...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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...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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...Problem Identification Shelby Givens, general manager of Westlake Bowling Lanes has worked over a 9 month period to try and get the company back on its feet. Although Westlake generated its first month of profit in over 2 years, they still weren’t close to paying back the loan from the board members. Shelby has come up with 2 ideas she thinks will revive the business and attract new customers and she is ready to present them to the board. Ultimately, the board members will be the ones to decide if they will support her, or sell the business. Will Shelby be able to convince the board members one of her ideas is worth pursing to save the business from liquidation and generate future revenue? External Analysis Porters 5 Forces: Threat of New Entrants With bowling being the most popular played sport in the United States, entering the business is fairly easy, but entering the business in Raleigh would be more difficult. Westlake Bowling Lanes has a prime location downtown close to lively neighborhoods and restaurants. Westlake Lanes has been around for over 30 years and has loyal customers and a strong relationship with those customers, giving them an advantage over possible new entrants. It would be difficult for a new bowling alley to obtain the location and customer relations that Westlake already has secured; therefore threat of new entrants is relatively low. Threat of Substitutes: Threat of substitutes is fairly high because there are many alternative activities...
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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 hospital is a small community hospital serving a primarily underserved population in a suburb of Chicago, IL. The hospital consists of an emergency room, rehab center, obstetrics unit, an intensive care unit, medical floors, as well as an extensive psychiatric ward. Westlake Hospital has been through many ownership changes in the past ten years. Each time a new owner comes in it shakes up the place and changes the culture. It has shaken the staff since they cannot identify with the organization. Currently the organization is owned by a national for-profit company. This company bought Westlake hospital four years ago as it’s prior owner was trying to close the doors to various units. Now being owned by a for-profit company, Westlake...
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...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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...Adaptation Essay 04/08/2010 Adaptation of “Payback” and “Point Blank” to the Hunter Richard Stark’s novel “The Hunter” is about a guy name Parker who is seeking revenge after being left for dead by his partner and his wife. The novel entails the path of revenge that Parker seeks amongst his wife and partner. This novel has been adapted into the films “Point Blank” and “Payback.” Film adaptation is the transfer of printed work to a film, the novel being used as the basis of a film. John Bormann uses the novel as a blueprint that can be followed closely or completely changed to be traditional to his own vision for the film (Dick 276-289). The films “Payback” and “Point Blank” are a version of the Hunter, but not the actual version, there are many ways that the film maker’s “preserved the essence” of the novel. In the film “Point Blank,” Walker seeks his revenge after being betrayed by his partner Mal Reese and his wife, in a heist and Walker being left to die with bullet wounds. Walker being the central character in the film portrays a cold, ruthless man that will stop at nothing until he recovers the money that was stolen from him (Applegate). Parker the main character in “The Hunter” is also a ruthless man and also sought revenge against the ones who betrayed him. One example of this is in the novel, when the one guy who had betrayed him had protection of the mob since he used the money to get on the good graces of the crime organization, Parker took on the entire...
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...Nursing Care Services, Inc. v. Dobos, 380 So. 2d 516, 518 (Fla. 1980). FACTS: Dobos (defendant) was admitted to Boca Raton Community Hospital with an abdominal aneurysm. Dobos's doctor ordered around-the-clock nursing care and transferred Dobos to the care of Nursing Care Services, Inc. (Nursing Care) (plaintiff). Nursing Care provided two weeks of in-hospital care, two days of post-release care, and two weeks of in-home care, for which Dobos was later billed $3,723.90. Dobos refused to pay for Nursing Care’s services, arguing that she never signed a written contract or orally agreed to do so. After a bench trial, Nursing Care was awarded $248 for the two days of post-release care that Dobos or her daughter had authorized. No other compensation was awarded, because Dobos was not sufficiently informed that she would be responsible for paying for those services. Nursing Care appealed that portion of the judgment. ISSUE: Whether a patient is liable for the costs of emergency nursing services she did not expressly request or agree to receive. OPINION: Nursing Care failed to prove an express contract or a contract implied in fact, but there is sufficient evidence to support a contract implied in law entitling Nursing Care to recovery. In the case of service contracts, there is no question that a party who knowingly accepts the benefit of services performed by another would be unjustly enriched if allowed to avoid paying for those services. Of course, it naturally follows that liability...
