Business Model Canvas TemplateKey Partners[Add your assumpti

Business Model Canvas Template
Key Partners
[Add your assumptions here.]
Key Activities
Key Resources
Value Proposition
Customer Relationship
Channels
Customer Segments
Cost Structure
Revenue Streams
1
You will be using the Management Consulting Template.
Here is some helpful information:
The Management Consulting Template (MCT) is a tool used by
consultants to track their thinking and analysis in

order to come up with strong/best recommendations for the
client based on the diagnostic tools/facts/critical
analysis/logic. The goal in MCT is to pick one of three options
for the client and work it through the MCT and to
therefore have a persuasive argument in place. (Later when
finished using the MCT the consultant would then use
the information within the template to write up a professional
report. However. for this assignment we only
complete/deliver the MCT template itself). Send Individual
Assignment 2 to [email protected]
Note some of the important aspects/pointers I typically
expect/review/explain for this assignment:
i. What are the steps one should consider in Individual
Assignment 2 of BUSI640- using the Management Consulting
Template (MCT)?
a. review the Case Study documents to understand the situation
b. select the diagnostic tools that will help you with diagnosis
of the situation
c. think through b. with the help of those tools
d. come up with three options (Table 2) that you as the
consultant decide are the best three options for the consultant
to overcome/improve the situation the client is facing
e. select only one of those three options as your preferred
option
f. from that point on only answer the remaining tables in terms
of the one preferred/selected option you chose.
Having done the above you would have now arrived now at

Table 3
ii. What about critical issues and WNTBA?
For each of 3.1, 3.2 etc you now need to think through the
question "what are the critical issues (problems or barriers,
etc) that will need to be addressed in order to achieve the one
option I have selected/chosen? For each of the
sections (3.1, 3.2 etc) answer the questions for each of the
critical issues you find for that section.
a. Table 3B
- Table 3b is closely connected to Table 3.1; 3.2; 3.3 etc
- the box in Table 3B that states "What Needs to Be Addressed"
can be understood as a question "What needs to be
addressed in order to overcome/resolve the critical issue(s) that
were found in Table 3.1; 3.2; 3.3 etc
b. Table 4
- Table 4.1; 4.2; 4.3 etc are closely connected to Tables 3B
- WNTBA is What Needs to Be Addressed
- the WNTBA Statements come from Table 3.1; 3.2; 3.3 etc
- having filled in the statements you now need to then
find/decide on two solutions/ideas/alternatives (i.e. Alternative
#1; Alternative #2) for the client that best address/help solve
each WNTBA
- having come up with two alternatives for each WNTBA, you
now need to select one of the two alternatives as your
recommendation for each WNTBA and give the rationale as to
why you chose that alternative (bottom box of 4.1; 4.2,
4.3 etc.)

c. The section of Table 5 is where the final recommendations
and outcomes are written that result from the critical
analysis work you did in the earlier sections/tables leading up to
Table 5.
d. Only the reference page is APA; type directly into the boxes;
no other paper/documents etc are necessary beyond
the template other than the reference page and any appendices
you decide to add; it is ok to use professional point
form but preferably in Tables 2 (the three options) use full
sentences/paragraphs and give good detail as Tables 2 will
likely contain the most information and the other tables will be
sentences and smaller sections/answers typically. This
is a critical analysis assignment where you show you have
tracked your thinking, analysis, and recommendations
AND that they fit together.
mailto:[email protected]
Thank you for your email and questions.
a. The examples I gave were not for Shandong Gold's Proposed
Acquisition case study. Here is a summary of some steps you
would take that help the consultant decide what options to use:.
A. Important Pre-MCT process (getting ready to use the MCT).
First. before confirming the key
opportunity/challenges/problem/issues to work on in the case
study/organization the consultant begins by reviewing the
circumstances/case study and then first chooses the most
effective diagnostic tools to use on the case study (and then
uses them) in order to gather key information;

Second. the consultant must use the diagnostic tools
thoroughly The consultant does not normally determine and
should not assume nor guess what the issues/tasks etc affect the
organization in the case study before using the diagnostic tools
in a comprehensive analysis- (this is the standard expectation of
the client, the assignment and the consultancy process);
Third. having used the diagnostic tools and having gathered
thorough diagnostic information the consultant then thinks
throught/determines what the problems are (often deep rooted).
Note that there is not one exact/perfect answer- different
consultants and different tools can lead to different pathways to
resolve the situation in the organization.
Fourth.from this point on now the consultant proceeds with the
MCTemplate. If few tools or ineffective tools are used the
selection may be too limiting, narrow it will likely i. be limiting
and not fully satisfying for the client; ii. be impacted by bigger
problems/goals left unattended.
Fifth. at this point of the process, the consultant uses critical
thinking to derive three options (Table 2) and provides detailed
information in Tables 2.1/2.2/2.3 and ultimately selects one of
these three options as the preferred option for the situation;
Sixth. having selected their option, the consultant continues on
through the MCTemplate.
I hope this is helpful.
Assessment Rubrics:
Written Communication Assessment 20%

