Business and management

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.  

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

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).  

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?