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Sell, Keep, Repurpose

For brainstorming questions where a company is curious about what to do with a subsidiary or if a company has acquired a competitor and its retail locations, what would be some pros and cons for each:

Selling/Renting

Keeping

Repurposing (I guess this bucket is not applicable for the subsidiary option but it is for the retail location option)

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Top answer
Profile picture of Benjamin
on Aug 05, 2023
Ex-BCG Principal | 8+ years consulting experience in SEA | BCG top interviewer & top performer

Hi,

As other coaches have mentioned - the context matters alot. It is hard for us to give feedback or share more relevant thoughts without a specific context.

For example, if keeping a subsidiary would allow access to products/services/capabilities that will add value to the parent company, then that is a pro. However if the subsidiary was a loss-making entity with little chance of turnaround, then its going to be a liability to keep it. The possibilities are almost endless, so context matters. 

One thing you could do by yourself is try and read up on real life examples of companies who have done actions like these, and understand the logic behind what they did.

All the best!

Profile picture of Ian
Ian
Coach
on Aug 02, 2023
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

Hi there,

I'd need a lot more information here. Need to better understand the case itself (the firm, the industry, why they've aquired, etc.).

Also, please remember that frameworks are not a list of pros + cons. Rather, they're a structured grouping/approach for the thinking.

Profile picture of Andi
Andi
Coach
on Aug 02, 2023
BCG 1st & Final Round interviewer | Personalized prep with >95% success rate | 7yrs coaching | Experienced Hires

Hi there,

could you please specify the context a bit? Will make it easier for us coaches to give you tailored advise.

Thanks, Andi

Profile picture of Cristian
on Aug 02, 2023
Ex-McKinsey | Verifiable 88% offer rate (annual report) | First-principles cases + PEI storylining

Hi there, 

That's a great question, but I'd recommend that you provide an answer yourself that we could then give feedback on. 

As an alternative, you can have fun and practice these sort of brainstorming questions also with ChatGPT. It can give quite good answers and you can ask it to go deeper into certain areas. 

Also sharing with you a guide on how to approach brainstorming questions best in terms of structuring and depth:


Best,
Cristian