Wanda needs your help again with some of the concepts you learned in Modules 5-8. As you know, Salty Pawz is a small business that specializes in preparing and selling high-quality gourmet dog treats. Like many entrepreneurs, Wanda has a great deal of experience and expertise in the specific products she produces, but she knows little about the broader business environment. The information contained in this case study is taken from Wanda’s business operations, and you’ll need this in order to apply the concepts and theories in this course—and to help her. Review the Salty Pawz – Case Study Information to refresh your knowledge about the company’s background, marketing, and financial information. Once this is complete, apply the knowledge you’ve gained from the second four modules and complete the following exercises.
Part A – Management
Wanda finally decides to move her business out of her home and rent a small building in town that has space for a commercial kitchen as well as enough room for some retail sales. She knows that her business is going to have more “moving parts” that will need to be managed, but she isn’t sure what that will entail. When you press Wanda for details, she says that if she does expand, she will add the following positions to the company:
A full-time dog treat baker;
One part-time baking assistant;
A retail sales clerk who will also handle the Web site and Etsy sales;
One part-time administrative assistant, who will help Wanda with day-to-day operations and paperwork.
She also anticipates that if her sales projections are correct, within the next twelve months she will add the following:
One part-time bookkeeper;
A full-time e-commerce manager who will handle all of the Web site traffic and Etsy orders;
One part-time marketing manager to promote the Salty Pawz brand and help develop new products.
Once you’ve reviewed the information above, please do the following exercise:
Prepare an organizational chart for Wanda that shows what her role as a manager will look like if she expands as outlined above.
In addition to the chart, for each direct and indirect report, provide details regarding what management functions Wanda will be performing. Be sure to explain how each management function will specifically affect her, those she is managing, and the business in general.
Part B – Motivation
Wanda wants all of her employees to be motivated to do a good job and continue the success of Salty Pawz, but there is only so much money she can shell out and still keep the business profitable. She begins to wonder if there aren’t ways she can motivate her employees without writing yet another check.
Recently Wanda was asked to donate dog treats to the local Humane Society for a free rabies vaccination clinic being held at the local high school. She donated one hundred bags of Chicken Cuties and even stopped by the event to see how it was going. When she arrived, she was surprised to see her friend Jamie there, happily greeting and signing in owners and their dogs. On the way home, Wanda began to think that perhaps there are ways that she can motivate her employees without paying them, but she doesn’t know much about motivation theory. She turns to you once again for information and guidance.
Select one of the motivation theories you studied in this module that you believe can be used effectively with the employees at Salty Pawz. Briefly explain the theory to Wanda and how it applies to her staff.
Using that theory, provide Wanda with 2–3 specific ways she can motivate her employees without money. Your suggestions should be specific and detailed enough that Wanda could implement them immediately.
Part C – Marketing Function
Wanda has been fortunate that her dog treats have sold so well, but she has been reading about small-business marketing and is concerned that as her business continues to grow, she may not get the highest return possible from her marketing dollars. One of the things she repeatedly encounters in her reading is that the “role of marketing is to identify, satisfy, and retain customers.” Has she really identified her customers? Are they satisfied? And, more important, how can she retain those customers she does have? In other words, do her customers or potential customers see the value in doing business with Salty Pawz?
Consider Wanda’s business, the products she sells, her customers, and markets.
Write a value statement for Salty Pawz. Remember that a value statement is a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.
Explain how the value statement you have written reflects the role that marketing will play at Salty Pawz with regard to the following:
Identifies a want or need of prospective customers,
Satisfies those customers by delivering a product or service that addresses their needs,
Retains customers by creating new opportunities to win their loyalty and business.
Part D – Human Resources
With her decision to expand Salty Pawz, Wanda needs a workforce. However, she has never interviewed or hired anyone in her life. While putting labels on bags of dog treats one afternoon, you ask Wanda how she intends to recruit and select her workforce. She smiles and says, “Well, for once I have a plan!” You can’t wait to hear her plan, and you feel that maybe after all this time she is getting the hang of running Salty Pawz like a business effectively.
Wanda’s plan is to place an ad in a local newspaper and have people who are interested in working for her stop by the local coffee shop to speak with her. She thinks that filling out application forms at this point is premature, so she will have them leave their name and phone number in her planner for now. Wanda doesn’t have any particular questions in mind to ask the applicants. Instead, she thinks it is more natural to just let the conversations evolve, so she can figure out who she “clicks with.” She doesn’t want them to feel like they are being interrogated! However, she is particularly interested in hiring mothers with young children who can start work after they drop their kids at school. She also is going to keep her eyes open for at least one young man, because sacks of flour are heavy. The only thing she is certain about is asking each person for his or her salary requirements, so she can set her pay schedule and budget accordingly.
Explain to Wanda why virtually everything in this hiring plan is a bad idea based on the key role that human resource management plays in the success of her business.
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