DROWLING MOUNTAIN
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BUS-686 Business Case Analysis

Navjot Singh (Nav)
1410337

Drowling Mountain is a case based on a number of learning goals such as financial management in a crisis, Operations turn around, Break even projections from various sources etc. The team touched on almost all of these learning goals. The team did a great job in presenting the scenario faced by Martin Cartier, Chair of the board of directors – Drowling Mountain Ski Resorts. There were some missed segments but overall the effort was commendable.
Content: The situational analysis was pretty solid and the team presented the facts in a lucid manner. The team made the key goal clear in the beginning which was essential to guide the audience in the direction of the recommendation. The scoring model used in the option analysis was quite comprehensive but there was some room for other options as well. The bold option to sell off the assets was not discussed. Similarly, marketing although a costly affair should have been included in the option analysis. Another way to account for marketing was in the implementation of price decrease. A price decrease would be less effective if it is not marketed properly. Another important aspect was the target market. The target market for Drawling Mountain was the regular adult skiers. There was a limit to which the visitors could be increased. In order to attract people other than target market, a significant investment in marketing and visitor experience was needed. The team’s analysis only indirectly indicated the target market. The price recommendation did not take into consideration changing the pricing packages which were presumed by many customers as ambiguous. Another clue to look for was that the management was trying a bunch of options too such as decreasing workforce, and not decreasing costs thinking they have reached a threshold. These options suggest that there is certainly an element on how the management inability to react to changes in the business environment. Hence, changing the management structure was another option that should have been touched upon.
The recommendation based on decreasing the labor costs