Adaptive Engineering, LLC

Richard S. Ruback; Royce  Yudkoff

Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2011 (Revised November 2017)

Adaptive Engineering, LLC

Abstract

The owner and CEO of Adaptive Engineering was facing an important decision: should he focus on rebuilding its core professional services business which had generated significant revenue and cash flow over the past several years, or should he focus on developing and marketing licensed software which had been under development for several years but had yet to become profitable.

Keywords: Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Service Industry; Technology Industry;

Language: English

Format: Print

6 pages

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Citation:

Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. "Adaptive Engineering, LLC." Harvard Business School Case 212-010, August 2011. (Revised November 2017.)

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2018 (Revised February 2019)

Greg Mazur and the Purchase of Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods

Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff, Ahron Rosenfeld, Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-085. Greg Mazur (HBS 1997) identified a small firm, Great Eastern Premium Pet Food, in December of 1998 that fit his search criteria and decided to offer the seller a cash price of $1.2 million plus an earn-out equal to 1% of revenue over the next five years. He planned to invest $500,000 of his own money in the acquisition and finance the remainder with a senior loan in a formal letter of intent.
Great Eastern Premium Pet Food was a regional distributer of pet food products that operated in a highly competitive environment, with low profit margins, and no exclusive products. Great Eastern was barely profitable in 1997 and had profits of about $140,000 in 1998. Mazur evaluated the acquisition using a financial model that assumed a sales growth rate of 12.5% per year, and a gradual improvement in profit margin from 2% to 7.5% over five years. He identified ways to grow sales through changes in the composition and structure of the sales force and to improve margins through managing costs. The case explores the rationale for the acquisition and its evaluation, including the reasonableness of the financial model and its sensitivity to alternative assumptions.

Keywords: Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Negotiation Deal; Strategic Planning; Valuation; Analysis;

Citation:

Ruback, Richard S., Royce Yudkoff, and Ahron Rosenfeld. "Greg Mazur and the Purchase of Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 218-122, May 2018. (Revised February 2019.) View Details

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