...Introduction: Westlake Bowling Lanes is sixteen lanes, Ten-pin bowling alley located in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is currently being operated by Shelby Givens, but it originally belonged to her maternal grandfather Dane Sugar. Dane stared this business in the early 1970s. At that time the bowling alley had been profitable because it was the only bowling alley being constructed in Raleigh downtown. Dane started this business, as he was a passionate bowler himself. At his time the bowling alley prospered and became a place for families and other competitive league players to come and bowl. Upon Dane’s death someone had to step in and run the business so the board members, consisting of one of his son and his son’s close friends, offered the job of being the general manager to their oldest employee, Shirley Smith. As she had worked along with Dane for the longest time, she knew all the in’s and out’s of the business. But she lacked the appropriate managerial skill and experience and she couldn’t do much for the business and the bowling alley had not been doing well. One of the board members, Shelby’s uncle, contacted her and asked to step in and take control of the business. Shelby, an MBA graduate was considering her options when her uncle approached her. She decided to step in because the business belongs to her grandfather and she did not want it to go down the drain. She had worked with her grandfather at Westlake Lanes for two summers while she was still in college...
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...Westlake Lanes - Case Study Introduction: Westlake Bowling Lanes is sixteen lanes, Ten-pin bowling alley located in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is currently being operated by Shelby Givens, but it originally belonged to her maternal grandfather Dane Sugar. Dane stared this business in the early 1970s. At that time the bowling alley had been profitable because it was the only bowling alley being constructed in Raleigh downtown. Dane started this business, as he was a passionate bowler himself. At his time the bowling alley prospered and became a place for families and other competitive league players to come and bowl. Upon Dane’s death someone had to step in and run the business so the board members, consisting of one of his son and his son’s close friends, offered the job of being the general manager to their oldest employee, Shirley Smith. As she had worked along with Dane for the longest time, she knew all the in’s and out’s of the business. But she lacked the appropriate managerial skill and experience and she couldn’t do much for the business and the bowling alley had not been doing well. One of the board members, Shelby’s uncle, contacted her and asked to step in and take control of the business. Shelby, an MBA graduate was considering her options when her uncle approached her. She decided to step in because the business belongs to her grandfather and she did not want it to go down the drain. She had worked with her grandfather at Westlake Lanes for two summers...
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...Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? Forhad Ahmed 103252801 Strategic Management 75-498, Section 2 Prof. Jonathan Lee Monday, 11th February, 2013 Key Issues Westlake Bowling Lanes located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, had been struggling with crucial issues severely due its mismanagements, improper organizational structure, lack of space for the customers to have ‘happy time’, overpriced games, low food quality, old machineries, ever increasing cost of salary, health insurance and lastly, lacking of strategic business goal. Shelby Givens, a business graduate who was eager to work in a small business environment, formally proposed to Westlake’s board to hire her resolving the ongoing crucial problems, and get it back on profit. In addition, they still could not pay back the funds borrowed 16 months before. For Westlake, the main challenge is deciding whether to consider a different path in case they could not pay the loaned funds. Internal Analysis In this section, we will be analyzing the Westlake’s internal and external environment to identity, and figure out whether they will be able...
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...Introduction Westlake Bowling Lanes is a small business in downtown Raleigh. It was founded by late Dane Sugar and is currently owned by Sugar’s Raleigh-based son, along with a pair of his close friends. During Sugar’s lifetime, he managed every aspect of the business, but after his death in October, 2008, the new board of directors failed in hiring a suitable business manager, until 2009, when they hired Shelby Givens (Sugar’s granddaughter). The company currently faces serious financial challenges. It was struggling with declining sales and increasing costs. Since 2004, revenues had fallen by more than 40% while costs especially for employees health insurance, maintenance, and utilities climbed. Credits and loans had been borrowed to improve the business and they needed to be paid back. Shelby Givens’ job as the new business manager was to restore profitability of Westlake Lanes by mid-2010, or the business will be sold, most likely, at a loss. Key Issues * The investors are not happy with the pace at which Westlake lanes is doing business also with the fact that it has debts to be paid * How should the debt be paid off * Uncertain future * Cutting costs * Poor organizational structure * Poor food quality * Poor employee morale * Out-dated facilities Internal Analysis In conducting our internal analysis, we are going to be making use of VRINE. In order to use VRINE, we have to first of all, identify Westlake Lanes’ resources and capabilities...
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...4431 MAY 3, 2012 RICHARD G. HAMERMESH ALISA ZALOSH Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? Introduction Shelby Givens, general manager of Westlake Bowling Lanes, sat in her cramped office in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It was March 10, 2010, two weeks before the scheduled meeting of Westlake’s board—Givens’s uncle and two close family friends. During her 9-month tenure as general manager, Givens, working 70-hour weeks, reined in costs and gradually grew revenues. As a result, the business generated its first month of profit in over two years (see Exhibit 1). Yet Westlake was not on track to soon repay the funds the board had loaned it 16 months before. Givens was proud of her achievements, but she worried that they had been too little, too late. Would the board even consider a different path for Westlake if the loaned funds could not soon be repaid? Givens believed that lucrative opportunities were in Westlake’s future, but right now that future seemed uncertain. The board and Westlake’s employees were looking to Givens for guidance. Shelby Givens: Background Shelby Givens was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 2005 with a B.A. in English. For the next three years, Givens worked as a copywriter and creative director for a boutique advertising agency in New York City. She then moved to the Midwest to attend a highly rated business school, from which she graduated in May 2009. As graduation approached...
