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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2020

  Baskits Inc.

  Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

  Robin Kovitz (MBA 2007) acquired Baskits, a Canadian gift basket company, in October of 2014. The business was highly seasonal with two-thirds of its sales occurring in November and December. Baskits dealt with its seasonality by renting additional space at a different location and hiring part time employees in the peak season while operating in a smaller space and with fewer full time employees in the off peak season. Kovitz experienced firsthand the inefficiencies resulting from operating in two locations, inefficiencies that were exacerbated by the lack of an information technology system. She realized that operating from a single larger location year-round would resolve these inefficiencies. She also viewed an ERP system as critical to control costs through better management of purchase orders and inventories. Kovitz had to decide whether, and how quickly, to implement these changes.

  Keywords: Operations; Canada;

  Citation:

  Ruback, Richard S., Royce Yudkoff, and Ahron Rosenfeld. "Baskits Inc." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 220-086, May 2020.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2020

  Chem-Ecol

  Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

  Dahra Allen acquired Chem-Ecol, a machine oil recycling business, for C$13.3 million in December of 2012. Allen decided to hire a sales director and the case discussion largely focuses on selecting the sales director from her short-list of five candidates. During the due diligence process, Allen discovered that the company had underutilized purification capacity that could be used with few additional costs. To take advantage of this opportunity, Chem-Ecol would need to substantially increase sales. Allen had tried to increase sales during her first year of ownership by doubling the number of sales people from four to eight, and basing their compensation solely on commissions, but sales did not increase substantially. She wanted to hire a sales director who would have the skills and experience to build the sales team and increase revenue.

  Keywords: Salesforce Management; Selection and Staffing; Sales; Performance Improvement; Canada;

  Citation:

  Ruback, Richard S., Royce Yudkoff, and Ahron Rosenfeld. "Chem-Ecol." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 220-084, May 2020.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | April 2020

  Cambridge Franchise Partners

  Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

  Cambridge Franchise Partners (CFP) was established by Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane (both HBS ’15) to pursue a roll-up strategy in the quick service restaurant (QSR) sector. Burger King (BK) approved CFP’s request to become a franchisee and presented it with the opportunity to acquire Carolina Quality (CQ), an operator of 23 BK restaurants. The owner of CQ had decided not to extend its contract with BK because it would have required remodeling the restaurants at a total cost of $8 million. CFP acquired 100% of CQ’s equity without making any cash payment to the seller, despite CQ’s corporate level EBITDA of $700,000.

  Keywords: roll-up; franchise; franchise management; small firms management; Franchise Ownership; Small Business; Management; Acquisition;

  Citation:

  Ruback, Richard S., Royce Yudkoff, and Ahron Rosenfeld. "Cambridge Franchise Partners." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 220-082, April 2020.  View Details

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