BUSINESS PROFILES:
Go to the following webpage by clicking on the link or by copying and pasting the URL into your web browser:
After opening the link, you will see a small cover page of the West Newsmagazine’s publication titled “Business Profiles”. On top of the cover page is a button to “click to read”. Click on that button and another window will open allowing you to view the Business Profiles publication. (You can print any of the Business Profile content, but in order to print, you have to sign up for a free account first. You may do that if you prefer, but there is no requirement to print the profiles.) The entire publication is 15 pages long and contains approximately 56 business profiles (four per page); however, you will only be reading a small portion of those.
Locate and read the following 10 business profiles:
1. St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Stores (pg. 28) 6. A Grandson for Hire (pg. 43)
2. The Crack Team (pg. 28) 7. Lakeside Children’s Academy (pg. 43)
3. Curves (pg. 29) 8. Merle Norman (pg. 46)
4. Diamond & Jewelry Brokers, Inc. (pg. 29) 9. Chesterfield Day School (pg. 51)
5. Decorating Den (pg. 43) 10. Robert P. Rothenberg, DDS (pg.51)
ANALYSIS
You need to read all ten (10) assigned business profiles identified above (all will be fair game for exam questions), but you are assigned to answer the following questions about only a portion of those assigned business profiles. Which profiles you need to answer questions about depends on your assigned classroom seating within your group. Group members seated on the front row for their group (i.e. rows one and three of the classroom as a whole) will answer the questions for each company in business profiles 1 through 5. Group members seated on the back row for their group (rows two and four of the classroom as a whole) will answer the questions for each company in business profiles 6 through 10.
For your specific assigned business profiles, answer the following questions for each company:
1. Based on the business profile, what is the company’s business strategy? Explain.
2. Based on the business profile and/or information you know or can infer about the industry, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for each company. [Note: One or two in each category is sufficient. The business profiles identified are intended to highlight mainly the strengths of each business, so items for the other categories will not be obvious; however, from the profile of each company it is possible to deduce one or two potential weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for each company.]
3. What is the main cost object likely to be for each company? What direct and indirect costs is each company likely to have related to that cost object? What fixed and variable costs? What product and period costs? [Note: For each cost category identified, you should identify two or three costs that would be specific to each separate company (e.g. teacher salaries for a school). Do NOT provide generic / general cost information that could apply to any and all companies (i.e. rent/lease costs of the building).]
4. Identify whether each company is more likely to use job costing or process costing. Explain why.