Case study subject research methods

You Are the Consultants 

Case #3 

A large video program and internet provider has seen a 10% annual rate of subscriber growth over the past three years. The growth rate has been spurred by a marketing department that typically has three or four marketing campaigns a year to drive new subscriptions. 

Over the past year subscriber uncollectables have grown 40% above the previous years. The executives of the company want to see at least double digit business growth for the company and have agreed to new marketing campaigns to promote new subscribers. 

Problem: 

The reason for the high growth rate in uncollectable accounts is not clear. The growth in these accounts has caused the net earnings of the company to be lower than expected. What do you recommend that the company do to solve the uncollectable issue? 

Instructions on next page!   
 

Instructions 

1. Use your training in economics and business to address the problems. As a consultant, you need to first make sure you are familiar with the company and the industry you are working for by doing preliminary research. Then read the description carefully to determine the main conflict/issue. The suggestions and solutions provided should be, logical, realistic and reasonable. 

2. You can use the following questions as a guide to your proposed actions. 

a. Who is responsible for making the decision? 

b. Does the decision maker have enough information to make a good decision? If not what information is required? 

c. Do they have incentive to do so? 

d. How would you go about determining the best course of action? 

3. Prepare a voice-over presentation to discuss the statement of the problem/issue and potential business alternatives. The file name should be ‘Last name _project name’. 

4. The ppt should include a cover slide, showing at the least the title of the presentation and the name(s) of the consultants. The ppt should be not more than 3 slides, excluding the cover slide and reference, if any. 

5. The presentation should take no longer than 5 minutes. No written submission is needed. 

6. It is assumed that you are giving the presentation to the executives of the company. Use the appropriate tone and wording during your presentation. Pay attention to the type of audience you are facing. 

7. Do not read off the slides. Do not simply read off the script that you might have written down. You need to give a talk using the ppt slides as an aid. Reading and talking are two different things and people (including me) can often tell the difference easily. 

8. Make simple slides and limit the amount of content. Too much content or graphics can be overwhelming and carry the audience away from your talk. Unless absolutely necessary, restrain from using pictures and cartoons. 

9. You can prepare scripts for your presentation. However, it is highly recommended that you do not read from the scripts in your presentation unless you can read it as if reading lines for a play without sounding robotically. 

10. Rehearse before recording! Presentations not well prepared with adversely affect your performance. 

11. The file name should be ‘Last name_project name’ for group work and ‘Last name_First name_project name’.