Lyric Dinner Case Study
LYRIC DINNER THEATER CASE STUDY
Contents 1. Do you think Deborah made a good career decision to take the job of general manager at Lyric? 3 2. Can this business be profitable? If not, why not? If yes, what needs to be done to achieve profitability? 5 3. What specific actions should Deborah take? 9
1. Do you think Deborah made a good career decision to take the job of general manager at Lyric?
In my opinion, from a career point of view Deborah made a high risk decision by joining Lyric Dinner Theater.
She had just completed her MBA from Harvard Business School in June 2009 and had various job opportunities to choose from; including the US office of an Israeli high-technology equipment firm and a major advertising firm in New York.
However, due to her family owning a major stake in Lyric Dinner Theater and its business being in a tumultuous state, she got involved in it and joined as the general manager in Sept 2009. It was a very good decision for Lyric that Deborah joined as the general manager. Lyric Dinner Theater was at looking at consistently bad financial performance year after year and was struggling with its finances and payables even after a recent loan. Further, its operations were in a mess, costs were extremely high, employees were de-motivated and incompetent and capacity was under-utilized. Further, the Board of Directors were considering winding up the business if it did not break even or start showing profits in another year. Deborah joining at this stage was a blessing for Lyric Dinner Theater. She brought with her a spate of fresh management inputs and a wide range of actions to improve Lyric Dinner Theater’s business structure, operations, production, sales and marketing functions.
But while she was able to contribute to Lyric Dinner Theater’s way of functioning, she was not yet experienced enough to completely tackle all the issues required to successfully turn around a business that is in such a bad situation. Further,
Contents 1. Do you think Deborah made a good career decision to take the job of general manager at Lyric? 3 2. Can this business be profitable? If not, why not? If yes, what needs to be done to achieve profitability? 5 3. What specific actions should Deborah take? 9
1. Do you think Deborah made a good career decision to take the job of general manager at Lyric?
In my opinion, from a career point of view Deborah made a high risk decision by joining Lyric Dinner Theater.
She had just completed her MBA from Harvard Business School in June 2009 and had various job opportunities to choose from; including the US office of an Israeli high-technology equipment firm and a major advertising firm in New York.
However, due to her family owning a major stake in Lyric Dinner Theater and its business being in a tumultuous state, she got involved in it and joined as the general manager in Sept 2009. It was a very good decision for Lyric that Deborah joined as the general manager. Lyric Dinner Theater was at looking at consistently bad financial performance year after year and was struggling with its finances and payables even after a recent loan. Further, its operations were in a mess, costs were extremely high, employees were de-motivated and incompetent and capacity was under-utilized. Further, the Board of Directors were considering winding up the business if it did not break even or start showing profits in another year. Deborah joining at this stage was a blessing for Lyric Dinner Theater. She brought with her a spate of fresh management inputs and a wide range of actions to improve Lyric Dinner Theater’s business structure, operations, production, sales and marketing functions.
But while she was able to contribute to Lyric Dinner Theater’s way of functioning, she was not yet experienced enough to completely tackle all the issues required to successfully turn around a business that is in such a bad situation. Further,