You are a manager of a book wholesaler who sells books at 25% discount. The data file shows the last few month’s book sales and discounts. You are trying to save cost and must decide on where to purchase the books and a sequence of opening credit accounts with each publisher.

There are two possible sources, the book publisher or a major distributer that has books from many publishers. In order to simplify the issue, we assume that the book publisher offers a 50% discount, when an order is above 30 units (one unit each of thirty titles or 30 units of the same title or any combination) the shipping is free. However, if an order is less than 30 units, then the publisher charges shipping charges that can amount to 15% or even more. The major book distributer offers a 40% discount, and shipping is free when the order is above 10 units.

Another factor that must be considered is that one has to establish an account with each publisher. This is a costly process in terms of time and cost. It may take five days, and cost around $200 in labor and administrative cost.

Determine the top five publishers to open an account with, and write a business report that outlines how you have developed it. Make sure that you clearly state any assumptions.

Due to limited cash reserve, no one order may cover demand of more than one month. Also remember that data may not be clean. One possible source of error is publisher name. Make sure that all publishers with similar names are grouped together as one. For example “Penguin”, “Penguin Publisher” and “Penguin for children” are the same publisher.

Excel Project Rubric

This is a business report not an academic paper. As such, paper must be brief and to the point.

Paper Structure: • Question being answered. Be specific and to the point • Approach used including criteria for success (what a good solution achieve?) • Tables showing Results (must use pivot tables). This should not a print out of the excel spreadsheet, but tables that directly deal with the issue on hand, and should be simple for the reader to understand and follow. • Findings • Specific recommendations (remember to answer questions being answered). Be specific and to the point • Additional issues that decision maker must consider

Paper Format/Grade: • Make concrete statement whenever possible • Structure / Heading o Question that will researched o Logic o Tables o Analysis o Recommendations

This is a business report not a paper, so stick to the point and do not express opinions just to occupy space.