tassoni is known for its natural and refreshing taste, as well as it’s straightforward yet effective marketing. Tassoni’s locally sourced ingredients combined with their recipe has led to the firm having a great reputation amongst Italians. After a successful product launch and expansion into the Middle East, Giorgio Fasoli, the company’s COO, set his sights on further expansion into Europe. The two new countries that the firm was considering expansion into was either the United Kingdom (U.K) or France. (more…) -
THE BLUE CHICKEN Case
Kristy Chen, Rebecca Chen, Richard Glasser, Elizaveta Pereguda, Luisa Plata, Zulan Ruan
BS BA in Finance, Computer Science, Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, JournalismTitle: The Blue Chicken Case
Subject Area: Positioning Strategy, competitive strategy
Region: United States
Industry: Fast-casual food industry
Company: The Blue Chicken
Challenge: The Blue Chicken was a food start-up that has served fried chicken at the Smorgasburg food market in New York City for nearly a year. Since its opening in May 2019, The Blue Chicken experienced high demand and often sold out of its menu items. The founder, Aaron Ratner, was looking to increase The Blue Chicken’s presence in New York City by either claiming a spot in a food hall or through opening a food truck. Food halls would have adequate space for The Blue Chicken to prepare and store a greater volume of food, which would address the space issue Smorgasburg presented. However, the mobility and minimal financial resources required to set up a food truck was also appealing to this recent college graduate with little industry experience. (more…) -
APARTMENTZ.COM Company Case
Derek Lucas, Rayyan Islam, Charles Quinn, Aliyah Mathur, Tiffany Wong
BS BA in MIS & Supply Chain Management, Finance, Data Science, Marketing, Management Information SystemsTitle: APARTMENTZ.COM COMPANY CASE
Subject Area: Positioning Strategy
Region: India
Industry: Classified industry vs. an online real estate industry
Company: Apartmentz.com, Online housing portal
Challenge: Apartmentz.com was a late entrant to the online housing portal space. It launched its services on July 7, 2012, and began with a focus only on rental search. They are now an online platform where users can post their listings to sell their housing needs in various Indian cities. In 2017 Propliger.com and apartmentz.com merged to become India’s largest online real estate services company. The joint entity received a financial boost with Australia’s REA group providing $50 million in the capital with Softbank, who had previously invested $90 million two years prior, offering an additional $5 million. The aftermath of this led to interim CEO Jason Kothari being dismissed and PropLiger co-founder and CEO Raj Kapoor taking the reins of the joint company... (more…) -
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS: A Case Study
Surina Sud, Richard Li, Kieran Knott, Daifeng (Leo) Lin, Peyton Luxford BSBA in Marketing, Management, Business Analytics, Finance, Interaction Design, Mathematics, UX DesignTitle: Los Angeles Chargers: A Case Study Subject Area: Competitive strategy Region: United States Industry: National Football League Company: The Chargers Challenge: The Los Angeles Chargers are a part of the strong allegiance of the National Football League. The Chargers called San Diego their home until the 2017 season, when it was somewhat abruptly announced that the team was to move to Los Angeles and eventually share a stadium (to be completed in 2020) with the L.A. Rams. In the interim, the Chargers have been playing in a soccer stadium which has significantly decreased profits and otherwise damaged the spirits of an already disheartened fanbase. The team had to recalibrate its positioning challenge, specifically related to new market entry, and elucidate a strategy that could effectively connect the Chargers with its new community. (more…) -
AKENEO Company Case John Braun, Bobby Dunn, Nathan Glazer, Jason Saint Laurent, Henry Li
BS BA in Marketing, Management Information Systems, Computer ScienceTitle: Akaneo Company Case
Subject Area: Corporate Strategy for Business Sustainability
Region: United States
Industry: Product information management (PIM)
Company: Akaneo
