CEO Selection Exercise
Instructions: You have been hired by ACME International, LLC to select new Presidents for all of their various
businesses. They were unhappy with the performance of all of their company heads and have decided to replace
them all at once. ACME runs a decentralized business with high levels of autonomy given to each business to
create not only its own business model, but its own culture.
Below are the names of the finalists for the business president positions, along with a short bio and description of
that CEO. Also included is a short description of each of the ACME businesses, along with a Boston Consulting
Group Matrix analysis of them as well.
Pick which CEO best fits each ACME business:
Stephen Hobs – Stephen is a dynamic, high energy
individual who always has new ideas for new
products, product improvements, and ways to
expand sales into new markets. A dynamic leader,
Stephen has led a variety of companies, including a
consumer electronics firm and a movie company.
Warren Luffett – Warren is one of the smartest
individuals in business today. He is outstanding at
understanding the various investment needs of his
divisions and has almost a sixth sense of when to
shift investments from one part of the business to
another for maximum profit and growth. Warren
has lead a successful investment firm but is now
seeking new challenges after the recent market
downturn.
Henry Lord – Henry is very very old, and has
extensive experience at taking a company and
making sure that it is running in a stable and highly
efficient manner. Profits are maximized when
Henry is in charge. Henry had led a automotive
firm, but is tired of living in Detroit.
“Neutron” Jack Melch – Jack has a long history of
identifying a company’s weaknesses and making
the hard decisions to eliminate those weaknesses
and shore up the strengths and distinctive
competencies that the firm possesses. Jack has
taken several struggling companies and turned
them into highly profitable and high growth
companies. Jack had retired a few years ago, but is
now bored with golf.
“Chainsaw” Al Funlap – Referred to fondly as
Chainsaw Al by both his friends and enemies, Al is
an expert at taking parts of a business, making it as
profitable as possible in the short term, and then
finding buyers for those pieces that maximize the
amount received for that business. Al was left
without a job at his last company after he was the
last one left and he fired himself.
ACME Rockets – ACME Rockets is a well known
brand of the ACME family. While profitable, they
have underperformed the market and their
products have begun to have quality problems. This
business seems to lack discipline, but the market
opportunities are there. U.S. export laws restrict
the export of their high-end (classified) products,
but others may find good sales in U.S. allied
markets.
ACME Undergarments – ACME Undergarments
was an idea started by the founder of the ACME
companies. There are several product lines, but
each of them has had marginal market penetration
in an already crowded marketplace. Branding
efforts have created limited product recognition.
The operations are mostly well run but have room
for improvement.
ACME Products – ACME Products serves a wide
range of markets with a wide range of products.
They are a highly diverse business. The products
are grouped into product families (consumer
goods, appliances, tools, …) which are managed as
separate entities. Each product family has its own
brand manager who is responsible for growth of
the segment and its products. Obviously, some
product segments are highly profitable where some
others have struggled.
ACME Comics – ACME Comics is a small business,
but growing. Its main entre is a series of somewhat
successful comic books. As the heroes (and villains)
of these comics have become more popular,
another product line has started to gain traction in
the market – high quality figurines. Initially these
figurines were subcontracted, but ACME Comics
has recently taken this production in house. Several
other new related product lines such as board
games are in the works.
ACME Soup – ACME Soup is not the most
glamorous of the ACME businesses, but it turns out
a profit like clockwork. A well run business, it has
done fairly well in the recent economic downturn
as people cut budgets and turn to ‘comfort foods’.
They have expanded into restaurant quality
offerings and microwavable meals in a bowl with
some promising success.
Boston Consulting Group Matrix of the ACME Companies
High
Stars
Question Marks
ACME Comics
Relative Growth Rate
ACME Rockets
ACME Products
Cash Cows
Dogs
ACME Soup
ACME Undergarments
Low
High
Low
Relative Market Share