1
Did not meet expectations
2
Met expectations
3
Exceeded expectations
Writing Conventions
(grammar, word use, punctuation, mechanics)
Frequent
grammatical errors
and misspellings
inhibit readability
Informal language,
abbreviations and
slang are used
Few grammatical errors
and misspellings (e.g.
three or fewer per page)
Correct verb tense used
Paragraphs flow from
one to another Active
voice pervasive
Free of grammatical errors
and misspellings
Effective verb tense used
Uses phrases and
construction that delight as
well as inform the reader
Primarily active voice
Overall Effectiveness of Piece (professional appearance,
expression and format)
Not formatted to
Specifications, Lacking professional appearance
Formatting is generally
correct, acceptable

professional appearance.
Assigned format followed
explicitly: Exceptional
professional appearance
Critical Thinking Assessment 80%
Intellectual Standards
Elements of Reasoning
Clarity
Relevance
Depth
Breadth
Integration
Consistency
Information
(situation analysis; important data, facts, observations for
analysis and decision making)
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Concepts
(theories, principles, models to be applied in the analysis or
exercise)
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Points of View
(important stakeholders to consider in the analysis and resulting
decision(s))
1 2 3

1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Assumptions
(presuppositions, values or beliefs that must be explicitly
stated)
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Implications
(potential +/- outcomes or
consequences of decisions or
strategies)
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Interpretation
(articulation of conclusions,
interpretation, recommendation
based on information, concepts,
POV, assumptions and
Implications)
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3

Critical Thinking and Written Analyses Rubric – Scale
Description
Levels
Criteria
1
Did Not Meet Expectations
2
Met Expectations
3
Exceeded Expectations
Clarity
Writing is not clear. It is
difficult to understand points
being made. The writing lacks
transitions, and few examples and/or illustrations are provided
to support explanation or
recommendations.
Writing is generally well organized and understood. Transitions
are used to facilitate clarity. Some examples and/illustrations
are used to support explanation or recommendations.
Writing is succinct, precise,
effectively organized and
without ambiguity.
Transitions, explanation
and elaboration are
extensive to elucidate
points. Detailed illustrations and/or examples are used to
support explanation or
recommendations.
Relevance
Critical issues/questions are
omitted or ignored in the
writing.
Most of the critical issues/questions are
addressed in the writing.
All critical issues/questions

are addressed completely in
the writing
Depth of
Discussion
Ignores bias; Omits arguments
Misrepresents issues; Excludes data; Includes but does not
detect inconsistencies of
information; Ideas contain
unnecessary gaps, repetition or extraneous details; Sees no
arguments and overlooks
differences
Detects bias; Recognizes arguments;
Categorizes content; Paraphrases data;
Sufficient detail to support conclusions and/or recommendations
Analysis includes insightful
questions;
Refutes bias; Discusses
issues thoroughly
Critiques content; Values
information
Examines inconsistencies;
Offers extensive detail to
support conclusions and
recommendations; Suggests
solutions or implementation
Breadth of Discussion
Omits arguments or
perspectives; Misses major
content areas/concepts;
Presents few options
Covers the breadth of the topic without being superfluous
Considers multiple
perspectives;
Thoroughly delves into the issues/questions;
Thoroughly discusses facts relevant to the issues
Integration of all

Elements of Reasoning
Fails to draw conclusions or
conclusions rely on author’s
authority rather than strength of presentation; Draws faulty
conclusions; Shows intellectual dishonesty
Formulates clear conclusions with adequate support
Assimilates and critically
reviews information, uses
reasonable judgment, and
provides balanced, well
justified conclusions
Internal Consistency
There is little integration across
the sections of the paper.
Several inconsistencies or
contradictions exist. Few of the issues, recommendation and
explanations make sense and are well integrated.
Sections of the paper are generally well linked/connected. Only
minor contradictions exist. Most of the issues, recommendations
and explanations make sense and are well integrated.
All sections of the paper are
linked. There are no
contradictions in the
writing. All issues,
recommendations and
explanations make sense
and are well integrated
Values: Level 1: 10%, Level 2: 50% and Level 3: 100%

W25813
CHEEKBONE BEAUTY – BUILDING AN INDIGENOUS
GROWTH
VENTURE
R. Chandrasekhar wrote this case under the supervision of
Simon Parker solely to provide material for class discussion.
The authors
do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have
disguised certain
names and other identifyi ng information to protect
confidentiality.
This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized,
or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without
the
permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this
material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction
rights
organization. To order copies or request permission to
reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business
School, Western
University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t)
519.661.3208; (e) [email protected]; www.iveycases.com. Our
goal is to publish
materials of the highest quality; submit any errata to
[email protected] i1v2e5y5pubs
Copyright © 2021, Ivey Business School Foundation Version:
2021-10-29

On an early morning in June 2020, Jennifer Harper was at her
seven-employee office in the sprawling
basement of her home in St. Catharines, Ontario. The Canadian
province of Ontario, including the Niagara
Region, had been under a state of emergency since March 15
due to COVID-19. Although many brick-and-
mortar businesses in the province had shut down here, as they
had in the rest of Canada and indeed in the
rest of the world, Cheekbone Beauty (Cheekbone), the cosmetic
products company Harper had founded
four years earlier, was not only open for business but doing
well. The reason was that the company had
been built on an online sales model. After only a slight drop in
the first four weeks of the pandemic, sales
of Cheekbone products had gathered momentum.
A member of the Anishinaabe tribe of what was known in
Canada as the First Nations community, Harper
had been driven by the goal of becoming “the first Indigenous
woman to create a unicorn1 beauty brand
from Canada.” She repeated this personal ambition to herself
that morning while waiting for the daily staff
meeting—which had moved online—to begin. At the same time,
Harper was seeking resolution to an
ongoing entrepreneurial dilemma she had been facing: How
should she identify the fledgling company’s
unique strengths and build them into sustainable competitive
advantages?
COSMETICS INDUSTRY
The European Commission defined a cosmetic product as

