CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

College of Business Administration

MGMT 170 – Fundamentals of Business Strategy

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

(Case: Ted White)

1. Please state in (bullet-point format) what the numbers tell us in this case.

VISION

Numbers Implication

No clear vision numbers!

INTERNAL

Numbers Implication

$52 million in sales

96% of ETI business is government

related

Company sales are flattening

Gross margins down from near 20% in 1985

to 6% in 1990

Net margins are down from almost 18% in

1985 to 2.5% in 1990

Company ownership is split between 4 people

- Scheck 35%

- Standish 30%

- Hoffman 16%

- Line 13%

EXTERNAL

Numbers Implication

Defense market growth $14 Billion in

1980 to $40 Billion in 1988

Defense market experiencing a decline

and expected to shrink further

2. Look at the company from a detached, objective perspective.

a) What factors explain the company’s success in the early years?

b) Analyze the company’s current situation. Make a comprehensive list of the factors that have contributed to the company’s difficulties in the Spring of 1991. Be sure to think about each of the “three legs” (vision, internal strengths and weaknesses, and external environment), plus any other categories you think are important.

c) Then break your list of factors into two classifications: root causes and symptoms. Which factors are roots causes and which are merely symptoms of those root causes? What are the links between them?

3. Put yourself in Ted White’s position in the Spring of 1991. Presume that you believe the company does indeed have tremendous potential. Also presume that you have a strong personal desire to get ETI out of its current malaise and on track to becoming a great company. What options and possibilities can you consider for catalyzing this to happen? What precisely will you do? Be specific, definite, and concrete.

336 MGMT 170 TED WHITE CASE CM