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Case Study

Chateau d’Agel: Third time lucky?

By Benoit F. Leleux, Franck Adraï, Elvis Fontaine and Javier Sanchez Castro

24 pages

December 2020

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Reference: IMD-7-2057

The case is the fourth is a case series documenting the genesis, deal engineering, early implementation and then mounting operational challenges faced by Robin Budowski as he acquired and tried to turn around Château d’Agel, a vineyard located in the Minervois region of Languedoc, going from ideation to execution, stagnation and deep crisis. The key protagonist has to decide which plan he will present to the upcoming critical shareholders’ meeting. Chateau d’Agel was acquired in 2003, for €0.8 million. After years of below par performances, sales dropped drastically in 2017 while capital expenditures exploded, generating critical financial issues. The vineyard manager was replaced and Robin took full operational control to manage the turnaround, cutting costs and investments.

Learning Objective

Cash flows and working capital management
Developing a turnaround business plan
Strategic analysis
Leadership and HR management
Crisis management
Marketing and sales development
Aligning vision and incentives between entrepreneur and shareholders; managing wine properties
Growth management
Pivoting strategy
Managing affinity investor

Keywords

Lifestyle, Venturing, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Change Management, Turnaround, Digital Marketing, Strategic Pivot, Business Model, Customer Engagement, Growth Strategy

Settings

France
SAS Château d'Agel, Consumer Goods, Wine and Spirits
2003-2020

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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