PWC普华永道面试案例case整理(两个案例)

P W C普华永道面试案例c a s e整理(两个案例)

-CAL-FENGHAI-(2020YEAR-YICAI)_JINGBIAN

PricewaterhouseCoopers

CASE DISCUSSION

BUSINESS CASE

Interview Case Study #1

Roane & Hickey, Inc.

You have been recently hired into the Strategic Change (SC) group, a business unit of PricwaterhouseCoopers. SC is the strategy thought leader in PwC. The engagement partner in Consumer Products has come to SC to help develop a strategy for Roane & Hickey, Inc. (R&H). This engagement has the potential of positioning PwC to R&H and its parent conglomerate for the next five, possible ten years.

Company Background

R&H is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a multi-national conglomerate. The conglomerate owns ten companies operating in the U.S. R&H is the largest of the ten. R&H is a consumer goods company distributing well-known branded products through grocery, drug, mass merchant and club channels. With $4 billion in revenues in the U.S., R&H is one of the top three players in the consumer goods industry. The company has been marginally profitable over the past ten years. 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 manufacturing and distribution facilities around the world to support its production and distribution systems. R&H takes advantage of lower labor costs in Mexico, Canada and Southeast Asia to lower its manufacturing costs. R&H still maintains three plants in the U.S. Because of the over-capacity that R&H has experienced, R&H has negotiated deals with sister companies overseas to manufacture and direct-ship product.

R&H has four market segments that operate as profit centers. The market segments are: Personal Hygiene, Consumer Tissue, Soaps and Detergents and Personal Care. Even though the revenues are roughly evenly divided among all four market segments, Personal Care contributes 90% of the company's profits. In Personal Care, R&H owns the two top branded products, in the other categories the company has the number two

brand, and in one segment, number three. R&H has committed to building a consumer franchise through aggressive advertising and in-store merchandising support.

Industry Trends

In the U.S., brands are under attack from private labels, who are now competing on both price and quality. Brands are looking to justify their price premiums. The value of being the number one brand cannot be taken lightly. The return on sales of the top brand is almost twice that of the number two brand. The return on sales for the number two brand is twice that of the number three brand.

The power of the retail industry in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past five years. The retailers are driving additional costs upon manufacturers. With established products, retailers are demanding a minimal level of turns per year. With new products, retailers are demanding slotting fees and ever-increasing promotional support. Product managers are forced to achieve current product revenue and market share goals while stimulating demand for new products. Many industry experts feel that there will be consolidation of brands within many of the market segments in which R&H competes and, as a result of this brand consolidation, that R&H will lose critical sales mass and become a major casualty.

In the last two years the allocation of marketing dollars has changed dramatically; trade promotion has risen to 40% of total marketing spending, consumer promotion has climbed slightly and advertising has declined. Industry analysts have pointed to R&H's trade promotion strategy as being the catalyst for the growth in trade promotion in the industry as competitors have been forced to respond.

R&H is widely regarded as a retail-oriented company. With a sales force that is twice the size of anyone else's in the industry, R&H has forged great retail relationships over the years. R&H traditionally had the best order fill rate in the business; however, recently some of the efforts to reduce inventory has caused shortages in key promoted products.

R&H Organization

There are six Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs) in R&H responsible for functional areas. All the EVPs report to the President, who is also CEO. The Executive Vice Presidents represent Marketing, Sales, Finance, Manufacturing, Engineering and Human Resources. The EVP of Finance has responsibility for financial reporting and analyses as well as managing Procurement, Deployment, Scheduling and Logistics. All the market segment managers report directly to the Executive Vice President of Marketing.

Much of the blame for the performance of the company over the last ten years fell on the shoulders of the former president. It was whispered that he was from the "old