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Project 1-Applying the Five Disciplines of Growth

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is for you to learn to apply the Five Stages of Small Business Growth model and the Five Disciplines of Growth management theory to a real-world scenario. Learning how to apply management theories to the mistakes made in a business will help students know how to make the best decisions for growth.

In this project, you will demonstrate research and writing skills, the ability to identify and use source material, use critical thinking skills in the application of the course material and use APA to support ideas, reasoning, and conclusions presented in the project.

Outcomes Met By Completing This Assignment:

demonstrate an understanding of the small business environment and how to manage in a global marketplace

evaluate and measure forward-thinking enterprise strategies relevant to sustainability and succession through innovation

NOTE: All submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list only).

Instructions:

Read the following case scenario:

Hannah’s Hats is an online hat retailer with a brick-and-mortar store in Chicago, Illinois. The company has 27 employees and was founded by Hannah Hanks in 2008. At that time, Hannah was a single mother of 3-year-old twin boys. After five years, sales were $1 million. The company topped $7 million in 2015.

Hannah’s Story

Working as a freelance children’s clothing buyer, Hannah Hanks could work from home and have the time to be a “proper” mother to her twins, Harry and Harold. This was important to her and to her husband Howard, a software designer. However, on one cold night in November, Hannah was contacted by local police who informed her that her husband had been killed in an auto accident. He was returning to the office after having been to see a client in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.

Devastated by the news, Hannah did everything she could to keep herself together for the kids. She needed help; she decided to send them to day care three days a week so she could deal with getting her life together. Everyday Hannah noticed the caretakers trying to find the hats and mittens of the children when she came to take the boys home. Hannah noticed that the many of the children had mitten clips that seem to help reduce the number of lost mittens. The hats; however, were another matter.

Chicago winters are exceptionally bad for children because the wind whips across Lake Michigan and freezes every part of the face that requires using moisturizer especially the mouth. While many of the children’s coats had attached hoods, this was not enough. Parents used wool scarfs tied around the children’s face (below the eyes) to stop the painful feeling of the cold. The scarves were awkward and bulky for the children who often pulled them off or dropped them in their travels. Hannah decided to design a hat that could be attached with Velcro onto a coat hood or a coat collar and designed to fit closely around the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes of a child just like a ski mask. The hat could be easily attachable relegating the need for scarfs to the past. Hannah knew the hat could come in a variety of colors and have various child-friendly designs.

Several months passed. Hannah discovered that payments from Howard’s workmen’s compensation and from his life insurance would provide her and the children some financial freedom for years if invested wisely. Hannah thought a better way to change her family’s life would be to invest some portion of the money in her hat idea. Founded as a small storefront shop near Marshall Fields, Hannah’s Hats also developed a loyal following online. Through its creative use of social media, sales took off. She expanded her product line to include matching winter gloves and socks.

Beginning in the fall of 2012, Hannah fell into the trap of thinking that the success in selling children’s hats could be directly applied to successfully selling hats to adults. The company invested $150,000 in new designs and inventory for attachable hats for adults. By offering seasonal products for the whole family, Hannah thought Hannah’s Hats would double their sales in three to five years.

With visions of becoming a destination store like LL Bean’s flagship store, Hannah’s Hats moved from its old store near Marshall Fields to a large space on the Navy Pier. This cost Hannah’s Hats $25,000. Hannah also moved the warehouse from a 10,000 sq. ft. space near the old store to 20,000 sq. ft. closer to her home in Arlington Heights. This location was considerably further from the store.

As the boys grew older, Hannah left most of the work to her staff. She set out to increase the sales through travel and spent most of her time marketing projects through numerous marketing initiatives. She was determined to have her hats available to every possible cold weather clothes customer. She introduced numerous marketing initiatives, including a partnership with Blizzard Relief, an organization intended to increase awareness of the clothing needs of the homeless during massive cold weather storms.

To sustain these efforts, Hannah Hats bulked up its marketing staff that consisted of Hannah and three of the employees who worked in the warehouse. Gradually, the marketing team grew to 5 full-time employees. Additionally, Hannah hired an IT person to handle the online store.

From 2008 to 2015, Hannah’s Hats grew at an annual rate of as much as 50 percent. Hannah’s talks and marketing pitches to large retailers attracted the attention of two investors. The investors told Hannah that with their help she could grow the company to be a $75 million dollar business. Hannah began to think bigger, “If the investors think they can grow Hannah’s Hats to be a $75 million-dollar business, why can’t I”? This plan became her objective. Hannah doubled her marketing trips and went after WalMart and Target to broaden her customer base. Although both companies liked her product, they felt that a cheaper version was needed.

