Writing Assignment 2: Mini Case Analysis
ECON 634 Bangalore, Dec/Jan 2009/10
100 Points
Due Date: Tuesday Jan 5 at 1pm; 25 point penalty per day late

This is a team-based writing assignment. My strongly preferred team size is four, but I will consider team sizes of three or five on a case-by-case basis. Your assignment is to

Read the Harvard Business Review short case study “Class- or Mass”. Write an analysis of the case following this outline (submit one report for your entire team):
Identify 3 possible actions the firm could take to deal with its excess inventory problem. These actions may be options identified by characters in the case, or actions you think of yourself.
Start your review be stating clearly each of the
I 'm convinced that we have to drop our prices by 40% to 50%-and soon."

Big Fish in a Small Pond

Hargrove snatched a stack of cocktail napkins to mop up the cola, but his eyes never left Sanchez's face. He hoped she'd break into a smile to indicate that she was teasing him about the price cut. It had to be a joke, right? Seafood was a high-end business in North America, and Neptune was an upmarket-many believed the most upmarket-player in the $20 billion industry. During the past 40 years, the company had earned a reputation for producing the best seafood, and Neptune did everything it could to preserve that premium image among customers.

The company reached its consumers, who were extremely demanding, through various channels. Neptune generated about 30% of its revenues by selling frozen and processed fish products to U.S. grocery chains, like Shaw's Supermarkets, and organic food retailers, like Whole Foods Market, all along the eastern seaboard and in parts of the
Midwest.

The Neptune's Gold line of seafood products, manufactured in two sophisticated plants near Cedar Key, Florida, and Norfolk, Virginia, dominated most segments in terms of quality, and therefore sold at premiums compared with other brands. For example, Neptune's Gold canned salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, herring, and pilchard enjoyed a 30% higher price point, on average, than other brands; and