Who are the main players (name and position)? The main Player in this is Amy Scherber and she is the manager and owner. Another main character is Toy Kim Dupree and he is Amy’s assistant manager. 2.
In what business or businesses and industry or industries is the company operating? Amy’s bread is in the business of selling bread products both wholesale and retail. They sell primarily to high quality restaurants, hotels and food shops. 3.
What are the issues and problems facing the company? (Sort them by importance and urgency.) It is hard to make a large profit because Amy pays her employees a higher amount then the other business in her field. She also has to employee about four times as many employees to complete the same job due to the intensiveness provided on each batch of bread. The company is also struggling with the idea of wither to expand or stand pat with their business. 4.
What is the primary problem for the company/organization in this case? The primary problem in this case is the idea of expansion. The problem is that they do not know if they should expand or stand pat. If they do expand how are they going to centralize their business. Are they going to do strictly wholesale or wholesale and retail. 5.
Why have the problem (s) you cite emerged? Identify the causal chain (the events or circumstances that caused the problem-Some will be Internal Weaknesses, others EXTERNAL Threats). This main problem has occurred because they are currently located in a storefront that is not adequate to provide the needs of all their potential customers. The main weakness here is that they are in a bad location for advancement. In their current location they are completing all of the orders that they possibly can. 6.
What are the characteristics of the industry that the company is in and how is the industry changing over time? When Amy’s Bread first open bread baking was a growth industry. The U.S Department of Commerce reported there was a 12 percent increase in the consumption of specialty breads per capita. This industry is also very tough to get into there are a great deal of company’s that already have been working with restaurants for a long time. The other problem with the industry is that because it was a growth period many new bakers were trying to enter it and earn a name for them. So the computation for customers is high in the industry and only growing more competitive. 7.
What is the firm's strategy for differentiation, enabling them to compete within the context of their industry? Amy had a clear goal she wanted to be famous for making a great product and for creating a good place to work. Amy’s product itself was different because she set the highest standards on her quality. They also do not use any machines in the shaping of their bread. Every load of bread was hand crafted and shaped which was why her payroll was so high but it set her breads apart from the average shop. 8.
What are possible solutions to the problems you have identified? Possible solutions to her crisis on where to go or wither to move at all are one she could not move and be satisfied where she is. The second option is she could move to a building that she would be able to produce large amounts of wholesale goods at and not concentrate on retail goods. The third option is she could move to an even bigger place where she could sell retail product and still meet her needs for wholesale. 9.