Challenge: Akeneo is a Software-as-a-Service company that prides itself on delivering lean and efficient product information management (PIM) software to its business clients. The PIM is offered in two versions: free and enterprise. Akeneo is a global leader in the PIM industry and provides a critical software backbone for thousands of retail companies. However, after attending a major technology conference, CEO Frédéric de Gombert realized that Akeneo’s enterprise offering was not attracting enough clients. Smaller companies, despite needing PIM software, were unable to fully utilize or need the larger scale enterprise edition that Akeneo was pushing. In order to maintain Akeneo’s competitive advantage in the PIM market, Akeneo needs to expand to a more inclusive client base and retain existing relationships. (more…)
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ROCKY COAST BUILDING Case Study Karli Brush, Amanda Galvez, Thomas Harte, Jennifer Kang, Matthew Poblador, Gerad Sockol BS BA in Marketing, Finance, Management, Accounting, Political ScienceTitle: ROCKY COAST BUILDING Case Study
Subject Area: Positioning strategy, competitive strategy
Region: MA, United States
Industry: Construction Industry
Company: Rocky Coast Building, a home building company
Challenge: Needham native Rob Craft founded the Rocky Coast Building (RCB) construction company in 1993 with the mission to provide members of his community with a transparent process for creating their dream home through maintaining relationships with suppliers built on trust and delivering high-quality finished products. With the number of competitors in the market increasing while margins remained stagnant, Rob looked to his childhood friend, Jon Smith, for help in 2016. Jon discovered that although RCB was constructing approximately ten speculative (spec) homes a year, the company could generate a higher net income by making five to six custom homes a year. With this in mind, Rob and Jon have a dilemma challenge in which they must decide whether to continue with their current strategy of focusing on spec homebuilding or to alter their strategy to focus on custom homebuilding. (more…) -
GOLDMAN SACHS, INC. Case. Tess Alonge, Ghala AlShamri, Noumou Dembele, Katherine Lian, James MacKrell BS BA in Finance, Management, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, AccountingTitle: Traditional Financial Advising in the Age of Fintech Case
Subject Area: Corporate strategy
Region: United States
Industry: Financials Services - Private Wealth Management & Fintech
Company: Goldman Sachs, Inc.
Challenge: In the face of increasing competition of automated investing software, Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management division, in the financial services industry and located in New York, NY, has to differentiate itself in the market of increasing technology to avert declining revenues in this segment. ● The team was very passionate about the sustainability challenge and conducted extensive research into the corporate company and industry to evaluate different scenarios and assess which one would be the most successful considering the mission, value, and vision of the company.
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TIDAL TRADERS: Stiff Competition Calls for New Streams of Revenue
Owen Haiber, Matthew Kelly, Daniela Ponce, Zoe Robert, & Brendan SlatteryTeam: BS BA in Finance, Computer Science, Entrepreneurship, Economics, SustainabilityTitle: Stiff Competition Calls for New Streams of Revenue
Subject Area: Positioning Strategy, competitive strategy
Region: United States
Industry: High Frequency Trading (HFT)
Company: Tidal Traders
Challenge: Tidal Traders is faced with an evolving HFT landscape. How can the firm position itself to become a leader in high-frequency bond trading while maintaining superior performance in its established capabilities? This case analysis outlines a challenge-problem faced by an international High-Frequency Trading (HFT) firm in the financial technology industry. Once the question of entering a new financial space is established, an analysis of the company, market, and industry is formed to place the challenge into context. Then a consulting report is developed which analyzes and contemplates different solutions. Accordingly, a strategy is chosen and recommended to the firm with detailed steps for implementation. This case is designed to recommend an action plan for a company dealing with a rapidly-changing industry. If implemented well, the recommendations will enable the company to sustain a competitive advantage in their industry. (more…) -
AMBARELLA, INC. Alessia Pellegrini, Max Wagner, Iris Fan, Ian Davoren, and Maria Gabriela Herrera BS BA in Marketing, Finance, Psychology -
ERIC’S HEALTH FOOD SHOPPE: Are Niche Brick and Mortar Stores Sustainable?