Hannah put in place many strategies to grow even larger. She was sure her efforts would pay off in increased sales. Just the same, in March of 2016, sales flattened. Expenses spiraled upwards. “We were spending too much money marketing”, Hannah thought. Hannah Hats’ sales were dropping slowly. Hannah limited what she had been taking as a salary to buy time to rethink her growth plans. Her expansion plans were put on hold. Employees were worried. Morale suffered as well. Hannah Hats was no longer the family business where employees shared personal updates during morning huddles.

Instructions:

Write an Introduction

Create the introductory paragraph. The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper and tells a reader the main points covered in the paper. To help you know how to write an introduction, view this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html

You will use the 5 Stage Life Cycle theory and the Five Disciplines of Small Business Growth to analyze Hannah’s growth plans mistakes. The paper should discuss the following:

Write a synopsis of the “Five Stages of Small Business Growth” Model and why it is a useful management tool.

Identify the stage Hannah’s Hats was in when Hannah began her growth plans and what implications the stage should have had for her plans.

Give a synopsis of the “Five Disciplines of Growth” management theory.

Apply the theory to the case scenario identifying at least three major mistakes that Hannah made in planning for her company’s growth.

Explain the reasoning behind they selection of each mistake. Include in the discussion ways that she could have avoided each of the mistakes.

Using the theories as a guide, identify the stage of growth Hannah’s Hat is currently in and make three recommendations as to how Hannah should move forward.

Write a Summary Paragraph

Write the summary paragraph. A summary paragraph restates the main topics of the paper. Make sure to leave a reader with a sense that the paper is complete. The summary paragraph is the last paragraph of a paper and does not need a heading.

Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present. Use the grading rubric to ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

Read the paper aloud as a first measure;

Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;

Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;

Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder (The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a student’s final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission. No exceptions will be considered by the instructor).

How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 3-5 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page. Write clearly and concisely.

The body of the paper should consist of a heading for each required element.

APA and writing is a main focus of this paper and should be executed with the utmost attention to detail. In this regard, note that the project calls for at least one primary source. Be sure to include this resource as part of your supporting material choices. Should you need help in any these areas of APA or writing, please refer to the APA module located in the content area of the course or ask the professor for guidance.

Use the grading rubric and instructions as guides. Be sure to cover all that is asked of you in the assignment and do so in a way that will guide the professor into giving a high grade. Finally, all work that you submit for this project should be your own. Remember your pledge to uphold academic integrity in all work that you prepare and submit.

Requirements for the Assignment

Before you begin writing the paper, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.

Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the paper to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.

Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.

You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct quotes. You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned by reviewing this link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.

You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list.

The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings to support ideas, reasoning and conclusions.

You may not use books as source material.

When using a source document, the expectation is that the information is cited and referenced with a page or paragraph number. Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.

Project 2: Management Analysis Analysis

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is for you to identify and evaluate the factors of marketing, finance and operations management that contribute to the short and long term success of a business.

Outcomes Met by Completing This Assignment:

demonstrate an understanding of the small business environment and how to manage cash flow

develop critical managerial skills and processes to assess and analyze key elements of enterprise growth

Read the following case scenario:

Alan’s Ales is a small microbrewery located in Baltimore, Maryland. Alan has been thinking of expanding abroad where markets for ale are open, and there seems to be room for market entry. Alan has been looking at trends in the market place and is concerned about beer drinking trends in the US. Recently, Alan read a Forbes article about beer sales declining in the US which made him think (Does the Declining Beer Trend Spell Doom for Brewers?)

Although his business seems to be doing well despite the growing trend in micro-beer, Alan thought he might consider expanding abroad where the market place is still strong.

At a recent U.S. beer convention, Alan met a representative of Thornbridge Brewery. Thornbridge Brewery is a boutique brewery in Bakewell, England. Alan likes their products and thought maybe it would be worth looking at the company since it is up for sale. Alan likes Thornbridge products and thought maybe it would be worth looking at the company since it is up for sale. Before entertaining the idea of expansion, Alan wants to put together information that will give him a “quick glance” into Alan Ale’s current operations.

Alan is quite aware of the fact that many small businesses fail because of growing too fast, too large, or are underfunded. Before even spending the time to go forward with a business plan, Alan tasks you, his Operations Manager, to create a memo as to what information he should collect to get the best “quick glance” of his current operations in the areas of marketing, finance and operations management.

Instructions:

You will be writing a memo to Alan that outlines the information that Alan has requested you to collect about the business. Use will use this format: Business Memo Format .

Using the course material in weeks 3, 4, and 5, create a 4-5-page memo outlining the information that Alan should collect about the business. You may only use the course material and not use any resources from the Internet.

Here are the topics to discuss:

Identify and evaluate the specific information Alan needs to know about marketing his ales. Why is this information critical to the success of his business?

