Marketing
Your company launches a new product, but sales are lower than expected because your target audience doesn't seem interested. What marketing issue is this?
What is poor market research?
Key words: doesn't understand target audience, insufficient consumer research
Your company is consistently profitable, but cash flow issues are preventing you from paying bills on time. What's the financial issue at play?
What is poor cash flow management?
A manufacturer has to stop production frequently due to machinery breakdowns. What's the key operational issue?
What is poor maintenance management?
Key words: bad maintenance, insufficient quality checks
A company experiences high employee turnover, with staff leaving shortly after being hired. What’s the likely HR problem?
What is poor onboarding or employee engagement?
Key words: poor training, bad company culture
A small business owner expands into a new market without analyzing competitors, resulting in poor sales. What strategic mistake was made?
What is lack of competitive analysis?
Key words: insufficient competitor research
A tech company heavily promotes a new feature, but customers are confused and unsure how it benefits them. Sales remain flat. What's wrong with the marketing approach?
What is unclear messaging?
Key words: poor value proposition, bad framing, unclear marketing
A firm takes out a high-interest loan to fund a new project. After a year, profits from the project are lower than expected, and the company struggles with monthly payments. What's the main financial problem?
What is high debt servicing costs?
Key word(s): debt, servicing, high costs
*points awarded if mention of key word(s)
A clothing brand experiences long delays getting products to customers due to shipping errors and missed deadlines. What's the operational challenge?
What is poor supply chain coordination?
Key words: supply chain organization
A business promotes an employee to a management role, but the individual lacks the necessary leadership skills. The team’s productivity declines. What’s the HR oversight?
What is inadequate training or development?
Key words: poor decision-making, insufficient training and employee development
A company focuses on short-term profits by cutting research and development, but loses ground to innovative competitors. What's the strategic error?
What is short-term focus over long-term growth?
Key words: long-term growth, sustainability, foresight
A business offers a special discount for one demographic, but other customer segments react negatively and sales drop. What's the issue in this marketing decision?
What is ineffective customer segmentation?
Key words: poor decision-making on customer segmentation
A company's financial statements show rising profits, but stockholders are unhappy because dividends remain stagnant. What could be causing the frustration?
What is the company's retention of earnings without reinvestment or return to shareholders?
Key word(s): retention of earnings, no ROI for shareholders
*points awarded for mention of key words
Despite producing high-quality goods, a food processing company has excess inventory that’s quickly approaching expiration. What operational flaw is being highlighted?
What is overproduction or poor inventory management?
Employees in your organization consistently complain about unclear goals and inconsistent feedback from management. What HR issue is at play?
What is poor performance management?
Key words: poor performance tracking, insufficient career development
Your business chooses to compete on price alone, but bigger competitors lower their prices, and your margins shrink rapidly. What’s the strategic flaw?
What is competing solely on cost leadership without differentiation?
Key words: no competitor edge, price-competition
A global brand sees a marketing campaign succeed in one country, but it fails in another due to cultural misunderstandings. What's the problem here?
What is poor localization?
Key words: insufficient geographical, cultural, and social understanding
Your company expands rapidly using debt financing but experiences significant losses in the first quarter. Analysts are concerned about the company's ability to meet long-term obligations. What's the issue?
What is over-leveraging?
Key word(s): borrowed too much, can't pay interest on the principal, debt burden, can't maintain operating expenses
An electronics company cuts production costs by using cheaper materials. Soon, product returns increase, and customers complain about quality. What's the mistake here?
What is sacrificing quality for cost-cutting?
Key words: bad tradeoff between quality and cost, compromising quality disproportionately
Your company offers competitive salaries, but employees are leaving for competitors with better career development opportunities. What's the HR challenge?
What is lack of career advancement opportunities?
A global retailer enters a new region but uses the same strategy that worked in its home market, failing to adjust to local preferences. What's the strategic oversight?
What is failure to adapt to local market conditions?
Key words: lack of consideration for unique cultural, social, and geographic conditions, insufficient research
Despite increased spending on digital marketing, your company's lead generation falls short of expectations. Competitors, with lower budgets, outperform you. What's the likely cause?
What is inefficient allocation of marketing resources?
Key words: ineffective allocation of resources, overspending/underspending in the appropriate areas
Despite increasing revenue, your firm's profit margins are shrinking. Analysis reveals that overhead costs and production expenses have risen disproportionately. What's the key problem here?
What is poor cost management?
Key words: overly high costs
A tech company uses a just-in-time inventory system, but during a supply chain disruption, they can't meet customer demand. What's the operational issue?
What is lack of supply chain flexibility or contingency planning?
Key words: flexibility
Despite a robust diversity hiring initiative, there is little collaboration between teams, leading to a siloed work culture. What's the underlying HR issue?
What is failure to integrate or manage diversity effectively?
Key words: poor integration, cross-functional teams, collaborative opportunities
Your firm invests heavily in acquiring new technology, but you fail to anticipate how competitors will respond, leaving your market share stagnant. What is the strategic issue?
What is lack of competitive foresight or scenario planning?