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Birch Paper Company

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Birch Paper Company

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1) Birch Paper Company is a producer of paper, paperboard, and corrugated boxes. The company is integrated, consisting of four separate production divisions. One of its divisions, Northern Division, asked for bids on a special corrugated box. It requested bids from one of its sister division (Thompson Division) and from two outside companies. The issue at hand is whether Northern should accept a bid from its sister division or from one of the outside companies. It should be noted that Thompsons bid is substantially higher than the bids received from the outside company. Relevant information pertaining to the three bids are provided below.

2) Thompson Division

a) Bid $510 per 1000 boxes

b) Thompson is marking the product up by 24.5% for a profit of $100.
- $410 x 24.5% = $510 per 1000 boxes

c) Thompson’s out of pocket expenses per 1000 boxes amount to $410
- 75% or $307.50 of the $410 represents the cost of linerboard and corrugating medium which will be purchased from its sister division Southern. That leaves $102.50 remaining and designated to other out of pocket costs per 1000 boxes.
- $410 x 75% = $307.50; $410 - $307.50 = $102.50 out of pocket costs per 1000 boxes.

d) If Thompson gets the order from Northern it will buy its linerboard and corrugating medium from the Southern Division of Birch.
- Southern’s out of pocket costs for both liner and corrugating medium were about 65% of its selling price. That amounts to $199.88 total out of pocket costs for Southern.
- $307.50 x 65% = $199.88 out of pocket costs per 1000 boxes.
- This leaves a profit of $107.62 per 1000 boxes for Southern.

3) West Paper Company

a) Bid $465 per 1000 boxes with no purchases or deals involving any Birch divisions. 4) Eire Papers

a) Bid $450 per 1000 boxes.
b) Eire papers would buy the outside linerboard from Birch.
- The outside linerboard would be supplied by the Southern Division of Birch for $90 per 1000 boxes. As stated in the material, 65% of Sothern’s selling price accounts for its total out of pocket costs. That leaves Southern with a profit of $31.50 per 1000 boxes it sells to Eire papers. (35% x $90.00 = $31.50)
- Thompson would print the boxes at a price of $30 per 1000 boxes with an out of pocket expense of $25 per 1000; leaving Thompson with a $5 profit per 1000 boxes.

5) Company view on costs.

(1) What bid should Kenton accept?

- Birch company is a decentralized company which allows for its division managers to make their own decisions regarding many aspect of their business. Kenton is the manager of the Northern Division, therefore he must make the proper decision with respect to his division. If Kenton wasn’t thinking of the company as a whole but just his division’s profit margin he would accept Eire Paper Company’s bid because their bid presents the best profit margin for Northern Division. Kenton should accept the Eire bid.

(2) Which bid is in the best interest of Birch Paper Company?

- The Thompson bid is in the best interest of the Birch Paper Company. The out of pocket costs are much lower for Birch when keeping the bid internal. When evaluating the out of pocket costs associated with the different bids, it’s clear Birch cuts costs drastically when accepting the Thompson bid.

(3) Should the commercial vice-president intervene? If so, how?

- Yes the vice-president should definitely intervene. The vice-president needs to implement new measures that encourage goal congruence. The division managers need to understand that sometimes their individual net income can be misleading when evaluating the performance of the company as a whole. This is exactly the situation the divisional managers faced in this case. Accepting an outside bid would result in the greatest net income for one division while the company as a whole actually loses out. The vice-president can implement numerous performance measures that influence the divisional managers to pursue the company’s objectives as well as their own. Return on investment, residual income, and economic value added are three performance indicators that measure company objectives/financials. The vice-president should implement one of these measures.

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