Q1: To ensure business continuity, having an emergency scenario is essential. In the current COVID 19 Pandemic situation, it is vital to react as fast as possible in order to mitigate impacts and other risks and to prepare the organisation for the further development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its possible scenarios. Business continuity management covers infrastructure, cyber, employee, business, operational and communication risks, with the aim of managing an organisation that has to face new challenges and risks and wants to ensure continuity of operations and production. In normal operation activities and in reaction to common events (e.g. breakdowns), business continuity management sets a strategic and operational framework to actively increase corporate resilience. The objective is clear: to prevent suspension of operations or services.

How can your organisation ensure continuity of business? Think and evolve a structured framework for organisational resilience? (MM 40, Restrict your answer in less than 250 words)

Q2. Your consulting team has been hired by Unilever, a multinational corporation that owns many of the worlds consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever. Doves product lines include: antiperspirants/deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions/moisturizers, hair care, and facial care products. Recently Unilever has noticed that it is losing market share in the soap product and suspects that its pricing is to blame. The company currently charges $1.20/bar for the Dove soap as opposed to $1.00/bar for the Safeguard soap charged by major competitor Procter & Gamble Co.. Should Unilever lower its price to $1.00? (MM 40)

Additional Information

Dove soaps are currently selling 15 million bars/year; were selling 20 million bars/year before the brand started losing market share. The soap market is a mature industry (not growing rapidly). The marketing department of Unilever believes that lowering its price to $1.00/bar would boost volume back to 20 million bars/year. (How would you test this? Consider a demand analysis using demand instruments.) Unilever has a reputation of producing the highest-quality product on the market and Dove is a highly recognized brand. The soap market is dominated by four main competitors. Currently the clients market share is 12 percent. The four competitors (Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Henkel, LOreal) have market shares of 30, 20, 17 and 10 percent respectively. Currently, the client Unilever has the capacity to handle virtually any increase in demand. The company cannot specify the overall cost of a unit (except that it is less than $1.00 and greater than $0.80), but it does know the cost structure to be the following:30 percent labor; 20 percent inputs; 20 percent general and administrative; 20 percent overhead; 10 percent other.

Q3. Our client Optical Fiber Solutions (OFS) manufactures and markets leading-edge fusion splicers, optical fiber, optical cable, fiber to the home (FTTX), connectivity and optical components. Headquartered in Norcross in the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Optical Fiber Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese telecom and electric company Furukawa Electric Co. An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of glass (silica), slightly thicker than a human hair. It can function as a waveguide, or light pipe, to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. Optical fiber has volume advantages to copper wire and is mainly used by the telecom, cable and mobile phone industries. Its made in glass strands and rolled onto 25 km spools. Our client Optical Fiber Solutions customers (who are generally major Telecoms networks like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon) would buy a huge quantity, bundle it up, dig a trench and put the bundle of optical fibers in the ground. Recently, the client has seen a 50% decline in revenues, and has recently brought in a new CEO. The new CEO of OFS would like you to help address three questions: (MM 40)

1. Why did revenues drop 50% in one year?

2. Can he expect an improvement, and if so in what timeframe?

3. How does our company compare to our competitors?