Product details

Promyk is a large department store, established at the beginning of the 1980s as a state-owned enterprise. As a result of Poland''s ''shock therapy'' privatisation programme, it was bought out by a consortium including its present management team, who had run the business in the days of the centrally-planned economy. The team had operated a successful business under the old conditions, but they are ill equipped for survival in a changed economic environment. A series of key decisions need to be made over a period of time: investment decisions, budget decisions, marketing plans, cash flow and sales forecasts to name the most pressing issues. At each juncture, the management team does not have the skills now needed to make an informed choice, and so Promyk drifts into crisis, where assets represent less than 20% of liabilities. This provides Promyk with a temporary reprieve, the amount of cash to be recovered is so low that creditors decide to give Promyk a final chance. Students are invited to help resolve the mismatch between the company''s existing capabilities and its changed business environment using a variety of techniques and strategies which were unheard of during communist times.