The Wallingford Bowling Center Case free essay sample

Five alternative solutions are; more advertising, offering incentives to customers during slow hours to increase sales, use the extra space and rooms to generate income by renting that space, closing the business during slow times, put the business on the market to gauge potential profit from sale. In evaluating the alternatives we determine the adequacy of the alternatives that have been generated. More advertising would provide a larger customer base especially for the slow periods in turn increasing profits, but it may not be an adequate solution because of the company’s position of operating expenses; however it could increase profits by luring in more customers especially during times when capacity is low. Offering incentives to customers is an option that could provide more customers that otherwise would not have visited the business. Using the extra space of the bowling alley as a rental for special events especially during slow hours could provide a potential profit in space that would otherwise go unused. We will write a custom essay sample on The Wallingford Bowling Center Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Closing the business during slow hours would be a very viable option because it would save on operating costs and in turn increase the profits. Testing the market with this business could also be an option, although the profit pool has not been desirable, the business seems to be established which could be very attractive to potential buyers. It would at least be worth a look to see what kind of profit margin could be reached with a sell. Making the choice involves the concepts of maximizing, satisficing, and optimizing. I think that by shutting down the business during slow times we will be maximizing because we achieve the best possible outcome in that we increase occupancy and sales at the same time while decreasing expenses. After the choosing the alternative it must be implemented with careful planning that highlights a clear plan of what will happen and also take time to identify potential problems and potential benefits that could result from implementation. Evaluating the decision will involve evaluating the implementation of our chosen alternative by collecting and analyzing information on how well the decision is working. Question 2 As a general manager I would utilize the group decision making process by having controlled brain storming sessions that involve all employees in the company. All of the employees could potentially bring an idea or ideas to the table because creative ideas usually arise when there is total freedom of ideas minus criticism. I would first do it by email and then by a group. Question 3 I think this case provides a good background for involving group decision making because there happens to more than a few possible fixes, ultimately the owners make the decisions but they have a pool of resource and creativity within their workforce that could provide insight. Sometimes in a group format people can become anxious and uninhibited, conform to the ideas of others, set low standards, and engage in non creative behaviors such as telling stories totally unrelated to the matter, complimenting each other, and repeating ideas. Wallingford could combat these disadvantages by instructing the participants to write down ideas silently, using a facilitator, setting high performance goals, and using an electronic format so that people aren’t competing for air time.