any substance or mixture intended to be placed in contact with
the external parts of the human body
(epidermis, hair system, nails, lips and external genital organs)
or with the teeth and the mucous
membranes of the oral cavity with a view exclusively or mainly
to cleaning them, perfuming them,
changing their appearance, protecting them, keeping them in
good condition, or correcting body odours.2
1 The term unicorn was used in the venture capital industry to
refer to a privately held start-up valued at over $1 billion. The
term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, who
chose the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of
such successful ventures.
2 “Glossary and Acronyms Related to Cosmetics Legislation,”
European Commission, January 29, 2015,
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/13021?locale=en.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Lee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn
Page 2 W25813
Globally, the cosmetics industry had revenues of US$356.7
billion in 2018.3 At 9.2 per cent, it had a high profit
margin. The industry was generally outpacing the rate of growth
of the gross domestic product (GDP). With the
top four companies holding 22.5 per cent share of the global
market, the industry was fragmented. Its three main
categories were skin care, hair care, and makeup, and skin care
was the largest category by sales.4
In Canada, the cosmetics industry had revenues of CA$1.6
billion in 2018, with a profit margin of 7.4 per
cent.5 There were a total of 4,247 cosmetics establishments in
Canada. Their revenues had grown by 1.2
per cent in 2019, to reach CA$1.8 billion. L’Oréal Canada Inc.
(L’Oréal) led the Canadian market with a
32 per cent market share in 2019. The slow growth in demand
was due to two factors, which were uniquely
Canadian: the country’s aging population and the growing
preference of younger consumers for a natural
appearance.6 The distribution of cosmetics in Canada was store-
based, to the extent of 83.9 per cent, and it
involved traditional channels like grocery stores and health and
beauty stores.

The cosmetics industry was characterized by a wide prevalence
of contract manufacturers, which relieved
cosmetics companies of the need to own production facilities. It
also left these companies free to focus on
capturing value at the retail end, through brand building and
marketing. Most cosmetics companies,
particularly in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector,
were thus buying “pre-made” products. Their
day-to-day involvement in the business was limited to
marketing. Branding was the only way to
differentiate a product that was largely homogenous across
categories. In its elementary form, for example,
a lipstick was no more than a combination of wax, oil, and
pigment.
The industry had two types of contract manufacturers: original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and
original design manufacturers (ODMs). OEMs were responsible
for producing products according to the
specifications provided by clients and then selling the products
to other companies, which were responsible
for their distribution. ODMs were responsible for designing the
products before producing them. The
operations of OEMs and ODMs often had several combinations.
For example, some OEMs made what were
called private labels, on which a marketeer was free to place the
logo of its own brand. The formulation of
the product was often owned by an OEM or ODM; however, the
manufacturer did not have the rights to
market it. Some OEMs served as one-stop-shops by providing
product life-cycle support for customers, and
this helped in establishing successful product lines.
A major trend in the industry was the growing demand for
natural, herbal, and organic beauty products.
The demand was fuelled by young consumers, who were seeking

locally made, artisanal brands. They were
pushing the industry to become “greener” by tracking the raw -
material compositions of the products they
were buying and insisting that cosmetics companies followed
sustainable practices such as not using
animals for testing. These consumers were enlisting the help of
governments, which acted as regulators.
Some countries of the European Union, for example, had banned
the use of plastic microbeads in
cosmetics.7 Another major trend was the recognition by the
industry of the concept of life cycle thinking
(LCT), which was widely considered to be the starting point for
any sustainability assessment. LCT ensured
that sustainability was built in right from the design stage of a
product and lasted throughout its life cycle.
3 IBISWorld, Global Cosmetics Manufacturing Industry –
Market Research Report, 6, September 2019,
https://www.ibisworld.com/global/market-research-
reports/global-cosmetics-manufacturing-industry/.
4 IBISWorld, Global Cosmetics Manufacturing Industry.
5 IBISWorld, Beauty, Cosmetics, and Fragrance Stores in
Canada – Market Research Report, 31, April 2020,
https://www.ibisworld.com/canada/market-research-
reports/beauty-cosmetics-fragrance-stores-industry/.
6 IBISWorld, Beauty, Cosmetics, and Fragrance Stores in
Canada, 13
7 S. Bom, J. Jorge, Helena M. Ribeiro, and Joana Marto, “A
Step Forward on Sustainability in the Cosmetics Industry: A
Review,” Journal of Cleaner Production 225 (2019): 270–290.
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Page 3 W25813
As a global market leader, L’Oréal had taken some pioneering
initiatives in promoting sustainability. The
company’s designers had worked for two years to develop an
innovative tool that assessed the social and
environmental performance of L’Oréal products. Known as the
Sustainable Product Optimisation Tool (SPOT),
it had been implemented in 2017 by the company across all its
brands. SPOT used fourteen sustainability
criteria—from sourcing, production, and packaging to consumer
use. It monitored the impacts of waste reduction
across every aspect of the company’s products in four areas: (1)
the proportion of renewable ingredients, sourced
sustainably or derived from green chemistry; (2) packaging; (3)
the carbon footprint of the product’s formula;

