All applicable Problems are available with McGraw-Hill’s Homework Manager™. <a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073022853/hiL22853_hm.gif','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (K)</a>
Dave Nelson recently retired at age 48, courtesy of a very healthy stock market and numerous stock options he had been granted while president of e-shops.com, an Internet start-up company. He soon moved to Montana to follow his dream of living in the mountains and Big-Sky country. Nelson, always the entrepreneur, began a sporting-goods store shortly after relocating. The single store soon grew to a chain of four outlets throughout the sparsely populated state. As Nelson put it, “I can’t believe how fast we’ve expanded. It’s basically uncontrolled growth—growth that has occurred in spite of what we’ve done.”
Although business has been profitable, the chain did have its share of problems. Store traffic was somewhat seasonal, with a slowdown occurring as winter approached. Nelson therefore added ski equipment and accessories to his product line. The need to finance required inventories, which seemed to be bulging, left cash balances at very low levels, occasionally giving rise to short-term bank loans.
Part of Nelson’s operation focused on canoe building and white-water rafting trips. Reports from the company’s financial accounting system seemed to indicate that these operations were losing money because of increasing costs, although Nelson could not be sure. “The traditional income statement is not too useful in assessing the problem,” he noted. “Also, my gut feeling is that we are not dealing with the best suppliers in terms of quality of goods, delivery reliability, and prices.” Additional complications were caused by an increasingly competitive marketplace, with many former customers now buying merchandise and booking river excursions via the Internet, through catalogs received in the mail, or through businesses that advertised heavily in outdoor magazines.
Nelson’s background is marketing, and he appeared somewhat puzzled on how to proceed. The company’s chief financial officer (CFO) would be an obvious asset in terms of addressing these problems. Unfortunately, she knew her numbers but lacked key knowledge of general business operations. The same could be said for other executives who managed somewhat in “silos,” becoming experts in a narrow facet of the company but, in general, lacking a big-picture outlook for the firm.
Required:
Explain how the CFO and managerial accounting could assist Nelson in addressing the company’s problems.
Would a cross-functional team be useful here? Briefly discuss.
Does e-commerce appear to be a viable option for the firm? Explain, citing the difference between business-to-consumer and business-to-business channels. Which of the two channels, if any, would you recommend? Why?
PROBLEM 1-29
Managing a Retail Business; Cross-Functional Teams; E-Commerce
<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073022853/hiL22853_oralwritten.gif','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (K)</a> The pen logo indicates a verbal written response.
Susan Lopez, a consultant with Deloitte & Young, has just begun an engagement at Four Corners Airlines, which is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The company has fallen on hard times of late despite record profits for the rest of the airline industry. Management is somewhat set in its ways and could probably use some “new blood,” as the most recent hire to the firm’s executive team was 12 years ago.
In Lopez’s first meeting with the team, the airline’s chief executive officer commented that “all that mattered in this industry were load factors—the percentage of seats sold on scheduled flights. If load factors were adequate, everything else would take care of itself.” Lopez noted that while this measure was important, other, broader facets of operation were significant as well. She asked if any of the management team had heard of the balanced scorecard, and received dead silence as a response.
Based on her experiences with other engagements, including two that involved airlines, Lopez was convinced that the balanced scorecard could provide benefits in helping to solve the airline’s woes. After a presentation about the philosophy of the balanced scorecard, Four Corners Airlines’ management team accepted her idea, feeling that a shift in operating philosophy was needed for survival.
Required:
What is a balanced scorecard, and what are its typical key elements?
Lopez wants to assemble a committee to prepare the airline’s balanced scorecard. List several of the company’s functional areas (e.g., marketing) that should be represented on the committee.
Identify a number of measures to evaluate the key elements that you specified in requirement 1. Measures would include items such as load factors, number of passenger complaints, percentage of on-time arrivals, and so forth.
Do you see any problems with management’s prior focus on only one measure (i.e., load factor)? Briefly explain.
AccuSound Corporation manufactures printed circuits for stereo amplifiers. A common product defect is a “drift” caused by failure to maintain precise heat levels during the production process. Rejects from the 100 percent testing program can be reworked to acceptable levels if the defect is drift. However, in a recent analysis of customer complaints, Marie Allen, the assistant controller, and the quality control engineer determined that normal rework does not bring the circuits up to standard. Sampling showed that about half of the reworked circuits will fail after extended amplifier operation. The incidence of failure in the reworked circuits is projected to be about 10 percent over five years.
Unfortunately, there is no way to determine which reworked circuits will fail, because testing will not detect the problem. The rework process could be changed to correct the problem, but the cost-benefit analysis for the suggested change indicates that it is not economically feasible. AccuSound’s marketing analyst has indicated that this problem will have a significant impact on the company’s reputation and customer satisfaction. Consequently, the board of directors would interpret this problem as having serious negative implications for the company’s profitability.
Allen included the circuit failure and rework problem in her report prepared for the upcoming quarterly meeting of the board of directors. Due to the potential adverse economic impact, Allen followed a long-standing practice of highlighting this information. After reviewing the reports to be presented, the plant manager and his staff complained to the controller that he should control his people better. “We can’t upset the board with this kind of material. Tell Allen to tone that down. Maybe we can get it by the board in this meeting and have some time to work on it. People who buy those cheap systems and play them that loud shouldn’t expect them to last forever.”
The controller called Allen into his office and said, “Marie, you’ll have to bury this one. The probable failure of reworks can be mentioned briefly in the oral presentation, but it should not be mentioned or highlighted in the advance material mailed to the board.”
Allen feels strongly that the board will be misinformed on a potentially serious loss of income if she follows the controller’s orders. Allen discussed the problem with the quality control engineer, who simply remarked, “That’s your problem, Marie.”
Required:
Discuss the ethical considerations that Marie Allen should recognize in deciding how to proceed.
Explain what ethical responsibilities should be accepted by (a) the controller, (b) the quality control engineer, and (c) the plant manager.
<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073022853/hiL22853_ethicsimage.gif','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (K)</a> The balance logo identifies an ethical issue. <a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073022853/hiL22853_oralwritten.gif','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (K)</a>
Urban Elite Apparel designs women’s apparel and sells it through retail outlets across the country. All of the company’s clothing lines are manufactured by contract manufacturers around the world. A division manager is responsible for each of the company’s retail divisions. Each division’s controller, assigned by the corporate controller’s office, manages the division’s accounting system and provides analysis of financial information for the division manager. The division manager evaluates the performance of the division controller and makes recommendations for salary increases and promotions. However, the final responsibility for promotion evaluation and salary increases rests with the corporate controller.
Each of Urban Elite Apparel’s divisions is responsible for product design, sales, pricing, operating expenses, and profit. However, corporate management exercises tight control over divisional financial operations. For example, all capital expenditure above a modest amount must be approved by corporate management. The method of financial reporting from the division to corporate headquarters provides further evidence of the degree of financial control. The division manager and the division controller submit to corporate headquarters separate and independent commentary on the financial results of the division. Corporate management states that the division controller is there to provide an independent view of the division’s operations, not as a spy.
Required:
Discuss the arrangements for line and staff reporting in Urban Elite Apparel.
The division manager for Urban Elite Apparel has a “dual reporting” responsibility. The controller is responsible both to the division manager, who makes recommendations on salary and promotion, and to the corporate controller, who has the final say in such matters.
Identify and discuss the factors that make the division controller’s role difficult in this type of situation.
Discuss the effect of the dual reporting relationship on the motivation of the divisional controller.
