Amusement parks recapture the brass ring

A major Latin American operator of indoor and outdoor amusement parks could not sustain its high investment needs with current cash flow. Bain segmented its parks by profit potential and competitive position and developed tailored approaches for managing each piece of the portfolio. Bain's recommendations put our client in position to achieve a 13 percent projected increase in cash flow.

FunParksCo is a major operator of indoor and outdoor amusement parks in Latin American. Its indoor parks division experienced strong growth until the late 1990s, when it reached maturity. Revenues began to fall and cash flow remained close to break-even, leading to extreme cuts in the rate of investment.

The market for indoor parks showed signs of saturation, as construction of new shopping malls—the main driver of growth in the past—slowed down, and the arcade games industry stopped innovating. The company could no longer sustain profitability through growth, and needed an optimized portfolio strategy.

FunParksCo asked a Bain team to define a strategic plan for the indoor parks division and optimize its long-term profit potential.

View Approach

The Bain team first defined the key profitability drivers of the division, then developed a tailored approach to manage each element of the portfolio.

View Recommendations

Based on the Bain framework, a different course of action was defined for each cluster: milk, hold, exit and question.

View Results

Bain's work resulted in a substantial increase in the client's original projected cash flow. FunParksCo is now on target to achieve and even exceed those results.