Canyon Ranch
Questions for Case Analyses
Learning from LeapFrog
1. What was the Leapfrog business model at the time that the company launched its first products and services? How did the business model change over time?
2. Who are LeapFrog’s key stakeholders? How does LeapFrog deliver value to each of these stakeholder groups?
3. At the time of the case, Leapfrog had become the #3 consumer toy company in the U.S. behind #1 and #2, Mattell and Hasbro respectively. What factors contributed to Leapfrog's success? Do you expect the success to continue in the future?
4. What challenges and opportunities does the company face in early 2003? Would you buy stock in Leapfrog? Why or why not? As an independent member of the company's board of directors, what would you expect of management in the short-term and long-term? How would you fulfill your fiduciary duties to the company's shareholders?
Canyon Ranch
1. What is the value of customer information to Canyon Ranch?
2. As CIO, how would you make the case for customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) systems at Canyon Ranch?
3. What impact would you anticipate these systems to have on the Canyon Ranch strategy and capabilities?
4. What advice do you have for Canyon Ranch executives?
Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO
1. What will be the biggest obstacles faced by the business intelligence implementation as it expands throughout SYSCO?
2. Why did SYSCO decide to initially address only two questions with its new BI software, rather than using it as a more general analysis tool in the operating companies? Why did Business Objects recommend this approach? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
3. Will effective use of BI software ever be a competitive differentiator for SYSCO? Wouldn’t it be straightforward for another food service company to also purchase and implement similar software?
4. How much software should Day purchase at this time?
Boeing’s e-Enabled
Learning from LeapFrog
1. What was the Leapfrog business model at the time that the company launched its first products and services? How did the business model change over time?
2. Who are LeapFrog’s key stakeholders? How does LeapFrog deliver value to each of these stakeholder groups?
3. At the time of the case, Leapfrog had become the #3 consumer toy company in the U.S. behind #1 and #2, Mattell and Hasbro respectively. What factors contributed to Leapfrog's success? Do you expect the success to continue in the future?
4. What challenges and opportunities does the company face in early 2003? Would you buy stock in Leapfrog? Why or why not? As an independent member of the company's board of directors, what would you expect of management in the short-term and long-term? How would you fulfill your fiduciary duties to the company's shareholders?
Canyon Ranch
1. What is the value of customer information to Canyon Ranch?
2. As CIO, how would you make the case for customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) systems at Canyon Ranch?
3. What impact would you anticipate these systems to have on the Canyon Ranch strategy and capabilities?
4. What advice do you have for Canyon Ranch executives?
Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO
1. What will be the biggest obstacles faced by the business intelligence implementation as it expands throughout SYSCO?
2. Why did SYSCO decide to initially address only two questions with its new BI software, rather than using it as a more general analysis tool in the operating companies? Why did Business Objects recommend this approach? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
3. Will effective use of BI software ever be a competitive differentiator for SYSCO? Wouldn’t it be straightforward for another food service company to also purchase and implement similar software?
4. How much software should Day purchase at this time?
Boeing’s e-Enabled