Gabriela Alfaro | Prakhyat Chouta | Gillian McLarty | Christian Miller | Nicole Piker BS BA in Finance and MarketingTitle: Eric’s Health Food Shoppe: Facing The Challenge of Substitutes
Subject Area: Competitive strategy
Region: United States
Industry: Organic Food and Beverage Industry
Company: Eric’s Health Food Shoppe
Challenge: Eric’s Health Food Shoppe has a mission to build community through the sale of healthy products and vitamins. Owner Eric Piker wants to keep his store competitive while still maintaining this goal—but his margins are thinning as competitors such as Amazon continue to undercut his prices. As the substitutes continue to enter the market, Eric worries that if he doesn’t act now, his business may have to close in the next five to seven years. Eric’s Health Food Shoppe is facing a challenge-problem of strategy recalibration.
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International Expansion: COFEM S.A.
Stephanie Manna (MIM), Kehinde Adelani (MBA), Jeffrey Dulgarian (MBA), Nicole Magni (MBA) -
AYUDA Expansion Decision
Hannah Cheney (MIM), Rae Akinsanya (MIM), Josh Pikus (MIM),
Nick Roy (MBA), Alex Tinios (MBA) -
NOVO NORDISK: Moving Biopharm out of Denmark
Hedan Mindy Zhang (MBA), Janeen Greene (MBA), Jiayi Zhao (MSIB),
Jennifer Pond (MBA), Siddharth Patel (MBA) -
SILVER KOI RESTAURANTS
Victoria Bertussi, Carrera Chao, Raochen Bao, Emmet ClarkeSubject Area: International Business
Region: Hong Kong & Western Europe (Paris or London)
Industry: Restaurant Industry
Company: Silver Koi Restaurants (This is a pseudonym for privacy purposes.)
Decision Makers: Henry Clark and Sam Hussein (These are pseudonyms for privacy purposes.)
Dilemma: This case analyzes a hospitality group based in Hong Kong called Silver Koi Restaurants, which is looking to expand its market internationally to increase its global influence. The Co-Founders, Henry Clark and Sam Hussein, are faced with the decision to expand to either Paris, France or London, UK, two of the most popular cities in Europe. Paris is attractive because of its distinctive dining experience and flourishing economy, while London offers the prospects to connect with a local hotel chain through which they could expand. (more…) -
Radzivon Marozau (Ph.D.) and Julia Ivy (Ph.D.)
FIREDOORS: The Belarusian Company is Going GlobalSubject area: Emerging Economy, Business Internationalization
Region: Eastern Europe (Belarus), European Union, United States
Industry: Fire and smoke protection
Company: FireDoors.by
Decision Maker: Dmitry Bratanov, Director for Development and co-founder
Dilemma: Dmitry Bratanov, Director for Development and co-founder of FireDoors—a company producing antismoke and fire-protection curtains for public spaces—was convinced that, after the economic crisis in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region in 2014–2016, the company needed to expand to other markets in order to secure profitability and sustainability. (more…)
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Junte Liy (MS International Business)
Entering the Emerging Market of Convertible Bonds -
Noa Shneorson, Johnathan Stav,
Alexander Dfouni, Nicholas Fung
BS Business Administration
The LILYPAD Case -
Ali Choucri (MBA), Anne Dietterich (GSIB), Victoria Gillern (MBA)
HC Security and Investments Expansion DecisionSubject area: International Business
Region: Middle East (Egypt), Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong)
Industry: Financial Services
Company: HC Security and Investments
Decision Maker: Mr. Choucri, CEO
Dilemma: The case involved an Egyptian investment company, HC Securities, which was facing challenges related to Egypt’s economic slowdown. Its CEO, Mr. Choucri felt expansion into an Asia-Pacific country could help with the company’s growth and stability. He identified Hong Kong and Singapore as the most compelling locations because of their sophisticated economies and growth potential in the investments industry. (more…)
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Global Studies and Change in the Society Cases
2016 “Making Your Case” Competition