and (4) the social benefit of the product.8 Packaging was the
largest component of waste in cosmetics production.
Instead of being sent to incinerators, packaging waste was
increasingly being composted.9
JENNIFER HARPER
Harper was the daughter of a Métis father and a non-Indigenous
mother from Ontario. Her paternal
grandmother was a residential school survivor. As a little girl
growing up under her mother’s care in the
Niagara Region, Harper had recognized what she called the
“power of makeup” and the “magic of feeling
pretty.” These were among the factors that influenced her entry,
in later years, into the cosmetics business.
Having been estranged from the Indigenous side of her family
for much of her life, Harper was unaware of
the exclusion faced by Indigenous people in Canada until she
was in her early twenties and working as a
waitress at a restaurant in Toronto, when the owner pointed to a
man who appeared drunk outside the
restaurant and asked, “Jenn, will you go tell your dad to leave?”
A ten-year career in sales and marketing with foods companies
like Sysco Corporation followed, during
which Harper handled large customer accounts. But as she
learned more about the sense of despair that was
part of the Indigenous identity in Canada, Harper decided to do
something about it; like some of her peers,
she decided to “take the power back by building our own
individual businesses.” She saw entrepreneurship
as the route to seizing power and uplifting the Indigenous
community. Drawn by the vision of becoming
the first Indigenous woman to create a unicorn, Harper set out
her company’s mission statement as follows:

“To help every Indigenous youth see and feel their value in the
world while crafting sustainable colour
cosmetics.” She wanted to make Cheekbone so big that “no
Indigenous kid will ever question their beauty
or their worth ever again in the world.” Seeing one of their own
become successful would serve as an
inspiring role model for Indigenous kids, she believed.
Harper chose the cosmetics industry not only because of its
similarity with the food industry, in which she
had gained experience during her professional career, but also
because of its high margins, which were a
prerequisite to contributing to the larger good of the Indigenous
community. The business was also
generally recession proof. Harper wanted to follow the example
of Patagonia Inc., a company whose
proclaimed mission was: “We are in business to save our home
planet.” However, she saw her leadership
challenge as ensuring that Cheekbone stayed true to its purpose,
even as it became a billion-dollar global
brand from Canada.
The fundamentals were self-evident. The business would be
built on the traditional Indigenous values of
love for fellow beings and honesty in each transaction. It would
be a social enterprise managed for profit.
It would give back 10 per cent of annual profits to the
Indigenous community in some form. It would
combine “passion with purpose”—acting as an instrument of
social change within the Indigenous
8 S. Bom, Helena M. Ribeiro and Joana Marto, “Embracing
Sustainability: Important Practices and Impact in Cosmetics,”
Cosmetics & Toiletries 135, no. 3 (2020).
9 Patrizia Cinelli, Maria Beatrice Coltelli, Francesca Signori,

Pierfrancesco Morganti, and Andrea Lazzeri, “Cosmetic
Packaging
to Save the Environment: Future Perspectives,” Cosmetics 6,
no. 2 (2019): 26, https://doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics6020026.
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Page 4 W25813
community. It would be a great company on the lines of what
Seth Godin had once written, as she often
recalled: “Great companies make change for a living.”10
Harper’s initial challenges included a lack of experience in the
beauty industry and a lack of understanding

of the chemistry of cosmetics. The skills she brought to the
business were around sales, marketing, brand
building, customer focus, and people management. Those were
the levers she would be pulling to move the
business forward day to day. She had also taken two strategic
decisions early on: she would drive sales only
online; and sales would be direct to each individual consumer.
She would not be using the traditional
channel of stores—beauty stores and grocery stores—to sell her
products. Her business would be business
to consumer (B2C) and not business to business (B2B).
“Harper is a driven entrepreneur,” said Jeff Cyr, managing
partner at Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
(Raven),11 a Vancouver-based venture capital firm with a
mission to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs
with the capital and expertise they needed to succeed. “She not
only understands her business but has a
keen world view, which is important for someone in the driving
seat. She is good with people and knows
how to build a good team. She is capable of making hard
business choices.”
CHEEKBONE BEAUTY: COMPANY BACKGROUND
The first thing Harper did in her entrepreneurial journey was to
set up a business advisory board in mid-
2015. The three-member board comprised a lawyer, an
accountant, and an entrepreneur enlisted from a
private organization of retired professionals, who charged
CA$150 per hour. She had three meetings with
this group, who reviewed her business plan and validated her
business idea. She was encouraged by their
positive, independent view.