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...4431 MAY 3, 2012 RICHARD G. HAMERMESH ALISA ZALOSH Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? Introduction Shelby Givens, general manager of Westlake Bowling Lanes, sat in her cramped office in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It was March 10, 2010, two weeks before the scheduled meeting of Westlake’s board—Givens’s uncle and two close family friends. During her 9-month tenure as general manager, Givens, working 70-hour weeks, reined in costs and gradually grew revenues. As a result, the business generated its first month of profit in over two years (see Exhibit 1). Yet Westlake was not on track to soon repay the funds the board had loaned it 16 months before. Givens was proud of her achievements, but she worried that they had been too little, too late. Would the board even consider a different path for Westlake if the loaned funds could not soon be repaid? Givens believed that lucrative opportunities were in Westlake’s future, but right now that future seemed uncertain. The board and Westlake’s employees were looking to Givens for guidance. Shelby Givens: Background Shelby Givens was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 2005 with a B.A. in English. For the next three years, Givens worked as a copywriter and creative director for a boutique advertising agency in New York City. She then moved to the Midwest to attend a highly rated business school, from which she graduated in May 2009. As graduation approached...
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...ANALYSIS OF WESTLAKE LANES As per the case we can get into the solution by analysing 5 alternatives which are given below. Alternatives Alternative 1 Sell business; liquidate all assets to pay liabilities and investors. The Pros for this alternative would be that the business would be able to pay debt owed to investors. Furthermore, when the business closes, Givens and the board can possibly spend their time and energy into another more profitable business model. Givens may even have to work less than 70 hour a week shifts. The Cons to this may be the opportunity cost of making the business profitable and giving the business a chance to make a return on investment. As well, by doing this Givens and the board would be killing the family business, not to mention the job loss of employees. In terms of a financial analysis for this alternative, the liquidations of assets will ensure repayment of all debt. Current net assets ($191,303) less net liabilities ($154,208) will ensure a $37,095 left over. Alternative 2 Keep business and maintain current state of affairs. Continue to scrutinize cost and increase revenues. Add no major investments. The pros for this alternative would be the relatively low risk since the inertia has already been initiated by Givens. Now, Givens or any other manager simply may need to keep it going the way it is going. By keeping the family business alive, Givens and the board would be protecting their employee’s jobs (which would...
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... North Carolina with an ambition to transform Westlake Lanes into a successful business renamed to Sugar Bowl. Before the transformation Givens saw a downward spiral for Westlake Lanes barely earning any profits and the ability to sustain a healthy business was dwindling. Givens in March of 2010 was able to persuade the board of Westlake to allow her transform the bowling alley in hopes of changing the business into a success. After evaluating the cost of this major overhaul that was estimated to be $600,000 Givens faced three phases. Phase I, preparing for the transformation presented challenges for Givens which were employee procurement, research & development, and food costs. Phase II, renovation and grand opening. Givens challenges involved the contractor being behind schedule, missed deadlines, staff shortage. Also due to operations being delayed Givens calculated every week there was a delay, they lost $30,000 in revenue. Phase III offered unpredictability and an emotional rollercoaster of ups and downs with customers as well as revenue and employees quitting. Which of the actions executed by Givens were most successful in resolving the challenges presented by each phase? Which were least successful? If I had to choose one action that was successful, it would have to be how Givens handled the marketing for the opening of Sugar Bowl. A big component of marketing is determining who your target crowd is, in this case it consisted of young professionals and older...
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...Shelby Givens’s perspective Executive Summary Givens has decided to present to the board a new business strategy for Westlake Lanes’ future: an Upscale Bowling Lounge. She will be presenting this option as the best choice to maintain and expand the business, and will suggest issuing equity to new shareholders to finance the investment. The alternatives Options considered: (1) stand pat, (2) sell, (3) liquidate, (4) Kid-friendly and Upscale Bowling Lounge ideas. The main criteria used to evaluate these are: (a) financial impact, (b) Westlake legacy’s continuation, (c) personal fit for Givens. (1) Stand pat: the initiatives undertaken in 2009 will allow Westlake to close 2010 with a net income of $112k (Exhibit 1). This brings the business back to profit after 3 years and could allow the board to get the $100k back within 2-3 years, if the trend is sustained. This option would allow the business to continue with the legacy inherited from Dane Sugar. However, we can assume that the current business model has hit maturity, and this could hinder the business from performing substantially better in the short/mid-term. Furthermore, this option would not be a good fit for Givens, since she is looking to leave her own mark on the business, and has a strong entrepreneurial spirit. This idea, although feasible, would de facto frustrate Givens’s growth plans and potentially lead to her exit from the venture. (2) Sell: the continued losses over the last 3 years and the deteriorated Debt/Equity...
