Spiegel Online (www.spiegel.de) is the leading news Web site in Germany. The site was designed to accompany Der Spiegel, one of Europe's biggest and the most influential weekly magazine of Germany, which has a weekly circulation of about one million. Articles bought from selected articles from the print edition and news agencies complement the original content. Inside their second year, MBA students typically engage in consulting jobs with major media businesses.
In a recent duty, two questions were presented by Spiegel Online to the MBA team: are there any chances for an economically successful entry into the marketplace for interactive classifieds? And if so, what should the industry model look like in features? A pupil team analyzed markets for classified ads and found one market segment that appeared to be especially promising: the market for art objects.
During the expansion of a business plan for a new enterprise in this market it became evident that there's much uncertainty about the essential input parameters to the business plan. Consequently, it's very hard to evaluate the utility of the company idea. How can the team properly account for the uncertain input parameters? What is the impact of this uncertainty on the bottom line? Will a Web site for art objects get or lose money? How can the team convey this uncertainty to several high-level decision makers who desire a simple "go or no-go" recommendation?
Spiegel Online case study solution
PUBLICATION DATE: December 10, 2007 PRODUCT #: UV0868-PDF-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE
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