In September 2016, Harper registered the business and opened a
website. She called her business
Cheekbone Beauty because cheekbones were her favourite
feature in humans, and Indigenous women had,
in her view, “the most amazing cheekbones.” She had also
found from her research that people with high
cheekbones were perceived to be trustworthy—and trust was
important to her in her relationships with
vendors and customers. She also enrolled her newly formed
company in the small business donation
program of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society12
and pledged to donate 10 per cent of her
gross profits to the society each year.
Cosmetic products companies spent years perfecting their
formulations. Harper wanted product innovation
to be at the forefront of her marketing. So, instead of buying
pre-made products from contract
manufacturers, as was the norm in the SME sector of the
industry, she set a short-term goal to develop her
own formulations and outsource their production. Her long-
term, five-year goal was to establish her own
manufacturing facility with an in-house innovation lab. Harper
contracted with a chemist to experiment
with combinations of ingredients to arrive at a formulation that
would be unique to Cheekbone. Although
several early formulations were unsuccessful, it was not long
before Cheekbone struck gold and found a
winning formulation. Harper next identified two contract
manufacturers, based in Toronto, who specialized
in producing lipstick. She hired a total of ten subcontractors for
different jobs, including bookkeeping,
marketing, graphic design, packaging, quality control, and
product innovation. These contractors were all
put on monthly retainers. Over time, she also hired three full -
time employees for core operations and four

part-time employees for back-end operations.
10 CBC Radio, “Lipstick with a Cause: Cheekbone Beauty
Giving Back to Indigenous Youth,” CBC, November 23, 2017,
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/desire-to-give-back-
promote-reconciliation-raise-awareness-drives-indigenous-
entrepreneurs-1.4412571/lipstick-with-a-cause-cheekbone-
beauty-giving-back-to-indigenous-youth-1.4416052.
11 Raven Indigenous Capital Partners (website), accessed July
8, 2021, https://ravencapitalpartners.ca/.
12 First Nations Child & Family Caring Society (website),
accessed July 22, 2021, https://fncaringsociety.com/.
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Harper had decided early on that instead of seeking external
financing like bank loans, she would rely on
her personal savings to kick-start the business and, over time,
would rely on profits generated from the
business. Bootstrapping was common among Indigenous
entrepreneurs, more than half of whom relied on
personal savings for their business start-ups. Only 19 per cent
of Indigenous entrepreneurs accessed
commercial loans or credit from banks or government programs,
according to the Indigenous Economic
Progress Report 2019.13 Harper had a husband and two kids,
and she continued to manage her family and
work at her regular job until mid-2019. She spent CA$5,000 on
the business launch and was able to finance
a large part of subsequent expenditures from the revenues that
were being generated through product sales.
Cheekbone was an online pure play since its inception. Harper
had chosen web-based marketing and
distribution, in contrast to the store-based marketing and
distribution that was common in the cosmetic
products industry. The company also advertised through digital
and social media platforms rather than
offline platforms like print and television. “I chose online as my
core medium,” said Harper, “because it
was not only affordable, which was important from the budget
point of view, but also easy to figure out.”
The online model seemed to resonate with Cheekbone
customers. For example, Desiree Lawson, a resident
of Bella Bella, on the central coast of British Columbia,
Canada, had been using Cheekbone lipstick since
2018. A holder of a bachelor’s degree in natural science
protection from Vancouver Island University,

Lawson provided technical support to Marine Planning
Partnership (MaPP), an organization that
implemented marine plans for the province. “I just ordered the
brand online, and it takes a few weeks for
me to get the package through Canada Post,” she said. “I am in
a remote location where we do not have
courier facilities, and even the postal delivery is weekly by
ferry. I saw Cheekbone advertisements on social
media featuring Indigenous consumers and I was drawn to the
product.”
The world of online cosmetics was like the “Wild West” of
yore: teeming with operators in search of easy
money. The entry barriers for businesses were low. Anyone
could make a lipstick, for example, on a stove
in their own kitchen, using no more than wax and oil and
pigment—or make a soap, using oil, lye, water,
colorant, and fragrance. “They could order crappy ingredients
from a wholesale platform like Alibaba, whip
them up, slap on a logo, take pictures of the product on a phone,
put them up on a website, and start selling
to unsuspecting customers either directly or through websites
like Etsy or Shopify, make money and
disappear,” said Harper. She explained, “The remedy lies in the
hands of the consumer. They should ask
questions. It is as simple as sending an email to the company. If
they do not get an answer within twenty-
four hours, they can be certain that they are dealing with a
flash-in-the-pan business. The consumer should
become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
Notwithstanding the competitive nature of the ecosystem in
which she operated—the number of cosmetics and
fragrance stores in Canada, for example, was forecast to reach
about 5,200 by 202514—Harper had an
unconventional view of competition. She did not believe in the

idea of market share, which was a large part of
business conversations in capitalist societies. The concept of a
zero-sum game, in which a gain in market share
for one meant a loss of share for the other, did not appeal to her
because she believed that there was “enough
business for all businesses to succeed.” As a trailblazer, she
believed that she was competing only with herself.
Cheekbone products incorporated the three concepts of clean
beauty, sustainable beauty, and vegan beauty,
while those of many of her competitors —large and small—
incorporated only one or two of these. Clean
beauty products consisted of ingredients that were non-toxic;
sustainable beauty products consisted of
ingredients (and packing materials) that were biodegradable;
and vegan beauty products consisted of
13 The National Indigenous Economic Development Board,
Indigenous Economic Progress Report 2019, 66, accessed
October
20, 2020, www.naedb-cndea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/
NIEDB-2019-Indigenous-Economic-Progress-Report.pdf.
14 IBISWorld, Beauty, Cosmetics and Fragrance Stores in
Canada, 31.
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Page 6 W25813
ingredients that were plant-based. Harper believed that, with
this approach, Cheekbone was creating new
demand rather than competing with existing players.
Cheekbone was also conceived from the beginning as a direct-
to-consumer (D2C) platform. Harper was
keen to ensure that a Cheekbone representative would be the
last one to touch an order before it reached
the customer’s doorstep. The company would spend time on the
smaller details of customer experience,
right to the last sticker that was laid on the wrapped-up
packaging. The package would not be “dumped into
a standard-sized courier bag” and tossed at the doorstep, as was
the case with packages sent by typical
delivery services. The objective was that a customer receiving a
Cheekbone product should feel like they
were opening a “gift” to themselves.