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...bowling, food and beverages. Hours of operation 6pm to 2am, 7 days/week Lane Rental $40 per hour, or $10/hour per person Expected # of customer rotations/night 3 Maximum # of customers 150 (or, 450/night assuming 3 rotations) Organizational Givens divided the staff into three divisions. Petty managed restaurant operations, and Givens managed bowling operations and sales (including marketing and events). Both Givens and Petty agreed that hiring a part-time bookkeeper to keep track of receipts and deposits was critical. Reluctantly, Givens acknowledged that eliminating employee health insurance coverage (which had accounted for 12% of Westlake’s fixed expenses) was fiscally responsible. Gary Spalding, with his lane machinery expertise, was an instrumental employee. She offered Spalding a raise equal to the value of his insurance, which he rejected. Ultimately a 30% salary increase and an extra two weeks of vacation annually convinced him to stay. Petty said: Smith and Sinclair, old Westlake employees, didn’t meet any of the criteria we set for Sugar Bowl employees. Shelby didn’t want to terminate them out of a sense of loyalty, but our budget was very tight and we had to make the most productive choices for Sugar Bowl. Givens terminated Sinclair (a lackluster kitchen worker who had been on temporary leave) but not Smith, who had worked for Dane Sugar for more than 20 years, remained loyal to Westlake after his death, and helped...
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...demanded rate of return are: a. The real rate of return b. The inflation premium c. The risk premium 5. The real rate of return is the financial rent received by investors for giving up use of their funds, above inflation and without a risk premium. 6. If inflationary expectations increase, the yield to maturity (required rate of return) will increase. This will mean a lower bond price. 7. The longer the time period remaining to maturity, the greater the impact of a difference between the rate the bond is paying and the current yield to maturity (required rate of return). For example, a two percent ($20) differential is not very significant for one year, but very significant for 20 years. In the latter case, it will have a much greater effect on the bond price. 8. The valuation models represent the complex real world in a simplified manner. As such they are incomplete. If we can keep the other components of the model constant, then the model will hinge on the investor’s required or expected rate of return. Three components of an investor’s required rate of return have been suggested. If a change in an investor’s required return can be fully captured, the model will work. For practical purposes holding other factors constant and fully capturing changes in investor expectations and psychology proves...
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...Business Plans Handbook Business Plans A COMPILATION OF BUSINESS PLANS DEVELOPED BY INDIVIDUALS NORTH THROUGHOUT AMERICA Handbook VOLUME 16 Lynn M. Pearce, Project Editor Business Plans Handbook, Volume 16 Project Editor: Lynn M. Pearce Product Manager: Jenai Drouillard Product Design: Jennifer Wahi Composition and Electronic Prepress: Evi Seoud Manufacturing: Rita Wimberley Editorial: Erin Braun ª 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The authors and editors of this work have added value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrangement, and classification of the information. For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Gale Customer Support, 1-800-877-4253. For permission to use material...
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...Annual Report 2012 2012 YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 THE COMPANY Costco Wholesale Corporation and its subsidiaries (Costco or the Company) began operations in 1983 in Seattle, Washington. In October 1993, Costco merged with The Price Company, which had pioneered the membership warehouse concept, to form Price/Costco, Inc., a Delaware corporation. In January 1997, after the spin-off of most of its non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, Inc., the Company changed its name to Costco Companies, Inc. On August 30, 1999, the Company reincorporated from Delaware to Washington and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation, which trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “COST”. As of December 2012, the Company operated a chain of 622 warehouses in 41 states and Puerto Rico (448 locations), nine Canadian provinces (85 locations), Mexico (32 locations), the United Kingdom (23 locations), Japan (13 locations), Korea (nine locations), Taiwan (nine locations, through a 55%-owned subsidiary) and Australia (three locations). The Company also operates Costco Online, electronic commerce web sites, at www.costco.com (U.S.), www.costco.ca (Canada), and www.costco.co.uk (United Kingdom). CONTENTS Financial Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter to Shareholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
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...stoAnnual Report 2010 2010 year ended august 29, 2010 THE COMPANY Costco Wholesale Corporation and its subsidiaries (“Costco” or the “Company”) began operations in 1983 in Seattle, Washington. In October 1993, Costco merged with The Price Company, which had pioneered the membership warehouse concept, to form Price/Costco, Inc., a Delaware corporation. In January 1997, after the spin-off of most of its non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, Inc., the Company changed its name to Costco Companies, Inc. On August 30, 1999, the Company reincorporated from Delaware to Washington and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation, which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol “COST.” As of December 2010, the Company operated a chain of 582 warehouses in 40 states and Puerto Rico (425 locations), nine Canadian provinces (80 locations), the United Kingdom (22 locations), Korea (seven locations), Taiwan (six locations, through a 55%-owned subsidiary), Japan (nine locations) and Australia (one location), as well as 32 warehouses in Mexico through a 50%-owned joint venture. CONTENTS Financial Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter to Shareholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Map of Warehouse Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
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