Case Study - Rainbow Fish Company, LLC

Two years have passed since Frank Troutman, CEO of Rainbow Fish Company met with Cedric Linbaugh and John Troutman, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Management and Vice President of Operations, respectively to discuss increasing their scope and scale of operations. There has been good news and bad news during this period. The good news is that sales have increased domestically as the company expanded into Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In fact, the construction and consulting business improved dramatically. Jim Beierlein accepted the position of Vice President of Construction Sales and his experience and contacts had been a real benefit to Rainbow Fish Company. However, global sales were disappointing, according to Frank Troutman. European and Canadian Sales were good, but the Asian Market sales were not very good. They developed some new web pages for China, India, and Japan. While they had many "hits" on the web page, the sales were not satisfactory. The company relied upon Internet sales in the Asian markets.

Additional Background Information

Rainbow Fish Company was established in 2003 by Frank Troutman after he decided to make a career change. He was at that time a successful broadcaster specializing in broadcasting athletic events but was also visible in other venues. He had developed an interest in fishes over the years and maintained large fish tanks, which were part of the decor in his office. One of his friends, Rob Zacharias, was a dentist who specialized in dental care for children and adolescents. Frank approach Rob when he was remodeling his offices to help use fish tanks for new decor but he also thought that it would help relax and interest his young patients and make their experience less stressful. Frank got interested in the and spent a considerable amount of time and effort in the design aspects and in the selection of the fish. Rob was so impressed along the way that he insisted on paying Frank a substantial consulting fee and offered to provide financial backing for a new venture that subsequently was named Rainbow Fish. Rainbow Fish was founded as a company that provides full turnkey fish tank design, construction, and installation for use in office settings. And, as they say, the rest is history. The business took off like it was "shot from a gun" and Frank was able to bring in several additional individuals to help with supply chain issues, construction, and overall operations. Now they were at a crossroads with respect to expansion.

Current Challenges and Issues

The company had established a footprint in China through purchasing most of their fish from supplies in China and a Chinese Export Company. Frank hired several SCM students to do some studies for him as part of their internship. Their analysis agreed with Frank's conclusions, that is, global markets offered the most potential. They based their conclusions on two important developments that they found with their research - the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement that was in the works between the United States and about a dozen Asian countries and the demographics of the Asian countries.

Case Questions

Assume that you have been hired as a consultant at the request of Mr. Frank Troutman, CEO of Rainbow Fish Company, to answer the following questions:

1. For the Rainbow Fish Company, what makes the demographics of the Asian countries attractive for future sales growth? Research the demographics of the Asian countries listed above and provide the advantages to marketing their products in these countries.

2. What options in terms of global intermediaries exist to help Rainbow Fish in this endeavor? List their options of appropriate 3PL provider services that could be used here and provide details on the specific services they provide. Research the different types of services available.

Case Report Requirements

1. Assume the role of consultant and present your recommendations in a professional Executive Memo format, addressed to Mr. Frank Troutman, CEO of Rainbow Fish Company. See detailed Executive Memo format requirements for case study assignments within the Writing Resources navigation button in Blackboard.
2. The memo should include a brief summary of the required tasks and a discussion of your recommendations as they relate to the questions posed. The concluding paragraph should contain your recommendations for this company. Do not forget to conclude your memo with a professionally-formatted closing.
3. You should exhibit professionalism in your writing: all sentences should exhibit proper English grammar, sentence form, and paragraph structure.