There were 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada, where
they were also referred to as First Nations
people; they accounted for 4.9 per cent of the Canadian
population, according to the 2016 Canadian
census.15 They formed the immediate target segment in the
domestic market for Cheekbone products.
Globally, there were 370 million Indigenous people, comprising
5 per cent of the world’s population,
scattered across seventy countries from the Arctic to the South
Pacific. In the United States, there were an
estimated 6 million Indigenous people, who were also known
there as Native Americans. California was
the US state with the largest Native population, while New York
was the city with the largest Native
population. New Zealand was home to about 0.7 million
Indigenous people, who comprised 15 per cent of
its population. In Australia, 0.8 million Indigenous people
represented 3.3 per cent of the country’s
population. Greenland, a self-governing nation within the
Danish Realm, had the largest Indigenous
population by percentage: 88 per cent of its 56,000 people were
Indigenous.16
The end markets for Cheekbone comprised not only Canada and
the United States but also Australia, New
Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The United States
contributed 40 per cent of the company’s sales,
while other overseas markets generated about 5 per cent. With
45 per cent of its revenues being generated from
outside the home market, Cheekbone had already gone
international. Harper planned to price Cheekbone
products at a level that ensured everyone working for the
company would be paid what Harper considered a
living wage, rather than minimum wage. The prices would be
medium rather than premium (see Exhibit 1).

For many consumers, a product like a lipstick was an
“affordable luxury” they could indulge in even during
recessionary times.17 Those customers were important to
Cheekbone for the sales they generated; but far
more important were those customers who were passionate
about emerging concepts like green beauty.
They would be keen not only about the ingredients that went
into a cosmetic product but also about their
origins in the value chain, and they would display a sense of
integrity in making purchases. These were the
customers Cheekbone was after.
Cheekbone’s products were being consumed not only by
Indigenous populations but also by non-
Indigenous consumers who supported Indigenous issues and
believed in the causes that social enterprises
like Cheekbone were promoting. Generation Z (the zoomers),
known as “conscious consumers,”18
exemplified this comfortable fit. The company was consciously
adopting the core beliefs of generation Z.
Cheekbone saw its target customers generally as women in the
age group of twenty-four to thirty-four. In
2020, the number of regular customers on its website stood at
40,000. These customers were loyal and
committed, and Harper saw that they were an important
resource.
15 Dwayne Mamo, ed., The Indigenous World 2020, 34th ed.
(International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs [IWGIA],
2020).
16 Dwayne Mamo, ed., The Indigenous World 2020.
17 Ekaterina Netchaeva and McKenzie Rees, “Strategically
Stunning: The Professional Motivations Behind the Lipstick
Effect,”
Psychological Science 27, no. 8 (2016): 1157–1168.
18 Drew Carlin, “Think Tank: Gen Z Consumers Reshaping Our

Future,” Women’s Wear Daily, April 29, 2019,
https://wwd.com/business-news/business-features/think-tank-
vivaldi-generation-z-1203116945/.
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Page 7 W25813
The company’s return customer rate, a key customer metric for
e-commerce businesses, stood at 36.0 per
cent. It contrasted with the industry average of 20.4 per cent for
the makeup products category.19
Harper had developed a brand advocates program early on as a
cornerstone of the company’s marketing

strategy. The program aligned well with the company’s e-
commerce platform because the brand advocates,
numbering 400 in 2020, were meant to create social buzz around
the brand and foster a community of fans
and followers of Cheekbone. Many of the brand advocates
identified themselves as Black, Indigenous, and
People of Colour (BIPOC) and were aligned with BIPOC social
movements. The program was also aligned
with the company’s social objective of empowering Indigenous
youth, several of whom were featured
donning Cheekbone makeup on social media platforms in bids
to promote the company and its products.
Harper explained, “I looked at some loyalty programs but did
not find them effective.” She continued,
I then realized that, in the final analysis, people who believe in
Cheekbone’s mission and are loyal to
Cheekbone brands are the best ambassadors for the company.
That is why all Brand Advocates are
regular users of company products. They all rose from an
existing customer pool. What is significant
is that there is no financial incentive for them. They just wear
our brand, post it on social platforms,
and promote it. Sometimes we give them pro bono samples.
They test it and, if they like it, feed into
social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest.
Having launched its inaugural product of lipstick, the company
came up with what it called its Warrior
Women Collection within months. Each product was named
after a notable Indigenous woman who was
known to be a role model for Indigenous youth. The collection

