Parrish Library Case CompetitionCASE ANNOUNCEMENT SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

What is a case competition?Competitive Problem SolvingRequires Presentation Skills, Analytics Skills, Teamwork

TimelineSept. 30

•Case Presentation. 6pm-7pm Case Announcement. Online. Attendance Not Required. Recorded.

Oct. 5, 6

• Prepare 10-20 powerpoint slides, 1 page summary Monday 11:59pm• Tuesday Oct. 6 Top Three Announced

Oct. 9

• 1pm-4:30pm Purdue• Top Three Present, 1st, 2nd, 3rd announced• Open to All- Come Watch

Timeline September 30- Case Announcement 6-7pm

Top Three Announced Tuesday October 6

Monday, October 5- PowerPoint and Executive Summary Due 11:59pm

◦ http://tinyurl.com/parrishcasedrop

Top Three Compete Friday, October 9, 1-5PM Burton Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship rm. 121

◦ First team: 1:30◦ Second team: 2:30◦ Third team: 3:30◦ Awards: 4:30

Case- Breakfast of Champions◦overall cereal market is projected to be an $11 billion market

◦cold cereal makes up 87% of the category.

Post Holdings◦10% share of cold cereal in the United States.◦flat sales (-0.6%) during the 52 weeks ending April 18, 2015.

◦experience declines among more healthy brands – 11.1% for Shredded Wheat and 9.3% for Grape Nuts – Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles brands saw increases of 12.6% and 6.1%, respectively.

Success of Healthy BrandsAt the same time, the success of healthy brands cannot be disputed in the market ◦ Nature’s Path sales rose from $70.2 million

to $77.3 million during the 52-week period, and

◦ KIND LLC saw sales of its Healthy Grains granola clusters cereal increase from $23.6 million to $41.5 million.

◦ Consumers’ increasing interest in natural products coupled with the desire to support smaller manufacturers is driving this growth. These smaller manufacturers are cutting Post out of the market.

Success of Nostalgic and Millennial Market

Your job◦ Investigate the market for cold

cereals in the United States, with specific emphasis on the adult market.

◦ Also research Post Holdings, getting to know the many brands which Post owns.

◦ Come up with a recommendation, using Post’s brands

Your Job What should Post do to defend their large manufacturing position against smaller brands? Should they embrace a specific adult consumer segment? Your final decision can include any brands within Post’s holdings, not just cereal.

Your Presentation Should Include◦ A defined target market (demographics, geography, psychographics)◦ Implementation/Action Plan◦ Trend Analysis- What is working? What is failing?◦ Processes or models that would help Post understand the market, or

suggest innovative solutions◦ Explain how evaluated alternatives before reaching your final

recommendation◦ What products or marketing tactics should they focus on first? What

concrete steps should they take?

Deliverables (1 of 2) PowerPoint

◦ Labelled Teamname_presentation◦ 10-20 slides for a 25 minute presentation◦ Can include comments on each slide about what would be said at the point in the presentation◦ Should include Works Cited, APA formatted, parenthetical citation on each slides◦ Submit here:

Deliverables: submit here: http://tinyurl.com/parrishcasedrop

Deliverables (1 of 2) Executive Summary (1 page) Each executive summary should:

◦ Labelled Teamname_execsummary◦ Describe the problem, need or goal◦ Describe the proposed solution and the desired outcome◦ Explain how evaluated alternatives◦ Summarize findings◦ Does not need a separated Works Cited, can use parenthetical citation and cite things on the citation

slide of the PowerPoint

◦ Deliverables: submit here: http://tinyurl.com/parrishcasedrop

Business Information Use a combination of library resources and web resources. Ask your librarian for places to start.

You will be evaluated on the following:◦Definition of the problem and key supplemental issues◦Use of the business information in business decision◦Overall Analysis (trends, process or models)◦Evaluation of alternatives◦Implementation/Action Plan◦Presentation skills and PowerPoint clarity◦Response to questions

The important stuff◦Your PowerPoint and Executive Summary due Monday, 11:59pm, here: http://tinyurl.com/parrishcasedrop

◦ Additional questions? Ask them here: http://tinyurl.com/CrowdAskCase (will need to create account)◦ Three out of the 16 teams will make it to the final. Don’t sweat it if you don’t make it this year.

Questions? Ilana Stonebraker

stonebraker@purdue.edu

◦ Tinyurl.com/crowdaskcase◦ Need to create an account using your edu email◦ Select “Parrish Library Case Competition” as the

tag