Explain what Alan needs to know about the financial statements and the components that make up the statements that would provide a complete picture of the financial position and health of Alan’s Ales?

Identify and discuss the major challenges Alan faces with operations management? How could incorrectly handling these challenges affect Alan’s expansion plans and why?

Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present. Use the grading rubric to ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

Read the paper aloud as a first measure;

Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;

Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;

Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

How to Set Up the Paper

You will be writing a memo. Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 4 – 5 pages excluding the title page and reference page. Write clearly and concisely.

To help you with the memo format, use this format: Business Memo Format

The body of the paper should consist of a heading for each required element.

Requirements for the Assignment

Before you begin writing the paper, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.

Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the paper to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.

You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct quotes. You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned by reviewing this link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.

You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list.

The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings to support ideas, reasoning and conclusions.

You may not use books as source material and you must use only the course material in this assignment.

Project 3-Managing Problems beyond Your Control

Purpose:

The purpose of this project is for you to use various management technique in running a small business to create a contingency management plan. This project requires you to draw on the course material and research to demonstrate how to manage a business in a way that will prevent failure. In doing so, you will explore different business functions and discuss how these functions and topics contribute to ensuring the stability of a company.

You will evaluate the need to grow versus the need to keep a company sustainable. You will develop research skills. To complete the assignment, you will develop writing proficiency and enhance critical thinking and communication skills.

Outcomes Met by Completing This Assignment:

demonstrate an understanding of the small business environment and how to manage in a global marketplace

develop critical managerial skills and processes to assess and analyze key elements of emerging enterprise organizations

evaluate and measure forward-thinking enterprise strategies relevant to sustainability and succession through innovation

Read the following case scenario:

Paul and Patricia Poulet raise chickens on a farm outside Vineland, New Jersey. The farm has 95 employees and 2,000 acres of farmland, and contracts with about 5 family farms to grow rice on 12,000 acres throughout the coastal area of New Jersey. The farm sells four varieties of rice and over 15,000 chickens a year, producing a yearly revenue of about $2.25 million. Eighty-five percent of the farm’s revenues come from the sale of rice and related rice products.

The farm was founded by Paul’s dad in 1967 when he and Paul’s mother decided they wanted to live off the land. Using a small inheritance, Paul’s father Phil tended the chickens and began selling eggs and eventually chickens to local markets and butchers. Phil’s wife, Pauline, and their four sons added the rice line after Pauline took a co-op course at a local community college. The family grew the rice and sold it to the local co-op until the late 1980’s at which time they became part of the organic farming movement. They built a small rice mill and began selling organic short-grain brown and black rice.

The farm grew steadily at an average of 14 percent per year. The farm never needed outside investment. Chicken production was stable but because rice was more profitable, the family expanded the rice product line. In the early 2000’s, sales grew much faster than land could be acquired, so the family business decided to contract with other growers. The Poulet’s chose family farms that shared their idea of sustainable farming, an idea that Phil had always defined as “leaving the land better than you found it.”

In the late 1990s, leadership of the farm was turned over to Paul, Phil and Pauline’s youngest son, who recently became involved with the business after graduating from the University of Maryland College Park’s School of Agriculture.

Seventy percent of the farm’s sales are organic products and the other 30 percent are “eco-farmed” (i.e., meaning no fumigants are used and the business limits the use of herbicides and pesticides).

In mid-September, Consumer Reports published the results of independent lab tests that found inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen, in rice and many rice products. This came on the heels of a study by Dartmouth (released in February) that showed inorganic arsenic in brown rice syrup.

Because there is no federal safe standard for inorganic arsenic in food, the Poulet family struggled to make sense of the information for its customers who were panicked by the news.

Although the government regulates the amount of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, there are no standards for food. “The jury is still out on what levels may cause health problems,” Paul and Patricia explained to their customers, “but an analogous federal standard concerning drinking water is 10 parts per billion.” Consumer Reports’ tests found levels in rice ranging from about 24 to 214 parts per billion (i.e., between ~2 and ~20 times more arsenic than the federal maximum allowed level of arsenic in drinking water).

With its customers looking for answers, the business worried about what to communicate and how to communicate it. A local TV reporter asked to interview Paul who gave his consent. “One of our biggest challenges is that this is a very technical issue”, Paul explained to the reporter, “It’s not a 30-second conversation.”

The family’s first response was to play defense. Because many studies have documented the health benefits of eating rice, especially brown rice, Paul said, “We were thinking, if this was really causing problems in the population, wouldn’t it have shown up in data somewhere before this?”

Dismissing the new information, however, was not consistent with the business’s culture or the family’s belief system. “We are a business that is always open to new information and ideas — like growing organic,” Paul said in the TV interview “That’s one of the reasons we’ve been successful.”