started with four such products and had
grown to twenty-one by 2020. They were all named for women
who had done “amazing” things across
industries—things that, in Harper’s view, Indigenous youth
would like to replicate. An example was Ashley
Callingbull, who was not only the first Indigenous woman in
Canada but also the first Canadian to win the
Mrs. Universe title in August 2015. “I was inspired by her
story,” said Lawson. “The Collection is a bit
more expensive than a comparable product at Sephora, for
instance, but I order it because of its association
with someone I look up to.”
Cheekbone procured its raw materials globally from Indigenous
communities in Australia, New Zealand,
and South America and put each formulation through a
mandatory sixteen weeks of stability testing. Every
ingredient was sustainable. There were no petroleum
derivatives. The raw materials and the packaging
would bio-degrade at the end of the product life cycle.
Sustainability was an integral part of an Indigenous model of a
for-profit social enterprise for two reasons.
First, Indigenous Territories encompassed 22 per cent of the
world’s land surface and embodied as much as
80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity. As The Indigenous
World 2020 pointed out, “Indigenous Peoples are
guardians not only of forests, but also of rivers, seas, oceans,
ice, peatlands, deserts, prairies, savannas, hills,
and mountains.” The vastness of these territories made
Indigenous people the most natural stewards of the
environment.20 Second, central to decisions pertaining to life
and living among Indigenous communities was
the question: How would this impact the next seven generations
of people on the planet? This approach stood
in stark contrast to the pursuit of quarterly earnings by

companies reporting to Wall Street.
By April 2019, Harper had created a brand, developed a market,
and built a community that seemed to
resonate with her core principles as an entrepreneur. Offers of
funding to finance the passage of Cheekbone
19 Dimira Teneva, “Ecommerce Benchmarks for Beauty
Brands,” Metrilo, accessed May 20, 2021,
https://www.metrilo.com/blog/beauty-brands-ecommerce-
benchmarks.
20 Mamo, The Indigenous World 2020.
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W25813
to the next level of growth started coming her way. It was then
that Harper realized that Cheekbone had
reached what she considered to be the “investor phase” of its
journey. But Harper was wary of many of the
offers since, being focused on no more than immediate returns,
they were “ringing hollow.” Instant
gratification did not sit well with her, either as a person or as a
member of the First Nations community.
In August 2019, Harper signed a deal with Raven for a
CA$350,000 convertible note. Specializing in
financing Canadian Indigenous companies in their early/growth
stage, Raven provided equity investments
in the range of CA$250,000–$2,000,000 per company. The
convertible note to Cheekbone was a unique
hybrid instrument meant to be converted into equity in future.
The prevailing capital structure, wherein
Harper owned 97 per cent of Cheekbone’s equity, would remain
unaffected until the conversion.
“We did not think about an equity position up front because that
would clearly take too much of the value
out of an early stage company,” said Cyr. “We thought it was
more appropriate to use a convertible note
and help Harper build the value of the company. That has been
our typical approach to preserve and build
value. We think we can get decent returns and still leave the
companies in a better position overall.”
GOING FORWARD
Exhibits 2 and 3 display Cheekbone’s income statement and

balance sheet as of October 31, 2019. Harper
had set a goal of making Cheekbone a fully functioning
marketing engine and innovation machine within
five years. The expansion plans included five streams: (1)
diversification of the product range into new
categories of cosmetic products; (2) development of the
company’s own formulations; (3) establishment of
its own manufacturing facility in the Niagara Region; (4)
pursuit of new international markets; and (5)
hiring of staff to fill new roles in operations and marketing,
making Cheekbone a forty-member team. It
would take between eighteen and twenty-four months to execute
the expansion plan, which would require
an estimated CA$2.7 million.
Raven was willing to mobilize additional capital of
CA$1,000,000 toward Cheekbone’s expansion projects.
The details still had to be worked out, but Raven would lead the
financing, in partnership with other
agencies. That still left a shortfall of CA$1.7 million. Harper
wanted all investment to come from sources
that believed in Cheekbone as a social enterprise and in her as a
social entrepreneur. This straightaway ruled
out traditional sources like the big banks, development banks,
and credit societies, whose singular focus on
the bottom line led them to evaluate risks from a purely
financial perspective. In any case, Harper did not
like the big banks, just as she did not like the big retailers.
As part of the drive toward sustainability, she wanted to ensure
transparency in her own manufacturing
operations. The factory would be encased in a glass structure
that would allow visitors to view how the
cosmetic products were made. The Niagara Region was already
a well-known tourist area, drawing visitors
from around the globe to see the wineries, sanctuaries, and

Niagara Falls. The factory would be designed
as a beautiful, “Instagrammable” space, with the work of local
Indigenous artists and artisans displayed on
the property. There would also be a small retail outlet on the
premises selling Cheekbone products.
As she started enumerating the resources at her disposal, Harper
wondered which of her resources was best
placed to generate a sustainable competitive advantage for
Cheekbone—and how she could exploit that
advantage to formulate a growth plan.
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Page 9 W25813

