1. Simulation Scenario Context: ColmarCo
1.0 ColmarCo – the Business Context.
ColmarCo is a (hypothetical) company that is engaged in many elements of the Tourism Industry.
It has three key divisions:
2.0 TransCol Division. (incorporating the following brands / profit centres)
•
•
•
FlyCol: A budget airline with 100 planes operating in Western Europe and seeking to expand in Eastern Europe, the Far East
and China. (Think a sort of EasyJet or Ryanair)
CoachCol: A Europe-wide coach network operating in the countries to which FlyCol flies
AutoCol: A Western Europe-wide hire car company with centres in most major cities and airports. (Think Europcar)
Critical Divisional Analysis by TJ Business Analysis Ltd: Transcol has performed well in the past, with FlyCol, in particular,
posting spectacular growth. This growth has slowed in Western Europe in the face of the twin pressures of new budget airline
entrants to the market coupled with the major airlines finally beginning to compete at budget prices. Although TransCol has hopes
that market and service extension in Eastern Europe will maintain such growth, this would seem unlikely. AutoCol and CoachCol
are beginning to perform better in the light of the rising cost of private car ownership and the development and positioning of their
up-market coaching brand: ‘Elite’ which seems to be dispelling the old reality of coach trips and holidays being of poor quality
and low price.
Sub-Divn.
FlyCol
AutoCol
CoachCol
Turnover Y0
270m Euros
30m
20m
Operating Profit Y0
27m Euros
5m
4m
Turnover Y1
330m Euros
45m
30m
Operating Profit Y1
24m Euros
10m
15m
Assets Y1
2000m Euro
25m
25m
2.1 AccommoCol Division. (incorporating the following brands / profit centres)
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•
•
•
HoteloCol: A range of 120 hotels with sub-brands at 5* to 3* level situated in most western European Cities and towns,
particularly, France, UK and Germany. (Think Accor)
AppartoCol: 50 x Suite-style accommodation units, usually co-located with appropriate HoteloCo sites.
ResortoCol: 15 x All-Inclusive Leisure Resorts, located principally in the Caribbean, and Far East.(Think Sandals)
RoadoCol: 200 x Budget Hotels throughout Western Europe and rapidly developing in the new accession countries of the EU.
Most have been developed courtesy of an alliance with petrol companies like Shell, BP, Total and Agip where land has been
made available at motorway and major road service stations. (Think Campanile, F1) [PS… why DOES the Agip animal logo
have one more leg than it strictly needs?]
Critical Divisional Analysis by TJ Business Analysis Ltd: The HoteloCol operations have been having a tough time of late and
it seems likely to continue when set against the continued success of the budget hotel, the constraints upon corporate Business
Travel expenditure accounts and the increasing use of video-conferencing, internet, email and other means of communication.
AppartoCol and ResortoCol seem to have just about held their own in competitive markets (but their continued performance
should be closely monitored), whereas RoadoCol would appear to be the only success story. In the light of the above, if the
performance of certain sub-divisions does not improve, the Division should perhaps consider the re-distribution of its assets and
holdings.
Sub-Divn.
HotleloCol
AppartoCol
ResortoCol
RoadoCol
Turnover Y0
400m Euro
63m
250m
180m
Operating Profit Y0
80m Euros
20m
60m
54m
Turnover Y1
300m Euros
63m
250m
200m
Operating Profit Y1
30m
25m
60m
60m
Assets Y1
2400m
750m
2000m
500m

2. 2.2 CaterCol Involves:
La Bouffe: is the umbrella brand for all CaterCol’s operations which comprise:
Auto-Bouffe. A chain of 180 roadside restaurants on most auto-routes and highways in France, Germany, Italy and Spain: often
co-located with Roado-Col accommodation units.
A La Bouffe: A franchise operation of 62 establishments at the upper end of the market throughout France.
Techno-Bouffe: A new and fast-growing wholly-owned chain aimed at the 12-20 age range, combining the very best in online
gaming and communications technologies with low-priced fast-food and drink. 90 sites in France and the UK usually located
close to secondary schools and colleges.
Bio-Bouffe: Launched last year, (currently with only 5 wholly-owned units, but hoping for rapid franchise-based expansion) this
chain hopes to capture the ‘first-mover advantage’ by colonising very early the fast growing market for fast, healthy, seasonal
organic food which is locally sourced from small producers. The brand embodies common, omni-present values but non-identical
menus as they are based upon local produce, ‘terroir’ cooking styles etc.
Critical Divisional Analysis by TJ Business Analysis Ltd: An interesting ‘family’ with both ‘general and ‘niche’ markets,
traditional and avant-garde. Auto-B and A La B are reliable and predictable performers in today’s markets whereas the company
has ‘taken a flyer’ with Techno-B and Bio-B in attempting to break new ground in catering by appealing to highly specific
markets. Bio-B is clearly high-risk in that to take the first-mover leadership advantage ‘early’ can sometimes prove to be ‘too
early’, nevertheless, first turnover postings appear encouraging. If it works, the ‘trick’ will be to rapidly expand the operation to
avoid the competition carving a share.
Sub-Divn.
Auto-B
A La B
Techno B
Bio-B
Turnover Y0
50m Euro
80m
50m
5m
Operating Profit Y0
20m Euros
20m
10m
2m
Turnover Y1
60m Euros
120m
60m
10m
Operating Profit Y1
20m
25m
15m
4m
Assets Y1
200m
100m
40m
5m
2.3 SustainoPack (Future SustainoCol?). Involving:
SustainoPack. A ‘ground-floor’ investment in a revolutionary new form of packaging for almost all consumer products. This
was based upon a business idea coming out a University of Haute Alsace ‘Incubator’ company which combined the vision and
technical expertise of four individuals from a number of critical fields in which the university is engaged.
ColmarCo owns 30% of the equity in the company [the remaining shares being held by the four key players cited above and UHA
10%]. The initial investment by ColmarCo was just 1M Euros to register the patent and set up the company: a high-risk / highreturn investment.
The Unique Selling Proposition of the company is that it offers a 100% bio-degradable and sustainable solution for almost ANY
packaging requirement. Independent research has shown that as the packaging agent is based upon the use of a natural starch and
can be ‘cultured’ / grown naturally at minimal cost, it will be possible to match and possibly undercut the price of any plastic
competitor products. Offering a product (at no greater cost than the presently unsustainable alternative) which is guaranteed to
decompose into the earth without any pollution effect whatever within in six months and at a price to undercut existing supply
appears to be a world-beating opportunity and ColmarCo is particularly anxious to grow this business urgently by making major
investments while the patent offers a potentially sustainable business advantage. In its first year of trading (Y-5), the company
produced a turnover of 250,000 Euros and broke even. Forecasts for future years suggest a meteoric growth is possible, although
it is a little too early to be assuming such figures will occur. Subject to appropriate capital investment, and assuming it has
proven possible to break into the supermarket packaging market, projections suggest:
Year
Y-5
Y-3
Y0
Y3
Y7
•
•
Turnover Act/Proj (€)
20m
80m
250m
500m
750m
Profit Act/Proj(€)
4m
20m
75m
125m
125m
Asset Value
4m
8m
16m
24m
32m
ColmarCo is considering purchasing the remaining equity in the company with a view to:
using the ‘Sustaino’ name as a brand overlay for other elements in its existing product range
diversification into non-leisure production / services in the light of the increasing role of Sustainability in all our lives.