French Beauty Co
#Retail
#Beauty Products
Practice this intermediate operating model case interview question from Accenture in the Retail sector. Includes detailed problem prompt, clarifying questions, structured framework, and expert recommendation. Part of ProHub's 835+ consulting case library.
ProHub Comment
This is a classic post-M&A organizational design case that tests the candidate's ability to structure a framework comparing two opposing organizational models while incorporating quantitative revenue analysis. The case rewards candidates who can balance qualitative brainstorming about organizational trade-offs with quick financial calculations to demonstrate value creation.
Estimated Time
26 minutes
Difficulty
Medium
Source
Chicago Booth
28
/ 100
A large French beauty products company with a revenue of $2B operates as manufacturer, seller and marketer of luxury fragrances. This company sells to high-end beauty retailers. Recently, the company has acquired a player in the ‘accessible’ beauty products industry. The acquired company manufactures, sells and markets skincare and cosmetics. Being that the two companies operate similarly along their value chains, the COO has opted to combine manufacturing, but initially keep the two sales units operating separately because the luxury sales unit and the accessible sales unit don’t have the same customers. However, the COO is interested in understanding if additional value can be realized by integrating the two sales organizations. Your goal is to help the COO determine if a leveraged or a decentralized sales organization is a valuable strategy for the company.
Clarifying Information
- There is an impending recession.
- This is a maturing industry in developed markets, but emerging markets are seeing explosive growth.
- A leveraged organization is the same as a centralized organization.