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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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...WESTLAKE BOWLING LANES IS A BOWLING COMPANY TIME : MARCH 2009 PEOPLE INVOLVED SHELBY GIVENS (GM) SHELBY UNCLE (BOARD) SHELBY’S TWO MORE FAMILY MEMBERS (BOARD) DANE SUGAR(FOUNDER) Shelby’s mom’s dad. EMPLOYEES RALEIGH BASED SON AND FRIENDS SHIRLEY SMITH GARY SPALDING DANIEL SINCLAIR JENNY BULLOK POINTS SHELBY GIVENS WAS A GM FOR 9 MONTHS WORKS 70 HRS WEEK MARCH 2010 DANE SUGAR DIED IN 2008 FROM 2004 REVENUES FELL MORE THAN 40% MAJORLY CUZ OF EMPLOYEE INSURANCE, MAINTAINANCE N UTLITIES FROM 2007 CREDIT WAS TAKEN (LOAN) AND IN LATE 2008 A LOAN FROM PERSONAL SAVINGS 100000 WAS TAKEN TO SUSTAIN OPERATIONS. SHELBY THEN CAME AS GM, SALARY OF 75000 AND 25% EQUITY SHARE IF THE COMPANY MADE PROFIT. IF NO PROFIT THEY WOULD HAVE TO SELL THE COMPANY AT A LOSS WESTLAKE BACKGROUND CAPITAL OF TOTAL 250000 TO START IN 1970. 16 LANES. PLACE WAS MADE FOR BIRTHDAY PARTIES. AFTER DANE SUGARS DEATH IN 2008, HIS SON TOOK OVER WITH HIS FRIENDS. AFTER HIS DEATH NO ONE WAS INTERESTED TO TAKE IT FORWARD SO SHIRLEY SMITH BECAME THE GM. WESTLAKE OPERATIONS IN JUNE2009. MAIN COMPETITION WAS HAPPY HOURS AND RANGE OF ACTIVITIES. 2007 BUSINESS PROFILE HAD STATED GOOD POINTS ON WESTLAKE. EMPLOYEES IN 2009 4 PPL WERE HIRED WITH SALARY AND INSURANCE GIVEN. ALONG WITH THEM PART TIME EMPLOYEESARE ALSO TAKEN TO ASSIST HOURS OF OPERATION 7 DAYS 362 DAYS A YEAR MORE THAN 75 COMES FROM EVENING AND WEEKEND ATTENDANCE AND SUMMER VACATION DURING THE DAY FOOD, RENT SHOES…REFER PRICING...
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...Block B 10.18 am 12.40 pm 10.30 am 12.55 pm 1.45 pm 8.35 am 10.32 am 8.38 am 10.35 am Arrival 8.05 am Departure 8.10 am Arrival 8.15 am Departure 8.20 am Block B 8.55 am 10.45 am Block D 8.58 am 10.48 am Block G 10.50 am 7 9 10 11 3.15 pm 5.32 pm 7.15 pm 8.15 pm 3.18 pm 5.35 pm 7.18 pm 8.18 pm 3.28 pm 5.50 pm 7.28 pm 8.28 pm 3.30 pm 5.52 pm 6.35 pm 7.30 pm 8.30 pm 3.33 pm 5.55 pm 6.38 pm 7.33 pm 8.33 pm 3.40 pm 6.05 pm 6.10 pm 6.15 pm 6.20 pm 3.50 pm 6.48 pm 7.43 pm 8.50 pm 3.53 pm 6.51 pm 7.45 pm 8.53 pm 3.55 pm 8.40 pm Time Leaving UTAR No. 1 3 5 8 Block D 7.15 am 9.35 am 11.40 am 4.40 pm Block B 9.38 am 11.43 am 4.43 pm Bus Stop 1 (Arrival) 7.22 am 9.45 am 11.50 am 4.50 pm Westlake Home Bus Stop 2 (Arrival) 7.27 am 9.50 am 11.55 am 4.55 pm Bus Stop3 (Arrival) 7.30 am 9.53 am 11.58 am 4.58 pm Block B 7.35 am 9.58 am 12.03 pm 5.03 pm Time Arriving UTAR Block D 7.38 am 10.01 am 12.06 pm 5.06 pm Block G 10.03 am 12.08 pm 5.08 pm Page - 1 - of 5 Bus 11 – BKR 7365 Taman Kampar Perdana Bus Stop (In front of CK Optical Shop) Bus Stop 1 (Arrival) 7.40 am 9.30 am 11.30 am 12.45 pm Pangsapuri Sutera Apartment Bus Stop 2 (Arrival) 7.35 am 9.32 am 11.32 am 12.40 pm Jalan Kolej Bus Stop 3 (Arrival) 7.38 am 9.35 am 11.35 am 12.43 pm Time Leaving UTAR No Block D 1 3 5 6 7.05 am 9.15 am 11.15 am...
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...Sugar Bowl Memo Shelby Givens is a graduate from business school who returned to Raleigh, 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...
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