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Medium Profitability Market Sizing Operations

North-South Pharma

#Healthcare

Practice this intermediate profitability case interview question from Kearney in the Healthcare 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 well-structured case that combines market sizing with profitability analysis and strategic brainstorming. The case tests quantitative skills (market sizing and contribution margin analysis), analytical thinking (comparing facility economics), and creative problem-solving (brainstorming alternatives for the idle facility). The key insight is recognizing that high transportation costs make the SA facility unprofitable for serving US customers, but it could potentially be viable for local South American markets.

Estimated Time 26 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source Darden
22 / 100

North-South Pharma Co is a US-based pharmaceutical manufacturer. The company owns a plant in the United States that is active in serving US customers through pharmacies, and also owns an idle plant in South America.

  1. Market Size: Forecast Revenue for North-South Pharma Co
  2. What should North-South Pharma Co do with its idle South American facility

Clarifying Information

  1. Revenue per prescription: $0.50
  2. US plant - Labor: $0.10, Raw Materials: $0.10, Transportation: $0.05, Fixed Cost: $5,000,000, Capacity: 50,000,000
  3. South America plant - Labor: $0.05, Raw Materials: $0.05, Transportation: $0.20, Fixed Cost: $4,000,000, Capacity: 20,000,000
  4. Max necessary production (based on market sizing): 30,000,000 prescriptions
  5. US facility profit: $2,500,000
  6. SA facility profit: $0 (breaking even)
Mock Interview
Interviewer

North-South Pharma Co is a US-based pharmaceutical manufacturer. The company owns a plant in the United States that is active in serving US customers through pharmacies, and also owns an idle plant in South America. 1. Market Size: Forecast Revenue for North-South Pharma Co 2. What should North-South Pharma Co do with its idle South American facility

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
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Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

North-South Pharma Co operates a profitable US plant but has an idle South American facility. After sizing the US market at $15M revenue opportunity and analyzing profitability, the candidate discovers the SA facility breaks even due to high transportation costs ($0.20 vs $0.05 for US), while the US facility generates $2.5M profit. The case requires brainstorming options including shutting down, selling, repurposing, or activating the SA facility to serve local markets where transportation costs would be lower.

Key Insights:

  1. Transportation costs can be a critical driver of profitability in manufacturing operations, especially when serving distant markets
  2. Market sizing should incorporate realistic assumptions about market penetration (5% market capture in this case)
  3. When evaluating underperforming assets, consider multiple alternatives: shutdown, sale, repurposing, or pivoting to serve different markets
  4. Fixed costs must be covered by sufficient contribution margin; the SA facility’s lower CM ($0.20 vs $0.25) and lower capacity make it challenging to achieve profitability
  5. Geographic arbitrage opportunities exist in labor and materials costs, but must be weighed against logistics costs