N.B. (8 to 10 pages) Support your arguments and conclusions. Explain your answers
thoroughly. Reference any appropriate readings, videos, etc. in your answer. 1.The terms entrepreneur, small business owner and self-employed are often used interchangeably. In
your view, are they different? Or just synonyms? Explain your answer.
2.What are the advantages and disadvantages between being a sole proprietorship and being
incorporated?
3. How are small and family-owned businesses different from publicly-traded corporations?
4. Suppose you had to explain to a friend why you are studying small business management. What would
you tell that person? (That it is a required or elective course in my major or minor is not an appropriate
answer).
What advice would you offer Carla as she deals with this dilemma?
5.Case Analysis: “It’s Just a Number”
Carla Rigoli, the financial officer for Gifts and More, a small importer of gift items, was sitting at her
computer when the founder of the company, Rod Hallman, walked in and asked, “Got a minute?”
“Sure,” Carla said, “I’ve always got a minute for the boss.”
As Rod closed the door, Carla noticed that he had an unusual look on his face. “What’s up?” she asked.
Gifts and More had been struggling for the past few months, and nobody knew that any better than
Carla. She was meticulous in her work, and she understood the com¬pany’s weakening financial position
all too well. Hallman had been trying to sell the company for the past seven months, but no serious
buyers had emerged until recently. Hallman confided in Carla, telling her that he “had lost his
entrepreneurial drive” and that “running the company just wasn’t any fun anymore.” He was anxious to
make a sale because the company was starting to lose money, and he knew that if the sale stretched out
much longer, the price he could get would fall dramatically.
“I’ve been talking with this prospective buyer, and he’s probably our last shot at selling this company,”
Rod said. “He’s been analyzing some of the general financial figures I’ve given him and he’s pretty
pleased with what he’s seen, but now he wants some more details. That’s where you come in.”
“I’ll be glad to put together some spreadsheets for him,” Carla offered. “Great!” said Rod, handing her a
few sheets of figures. “This is what he’s seen so far.”
Carla studied the numbers for a minute and then looked up at Rod in disbelief. “These numbers aren’t
right!” she said. “I wish our income statement actually looked this good. Where did these come from?”
As she looked at Rod, he just smiled. Then Carla realized why Rod had come to see her. He wanted her to
falsify the company’s financial records to make its financial position look better than it actually was! She
was furious.
She was about to order Rod out of her office when he said, “Carla, you’d be doing a noble deed by
adjusting these num¬bers. You’d be saving a lot of people’s jobs. If this guy does¬n’t buy the company, I’m afraid we’ll have to shut down, and everyone, including you, will be out of a job. Surely you don’t
want to be responsible for that. We’ve only got two more days.”
As he stood up to leave, Rod said,” I’ve got to go to a meet¬ing with a buyer. Gosh, I hope I can
remember which made-up number I gave him last time,” he said with a boyish grin. “Oh yes, I remember.
After all, a number’s just a number,” he said as he walked out the door.
Carla sat in a daze, still clutching the numbers that Rod had given her. As she spun her chair around, she
looked at the real financial statements she had been preparing on the spread¬sheet and pondered her
predicament. “What am I going to do now?” she said aloud.
