Drycleaner Case Talent Drycleaners: Case Study Analysis

The following contains an analysis and recommendations of problems facing a new entrepreneurial drycleaning business in Lagos. Despite years of experience working in the industry with a large and respected drycleaning concern, Patrick Eze is experiencing significant problems trying to establish and grow his business. Problems identified in the case include Eze's lack of experience organizing and running a large-scale operation, a lack of financial awareness and expertise that creates current operational problems and makes future growth highly unlikely, and environmental changes that increased competition and eliminated much of Eze's identified market. Recommendations for making the business and differentiating form competition, while also gaining more direct knowledge and control, are given.

Background

Patrick Eze started his business, Talent Drycleaning, after fifteen years of experience working for one of Lagos' most experienced and successful drycleaners. Having developed a strong rapport with many of his clients and with a clear understanding of the processes involved in dry-cleaning and the basic operational needs, Eze thought he had everything he needed to make his business a success, and when he found a location in the middle of a large market with no nearby competitors, it would also have seemed from most external perspectives that Eze was correct in his assessment. This is not how his business progressed, however, and now Eze faces a series of problems regarding his business plans and his current profitability.

Anthony Village, the neighborhood in which Eze located his operations, was full of young professionals with laundry/drycleaning needs and nowhere in the neighborhood to go for these services. By the time Eze's operation there was in full swing, however, the young professionals had started to relocate to other areas and the number of drycleaners competing in the region had increased tremendously. These new operators are often less experienced than Eze and have set up cheaper operations with less capabilities, but the lower prices they offer have forced...

With dreams of expanding his laundry and drycleaning operations and even of opening a drycleaning school where he can train others in the art and science of fabric handling and stain removal, Eze needs either a major cash infusion or a major reorganization, and possibly both.
Problem Statement

The essential problem that Eze faces is a lack of a clear strategy for achieving his long-term objectives, and a lack of true consideration of the implications of his long-term strategy. Once a more effective strategy with concrete short-term objectives and other more well-defined goals has been developed for Eze's business, it is likely that additional outside financing will be required for the changes that will be necessary, though the amount of this financing will likely not be as significant as Eze himself is expecting. Eze is facing both an abstract problem of strategy and a concrete problem of resources, then, and though these problems are interrelated they will need to be addressed in sequence rather than concurrently.

Analysis

One of the keys to growth in any business, and especially in smaller entrepreneurial concerns, is making sure the level of organization within the endeavor matches the level of complexity necessary to increase the size and/or scope of operations (Sorin, 2008). This is definitely a problem for Eze, likely stemming form his experience prior to opening Talent Drycleaning. Though he spent fifteen years working in a large and successful drycleaning company before striking off on his own this company was already well established and had a strong leader that planned, organized, and maintained the company and all of its operations. Though Eze became very familiar with the basic operations of the drycleaning and presumably with coordinating the efforts of his team as a manager in the company, he did not gain any experience in the larger planning aspects of the business, and these are the details he needs to control in order for growth to occur on a profitable and efficient basis, if at all.

Eze's lack of knowledge and experience…