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Onlinestar, an online retailer of furniture and garden products (core business), has grown significantly in recent years as a result of an expansion of its product portfolio. The company mainly imports goods from Chinese manufacturers but also operates its own production of cat lavatories (special b ... Open whole case

You have inherited the “Old Winery” from your grandfather, a winery which has been family owned for five generations and can be dated back to the 16th century. Half of the eleven hectares are used to grow white grapes, the other half to grow red grapes. They are grown in the conventional way, i.e. ... Open whole case

The municipal utility Hamburg Energized is a local energy retail (power and gas) and distribution grid company active in the city of Hamburg. The majority of shares of Hamburg Energized is held by the city itself. As the distribution system operator of Hamburg, Hamburg Energized is responsible for t ... Open whole case

A leading online real estate marketplace in Germany – your-new-home.com – is struggling with stagnating sales after many years of high growth rates. In a preliminary project with Parthenon, the market environment has already been examined in detail – competitors, new entrants, customer needs, etc. ... Open whole case

The bank "His Earlship Charles", a domestic retail and private bank is in a difficult situation. Profits have been declining over the past years due to the ongoing low interest rates set by the central bank. Additionally, the bank is suffering from a decreasing number of customers. The board of dire ... Open whole case

Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Friday live on an island. Their only access to civilization and trade are the inhabitants of the neighboring island, a people of excellent engineers (they also have electricity). The island is quite large with a small desert in the middle, surrounded by stormy sea. Mr. Friday h ... Open whole case

I’m thinking about setting up a wine cellar in my basement. The way I see it, shelf space would be divided into two sections: (1) a “drinking” section where I store bottles for my own consumption and (2) an “investment” section where I store bottles that I intend to sell at a profit after they appre ... Open whole case

Your client, large automotive OEM WyCar, has developed its first fully electric vehicle (EV) and introduced it as a pilot on the Austrian market last year. However, sales have been far below the expected numbers. The management has engaged you to support them in understanding the reasons and advise ... Open whole case

TrainCo is a manufacturer of rolling stock, or trains, with production sites in three European countries. The company has seen declining profitability over the past years; however, they are currently in a very good position to bid for and win a big contract for regional trains for a Swiss national r ... Open whole case

A friend of yours recently got promoted to the position of director of a university library. Yesterday, your friend received a call from the Ministry of Education, who offered him to be part of a national RFID pilot with his library. As your friend is unsure if he should pursue this option, he asks ... Open whole case

LumCO, a company producing injection-molded components for lighting applications, has operated successfully in its native European market. The company wants to open up one production facility each in China and the United States and establish their own distribution network in both countries to serve ... Open whole case

Duraflex is a German footwear company with annual men’s footwear sales of approximately €1 b. They have always relied on the boot market for the majority of their volume. In this market they compete with three other major competitors. In the fall of 2013, Badger – one of Duraflex’s competitiors – ... Open whole case

LubricantsCo, a very successful Asian premium producer of lubricants in their native region, would like to further increase their revenue and profit. The product range ranges from lubricants in the automotive sector (e.g. motor and gear oil) to industrial applications (e.g. fats, heavy-duty oils). ... Open whole case

You have been hired to support the owner of a bike-shop as a business consultant. The bike-shop has suffered a significant revenue decline during the last year, and now the owner would like you to assess the situation and options for the way forward. They want to know last year’s profit, i.e. how i ... Open whole case

Private Bank Anytown disposes total assets of approx. EUR 3 bn on December 31, 2014. The growth strategy of the institution determined at the end of 2010, however, has a higher impact on the cost side than on the income side. Aggregated to the return on equity as defined central parameter of the ba ... Open whole case

Your client is a newly founded protein company. Its owners are two brothers. One of them is a chemist and the other one is a very famous fitness model and personal trainer on YouTube. They intend to enter the nutrition supplements industry where they want to focus on protein supplementation for body ... Open whole case

Your client is Madhouse Studios, one of the largest anime producers in Japan. The anime-industry is flourishing. Originally revenue was generated mainly in Japan but the trend is that revenues outside of Japan are growing at a steady rate of 15% a year as more and more non-Japanese people enjoy anim ... Open whole case

One day you are grocery shopping when you are approached by Barb B. Queue, the owner of the supermarket’s deli shop. Facing serious competition from other supermarkets and fast food chains, Barb is worried whether his shop is working alright, as lately profits have been stagnating. He had figured th ... Open whole case

As much as monopolists enjoy their monopolistic benefits, they live in outright fear once the market gets liberalized. Your client, GASolina, has decided to take precautious action and asked you to discuss the potential consequences of a market liberalization. You are speaking to the head of sales ... Open whole case

Your client is a large company in the Polish telecommunication sector, providing and maintaining the infrastructure for telephony and ADSL and offering services like phone & internet subscriptions and televison to consumers. As in most countries, the regulator has ruled that new entrants must be giv ... Open whole case