The farm’s leaders also considered not addressing the issue at all because the studies and tests were not targeted specifically at Fresh Farms. In the same TV interview, Paul said they discussed letting the industry take the lead and follow the research from organizations and industry groups like the USA Rice Federation. “This was a bigger issue than us, so we thought maybe we shouldn’t try to handle this as an individual business,” he said.

The family began intensively studying arsenic and its relationship to rice. They were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, much of it contradictory. “We put all the papers and information we were reading online in real time for consumers so they could read what we were reading,” Paul told the reporter on his return for a follow up interview. “That proved to be a mistake — too much information and not enough analysis. Not every consumer wants that level of detail”, he said. “Many of them just want to know, will eating rice kill them?”

The business started posting on the company website short abstracts of the research it reviewed, with links to full articles and papers. The company also hired a consulting toxicologist and began collaborating with soil scientists at the USA Rice Federation and with other rice growers to determine from where the arsenic was coming. In their investigation, Patricia and the toxicologist uncovered two important facts: Poulet’s rice had less than .01 parts per billion of arsenic (i.e., 100 times lower than the 10 parts per billion limit set for drinking water by the federal standards) and there was less arsenic in the rice fields that are not flooded, like the Poulet’s, than those that are flooded.

Paul immediately posted this information on the website and notified customers in an e-mail blitz. That was great news for the Poulet’s but not something that reassured all the customers. Customers remained uneasy.

So far, the business’s sales remain on target to the forecast, but it is hard to predict what could happen if the business is unable to reassure consumers. “We haven’t even guessed at what we could lose”, Paul mentioned to Phil shortly after the e-mails went out, “I don’t want to even think about it.”

However, the next day, Paul, Phil, Pauline along with the rest of the farmers sat down to discuss the future of the business. Originally scheduled to have a discussion about future growth of the business? Should the Poulet’s proactively manage for a fall in sales if more problems arise regarding the arsenic?

Instructions

Using the class material from weeks 4-7, you will explore ideas that will form the basis of a contingency plan for the Poulet’s in case declining sales hurts the health of the company. In the plan, you will explain some of the major considerations facing the Poulet’s and make recommendations as to actions they might take to preserve the health of the company should a fall in sales occur due to the arsenic issue. Considerations of the plan for discussion include:

Asset Management – Identify and evaluate the best ways to manage the company’s cash, inventory and property assets to protect the company in the event of a decline in sales.

Debt Load – Should the company go into debt to remain stable until the arsenic controversy is resolved? Why or why not? Evaluate the impact of debt on the health of a company.

Financing – Discuss the different types of growth financing and select the best type for the Poulet’s to consider in case the arsenic controversy takes a while to resolve.

Human Resources – Identify and evaluate possible ways the company can deal with employees in the event that a sales decline promotes financial instability. Should the Poulet’s consider layoffs, pay cuts or other actions? Why or why not?

Community – The owners think the local rice growing community should be considered in the plan decisions. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? Make a recommendation and support the position taken.

Based on the answers to the questions above, make three to five action recommendations that should be included in the contingency plan and explain their importance.

In a final component to the plan using the heading, “Retrench or Grow,” discuss whether the contingency plan should be executed or if the family should instead go ahead with their growth planning. Include in your analysis the Fives Stages of Growth and Five Disciplines theories. Support the conclusion with the course material.

All discussion of the plan and final component should be supported by the class material and should be cited using APA in-text citations and reference list.

Additional Facts to Consider

The farm land is worth $750,000.

There is a small loan against the new mill with a remaining balance of $8,000.

The business owns 2 mills worth $20,000, 6 vehicles, various pieces of farm equipment worth $25,000, and packaging and processing equipment worth about $40,000.

The outstanding accounts receivable are $200,000; 60% of the receivables have 90 day payment terms.

The business account has $100,000 and earns 3% interest annually.

There is no outstanding debt besides the balance on the mills.

Business expenses including wages for the 95 employees run about $585,000.

Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present. Use the grading rubric to ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

Read the paper aloud as a first measure;

Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;

Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;

Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product should be between 5 -7 pages excluding a title page and reference page. Write clearly and concisely. Feel free to use tables as part of the analysis.

The body of the paper should consist of a heading for each required element.

APA and writing is a main focus of this paper and should be executed with the utmost attention to detail. Should you need help in any these areas of APA or writing, please refer to the APA module located in the content area of the course or ask the professor for guidance.

Requirements for the Assignment

Before you begin writing the paper, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements.

Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the paper to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.

You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct quotes. You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned by reviewing this link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.

You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list.

The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings to support ideas, reasoning and conclusions.

You may not use books as source material.

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30 Dec You are responsible

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