The Practice of Consultancy: Case Studies and Recommendations

This guide from Desklib explores case studies and recommendations for consultancy practice. It covers topics such as common problems faced by businesses, including a case study on Beef Shake, and how to overcome them. It also includes a PESTLE analysis of Zonder for the UK industry and interpretation of statistical tables.

The Practice of
Consultancy
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Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.....................................................................................................................................3
Task 2.....................................................................................................................................5
Task 3.....................................................................................................................................7
Part 2................................................................................................................................................8
Task 1.....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................11
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PART 1
Task 1
Overview of the company- Beef Shake was established in the year 2000, they majorly deal in
four types of products that are burgers, soft drinks, desserts and milkshakes. The company was
growing at an immense rate during its first 14 years of operations. However, the growth rate of
the company drastically fell after the year 2014. In the recent two years, the lockdowns have
adversely impacted the business in terms of operations and profitability.
Problems faced by Client- Beef Shake is majorly facing problems in terms of enhanced and
steady growth as due to the recent lockdowns, the profitability of the business has been impacted.
Their operational cost is high due to which they are reporting losses in their current business
model. Further, the problems that the company is currently facing with its business model are-
 They are unable to retain their employees in the business due to which they are unable to
maintain their current state of operations. This has majorly dropped the productivity in
the business due to which the organization is unable to grow. Their employee turnover
rate is less than the average hospitality sector.
 They lack in terms of sitting capacity due to which they were unable to afford more
people in the dine-in structure of the restaurant. During the pandemic, the restaurants
faced major issues as they were unable to maintain the social distancing norms.
Problem definition worksheet
The key issue
and the problem
of the company.
Who is it a
problem for?
What social or
cultural factors
shape this
problem?
What evidence
do you have that
this is worth the
investment?
Can you think of
the problem
differently?
The key issue
that the company
is currently
facing is in terms
of growth
prospects and
increased cost of
The problem is
faced by Beef
Shake and Jack
Raeburn who is
the CEO of the
company.
The social factor
of the customer’s
taste and
preference plays
a major role in
this problem.
Due to the
Changes in the
sitting capacity
and the menu
will play a major
role in the
growth of the
business. Beef
The current
business model
and strategies
play a major role
in driving
problems in the
business. The
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operations change in
cultural norms of
gathering, the
organization is
facing problems
and further, they
need to update
their menu
(Monsen, 2018).
Shake is required
to invest time,
strategies and
capital in these
problems to grow
in the industry.
organization
lacks in terms of
the adoption of
new strategies
and business
models.
MECE Issue Tree
Recommendations to overcome the problems The organization can increase the dine-in capacity so that they can afford more customers
in the restaurant at a moment. They can change the sitting arrangement of the restaurants
which will not involve any expansion or a huge amount of capital.
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The major problem that is
faced by the company is in
terms of growth prospects.
This problem is due to the
table turnover rates of the
company.
Rigid structure of the business
model and strategies are
another reason due to which
the current growth prospects
of the company are limited.
Employee turnover also
plays a major role in
maintaining the operations
of the organization.

