Scenario
You work at All-Mart, a large general store that sells everything from groceries and office supplies to over-the-counter medicine, toys, and books. Unfortunately, the company’s profits have been down for the last six months because of competition, specifically from other local businesses and online vendors. Jill Oliviera, the general manager, has decided to take action by rethinking the store’s business strategies. One of these strategies is to focus the business’s efforts on just a few departments and specialize in those areas rather than continuing to support all of the current offerings.
Due to declining sales and the upcoming changes, the general manager is concerned about the financial near future of the business. She’s given you access to several company files and asked you to prepare a report on situations the business may confront in the coming months. She’s looking for your recommendations for how the store could best respond to these specific situations. She has identified three potential areas of concern:
Possibility One: Declining Sales: If sales continue to drop steadily at the current rate without action, how will the business be impacted?
Possibility Two: Skeleton Crew: A reduced staff is often called a skeleton crew. If the business needs to cut back on payroll in an effort to reduce costs, what are the options?
Possibility Three: Rent vs. Buy: The building owner has asked the general manager if she is interested in purchasing the building. What would be the immediate financial impact of buying the building?
A thumbnail of the All-Mart Profit and Loss Statement. The full document is available in the Supporting Materials section of this project.
Commercial space available to rent or buy
Directions
Part 1: Worksheets
To begin this work, Jill Olivera has recommended that you break down each problem individually. For the purposes of this project, you will use guided worksheets to do this.
Download the worksheets from the Deliverables section.
Use the worksheets to consider each of the three business possibilities.
Start with whichever possibility you feel the most comfortable working on.
When representing problems as expressions, don’t be afraid to try a few equations for each step to see what works.
Part 2: Report to General Manager
Using your summaries and notes as a reference, compile your work into a report for the general manager. You may use one of the templates provided in the Deliverables section.
When making recommendations for what you think the company should do for each possibility, support your recommendations with detailed quantitative evidence.
In the Analysis sections of the template, make sure to explain your use of mathematical expressions in solving real-world problems.
Deliverables
Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:
Worksheets (Short responses)
Complete each of the following worksheets. You will use these worksheets to inform your report to the general manager. You will also submit them as part of your project.
Worksheet One: Declining Sales
Worksheet Two: Skeleton Crew
Worksheet Three: Rent vs. Buy
Use the following company files to complete the worksheets:
Profit and Loss Statement: This is a profit and loss statement, which details the finances of All-Mart over the last six months. Use this as a source of data as you address the worksheet questions.
Store Hours and Staffing Notes: These are notes from your general manager on staffing. Use this as a source of data as you address the worksheet questions.
Loan Estimate: This is a loan estimate that All-Mart received based on the possibility of buying the building. Use this as a source of data as you address the worksheet questions.
June Bank Account Statement: This is All-Mart’s bank account statement from the month of June. Use this as a source of data as you address the worksheet questions.
Report to General Manager (7 slides or 1,500–1,800 words)
Create a report for the general manager with your recommendations in either Word or PowerPoint format. Use the following templates as the basis for your report:
Sample Solution
