Key events
John Atherley is the owner of Atherley Furniture Company located near Orillia, Ontario. In recent years the progression of his chair division has had mediocre results and profits have been declining steadily each year. From the years 1995 to 1998 Atherley Furniture’s total profits have suffered a 24% loss within that time span. In the company’s chair division there are three models of chairs that have quite the reputation the “Caledonia”, “Atherley”, and lastly the “Parkdale”. Growing concern for the company’s performance led the executive team to analyze income statements for each model to determine the attributed expenses and revenues. With a decline in profits for the Atherley Company, it is crucial that they manage their chair line properly in order to increase profits and reduce costs and expenses.
Problem Statement and Objectives
Problem: How to achieve a more assertive sales growth to provide an increase in profitability as well as how to improve management of chair division for better success.
Objective: Upgrade manufacturing equipment and expand the company to keep up with the strong demand for the “Caledonia” and “Atherley” models.
Objective: To manage chair division focus on the strengths of their bestselling model the “Caledonia”.
Objective: Work on properly controlling cost-management for the “Atherley” model by cutting expenses and improving efficiency to increase profits.
Objective: Completely remove the “Parkdale” model from the product line as its profits have been decreasing more and more each year.
Objective: Focus more on manufacturing “Caledonia” models in order to remove backorder and provide retailers the chairs without having them wait weeks.
Situational Analysis
Atherley Furniture Company belongs to the furniture manufacturing industry, which is very competitive but desirable. Atherley is established and well known but has been losing sales for the past three years. There are many opportunities for