 They can change the strategies which they used in their business model to deal with a
different set of problems. Further, the business will implement an enhanced way in which
the organization will deal in the industry to give a competitive edge in the market. Beef Shake should also make changes in their menu and pricing as they might be facing
pricing issues in the locality in which they are operational.
Task 2
Company Overview- The client is currently in the news publishing business where they currently
publish a line of men’s and women’s health magazines. They are further looking for expansion in
the new genre of magazines. They have decided on the value and product components and they
are currently aiming to reach the revenue of 2 million Euros in the very first year of launch.
Total Market size and Potential customers-
Figure 1: Monthly reach of the leading general magazines in the United Kingdom from 2019 to
March 2020
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The above figure 1 states the monthly reach of different magazines across the country, the
market is however segregated where Radio times acquire the majority of the market share in the
industry. The other publishers have the almost same number of readers and sales in terms of their
monthly reports. This industry has a good scope and the client can acquire a good share of the
market with their musical magazines as several players in the market are currently publishing the
same type of reading magazines in the market. Due to close competition, the organization can
make a significant place in the market by acquiring a good share of the market. The subscription
rate of these publishers is quite high because they offer only traditional read-only magazines to
the customers (Bartashevich and Rebrikova, 2019).
The target market is the girls aged between 13 & 17 is a good piece of the target market
as they are regular readers and there are very few publishers who are majorly focusing on this
market segment. In the very first month of the magazine launch, the client can acquire around
3000-4000 teenage girls. Customer retention will be based on the quality of content that the
client is delivering to the customers. The statistics are good and magazines can achieve their
goals within one year. The company can generate a revenue of 2 million in the first year if they
can do retention of the customers (Black, 2019).
Fold-out posters were a market trend back in the 90s, it will be a little difficult for the
publisher to create hype in the target market which is teenage girls. Due to this, the idea of fold-
out posters may backfire and the whole new offering of music magazines will be impacted.
Therefore, adding a fold-out poster is more of an experiment business and the probability of
making this new idea successful is 50%.
Summary of Findings and recommendations
The main findings of the secondary research are that the magazine publishing business
has a relevant market share and there is a good scope for the publisher to introduce their music
magazines in the market. Their target market is also correct and they can acquire a good share of
the market in this industry. The statistics suggest that several firms have the same level of
performance and are currently competing with each other. This gives good enough room for the
publisher to make a good presence in the market.
Recommendations-
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The company is recommended to wait for their fold-out poster experiment and first establish
a good share of the market in the music magazine industry. Once the publisher gains a good
place in the industry then they will have enough room to make new experiments in their business
model.
Task 3
PESTLE Analysis of Zonder for the UK Industry
 Political factors- UK has a good political structure for business however several policies
are made by the government regarding the entry of new business into the environment
which impacts the entry of the business in the new domain. However, Zonder deals in
products that follow a sustainable model due to which they will have few or no
restrictions from the government, which will positively impact the business (Nandonde,
2019).
 Economic factors- The change in the economic terms of the country is one of the major
issues due to which the organizations face issues in the market. The macro environment
factors which can be explained such as savings rate, interest rate, economical cycle and
foreign exchange rate would be determining the demand on aggregate basis and
aggregate investment in a economy. Zonder might face issues in importing raw materials
from their native country as there might be high trade restrictions and taxes on the import.
However, Zonder can look for options in the UK for their raw material so that they can
minimize their cost and increase profitability. Social factors- The changed ideology of the people of the UK regarding vegan and
vegetarian products will help the company in terms of growth in customers. It can be
explained as a factor which counts society's culture and the in what ways or manner the
things are being done in a company in competitive environment. Due to this UK can be a
good expanding country for business. Technological factors- Technology is another major factor that directly impacts the
operations of the business. Technology can be explained as a factor which is fast growing
and developing across the board in various industries. Enhanced use of technology in the
operations and supply chain process of the UK will help Zonder in sustaining the
environment for a longer period (Thomas et. al., 2021).
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 Legal factors- Zonder must consider all the essential legal terms of the business that are
required in the Food business. This will help them in ignoring any legal obligations
against the business. Environmental factors- The sustainable approach of the company that is saving the lives
of animals and delivering substitute meat is one of the major attractions of the business
model. This will positively impact the business in terms of growth over a long period.
Opportunities for Zonder in the UK As the social culture of the UK is changing and leaning toward vegan and vegetarian
food, Zonder has a good opportunity of acquiring a significant amount of market share as
currently there are very few market players and no one is only focusing on the meat
without meat approach (Gupta, A., and et. al., 2019)
Threats for Zonder in the UK The major threat that the company faces is in terms of scalability as the UK market is
segregated and the company is required to focus on its current strategies and business
model to attract customers to the business.
Part 2
Task 1
Interpretation of Table 2.1
Table 2.1 is a frequency table that shows the number of respondents that replied yes and
no to question 1. From table 2.1 it can be interpreted that out of 120 people the proportion of
customers that consider using Zap is 72 which is 60% of the total people in the survey. The
people who do not consider using zap are 48 which is 40% of the total people in the survey.
From this survey, it can be interpreted that more than 50% of consumers consider using Zap.
Therefore, the alternative hypothesis is considered in this research question (Purwanto et. al.,
2021).
Interpretation of Table 2.2
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In table 2.2, the binomial test is conducted in which sample data is used to determine the
proportion of the population that is inclined toward a particular set. This is a random sampling
test that helps in selecting a hypothesis. From table 2.2 it can be interpreted that the alternative
hypothesis is selected which means more than 50% of the proportion considers using ZAP. The
alternative hypothesis is selected as the Exact Sig. (2-tailed) is below 0.5 which suggests the
selection of an alternative hypothesis in question 1.
Interpretation of Table 2.3
In table 2.3, the Chi-square test is conducted to determine the proportion of customers
who consider Zap are different from the people who are comfortable with mobile technology.
The Chi-square test is conducted to discover the relationship between two categorical variables
that exist in the hypothesis and research. In table 2.3, the Chi-square value is 0.001 which
suggests that the null hypothesis will be selected as the value is less than 0.005 in the asymptotic
significance.
From the interpretation, it can be concluded that in the two sets of hypotheses, one set of
hypotheses is an alternative where the proportion of customers that consider using zap is greater
than 50%. The other hypothesis is null which suggests that the proportion of customer who
considers using zap are not different between those who are comfortable with mobile technology
and those who are not. This means that only the people who are comfortable with mobile
technology consider using Zap (Denis, 2018).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bartashevich, D. and Rebrikova, N., 2019. Partnership And Collaboration As A Way To Promote
The Magazine In Thenetwork. Annals of marketing-mba, 4.
Black, K., 2019. Business statistics: for contemporary decision making. John Wiley & Sons.
Denis, D.J., 2018. SPSS data analysis for univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. John
Wiley & Sons.
Gupta, A., and et. al., 2019. British Airways-A SWOT and PESTLE Analysis-The impact of
Europe 2020 policy. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Corporate & Business Laws, pp.1-11.
Monsen, K.A., 2018. Define the Problem (Worksheet B). In Intervention Effectiveness Research:
Quality Improvement and Program Evaluation (pp. 119-129). Springer, Cham.
Nandonde, F.A., 2019. A PESTLE analysis of international retailing in the East African
Community. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 38(4), pp.54-61.
Purwanto, A., and et. al., 2021. Education Management Research Data Analysis: Comparison of
Results between Lisrel, Tetrad, GSCA, Amos, SmartPLS, WarpPLS, and SPSS For
Small Samples. Nidhomul Haq: Jurnal Manajemen Pendidikan Islam.
Thomas, P.J.M., and et. al., 2021. A PESTLE analysis of solar home systems in refugee camps in
Rwanda. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 143, p.110872.
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APPENDIX
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