Details
Case Report
Your need to submit a written report for the case “Nestle Refrigerated Foods:
Contadina Pasta & Pizza (A)” (case# 595-035) by the end of week 9 (11:59pm of Sunday,
September 27th). The case can be found in the section for “Week 10” (on Moodle), and
detailed instruction on submitting the document is in the section titled “Assessments”.
The structure and requirement for this assignment is the same as case report 1.
As you work on this case report, make sure that you take the feedback you receive for
the previous case report into consideration.
Structure of the Assignment
The main body of your write-up should consist of the following three sections. The
sections should be clearly labelled and appropriate use of bullet points and tables are
strongly encouraged. The percentages in the parentheses approximately represent the
amount of space you should allocate to each section.
Problem statement – clearly state the managerial problem in fewer than three
sentences (<5%)
Diagnosis (35%)
o Identifying the key underlying factors/issues that the company needs to
consider or understand in solving the problem identified above. And
briefly explain why these factors/issues are important. For example, for
the Starbucks case, suppose the problem is to improve customer
satisfaction. Then according to the case, what factors contributed to
decline in customer satisfaction? Are they all equally important?
o What these factors are differ case by case. The way you identify these
factors is often by understanding the issues the key decision makers in
the case wrestle with.
o The factors/issues need to be clearly identified, itemized and ranked by
importance. In your writing, you are to discuss no more than one factor in
each paragraph. Note that it should not a laundry list, which means that
2you need to focus on the important factors. Always start with what is in
your opinion the most important factor.
Solution (60%)
o Propose a solution or course of action1
. And clearly explain how the
proposed solution takes into consideration each of the factors/issues
identified in the diagnostic section.
o Provide a justification for your solution, on the basis of case evidence,
data and quantitative analysis. Sound logic is a must. Most decisions
(solutions) involve some kind of trade-off between different decision
criteria. Recognizing and discussing what these trade-offs are is essential
for your justification
o Identify any potential drawbacks or criticism—both real and potential—
against your proposed solution and provide a compelling rebuttal
In addition to the three sections, you also need to provide a brief executive summary
at the beginning of your report. In this section, you need to state—in bullet point format—
the managerial problem, key factors, and the main component of the proposed solution.
If you perform any calculations, describe them in detail in the appendix.
When first reading the case, you are likely to have an instinctive feel of which
solution you want to adopt. But that is not enough. The goal of the diagnostics section is in
part for you to understand your instinctive reaction and identify the reasons behind it, and
articulate it in a coherent fashion.
To do well in this assignment, you need a combination of understanding the basic
case facts, sound judgement of the business situation and some conceptual thinking
Word Count
If you follow the instruction and write in a concise manner, you don’t need more than
1500 words to meet the requirements above. The absolute maximum word count is 2000
(excluding the brief executive summary and appendix). There is a 10% penalty if you exceed
it.
1 Note that your solution can also be “negative,” in the sense that you argue against a prevailing notion (for
example, an issue that is generally perceived to be important is in fact not so critical as people believe).
Similarly, you could conclude that the best solution is to maintain status quo (do nothing).
3Study Questions
In case you still feel a bit lost about this assignment, I have provided you with some
study questions below. Working through these questions should give you some hints about
the topics you need to focus on in your case report.
- What are the customer value proposition and the market positioning of the
proposed pizza product? Is it similar to the pasta product?
- What are the main similarities and dissimilarities between the findings of concept tests for the proposed pizza and pasta products? What do people like/dislike about
the pasta product? What do people like/dislike about the pizza product (hint:
exhibit 6 and 19)
- The case states that the targeted retail price for the pizza and toppings is $8.00. Is it realistic? Explain.
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