The Solar Feeder Case Study
Identification
Ed Welsh and Bo Haeberle discovered an idea of the solar feeder. After years of developing, the product became very successful. It even won several prizes like the best new product in the Bird Watch America trade show, the national birding convention. After this, Ed and Bo decided to sell their final product under new established company Squirrel Defense, Inc. They opened a small shop in Greensboro and begin the production of the solar feeder so they could take orders for the demanded product. Owners spent too much money and time on developing the product and now, their expectations are high because they have an advantage of unique product and even the investors showed interest in the company.
After time, initial enthusiasm passed away, the owners found out that the perfect product is not enough for successful business. There were problems with cash flow, production and unsatisfied needs. While owners were spending time with developing product, they forgot to do a proper market research, didn’t set sufficient strategy, were not able to set the competitive price, did not do proper advertising and forgot about target group. Still, there are new problems Squirrel Defense, Inc. should solve like the last one with investor who requires business plan which actually had never existed.
To solve all visible and core problems, company is facing, it firstly has to identify all of them and mainly find the causes. After this, company should develop a business plan with all its appropriateness – mission, vision, strategic and financial objectives, business, functional and operating strategies and marketing, production and financial plans. Without these, company is not possible to control its sales, efficiency, costs, flow of money and the most important to attract the investor which is for company the most crucial issue now.
Analysis and Evaluation
Analysis showed several financial problems. After looking at Balance Sheets, it showed that company
Ed Welsh and Bo Haeberle discovered an idea of the solar feeder. After years of developing, the product became very successful. It even won several prizes like the best new product in the Bird Watch America trade show, the national birding convention. After this, Ed and Bo decided to sell their final product under new established company Squirrel Defense, Inc. They opened a small shop in Greensboro and begin the production of the solar feeder so they could take orders for the demanded product. Owners spent too much money and time on developing the product and now, their expectations are high because they have an advantage of unique product and even the investors showed interest in the company.
After time, initial enthusiasm passed away, the owners found out that the perfect product is not enough for successful business. There were problems with cash flow, production and unsatisfied needs. While owners were spending time with developing product, they forgot to do a proper market research, didn’t set sufficient strategy, were not able to set the competitive price, did not do proper advertising and forgot about target group. Still, there are new problems Squirrel Defense, Inc. should solve like the last one with investor who requires business plan which actually had never existed.
To solve all visible and core problems, company is facing, it firstly has to identify all of them and mainly find the causes. After this, company should develop a business plan with all its appropriateness – mission, vision, strategic and financial objectives, business, functional and operating strategies and marketing, production and financial plans. Without these, company is not possible to control its sales, efficiency, costs, flow of money and the most important to attract the investor which is for company the most crucial issue now.
Analysis and Evaluation
Analysis showed several financial problems. After looking at Balance Sheets, it showed that company
Bibliography: Thompson, A. A, Jr., & Strickland, A. J. III (2003). Strategic management: Concepts and cases (13th ed.). New York: Irwin/McGraw.