Easyinternetcafe Logistics and Project Planning

Written Cases Study: Logistics and Project Planning and Easy InternetCafe Ltd.

Executive Summary

EasyInternetcafe Ltd.(elc) was founded in 1999 as a part of easy brand businesses – the easyGroup, with an aim to provide consumers’ access to the Internet at the lowest cost.

Back in 1990, with the exuberance of Internet boom, Internet cafe business seemed very promising and profitable. The internet cafe required heavy investments in the first few years, however based on the yield management business model the return on investment was expected due to low prices and high demand. The company had established itself as the per-eminent internet cafe chain in Europe; however, until now (2003) it had not made a profit. From 1999 to 2002, easyInternetcafe owned and operated all their own stores. The company decided to revamp its operations and in order to eliminate the need for future investments the strategy was changed from opening new stores to appointing franchisees to the new and existing legacy stores. According to new business strategy, the franchisees would be required to absorb the costs of the hardware and the property. They would need to operate with maximum 30 PC’s and no staff required at the store aside from regular maintenance. It was also decided that new stores would be smaller – with 20-30 PCs and with common look, signage, furnishings and PCs.

The dilemma exists in choosing the right proposal for the most comprehensive and affordable strategy in opening franchises offered by proponent companies: UPS, Excel, Global Serve and Ingram Micro.

As Raj Chopra, I would recommend to pursue the Ingram Micro as a provider of services, equipment and supply chain management.

Issue Identification:

Immediate Issue:

The easyInternetcafe was developing new strategy to franchise the operations, with no real operating plan for how to supply and open new franchise(s).

Systemic issues:

1. Heavy investment into company owned stores with each store...