CGMA Business Game: Case Study Merbatty Boat Company

Merbatty boat company

Merbatty – the facts Luxury boat manufacturer Enjoyed rapid growth in sales and profitability Customizable offerings – outsources interior design Opening third facility – located in Surania Currently uses sales agents – proposal to open up sales offices Opportunity to build larger boats Established supplier relationships

Your challenge! You are a management consultant to Merbatty Aqua designs has declined all requests to provide interior design in Surania – a new partner is needed. Cooper Designs Multi-national business based in Western Europe. New office in a city 200 miles from the new Surania boat facility. High quality. Makes full use of Computer Assisted Design. Provides an extranet service allowing customers to remotely view the current design of their boat at any time – customers cannot makes changes on the system. Bespoke design fees for a typical mid-size boat would by $100K. Cooper has spare capacity to design all of the Merbatty boats wherever they might be built.

Your challenge! You are a management consultant to Merbatty Arabian Interiors Suranian based – formed four years ago. Rave reviews for Arabian flavoured design. Won award at recent boat show. Financed by a wealthy Sheik – limitless funds. Employs local people – well educated. Expectations from AI – whole of Merbatty’s Suranian production capacity could be used by local sales by 2017 with an aggressive growth strategy. AI would charge around $90K for design work. The Board want you to discuss the major factors to consider in choosing between the two options. You have a three minute presentation available to you.

Judging the presentations Focus – did each team follow the brief/clear reasoning? Prioritization – did each team order their recommendations, pick up on the key issues? Judgment – how commercially and financially sound are the recommendations? Teamwork – did they work as a team, support each other in the presentation? Feel free to amend for your local market.

Working in collaboration to connect the dots CEO’s want people with: Strong technical skills in their discipline Multi-disciplinary expertise and ability to collaborate Skills in management competencies Strong strategic understanding of the business as a whole Long-term, sustainable business success will depend on strong, cohesive teams that collaborate effectively. Our in-depth interviews with 17 business leaders told us they want people who: Have core strengths in their own professional discipline or area of expertise; But can look beyond their functional silo to have a multidisciplinary expertise to enable them to collaborate effectively with their colleagues; Have skills in management competences (sometimes referred to as ‘soft skills’) such as communication, influence, team-working, decision-making, negotiation and leadership; Have a good strategic understanding of the business as a whole – ie how the business model works and which are the most significant drivers of value, how strategic decisions are made, what the key trends in the industry and economy are and how these impact the company   CGMA’s are well positioned to meet to meet the these needs.

So what have you done…….. EFFICIENCY - DOING CURRENT THINGS RIGHT EFFECTIVENESS – DOING THE RIGHT THINGS TRANSFORMATIONAL – ENABLING NEW THINGS

CGMA Competency Framework and the CGMA program