EXHIBIT 1: CHEEKBONE BEAUTY—PRICE POSITIONING
Brand Weight (grams) Price (US$)
Cheekbone 4.0 32.00
ColourPop 3.5 10.00
CoverGirl 3.5 9.99
Dior 3.4 48.00
E.L.F 3.2 4.00
Glossier 3.0 20.00
L’Oréal 3.5 11.79
MAC 3.0 25.00
Maybelline 4.2 7.49
NARS 3.5 33.00
NYX 4.0 10.00
Revlon 4.2 8.99
Tarte 3.4 24.00
Source: Compiled by case author based on data from Cheekbone
Beauty (website),
https://www.cheekbonebeauty.com/collections/sustain-lipstick;
“Lux Lipstick,” Colourpop, accessed August 13, 2021,
https://colourpop.com/collections/lux-lipstick; “Exhibitionist
Cream Lipstick,” CoverGirl, accessed August 13, 2021,
https://www.covergirl.ca/en_ca/lip-makeup/colorlicious-
exhibitionist-cream-0.html; “Rouge Dior,” Dior, accessed
August 13,
2021, https://www.dior.com/en_ca/products/beauty-Y0172009-
rouge-dior-refillable-lipstick-with-4-couture-finishes-satin-
matte-metallic-new-velvet; “Moisturizing Lipstick,” E.L.F.,
accessed August 13, 2021,
https://www.elfcosmetics.com/moisturizing-

lipstick/400048.html?dwvar_400048_color=Red%20Carpet&cgi
d=lips-lipstick#start=2&sz=24; “Generation G,” Glossier.,
accessed August 13, 2021,
https://www.glossier.com/products/generation-g; “Colour Riche
Lips,” L’Oréal Paris, accessed
August 13, 2021, https://www.lorealparis.ca/en-ca/lips/colour-
riche; “Canada’s #1 Lipstick Brand,” MAC, accessed August
13,
2021,
https://www.maccosmetics.ca/products/13854/products/makeup/
lips/lipstick; “The Mattes,” Maybelline New York,
accessed August 13, 2021, https://www.maybelline.ca/en-ca/lip-
makeup/lip-color/color-sensational-the-mattes-matte-finish-
lipstick-makeup; “Lipstick,” NARS, accessed August 13, 2021,
https://www.narscosmetics.com/USA/iconic-
lipstick/999NAC0000096.html?dwvar_999 NAC0000096_color=
7845029441&cgid=lipstick; “Matte Lipstick,” NYX, accessed
August 13, 2021, https://www.nyxcosmetics.ca/en/matte-
lipstick/NYX_005.html; “Super Lustrous Lipstick,” Revlon,
accessed
August 13, 2021, https://www.revlon.com/lips/lipstick/super-
lustrous-lipstick?shade=brazilian-tan; “Color Splash Lipstick,”
Tarte, accessed August 13, 2021,
https://tartecosmetics.com/en_CA/color-splash-lipstick-
935.html?dwvar_935_color=escape%20%28rose%29&cgid=mak
eup-lips-lipstick-lipliners.
EXHIBIT 2: CHEEKBONE BEAUTY—INCOME STATEMENT
Years Ending October (CA$) 2020 (Est.) 2019 2018 2017
Sales 700,000 155,499 73,596 10,917
Other Income (Expense) 46,458 - -
Net Income 700,000 201,957 73,596 10,917

Less: Cost of Goods Sold 230,000 137,962 40,478 6,550
Gross Profit 470,000 63,995 33,118 4,367
Less: Operating Expenses
Advertising and Promotion
Payroll
Shipping
Office and Administration
Professional Consulting Fees
Travel and Auto
Donations
Occupancy
Depreciation
61,318
25,973
6,106
77,357
9,800
4,622
503
624
633
20,320
15,520
10,570
12,310
4,725
1,528
1,500

-
-
1,507
7,532
1,768
2,354
1,200
227
500
-
-
Total Operating Expenses 600,000 186,935 66,473 15,088
Net Income (Loss) before Taxes (130,000) (76,482) (33,355)
(10,721)
Source: Company documents.
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Page 10 W25813
EXHIBIT 3: CHEEKBONE BEAUTY—BALANCE SHEET (AS
ON OCTOBER 31)
ASSETS 2019 2018 2017
Current Assets
Cash
Accounts Receivable
Harmonized Sales Tax Recoverable
Inventory
320,244
2,565
8,373
8,159
2,213
689
-

4,205
-
-
-
2,340
Total Current Assets 339,340 7,107 2,340
Fixed Assets (Net Book Value) 1,667 - -
TOTAL ASSETS 341,008 7,107 2,340
LIABILITIES
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable
Deferred Income
Due to Shareholders
90,342
6,590
14,532
27,211
-
23,871
2,486
-
10,575

Total Current Liabilities 111,465 51,082 13,061
Long-Term Debt 350,000 - -
Total Liabilities 461,465 51,082 13,061
SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIENCY
Share Capital 100 100 -
Deficit (120,557) (44,075) (10,721)
Total Equity (120,457) (43,975) (10,721)
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 341,008 7,107 2,340
Source: Company documents.
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Management Consulting Template

BUSI 640
Student-Consultant Name:
___________________________________
Date of Template Submission:
_________________________Table of Contents
4Notes REGARDING PRIORITY LEVEL
5Table 2.1 – Analysis of Strategic Options (Option 1)
10Table 3.1 - Critical Issues in the Context of Recommended
Strategic Option – (FINANCE)
Strategic Option – (HR)
Strategic Option – (IT/MIS)
Strategic Option – (POM)
Strategic Option – (MARKETING)
16Table 3B – Development of What Need to Be Addressed
Statements (5 OR 6)
(Finance; HR; IT/MIS; POM; Marketing; Other)
19Table 4.1 – WNTBA 1: Evaluation of Alternative
Solution
s & Recommendation
20Table 4.2 – WNTBA 2: Evaluation of Alternative

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